WEBVTT

00:02.140 --> 00:04.362
you know , I started this whole journey

00:04.362 --> 00:06.307
with the promise to my father . So

00:06.307 --> 00:08.473
going from you know the morbidly obese

00:08.473 --> 00:10.640
guy being told that I might die soon .

00:10.740 --> 00:13.200
Going to maxing out my sit ups and push

00:13.200 --> 00:15.311
ups , it's just amazing to me now . I

00:15.311 --> 00:17.478
just want to push further and harder .

00:17.740 --> 00:19.296
I am a text sergeant in the

00:19.296 --> 00:21.560
International Guard . I have taken the

00:21.580 --> 00:24.140
class , I have passed my course and I'm

00:24.140 --> 00:26.660
waiting on master stripes and now I

00:26.660 --> 00:28.771
will be the first master sergeant and

00:28.771 --> 00:32.570
my family at the time of my

00:32.570 --> 00:36.520
dad catching lung cancer , I

00:36.530 --> 00:38.790
decided I need to join the military

00:38.790 --> 00:41.130
again . I made my dad promised and said ,

00:41.130 --> 00:43.297
dad , I'm gonna lose my weight and get

00:43.297 --> 00:45.352
back in the military . He said , you

00:45.352 --> 00:48.050
can't do it , this is your life . And I

00:48.050 --> 00:50.272
said , you know what life is , what you

00:50.272 --> 00:52.920
make it . So within two months I lost

00:52.920 --> 00:56.250
over £80 and I tried to join the

00:56.760 --> 00:59.960
international Garden . I'd now have

01:00.740 --> 01:03.910
over 11 years in counting my active

01:03.910 --> 01:06.720
duty service . I could actually do 24

01:06.720 --> 01:08.664
before I retire , which is my goal

01:08.664 --> 01:10.720
before I reached 60 years old . So I

01:10.720 --> 01:12.850
took a 17.5 year break before going

01:12.850 --> 01:15.220
from active duty to the International

01:15.220 --> 01:18.930
Guard two . When my dad was known as

01:18.930 --> 01:21.840
final deathbed Um that was December of

01:21.850 --> 01:25.570
2013 , they found my paperwork . My dad

01:25.570 --> 01:28.350
seen me at a smaller weight and he

01:28.350 --> 01:30.160
commended me . No ,

01:31.850 --> 01:34.980
My dad , he passed away in December of

01:34.990 --> 01:37.560
2013 . So at that point in life it was

01:37.560 --> 01:40.900
kind of Getting pretty tough , January

01:40.900 --> 01:43.810
of 2014 I went through a divorce and

01:43.810 --> 01:46.530
then I joined a gang that is South

01:46.530 --> 01:48.730
Carolina Air National Guard . We fast

01:48.730 --> 01:52.580
forward another year my brother In

01:52.580 --> 01:55.110
February of 2015 . He passed away in a

01:55.110 --> 01:57.090
car wreck . So that was kind of

01:57.090 --> 01:59.660
devastating . Lost my father , my

01:59.660 --> 02:01.882
sister is not my sister and then I lost

02:01.882 --> 02:04.370
my brother . So at that time my mom

02:04.370 --> 02:06.481
says I can't leave you because you've

02:06.481 --> 02:09.370
lost so much in December of 2015 . My

02:09.370 --> 02:11.370
mom passed away of a heart attack .

02:11.370 --> 02:14.850
So at that point

02:15.240 --> 02:17.073
I was kind of wondering where my

02:17.073 --> 02:19.129
direction was going to go . I had my

02:19.129 --> 02:21.351
kids , I had my new girlfriend which is

02:21.351 --> 02:23.573
presently now my wife . We moved to the

02:23.573 --> 02:25.407
north Myrtle beach area in south

02:25.407 --> 02:27.407
Carolina and I was going to the Air

02:27.407 --> 02:29.629
National Guard . But I noticed that the

02:29.629 --> 02:31.629
Air National Guard group , the guys

02:31.629 --> 02:34.530
that I work with became like family . I

02:34.530 --> 02:37.320
really held the word brother close to

02:37.320 --> 02:39.760
my heart for a very long time . Once I

02:39.760 --> 02:41.704
released that name to those airmen

02:42.640 --> 02:44.970
started calling them brother . The unit

02:44.970 --> 02:47.420
became like family . They were like my

02:47.420 --> 02:50.260
brothers and sisters who I can rely on ,

02:50.940 --> 02:52.773
who I could go to for anything .

02:54.840 --> 02:57.173
The camaraderie they're coming together .

02:57.173 --> 03:00.570
The family feel I have when I come and

03:00.580 --> 03:02.980
work with this unit with the guys ,

03:02.990 --> 03:05.820
with the men and women , the enlisted

03:05.820 --> 03:08.020
and the officers , It's like coming

03:08.020 --> 03:10.020
home . It's like a family reunion .

03:10.020 --> 03:12.353
Every time I come out to a drill status ,

03:12.353 --> 03:14.576
that's why I signed up for every single

03:14.576 --> 03:16.687
deployment , we might be traveling to

03:16.687 --> 03:18.742
places unknown for 34 months . But I

03:18.742 --> 03:20.798
know I can get along with these guys

03:20.798 --> 03:22.742
every single day , keeping us like

03:22.742 --> 03:26.570
family is a major thing . You know ,

03:26.570 --> 03:28.737
usually you're , you appear as the old

03:28.737 --> 03:31.890
guy or grandpa or dad . You know , most

03:31.890 --> 03:34.112
of the time I was dad to a lot of these

03:34.112 --> 03:36.223
airmen , one guy tells me that he's a

03:36.223 --> 03:38.390
fan of Scooby and I'm like , what does

03:38.390 --> 03:40.557
that even mean ? They actually come up

03:40.557 --> 03:42.557
to me and said , hey , you're not a

03:42.557 --> 03:45.240
typical older gentleman . But I try to

03:45.240 --> 03:47.407
keep up with the generation that way I

03:47.407 --> 03:49.880
can kind of relate with that . They can

03:49.880 --> 03:52.480
relate to me and then we again stay a

03:52.480 --> 03:52.950
family .