A Soldier Against All Odds with Lt. Col Jason Pike

Embark on a transformative journey with us as we unravel Jason's compelling life story, from a student undervalued by his counselor's expectations to a distinguished soldier and acclaimed national bestselling author of A Soldier Against All Odds. His narrative is not just about personal triumph; it's a beacon of hope for anyone questioning their own potential. 

This episode is a heartfelt exploration of the strength derived from incremental victories and the unyielding support of family. Jason's ascent from adversity to the esteemed rank of Lieutenant Colonel serves as a testament to the power of small, celebrated steps and a solid home base. He courageously opens up about facing his personal demons head-on, and in doing so, offers a raw and unfiltered look at how one can transform past struggles into an unstoppable drive for success. As we discuss his experiences with penning his memoir and his three-decade-long military tenure, get ready to uncover life strategies to overcoming stress and trauma.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:59

Welcome to Empowered Within, a soul-clenching, transformational podcast that will set your soul on fire. Through candid and inspiring conversations, leading experts, celebrities, healers and I share our journeys of how we've overcome challenges to living an empowered life from within. I'm your host, jennifer Pilates. Welcome to another episode of Empowered Within. Hi there, and welcome to the show. I am honored to have with us today's guest, mr Jason Pike. It has been a long time in the making for this interview and I'm so excited to dive in with him. Let me tell you a little bit, though. The Army investigated him, arrested him and tried to break him. Lieutenant Colonel Jason Pike is undoubtedly a soldier against all odds, a national best selling author and book. He's a combat veteran with over 31 years of service and nine years of those living overseas. Jason, I'm so excited that you're here today. Thank you so much for coming and bringing all of your incredible, valuable insights to our community today.

Speaker 2: 2:11

Yes, jennifer, I'm happy to be on your show and thank you for what you do too.

Speaker 1: 2:15

Oh, thank you. We were talking a little bit off air and I was expressing how I've read the book once a while ago, started rereading it and Jason commented the dirty laundry, the sexiness of the book. I said, wow, I never thought sexy, but he's right on the dirty laundry. Let's dive in and get into some of that dirty laundry and take it back to the time where everyone told you, basically the odds were stacked against you that in that moment that propelled you and really changed your life. Take me back to that day.

Speaker 2: 2:49

Yes, it was the first grade. I was only about seven years old and it was pretty much. I failed English. I failed the first grade, I failed English and writing or my worst subjects, and that remained with me. It still is, even though I'm a national best seller. I'm going to go figure that one out.

Speaker 1: 3:06

But no.

Speaker 2: 3:06

I assume that's true. The experts say it's true. A anecdotally, people say yeah, you ain't right. I understand that. I accept it. I'm going to pretty much do that. For the most part, I pretty much felt that there was no way out. Academics, education, are important in life and I didn't have it. I didn't have it until even my high school counselor says you don't have the SAT scores to get into college. I didn't. It was not only with anecdotal, but it was with education. It was with testing. I was identified as a problem learners, disabled learner that's all pretty much what I expected until I went into the Army the year I was 17 years old, in my 11th Between my 11th and 12th grade year of high school is when I joined because I had failed. I was a little older. Once that happens, things started to change in my mind. A 17-year-old mind.

Speaker 1: 4:09

Wow. How was that? When you decided to join the military, Was that like I feel this is my only option? Or did someone say, hey, this is a great option? I think this can really help you moving forward.

Speaker 2: 4:22

Yeah, I didn't feel at that time I had much opportunities in life. There was either going to college, which was pretty much the experts say it's out of the question. I said go to the military, go part-time, be a part-time soldier, national guard they used to call that the nasty girls. It was a lower form of military and it's higher now. I said I'll just go into the National Guard, weekend warrior, drink beer on the weekends, shoot weapons and things and maybe try to find my way at that age of 17.

Speaker 2: 4:55

I went into basic training in 1983. He may 11th and 12th grade years of high school and pretty much found Jesus on the other side of a stick. I went through a different form of hell. I was one of the worst privates out of the platoon of 40-something, maybe 50, soldiers. They identified me as someone who just couldn't get it right. They sent me to a criminal correctional facility, not because I did anything criminal, but it was like a motivational scared straight program for only four hours to get your butt in gear, to do the right thing and try to improve yourself or break you. It didn't break me. I stayed in and I stayed strong, but it did a twitch Once you go into a level of hell. Sometimes things change or sometimes things break and they reform. That's what happened in my mind at the age of 17. I decided you know what? I'm never going to quit this thing. I'm going to keep on going. I eventually got out of that facility. It was only about a day.

Speaker 2: 5:59

I graduated from basic training. It's only basic training, but for more hours. Coming from that was a big deal. When I had been through and I didn't even I wasn't able to talk to it, but it was hard. It was hard for me. I don't know about everybody else, but it was hard. When they talk about it it twitched me. I said you know what I came out of this? I think I can go to college. But they say I can't. But I think I can. I think I can do more than most people think. That only snapped in me when I was just formed 18. I couldn't explain it, but I just felt that all the experts in the tests I think I can challenge all that I've already been through hell and they don't understand this.

Speaker 2: 6:44

I think that I can go through more. That's what happened really. From that point of going into hell and coming out changed my trajectory and changed me on a better, a more positive path than what all the experts in the test scores said.

Speaker 1: 7:01

Wow, that's amazing. I know I can speak to growing up in a military family and it's so funny to hear it because we used to joke. I lived on a military base numerous times. And the weekend warriors, when they come in and you hear about people going through basic training and I find that back in the day that was a big deal, that was going through hell for people, the stories that I heard I thought, oh my gosh, I would never. I don't think I would make it a day here. Not only did you make it through that, but you made it through this other, what was the school called?

Speaker 2: 7:32

I went through a criminal correctional facility in Fort Lawton, oklahoma. Fort Lawton is this hometown, fort Sill, oklahoma. They don't have it there. They transferred it over to Fort Leavenworth. But it was for criminals. But there was a drug deal within the sergeant ranks. They had a drug deal to send the worst privates there to try to break them or make them. It made me, it broke a lot of other people. But it was one of those old scared straight programs. You send somebody some. It was before the internet, before cell phones. I felt at that time I was getting kicked out. I felt that I couldn't adapt and eventually I would be processed out. But it wasn't any of that. It was just they wanted to beat the hell out of you and see if they could change you, so that big rocks into small rocks and screamed and yelled at a different level of hell than just basic training. And then once I came out of there I was all bloody and beaten up and I just said, if I can handle this, I can just keep on going.

Speaker 2: 8:31

So that's what happened and eventually I made it out of that facility which was only a day of the basic training, they said. And then I graduated and I went on to my senior year of high school and totally everybody had family, friends. They just saw a different change and I didn't even understand it. I was only newly formed 18 year old mind. I knew I had changed but I didn't know what the hell I went through. I couldn't even explain what I went through. It was that raw in my mind.

Speaker 1: 8:59

Yeah, and that's how I remember growing up hearing about it. Nowadays I'm not so sure that it's the same, but I don't know because I haven't been. But when you now, you're a junior in high school, going into a senior, graduating. So were you at that point going on the weekends? You were doing your plant, your weekend warrior. Yeah, okay.

Speaker 2: 9:19

I was a soldier and a high school senior at the same time.

Speaker 1: 9:22

That is amazing. And then, when did your mindset shift to go? I'm so passionate about this. This is my career, like I am a patriot. When did that shift for you and you propel your military career?

Speaker 2: 9:35

I'd always been a patriot, but the ability to think I could do more was right after basic training. When I went into my senior year of high school, 18 years old, I said you know what? I think I can go to college. I got to find a way to do it and I said junior, pretty much the high school counselor says, don't even go to college, but the SAT scores prove this is your scores, this is. Don't you understand, you're not? I said yeah, I understand that.

Speaker 2: 10:02

But, I thought what I went through. That couldn't explain what I went through, but I knew. So I said junior college, maybe a less than less than a four year or something, where it was a beginner. And I went into a junior college where they could take anybody laying lazy or crazy. And I just went in there, put my paperwork in. They said, hey, you're in, I'm saying they don't care about your schools or whatever your college, they didn't care about your SAT scores. And then I built myself up from there and I eventually transferred into a reputable four year college in South Africa, south Carolina.

Speaker 2: 10:32

I just felt I had to go everything from the bottom, just like I did. And I says I'll have to go from the bottom, I'll have to work myself up. And that's what happened. So when I teamed out, I started thinking I was processing. I was like what did I? Just what just happened to me. I don't understand it. And so that's what happened. And I said but I had to be beaten to be able to think that way. I felt that I think that. And then I said I'm going to college. I don't care about everybody else is what they say. And it surprised the family, surprised everybody's pretty much. It was like I don't.

Speaker 1: 11:03

We don't have a whole lot of hope Went into junior college.

Speaker 2: 11:05

I didn't work my ass off. I did take a. John Ritter he was. He was an actor years ago. He had a tape where there's a wheel, there's an A and I told you, my educational processing is not that good, but I had to learn how to study. I had to learn how to form what's important, what's not and how to strategize on classes. And I did that and I applied that and I have a chapter in my book called where there's a wheel, there's an A and how to get an A. And even if you don't and that was a big getting a college education was a big deal.

Speaker 1: 11:40

It wasn't an engineering.

Speaker 2: 11:41

It was an agriculture education, something I could understand. But I did get a college education, but it did take me longer and I did have to work. I was always a soldier at the same time, either with ROTC as an ROTC scholarship, or it was with the reserves.

Speaker 1: 11:58

And even in that I must say, like how incredible, from first grade to having basically someone tell you why don't you just sit down and relax, because there's not a lot for you in this world To suddenly you're graduating high school and you're a soldier. Now you're going to college and you're a soldier, and that, and then you're a soldier, and then you're going overseas. How does that work for you? How did that make you feel? Because that, in some ways, must have been so powerfully empowering for you.

Speaker 2: 12:29

It was incredibly empowering. It was like taking little steps up a ladder and you just, oh, I've gone past two, three runs, I'm up a little bit more, I'm up a little bit more. Whoa. The first time I got a girlfriend was when I was a soldier. It was like because I was more confident to get a girlfriend, I was like, whoa, this is pretty cool. So I just kept on going up that ladder and seeing the positive. It could have been a scholarship from ROTC, it could have been a little extra money, a little extra pay going up the ranks. And that was empowering. Just to go those little baby steps up.

Speaker 2: 13:00

And, yeah, I felt blessed. I didn't take it for granted at all Because I felt that I was coming from the bottom ladder of life and anything up would be is good, and so a lot of those folks who graduate all these good scores and come out To me, I didn't take it for granted. I felt like I was like very lucky all the time up and I'm blessed or lucky, or just whoa, this is cool. And I didn't take it for granted. I felt that any time that I could fall down, because I fell down so many times in my life and I just didn't want to. I wanted to cherish that moment as I walked up that ladder. Yeah, it was cool.

Speaker 1: 14:51

I love how you talk about taking the small steps and appreciate them and cheering yourself on. You're not looking, because had you, when you were 17, thought about being a Lieutenant Colonel? That probably felt like absolutely absurd to you, and so I love that you're sharing with our audience taking these small steps, celebrating your wins, being grateful for them in that moment. That's really what propelled you in those moments, though, because you did have moments we all do were human when we fall, when we feel like we're going backwards. What kept you going? What do you think was your main? That's it. I'm getting back up. What got you up every time?

Speaker 2: 15:28

I have to relate back to the worst times of my life and I would relate back to the being locked up in a criminal correctional facility and being at private the lowest form of existence, like a worm, and so on, and so I could feel my, I say, oh, I'm better. I could always say that it can't be as bad as that because I'm better. Now I've got two years of college. That's a lot better than having no years around this ranch. Now I'm much better than 17 year old, nothing and with nothing on my shirt. Nothing, no little pieces of metals or anything. So I'm better. And it's like I would say I think I would look back on the worst and that's that's what propelled me to go up, because there was always a worse time you could relate to in life. And so I would go and I would form like it's not as bad as that. I said, yeah, so that's what propelled me.

Speaker 1: 16:22

That's amazing In your book. I love it because, as you say, there are a lot of sexy, naughty aspects which is really turning the pages, but there's also, I feel like the second time through I was like what an incredible tribute to the relationship with your dad Will you will you share your moments with your dad in the book with us, is it?

Speaker 2: 16:41

very special. Yeah, the book's called a soldier against all odds, but what thing I had for me was my father. I had a good raising from a good father which I attribute to him. A lot of my survival and a lot of my persistence is he was always somebody who rooted for the underdog, and so I he always secretly, even though my mother like always beat my ass all the time, but my father was always secretly. You know, I believe in your son, I believe what he would quietly say, that not to upset my mother. So there was a ying and yang type of thing going on with mother and father about me and my issues and things.

Speaker 2: 17:21

But no, I attribute it to him because he secretly believed in me and he came from a very white, trash, poor environment in the south where everybody was type of a poor but he was a poverty like an orphan type of just moved around from a place to find food and he was.

Speaker 2: 17:39

He didn't really have a family and he grew up with worms and just like dirt type of poverty and he became successful in life but he always said you know and, son, you know, you always got to. He was just a good father figure and he always believed he was a positive character and he believed in me and a lot of all that, his children and he just thought you know what? And he always told stories about talking about a storyteller. He told stories about his life and I always wanted him to have a book but he didn't want to do it. But I said I'll tell a story for him and he, and so my mind always goes to him in a many ways. So one odd one thing I had in favor was a good father. Most of things were against the odds and defying the odds, but that's who I attribute to him and he was a character of his own right and he deserves his own books. But he's passed away now.

Speaker 1: 18:32

Yeah, and he too was in the military.

Speaker 2: 18:36

So he was in the military. Yeah, he was in the Navy. He served four years and he looked at the military as just a way out of poverty. For the most part he didn't look at it as a career. He did four years but he did attain a very high medal, the highest peacetime medal, in the middle of the Navy Marine Corps. He felt the Navy Marine Corps medal and he attempted, and even his attempt to save someone's life jumping into the ocean gave him a very high level of an award of bravery, an act of bravery at sea. And so I did 31 years and he did four years and I've only got one medal of those 31 years that is above him. His act of bravery was just a very wicked event.

Speaker 2: 19:22

Now, he never talked about it. He didn't even like the military. To him the military was just a way out of poverty. And when I joined the military it was okay, I'm okay with that, because you can't get into damn college. So he was yeah, if you can't join the military, if you can't get into college, join the military. And that was his attitude. But if he felt, or if anybody felt, that I could join college, then I would join college. But I did both, so I surprised a lot of people. I did all kinds of things that surprised him and he was.

Speaker 2: 19:54

he says one of his greatest sayings and throughout the book is son, you surprised the hell out of me. And that was my own father that knew me the most and I was just defying the odds against everybody and even himself, which he was a, and I mean he just couldn't. He couldn't understand who I was. He couldn't understand how I was doing everything I did.

Speaker 1: 20:14

I know it was such a beautiful relationship and the correlation, how you weaved in and out both your lives throughout the book was so well written. For someone like yourself out there who says, wow, I feel like I have a story that should be shared, similar to your similar experience within the military and the experiences what advice would you give to that person?

Speaker 2: 20:38

It's going to. I feel that you're going to have to get somebody who's a ghostwriter to help you out, because your life is probably very emotional, like mine, like any life, any life that has a lot of ups and downs, and if you want to get to the heart of the life, you've got to give it all. You got to be vulnerable and to be vulnerable it might be difficult and I have somebody who's on the outside looking in, being more objective, and not even if I knew even if I really knew how to write I need to help to cause the emotions of it. You have to flow it. You have to flow it a certain way. You got to have a storyteller to help you out.

Speaker 2: 21:14

Yes, of course it's going to be your writing and your style, but I would say to get somebody who's a trusted ghostwriter and I had to figure out how to go. I don't know anything. I had to figure out how to get a ghostwriter, how to advertise and to bid out a project, and I would say to get help, definitely get help on your story, on your memoir, and to also be vulnerable, to give it out, because that's what people identify with failures and fiascos, which are in my book, and so that's what you want to do.

Speaker 1: 21:47

I think that's beautiful and that's also such a tribute, when I think back on, to the many stories, not even your stories. Your journey throughout your book is you're vulnerable and you're never afraid to ask for help, and you're also never afraid to lend a hand to help someone else. And that brings me to. In your book you talk about the five Ps that you live by. Will you share those with us? So?

Speaker 2: 22:14

one of the things I told you about was just have a billet. My processing ability is slow so I have to compensate in certain areas. Five Ps are prior planning prevents poor performance. Prior planning prevents poor performance, ppp. So I would plan out, I would visualize in the future things, what I had to do a year out, two years out. I was using this really as a compensation skill. This is a good life skill anyway to visualize what you're going to do out and to compensate.

Speaker 2: 22:46

So I was in a college semester. I would be thinking what am I going to do next semester? What classes am I going to take? Who's the school teachers, whatever it might be? And then I would even think five years out, what do I visualize myself being and doing at that time of that goal and it was a, I don't know, it came through compensation of my reaction to things quickly was really. I was really slow on that in many ways unless I trained and trained for it. So I learned to train and train my mind and visualize out and plan for the future. It's just something that came with my training and also came with just a compensation skill, and I still do that. I'll put things out on the calendar or things I might want to do, and I would. You could always repeat and repeat and maybe you couldn't fail and just try it again. But those are the five. Prior planning prevents poor performance, so I would plan out or visualize out what I wanted to do down the road.

Speaker 1: 23:46

I love the five B's. I think they're so great and something that's easy that we can literally all employ every moment of every day to help us out. So when we think of a Lieutenant Colonel in the army and a man who has traveled and shared lots of stories good, not bad, but naughty, interesting, intriguing there's got to be stress. There's definitely going to be trauma. There's going to be ups, downs and all around when you look back over your military career, what kept you going? How did you manage stressful times, the trauma times, versus the times that you know we're good in jovial and you had a good time with your fellow soldiers?

Speaker 2: 24:30

Yes, when I got beaten down and I had even one I got. The worst time in my entire career, when I was a little, was I was a Lieutenant Colonel and I had been a senior person, very accomplished, and I was beaten down by my own establishment, my own army, my own organization, the leaders in there. I just had some conflicts and personality and territory dispute disputes and I went into a very deep time where I 2007, 2008, 2009, I went into depression, I went into anxiety and I had to get help and I was on active duty. This was probably before the time of you know it was not a popular thing to do I keep a secret but I had to have help. Basically, I went into I don't know if you've been into a ghost lighting or a backstabbing event where there's territory and people and you have conflict and organizations. And I was a senior person A Lieutenant Colonel would be a senior person in the military and I just went into a situation where I didn't agree with a lot of things on the job and I just went in.

Speaker 2: 25:36

I got thrown into the bus and basically I was accused of espionage against the US government. I went through a federal investigation. I went through informal charges of pedophile, which was totally bullshit, but they tried to get me out. So when you're a senior in the military or the government, it's kind of hard to get you out. You have to have witty, witty type of charges, accusations to either transfer the trash, which they could, or to give you a bad evaluation, or to really get you out. It's really difficult to get you out, but there can be accusations about people and their lives and they can go through hotlines and various things of that nature.

Speaker 2: 26:20

And a lot of people asked me during that time when I was the worst time I've ever had in my life I feel it was worse than anything. I was like what did you do to piss off these people, to do all this stuff to you? And I think, and you know what, I just disagreed with a lot of things that are in my job and the things that I wanted to do in the part of the job that I was at and I felt that I was, you know, and they didn't like it. And there was there's power plays and there's also politics that are in the government and the military, at senior levels as well, and they can also conflict with things, but they can't, they don't like to beat you. They have different ways of screwing with you and it could be just false allegations or throwing things through hotlines and using the establishment of what's supposed to be. You could be sexual deviancy, it could be criminal activity, it could be espionage. They can use these all these little things and to screw with people. And there's games that can be played at a different level that I didn't know about.

Speaker 2: 27:22

And that's what happened and that took me down. It took me into depression and anxiety and I had to go get professional help and that was worse than any war. I would rather be shot at physically in war. I've been in Afghanistan Matter of fact, my shirt here is my soldier in Afghanistan but I would rather than to have false, wicked accusations be pumped against you. And it was basically as a territorial kind of conflict and it wasn't even in a war. It was in South Korea. So I'd already been there three different times. But that was.

Speaker 2: 27:54

And what I did was I went to a professional, then I held on to my family, then I exercised like crazy man. I went to exercise almost insanely and to process it out, and what I found by accident, that when I did motion and when I went through emotions on emotions so if I was to cry or get mad while I was running or while I was doing the elliptical at the same time if you can get those things to converge I found that there was an emotional vomit that occurred. And I did this by accident. No professional told me about it, but if you were to run or walk or whatever you like to do physically and then you were to emotionally vomit while you're doing it at the same time and don't stop it, that helped me out a lot and that helped me and I did that a lot.

Speaker 1: 28:43

That is incredible. What you're describing is a somatic release. It's allowing right. So it's allowing the emotions at a cellular level that generally get trapped and then become trauma bonds and traumatic situations come out in our body. You actually, through intuitiveness, listening to your body, allow the emotions to flow through and out so that trauma did not stay trapped in your body, and that is incredible. That takes people years to learn, lifetimes to learn, and here I'm so proud of you that you intuitively went for it and allowed yourself to process the way that you were guided to. That's amazing.

Speaker 2: 29:23

It was like a vomiting After I did it. I wanted to. I didn't even know what the hell I was doing, and I'll do it again the next day, the next day, and then sometimes I would do it and I would be on the elliptical more than I normally would be. There would be water running off of it. I'd been crying and then also, it's been an hour. I only wanted to be on here for 30 minutes, but it's been an hour and it's almost as if my brain just lost track, which I don't normally lose track of time. But hey, exercising for an hour compared to 30 minutes is better and I think. Well, okay, but I did feel like a release and I just lost track of time on the machines.

Speaker 1: 30:02

That's amazing. Is that something that you still do now? What are your top go-tos?

Speaker 2: 30:07

A little bit, not as much because I'm not I was nowhere in near as much trauma but if I am in an anxiety situation I will go and definitely exercise. Exercise is a part of my life but I have not been in that type of detailed trauma since then. But I will go and do it at a very minimum. If I, for example, if I'm thinking about something, I will go and I'll laugh on the machine or I'll just allow them. So when I'm on a machine or I'm running, I'll definitely allow my emotions to come through, in the gym or everywhere it doesn't. So that does help me out. It helps me to think, process things. But when I was in that trauma, that big trauma which really caused that was a diagnosis, that was a different story. That was where I was in hell, that I was like I had to do it. Now I do it just to do it, to just modify things. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 31:02

To stay healthy. We've gone through an incredibly traumatic experience with you and I thank you for feeling so safe and vulnerable with us today. How about we switch the energy a little bit and tell me about, if I said, what is one time that you're like oh my gosh, that was so wild out of the years that you were in the military. What's that moment like?

Speaker 2: 31:23

I've got a badge called the expert filled medical badge.

Speaker 2: 31:26

It's a medical badge for stabilization of patients and getting them off the battlefield, saving people's lives. I didn't save anybody's life but I got this very important badge that's worn at the top of my uniform and it took me three times to do it and I wanted it so bad because it's the excellency of taking care of soldiers and saving their lives. It's just a competency skill and it took me three times to do it and I went through so much to get that badge and it's supposed to be it's expert badge, medical badge. I got it on the third try but I had fell into a cesspool on the first try. I had been. I have been not neck deep and ship on this, but trying to get this badge I had been through so much stuff to get it and to finally get it was very, very happy.

Speaker 2: 32:15

That was one be one thing. The second thing would be just graduating from college. Graduating from college defied. I had a book at that time but I didn't write about it. I was in my twenties. But just getting my college degree and I know most of your listeners out there make better than me on the college entrance scores Just trust me on that one than I did, and so getting my college degree was like a big deal. So those were two big things, just achievements of life, of just defying God's and just working at it and getting it, and yeah, those would be very two happy experiences for me.

Speaker 1: 32:52

Those are really great happy experiences. Definitely, let's talk about now transitioning. So transitioning from military soldier life to being a civilian it's not easy. I can also attestify being even the family member of a military person transitioning. It's not easy for the family, it's not easy for the person. There's definitely an identity crisis that goes on. Tell me about your transition, because you are doing so many incredible, amazing things to help others through it, through your life lessons.

Speaker 2: 33:25

Yeah, I've got that one book of Soldier Against All I said I'll show right here. It's the blue book on Amazon. But then I have another book which is out of the uniform back into civilian life. This is more of a veteran self help book and I have a lot of links. It's a shorter book but it's about how to get it.

Speaker 2: 33:44

Once you get out of the military and you go into civilian life, a lot of people just okay, they're just ready to get out, they're just done, and once they get out they have problems transitioning. They may need their veteran's benefits and this is the second book is more of a veteran self help guide on how to get your benefit. A lot of people just want to get out I'm done but they don't understand the veteran's administration and it's not just healthcare but it's money every month, it is various medicines, it's various procedures that you could have done on you. A lot of people don't have medical care and I'm not going to say the veteran's administration is the best healthcare in the world, because it's not, but I do say that their money is green and they have a lot of benefits and I would say that you're be fooling yourself not to apply for the veteran's administration's healthcare benefits, and it's not necessarily because let's just say that you never went to war, let's say that you never fired some but fired in combat. But you know what it's not, it's more you. Just you served it. You deserve it.

Speaker 2: 34:52

Go and apply for it, because there are second and third order things that you probably don't understand or know about what's going to happen in your future life that will affect you or your family. So I say, but even if you say, let's assume you think nothing ever happened to me, I'm not hurt, that's fine, Still apply. Go ahead and apply, Get into the system, because we don't know what's going to be second and third order situations that occur later on in your life. It's like investing in the future. You put money into an investment or a mutual fund but you don't really know. Is nothing going to happen? Maybe, but maybe later on. This thing compounds and that's the way your life, the way your life is and the way the benefits are.

Speaker 2: 35:37

So I'm saying that go ahead and apply, regardless of your whatever you might think, and because there's not just healthcare, but there could be clothing allowances to you, there could be mileage to go to the appointments, there could be free medicines, there could be free trips I mean veterans trips. They give you trips to go on vacation and things of that nature because of maybe you have post-trionic stress or maybe they just feel that you need to get away. I'm just saying there's so many things that I found out in here that are just more than just the money every month and it's more than just the medicine and it's more than just the healthcare. There are things that could live on past that and other things veterans' home loans, veterans it just it goes on and on.

Speaker 2: 36:23

It's almost really, it's truly mind boggling in a way. That's why I had to put it in a book with many links to various things, and it's more like to open up your mind to it and that your veterans benefits could live on past your death. In many ways. That's just something to think about and that's something that I know these veterans out there. I don't deserve this. I don't deserve that. I didn't do anything. It was like if you served and you deserve it, and so I think they're fooling themselves to think that they should not apply.

Speaker 1: 36:53

Yeah, Absolutely, and I've even seen it into car insurance, home insurance, and it was later in life. My grandfather really didn't take advantage of his VA benefits until he was in his late 80s, early 90s. So there's no timeframe on thinking like, oh, it's been too many years, there's no, and there are, like you said, there are so many benefits that no one tells you about. And it's definitely not easy, right Like you do have to jump through your hoops, but if you take the five Ps and you can employ them and they can get your book to help guide them through it, it definitely, especially with where we are in the world today. Geez, louise, if we can save you $5, $10, anything at this point, how is that not worth it? Yeah, just a veterans.

Speaker 2: 37:42

If you got a veterans identification card by applying, that's going to give you what 10, 20% off at various places. That's just a small benefit, but again it will. Second, there could be second and third order benefits that you just don't really. It's a very. It's the largest healthcare organization in the world. I'm going skiing next month in Aspen, colorado, funded by the Veterans Administration. I do it every year. I've always done it every year. They're doing this because they want people to get out and ski on the slopes, but it's not just skiing. That's called the Veterans Winter Sports Clinic, but it could be the Veterans Winter, it could be the Summer Sports Clinic.

Speaker 2: 38:20

If you like golfing, they'll send you to golfing. If you like creative arts, you like to do artistic stuff, they've got to. So what I'm saying is like there's just so many things that just yeah, if you can't drive a car and you get a DAPT, maybe I'm nine years, I'm only 58, but let's just say I'm 90 and I can't drive a car and I need help. They have a DAPT of car things. They've got adaptive. I get wheelchairs that adapt, of housing things, and they've got adapted.

Speaker 2: 38:47

So there's various things that you just alluded to that I don't even know. I hope I can still drive a car when I'm not any, but I don't. Maybe there'll be something in the future that they'll have. But sometimes I sit around and I wonder if I know it all. And I don't think I do, and I don't think any other veteran service officer, because it's such a large thing and if you can just get represented by a veteran service officer, get my book, check that out, give you a good introduction and a very plain language, a very easy language to understand, which I like to write to the lowest level because I feel out of some of the times I'm at the lowest level, and so to get that communication out there and to give the information to you.

Speaker 1: 39:25

Absolutely. I think that's wonderful and I want to touch on so since you have been transitioning. You spent some time at the southern border and it would be remiss of me not to talk about this subject based on where we are right now in time and space and what's going on, and it even made it teary now, even thinking about some of the stories that you shared about being there, and I would love for you, if you're comfortable enough, to share some of it, because what it did for me. We oftentimes only see one side, maybe two sides, to the story, and nowadays in our world, I swear, there's 10 sides to every story, and your experience shared a whole different perspective for me and I would love for you to share that so that we can help educate people around the world as to what transpires at our southern border.

Speaker 2: 40:15

Yeah, I was working. When I retired, I went to work for the Centers for Disease Control and I was helping to process people coming out of the southern border, out of El Paso. I was specifically located at Fort Bliss, texas, and that's near where the border is at, and so they would come across the border. But by the time they got to us, my job was to do medical processing, in other words, make sure their vaccinations were up to date, life problems with medical, their medical care, and they had a lot of problems medically by the time they hit the border. And it's not just vaccinations, it could be lice or bugs or what have you. And these were children. They were only children that were between the probably between the ages of 10 and 17, 18. But by the time they got to us they had been through so much hell. Most of them are not Mexicans. They're either Nicaraguans, hondurans or from Columbia or other places they're not from. Actually, most of them are not from Mexico, they're from other places in Central America. And by the time they got to us a lot of the kids they were really filthy, they had lice, they had parasites in them, they had been either raped or abused along the way multiple times just to get to the border. They knew they had to send their children. They would pay for. The parents would pay or they have people to pay for them to get there.

Speaker 2: 41:40

Once they got there, I was working at the intake center and so we would imitate the and it was an entire like a military. It's kind of like a military base within a military base where you had I was only with medical, but they had folks with physical problems they might have or ailments. I was more with the vaccinations and public health and then they had psychological. That was a huge organ and then they had the caseworker, so she would farm them once they got through. The process was to get them and try to get them a little bit healthy, get their vaccinations and then find them a friend or a family member to send them off to, and they would be coming in through by the bus loads and so we had a dormitory with the girls and the boys and they had the food but they were watched all the time to make sure they're safe.

Speaker 2: 42:26

And this was I don't know if it's still, it's probably still occurring, but they had been going on for years and it went on for years and I was only there for about one month but I got to see a lot of sad cases come through. You could see they've been abused and neglected and things along the way, just to get to where they're at Barefoot, barefoot and abused. And then we give them clothing. We'd give them the clothing and the medical care so they would get straight and on out and they were hungry. They were hungry kids and they thought food, like a piece of fruit, was like something to steal.

Speaker 2: 42:58

And we had fruit everywhere. We had food everywhere. We said you don't need to steal this food. When you see it, this is for you, but you don't need to steal it because you're going to while you're here. You're going to be taken care of. But that's what they're used to doing If they see something and they're going to take it because they think they might not have it again. But I feel that when I was looking at them like an alien creature coming in and they were probably looking at me like I was some sort of an alien creature they'd never seen before. But that was an enlightenment time that the folks were just trying to get to the United States for whatever reasons. They need to get there.

Speaker 1: 43:31

Yeah, it's just so powerful. What is your thoughts on what you saw versus what you hear about what's going on now? Because I appreciated your story, because we haven't heard anything about children. Now we're seeing everything but children and women, and so what's your perspective on where we're at now?

Speaker 2: 43:54

I think the border is. I'm in Texas right now. I've been in Texas for about nine years since, but I think it's really out of control. Personally, I think it's just being. The floodgates have been coming through big time. I think it's just a lot of people coming through. I hear reports now from people coming out of China and various other countries outside of Espanol or the Spanish language and I think something's going on. It appears that it's just too much.

Speaker 2: 44:20

We've always had migrants coming through. That's been illegal or illegal or whatever. They've always been coming through. But I think they're coming through at such a level that we just can't handle them, and I know in the state of Texas we're shipping them off either by airplane or by bus because it's just too much to handle. I think most of them really, from what I saw, most of them want to work. Even if they're 14 years old, they even want to work. All they want to do is work and send money back to their families for the most part, and they will sleep in a trailer with 10, 20 people. They don't care. As long as they can work. That's the big thing. So they do want to work.

Speaker 2: 45:00

So I do think there's a need for them, because a lot of folks don't want to work. So on one hand, we've got to have people to do the menial labor and all the things that we don't want to do, but then again there has to be a balance too. I think right now they're just coming at too much speed. There's too much, and they probably need to maybe somehow filter it out. But that's what I saw. I saw their desire on the positive side, man, all they want to do is work and take care of their family back home, even their mother and father, whatever they have.

Speaker 2: 45:30

And but on the other hand, it's just too much that's coming through.

Speaker 1: 45:34

What do we do? Is there a happy medium, do you think? Because, while we get it right, we don't want to see anyone suffering anywhere around the world, but at the same time, there's definitely been this like topsy-turvy moment that's happening here in America, where we look around and now maybe there's a lot of people who aren't so friendly, who are looking more. I just want to take care of my family. How do I take care of you? Or go back to the even the basic comment of we have so many homeless veterans here, we have so many veterans that need to be taken care of and we're not taking care of our own. Where do we find a happy medium? Where do we do with this?

Speaker 2: 46:14

I think just I would somehow go back to some sort of in the past of how we filtered them out in the past and whatever techniques the border has and immigration has to filter them out at a higher level of standard than what we're doing now. Then it seems to be they're just coming through very more easier. I don't I'm not an expert on the border control and the immigration, but somehow we need to probably reduce that a bit, but it seems to be. It seems like everybody that's lame, lazy or crazy is just coming through just easy. It seems like that's been in the past. So I think just get some more control on it and it's still going to happen. I think it's. They're still going to have some folks coming through. They've always done that, but I think at this level it's too high and put some more maybe I don't know what type of resources they've had in the past to put just to filter them out a bit more than they're going now.

Speaker 1: 47:06

Yeah, I agree. Hopefully sooner than later we can just lift in. Is it too much to ask for a wonderful, happy world where everyone? Has a glass of water and a meal to eat. I personally think that's too much to ask for.

Speaker 2: 47:18

I mean, I think I tell you what they hear. There's a if their friends go through, they're going to talk and they're going to say they went through here and went through there. Maybe I only have to be raped or robbed a few times to get there, but if I get there and they're letting me through, they're living over here, making whatever $10 an hour, sending money back, which is a lot of money. The word spreads and there are no dummies down in Columbia or wherever the Venezuela. The word spreads If can you get through that border? Can you get through it? Yeah, you can. You have to go through here and get paid. Us pay that. But if they can't, if they feel that they're can't, if they can't get through that border, the word is going to spread somehow and I think it's. I think it's just filtering them out. And those folks on the street they're. They talk to each other really, really rapidly. They've got cell phones, they got Texas and things, and it's it's a tough deal.

Speaker 1: 48:09

It's a tough, it definitely is. It definitely is. Bringing it back to your book, a Soldier Against Odds you have a lot of wonderful organizations that you are supporting through your book and I would love for you to share that and where all the proceeds from your book are going. Yeah, the proceeds all my process.

Speaker 2: 48:27

I've been donating for years to. Yeah, all the proceeds go to nonprofits, veterans nonprofits such as the Disabled American Veterans. It's a national organization and in South Carolina I have the Upstate Warrior Solutions. South Carolina is for Upstate Warrior Solutions, so those are the two main ones. There's a little bit of other non-profits that I give to that are veterans, but those are the two main ones and I've been doing that for years and I participate in a lot of their activities.

Speaker 2: 48:55

So in my book, which is going about to the out of the uniform, back into civilian life, one of the things a veteran has to, really needs to do, is get with a nonprofit, a service organization, to get their stuff in. The veteran service officer will help you. It's like your tax man. You give your tax woman, your tax man, the tax documents and they're the experts to get you the best tax advantage of your whatever. So when you go to the veterans when you're transitioning out, you go to a veteran service organization and you give them your documents and a veteran service organ a man, a woman they will help you get the best rating that you're possible and they'll also show you all the benefits of the organizations or the VA as well. So that's where I give my money back to is to the VA and to other non-profit veterans non-profits activities. I've been doing that for years and I'm a big supporter of them and I've used their system as well.

Speaker 1: 49:50

I think that's wonderful and, on behalf of every military person in my family, I say thank you, because it's definitely much needed. I hope that our world can come to a place where we do take better care of our veterans and that we no longer see veterans on the streets and that we have a place for every person who has stood up to fight for our rights of freedom.

Speaker 2: 50:10

Yes, and the veterans on the streets, the homeless veterans, that's just, that's a tough one. It's a tough one. A lot of them are with PTSD or they may be with drugs and alcohol and they're just surviving on a day-to-day basis. And we've got veterans support activities that go out to them. I know here in San Antonio they do. But the thing is you've got to say I need help and you've got to ask for help and you got to want to have the help. But if you don't, if you want to stay on the street, that's going to be up to you. We can't force you to go and to get help. But yeah, that's a lot of these organizations will go out there and look around and talk to them and see if they are veterans that need, they need service for the homeless. Do you need a hot three?

Speaker 1: 50:52

hots and a cot Exactly yeah, being in Phoenix, that's something that's been near and dear to my heart, which is helping the homeless that are veterans out there and helping them to find a way and making sure that they have the three meals or the cot if they would like that. And sometimes it's just the conversation, just wanting to be treated like a person and that in and of itself really helps to give them that moment of clarity, of maybe, that they can feel that they can ask for the help that they truly deserve.

Speaker 2: 51:23

Yeah, Just feeling like you're a person. Maybe they used to be a real person in the military and now they're on the streets and they don't feel real and that conversation will help them out. It might connect them to actually get some help.

Speaker 1: 51:38

Absolutely. We are about to close out the show. This has been so amazing. Jason, will you share one piece of inspiration to take us on our journey today?

Speaker 2: 51:49

Yeah, I think for the most part young people or even older people, if you just show up, you may not know anything. Just show up Right place, right time and the right attitude, you'll be doing better than 50%, and I always, when you're doing better than half of the people by just doing some really basic things showing up right place, right time, uniform or right attitude you'll be doing better than most. So that's my threes, yeah.

Speaker 1: 52:15

I love that and please will you share with us, jason. Where can people best connect with you and to find your book?

Speaker 2: 52:23

You'll see all my social media handles at my Jasonpikeorg Jasonpikeorg. You'll see all the social media handles there. I'm on LinkedIn and Facebook, instagram and things of that nature, and my books will be linked into Jasonpikeorg and they're both on Amazon.

Speaker 1: 52:40

Thank you for that and, as always, all of Jason's information and links will be over on the website in the show notes at jenniferpaladescom. Jason, thank you so much for sharing your book, your journey. You're such an inspiration to all of us to keep going and to live by the five Ps. Thank you so much for being here today and, as we say, until next time may you live an empowered life from within. Thank you so much for tuning into another episode. Just remember to rate, review and subscribe to Empowered Within with Jennifer Pilates. Your feedback is important. It helps me to connect with you and gives me insight into who you are and what you're enjoying about the show. For today's show notes and discount codes from today's sponsors, head over to jenniferpaladescom. Until next time, may you live an empowered life from within.