Former Soldiers Epic Transition Find Your Inner Squad Leader

How do I go from the military into the civilian world? How do I act? Why should I act that way? Why? Because you're a versatile human being. Everything can change. Everything can adjust. If we've adjusted to other environments, why are we so stubborn to adjust to this one? Because we don't have a squad leader telling us how to do it. That's why. And up in here, when we do and we decide to build the squad leader in the brain, I have that one. My squad leader talks to me all the time. I'm going to do some stupid shit, bap, squad leader talks to me. Don't do that. I'm going to do something cool, squad leader says, right on. Make sure that's on your NCOER. Every one of us needs to build that squad leader. Tells you what to do. You're not doing PT? Squad leader, I'll have to knee up your ass pretty quick. You're not eating right, taking care of yourself, because if you're not staying combat effective and it's because you don't want to be, you've got a problem because you are a war fighter. I use the term war fighter. Why? Because it covers all of us and that's what we do. Service member? A service member is a penis. Don't call people service members. The joke catches up as it moves across the room. We are war fighters, that's what we do. We don't sugarcoat it. We say it like it is. And it's across all branches of service. We are war fighters. That's the unity. We cannot coalesce as a group until we coalesce our language. That language means something. There's a noun attached to who we are. We are one thing. We are war fighters. We are militants. And as we transition into this world, we learn to be militants, but with kindness. There's nothing wrong with being a warfighter and maintaining that identity. It's who you are. It's who you were born to be. Accept it. Don't try and be something fake and go out there and, ugh. When I started this whole thing, that photograph right there, I was like a Malcolm X kind of guy. Do not assimilate. Civilians suck. They're the reason everything's screwed up. We're the only ones to get anything done right. You've all felt it too. I learned some. I learned a little more. There's a lot of good civilians out there. They do great work. They do great work for us. I'll call them back. They do great work for us, and we should acknowledge that. But don't give up the militancy that you are. That's the fire that we have. That's what I care about. I was worried. I went down to Panama last year. The reason I wasn't here last year is because my heart was giving out. So I had to go down to Panama and get stem cells. It saved my own life. And I was very worried when I did that, that it would change my brain somehow. And all of a sudden, I'd have another identity crisis, and I wouldn't get it. Well, I can tell you right now, after getting stem cell therapy and the type of therapy I got, yes, I have changed. Some of the things that were problem up here are no longer a problem up here. And I can look back and see how I did behave, what I did do, and how I did think, and how I am now, what the contrast is. That's rare, because I've done it within a year. Very, very rare. And I'm telling you, in the warfighter mind, for guys who are hurt and injured, there's more than just simple things to overcome. More than just simple things. And the first big thing that has to be overcome is you've got to get a trained squad leader up in the brain that makes sure you're doing the right thing. Because otherwise, what happens? You've got the angel and the devil, right? They're just talking, battling all the time. Well, squad leader comes in, smacks him both in the head, drops him for push-ups, and sorts things out. Here's what we're going to do. And I appreciate that. You should appreciate it, and that's something everybody here can identify with because we each have two different selves, our actual self and our traumatic self. And one of the two is always talking, and it's the squad leader that gives permission for which one to talk.