[Music]
good evening thank you so much for
having here I really really appreciate
it
you know these lights are kind of bright
and I got to tell you it’s kind of like
talking to God I can’t see anything past
that not good for my eyes but I guess
I’ll have to deal with it I know what
some of you were thinking you’re looking
up here tonight you see that picture of
me for 13 years ago you see me on stage
tonight and you think to yourself damn
how’d that guy get so handsome and what
can I possibly learn from such a
devastatingly handsome young man I got
to tell you I’m not here to teach you
anything it’s America after not here to
teach you dancing but what I am here to
do is to explain to you why I believe I
am the luckiest man in the world despite
what I look like you see I was born and
raised in Indianapolis I grew up to be
honestly in a different high school
student I could do it well if I wanted
to I didn’t do well if I didn’t want to
didn’t matter everything revolved around
what I wanted what I wanted to do my
desires I wasn’t going to go to harbor
all I had to do is get into college and
I did that I got into college and I went
off did my freshman year I did all right
I didn’t set the world on fire but I did
okay and then one summer day after my
freshman year of college I was talking
to an army recruiter he’d come over and
started talking to me and after we
talked to for a while he told me he said
you know what because I was hoping you
have what it takes to be a soldier but
you just don’t have what it takes I said
what do you mean he said I don’t think
you have what it takes to be a soldier
I said I got what it takes he goes well
then come on down to my office and talk
to me about it I said on
I said I’ve got what it takes but I’m
not coming down there and talking to you
he said come on down you don’t have to
do anything we’ll talk I said all right
I’ll come down there but I am NOT
joining the army I went down there to
talk to him five minutes later I joined
the army and then he took me down to
where you process and in Indianapolis
where you select your job what you’re
going to do in the army and I sat down
with the recruiter that had to talk to
you there he did the same thing because
you know after talking to you before I
talk to you I was hoping you have what
it takes to be an instrument but I don’t
think you have what it takes I said what
do you mean because I don’t think you
have what takes me an instrument five
minutes later I was an injured man
United States Army and I went off and
started my career and I went down to
Fort Benning for basic training I went
off to my first duty station in Germany
and about a year after I got there boom
the first Gulf War breaks out I found
myself in the middle of the Gulf War I
spent four or five months there and
after we were done I rotated back and I
came back to the states and I went on to
Fort Campbell and I went on to Korea and
I went back to port Benning Georgia when
I went back this time I was senior now
if I was a drill sir now that the energy
training brigade I got to be a drill sir
the center of attention you see every
cycle I got 55 brand-new civilians a
turn into combat instrument and I was
good at it I was an evil genius at
training soldiers I could do it
everything depended on me how hard we
ran how fast we ran what time we got up
what we did it was all on me and I loved
it everything revolved around me then I
went on down back to Fort Campbell
Kentucky and there I was an f3 batoon
Sarna and I was able to take two
platoons to combat and outside of my
wife of my children my greatest
accomplishment and my life was taking
both of those
tends to combat bring everybody back
unharmed but you see I loved it because
just like when I was a drill sergeant
when I was over there I was in the
middle of everything
everything revolved around me my
soldiers couldn’t do anything out
without the kingdom II for decisions
came to me for leadership came to me for
guidance hell I even vitamin gave water
everything focuses on me and people spun
around me and I absolutely loved it then
in 2005 the army decided it was time
again for me to go overseas for another
combat towards my fourth combat to her
and when I went over I went over as an
advisor to an Iraqi unit and it was my
job along with my advisory team I had
eight-man advisory team it was my job to
help our Iraq II unit plan resource and
execute missions right there in Baghdad
in central Iraq again it was a great job
I loved it there I was in the middle of
things
everybody buzzing around me my Iraqis
coming to me for guidance my Iraqis
coming to me for leadership coming to me
to help them get what they needed going
into the fight with them everything was
on me and I loved it we were there for
about three months and the fourth of
July came around and I remember this day
distinctly I was sitting on the hood of
my vehicle my Humvee explaining to the
Iraqis what the fourth of July meant to
us as Americans what it meant to us as a
nation to be independent and the other
Americans were firing off fireworks
these big explosions and as you can
imagine our fireworks in the army a lot
that was the fourth of July my next
memory is August 8th more than a month
later
I woke up that Walter Reed the old
Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington
DC with my wife Christie speaking to me
and for life me I couldn’t figure out
what the hell she was doing Baghdad see
my last memory was being on that hood on
the fourth of July with my Iraqis and
there I was in that bed you see what it
happened is on 7 July of 2005 now for
those of you who are old enough you may
remember that as a day of the London
bombings that day learn as bastards
attacked the London transportation
system and killed and injured so many
those innocent people but it was on that
day that myself
for my teammates and one of our
interpreters was going out a two vehicle
convoy to link up with our Iraqi
brothers to go on a mission it just so
happens it was my turn to drive you see
one day you drive one day you’d be in
the gun one day you command the vehicle
just so happens it was my turn to drive
that day so we took off in that two
vehicle convoy and that’s two up armored
Humvees we came down onto an expressway
we accelerated up to speed we came to an
overpass as we exit out the side on the
far side of that overpass boom the enemy
blew an ambush on us and they initiated
that ambush with that OEE that
improvised explosive device of the
roadside bomb that we’ve heard so much
about over the years and that ie D
Center projectile T the driver side
window of my vehicle if you were to draw
our necks across the vehicle across the
driver side window on the vehicle you
came here tonight and right where those
lines crossed to form that X is where
that projectile entered right next to my
head there’s an absolutely incredible
shot I was traveling probably 60 miles
an hour
they had me dead center of the driver’s
and that projectile entered burned
through that bulletproof glass came
across my face went through the radios
to my right and out the other side of
that up-armored hmmwv it left the hole
all the way through the armor the size
of my fist and when it went out the
other side
it took with it my entire nose my lips
most of my teeth damaged my right arm
took the majority of my eyesight and I
woke up a month later with Christie my
wife talking to me at Walter Reed laying
in a hospital bed unable to see unable
now about the time I woke up I had a
friend of mine who was injured not a
mile from where I was injured he was
injured by that same type of roadside
bomb and he had some of the same
injuries I had and when they brought him
back to the States instead of taking it
to the old Walter Reed where I was they
took him to what was then known as
Bethesda Naval Medical Center in
Bethesda Maryland which is about ten
miles as a crow flies Darren DC earns
about six hours in that DC traffic but
they took him there about two weeks
later I was sitting in my hospital bed
my team of opthamologist walk-in team of
three surgeons and they want to talk to
me you see I’ve been awake long enough I
come up out of that month-long coma they
taught me how to speak with that
tracheotomy at the hole my throat I
could communicate with him to let him
know how much vision I had remaining
they knew I had something but they
weren’t sure how much so the guy meaning
wheelchair they wheeled me down to
clinic which was in the basement of the
hospital that got me up in the
examination chair and the first doctor
came in he sat down he talked to me for
a minute and he examined me they went
out in the hallway and had a
conversation with the other doctors then
the next senior doctor came in and sat
down examined my eyes went out to the
hallway had a conversation with the
other doctors and then finally that
senior doctor walked in he sat down he
talked to me for a moment he examined my
eyes and he leaned back in his chair and
he let out an audible sigh and then he
leaned forward he said Jeff he goes I
hate to tell you this we’ve done
everything we can but we can’t restore
divisions gone forever as a matter of
fact well you have now make it worse
some day I’m sorry about that time my
wife Christie had been out helping
another family about that time she
showed back up at the hospital found me
down the clinic’s got me in the
wheelchair and she started to wil me
back up to my room now she did that I
was overcome by emotions I’m ashamed to
say but the first time in my life for
the first time my life that day I felt
sorry for myself you see there I was 35
years old I had a wife and two children
the only thing I ever done was jumped
out of airplanes rappel from helicopters
chase bad guys what was I going to do
now and I kept asking myself why me
why did this have to happen to me too
many people rely on me I’m too damn
Christie finally got me up to my room
she got me up into the bed she still
does this to this day when I’m upset she
take my hand and rub my hand this will
talk to me to calm me down and as she
did that the phone rang she picked up
the phone and we were told that my
friend had been injured too which fire
and there I sat at my hospital room and
I was overcome by a second wave of
emotions but this time those emotions or
shame and sadness sad my friend made
that sacrifice shame that I thought what
I had thought 30 minutes earlier when I
was riding in that wheelchair up to my
room and I thought I was so important
that I couldn’t make that sacrifice hell
I had to make a Saturday I hadn’t made a
sacrifice my friend
and that’s a lesson I learned barely
early you say I was sitting there I
could hear everything going on around me
I could hear the doctors move it up and
down the hallways I can hear the nurses
coming in and out of the room it’s like
hear the patient’s talking to their
family members I got here Christie
talking to me and it dawned on me I was
at the center of the world life would go
on no matter what happened to me and
quite frankly that’s a freeing feeling
that’s freeing sensations you see I’m no
longer the center of the universe and
since that frees me it allows me to get
out and do things you see I can get up
on stage and do a talk like this tonight
because I’m not worried about even if I
were to embarrass myself and make a fool
of myself it’s okay I would get up
tomorrow morning and I’d live my day
because I’m not so important that the
world stops now my friends have asked me
over the years I said Jeff is it hard
for you when you get out and you do
these things there’s a hard for you to
interact with people you sound different
you look different your injuries are so
is it ever hard and quite frankly it is
in today’s society we’re taught not to
stare we’re not taught to ask questions
we’re not taught or we’re taught not to
ask questions we’re taught not to say
the wrong thing we’re afraid we’re going
to offend somebody so the effect of that
is when you see somebody like me or we
see somebody who’s injured
perhaps another veteran perhaps somebody
who’s disabled we tend to withdraw
that’s especially true among adults now
sometimes children are a little bit
different they haven’t developed that
filter yet they don’t know what not to
say
so children tend to engage me quite a
bit I’ll tell you Christie and I were in
a hotel elevator hotel elevator in
Washington DC is about two years after I
was hurt we’re standing there in the
elevator the doors open this little boy
steps in he’s about 10 or 11 years old
it’s where the guy who looks up at me
said well son when I was about your age
I was in a hotel elevator with the
disabled Vietnam veteran and this is
Crissy said his eyes got about this big
around the doors opened up and he shot
out of there like he was on a rocket
probably go tell his mom I’ll call the
cops I don’t know what you see I’m here
today because of the life I’ve been able
to live that includes all those
experiences in the military I’m here
because of the lesson I learned so early
in my recovery that I was at that damn
important that knowledge has allowed me
to go out and do other things it’s
allowed me to get out do events like
this it’s allowed me to engage other
people it’s allowed me to take
opportunities of
that I normally wouldn’t have the
opportunity to do I’ll tell you I’m
really really successful in life for a
man with no discernible talent I really
really am I’m not an accountant I’m not
an IT guy I’m not a finance guy but what
I’ve learned is to when you’re not the
center of the world you can focus on
other people you can focus on your
family you can focus on your community
you can focus on your employees and
because of those lessons I’ve learned
and those experiences I’ve had I truly
truly believe I am the luckiest man in
the world and with that I’m going to
leave you all tonight god bless you and thank you
good evening thank you so much for
having here I really really appreciate
it
you know these lights are kind of bright
and I got to tell you it’s kind of like
talking to God I can’t see anything past
that not good for my eyes but I guess
I’ll have to deal with it I know what
some of you were thinking you’re looking
up here tonight you see that picture of
me for 13 years ago you see me on stage
tonight and you think to yourself damn
how’d that guy get so handsome and what
can I possibly learn from such a
devastatingly handsome young man I got
to tell you I’m not here to teach you
anything it’s America after not here to
teach you dancing but what I am here to
do is to explain to you why I believe I
am the luckiest man in the world despite
what I look like you see I was born and
raised in Indianapolis I grew up to be
honestly in a different high school
student I could do it well if I wanted
to I didn’t do well if I didn’t want to
didn’t matter everything revolved around
what I wanted what I wanted to do my
desires I wasn’t going to go to harbor
all I had to do is get into college and
I did that I got into college and I went
off did my freshman year I did all right
I didn’t set the world on fire but I did
okay and then one summer day after my
freshman year of college I was talking
to an army recruiter he’d come over and
started talking to me and after we
talked to for a while he told me he said
you know what because I was hoping you
have what it takes to be a soldier but
you just don’t have what it takes I said
what do you mean he said I don’t think
you have what it takes to be a soldier
I said I got what it takes he goes well
then come on down to my office and talk
to me about it I said on
I said I’ve got what it takes but I’m
not coming down there and talking to you
he said come on down you don’t have to
do anything we’ll talk I said all right
I’ll come down there but I am NOT
joining the army I went down there to
talk to him five minutes later I joined
the army and then he took me down to
where you process and in Indianapolis
where you select your job what you’re
going to do in the army and I sat down
with the recruiter that had to talk to
you there he did the same thing because
you know after talking to you before I
talk to you I was hoping you have what
it takes to be an instrument but I don’t
think you have what it takes I said what
do you mean because I don’t think you
have what takes me an instrument five
minutes later I was an injured man
United States Army and I went off and
started my career and I went down to
Fort Benning for basic training I went
off to my first duty station in Germany
and about a year after I got there boom
the first Gulf War breaks out I found
myself in the middle of the Gulf War I
spent four or five months there and
after we were done I rotated back and I
came back to the states and I went on to
Fort Campbell and I went on to Korea and
I went back to port Benning Georgia when
I went back this time I was senior now
if I was a drill sir now that the energy
training brigade I got to be a drill sir
the center of attention you see every
cycle I got 55 brand-new civilians a
turn into combat instrument and I was
good at it I was an evil genius at
training soldiers I could do it
everything depended on me how hard we
ran how fast we ran what time we got up
what we did it was all on me and I loved
it everything revolved around me then I
went on down back to Fort Campbell
Kentucky and there I was an f3 batoon
Sarna and I was able to take two
platoons to combat and outside of my
wife of my children my greatest
accomplishment and my life was taking
both of those
tends to combat bring everybody back
unharmed but you see I loved it because
just like when I was a drill sergeant
when I was over there I was in the
middle of everything
everything revolved around me my
soldiers couldn’t do anything out
without the kingdom II for decisions
came to me for leadership came to me for
guidance hell I even vitamin gave water
everything focuses on me and people spun
around me and I absolutely loved it then
in 2005 the army decided it was time
again for me to go overseas for another
combat towards my fourth combat to her
and when I went over I went over as an
advisor to an Iraqi unit and it was my
job along with my advisory team I had
eight-man advisory team it was my job to
help our Iraq II unit plan resource and
execute missions right there in Baghdad
in central Iraq again it was a great job
I loved it there I was in the middle of
things
everybody buzzing around me my Iraqis
coming to me for guidance my Iraqis
coming to me for leadership coming to me
to help them get what they needed going
into the fight with them everything was
on me and I loved it we were there for
about three months and the fourth of
July came around and I remember this day
distinctly I was sitting on the hood of
my vehicle my Humvee explaining to the
Iraqis what the fourth of July meant to
us as Americans what it meant to us as a
nation to be independent and the other
Americans were firing off fireworks
these big explosions and as you can
imagine our fireworks in the army a lot
that was the fourth of July my next
memory is August 8th more than a month
later
I woke up that Walter Reed the old
Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington
DC with my wife Christie speaking to me
and for life me I couldn’t figure out
what the hell she was doing Baghdad see
my last memory was being on that hood on
the fourth of July with my Iraqis and
there I was in that bed you see what it
happened is on 7 July of 2005 now for
those of you who are old enough you may
remember that as a day of the London
bombings that day learn as bastards
attacked the London transportation
system and killed and injured so many
those innocent people but it was on that
day that myself
for my teammates and one of our
interpreters was going out a two vehicle
convoy to link up with our Iraqi
brothers to go on a mission it just so
happens it was my turn to drive you see
one day you drive one day you’d be in
the gun one day you command the vehicle
just so happens it was my turn to drive
that day so we took off in that two
vehicle convoy and that’s two up armored
Humvees we came down onto an expressway
we accelerated up to speed we came to an
overpass as we exit out the side on the
far side of that overpass boom the enemy
blew an ambush on us and they initiated
that ambush with that OEE that
improvised explosive device of the
roadside bomb that we’ve heard so much
about over the years and that ie D
Center projectile T the driver side
window of my vehicle if you were to draw
our necks across the vehicle across the
driver side window on the vehicle you
came here tonight and right where those
lines crossed to form that X is where
that projectile entered right next to my
head there’s an absolutely incredible
shot I was traveling probably 60 miles
an hour
they had me dead center of the driver’s
and that projectile entered burned
through that bulletproof glass came
across my face went through the radios
to my right and out the other side of
that up-armored hmmwv it left the hole
all the way through the armor the size
of my fist and when it went out the
other side
it took with it my entire nose my lips
most of my teeth damaged my right arm
took the majority of my eyesight and I
woke up a month later with Christie my
wife talking to me at Walter Reed laying
in a hospital bed unable to see unable
now about the time I woke up I had a
friend of mine who was injured not a
mile from where I was injured he was
injured by that same type of roadside
bomb and he had some of the same
injuries I had and when they brought him
back to the States instead of taking it
to the old Walter Reed where I was they
took him to what was then known as
Bethesda Naval Medical Center in
Bethesda Maryland which is about ten
miles as a crow flies Darren DC earns
about six hours in that DC traffic but
they took him there about two weeks
later I was sitting in my hospital bed
my team of opthamologist walk-in team of
three surgeons and they want to talk to
me you see I’ve been awake long enough I
come up out of that month-long coma they
taught me how to speak with that
tracheotomy at the hole my throat I
could communicate with him to let him
know how much vision I had remaining
they knew I had something but they
weren’t sure how much so the guy meaning
wheelchair they wheeled me down to
clinic which was in the basement of the
hospital that got me up in the
examination chair and the first doctor
came in he sat down he talked to me for
a minute and he examined me they went
out in the hallway and had a
conversation with the other doctors then
the next senior doctor came in and sat
down examined my eyes went out to the
hallway had a conversation with the
other doctors and then finally that
senior doctor walked in he sat down he
talked to me for a moment he examined my
eyes and he leaned back in his chair and
he let out an audible sigh and then he
leaned forward he said Jeff he goes I
hate to tell you this we’ve done
everything we can but we can’t restore
divisions gone forever as a matter of
fact well you have now make it worse
some day I’m sorry about that time my
wife Christie had been out helping
another family about that time she
showed back up at the hospital found me
down the clinic’s got me in the
wheelchair and she started to wil me
back up to my room now she did that I
was overcome by emotions I’m ashamed to
say but the first time in my life for
the first time my life that day I felt
sorry for myself you see there I was 35
years old I had a wife and two children
the only thing I ever done was jumped
out of airplanes rappel from helicopters
chase bad guys what was I going to do
now and I kept asking myself why me
why did this have to happen to me too
many people rely on me I’m too damn
Christie finally got me up to my room
she got me up into the bed she still
does this to this day when I’m upset she
take my hand and rub my hand this will
talk to me to calm me down and as she
did that the phone rang she picked up
the phone and we were told that my
friend had been injured too which fire
and there I sat at my hospital room and
I was overcome by a second wave of
emotions but this time those emotions or
shame and sadness sad my friend made
that sacrifice shame that I thought what
I had thought 30 minutes earlier when I
was riding in that wheelchair up to my
room and I thought I was so important
that I couldn’t make that sacrifice hell
I had to make a Saturday I hadn’t made a
sacrifice my friend
and that’s a lesson I learned barely
early you say I was sitting there I
could hear everything going on around me
I could hear the doctors move it up and
down the hallways I can hear the nurses
coming in and out of the room it’s like
hear the patient’s talking to their
family members I got here Christie
talking to me and it dawned on me I was
at the center of the world life would go
on no matter what happened to me and
quite frankly that’s a freeing feeling
that’s freeing sensations you see I’m no
longer the center of the universe and
since that frees me it allows me to get
out and do things you see I can get up
on stage and do a talk like this tonight
because I’m not worried about even if I
were to embarrass myself and make a fool
of myself it’s okay I would get up
tomorrow morning and I’d live my day
because I’m not so important that the
world stops now my friends have asked me
over the years I said Jeff is it hard
for you when you get out and you do
these things there’s a hard for you to
interact with people you sound different
you look different your injuries are so
is it ever hard and quite frankly it is
in today’s society we’re taught not to
stare we’re not taught to ask questions
we’re not taught or we’re taught not to
ask questions we’re taught not to say
the wrong thing we’re afraid we’re going
to offend somebody so the effect of that
is when you see somebody like me or we
see somebody who’s injured
perhaps another veteran perhaps somebody
who’s disabled we tend to withdraw
that’s especially true among adults now
sometimes children are a little bit
different they haven’t developed that
filter yet they don’t know what not to
say
so children tend to engage me quite a
bit I’ll tell you Christie and I were in
a hotel elevator hotel elevator in
Washington DC is about two years after I
was hurt we’re standing there in the
elevator the doors open this little boy
steps in he’s about 10 or 11 years old
it’s where the guy who looks up at me
said well son when I was about your age
I was in a hotel elevator with the
disabled Vietnam veteran and this is
Crissy said his eyes got about this big
around the doors opened up and he shot
out of there like he was on a rocket
probably go tell his mom I’ll call the
cops I don’t know what you see I’m here
today because of the life I’ve been able
to live that includes all those
experiences in the military I’m here
because of the lesson I learned so early
in my recovery that I was at that damn
important that knowledge has allowed me
to go out and do other things it’s
allowed me to get out do events like
this it’s allowed me to engage other
people it’s allowed me to take
opportunities of
that I normally wouldn’t have the
opportunity to do I’ll tell you I’m
really really successful in life for a
man with no discernible talent I really
really am I’m not an accountant I’m not
an IT guy I’m not a finance guy but what
I’ve learned is to when you’re not the
center of the world you can focus on
other people you can focus on your
family you can focus on your community
you can focus on your employees and
because of those lessons I’ve learned
and those experiences I’ve had I truly
truly believe I am the luckiest man in
the world and with that I’m going to
leave you all tonight god bless you and thank you
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