MILITARY EXPERIENCE
I was commissioned in 2002 out of Western Michigan, and I’m an infantry officer by trade. I was a platoon leader with the 82nd, and I was a mortar platoon leader with the same unit. So I was a platoon leader for about 30 months.
I went to school again, the Infantry Captains Career Course, and then I was a Ranger instructor for two years, and then I walked right into command for two years with the third infantry division, right there at Fort Benning.
I have two deployments. I have a short tour to Iraq in 2004 with the 82nd. And I had a traditional one-year tour to Iraq again in a separate province in 2009-2010 as a company commander. Then I had a break of service for about a year after I left active duty. And then I went into the National Guard in SC, so I’ve been in the guards for about three years now.
why army, airborne, infantry, ranger?
Army's 82nd Airborne, Infantry, Ranger
Photo Credit: http://www.zazzle.com/82nd+airborne+postcards
Well you don’t get to pick your unit as an officer. You don’t even get to pick your branch. I wanted to be airborne, infantry, ranger. I wanted to be bigger and badder than my dad. And I wanted to be in Army. I got Pidgeon-holed into being an officer. I thought I was Slick Rick and pull one over on my Dad, and went to recruiters before I was 18 and he found out. He took away my car keys, job and sports and all that other stuff and said “fill out your college application and your scholarship packet.” So I did that- didn’t think I was going to get it- somehow or another I got a three-year scholarship and got accepted into school. And I went- and once I start something, I tend to not quit, till I break myself or I’m unsuccessful.
So before you get your commission, it’s your third year of school- you go to advanced camp and you’re assessed, by Cadet Command based on your performance and you make wish list as to which branch you want, what duty assignments you want, so on and so forth. And based off of the needs of the Army and how well you do, they slot you wherever they need you.
As opposed to the enlisted side where you show up to a recruiter and they show you a shopping list and you say “okay- I want that”, and then you go do it. That or you walk out. It’s not like that with an officer where you’re like “Okay, I’m here, I’ve done my training- here’s my top 5” And then Army says “I don’t care- you’re getting thirty- two”
But I lucked out, I got my first choice, and my first choice duty station- I just knew I wanted to be airborne infantry. So I lucked out and got to do what I wanted to do.
what advice would you give to a person considering joining the military?
If they’re enlisted, don’t go without a veteran, or someone that’s currently serving to the recruiting station. And the reason is kids are so young, and they get kind of excited- and that’s nothing against recruiters they have to meet their quotas, and there’s certain things they have to push, and they get pressured to do- but that’s not really where it gets sticky. Where it gets sticky is when a guy whose excited and it takes a while to actually go through the process and enlist, and people will get antsy. And they’ll say “screw it, I want to go now” and they’ll just go. But they may not be making the best decision for them. It’s just like anything else. If you’re not going to do something that hands-down you really want to do, you’re going to have a bad experience. At best, you’re not going to have as good of an experience as you wanted.
But the other thing I would say to your officer or enlisted if they were going to join is, if you want to serve- then go serve. Nobody else should be able to influence you. Don’t let someone else cloud your judgement and your dedication. I’ve seen a lot of people who forgo service, and turn 32, and their like” I should have joined, I should have joined” and they’re filled with all this regret, because their high school girlfriend or their mom told them not to join the army. If you want to go serve- go serve. You’re a big boy. Be an adult.
Clarence's last tour diwaniyah Iraq 2009
Photo Credit: Clarence Matthew's
what do you most appreciate in america?
Just the amount of freedom that we actually have. And it’s not just a “I can go and do this, or that” You don’t have to worry about massacres, that have been organized by secret police. I mean in Iraq, I can stick my M4 in a guy’s face, and he wouldn’t flinch. But if I even reached anywhere near my 9-millimeter there, people would cower and run away.
And it didn’t make sense to me at first- but it makes perfect sense. Because in Iraq, the secret police and Saddam’s republican guard and what not, they would go out there in the middle of the night, snatch people up, and beat them to death with their pistols and batons. There were such strong marks of authority and abusive power. The corruption that people think we have here is so minimal in comparison to other countries. I don’t mean to slight what’s going on in recent news, but it makes you very mindful of what we have. And you can be sitting at home saying “government this, and police this, and police that” If you actually went and saw some of this other stuff other people go through- you’ll be saying “we got it pretty good over here”
And on the flip side of that, it makes me look at people who are taking advantage of the system, and don’t appreciate the simple things that they have, you know? If I want to go ride my motorcycle, or just sit outside- I can do that. Something as simple as that, you can’t do over there. You’ll come home and your just like “Wow- look at all of this stuff” and you just see so many people wasting it, and not appreciating what they have, not appreciating their family. And that’s another thing. Not just being in another country, but just being away from your family and your friends and actually being in the world. You come back and it’s just sensory overload. You’re just thinking “I could just lay in this grass for hours, and not care about anything, because no one is trying to shoot me. And if I want to go see someone, I can.” When you come back it slows life down quite a bit, in a lot of ways.
how can we reduce veteran suicides- from 22 a day... to 0?
That is a hard question. In terms of what GallantFew is doing, my name and number is on the website, I’m available 24/7, 365 to veterans. I don’t think the government really can do a whole lot. They need to fix the VA, and they need to stop taking away veteran’s benefits. These people that I know personally, without arms, or without legs, or with traumatic brain injury- where they can’t function because they have headaches, or dizzy spells, or nausea. They have brain damage to the point where they’re really Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. And they have no control over it, because their brain is straight up damaged. There’s just nothing they can do about it. And we don’t have enough science and medical research yet to really start making an impact with it. So that’s what I think the government’s role should be.
I think it has to start at the grassroots level and the community level. When you’re a veteran and you come back, you think that you’re going to just fit right back in. You know? Because that place didn’t change, so I should be able to slide right back in. But what you don’t realize it’s like moving to another country, and learning a new language and learning a new culture- but you know how to get to every street corner. It’s like this weird Deja-vu, and you can’t associate with those people because they don’t understand you, and you’re wondering “why don’t I understand them? Why don’t they see the world like I do?” And then civilians wonder “Why don’t they see the world like I do?” “Why is he so assertive? Why is he so matter of fact?”- Well that’s what he did for X number of years. That’s how he survived. And he was very good at it, and it was efficient and it probably saved lives. And that’s if a guy came out of there and never got wounded. And don’t get me started on the label that is placed on us because of PTSD. I can ask 10 people what pops into their head when they hear PTSD and at least 8 of them will say Veteran or War or something like that. You think a rape victim or someone that lost their home in a fire doesn’t have PTSD? Yet another example of the gap between service members and society.
There is a huge disconnect between the veteran, military population and the civilian population. And bridging that gap is where the challenge lies, and how you really go about doing it- it’s hard. And why are veteran suicide numbers so high? It’s a multitude of things.
One is that people don’t know what we’re going through. You’ve got these psychologists that don’t really understand our mentality and framework, so they have no context or no real experience or connection so they don’t want to, or don’t know how to relate, so they just give you a bunch of damn pills. It’s what they’re trained to do. I’m not saying they don’t have their place but so many Veterans turn to professionals and it’s not working by and large.
And Veterans don’t know how to relate, or don’t want to communicate that to another person. Like for me, I don’t like telling people about all the things that I did, or saw, or some of the things my friends saw and did. I didn’t even see the worst of it. I had it easy. Because that’s my job to bear that weight. I didn’t like it, but it had to be done. Just don’t ask me about that. Why? It’s like talking to a wall, folks just can’t comprehend. And to a degree- I’m right. And to another degree- I’m 100% wrong. Because you have to bridge the gap. How are you going to bridge the gap without telling that shit?
what would you SAY TO A PERSON, WHO IN PROTEST, BURNED THE AMERICAN FLAG?
Photo Credit: http://www.hdwallpaperscool.com/american-flag-desktop-wallpapers/
That’s a double edged sword. On one respect, I would love to choke-slam them, because I lost friends defending it. But on the other respect, I don’t want to stoop myself to that emotional childishness that they’re acting out on. Because I see people doing that as trying to act out, and trying to get attention.
We put our lives on the line, to give them that freedom to burn or step on a flag. And as much as I disagree with it, as wrong as I think it is, as disrespectful as it is, as childish as it is- they have a right to do it. I don’t like it- but they have a right to do it. And I’m not going to put a stain on the veteran community’s name, because I went out there and stomped some kid. I’m a military officer- I’m not going to go out there and stomp some kid at some demonstration because he’s acting like a fool. And then I go to jail and I make the veteran community look bad because someone else was acting like a five-year-old.
But what does it mean? To me, I mean it really is a symbol. People really don’t understand or appreciate the history of the country, and what their freedoms really are.
That flag is everything. It has a star for each one of our states. That red is for the blood that we’ve shed. That is the symbol of freedom. And it is probably one of the top five symbols in the world that people either love or hate- it’s very polarizing. And for a piece of cloth to do that, I think is amazing and speaks for itself.
Mr. Matthews later sent me this quote, which he thought better answered the question:
"If you ever want to see what that flag means, go to a funeral of a veteran when that flag is presented to the relatives. That is when the flag becomes the most important thing in their lives because it is all they have left."
WHAT IS Gallantfew?
Photo Credit: http://www.candyssandassociates.com/587/
The following explanation came from their website- https://gallantfew.org/
"The core focus of GallantFew is one-on-one mentoring by a veteran with a veteran. We share lessons learned on active duty, but traditional transition doesn’t share transition lessons learned. We want to change that, and we want to prevent veterans from becoming isolated and frustrated. You may feel that your thoughts, feelings and emotions are unique to you, but they aren’t.
We call the mentor “Guide”, and the veteran being mentored is a “Future Guide”.
Bottom line – we want our guides and veterans to have as many things in common as possible because this generates a much quicker and stronger bond. We have created some specific programs for specific veteran populations: US Army Rangers have The Darby Project, Marine Corps Raiders and combat Infantryman have The Raider Project. Soon coming online is a program specific to the US Air Force called Wings Level"
what is the most inspired you've been working at gallantfew
Clarence (Left) with his First Sergeant prior to deployment.
Photo Credit: Clarence Matthews
Oh that’s easy. I had been working with the organization for about a year, and I got a call from Karl, saying “hey- I need you to call this guy.”
So I kept calling, and four or five other people are calling, and finally he picks up, and I get to talking to him. And he’s a quadriplegic, and he’s having a rough go. And after talking to him and checking in with him the next couple of days- he took my advice, and got moving. I told him “The worst thing about getting out of a damn rut is moving.” You have to start moving.
It’s like saying- “I’m going to run a marathon- so I’m going to run five miles today.” But you’ve never run five miles before, so you get four-hundred yards down the road and you’re like “dude this is awful! Why am I doing this?” But you’re moving. And you start picking up pace, and you start building up endurance and strength, and you’re changing scenery.
And I said to him- “If you keep moving- you will get better. Change your environment. If the people around you suck- find new people. If your house sucks- leave. Go see some friends, change everything right now, and go somewhere.” Well he did. And he went and saw someone that he served with, and was very close with, and it changed his life. And his name is Chris Bemiss. And if you go on YouTube and look up The Ranger you can learn more about him
Chris is the perfect example of Ranger. He’s got all of this energy, drive, assertiveness and aggression. And he wants to be successful, and he’s beating himself up, because he’s not where he wants to be, and he’s asking himself “Why am I treating people this way? Why am I doing it like this? Why am I so angry? Why am I failing?
And someone snaps you out of it, and you relent, and you give yourself into another way of thinking. Kind of like when you join the army, and you change yourself- and you realize- I can do this. And that dude (Chris Bemiss) is a rock-star, and if he’s not a hero in everyone’s book, I don’t know. I love Chris to death. So that is probably the most inspired I’ve ever been with the organization.
Click on the image below to watch The Ranger.
how would you like to see gallantfew grow in the coming years?
I would like to see GallantFew with the notoriety that Wounded Warrior does- but without the stigma of Wounded Warrior. I support nothing that has anything to do with Wounded Warrior. No one from GallantFew does. But to have our name, to have that reach, and to have people see the way we operate and the way that we conduct ourselves- I think that would be the pivot point for really truly bridging that gap on a grander scale- between the civilian community and those who have served.
I would just really like to see GallantFew continuing on the path that they’re on right now, because the way Karl’s vision for the organization is, and because the way we operate, is very smart and it’s very systematic, and it’s very grassroots driven. And it continues to teach us to rely on each other.
So I think we’re going about this the right way, but for us to have that level of notoriety will really be a big tipping point as far as people understanding- one- what the problem is, but two this imaginary, cultural rift between the two societies- and if they just got together and talked, and figured each other out- we’d be fine. It’s no different than being a military kid and moving to a new school, you’ve got to figure it out and meet new people and see how everything works- it’s simple.
the problem with wounded warrior project
What are the reasons that you don't respect the organization?
Well one is the financial reasons. There are a lot of big non-profit organizations, and technically they are non-profits. But if their CEO, or their directors are making six figures, and you’ve got multiple VP’s and their all making six figures. Come on dude. Another reason is some of the people I know have been paraded around. They’ll go to a Wounded Warrior event and they’ll get a voucher to stay at a Motel 6, and a voucher for a van. So they’ll take their van and drive to this event to speak about their experience and what Wounded Warrior has done for them. And they’ll get there and the people from Wounded Warrior show up in a damn limo, and they stayed at the Ritz last night. Are they really about Veterans? If you’re going to fly a veteran out to this event so you can raise money, why don’t you have them staying at the Ritz too? Treat them like the heroes they’re supposed to be treated like. If all you can afford is the Motel 6- than you should be staying at the Motel 6 too.
It’s just a big corporation man, and it’s not grassroots. I personally think they’re scandalous and dishonest, and I think they’re piggybacking off of other people’s service. And that’s putting it kindly.
A huge thank you to Clarence Matthews, for taking the time have this interview with us!
Be sure to check out GallantFew's website here: https://gallantfew.org/