[applause] the veterans and the Society Program at the center for a new american security. His research focuses on issues that face veterans and military personal now, structure and readiness issues and Civil Military relations. The much resent article that is published in this Current Issue of Foreign Affairs magazine. Return home to an increasing involvement in the Veterans National affairs. The attorney and the business adviser who is currently teaching as an adjunct professor of law at georgetown university. Today he is with us as a moderator and friend of our keynote speaker at. Born in paris [applause] he joined the army in 2008 and was deployed to afghanistan. Now it was during his second deployment that he tackled a suspicious local man making his way towards one of the patrols. Many were spared as a result of this action. It will be available after lunch. The army rangers ranging and the courage that brought him to take the brave action to save as many lives. How can we think a man whose sense of responsibility inspired to take that action perhaps president obama had the right idea when in the 2015 and on veterans day he awarded the congressional medal of honor from the displayed the first immigrants to be so recognized since the vietnam war. Please join me. Thank you for being here with us. [applause] one of the things i took away from your book which i had the chance to read this week was despite the medal and your incredible bravery you are also a humble and down to earth guy and there is one story that crystallizes that and maybe you can tell everyone about that day that you fell into the sea which sewage. [laughter] we have an incredible great idea to create and pass out these cards. If they came into your village called the number on the back of this card. 75 of them couldnt even read it, so that was a problem with a. The locals figure if we appear to be helping we just called them and told them and they think we are friends then they will build us a retaining wall and mosque. The taliban is here creating havoc so we fell off as a unit to that village. What happened is instead we are over here knocking on doors in the middle of the night, some of you are still eating so we will keep it pg. Its one of those things you just kind of dump it in there and thats where i fell in all the way up to my chest. I remember not realizing what it was then that smelling it and as im asking for help they were like no, you are on your own walking back. [laughter] sometimes they have good ideas. This time it was not one. You had an unusual story of how you came to the army is unique and striking. How did you come to be an army officer . About 12yearsold i was adopted by a great man named larry and we came here to. [cheering] here we go. [laughter] the organization came in and a 80s or 90s to take over the government with radical islam part of the world in th and them countries and my uncle thought this was wrong and didnt represent anything he was reaching, so like many others, he put on that uniform and thought these individuals and in february of 1996 he was shot, beheaded, put in a box and sent back to my grandfather. That was a testament of the evil happening in the world. I compare it to what is happening around the world right now. Its just this culture it happens on cnn and fox news. That is the thing that bothered me as a young child is so much could be happening if nobodys talking about it, but i remember. I became a u. S. Citizen and my son actually 9 11 i was a freshman in college and here i was a naturalized citizen of the country they would come in and create terror. So my only one solution is to be a part of the solution. We are lucky that you didnt. You dont just choose the army can you choose the hardest part. What are some of the experiences where you write a lot. Youve got to look at my father and my mother, my family, my High School Coaches and track coaches at the university of maryland, treating in the military and so on, the treaty that i received while as a platoon leader i think these experiences allowed me to make a specific decision which i believe the majority would have made as well. I wrote my first job at that one of the experiences in my life about Ranger School i kept hearing about it months and months when i chose infantry as they pass in my military career, but i never realized what it was until i got there. For those that havent been through, what is your story . You are ou url pair in three different phases and in regards to the two meals a day or you sleep an average of a couple of hours a night and approximately 100 pounds over some severe terrain and having them on Certain Missions to the. You keep going up and down and i had a heckuva story in the book about the equipment that i never really lost it at was dragging and it changed my life. Its about what you do when youre hungry, youre starving and dead tired. You havent slept more than five hours in three days, carrying all this weight and also you are not in the leadership position. These are Little Things you learn and if i had to choose between eating and sleeping, i eat a. I was a hungry ranger. [laughter] some of the thoughts i had was i needed to be an effective leader in combat and also what the reality is a. What was your job during the second deployment . What he owned was 45 different stations in the Eastern Province of afghanistan, five of them in total and he was the man. It was an unbelievable tour for six months i got to ride in helicopters and see some of the most beautiful parts of afghanistan and meet powerful incredible folks and most importantly i got to see it from a completely different perspective. I was providing security and got to see the mission through the best i could. So youve are in this eastern part of afghanistan and on august 8 your mission, take us forward from there. This is my first tour. Every wednesday at 10 00 in the morning, the governor of eastern afghanistan wanted to run the security meeting for 30 minutes. So obviously, i wasnt going to take both of that meeting every week. He doesnt want to go. I advised him on it because they have become a threat and a target. August the 2012, we havent gone in quite a few weeks and the boss had a previous meeting with all of his leaders in jalalabad and we decided to fly out to this activity meeting that they had the night prior. We got there and i was supposed to have 12 to 14 escorts but unfortunately the unit has left which made it unclear again. So they are worth a commanders, two major candidates and my teammates. There was one model which was spectacular attacks. So they wanted to do something big. For that you have to have a lot of patience and paste your target immediately. They probably thought this is christmas in july. The. I didnt know these guys and i put them up front and wanted to make the patrol bigger to deter any possible central threats. They did a heck of a job because when a motorcyclist comes to the patrol, the Afghan Soldiers are screaming so they d dismount and start running away. That was the whole point, exactly what they wanted and when they came out of the structure may be 20yearsold, cleanshaven and walking backwards, they thought he was a threat and didnt know what was wrong with him. He did a 180degree turn. Leave my position while sprinting at them and grabbed them and realized do whatever you can do, throw them away as quickly as possible. So you dont think about that you just do your job. Same topic, my goal coming back, youve got to be pretty fit to do so and i was trying to compete to make it there. I have been working out a lot. I looked good. [laughter] guess what. It landed right in my face which made me think maybe i wasnt lifting enough. [laughter] to be honest, i was bigger than him. In hindsight looking back its like come on a got a little bit better but he landed chest first and decked me. No matter what, that man was going to die that day and so when he hit the ground, he let go and so swords come out of his hand. He lost fouyou lost four of r comrades that they. You were grievously wounded as well. I think a member of your comrades were. You wake up intermittently and finally wake up who is there not a soldier but that is the crazy part about this whole story. I was pressing every 15 minute and i see this figure in front of me. I woke up and keeps talking to me. I am so proud to meet you and im looking at him thinking are you the guy from court in the early 2,000 is like freak on a leash or you Jonathan Davis . Im like why are you here, where am i. [laughter] that was one of the coolest experiences. He was going through at the time so he was out there visiting the troops at a hospital where if you got hit, that is your first stop outside of the country before you go home. I thought i was hallucinating like really heavy drugs here if im thinking and dreaming about the korn. Small world. I was texting with him because he wanted to do another tour. You go from being a track star army ranger and you are pretty banged up and have a journey i had. What is that like and what are the hardest parts . The perseverance that they have to keep going, tell us about that journey. It wasnt easy at first. You got me. Was one plus one. They were playing a lot of the games and you have a hell of a cocktail to support their mission. So for months and months i was struggling to the point where you contemplate suicide just because you are so defeated and have no reason to go on. Its incredible how you can feel that low. When i hear about the 20 veterans to take their lives every day, that is powerful and i wear this ring as a reminder that people ask the question why, how. No enemy has ever been as strong as the demons in my head. I have no support system at the time or so i thought when i was fighting those demons at night and it is incredible what they can do. I completely underestimated it. They have everything going for them and here i am in the same boat and thinking about the same outcomes. So that was tough. If you remember anything about this, remember the name travis mill. I would like to say that i made him a superstar but hes been doing that a long time. In november of 2012, he walked into my room and changed my life in 15 minutes. He was able to read by your knee in a way that i didnt think was possible, just listening and giving me some advice and a reality check. Everybody is different. For me it was a reality check that i wasnt a failure because i had four People Killed on my watch and i still have a purpose in this mission. I couldnt get that through my head until he said open up your eyes, stop being week. Youve got to be humble. There are some guys that have a lot worse injuries than you i know that its still personal you have the responsibility. We are going to go to questions. I took that away early on because i realized. That is the most important thing that you can do a. The. So to me, that experience i wish i could have been in the military longer. I didnt like jumping out of airplanes and here i am not looking for the number one Aerospace Company in the world and when i came here. They served their families life that went in there just last week or two weeks ago we are giving 50 million in grants and our stem activities and the environment and pacific duties. But whats important though is the fact its not about just giving money. Bill gates could go out and give a billion dollars every day and still be a billionaire. Its about actually having, and playing to go out and make a difference. We are committing 1. 75 million hours for just our Veterans Service orientation over the course of the next five years. So its serving them with different organizations. That put us is the funding that is absolutely necessary for these organizations to. 200,000 or 250,000 transitioning Service Members every year to get the right opportunities and tools while they are still in the service to prepare so the date of transition is the day that they got that et 214, they are ready. They know where they are going to live and have a career in front of them that they are ready to start off. That is how you save lives. That is how you bring that number down to zero because you give them the opportunity to succeed outside and take care of their Mental Health issues or physical issues and do not give a handout. You give a hand up. Im pretty sure we can take care of ourselves when given the opportunity to do so, but we cant do it alone one year from today im going to be married to my best friend cosseted me that is the best thing i could ask for. [applause] we have time for questions. I want to thank you for your service and inspiring our veterans. Ive lost family as well. I also want to ask you about the pharmaceutical addiction. Do you have any comments or concerns, because i hear often that its after theyve been prescribed that the addiction starts. I dont know anything about that kind of stuff but i can tell you that this is real and scary. I never thought understood anything about addiction until iv benadryl. Either mak make him a horrible. I couldnt go to bed without it. At night i would go to my computer and look up how to buy the iv benadryl bag which is not legal. So i found that out. My nurse said you cant do that. I was so addicted i told the doctors and they told me get through it so with the multiple surgeries they put no iced benadryl on my chart. You are absolutely right and i think the most important part is i listen to the Army Leadership talking about this. I had 600 pills of morphine in my drawer at home and it is our responsibility when we are done when we have a certain amount of pills if we dont use them, to bring them back to the pharmacy. You think a Wounded Warrior is going to do that . Know because i dont know when the pain is going to end. Im actually allergic to morphine. It makes me h. And go crazy. We still have to provide some medication to the Wounded Warriors but we have to be more responsible about it. I wanted to see if you could comment on the medal of honor recipients as well as ask if youve been to the kentucky derby. I would 100 consider going to the kentucky derby. Medal of honor, it is what you make it. They do nothing and that is their right. Off the reservation they went through whatever they went through and dont want to be associated with anything. I know folks that are very political. I am working for a company that supports me and the foundation. They support the programming and it is a platform to do some go good. Its what is important t they ce home to their families and it represents all of us here. I have a responsibility to make sure that i earned every day and that i do some good behind it because it has given me a platform to support the military and the nation to the best of my inability. But i would say between a character Developer Program to the different events in a week or two maybe 15 or 20 days a year, believe it or not i am on the road every week minimum of two or three days. It supports the military. I have the greatest job in the world. Colorado springs. Thank you for your service. It becomes a thing that 99 i want to thank you for the service that you have done since afghanistan. Colorado springs is a growing homeless problem and develop army and military presence. Through the foundation and the work that you do, any insight on how we deal with homelessness especially with the veterans that seems to be the biggest adjustment . Its been an incredible, incredible problem for the country. Theres a less than 1 so for the rental housing opportunities we are trying to do is support those in the communities with opportunities for these folks to get housing and an opportunity for a job. Its hard to just focus on the veterans because we are committed to our community and we do emphasize to every group that we support. We know a large portion of folks who are going through our program. We are trying to figure out a way to support the va. They have a National Initiative to partner up with the local government to make sure that we make a difference. Theyve claimed that they are at 0 so i dont know what that truly means because if i see one person that is homeless i consider that to be too many but the reality is we have to go out and put our Employee Engagement in terms of supporting the community through these organizations. The day that you think you have all of the answers, the organizations and communities dont want to Work Together is the day they will not act so. Too many are competing for the same dollar i and what i want fr my company is i will not give you a dollar i dont care how good your organization is, i will not give you a dollar unless you are ready to corroborate with other organizations in the community. Or unless you are ready to share information or success. We have a lot of money to pass out. The different programs and organizations. But if you start competing against each other and forget to support the specific initiative, then our dollars go nowhere if no impact is being made. Its going to be difficult. Some people dont want to hear this and this is my own personal opinion. Its simple. They know where to go. That is the lifestyle that they want but we know that there are thousands of Homeless Veterans out there that just want an opportunity to get back on their feet and be a functioning member of society. So we are on it. From the World Affairs council, im wondering if you can quantify the extent of veterans and the people who are not veterans as well who need Services Like those that you are providing, you mentioned some big dollars. What is the scope of this problem in america . We work on two different pillars. One is providing the Skill Development and programming for folks who are transitioning out of the military already. The problem is the retention rates. They are essentially illprepared to understand the reality behind corporate ameri america. That is every year so you add that im her. Its kind of funny to talk to the genitals because theyve been doing this for so long its like i dont do what im going to do about this. What did i get myself in a. And i dont want to they changed the way of looking at the transition. It ended up doing something great. He needed to connect wi