Today we chat with Eric Herrera, a former combat engineer primarily engaged in route clearance missions.

Part 3

Today’s guest was an infantryman in the 2nd Infantry Regiment, which, at the time of his deployment was in the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. He deployed to Fob Anbar in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan. We recorded this episode in the comfort of my kitchen while drinking beer and whiskey. Testosterone was high my friends. The stories were flowing. This is the third episode of a three-part series.

Part 2

Today’s guest was an infantryman in the 2nd Infantry Regiment, which, at the time of his deployment was in the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. He deployed to Fob Anbar in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan. We recorded this episode in the comfort of my kitchen while drinking beer and whiskey. Testosterone was high my friends. The stories were flowing. This is the second episode of a three-part series.

Today’s guest was an infantryman in the 2nd infantry regiment, which, at the time of his deployment, was in the 3rd brigade combat team, 1st infantry division. He deployed to Fob Anbar in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan. We recorded this episode in the comfort of my kitchen while drinking beer and whiskey. Testosterone was high my friends. The stories were flowing. This is the first episode of a three-part series. 

We’re a society that gets what we want when we want it and if we experience a problem that we’re unable to fix, we get someone to fix it for us. I can’t help but somehow feel a connection with this sentiment to what we’re currently experiencing with the coronavirus. A loss of immediacy, a high level of restriction, and our inability to control the situation. There’s not really an easy way out of this. Unless you’re like Jerry Jones and have the ability to do things, like draft NFL players from the comfort of your yacht. We can’t do what we want when we want it, which is the essence of a combat deployment and an understatement when considering combat itself. 

The way I see it, we deal with culture shock in two different ways: either with resistance or with adaption. Given the diverse population of the military, culture shock happens frequently. Interestingly, there were many people that I disliked in the military that I eventually came to appreciate after deployment. I often wonder what was the mechanism that allowed that to happen? I reached out to Stuart Campbell for this episode, and he describes his own cultural clash.