Scrolling Through Life

I get asked all the time about racism in Ranger Battalion and Special Forces and my answer is always the same and that is in Special Operations all that matters is whether you can perform your duties and do your job to complete the mission. I also always stress that I can only tell my experiences and do not speak for other soldiers within the SOF community. Of course, there are racist individuals in SOF but your performance will always speak for its self, and you cant leave room for those individuals to use their ignorance towards you in anyways.

This is my story of the one and only time I was called a nigger by a Sergeant Major from a Tier One Unit. I tell this story to bring light to how isolated racism is within the SOF community and because this is my story and the truth. Also to show that in 20 years of service to my country this is the one and only time I ever experienced racism in the Military.

Never let anyone treat you how you don't want to be treated and always stand up for yourself and others who go through anything like this. I allowed Frank to treat me and talk to me like that because I was more worried about my career than holding him accountable for his actions. Love and respect

Tim tells us a little more about himself and his background. I sit down with huggy and we talk about how we navigate depression and how we manage it on a daily basis. We also talk about when we finally decided to take action and control our mental health and how our Army Chain of Commands supported us throughout our journey. We discuss our experiences on finding the right therapist, psychiatrist, or counselor. We cover how we manage daily with our depression and how we are more aware today because we have learned what takes us down through that dark storm.

Adam Johnson talks about growing up from humble beginnings in Mississippi and seeing there was no future for him there and the fastest way to secure a brighter future for himself was to join the Army. Joining Special Forces was a no-brainer for him as he knew he needed to be with like-minded people that wanted to be there and that they themselves wanted more of a challenge. Adam also talks about when he started reading up on Real Estate and knew that was what he wanted to do and so he studied and got mentors and began his career in real estate during our deployment to Afghanistan. Adam ended up “buying” his contract out from the Army to continue building what is today Johnson Property Investments with his wife. He also is giving back by helping those that want to learn how to get into the real estate business, he has a YouTube channel where he teaches you the same way that he buys houses. Check him out and reach out to him if you have any questions.

www.joproinvestments.com

www.REIsimplified.co

www.Youtube.com/c/REISimplified

IG: @adamjohnson_realestate

Dr. Angela Fox is currently the Deputy Command Psych with the Special Forces Training Group at Fort Bragg North Carolina and has held many other positions within the Special Forces Community. Dr. Fox has helped and currently is still helping many Special Forces Operators and support personnel deal with the struggles of combat and those stressors that await them once they have returned home. In 2011 after having an influx of patients that were struggling with chemical dependency to suicide, she came up with an idea of how to help them cope with their individual issues. Peer to peer was created the idea to have them address their issues to each other, being that they have been used to talking with each other in their team rooms, and while just hanging out with each other in their free time and no one understands them better than each other the men that have been by their side and the men that understand what they have been through. The original 12 Green Berets Dr. Fox put together managed to prevent 3 suicide attempts in the 3 years they were together. Dr. Fox is still to this day dedicated to helping the Special force's Community with Mental Health issues.

James Mahurin is a retired Special Forces operator who like many other soldiers has struggled with mental health issues due to PTSD, dealing with the stressors and effects of combat then returning home, and having close friends commit suicide. James eventually decided to get treatment for his drinking and face his mental health issues head-on in the capacity of a Peer-to-Peer group therapy of like-minded individuals.

James explains the path he took to get where he is today and how he is using the gym he owns to create a safe place for fellow Green Berets to sit together and work out while being able to vent about everyday issues and help each other from going down a path of no return.  

I sit down with my good friend Tim Huggins and talk about when we first experienced Self- Awareness in relation to our mental health issues. We cover depression, how it affected us On and Off duty, how we dealt with it at the time, and how we are still dealing with it today. We speak about how our Chain of Commands dealt with our situations and how the Army's ACS programs tend to add to soldiers' mental health issues. We get as vulnerable as we can and tell our own personal story of the moments we contemplated suicide and what was the one thing that stopped us from following through.