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00:00Welcome to Operation Healing Heroes. Join me in Virginia Beach, Virginia as we feature
00:09retired U.S. Navy veteran John Fleming. They served for us. They sacrificed for us. Their
00:22stories deserve to be told. Every military veteran has a story to tell. Join our host,
00:34Jay Garstecki, as we honor the stories of our true American heroes, one soldier at a time.
00:43The mission today is Operation Healing Heroes.
00:47Brought to you by Great Clips.
00:57Operation Healing Heroes travel to Virginia Beach, Virginia to connect with U.S. Navy veteran John Fleming.
01:06We're here to shine the light on the effects of traumatic brain injury, treatment, and healing of
01:13our hero, and to do a little fishing.
01:21So what led you into the military?
01:22What led me in was the deciding factor was basically a tough weekend with my parents at home and a tough week at work.
01:32I guess getting yelled at for doing your job the correct way is not something I wanted to continue to do week in and week out.
01:42And tension at home. But when I was 23, it was just one of those things that it was a spur of the moment.
01:53I finished work. I went to the recruiter that day, went in, talked to them, signed up, and my parents came home that evening.
02:00And I remember telling them, told my dad, hey, can you have a seat?
02:05And then I told them. And when my mom came home and I told her, yeah, she was not a happy camper.
02:11Oh, huh?
02:12Yeah.
02:12So when you went in, what did you enlist for? What were you looking to go do?
02:17They offered SEAL, SWCC, and EOD in boot camp. And honestly, EOD was the only thing that really drew me.
02:26Really?
02:27Yeah.
02:27The difference between Navy EOD and the other services is that if there's ordinance in the water, that's where the Navy goes.
02:37And they came to me and they're like, all right, John, you're going to dive school.
02:41Dive school?
02:41So you start out with dive school because of the, if you can't pass dive school, you can't go to EOD school.
02:48So graduating dive school in Panama City, Florida, then moved to Eglin Air Force Base, and that's where EOD school was located.
02:56John would deploy twice in less than a year, and the second invasion of Fallujah would change his life.
03:03We trained for about a day or two with a small craft company to get ready to have boats and water.
03:08And, uh, November 10th, we had boats and water ready to go to Fallujah.
03:17So at this point, I had this mindset of, if it's my time, it's my time. There's nothing I can do about it.
03:25And it kind of, it put me at ease.
03:30I didn't care. I knew whatever was going to happen was going to happen.
03:34And sure enough, another barrage of, uh, bullets come through.
03:39Hit the boat, and I feel this pain in my side right here.
03:49It's a blunt hit right on my hip.
03:51Something came from behind me, ricocheted off the boat, hit me in the side, and I hunched over in pain.
04:00And everybody on the craft thought I was joking around.
04:05And I looked down at my holster, and on the front of the holster, it was a magazine pouch.
04:13And right there was a bullet.
04:16And this is what hit me in the side.
04:19Everybody on the craft wanted to see it.
04:22I'm like, nope. This is staying with me.
04:25And every deployment I went on after that was pretty much, that came with me.
04:29You brought that bullet with you, and you had it.
04:30I brought that bullet with me, and it was, I would say, my good luck charm.
04:35But, um, you said it wasn't your time, man.
04:39It wasn't my time.
04:42Operation Healing Heroes is brought to you by Great Cliffs, the Yance Valor Foundation, and by the Al Lynch Foundation.
04:53Operation Healing Heroes is a non-profit organization dedicated to documenting the lives of our U.S. military veterans.
05:04In addition, we also provide financial support and treatment for post-traumatic stress.
05:10Your donation will help heal our heroes.
05:12The very next day, after being hit by a ricocheted bullet on his boat, John volunteered for another mission.
05:26I thought that we were taking a boat out to meet up with them, but it was, uh, we were actually convoying out.
05:35We thought we were taking the boats back out.
05:36When we met up with the Marines for our brief, we found out we were getting on a convoy to go down Route Michigan.
05:45Route Michigan, at that point, was a bad place to be.
05:48People were being ambushed there left and right.
05:52The, uh, the captain that was escorting us out, he said, uh, he's like, we're going to put you in the biggest vehicle.
05:59And unbeknownst to us, the biggest vehicle was the lead vehicle.
06:07So, it was, uh, it was, uh, it was basically a troop transport, um, one of the 15-ton with, uh, bench seating in the back.
06:16That only had armor down the sides, basically, uh, seats that you sat back-to-back on.
06:21And off we went.
06:25We left the base and immediately stopped outside the base.
06:30We had, um, air cover that needed to refuel.
06:35When the air cover refueled, we were shifting around in the back of the truck.
06:40I was sitting all the way forward on the, um, passenger side.
06:45And I took my weapon off, took the sling off.
06:49But then we started moving again.
06:51We got on Route Michigan, and we're driving, we're cruising along pretty good.
06:54And then we just stopped dead in the middle of the road.
06:58Which, for me, I was thinking that now we're sitting ducks for whatever.
07:03For anybody to do whatever they want to us.
07:06What I didn't know was happening is there was a, there was a barricade.
07:09They barricaded the road in front of us.
07:13And, uh, then the vehicle just took off.
07:16And everybody in the truck, in the back of the truck, started shooting.
07:22Oh, my God.
07:24From both sides.
07:25I had no idea what they were shooting at.
07:27You see anything?
07:28I clearly remember looking to my right.
07:33My eyes confirming what my ears were hearing.
07:35And as I'm bringing my head back, as soon as I got back to center, it was like slow motion.
07:42Time stopped.
07:43It was like slow motion.
07:44The vehicle then hit barricade, went up and over onto, uh, the driver's side.
07:52I could feel myself going through the air.
07:56My next memory after that was laying on my back.
08:00And I grabbed for my gun, which was still around my arm, but the sling was not around me.
08:05It was still under, it was stuck underneath the vehicle.
08:07And I think that if it was still slung to me, it would have pinned me underneath the vehicle.
08:14So, I remember pulling out my gun, trying to stand up, and I felt an excruciating pain in my left leg.
08:22And it was hard to stand.
08:25Ultimately, what happened there was I ended up breaking my fibula.
08:29So, 11 days in country.
08:30November, uh, November 10th or, uh, the 11th.
08:36Sometime in the middle of the night.
08:37The, uh, my life got real.
08:43Operation Healing Heroes is brought to you by Recon Boats, Thorne Brothers, and by FVP.
08:53Recon Boats, Thorne Brothers, and by FVP.
08:59Recon Boats, Thorne Brothers, and by FVP.
09:00Recon Boats, Thorne Brothers, and by FVP.
09:03Recon Boats, Thorne Brothers, and by FVP.
09:05Recon Boats, Thorne Brothers, and by FVP.
09:07Nice.
09:08Yeah, right?
09:08I did the hard part, right?
09:10Recon Boats, Thorne Brothers, and by FVP.
09:11Recon Boats, Thorne Brothers, and by FVP.
09:13If you'd like to see more behind-the-scenes footage, follow us on social media and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
09:19If you're a U.S. military veteran in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, or beautiful sunny Florida,
09:27log on to our website, takeavetfishing.org, to find an event near you.
09:38John's troop transport vehicle hit a barricade, went airborne, and landed on its side.
09:44QRF came in, quick response force, and they put me in the back of a transport, and I remember fading in and out of consciousness.
09:57And I thought it was because we were in a 12-hour time shift. I didn't get a chance to adjust.
10:02Yeah.
10:03And thinking back to it now, I mean, it had to have been the way I landed.
10:08And that's when, um, that's when I think I got my first TBI in the military.
10:18At this point in time, I didn't even know what a TBI was.
10:21One year later is when I was back out the door again.
10:26This time I was operating with SEAL Team 3.
10:28After that deployment, there was an investigation.
10:31So, NCIS had to, uh, ask a question around, so I was called in for an interview.
10:38Just simple questions.
10:39But they were asking simple questions about guys' names and things I've witnessed,
10:46and I couldn't tell you what the guys' names were.
10:50I knew who they were talking about.
10:51Yeah.
10:52Now, these are guys I was deployed with for six months.
10:55These are guys that I trained up with.
10:57Couldn't remember their, couldn't remember their names a month after.
11:01And I had no way of explaining why I couldn't remember who they were.
11:09But I remember them saying to me, they were like,
11:12you were with these guys this entire deployment, and you don't remember their names?
11:16I'm like, I don't know how to explain it.
11:19That's the one thing that they didn't have for us.
11:21They never had a baseline.
11:24So, you don't know what normal is because nobody ever recorded it.
11:28We're now 13 years into my career.
11:32Right before I came down here, I found out I picked up Senior Chief Petty Officer.
11:36I was undermanned, under-equipped, and I couldn't function.
11:41And again, I didn't know why.
11:42To the point where the command thought that it was more of a dereliction of duty.
11:53And they came after me.
11:55Ultimately, that cost me that rank.
11:57They ended up taking that rank from me.
11:59Really?
11:59Instead of trying to help me, they actually removed my star and took my Senior Chief away from me.
12:12And that was a hard thing to process.
12:16I mean, there's days when I still think about it.
12:19I remember walking in with my, um, the Command Master Chief.
12:24And he's like, what's going on?
12:26I had no explanation.
12:28Because I didn't know.
12:30And I was put on, uh, limited duty.
12:32Removed from the command.
12:34My sense of worth was gone, as well.
12:37I spent 16 years in the Navy.
12:42And, yeah, that's how I finished it.
12:46I was medically retired after 16 years and some change.
12:52Actually, I had one doc say, um, oh, you're just depressed.
13:00Right now, I'm in a much better place.
13:03Have you been able to get some help?
13:04Um, yeah, it's, well, Doc, she has been a huge help for me.
13:11Hey, John.
13:12Hi.
13:12How are you doing today?
13:13Doing well.
13:14Awesome.
13:14So the first time I met John Fleming, he came to me, and I think it was about 2019.
13:20So it was a number of years after his injury.
13:22But he was not thriving in any way.
13:25And his life just wasn't on a trajectory in which he had enjoyed.
13:29Not only that, he was in severe pain all the time, all day long.
13:35He had no reprieve from the pain that he experienced.
13:41She is, uh, she's been a huge help physically, mentally.
13:45She's helped me out so much.
13:49It was pain down his legs.
13:50It was pain in his back.
13:51It was pain up his back.
13:52It was pain in his head.
13:54He had been getting lots and lots of Botox for these unrelenting migraines.
13:59And that's how he was being treated.
14:02And what was wild is the Botox didn't help.
14:05Nothing helped him at all.
14:08And we started working.
14:09And I started paying attention to his body.
14:12And I did the applied kinesiology testing, the advanced diagnostics, to determine exactly
14:17what he needed and what I could focus on.
14:21Little by little, I focused on the things that were most important to his body at that
14:25time.
14:26And he got better and better and better.
14:30And he changed.
14:32He's a changed man.
14:39The EOD Warrior Foundation serves the EOD community by providing financial assistance and support
14:46to active duty, reserve, National Guard, retired and veteran EOD technicians, and their families.
14:53If you'd like to personally thank a veteran that you've seen in one of our episodes, or
14:58nominate a veteran to be featured in a future episode, log on to our website, OperationHealingHeroes.org.
15:06Operation Healing Heroes is brought to you by Recon Boats, XL Automotive, and by Temple Bay Lodge.
15:17There is a stigma out there.
15:23When people see you going to get treatment, they think you're broken.
15:30I'd say to other veterans, I'd say to other active duty members, go get help.
15:36Absolutely.
15:37This is just a job.
15:41Your family, yourself, it's more important.
15:45Way more important.
15:47So John first came in 2019, so we're at four years now.
15:51She's done magic for me.
15:55So hearing in the left ear sends a signal over to the right side of the brain.
16:02So we're looking at something going on on the right side.
16:05We don't know what yet, though.
16:07I don't know where I'd be right now if I didn't start coming here.
16:12He is lighter, would be the best thing to say, is that John is now lighter than he ever was before.
16:18People come to me with everything from Morgellons, which is a specific Lyme disease.
16:27They come with seizures, neuropathy, PTSD, childhood trauma, you know.
16:36And it's nice that people start living their best lives and the life that they were meant to have.
16:43So when we were trying to get a rank back, I was approached by the newspaper to have an article done.
16:52After the article was published, there was another command was doing this to one of their people.
17:01And somebody from their medical department read the article, took it to the chain of command.
17:07They realized what was going on with this guy and got him help.
17:11So when I heard about that, that was a real good feeling.
17:17That is a good feeling because you know you just help somebody else.
17:20My job is to help other people.
17:22That's a great feeling.
17:24So even before I got out, some of the junior guys that I worked with,
17:29I'd pull them aside and tell them exactly what happened to me.
17:35Tell them signs and symptoms to look at.
17:37So I was talking to guys about it all the time.
17:39I'm like, hey, look for those differences in your people.
17:43If you start seeing a difference, start asking questions.
17:48Special warfare is a macho command.
17:50And there's women in there too, but there's a hierarchy.
17:55They don't want to be broken.
17:57Nobody wants to be broken.
17:58They'll hide it and hide it and hide it until they break it completely.
18:02So I'd say to other veterans, go out and get help.
18:05Just go talk to somebody.
18:09I've lost a few friends to suicide.
18:11That they just, some got help, but some couldn't handle it.
18:22And it's horrible.
18:23It's a horrible feeling.
18:25It's horrible.
18:27Yeah, that is definitely not a thing that anybody should ever think about.
18:33As bad as it is, that pain is then multiplied amongst everybody that's left behind.
18:38But I was able to get help after the military.
18:44I think it's our duty to just let everybody know that there's, there is help out there,
18:51you know, and help comes in different forms and shapes and sizes, but there's, there's
18:55help out there, you know, so.
18:58If I were to do this all over again, I would.
19:08If I could have the foresight that I could pick up on what was going wrong,
19:15that would be nice, but that's not doing it all over again.
19:21Doing it all over again would be walking in blind like I walked in the first time.
19:25Where I've been, I've been all over.
19:27I've been to Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, Egypt, and I do believe that this, the U.S. is, of
19:45all places, the best place.
19:47Well, I just want to say thank you for your service to our country and got a couple gifts
19:52here for you that we'd like to give you.
19:53This is a jersey from Operation Healing Heroes with your name, John Fleming on it.
19:59And Fleming on the back there.
20:01That's for you.
20:03And I'd like to give you a rod that we made, a St. Croix rod that, in honor of your sacrifice
20:10and service, it's got all the branches of service there in Operation Healing Heroes
20:13Foundation logo.
20:14And I just want to say thank you for the sacrifices that you made for our freedom.
20:18I appreciate it.
20:19Please understand they don't go unnoticed and we appreciate you and your family for
20:23everything you did to keep us free.
20:25Thank you very much.
20:25That means a lot.
20:31If you'd like to personally thank a veteran that you've seen in one of our episodes or
20:35nominate a veteran to be featured in a future episode, log on to our website, operationhealingheroes.org
20:41and click on the nominate button.
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