Part 3 of my Interview with Sgt. First Class Brian Eisch
Father, Soldier, Son - Netflix Documentary
Brian’s three critical pieces of advice that can help our veterans transition back home.
1. Find an Identity 2.Find Purpose 3. Do something you Love
Douglas:
It's okay. That's really important, man. I mean I think what you said, there's a big key.
Brian:
I got to tell you a story.
Douglas:
Ok.
Brian:
We went to Alaska and she's wanting to go ziplining. Have you ever seen how big the trees are in Alaska? The big redwoods?
Douglas:
No.
Brian:
They're gigantic, hundreds of feet.
Douglas:
I've seen redwoods.
Brian:
So we get on this caterpillar-like truck and we go up this freaking mountain and we start getting into gear for ziplining, and she's like, "Oh, aren't you excited?" I'm like, "Oh, just ecstatic." Like, no, no. So big bad, airborne ranger Brian, if I get on a ladder to change a light bulb in this kitchen, I am shaking, I do not like heights. I'm scared to death of heights. All my jumps when I was in the military, all 36 jumps that I got, were night jumps. As soon as I came out of the aircraft, my eyes were closed.
Douglas:
If you're scared of heights, why'd you choose to become someone who jumps out of planes? Can't you choose something else?
Brian:
Challenge, I guess.
I didn't like jumping out of airplanes, I did it. Once you're out of the aircraft it's not so bad, it's kind of cool. You're like, oh wow. But no, I watched that freaking video of the guys jumping out of airplanes, getting muddy. Thought it was really cool. Little did I know that every time I get that uniform muddy, I got to go buy a new one because it's stained while Mr. Joe Snuffy over there driving the truck, that's getting the same paycheck is wearing the same uniform for two years. So, I'm a little bit jealous of the soft skills.
Douglas:
The military doesn't give you a new uniform?
Brian:
You get a clothing allowance every year, but do you think we spend it on uniforms? Do we spend it on that? Nope. That's the alcohol story. But I went zip lining because it made my wife happy.
Douglas:
Well, that's important.
Brian:
And there's some sacrifice there but and the caveat to that was my wife knows, do not interfere with my fishing. She knows that in the summer I am up at 4:30 in the morning and I am fishing until three or four in the afternoon every day, and she does not mess with that one bit.
She knows I call it that's my sanity, that's my zen. And she knows that if I get to go fishing, I'm a happier person when I get home.
Douglas:
I'm so glad you found that and that's a really important thing.
What keeps you up at night? What keeps you up as a vet, as an American?
Brian:
Thoughts and responsibility.
Douglas:
That we're losing it?
Brian:
I joke about it all the time that when I was in the military, it didn't matter who I voted for President because whoever screws it up, they're just going to send the military in to fix it. I try not to watch the news now just because you don't know what's real, what's false and it just raises my blood pressure. And it doesn't matter what station. So I'm just like, you know what? I only know what I know, I'm going to stay in my little circle of what I know, and not fake like I know something I don't and that's what I know. That's another message I would put forth, don't believe everything you see and hear. You got to make those assumptions for yourself but there are too many people going, oh, I read it here, so it must be true let me forward it. I stay away from news on purpose cause that'll just get me boiling.
Douglas:
You have a very different perspective on the news, especially when you see international affairs.
Brian:
A prime example when we were in Afghanistan. What do you hear? What have you seen on the news about Afghanistan? You didn't see 10th Mountain Battalion or 10th Mountain Division, One Eight Seven Infantry Battalion where we got rifles and we're a bunch of killers, right? Maybe a firefight a week, maybe.
What were we doing the other five and six days a week? We were meeting with local elders and teaching them how to put gunny sacks over their melons to keep the fruit flies out, to ruin the circle of life for the fruit flies so they could have better melons.
Brian:
We were getting contracts for a well, so they could have clean water, so they didn't have to go into the river to get water. We were getting culverts built so they could actually drive their little three-wheeled cars all over the place. You'll never see that on the news. You'll never see a picture of the Afghan schoolhouse where the kids were writing on bark because they didn't have notebook paper. So us getting ahold of the red cross and they were sending notebooks and soccer balls over.
Douglas:
You would want the nation to know those stories.
Brian:
Yeah, but you'll never see it on the news. Never.
Douglas:
Yeah and that's the problem. And it's like the whole thing with the police right now. You have probably over a million interactions every day that goes without a problem, then you have one bad one and it goes freaking viral.
Brian:
So going back to your question. What keeps Brian up? Just thoughts and responsibility.
I wrote it down. Just the whole taking responsibility for everything. I think about the day I got shot. Should I have done it differently? Could I have done it differently? Did I do the wrong thing? Did I do the right thing? And then with Joey, I said it was okay for him to go get his iPad. Could I have prevented it? I offered him a ride but he said no. Should I have made him take a ride? Every night, that's what keeps me up. And my wife knows if I'm up more than 30, 45 minutes in bed, I'm going down to play my game. Not because I want to play my games, because I want to stop thinking.
So now what I've been doing is when I go to bed, I literally tell myself, stop thinking, go to bed. And I just say it over and over and over. And next thing you know I fall asleep.
Douglas:
Well, that's an important one buddy.
Thoughts and responsibilities.
I think more of us could use a little bit more responsibility. What you would want the nation to understand about you and our freedoms.
Douglas:
What do you want now?
Brian:
Normalcy.
Douglas:
Normalcy.
Brian:
I just want to be a normal person. I always tell everybody, "Hey, it's Brian, the short, fat, one-legged guy."
Douglas:
You looked like you've lost weight man.
Brian:
I have, I'm down a whopping 15 pounds.
Douglas:
Yeah, you look like you've lost weight. From when I saw...
Brian:
I've tried to do keto. I've tried to do all those things, but I'm just, I'm learning slowly that just don't eat as much and stay busy.
Douglas:
Yeah. You got to move your body. I don't know if you had a chance to look up that guy, JL Sanchez, but he's a one-legged amputee and it'll blow your mind what that dude does.
Brian:
I am the king of procrastination.
Douglas:
Yeah. Well, you should look at him and it goes back to what I said, there really isn't anything you can't do. I mean jogging, running, working out.
Brian:
Check this out. That is a brand new design by Greg Davidson in Puyallup, Washington.
Douglas:
I think that's the design that the guy from Australia, the runner was using, wasn't it?
Brian:
Yes and no. He was using a blade, but this is what they called a modified blade. So it actually has a foot on it. That's why it's got a shoe on it. But by far, the most comfortable leg that I've ever had made.
Douglas:
That's awesome.
Brian:
And it doesn't hurt to walk anymore. So I told my wife, I said, this weekend we're going hiking. And she looks at me like, what? You want to go to what? I'm like, I want to go hiking. I'm going hiking. And then he also made me a fishing leg.
Douglas:
What's the difference? Why do you need a different one?
Brian:
I can show you. Basically, it's a walking leg with no shoe. So that when I go fishing, I can get it wet. Unless my wife put it somewhere. Here it is. I don't know if you can see, it's got bike tire tread.
Douglas:
Oh, I get it right. So you don't slip on rocks and shit.
Brian:
Yep. And it doesn't have a shoe so I can get it wet because if I go fishing with the leg I'm wearing it right now and it gets wet, I don't take my shoes off when I get home and that tends to get a little smelly.
Douglas:
All the little technicalities that you don't think about, man.
Brian:
Yeah. Well, combat wounded vets, they say we get the gold card. We're authorized up to three legs, so we can have a primary leg, a backup primary leg, and then a specialty leg.
Douglas:
Do you think the VA's good now? Do you think the VA needs to keep, anything needs to change with the VA?
I mean the one thing that I've learned in talking to vets is that the VA probably where you're at is a very different experience than the VA in New York City.
Brian:
I was part of the Syracuse New York VA and the Milwaukee VA which were the two big hubs. They're very similar. Syracuse VA has a much nicer facility but I would say Milwaukee, I'd say the professionalism of the doctors is the same and I think it's very high.
I think where the VA is really doing well, is community outsourcing. Like if they can't get you in right away, you can go see a civilian. And I think now you can ask for a civilian for any of it.
Douglas:
And that wasn't the case before?
Brian:
No, it took an act of Congress to get a civilian for anything. Dental, I think is, and this is my personal opinion, is absolutely horrible. Here in Green Bay, we have a $3 million VA clinic and they have a dental clinic that I can go in and I will get an intern to work on my teeth. And I have 13 crowns and they break constantly. I currently have two crowns that are not in and I am not going to the VA for my dental.
Douglas:
You would think you should be able to just go to a normal dentist like insurance just have to...
Brian:
Now I can. You couldn't before. So I have requested, I wanted the resident dentist as my dentist. So that's been approved, I no longer will get this 22-year-old dental intern. Granted, they got to learn somewhere why am I the Guinea pig? I don't want to be a Guinea pig, I don't want a trainee. But now I can go see a civilian if I want. So it's not bad. The bad side of the VA is administration.
Getting the appointment, getting through to talk to somebody about the appointment. Right now, I'm selling my house. I cannot go by, I cannot get finance for a new boat right now, I cannot get financed for a new house because I have a collection account on my credit report. And it's a VA emergency room claim that the VA billed wrong. It's been paid. They paid for it. Not off my credit report yet. It took a year and a half of me constantly calling, emailing. I have wasted so much time fixing somebody else's mistake.
Douglas:
Yeah, that's frustrating man.
Brian:
The administration side of the VA, I think is horrible.
And it's not the people, it's the system. There are people in that administration that are very good at what they do. But it's the way it works. Like I can't go to the VA and say, hey, I want this because then it's got to go to the approving authority. It's got to go through this, it's got to go through that, it's just a nightmare. And then you go to the VA, I would tell any of that goes to the VA...
Douglas:
How do you fix that, man? How do you fix the... I mean, I don't even know...
Brian:
A complete model change in my opinion. I only know what I know, I only know what I see. So I don't know how to fix an administration, I just know it's not working. But I think a model change, like which one does work, let's model that. But one thing I would tell vets is when you go to the VA to a major VA facility, get off the first floor. Because when you walk in the front doors of any VA, there's a lounge area and there's every disgruntled, pissed-off old veteran in there that's telling you how bad their life is. And I feel bad for him, but I avoid him. If you don't add value to my life, you're not in my life.
Douglas:
It's so funny. I find so many similarities between being a vet and being an actor. I'd say it's really true because it's a slug. I'm part of a union that does nothing for me and I tell actors all the time, do not talk to an actor about how bad their career is going. Because you're going to hear the woes and everyone has got a woe story.
Brian:
Do your research and if something's coming to you, go get it. Don't expect somebody to come and give it to you. On the first floor of the VA, they're all waiting for their handout. It's like, dude, chase after your train.
Douglas:
And then that's true on every VA, so is the first floor?
Brian:
Syracuse and Milwaukee,
I stay away from the first floor in the VA. It's horrible.
Douglas:
Good advice dude, that's a quote man.
Brian:
This guy comes up to me, it's just unkept, doesn't shower and I feel sorry for him and I don't. Because I'm the same as you dude. He goes, take a good look, this is what retirement looks like. Hey (censored), I've been retired for seven years. What are you talking about? You're in charge of your own destiny dude. Go fix it. I get mad.
Douglas:
I'm sure you do man. I'm sure you get really frustrated.
Brian:
You know they're like, oh, we need to go, help so-and-so, he's in a bad. Yes, everybody has struggles and I've been bailed out before and I've bailed people out before. But don't play the woe with me, Kurt, I hate that. You need help, by all means, ask. Don't whine and go, oh, you need to help me.
Douglas:
No one likes to, no one wants to see pity on stage and no one wants to see pity in life. And it's so true. And you want to stay away from pity because it doesn't do anybody any good. It's very dangerous.
Brian:
You get me going on a tangent with some of these subjects.
Douglas:
No, it's good man.
READ PART 2 OF THE INTERVIEW
Father, Soldier, Son - Netflix Documentary
Brian’s three critical pieces of advice that can help our veterans transition back home.