>> Bernard: My father was in the Air Force.

Being raised as a military brat, I saw the benefits of the military.

I just kind of always knew that I was gonna serve, and that's what I did.

>> Helen: The military plays a huge role in my life.

My dad did it.

My uncles did it.

I wanted to be the first female in my family to join the military.

For once, I felt like this was my calling, like I was meant to go out there and do this.

>> Sam: I lived near the corn fields, tractors, and that was the lifestyle.

My stepbrothers once served during Desert Storm and I always looked up to them.

So, I was 17 when I joined and I loved it.

I loved the job, the camaraderie, everything about it.

>> Bernard: No one can stay in the military forever.

We all get out one day.

It's just something that we don't think about though.

When you go back to civilian life, it's different.

>> Sam: What am I gonna do now?

>> Helen: What's my next step?

Where is my next calling?

>> Bernard: I feel like an alien.

I feel like I'm not even from this world.

[MUSIC] >> Helen: [LAUGH] >> Sam: Better late then never?

>> Helen: Right?

>> Sam: Great to see you.

>> Helen: Finally seeing you.

>> Bernard: So, we're about to embark on a 30-day journey.

>> Sam: We're gonna be going on a road trip.

We're going from the West Coast to the East Coast.

>> Bernard: And we're gonna be interviewing veterans along the way.

>> Helen: Gaining as much experience and knowledge from other people about their transition back into the civilian life.

>> Sam: Having this type of group, it makes this trip a lot more exciting.

Getting to know each other, my first thought, really, was that I'm gonna be in great hands.

>> Sam: So, my name is Samuel Shockley.

I got in the military as a private first class after I graduated from training.

They're like, hey, you're on the next flight out to Iraq.

At that moment, I realized this is real.

It, it was, it was baptism by fire.

So, through my three deployments, two to Iraq, one Afghanistan, our main mission was route clearance.

Route clearance is a job that, at times, could be very dangerous.

We would go ahead of certain military forces to clear roads, make sure there's no IEDs, which is improvised explosive devices.

Sometimes, you're getting hit by them.

You're running them over and that's your job to take that hit, so that forces from behind you, they don't run over it or nobody steps on it.

It's, it's important.

And we found a lot of IEDs, and towards the end of that, it found me.

[MUSIC] I got my Purple Heart.

I made it through it.

But, I lost everything.

I mean it was, it was scary.

Everything was stripped from me.

It was taken away in an instant.

This is the actual uniform, or part of it, that I was wearing that day when I got hit.

This has never been washed.

This I mean, this is straight from Afghanistan.

As you can see, it kinda just chopped up, and it, it just cut me, cut me in half.

Cut that leg right in half.

So, what am I gonna do now?

This trip's about finding myself.

That's the goal, finding what I wanna do next, and be passionate about it like I was passionate about the military.

>> Bernard: So we're about to learn where we're gonna be living for the next 30 days.

We're trying to find out if it's gonna be super cramped or maybe a little bit of space.

>> Sam: Whatever the situation, we're gonna adapt and overcome.

The military way.

>> Bernard: Ohh.

>> Sam: Man, look at the big green monster.

>> Bernard: Woo!

>> Sam: So when I first saw the RV, well, yeah, this is nice.

Okay.

>> Bernard: This thing is so much bigger than I imagined.

>> Sam: Yeah.

You have your amenities, you have a TV, you have cruise control, you have hand controls that I can drive it, so it was perfect.

>> Bernard: Dang, this is nice.

Better than any damn dorm room I had in the military.

>> Helen: So, this is my bunk.

Let's continue down the way.

>> Sam: Are you talking to yourself?

>> Helen: Yes, I am.

Duh.

So, I am Helen Chandler, and I am from Enterprise, Alabama.

So behind me is the UH-1, it's the Huey.

My dad was actually a door gunner in one of these during the Vietnam War.

It's also the fun little gadget that I was born in.

From what I understand from my father's side of it, my mom was having labor pains, they called my father off of the flight line, and loaded my mom up on a Huey, and somewhere in the air, I happened to just decide to pop up into the world.

I got to be born in a Huey, and that is how I got my name.

My dad was like, well, we'll just do Helen like helicopter.

Yep.

>> Helen's Father: When she grew up, she was a tomboy in a way.

I remember one instant, I had to go outside and break her up.

She was beating two boys up in the front yard.

[LAUGH] >> Helen: So, I left five days after I graduated high school to join the Air Force, and then I switched over to the Army, and I made it up to O3 which is a captain.

I retired as an officer, but then you have to figure out how to transition and that's where I'm at right now.

I was hoping that as soon as I got out, I would have something lined up and since I didn't, I didn't know what to do.

And to keep that continuity of doing something, I did anything that I could.

It took me a while to slowly overcome my depression.

I have a schedule, I take my son to school, go to the gym, or the lake, or whatever, but it's still not the same.

I still don't get to wear my uniform.

I I kind of worry that I'm going to get back into this slump of being, I guess, sad that I'm out and the realization of I'm out.

That's my thing, it is how do you let it go?

Cuz I kinda hang on to the military.

You didn't know that this goes out?

>> Bernard: No this is the- >> Helen: Expandable.

>> Bernard: Nice.

Got to have the headphones when you guys are snoring.

>> Helen: [LAUGH] >> Sam: Another thing that's special to me, any of you turds, wash your butt with my Turkish towel.

>> Bernard: Is that your blankie?

>> Sam: That's my Turkish towel, it's very soft.

>> Bernard: I really felt like I've known them a lot longer than I have.

Three individuals coming together but really under he same kind of values.

>> Sam: Don't even give me that face.

>> Bernard: You are really something.

>> Helen: [LAUGH] >> Bernard: My name is Bernard Edwards.

I served 15 years, 10 months, 29 days.

Not that I was counting.

Since retiring, it's been a whirlwind.

I'm working on setting up a business to help my fellow veterans transition from military life back to civilian life, but the route of getting there and how I set that up and structure it, I feel a little bit like a chicken with my head cut off running around.

For me, this trip, being able to talk to other veterans that have successfully started companies is just going to be a ridiculously priceless resource.

The overall vision of what I want to do is have an impact so that one day, we don't have homeless veterans, we don't have jobless veterans, and we don't have 22 veterans committing suicide every day, really we don't have any veterans committing suicide every day.

I'll think about my fellow veterans, Sam and Helen, that I'm gonna be spending time with and there's a big combination of various reasons why people get out, whether they retire or become medically injured and can't serve anymore.

When you go back to civilian life, there's not just one cookie cutter answer for what's the next step.

Some people have a family.

Some people, they're single parent.

We're on this awesome roadtrip and that's what it's about.

>> Sam: I couldn't imagine a better group of roadtrippers to be involved with.

I'm definitely blessed to be with you guys.

>> Bernard: For any veterans out there watching this, hopefully, we do you justice and make you guys proud.

>> Sam: We're stepping outside of the shell, we're stepping outside of the box to do something completely different in our lives.

[MUSIC] >> Bernard: For the first interview, we shot out to LA.

>> Helen: Hey, honk you horn!

Honk if you love us, there we go.

[LAUGH] >> Bernard: The navigation's on.

>> Sam: This will be a true test to see if the Air Force can guide us in the right direction.

We go to meet Daniel Rodriguez and Daniel Rodriguez is not an ordinary person.

How we looking.

What's up man, how you doing?

>> Sam: He had his military career, went to college, had internet fame, football fame, book fame.

Very excited about this interview, definitely.

>> Daniel: My name is Daniel Rodriguez.

Going to high school, I hated school, I barely graduated.

Four days after I graduated high school, my father passed away of a massive heart attack out of nowhere and it wasn't until my father passed, I realized that I need to grow up.

My dad was in the military so I didn't tell anybody, I went to the recruiter station about a week and a half after my dad passed.

They said, sign right here, and 24 days after graduating, I got sent off to Iraq.

[MUSIC] Had a lot of close calls in Iraq, lost 12 friends in my unit total, that were good buddies of mine.

Came home, did a year in Fort Carson, Colorado, went back to Afghanistan for a year, and was in Afghanistan about five months in, I was at a remote outpost.

There was about 38 Americans, and we were overrun by 300 plus Taliban in an 18-hour firefight.

[SOUND] We killed over 100 and some in and around our wire, who was pretty bad.

I was just fighting for my life at the time, trying to stay alive and keep the guys alive next to me.

Eight Americans were killed, a ninth one ended up dying later and 22 of us were wounded.

I made it out of that alive and I had honorable discharge, and I walked away proud.

But I felt I had to move on and turn the page in my life, if you will.

>> Sam: What kind of scars, going from a deployment, I know from my side, it was tough when you left the battlefield, then went home, and then nobody truly knew what was going on.

I don't know, what did you feel like?

>> Daniel: It was a long road getting back into civilian lifestyle and really trying to act as if everything's okay.

I came home to a place that, it was the same as when I left it almost, and that was almost eerie to me because nothing was the same and that ate at me.

I found myself sitting in this therapist's office with some 25 year old trying to explain to me why I can't sleep at night or why I'm waking up in fear.

And I'm thinking to myself, who the heck are you?

You don't know anything about me or what I've gone through.

Why are you gonna tell me why and especially from a soldier's standpoint, you feel like you can fix everything yourself, you can do it yourself, and so I pushed myself even farther away from that.

Cuz I was like nobody in the military except for the guys I've served with know what I went through and two of them already had killed themselves when we got home.

I was in the same boat as many other veterans, questioning my life, on the verge of suicide.

And I sat there, with a gun to my head, and I was like, what excuse can I make?

When my friends had died, what excuse would they make if they had one day left on this earth?

If they could see their loved one one more time, what excuse would they make?

They wouldn't make any.

At the end of the day, what it boiled down to me is I couldn't look myself in the mirror knowing that I was making excuses because of what I had went through, or what I had seen, or who I had to kill.

I have a life to live and I'm fortunate that I'm here.

So I just kinda cut myself off and I just busted my ass every day.

I didn't get on social media, I wasn't on anything, I just worked out, went to school, got my grades up.

Because my entire mission was get good grades so you can transfer into a four year university, and walk onto a football team.

I love football.

I've always wanted to be a professional athlete.

And my buddy's like man, you should put together a recruitment video, and put it on YouTube and see what happens.

I went out and mowed some lawns, cleaned gutters on the side on the weekend, spent my last penny on this.

That ended up going viral.

That's how the big spark happened and that leaped me into college.

Ended up playing at Clemson, played in 37 consecutive games, and won some bowl games.

Fast forward, the St. Louis Rams contacted me for a free agency.

They flew me out, signed it and it was a dream come true.

I have stats, I have NFL stats.

So, on the final pre-season game I got a concussion but I walked away from the game very happy.

Well now, I go around the country and speak and I just tell people to pursue what you're passionate about.

You have one life to live, don't waste it.

Whether I play another snap of football or not I can walk away from the game very happily.

Because I never looked back once I made the decision to play and do it for my friends.

So when I woke up five years down the road there was not an ounce of regret that I didn't try to do what I wanted to do.

What I had promised to do.

What I saw myself doing every night when I go to bed.

Like no matter what circumstances are.

Everybody has adversity, everybody has tragedy but you can come out.

You know, that truly believed that.

Because when you get out of the military.

I even hate categorizing it a military life, a civilian life.

It's life, everybody has different roads and avenues.

It's life.

When you think of it that way, as opposed to you just being another statistic, or another dead beat drunk veteran, shed that image, we'll flourish baby, like we're here.

There's a reason we're still standing, there's a reason we're still living.

Like we're here.

I think that mindset takes you a long way.

And you just gotta be positive.

[LAUGH] Take care brother.

>> Daniel: All right guys.

>> Sam: When he said military life to civilian life, he's like don't segregate it like that.

It's life.

>> Bernard: It's life.

>> Sam: You know you're gonna go through your ups and downs.

You're gonna go through your challenges.

>> Helen: Yeah.

>> Bernard: That's what this is all about.

That's deep.

[MUSIC] When Daniel Rodriguez opened up to us about his PTSD and what he'd experienced, it brought back a lot of memories for myself.

I mean I worked in an operating room, and so we saw trauma.

I saw death all the time.

It was just part of the job.

And all of a sudden, one of my good friends passed away in front of me.

This happened right in my hospital, the facility that I worked in.

As I came through the door he was bleeding out.

I was in a medical role, where I am involved in saving life and limb, and couldn't save my friend.

That ate me up.

I've had thoughts about suicide.

It's a tough thing to talk about, but at the same time, it's actually what I learned is that it's actually good for me to talk about it.

Struggling in silence by yourself is just not the way to do it.

But I also tell people to this day that I really feel like travel saved my life.

It's therapeutic getting healing from the road.

[MUSIC] >> Helen: It's not the same being a civilian, being out is not in my element.

I'm still trying to figure out what I wanna do.

That's just the issue of me taking that step.

Because I kinda feel like.

You know the first time you ever get on a monkey bar?

You're afraid during that swing to reach to the next one?

Well, that's where I'm at.

And I'm in the swing.

Now I just gotta get the momentum to catch that next bar.

[MUSIC] >> Bernard: Las Vegas, we get to see Jacqueline Carrizosa.

>> Sam: Jackie has become a very successful person, modeling, shooting competitions and teaching how to shoot.

Motocross, can't forget that.

>> Bernard: But also, Hollywood community, coaching Rihanna for the Battleship movie.

>> Male #1: And action.

>> Rihanna: Let's get out of here.

>> Rihanna: I had to research how to hold the weapon correctly.

Hey.

I also trained with a bad ass weapons officer in real life.

>> Jacqueline: I'm Jacqueline Carrizosa.

I help Rihanna with just basic military lingo, weapons handling When I joined the military, I had literally nothing.

>> Jacqueline: I was in a holding center in a juvenile holding center and my recruiter came and rescued me.

Needless to say, when I went to boot camp, I thought it was actually kinda easy and I never had so much food before in my wife.

When I joined up for the military, I originally signed up as a gunner's mate.

I got out, felt like something was missing, I ended up moving out here for a job, and I was like guns, I know guns.

I'm like, I can do this job.

That was my turnaround moment.

[MUSIC] [GUNSHOT] >> Helen: You did really good for Air Force.

[LAUGH] >> Jacqueline: The civilian world is not like the military.

I wasn't very patient when I first got out.

I freaked out internally a lot.

Through the transition I realized if you do it the right way hopefully form it a little bit and you mature from it.

You just gotta take it day by day.

>> Helen: She's so amazing.

She made me feel like I should kinda step up my game.

I've never shot a shotgun before ever.

>> Jacqueline: Shotguns are super easy.

The right hand's here.

>> Helen: Mm-hm.

>> Jacqueline: Good, left hand up here.

>> Helen: Mm-hm.

>> Helen: Okay.

>> Okay.

[GUNSHOT] >> Jacqueline: Good job.

>> Helen: I kinda like what she does, teaching people how to shoot weapons.

She's kinda like a soldier still.

>> Jacqueline: When I first got out I didn't wanna tell anybody that I was a veteran.

I kept that low key because I was trying to just be normal.

I just wanted to kind of fit in or whatever.

But I realized, we kinda don't.

So be proud of who you are and who you were.

But also like, yesterday is yesterday, today is today.

Do something today.

Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.

>> Helen: I have to adapt, just like Jacqueline did.

It's uncomfortable for me to be in this momentum of swinging.

If I can get off this one little freaking monkey bar and go forward.

That's the struggle.

>> Bernard: One of my biggest fears is that I'll have to end up in some job.

That I hate or I don't love, I just pay the bills.

So Robert Kiyosaki, I read his book Rich Dad Poor Dad.

And it was a live charger for me because like it tapped me into the non cliche business side of the world.

>> Male #2: Robert Kiyosaki is the author of the best selling Rich Dad Poor Dad series.

It's his first book in the series has held the top spot in the New York Times bestseller list for six years running.

>> Bernard: And so meeting one of your heroes, I was mind-blown, I was like holy crap this is really happening.

>> Robert: When I was 14, I knew I was going to be a marine.

I graduated from the academy, two years to get through flight school in one year in Camp Pendleton.

And from Camp Pendleton, do not pass go.

You go straight to Vietnam.

[MUSIC] I was a Huey pilot, flew gunships.

We operate via trust, mission, integrity, code, honor, duty, diligence, discipline.

Those are the words I live by.

>> Sam: When you were transitioning to the civilian, what were some of your fears?

What were some of the things that caught your attention?

>> Robert: Back then, I would get spit on, and yelled at, they'd say you're a baby killer.

It was tough, but military training is great.

It was the best thing that prepared me for the real world.

The biggest skill set the marine corp taught me is learning I will fail, because failing is how we learn.

In flight school, every single day we killed our engine and went down.

So pretty soon killing the engine was no big deal.

Then one day in Vietnam my engine went pow straight into the water.

I went down three times in Vietnam.

Military trained me, get that plane into the water, keep my men alive.

And the reason most people are not succesful is potentially because they don't fail enough.

Think of a baby who says I've failed once but I can't walk anymore.

You just keep going.

And that's the human spirit.

How much of your time in the military were you running on your spirit?

Almost all the time.

>> Bernard: Every day.

>> Robert: And I remember going into battle so many times.

A flight of four gun ships going in and we had our headsets on.

We had rock and roll music.

Our favorite song was black is black.

Black is black.

And we're tapping on our glass on the hood.

The gunners [SOUND] we have to get our spirits up.

Or we could go in, "oh I might die today?"

Right?

>> Sam: Stay motivated.

>> Robert: Yeah you got hey we're going in ready to fight and as that spirit, it is that spiritual high that I love in business too.

Sometimes I win.

Sometimes I lose, but I love the spirit of it.

And I attributed most of my financial and business success to military education.

So the military, regardless what branch of the service you're in, is the best training in the world.

Without the military, I wouldn't be as successful [MUSIC] >> Bernard: Seeing him come from war, come from Vietnam and that experience, and being able to translate it effectively as an entrepreneur, I mean, that's right on point for me.

There's no reason that can't be us.

[MUSIC] And it's kind of that military culture, like if you're true to the uniform you're wearing.

That's innate and its in you.

You gotta take that with you in your own personal life.

>> Sam: This is somebody that has succeeded from what he has learned from the military because you have that discipline you have that training utilize that training.

I need to keep pushing forward.

[MUSIC] So right now, we're in El Paso, Texas to the next interview which is Matt Best.

Now, Mat is definitely well known amongst the veteran community.

>> Helen: He owns Article 15 clothing, but he also does funny little YouTube snippets.

>> Mat: Hi.

I'm Matt Best During this block of instruction, remember that looking cool and confident outweighs everything.

Training on the range is like Crossfit.

It's not complete until you take a selfie.

[MUSIC] Oo, I like that one.

[MUSIC] >> Helen: But he's just hilarious.

He does all sorts of random things like pull ups in a little bird as it's taking off.

>> Sam: He's a character, and I think we need more of that.

Because in the military, sometimes joking and laughing and being funny kinda gets you through the suck, which is awesome.

[MUSIC] >> Mat: This is for home defense in case ISIS comes after us, okay?

>> [LAUGH] >> Helen: Lord.

>> Mat: This is fun.

It's in the house, we're having a good time.

I like it.

So much experience here man.

Pleasure to have you guys here.

This is awesome dude, super cool.

>> Bernard: Yeah, so if you can just kind of take us from where you had that lightbulb moment, where you were like, this is what I'm gonna do and how I'm gonna do it.

>> Mat: I started early on, about three years ago.

I was doing a YouTube channel, kind of just as a joke.

I was like, this is fun.

I'm gonna make my friends laugh.

So once we started getting likes and viewership and the following, we're like, this could be something.

And it's a really scary moment, because I ended up quitting a six figure job.

Full benefits.

When I had some friends say, hey man you're not really happy in life, so I quit.

And then as YouTube channel started progressing I was like how do we monetize this how do we make it where we can fund what were doing so it's not a negative.

We just wanted a neutral thing we're like we make a thousand dollars, we turn that into a thousand dollars of content just because we thought it was fun It's a hard thing to do but you have to like, really be focused and realize that you're gonna have failures before success.

I mean, I've failed a lot of times.

I've had ideas like, this is gonna crush.

And people are like, that's the worst thing I've ever heard, like, dang it.

But that's kind of part of the hustle, like there's certain sacrifices you have to make on a personal level to succeed in what you wanna do.

>> Bernard: That's awesome.

That's something I wanna transition to, to where I can self-fund my lifestyle based on what I'm passionate about.

>> Mat: Yeah.

Success is measured on a lot of different levels with everybody.

So it's like success is truly about yourself.

What do you want in life?

Go for it.

Every time I talk about transition I truly believe it comes back to having purpose.

And it's an innate emotion within all of us.

We want purpose in life.

You can be successful, you can make money, but you can be a dirtbag.

If you don't have purpose, you're kind of lost.

And the YouTube channel, that's kind of where I started finding purpose.

>> Mat: I'm gonna deadlift 225 pounds as many times as I can.

Can.

For each rep that I will do I will donate $25 to charity.

Hopefully I can raise enough.

>> Mat: We're promoting the positive change of what our community needs to be.

I mean, I'm sure we've all had friends that have taken their lives or what ever the case it and it's like there are certain people that could have been stopped with a just, like, sheer slap on the ass and a laugh.

>> Mat: Reload.

>> Mat: [LAUGH] I didn't know how to edit videos.

But it's like, you have to find self motivation.

Focus on the end goal, right?

So I just spent, you know, 40 hours a week on fricken YouTube searching what I wanted.

We're in the information age, so anything you wanna do is at your fingertips.

If you take the time out of your day to really focus, you're gonna be successful.

And I think a lot of veteran issues, 99% of the time, nothing's wrong with you.

You just don't know what your new purpose gonna be, right?

What is the next objective.

How am I gonna define myself going forward from here.

What is success?

Is it monetary?

Is it community based?

That was the most difficult aspect that I dealt with.

I truly believe success is found in yourself.

So it's like, do what you want.

Make yourself happy.

>> Sam: He's been successful in what he loves to do, kinda like he's living his American dream.

>> Mat: Says, I love you guys.

And keep doing amazing things and forever free, from Mat.

>> Sam: Everybody we have interviewed, you see that common trait in each one.

They decided not to go back to the bat cave.

And what I mean by the bat cave is your comfort area.

I can relate.

When I lost my legs, it was tough.

I was going through surgeries left and right.

It depletes your body.

It depletes your mind.

So I kinda gave up.

I don't wanna leave the room.

I'd go to bed at 3 o'clock in the morning, get up at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, sleep all day.

That's the bat cave.

When I got hurt, I didn't know, I didn't know what I was gonna do.

And I was getting out of control.

At this point, I'm starting to make headway and doing the right things, little by little, little by little.

But I still got a long ways to go.

[MUSIC] >> Bernard: Hey, I'm Bernard.

>> Derek: Derek, nice to meet you.

>> Bernard: Hey, thanks for having us, man.

>> Sam: So we're about to go work out with Mr. Derek Weida.

Walking in his prosthetic leg, and I'm like, wow.

[MUSIC] We start working out, and Derek is getting jacked up.

And that right there pushed me to push further and harder.

He's a true inspiration.

[MUSIC] >> Bernard: He's a wild man, got his wild crazy beard, but he's legit.

Right off the bat you know he's an American badass.

[MUSIC] >> Derek: I got shot in June 2007.

I took a bullet side-to-side through the knee on a house raid, so it basically blew my knee out.

Everything that I wanted to do or I wanted to be revolved around being a soldier, so I struggled.

And I was still working out every day, but it was just, my workouts were fueled by anger and hatred and sadness.

I can remember how I'm sitting there working out, doing cardio, but I really just wanted to cry.

That's how emotional I was.

The problem was, there was no purpose for my fitness.

And at this point in my life, I dropped out of school, and I was only leaving my apartment to get food.

I was cut off from the world.

I was not doing well.

And I battled with alcoholism, depression, suicide attempts.

I was in jail and in psych wards at the hospitals.

And then one of the guys I served with just blasted it out Facebook that he was starting a Tough Mudder team.

And he put out an open invite, so now I had a purpose.

For the first time in a long time, I had something to look forward to.

And it was stupid.

It was a Tough Mudder, it means nothing.

It saved my life.

I walked about six miles, I got a piggyback ride for about a mile, and I did the rest of it on crutches, a good six miles on crutches.

And that was the first time people started telling me, you're so motivational, you're such an inspiration.

I've never been a confident person.

Even to this day I don't see myself as this inspirational figure, or somebody who has something to teach other people.

But that was the first time those words started being thrown at me, so I've picked up some traction on social media.

I'll use social media as a platform.

I started an apparel company, get into the fitness world.

I got picked up as a sponsored athlete.

And now I'm in this position where I do what I love, I do what I'm passionate about.

But the biggest thing is, I help other people.

That's my meaning and purpose.

That's why I do what I do.

[MUSIC] >> Sam: Derek, he can seem intimidating, but he's not.

He's just freaking awesome guy.

>> Helen: And when he would see Sam getting weak, he would like stop his workout and work out with Sam, and just keep pushing him, going, you can do this!

He would see Sam get tired, and he would pick up the kettle bell and do it.

He would be like, all right, I've done ten, now your turn.

And just to see that Sam had that drive, because that guy was willing to push him, I was like, yeah, this dude's awesome.

>> Sam: I know fitness has pushed me to bettering myself.

I got off all my medications and addictions, and have pushed forward to trying to live a little bit better.

And I think I'm a little bit more positive of a person.

>> Derek: So you have this power to help people too, man.

Share your story so that if there's someone in your position sitting at home alone just feeling lost, they look at you and they're like, man, if he can do that, I can do whatever I want.

And it starts just like that.

Like today and the workout we did, and me and you working out side by side, watching you motivates me.

It pumps me up, gives me that feeling.

What do you see most on social media and on the news?

You see PTSD, suicide, all these veterans struggling.

That's the trendy story, and we just need to change that rhetoric.

Instead of talking about all these bad things, talk about the positive things, the things that we learned that we are capable of, that make us great.

Instead of cowering from challenges, we learn to face our fears.

We learn to face those obstacles, and use those things we learned in the military to not just live in the civilian world, but thrive.

Somebody goes to college from the time they're 18 to 22, but we served in the military from the time we were 18 to 22 or more.

We learned more.

We learned more real-world knowledge.

And we need to be leaders in our community, and not feel like we're second-rate citizens.

We're first-rate citizens.

I believe that we're great.

I believe that we're all great.

And I wanna remind people of that.

You're great, you're great.

You lost, you're sad, I don't care, you're great.

Go be great, all right?

[MUSIC] >> Helen: [LAUGH] [MUSIC] >> Sam: After Texas, got in this amazing RV, headed towards greener grass, bluer ocean.

>> Helen: We went to Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

[MUSIC] >> Bernard: So there's a huge veteran community there.

I was stationed in the area for two years.

That's where I trained mixed martial arts.

The group of guys and girls that you have there, it's very much a family.

>> Male #3: I'll tell you right now that there's more than 50% veterans right now.

Hey guys!

Raise your hand if you're a veteran, or active duty.

There he goes, I told you, I told you, or a spouse.

>> Sam: When they go in there, everybody talks to you and greets each other, but they also talk smack to each other.

>> Male #4: Man, where you been?

You don't train no more.

>> Bernard: Yeah, I'm going to train.

[LAUGH] All these guys want a piece of me.

>> Sam: So it's a great environment, especially for veterans, because it's that little piece that you miss when you're out.

>> Bernard: Sam had a little bit of grappling experience before his injury.

And he pulled me to the side and said, hey Bernard, this is the first time that I'm getting back on the mat, so I'm a little nervous right now.

>> Sam: In my mind I was like.

Am I going to just sit in the back, not doing anything, watching everybody else have fun and enjoy themselves?

>> Bernard: One of our seasoned guys immediately picked up on that and said, nope, actually me and you are going, buddy.

>> Sam: They're all out there like hey, yeah, you can do it.

This is something you can do right now.

Showed me a few positions, and I actually got to roll with a couple of the guys.

And it was the first time since being injured.

[MUSIC] >> Bernard: Once they were done sparring, Daniel pulled me to the side and was like, Bernard.

>> Bernard: You probably didn't get to see it, but once the heat was on and he was put in an uncomfortable position, his eyes lit up.

And you could tell that he loved this, he needs this.

>> Sam: When I got on the mat, first time ever being back on the mat, it brought me back.

My mind was not on anything that was going on in here.

It wasn't on what's going on at home.

It was me and my sparring partner.

>> Danny: That's what we call it mat therapy.

It's very therapeutic.

Because you're in the moment.

Because this guy's trying to choke you.

He's trying to throw you.

And then after, it's like [SOUND].

Cool, thanks, because they got you better.

But right now, they just got you better.

>> Bernard: At the end of a sparring session, we asked some of the veterans to stay behind and just kinda share what jiu-jitsu means to them in their life.

>> Male #5: Once I got out and I felt no structure in life, I completely went down hill.

I know if I didn't do something, I was gonna lose my family.

This is my therapy.

I look forward for this time every day.

>> Male #6: You know, I got PTSD, things like that, wounded, all that good stuff.

But this has helped me.

This has helped me get better.

No matter how jacked up your day is, you come and get on the mats.

If you're thinking about what else happened to you, you're about to get strangled.

[LAUGH] >> Danny: Mat therapy and kinetic problem solving, getting comfortable in bad spots.

The guys that are comfortable in bad spots is because they experienced it before.

If you haven't been there, then you're freaking out.

I got this ginormous dude trying to squish me.

But in my mind I'm going, this is no problem.

If I can breath here man, you can breath anywhere.

That's the toughest thing people, especially veterans need to understand, that you think it's bad but it's a lesson for later.

>> Bernard: Putting yourself in these uncomfortable positions is a big life lesson to learn.

>> Sam: If you're in a calmer state, then you're gonna be able to move past that situation and that's life.

I'm going to definitely utilize this for the future.

>> Sam: So we have eight days left on this road trip and my biggest focus is keep grabbing these tools and hopefully collectively bring it all together.

I don't know what these eight days are gonna be like but at any moment or any interview, somebody could say something.

It makes your mind click.

>> Jas: August of 2005, I lost everything to Hurricane Katrina.

And then September of 2005 is when I received my cancer diagnosis.

So it's like this happened and then this happened.

And it was told, hey you're a veteran now, and I really didn't know that that meant.

But it basically meant that I was on my own.

[MUSIC] >> Sam: When I was going through all my surgeries and stuff my wife was there, and my mom was there.

But all the challenges, all the things that you went through, who was there, if anybody, who was there for you?

>> Jas: So at the time I received my diagnosis, my aunt was keeping my son.

He was about ten at this time.

So I called her, I told her to lie to my son.

Tell him I still went to Iraq, and I'm still serving because I didn't want him to worry about me.

So I actually went through it alone.

And it was probably one of the hardest things that I've ever had to deal with.

At the beginning I probably didn't treat the hospital staff the best, because I'm just lashing out because I'm by myself.

And so I locked myself out of the room.

So I went to the front desk to get another key made.

And while I was waiting for the key, there are about four or five service members being wheeled in and they were definitely worse off than me.

Some had multiple limbs missing and I got my key, I went back to the room and I went to the mirror and I said, you know what, cancer definitely sucks and it's bad and you could die from it.

But just seeing them actually put me in a better place cuz I saw how strong they were.

And so after my cancer was in remission, I can't go back to New Orleans because it's still kinda under water.

And I had thought at that particular time that, maybe I was an isolated case.

And then I saw that there where tens of thousands of women veterans who were homeless.

As a soldier, I take an oath, never leave a fallen comrade.

And so, once I saw the problem, I just went to work.

So we've now supported over 10,000 days of housing.

And if you're struggling financially, you can't afford a whole new wardrobe, so we also help them with that.

We also have hair and makeup artists that are there that showed them how to do simple applications that are work-friendly.

Serving, you have to defeminize yourself.

In the military you're one of the guys.

And so when you have to now not be one of the guys anymore, it's awkward.

And it becomes a chore.

>> Helen: Yeah, like I have a friend, his girlfriend is a makeup artist.

So she helps me to makeup every once in a while.

So I know how to put on mascara.

>> Jas: Yeah.

>> Helen: I know how to do the smoky stuff.

>> Jas: Yeah.

>> Helen: But I won't do it unless she's around.

>> [LAUGH] >> Helen: I'm glad you kind of hit on that, because people don't understand that I've become so accustomed to, everyday I wear the same thing.

It was really easy.

>> Jas: When I came off active duty, I hadn't been a girl for a while.

And so it's just that when you're in the military you have all types of resources and all types of people on your left and right that you can go and talk to.

The hardest part about transitioning for me was becoming an individual.

But what I've always lived by, from when I raised my right hand 16 years ago, and I also got it tatted on my arm, is the warrior ethos.

I would always place the mission first.

I would never accept defeat.

I would never quit.

And I would never leave a fallen comrade.

And that's what I live by every day, cuz I'm simple like that.

[LAUGH] [MUSIC] >> Helen: Just seeing her being so strong.

You can be a female, and you can still have courage, you can have guts, you can be a bad ass.

And I'm so glad that she wrote a quote strictly for female veterans.

>> Jas: You are a woman.

You are a warrior.

It's okay to be both.

[MUSIC] >> Helen: That really hit home for me, because It's hard for me to go from being mommy, sensitive, to solider mommy, but we are warriors and we are females and we can be both.

[MUSIC] >> Sam: This is the final leg of the road trip.

>> Bernard: We're at the end of our trip.

>> Helen: In the morning I get to go back home to sweet home Alabama.

It's in a sense, a bittersweet moment.

>> Bernard: To end the trip, we're gonna be meeting Brian Stann.

Brian Stann was a full-time UFC fighter while being active duty.

But also he's CEO of a nonprofit that helps veterans get hired.

That's awesome.

So yeah I've been waiting for this one for a while.

>> Brian: I don't think I'll ever find a job that I'm as good at as I was at being an infantry officer.

I went from being a captain in the Marine Corps in command of 950 marines and sailors, ended up taking a job with a medical IT company and I was in a cubical next to a 23 year old looking through spreadsheets to see if there were duplicate hospitals in them.

You couldn't have wasted my experience or skill set more, but that's all part of it.

You cannot expect your first employer or the people that you're interviewing with or the community you move to, you can't expect them to know everything about you and understand your value right off the bat.

You have to go in and you've gotta show it.

You've gotta compete again.

[MUSIC] So I had a lot of fun figuring out, okay, how do I become a non-profit leader and build a non-profit.

By the way, at the same time, I've also gotta fight these guys that wanna beat me up on national TV, because that helps me pay my bills as well.

So trying to juggle all those while we were having kids and everything, it was a wild, crazy transition for sure.

>> Bernard: There's a lot of folks that when they transition, they leave with that sense of those were my glory years.

What would you say about mindset when it comes to someone who's still wearing the uniform?

>> Brian: Yeah, yeah and if you think that way, then you're automatically willing it to happen.

There's so much more to life.

I mean, your life should go like this.

Whether it be in their professional life or in their personal life, cuz one of the things is if they look at the military like, those were my glory years of my professional life.

Well then, fine but these are gonna be the glory years for your personal life now.

There's so much to look forward to at every phase of life that we have to stay positive.

Because if we don't, as we all know, we've been there, when you focus on the negative, you will it to happen.

It only snowballs, it only gets worse, and if you're married, now you're having ripple effects on your spouse, your children, if you have them, all your friends.

So in those really dark and difficult times, you gotta focus on what is, what you can do.

And the military and the world really does a great job of telling you what you can't do any more, don't they?

>> Sam: Yeah.

>> Brian: You can't do this anymore.

You're never going to do this again.

Instead of focusing on, what are all the things you can do?

You know, you could go on to be a CEO.

Your greatest weapons are right here and in here.

You don't have to be in a arena, I don't have to be in a octagon, I don't have to be on a battle field, I don't have to be on a football field.

I mean, in life we can all try to do great things.

I made the choice to serve.

I wanted to be infantry.

I wanted to be a warrior, like all of us do.

We go there and the countries at war, we wanna find the enemy, we wanna fight them.

And the rules are then, you can't come back and whine and cry about it then.

You know what's at stake and we know that we're not all going to make it, and so you do the things you need to do to get yourself back, get yourself focused, but then win again.

Find a way to win again.

Because at the end of the way, the Marines that I lost, the Marines that were wounded badly that served underneath me, I owe it to them.

I didn't lose my life.

I didn't get wounded severely.

I owe it to them to go win and remember them, when I do it.

>> Sam: In war, there are no wounded soldiers.

Ain't that the truth.

>> Helen: All are affected in some way.

>> Sam: I like this one.

>> Bernard: Nice.

>> Sam: It's not what you've lost, it's what you do with it.

>> Helen: I have a purpose in life and that's been to help other military families through some of what I had to go through.

If I had to go through it myself in order to help others, I'm okay with that.

And that's what this trip is about.

[MUSIC] >> Sam: I'm reflecting and last night I really reflected.

[MUSIC] >> Bernard: We got all the way from California to now DC.

With the end of our trip, we've set up a nice panel with the big combination of fellow veterans, it's gonna be great, it's gonna be inspiring.

>> Announcer #1: We wanna welcome all of you that's celebrating and welcoming Sam, Bernard, and Helen.

[APPLAUSE] >> Announcer #1: They had quite the road trip.

[APPLAUSE] >> Bernard: Sam likes to call me the long-winded one.

>> Sam: Here we go.

>> [LAUGH] >> Bernard: [LAUGH] No, but I got my brother to my right, my sister to my left.

Come to love these guys, never met them before.

Right off the bat we're cracking jokes, interservice jokes.

All types of acronyms getting thrown around.

>> [LAUGH] >> Sam: I went through the interviews with open ears.

And each one of them had a lot of great information, a lot of great knowledge.

>> Daniel: Utilize the resources around you, whatever they may be, friends, family, a local VA, whatever your military base institution has.

Seriously consider going to school.

I know that's not really a high priority on a lot of enlisted guys, but honestly, putting yourself around just a thriving campus of people, be around that.

That's vital.

>> Helen: I know when we're in the military we're told to toughen up, don't ask anything, stay in your lane and carry on but don't be afraid to ask questions.

>> Bernard: Daniel Rodriguez's and Derek Weida's stories of what they went through battling depression and suicide.

They're willing to be open to raise their hand and ask for help.

In jiu jitsu it's honorable to tap when your about to go unconscious from a choke.

Or when your arm, or leg or other joint is getting over extended.

It's honorable to tap and live to train another day.

The toughest individuals who the ones who can speak up first, when they need help.

>> Helen: You need to ask, ask for the resources and network.

[MUSIC] >> Brian: We've got one of the greatest alumni networks in the world, and we don't look at it like that.

Go on LinkedIn, start looking up people that served in the Airforce, and the Navy, and the Army.

Ask if they want to have lunch and then they're gonna have friends from all different spectrums and you're gonna meet them too.

They get to realize, you know what, I wouldn't mind having you on my team.

What are you doing for work again?

We gotta do that for each other.

>> Jas: Because if we're not doing it, then we can't in our right minds expect anybody else to do it.

Because there's nobody that's gonna understand like another veteran.

>> Sam: In the military.

You don't go through a hard time by yourself.

You go through it with a group of people.

When you go out of the military, if you can't talk to anybody on the outside, talk to your brothers and sisters cuz they're gonna understand.

And that's what we need more of.

Just by communicating and being somebody's shoulder, you may save somebody else's life that day.

>> Helen: Before this trip I had that negative mind set of I can't.

I can't be a civilian.

I can't do that.

But I got to realize you can serve, in a different aspect.

You don't have to wear the uniform, but you can still have your mission.

Your purpose.

I can be a single mom, and I can be stronger.

Even out of the army than I was in In the army.

>> Sam: And utilize the tools that you gained in the military, your discipline and your respect, your honor, your integrity.

Utilize those tools to help you move forward.

>> Bernard: And as you go from one campaign to the next, put those tools in your tool bag, and always strive to grow.

This has been 30 days, and it's been many things.

I'm forever changed.

My biggest fear was that I'd have to go do some job that I'm not inspired by.

I've now been reaffirmed that I can do this.

There's others who have done it.

I will do this, I will be successful.

As time goes on, I'm going to be able to replay these amazing folks.

People I'll always remember.

>> Art: If you're a military member you're 1%, less than 1% I think is the real stat.

Put that in a company where you're 1 in 100 you stand out.

>> Nicole: You're gonna encounter hardship, you're gonna encounter defeat.

You're gonna encounter so much on this journey.

Whatever it is that you want to become in life, and as military service men and women, we know what it's like to push ourselves to the limit.

But you have to keep going and you have to keep telling yourself don't quit.

>> Jesse: That mental toughness that's the biggest thing.

You can translate it to anything in life.

It's not always the skill, the talent that's gonna get you through.

It's gonna help it's definitely a plus, but what really truly gets you through anything is mental toughness.

>> Josh: That sort of mentality to go back in a shell, I think it's just a mentality that we've got to overcome as a veteran population.

You're not gonna find self worth sitting on your couch.

You're not gonna find it.

>> Sam: Everybody that I interviewed, they got up every day and moved forward in their life and they became great because they did not give up.

They had the will to keep pushing forward.

They inspired me and I've become more resilient now.

[MUSIC] >> Bernard: A lot of people put this divide between their military life and their civilian life.

You do have your military life, you have your civilian life, but at the end of the day.

>> Daniel: It's life, everybody has different roads and avenues, it's life.

[MUSIC]