0:02

Good evening and welcome to another episode

0:04

of Unstoppable . I am Victoria

0:06

with my amazing , wonderful husband

0:08

. It's like the redhead and the redneck

0:10

.

0:11

Howdy y'all .

0:13

I'm so happy to have another

0:16

amputee with me on this episode

0:18

tonight because my

0:21

husband , mark , makes fun of me and

0:23

says some of the meanest things . I'll wait

0:25

till you're not drinking because I don't want you to . He'll

0:27

say stuff like

0:30

we'll play cards and he'll say something like

0:32

oh , you lost your hand Right

0:35

, or I

0:37

didn't want to go out to a store or anything

0:39

right after and I like lifted

0:42

up my nub and he goes is it half off

0:44

? I mean , these are you

0:46

know and . I

0:49

have the best sense of humor because , like , right

0:51

before I go in for any of my operations , I

0:53

always tell my doctor you're going to leave me

0:55

in stitches , but you're going to get on my nerves

0:57

, right , and I mean these are things that I

0:59

do . But to have another fellow

1:01

amputee with me who is amazing , I'm

1:04

so excited to have mark with

1:06

us . His name is mark wright , senior . He

1:08

is the first and only I'm

1:11

so excited he can motorcycle

1:13

officer ever

1:15

in the united states like this is just amazing

1:18

. I was so excited when I found him . You can tell I'm a

1:20

little excited because I was like oh

1:22

, brother , and all of us have law enforcement

1:25

background you were a Marine . Thank

1:27

you for your service . My husband was

1:29

Air Force and it's

1:31

just to know that

1:33

I have you coming on here . Congratulations

1:36

on not giving up , for reaching

1:39

your goal , for doing all

1:41

that you do . I am just so

1:43

glad you're here . I guess he's glad too , but thank

1:45

you so much for being here with us tonight .

1:47

Oh , it's my pleasure Whatever I can do to get

1:49

the word out there that our minds are only limit

1:51

.

1:52

There , you go .

1:53

You hear , that , did you hear that . That

1:56

is a great book , title Awesome

1:58

.

1:59

So you started on your book . No

2:01

no not

2:05

, I'm a dumb jarhead man . There ain't no writing unless it's in crayon . Hey

2:07

, that might be . Uh , you

2:10

know , put in great crayon . See how

2:12

many jarheads read it even broken

2:14

crayons make beautiful pictures . Yes

2:17

, absolutely so I spent , uh

2:19

, 13 and a half years in law enforcement work . Um

2:22

, I was a police officer out right out

2:24

of the Air Force and then I went

2:26

to become a private detective , sheriff's

2:28

deputy inside the jail and then finally a

2:30

K-9 officer . During my police

2:33

officer years six years there

2:35

I got

2:37

an opportunity to . One of

2:39

my part-time jobs was to escort

2:41

funerals , and of course , you do that

2:43

on a motorcycle . So you

2:46

buy your motorcycle Harley Davidson , of course

2:48

and then you start training

2:51

.

2:51

How do you know he has a Harley ? You don't know . I

2:53

know whether he does or not , but you don't know if he has

2:55

a Harley . No self-respecting

2:57

officer would have anything to add , because how

3:00

do

3:03

you know ? He has a Harley .

3:05

You have a Harley , don't you ?

3:07

Not anymore . I recently sold it and

3:11

bought a new one . Not yet

3:13

I actually sold it to

3:15

buy a BMW because I've only ridden Harleys

3:17

my entire life , so I actually

3:19

crashed . That's how I lost my leg , was in a motorcycle

3:22

crash . I was on my road glide , so

3:25

I had a new bike before I had a new leg . In a motorcycle crash , I was on my road glide , so I had a new bike before I had a new

3:27

leg . Bought a brand new cvo road glide

3:29

. It was beautiful , rode it for about a year

3:31

and that's where I was like I didn't want to go to the motors

3:33

academy but our department only uses

3:35

bmws . So I actually

3:38

got rid of my harley

3:40

, got a bmw , so that's what I've ever

3:42

ride my . I got an adventure bike , so

3:45

I got that . But my wife

3:47

has said it's only a matter of time now before

3:49

I get rid of this and put a Harley back in my garage

3:51

.

3:52

She knows . Can we talk about the

3:55

day that this happened ? Yeah

3:58

, so you were coming home from

4:00

work and

4:02

you were obviously

4:04

in an accident . Can you kind of tell everyone

4:07

what happened ?

4:08

Yeah . So it was actually a crazy day Working

4:11

second watch where I'm supposed to be off at midnight but

4:13

of course we don't control what calls

4:15

we go to and we had a report

4:18

of a traffic collision where

4:20

there were small children

4:22

that had popped out of the trunk of this car

4:24

. So we all respond

4:27

. Turns out the driver of the vehicle

4:29

was the children's father , who had

4:31

overdosed . Right after telling

4:33

his kids it was okay for them to hide in the trunk

4:35

because they were going to surprise mom

4:37

. They were picking mom up and they

4:39

were going to surprise him . So kids got in

4:41

the trunk . He took some sort of drug

4:44

that OD'd . He went across

4:46

a couple lanes of traffic , crashed , kids

4:48

popped out . They were uninjured , thank goodness . So

4:51

we we long story short . We were

4:53

going to arrest him for DUI child endangerment

4:56

in the whole nine yards , but because of the crash

4:58

and the OD he was going to be stuck in the hospital

5:00

for a long time . So my leadership

5:03

decided hey , just we'll do a notify

5:05

warrant , we'll arrest them later . Just go

5:07

ahead and come back and deal with

5:09

the paperwork . We'll take care of

5:11

all the other stuff tomorrow . So get

5:13

back , finally get out of work at

5:15

three o'clock in the morning . Jump

5:18

on my Harley . It's my personal bike

5:20

, I've been riding for years and years and years . Jump

5:22

on my bike , start heading home

5:24

. I live about 55

5:27

miles away from where I work and

5:29

it's mostly interstate , so I jump on the

5:31

interstate doing interstate speeds

5:33

. Next thing , you

5:35

know , I'm going around a dark corner , going

5:37

through what I thought was fog , because we're right here on

5:39

the coast in Southern California we get a lot

5:41

of fog from the ocean . Well , as

5:44

I'm going through it through this turn

5:46

, I started realizing I'm

5:48

smelling coolant . What I was smelling

5:50

was the coolant from a car that had wrecked out

5:52

and right when it clicked what it was

5:54

, I saw out of the corner of my eye pieces

5:57

of the car and I was able to look through

5:59

the fog debris that I was going through

6:01

. That's when I noticed the outline of the car

6:03

, realized it was too late , impacted

6:06

the car broadside , basically because

6:08

it had no lights on . I couldn't see it . So I

6:10

hit it . I was moving . Pretty

6:13

good Hit it , but luckily my

6:15

Marine Corps training . I was a crew chief in the

6:17

Marine Corps . I used to fly on helicopters , so

6:19

I had a split second . I grabbed my shoulders

6:22

, tucked my chin , ejected , flew

6:25

for quite a while , rolled skid , luckily

6:28

never lost consciousness . Some

6:30

angel had stopped his vehicle when he

6:32

saw my bike explode . He stopped

6:34

because he knew that I'd be somewhere . So he comes

6:36

running over to me because I started screaming

6:38

out just to see if anybody had stopped screaming

6:41

for help . And he comes over and he's

6:43

like hey , I already called 911 . Don't worry

6:45

, they're coming . I know that

6:47

California Highway Patrol is the one who responds

6:49

to crashes and they're not always very fast

6:51

. And I knew my leg was pretty

6:54

messed up because I

6:56

could just tell . So I told him

6:58

. I said hey , call 911 back and I want you to

7:00

relay word for word exactly what

7:02

I tell you . So he gets them back on the line . I

7:05

give them my police ID number and I give

7:07

them the code for officer down 1199 . And

7:10

he kind of went back and forth a couple of times hey

7:12

, they want to make sure you're an officer , what's your ID number

7:14

? And say , hey , within seconds

7:16

I started hearing sirens . So which

7:18

was good , because what I didn't realize was I

7:20

had severed two arteries in my leg because

7:23

basically what had happened is , when I ejected

7:25

, everything crumpled up on my left

7:27

heel so I basically ripped my

7:29

heel off my foot . I

7:32

also have multiple compound fractures all

7:34

below the knee . And then , so

7:36

yeah , fire got their tourniquet on me

7:39

. All the cops arrived , got

7:42

me in an ambulance and got me to the hospital

7:44

where they tried to do limb salvage for about

7:46

two weeks , Told

7:48

them from day one , it's never going to work . You

7:50

know , I did multiple combat tours . I

7:52

saw Marines getting blown up . I knew what

7:54

was good and what wasn't good . So I

7:57

was at peace from day one . Told my wife . I said look

7:59

, I'm not keeping this foot . I

8:05

said at the end of the day , the only injuries I had were my left leg , below the knee . I had multiple

8:07

compound fractures . My foot was just looked like it went through a meat

8:09

grinder . And then I fractured my pelvis

8:11

as well because I was carrying my gun . And

8:13

when I hit my gun shattered my

8:16

right side of my pelvis where I was carrying it . But

8:18

other than that I was fine , no neck back

8:20

, nothing . So you know

8:22

, very blessed , so fast

8:24

forward . That crash was the 13th of March . The

8:33

24th , they finally amputated my leg , went home three days later , unfortunately

8:35

, got really infected , had to go in for a revision surgery in April . But then

8:38

that started after lots

8:40

of infection battling . They thought

8:42

I had osteomyelitis so I

8:44

did a lot of IV antibiotics

8:47

here at the house . But

8:49

July I got my leg started

8:51

walking and rehabbing . By

8:53

the 1st of December I was back at work full duty .

8:58

So , what made you decide to stay

9:01

on motorcycles and not something

9:04

else I've ?

9:05

been riding longer than I haven't been riding at this point

9:07

in my life . So I started riding

9:09

when I was a drill instructor back in 2001

9:11

. I was living 80 miles

9:14

from the front gate of where I worked and

9:16

getting to and from you know it was

9:18

economic and it was a lot faster

9:20

, especially here in Southern California . So

9:23

I started riding 2001

9:25

and it was never

9:28

looking back . So since 2001

9:30

, I've had one , and at times I

9:32

had up to three motorcycles , all Harleys

9:34

, in my garage . So

9:37

that was a good time . I had a V-Rod , an Ultra

9:39

Classic and a Rogue Lodge , all in my garage

9:42

, all in my name .

9:44

So that's , amazing .

9:45

So yeah , classic and a roguelite all in my garage all in my name .

9:46

That's amazing . So , going through the process , how

9:51

was your department when

9:53

you went through ? And first you were the oldest

9:55

cadet , which I think

9:58

is amazing . Rock on , that's awesome

10:00

, Grandpa and he

10:03

goes and honor grad .

10:04

I was the honor grad at the same time . Oh

10:07

, good deal .

10:09

Did you get more support

10:11

or more slack from some of the other ?

10:13

No , my department has been absolutely

10:16

amazing . There's a lot of people

10:18

who have issues with the departments they work for

10:20

. I'm the opposite . They

10:23

have been nothing but supportive and amazing

10:25

. They've done everything they could

10:27

to help me succeed

10:31

, even when it was time for me

10:33

to go on full duty . I brought a

10:35

letter from my doctor at the VA

10:37

who cleared me for full duty and

10:39

they didn't even question it . They said do

10:41

you believe you're ready ? And I was like , yeah , I'm ready

10:43

. Like and like

10:45

you know , the , the chief of our department

10:48

, was in constant communication with me and my

10:50

wife the whole time I was in the hospital

10:52

. Like , especially coming from the Marine Corps

10:54

, like we've dealt with tragedies

10:56

in the Marine Corps , like how we take care

10:58

of families . And my wife will be the first

11:00

to admit like wasn't expecting

11:02

the , the support from the blue

11:04

side . Like , like what we got . Like

11:07

she's like wow , at times it was a little overwhelming

11:09

for her . She's like I need a minute to breathe . Like y'all need

11:11

to , y'all need to . Let me go for a minute

11:13

. But no , yeah , my department's been

11:16

nothing short of amazing . And then , even when I told

11:18

him I wanted to go out to the motors Academy

11:20

, they

11:25

went out and they got a thumb shifter for me that they're like hey , we're going to buy

11:27

this and we're going to outfit a couple of motorcycles so that way it makes it easier for

11:29

you to shift . Turns

11:32

out it's not compatible with BMW . So

11:34

they found this out like a week before

11:36

the Academy was supposed to start . So they're

11:38

like hey , man , sorry , we're trying to make this accommodation

11:41

for you , but it's just not going to work . So

11:45

do you want to wait to go to the Academy until we find something that works ? I

11:47

was like no , how about you ? Just let me try to ride the

11:49

motorcycle as it is . They're like do you think

11:51

you can ? I was like let me get on

11:53

it and find out . And there we went

11:56

, we went on , we went on a ride , and they're like he

11:58

can actually do it . I was like yeah , I

12:00

can , it's all state of mind

12:02

yeah they were cracking up because

12:04

I had to make some adjustments . So

12:06

I literally had an Allen wrench with me and

12:09

we went and rode for a little bit . I was having problems

12:11

. So I popped the foot off and turned it in a little

12:13

bit more towards the foot peg , screwed it

12:15

back on . They're like that is so crazy . I

12:18

was like , all right , let's try this .

12:21

And through trial and error , we got it . Has your prosthetic come off at all

12:23

while you were riding ?

12:25

Not my work bike . The

12:28

day I was bringing my BMW home

12:30

because at that point I was in suction

12:32

suspension the whole time and , for

12:34

whatever reason , I wasn't wearing the outer

12:36

sleeve the suspension sleeve with

12:38

it . So I went down , got the bike

12:41

and I'm riding it home and of course it's rush hour traffic

12:43

and it's

12:46

a back country road . I went to reposition

12:48

my foot on the foot peg and the whole left leg just

12:50

slides off , boom falls in the

12:52

middle of the street and the cars are just snaking around

12:54

it Like it's a dead dog in the roadway and

12:57

I'm sitting around this brand new bike that I just

12:59

brought from a dealership and

13:01

I can't even . It's like if I get off the bike I'm

13:03

gonna have to drop it because I have no left leg to put

13:05

the side stand down . So luckily

13:07

I was . I flagged some people down . They're like do

13:09

you need help ? I'm like yes , can you bring that

13:11

to me , cause I can't get off my bike

13:13

? I was like that's my leg , do you need help putting it

13:15

on ? I was like so it's a mechanical lock , it shouldn't

13:18

fall off .

13:27

Yes , I have kids that will look at me and I'll be like I'm Captain

13:29

Hook's sister . They think that's really super

13:31

cool . Yes , that is super

13:33

cool . So you were only hospitalized for three days

13:35

for your amputation .

13:37

No , I was in almost just short of two

13:39

weeks because I crashed on the 13th

13:41

, I crashed on the 13th

13:44

, I crashed on the 13th and

13:46

the amputation was on the 24th

13:48

. So I

13:51

was every day , or every other

13:53

day I was going in for another surgery . I

13:55

think I had close to 12 surgeries .

13:58

After your amputation how long was it until

14:00

they took you ?

14:01

Yeah , once I got the amputation , I was done , I

14:03

was out like I'm

14:06

going to give you a good laugh .

14:09

How long do you think I was in when I got my arm amputated

14:11

?

14:12

Post-amputation Post Stop

14:14

it .

14:14

Whatever you're doing , stop it

14:17

.

14:18

A couple days ? I have no idea .

14:21

Go ahead .

14:23

That night .

14:27

I got amputated and I went

14:29

home that night and I took off everything so I could see

14:31

it .

14:33

Nice .

14:34

I actually took out all my own stitches

14:36

.

14:36

This is the curse of a redhead , I

14:39

swear .

14:40

Yeah , I took out all my own stitches and my surgeon is like , how

14:43

do you take out your own damn stitches

14:45

with one arm ? Because I mean

14:47

, he's like I've actually tried this and

14:49

I don't know how you do it , and I'm like , well , you

14:51

have a heavy hand , I'm not , I'll

14:54

do it . So I did it and I've

14:56

never taken a single pain medication , I've

14:58

never got one pain med and

15:00

nothing . And so I was so excited when I

15:02

was learning about you and it was like your

15:04

brain is what your limit is , like you know , you

15:07

can , you can do anything you put your

15:09

mind to . And I was like I have got to talk

15:11

to him because so many people give

15:13

you more like sympathy and

15:15

they're like , oh , you know , you can't do anything

15:17

anymore . I tie my own shoes . I open

15:19

a bottle , you know , I wipe

15:22

my own ass

15:24

. Nice , I , I , you know , like exactly

15:26

my husband's , like who tied , tied your shoes . I did

15:29

, you know , I I

15:32

won't let it stop me . It might slow me down a little

15:34

bit , but I'm still going to do it

15:36

. I mean , where is ? How did

15:38

you get to where you

15:40

are in your mind , where it's like

15:42

it's limitless . I can

15:45

do what I want to do . Cause so many people that I've

15:47

had the pleasure

15:49

of talking with don't have the mentality that you

15:51

do about you know this

15:53

is , this is my limit yeah , I

15:55

credit a lot of it to my Marine Corps time .

15:57

You know , uh , seeing seeing

15:59

the Marines coming back and

16:01

seeing what they're doing , like I've

16:04

got friends who are are big

16:06

with Wounded Warrior Foundation , a

16:08

lot of the other different veterans organizations

16:11

that are out there , and I'm seeing the stuff

16:13

that these guys are doing and it's just like you

16:15

know , you got these guys with no legs that are out surfing

16:17

and you're like how is that even possible ? Like this

16:20

is crazy . So that's

16:22

that's very first day

16:24

in the hospital . That's what I told my wife . I said if I want to go back

16:26

to work , this will be the fastest way . Just

16:28

cut it off , let me get a good prosthetic

16:30

. I was like and I'll be fine , like and

16:33

that's been my mentality ever since and a

16:35

lot , you know a lot of people like oh man , it's

16:37

easy . You

16:39

know you make it look easy and I'm like , yeah , come see me at two o'clock

16:42

in the morning when I'm hopping my tail to the

16:44

bathroom . 50 year old man . I said that's

16:47

, that's when being an amputee a leg amputee

16:49

sucks , cause you can't just get up and go . You

16:51

got to put a leg on her , you got to hop . I

16:53

said so there are downfalls

16:56

, but you know , those aren't the stories that I tell people

16:58

all the time .

16:59

Yeah , did you ever go through phantom pain ? Yeah

17:02

, I have it .

17:03

Uh it again . Not

17:05

nearly as bad as some of my friends have

17:07

dealt with . I quit

17:09

taking all I . When I left

17:11

the hospital I wasn't on any pain meds , even

17:14

after my revision surgery . It was one of them . Like

17:16

I'm not a big medication guy I

17:18

never have been , so even I was

17:21

on . What's funny is I Marine

17:23

Corps PTSD stuff . I've

17:25

been on gabapentin for years for my insomnia

17:27

, so it was kind of funny . I'm they're like oh

17:29

, you're going to start taking gabapentin for years for my insomnia . So it was

17:31

kind of funny . I'm they're like oh , you're going to start taking gabapentin for your

17:33

phantom pains . I'm like more , like how much more can I , can

17:35

I be taken ? So I still

17:37

. I take it not

17:39

as often now because it doesn't

17:41

even help with insomnia anymore . So it's one of them like

17:43

every now and then , like when I was going through

17:45

the motors Academy , I started having a lot of my old

17:48

medical issues popping up

17:50

and that the Gabapentin helped with that

17:52

. But again I haven't

17:54

taken any in two weeks . So it's one of them Like I'm

17:57

lucky . Like my partner laughs , he knows when I'm having

17:59

them , cause I'll start banging my leg off the side of the

18:01

patrol car door , like cause I always drive

18:04

. So I'd be sitting there just banging my leg just

18:06

trying to get those nerve endings , doing

18:08

something other than making it feel like

18:10

my foot's on fire or something . But yeah

18:12

, not nearly as bad , so yeah .

18:14

Can you feel ?

18:16

your toes . Toes

18:19

are . It feels like a hot poker is either going through my heel or like my toes are being

18:21

crushed by something . Yeah , does

18:24

the weather affect ?

18:25

you too .

18:27

I'm in Southern California . We don't get a whole lot of weather

18:29

change . Okay , fair enough .

18:31

I don't know , have

18:35

they done either nerve transposition , nerve

18:38

transfers .

18:39

None of that . Nope , I

18:43

had a nerve block put

18:45

in for a couple of surgeries . They

18:47

did nerve blocks but those were gone after several hours

18:49

. See

18:58

, yeah , that's what I've had done . No tens unit , or so I use it , not for the phantom pains , like

19:00

for all my other issues . Yeah , like , I got a nice tens unit that I purchased

19:02

years . I used to be a marathon runner , so

19:05

I used to run marathons almost every single

19:07

weekend before my crash , so it was like the

19:09

TENS unit has always been part of my rehab

19:13

process for for various ailments and issues

19:15

. So I mean I do use it , but I've

19:17

honestly never even had it hooked up to my

19:20

residual limb at all .

19:22

Have they never talked about implanting one ?

19:27

No , I get it because I've . It's not one of those things

19:29

Like when I go to , when I go see my doctor , like

19:31

he asks how everything is , I'm like I'm fine

19:34

, like yeah , every now , and then I get

19:36

it , but it's nothing so unbearable that I

19:38

can't get to go away within a few minutes . So

19:41

I don't feel like it really impacts me enough to have

19:43

to worry about pursuing anything else

19:45

.

19:46

How else has your life changed since you

19:49

ended up losing your leg ?

19:51

Honestly , it's only gotten for the good . Like

19:53

I've had so many cool things happen because , like

19:55

when , after I went in for my revision

19:58

surgery , my wife was in the

20:00

waiting room and she saw

20:02

an ad for one of the local solar companies

20:04

out here and every every

20:06

major hot , like 4th of July , memorial

20:08

Day , veterans Day they gift

20:11

a warranted veteran

20:14

a complete solar system . They're

20:17

like , oh so , just go online and nominate whatever

20:19

veteran you think is worthy . And my wife's like

20:21

huh , so she's sitting

20:24

in the waiting room waiting on me , she submits this thing

20:26

and next thing , you know , three days later , hey , we've

20:28

selected your husband to be the recipient

20:30

for this year . So , yeah , 4th of July that

20:33

year , you know , I didn't even have a leg

20:35

yet . They had a big old media crew out here

20:37

and I got an 18 panel solar

20:39

system . And you know it wasn't

20:41

because of the crash . But had it not been

20:43

for the crash , my wife would have never seen it to

20:46

nominate me for it . Seen

20:51

it to nominate me for it , stuff like that . You know , the recognition by the department for , for you know

20:53

, one coming back to full duty and going back

20:55

out on patrol and then now completing the Motors Academy

20:57

. You know I've talked at our

21:00

prayer breakfast for the law

21:02

enforcement . You know , told my story for

21:04

that . Like I've met so many cool people and

21:07

even where I go get my prosthetics made

21:09

, this guy the guy who makes my leg specializes

21:12

in very high activity

21:14

amputees . So he deals

21:16

with a lot of military , special forces , foreign

21:21

forces , like he's had several

21:23

Ukrainian soldiers come over , soldiers

21:26

from the Republic of Georgia coming over . He

21:28

deals with a lot of Paralympians

21:31

and stuff like that . So like , and I'm

21:33

meeting all these people like just

21:35

on a regular basis , albert Lynn , who's on the National

21:38

Geographic channel , he goes , he

21:40

goes to my prosthetist , met that guy . Like I've

21:43

met some cool people and they just reinforce

21:45

that our mind is our only limit and

21:47

it's like get out there and spread the word

21:49

to these people , like

21:52

quit feeling sorry for yourself and just get out there and do what you

21:54

want to do . You know , I've said it from day

21:57

one the only two things in life we control

21:59

are our attitude and our behavior , and

22:01

those directly impact everyone around us

22:03

. So why not try to find something

22:05

positive you know that

22:08

you can focus on instead of the negative , because

22:10

the negative stuff we can't control .

22:13

So I want to ask you , help me

22:15

here in regards to the fact that I

22:18

have the most amazing soulmate ever

22:20

. Stop it . The

22:23

day I met him actually I was hazing him

22:25

His FTO I

22:27

knew and he asked me if I'd haze him and I

22:29

said , oh crap , the minute I met him

22:31

I knew I was an instructor at the academy

22:34

and I knew I was in trouble . And um

22:36

, anyway , if

22:38

you could give him some advice man

22:40

to man , former law enforcement , military

22:42

everything because he doesn't

22:44

understand like I want to sweep

22:47

, and sweeping is one of the hardest things for

22:49

me in one hand .

22:50

Right , I can't hear you .

22:52

Like I want to do sweeping , like I

22:54

want to sweep the house , and my

22:56

husband is like , let me do that and I'm like I

22:58

can do it Now . It does take me quite a bit longer

23:00

, but I still want to do it . So

23:09

if you could give my husband some advice man to man about you know things that he would

23:11

maybe understand better . What would you say

23:13

to a spouse of someone who

23:15

isn't an amputee ?

23:19

Let them figure out what they , what their limits , are

23:21

Like . Let you know , until we make that

23:23

decision for ourselves , we're going

23:25

to want to do stuff . You know , all

23:28

like before I even got a leg , when we had that whole production

23:30

crew coming out , I was convinced I was going to help to do stuff . Before I even got a leg , when we had that whole production crew coming out , I was convinced I

23:32

was going to help my wife clean , and it

23:34

wasn't until I was falling flat on my

23:36

face , busted my face up . She's

23:39

like will you listen to me now ? Okay

23:41

, yeah , but we

23:46

still want to . You know , it's hard , though

23:48

, because even my wife , she , she

23:50

helps people with special needs

23:52

on a regular basis . They do independent

23:55

living services for people with disabilities

23:57

to get them out on their like . I don't

23:59

, I say supportive living , and she corrects me every

24:01

time but that's not what it is . So , but she's

24:03

built her career off of helping people

24:05

and she's oh , let me do this , let me do that , and it's like

24:08

time out , let me figure

24:10

it out . You know , let me , let me deal with

24:12

it . And that's where you know I don't

24:14

know me , cause I'm the guy that it's easier for her to

24:16

say , okay , you got it , whereas

24:18

you know cause , we are men , we want to , we want to

24:20

be fixtures .

24:22

So right , you know , the thing

24:24

is is like tying my shoe . I've

24:26

learned to do it myself . Sweeping

24:28

is so challenging for me . But

24:31

he's like I'll do it and I'm like , no

24:33

, let me do it . It takes me a lot longer , yes

24:35

, but

24:37

there's certain things that you know . I tell him I've got to figure out how

24:39

to do this . Let me do this Like

24:41

stirring you can't hold the

24:43

pan while you stir . There's just certain things you can't

24:45

do . And I say that to and I

24:48

actually have . I'm paralyzed

24:50

on part of it and the nerves are gone

24:52

. So I say to my husband you know , let me

24:54

do this . I love you with all my heart and soul . But

24:57

I don't think , because he's

24:59

never really got the chance to talk to somebody

25:01

else who is , you know , an amputee like

25:03

we are . So for him to understand

25:05

that it we're learning how

25:07

to do things new , we have to learn how to do everything

25:09

over that we're learning how to do things new . We have to learn how to do everything

25:11

over Like I had to learn how to do everything that you could

25:13

imagine over again , and I want

25:15

to be able to say I can . I can do this

25:17

.

25:21

And that's where I say like my left

25:23

foot , like the heck do you , besides standing

25:25

and walking , what else do you need a left foot for

25:27

? Like that , exactly

25:29

like I could tell my friend Javi with the with the arm

25:32

issue like do , like a hand

25:34

, that's , that's a whole new lifestyle

25:36

. Like you really do have to

25:39

learn how to redo so

25:41

many things in life . That's for so , like

25:43

I say , being a leg amputee , it's , it's

25:45

nothing . Like I won't say it's nothing , because

25:48

we do have our challenges , but it's not like

25:50

losing a hand . I

25:53

had surgery on my hand at one point and

25:55

I remember the whole time it was my

25:57

dominant hand . I'm in a

25:59

cast Wiping your

26:01

own butt . Like I got to relearn this , like

26:03

it was so awkward . Now you're permanently

26:06

like that and it's like holy crap . That's

26:08

what I told him . No

26:12

pun intended Guy's

26:14

hands down much harder than we have

26:16

it .

26:18

So I want to piggyback off that

26:20

. When you have

26:22

on your prosthetic okay I don't know if

26:24

a lot of folks know this , but when you're on a motorcycle

26:27

, the left side is your shifter , you've

26:29

got gears that you operate

26:31

with your , basically your toes , okay

26:34

, the , the toe of your boot , okay

26:36

, and it's , it's . It's more of a

26:39

feeling , you know , unless you hear

26:41

the rpms , like not every time

26:43

you're going to hit the gear , not , I mean

26:45

, I've been on so many motorcycles over my years you're

26:47

not going to hit it every single time . And

26:50

when you hit that gas , that that accelerator

26:52

, you hear the RPM drop . Oh , let me

26:54

pull the clutch and

26:56

then pop it back into gear . You

26:58

cannot feel that , can you

27:01

? So you have to .

27:04

Well , that's what's weird , especially

27:07

with the prosthetic is , as

27:09

time goes on , I

27:12

can feel when my foot so

27:15

I can't like there's no feeling down

27:17

there , but I can sense when there's

27:19

something under my toe or under my heel

27:22

. I can feel like

27:24

the way the foot is sitting on the foot peg

27:26

, and so what I have to do is I

27:28

can feel how it's sitting on the foot peg , and just what I have to do is I can feel how it's sitting on the foot peg

27:30

and just from , basically , muscle memory

27:32

, I know that where it's out

27:34

on the foot peg it's in a good position to work

27:37

. When I so I basically lift up at

27:39

my hip , so I lift , I lift

27:41

my whole leg up at once and

27:43

that's how I shift it . Just the sole

27:45

of my boot catches that gear shift and

27:48

then when I have to shift down , I just kind of clumsily

27:50

just push it down , just

27:52

jam it down on that shift peg and that's how

27:54

I do it . But what's weird is I do

27:56

have some sort of feeling

27:59

when it's in the right spot or

28:01

in the wrong spot , and it's all

28:03

because of how the prosthesis is

28:06

fitting onto my residual limb . It's so

28:08

weird trying to explain that to people who aren't

28:10

amputees . They're like you can feel it . I was like yes

28:12

and no , like I can sense that there's

28:15

something there . You know , I don't

28:17

know what it is , but I can tell you that there's something

28:19

there . So it definitely helps

28:21

, like my brain is learning as time

28:24

goes on , all those little nuances with the

28:26

prosthetic .

28:27

Now one more thing here as nuances with the prosthetic . Now one more thing here

28:29

as cops riding bikes

28:32

. We rode in tandem

28:35

. I don't know anybody else who rides in tandem . Mirrors

28:38

touching almost , that's

28:40

right . How

28:45

are other officers with you on that ? Is that 100% trust still

28:47

there ?

28:48

Oh yeah , no

28:54

, we went right after we took our final riding exam . We took a long ride and almost

28:56

everyone from the section went with

28:58

us and we went riding through the mountains

29:00

here in Southern California . It's

29:03

very difficult and we were side

29:05

by side the majority of the time and

29:07

the guy who was right behind me , uh

29:09

, who's been on , who's been in the motor section

29:12

for several years , commented

29:14

afterwards . He's like hey , I only saw you miss

29:16

shift a couple times . He goes , but he's

29:19

like you recovered every single time like it was

29:21

never a safety issue , because that's crazy

29:23

.

29:23

He's like welcome to the unit like right , wow

29:26

, yeah , it's awesome yeah

29:29

, have you ever worried about when you do like

29:31

a pullover , if somebody got out

29:33

and gave chase ? Do you ever worry about how

29:35

you would proceed ?

29:37

No , because it's a lose-lose for that individual

29:39

, like I've . Prior

29:42

to going to the motors , I you know I was out on

29:44

patrol for two and a half years and

29:46

I've been in some foot chases . Like I said , it's a lose-lose

29:49

. If they outrun me , oh good for you

29:51

. You outran the one-legged cop and

29:57

when I catch them it's bro , you just got caught

29:59

by a one-legged cop . So it's a lose-lose for them . They get

30:01

taught crap too , regardless .

30:04

When did they get in the block ? Oh , you got

30:07

called by officer , right ?

30:11

Yeah , I had a 20-year-old kid

30:13

a couple weeks ago . Matter of fact

30:15

, this is the prosthetic I was wearing . I

30:17

don't know if the camera will show it , but

30:20

I've got a bunch of scrapes

30:22

on it . Where's my camera ? A bunch

30:24

of scrapes on it and I had the prosthetic

30:26

for all of like two days , but

30:28

this 20-year-old kid decides he wants to fight

30:30

me on these concrete steps .

30:32

Oh no .

30:34

So after I got him into handcuffs

30:36

and in the back of my patrol car , all

30:41

the other officers are like bro , like you just picked a fight with probably the worst cop alive

30:43

to fight , like this dude did 25 years

30:45

in the Marine Corps , like you're not

30:47

going to win in a fight just because he's just too darn

30:49

stupid to lose , I

30:52

said . And then we charge him with felony vandalism

30:54

for the damage he did to my prosthetic .

30:59

You just want to take it off and say you're an idiot

31:01

. Yeah .

31:02

I was like , bro , you just got beat by a 50-year-old one-legged

31:05

man . Come on now , You're 20 . You

31:07

should be ashamed of yourself Like , come on now , you're 20 . You should

31:10

be ashamed of yourself . There's no shame in our game

31:12

. We will talk crap every

31:14

possible opportunity we can . That's

31:16

why I said if they run from me , it's a lose-lose

31:19

for them Right

31:22

.

31:22

Yeah , what

31:25

do you think is going to be next for you ? Because everything you've done , you're just soaring

31:27

through it . So what's next ?

31:30

Honestly , the motors unit was

31:32

where I ultimately wanted to go

31:34

, because our department you're not forced

31:36

to go back to patrol after so many years

31:38

. We've got guys who have been with the motors

31:41

unit for over 20 years . Wow , and

31:43

I don't want to promote . I was a sergeant major in

31:45

the Marine Corps , which is the highest rank you can be . Like

31:49

I've been there , done that , got the t-shirt

31:51

. Now I just I just want to be a police

31:53

officer and if they're going to pay me to ride a motorcycle

31:55

, I'll do that until I can retire

31:58

and collect a second retirement Because

32:00

, like I said , I'm 50 , like

32:02

fighting 20 year old

32:04

dudes , it hurts , like I talk a lot

32:06

of crap , but I was taking

32:08

, I was rubbing some BioFreeze for days

32:10

afterwards . Like

32:14

body just don't hold up like it

32:16

used to .

32:17

Yeah , yeah , I get that .

32:19

I had a lot of fights myself when I was

32:22

sheriff's deputy . Inside the jail

32:24

you fight a lot .

32:24

Oh yeah , I bet .

32:25

Oh my God , and it's always the little guys

32:27

. You know , that

32:31

was this kid .

32:32

Like he weighs like 130 pounds , soaking

32:34

wet . Like come on , dude , I'm 200

32:36

pounds and I got

32:38

all my Batman gear on me Like come on now , you

32:41

ain't never going to win , man .

32:45

How do the kids react to you when they see you ?

32:50

A lot of them ask if I'm a real cop Like cause

32:52

. They can't believe that I'm cause I my

32:54

my uniform . The department allows

32:56

me to have my left leg cut off , so

32:59

the left pant leg of my uniform is cut off

33:01

the majority of the time I'm out there . So

33:03

my prosthetic everyone can see it .

33:06

Yeah .

33:06

And it's so . I can , you know , clean

33:08

, clean my my leg off when it's super sweaty

33:11

, add socks , as I need to when

33:13

my limb , uh , loses

33:15

volume . But a lot

33:17

of times they're like are you a real officer ? Like , yeah

33:20

, like , yeah , that's . Yeah , that's a real gun

33:22

too . Yeah , yeah . Like they're

33:24

like , how can that be ? Like , can you run ? I'm like

33:26

, yeah , you want to give it a shot . Like

33:28

you want to see , but not

33:30

for the most part . I get a lot of positive

33:33

, mostly positive comments , uh

33:35

, because they're like that's awesome . You know , the department trusts

33:37

you to be able to be out here and , like

33:39

I said , it's a testament to the department for for

33:42

having that trust in me and understanding

33:44

that yeah I can do it so

33:46

yeah that's amazing , because a lot of departments

33:48

aren't like that .

33:50

So when I heard about you , Mark , I referenced

33:53

the movie A Few Good Men .

33:56

No , it's not A Few Good Men , that's Tom

33:58

.

33:58

Cruise . Oh , I'm sorry .

34:01

Okay , I'm not going to tell you Cookie

34:03

, give me my 12 .

34:06

Tell me the name .

34:07

No , I'm not telling you .

34:08

I'm 50 years old . I forget Anyway , cuba Gooding

34:10

Jr , tell me the name . No , I'm not , I'm old , I'm 50 years old . I forget . Anyway

34:12

, um , cuba good new jr had to pick up , had to stand

34:14

up in that full suit . Yeah

34:17

, okay , as an officer as

34:19

an officer we

34:22

have to learn how to pick up our bikes correctly

34:25

. Yeah , okay , civilians don't know

34:27

how to pick up a bike right . They'll

34:29

immediately grab the handle and try to . You

34:31

know these numbers , so

34:34

were you required to pick up your bike ?

34:39

Yeah , that's our pre-interview . Before

34:41

we were even able to schedule an interview , to

34:44

even think about coming over , they

34:47

put a bike down on both of its sides . You

34:49

got to pick it up from both sides all on your own

34:51

. Put it up on a center stand , walk

34:54

it forward and backwards on an incline

34:56

and decline . Show that

34:59

you can just do that minor stuff

35:01

before you're even able to go to the academy

35:03

. And then , of course , the academy being

35:05

what it is , bikes went

35:07

down a couple times and there ain't no one there

35:09

to help you pick it back up so , and

35:11

you're talking about about a 600 pound

35:13

bike , a little bit more than

35:15

yeah okay

35:17

yeah , what

35:20

do you do personally when you've had

35:22

those days of frustration ? We all get them . So

35:25

what do you do when you get to that

35:27

point ?

35:29

I guess , honestly , I

35:31

haven't had that many frustrating days and

35:34

I mean my biggest frustrating days are

35:36

the people I couldn't help . Like

35:39

we had a , we had a lady , we got a multiple

35:41

radio calls on her . Um , she was just

35:43

acting super weird . Like I said , we

35:45

went , talked to her two different times and

35:48

both times we left she's . I'm just going

35:50

to bed , I'm sorry . Third

35:53

time we went to the house was because she jumped off a seventh

35:55

story , uh , balcony , so

35:58

that one that that's

36:00

been my one of my worst days out in the department

36:02

in over four years . Because like

36:04

, how'd we miss it ? Like what the heck ? I

36:07

told my wife I was like this I lost Marines

36:09

in combat . Like why is this one affecting me more

36:11

than some of those affected me ? Like

36:14

super lucky , like

36:25

I really haven't had those bad days because of this . Like my bad days are stuff that are

36:27

completely out of my control . You know , couldn't

36:30

get to a call fast enough or something

36:32

like that . But you know , my

36:34

wife , we this month will be 31

36:36

years married . On the 30th is our

36:38

31 year wedding anniversary

36:40

. We've been together since high school Like we were the story . We're

36:42

the . Jerry Spr've been together since high school Like we were the . We're

36:45

the Jerry Springer story with a happy ending . Like

36:47

no one she

36:50

was 15 when I got her pregnant

36:52

. Like we should not still be together . Yeah

36:55

yeah , my first son was born

36:57

while I was in bootcamp , right out of high school

36:59

, and here we are . You know , while I was in boot camp , right out of high school , and here

37:01

we are , you know , 31 years married

37:04

later and four kids that

37:06

are adults they're all doing good or

37:08

four grandkids now , and it's like we're

37:10

still together and

37:12

we're still best friends . I mean

37:16

honestly , like she has really

37:18

helped me out , like through all this , like

37:21

physically and mentally . Like she

37:23

knows what I went through in the Marine Corps . Like

37:25

she saw me break down because

37:27

of Julie that's , julie's

37:30

a bitch . Like she's screwed me

37:32

up in the head , like every

37:34

time , like she'll , she

37:36

knows all about it . Like

37:38

there's no such thing as oversharing with her , which

37:40

has really helped out .

37:41

So yeah , how did the rest of your family

37:44

react ? Like your kids .

37:47

It's kind of funny . I asked my wife . I was like my

37:51

kids took it very hard , like

37:53

because I got twin

37:56

daughters . One of them lives in Houston , she's

37:58

a dispatcher and her boyfriend

38:00

is Houston PD . Well , they

38:04

were in town because it was my birthday , so

38:06

they came to town . Both

38:09

of my sons live in Phoenix . One

38:11

of my younger son was actually in town as well

38:13

for my birthday . So after

38:15

the crash , you're like I'm stuck at the hospital

38:18

and my wife's driving back and forth and all

38:20

my kids are like mom , we're going to stay . She's like

38:23

no , you're not , y'all need to go home . We

38:25

need to figure this out . But my kids took

38:27

it really hard . One

38:29

of my sons ended up quitting his job

38:31

in Phoenix and moving back here with

38:34

his family . So like some

38:36

tough love had to happen . Hey , dude , like we

38:38

got to figure out what our life is going to be now . Like

38:49

we got to figure out what our life is going to be now . Like we got to figure out what our new normal

38:51

is . Like we can't be doing this with you , like I got it . You want to be here to help , but kind of like we

38:53

said , here we got to let us figure it out on our own . Yeah , um , so it was . It was rough , you know , uh

38:56

, but like I told my kids

38:58

, like you can't be more worried

39:00

about this than I am , like I'm not , like I'm going

39:02

to make a full recovery , like get over

39:04

it , like this it sucks , but

39:07

I'm going to you'll , you'll . I told

39:09

him you'll see , like we're going to be

39:11

running the turkey trot and in November , like

39:13

we always do , and we did so

39:16

, and they're like , oh , great , now he's going to have one more

39:19

thing to hold over our heads .

39:20

Like , oh , I

39:24

did the turkey trot on one leg . One thing I noticed that

39:27

bothered my wife in the very beginning

39:29

here and sometimes it still gets

39:31

to her is when these individuals

39:35

stare and they stare

39:38

at her and you feel the judgment coming

39:40

from them . Well , they also say really hurtful

39:42

things , and that's why kids today , or they say

39:45

something , you know something stupid , like in the grocery line

39:47

.

39:48

Oh , great you get behind the one person that's going to take forever

39:50

to unload your cart .

39:51

And these are regularly aged people . So

39:55

, with your positive mindset that you have

39:57

, you know what would you say

40:00

to ? You know new amputees out there . They're

40:03

going to go through this .

40:05

So , just because of

40:07

my mentality , I make a joke out of everything

40:09

. I was in

40:11

the grocery store . I bought those sock

40:16

liners with the graphics on there

40:18

. One's like an alligator , it looks like it's biting down

40:20

on my leg , and

40:27

so you know , I'd be crutching through the grocery store . My , my dad actually , who lives in Louisville

40:29

, kentucky , came out here for a couple of weeks afterwards and , uh , we're just , we're going through the grocery

40:31

store doing what we do , and all you know , all these kids are staring

40:34

and looking . I'd tell them hey , this is what

40:36

happens when you don't eat all your fruits and vegetables mortified

40:41

, right , and that's you know . I

40:43

one thing that I . I try to come

40:45

up with a new reason uh , uh you

40:48

know people like , oh , what happened ? one

40:50

of my favorite ones was I could tell

40:52

someone was a not trying

40:54

to get political , but everyone has

40:56

their own stance on the covid vaccine and I could tell this

40:58

person was very like they're on their 15th shot . I could tell that this

41:00

person was very like they're on their 15th shot . I could

41:02

tell so what happened ? I was like

41:04

COVID vaccine , what

41:06

I was like , yeah , I took the first dose and ended up

41:08

losing my leg because of it . Oh my God

41:10

. I'm like I know it's like you're a

41:12

terrible human being . I'm like , yeah , well , you know

41:14

, but so that's

41:16

what I tell them . I was like have , people

41:19

are going to look , people are going to stare , but

41:21

screw them , they

41:23

don't know what's going on . Don't let

41:25

them control your life .

41:27

I'm this person that I make light of everything

41:29

because I'm also deaf . I'm like this is great

41:31

, I can turn him off . I don't have to hear him . This is fantastic

41:34

. You go somewhere and it's like just come

41:36

up and ask me Can

41:39

I answer a question for you ? Most of my body's all scarred up from

41:41

you know what I went through ? And it's like

41:43

hey , you can come up and ask me and I'll talk to you . It's

41:45

the adults that are worse than the kids . I was walking

41:47

around a store and this gorgeous little girl was

41:50

like what happened to your arm ? And

41:52

I said I lost it and she goes mom , I'm going to

41:54

help this nice lady find her arm and it

41:56

was like if I could find it in this store

41:58

, I promise you I'm buying you every toy the store

42:00

has to offer . So I mean it was just the kids

42:03

are the greatest and it's just the adults

42:05

that are like just so crass and

42:07

rude . And you know they want to stare

42:10

and it's like it's not going to give you the plague or anything

42:12

if it touches you . You know , you're okay

42:14

. It's just some

42:16

people are just relentless , I mean , and I always make

42:18

light of it . It's like you know , like

42:20

I always make this is unstoppable so you

42:22

can say whatever you want , we're not filtered . But like when he

42:25

would make comments , I'm like no more handouts for

42:27

you . Like you know , these are all comments

42:30

, you know , and no matter how many people

42:32

I deal with , they're like I said you don't understand it is

42:34

. Being an apg is tough

42:36

. I mean that's just tough . But to

42:39

lose your arm I actually was a martial arts

42:41

instructor and so to lose that and

42:43

I taught sign language to special needs

42:45

, so to both , I mean that

42:47

was like a huge double whammy for me and

42:50

it messes up your balance . Yeah , so

42:52

that was really hard and it's like

42:55

people don't understand that I have to make

42:57

people laugh about everything , because it makes me

42:59

feel better to see people smile at

43:01

the same time . But my husband , bless his

43:03

heart , he's all like , babe , no , I'll carry

43:05

it , give me that , no , you can't carry that . Or I'm like can't

43:07

get the door , you know , or whatever

43:10

the case may be , and it's , I mean , I love him to

43:12

death for it . But people who haven't gone

43:14

through something traumatic like the loss of a limb

43:17

doesn't understand

43:19

. Like some people I've talked with Mark in

43:22

the coalition , they are just like

43:24

they think their life is over . And I'm like you're

43:26

still here , you know you , you can

43:28

still function . You just learn

43:30

a different way to do it you know , and

43:33

so many people don't carry that mentality

43:35

of life with them . They think it's over because

43:37

they lost that limb . And it's totally not

43:39

. You get to do everything a really cool

43:41

new way .

43:42

Well , and that's why I tell people like you

43:45

have to check your emotions

43:47

. Like don't waste your emotional energy

43:50

on stuff that is completely out of your control

43:52

. Like I told you

43:54

, my foot ain't going to grow back , so

43:59

why am I going to sit there and continue to stress about it ? Like it don't matter how much Miracle-Gro

44:01

I put on that thing , it ain't coming back . Like I

44:03

ain't Deadpool , I ain't going to sprout some little nub

44:06

coming out of there . You

44:12

know as much as I think it'd be cool not going to happen . So how

44:14

about I focus on what I can control ? And that's how I'm going to

44:16

react to these different situations . Like the people at the stores

44:18

, the adults you know hey

44:20

, my eyes are up here , I'm more than just a missing

44:22

limb people Like I'll call them out on it

44:24

when I see them . I'm like , do you want you got questions ? Like I'll

44:27

tell you what happened . Like oh , sorry , sorry

44:29

, sorry man , just tag number

44:32

.

44:32

When are you going to be driving ?

44:34

Well , it's even my license plate . So both of my

44:36

vehicles I've got , I've got those digital license

44:39

plates where you can put your own personalized stuff

44:41

on there . Like my truck says I'm on my

44:43

last leg , and then my

44:45

car I got a little sports car and it says

44:47

it only costs me a leg . So you

44:50

know , usually when I get out of her people start cracking

44:52

up like , oh , now it makes sense . So like , yeah

44:55

, I'll make light of it .

44:56

You know , for my amputation I had them wearing

44:59

shirts that you know . My

45:08

wife said but yout warrior , and it was like it cost me an arm and a leg , but I'm a great negotiator

45:10

. That's it . For every christmas I do gingerbread cookies but they have one arm missing because I think

45:12

that's great . You know you can't laugh about it . You're not amputated . What

45:15

is wrong with you ? Go get a hug somewhere , right

45:17

, just go get hugged . Yeah , they

45:19

need a hug and a smile . Why are

45:21

you laughing at me like that ? See

45:24

now , but you've heard it from someone else that

45:26

we just have to do our thing

45:29

Until you fall flat on your face .

45:32

I've got the ring video because I've got cameras

45:34

all around my house . My wife comes out . She

45:36

looks at me . I'm on crutches spraying

45:40

down our concrete patio . She's

45:42

like what are you doing ? I'm like I'm going to help , okay

45:45

. Next thing , you know , the crutch goes boom and

45:49

I'm like bam , right on my face . She didn't even try to help

45:51

. She's like you good ?

45:54

I'm like , yeah , I'm just going to lay here for a minute . My ego's

45:56

over there , my

45:58

leg is over there , she's like damn it

46:00

.

46:00

He's like . I told you Like , yeah

46:02

, I'll figure it out we will

46:05

, we'll get it , we'll get it .

46:08

I think he's a little tougher than you . What yeah

46:13

, mark ? She has probably had

46:15

150-something

46:17

surgeries Damn . Due

46:20

to past domestic violence and medical

46:22

foul-ups , she has a titanium

46:24

jaw .

46:25

No , I have two titanium jaws , top

46:27

and bottom .

46:28

Shoulder replacement . You

46:31

know she's still got wires in her arms

46:33

in her side here

46:36

. You had something with your hip

46:38

you don't even know

46:40

your wife .

46:41

You've got everything .

46:42

Yeah , so

46:44

you know if she falls or something happens

46:46

, you know it's going to be catastrophic

46:49

. Yeah , it's going to be

46:51

far more surgery than what it would .

46:54

My very empty brother . Don't listen

46:56

to this seriously .

46:58

He took a bath tonight . I heard

47:01

something fall , you know .

47:03

He comes flying up the stairs . Are you okay , are

47:05

you ?

47:05

okay , what's going on ? It was through the door , buddy .

47:08

It was the shampoo bottle that fell

47:10

.

47:13

Well , that's my wife's biggest concern

47:15

. So after

47:17

the amputation , getting

47:20

in and out of the bathtub realized that's

47:23

probably going to be the most dangerous thing I do every

47:25

single day . So

47:28

we modified my shower now so

47:30

it's a walk-in shower and there's a bench in

47:32

there with grab bars . But I'm still too stubborn

47:35

. I will balance myself on one leg

47:37

trying to shower . She's just waiting

47:39

for the day . Knock

47:41

on wood hasn't happened yet . She's

47:43

just waiting . She's wood hasn't happened

47:46

yet . She's just waiting . She's like mm-hmm . She's like I know it will . She's

47:49

like it's not going to feel good because that's

47:52

a tiny spot . You know , like you said , we just cross

47:55

that bridge when we get to it .

47:57

You know , like when I first drove , he's like

47:59

how are you doing the turn signal ? How are you

48:01

doing this ? How

48:03

are you doing that ? I do it . I don't have any modifications

48:05

, I got this . You know they're like oh , do you want the vehicle

48:08

modification where it's on this ? No , you

48:10

know , do you want ? No , you know . I mean it's

48:12

like , don't treat me like I'm like

48:14

a little glass jar and your hands are full

48:17

of soapy water , right , and that you're afraid you're going

48:19

to drop me because I'm tough . I mean , you

48:21

know , and I'm like hey , I all my replacement

48:23

parts , I'm all replaced , my parts are replaced

48:25

. So I told him , when I get to be like 70

48:28

or 80 , you just have to send me through

48:30

a like a car wash of WD40

48:32

. Like

48:37

, you know , that's it . That's all he has to worry about . And I'm like I don't

48:39

have to worry about , you know , all my parts are breaking

48:41

of this or breaking that , because it's already

48:44

been fixed . Like

48:46

I say a lot of it will be under warranty .

48:48

It'll just get replaced anyways .

48:51

Let us know in the future if you decide to write

48:54

a book or you think we can help .

48:56

Absolutely you should . We would love

48:58

to talk with you . We have something called the Stucco Squad

49:00

and Stucco is my

49:02

service dog , my sweetheart

49:05

, and we have created

49:07

the stucco squad . I'd love if

49:09

, when we're not recording , to send

49:12

you some for the department . We have stickers

49:14

and and we came up with , uh

49:16

, like bracelets that

49:18

, oh , he has his own , and so

49:21

if you're in the hospital or something

49:23

happens , they can't , they're not going to make you take it off , it's not

49:25

metal , and it just reminds them how amazing

49:27

they are , just kids in general . We do classes

49:30

for them but and it's all free , there's

49:32

, there's no cost to any , to anybody , but

49:34

it reminds them that they are amazing

49:37

. And you know , and when you go to a call

49:39

the domestic , which is the most dangerous call to go

49:41

on , but you know anything involving

49:43

a kid you know it's so scary for them as

49:45

it is , and then we give them a bracelet

49:47

, we give them a VIP Stucco

49:49

Squad membership card where they're just automatically

49:52

in there . They have their own private Facebook group and

49:54

it's a place for kids to feel valued , heard

49:57

and welcomed and loved . And

49:59

you know we have a bunch of other organizations

50:01

that incorporate it and we would

50:03

love , you know to to talk with you

50:05

off of the recording . Get that out

50:08

there for your department too , because these

50:10

kids really need to learn , especially in today's time

50:12

with everything that's going on

50:14

. It's , it's crazy

50:17

. It's crazy . I mean , have you had to

50:19

deal with any school shootings personally

50:21

?

50:21

Thank God , no . Yeah

50:24

, Thank God , no

50:26

. We get a lot of threats where

50:28

we're going . We work

50:30

very closely , especially my last assigned

50:33

area , my last service area that

50:36

I had . We had several schools and they were

50:38

pretty rough schools for downtown San Diego

50:40

, pretty

50:46

rough schools for downtown San Diego . So lots of mental health professionals being called in talking

50:48

to these kids , getting them , you know , psychiatric

50:51

evaluations , but luckily nothing

50:54

has occurred that they

50:57

got to Knock on wood .

50:59

Why do you think there's so much more violence today from

51:02

a law enforcement point of view than there was when

51:04

we were all in school ?

51:06

I think it's the lack

51:08

of respect just for

51:10

our fellow humans . You know I

51:13

don't want to be that 50 year old guy , aren't you stinking

51:15

video games ? But we're

51:17

desensitized to violence . You

51:20

know , 100 were all these

51:22

games and the music

51:24

and the movies . We are

51:26

so desensitized . You

51:29

know that that was part of our training in the marine corps

51:31

was the desensitization to all this violence

51:33

. And now it's like we don't have to do that anymore because

51:35

we're already desensitized to it , like there

51:37

is no value for human life anymore

51:40

and it's it's holy

51:42

crap .

51:42

Like what the heck is wrong with people right

51:45

, it's awful , and I mean they , literally

51:47

kids are playing 20 hours a day , and

51:49

when they're not playing , they

51:51

the reality of our life is not

51:53

their reality , like to them . In their mind , their

51:56

real world is video games like

51:58

they don't comprehend the real world

52:00

of life . Like and I've

52:02

been dealing with this one family we talked about off air

52:05

and they have kids that are under

52:07

the age of seven , who have phones

52:09

that they're addicted to and if their their phone

52:11

dies , like the world stops . I have to get

52:13

my charger . Why isn't my phone working ? I have to get back on the phone

52:15

. I don't and I'm like , why

52:18

do you have a phone and you're seven

52:20

? Like , why are you on an ? Why

52:22

are you playing video games that involve

52:25

killing and these brutal

52:27

things ? You see people just dismembering

52:30

body parts on these games and these kids

52:32

love it and it's like , and you wonder

52:34

why the violence level is where it is

52:37

.

52:37

Yeah .

52:39

Yeah , I mean , I

52:41

100% agree , like I said we are so I 100% agree , like

52:43

I said , we are so desensitized

52:46

. But that's , you

52:49

know , it's the world we live in now and it's

52:51

unfortunate , like

52:54

just yesterday , watching all the Oklahoma

52:56

City bombing stuff , like that

52:58

stuff didn't happen , like that's why

53:01

that was tragic in and of itself

53:03

. But now it's like something

53:05

like that would happen today . We wouldn't be surprised , like we

53:07

were back then . No we would just be

53:09

like yeah , it's

53:11

like holy crap , Terrible

53:15

.

53:15

Yeah , and it's horrible

53:17

. I mean , I really think and

53:19

we've even seen where school now are

53:21

carrying bulletproof backpacks and

53:24

it's like when did you ever think we would get to

53:26

that point ?

53:27

yeah , I was my partner . We got because we how

53:29

long we've been out of the department we got issued new

53:31

vests and he was all excited

53:33

he was using his old ballistic

53:35

panels as inserts for his kids

53:38

backpacks . I was like that is so crazy

53:40

to think like that . That's the world we live in these

53:42

days .

53:43

It's like go on and

53:45

then when you see resource officers that

53:48

are running away and

53:50

not going

53:52

in to help these kids and

53:54

teachers .

53:54

Or , in our case , they're being cut from the schools .

53:59

So they're not even there to begin with . Wow

54:01

.

54:02

Yeah , you know , at one point they didn't want any

54:04

police . You know I grew up

54:06

with metal detectors in my school just because of where I

54:08

grew up , cause it was . It

54:15

was a very high crime area where I grew up outside of Chicago so I mean I was used

54:17

to having uniformed police officers . You know we were getting scanned like bad

54:19

stuff happened at school , but that's just because of where

54:21

we lived . Now

54:23

I mean it's

54:25

at a whole new level now where these

54:27

kids it's like shoot

54:29

. Just because of that

54:31

Florida shooting the other day

54:33

that

54:36

deputy the adult kid had access

54:39

to mom's gun .

54:40

It's like holy crap .

54:43

They verify where all my stuff's actually locked up

54:45

, you know yeah , over on

54:47

the east coast over here , there actually was

54:49

where , uh , a

54:51

kindergartner shut somebody

54:53

at school and it's just like , are you

54:55

serious ? Like that's just . I can't

54:57

fathom that . That's the world that we're

55:00

in , that's crazy

55:02

.

55:05

Mark , I want to thank you for your time coming on

55:07

our show today . My pleasure , thanks for the invite .

55:10

I would love to have you come back , absolutely

55:12

.

55:14

I just hang out at my house if I'm not working . I

55:17

got a six-month-old grandbaby here .

55:19

Oh

55:24

.

55:24

My wife's loving this right now , because she gets her all

55:26

to herself .

55:30

Everyone here the contagious smile . Thanks Mark

55:32

Wright for coming on the show . Senior

55:34

.

55:35

And for all of his dedication

55:37

for what he has done for this wonderful

55:39

country that's losing hope and

55:42

changing for the worse .

55:44

That's right .

55:46

Thank you all for having me . Thank you so

55:48

much .

55:48

I really do appreciate everything and

55:50

we will make sure that if you want

55:53

us to put any links or anything out there for

55:55

people to be able to get a hold of , you make sure that

55:57

I get those and I'll put them in the notes for everybody

55:59

as well .

55:59

Feel free Put my social media stuff

56:02

out there . Like

56:08

I said , I already get hit up by people out here , and if I could be a resource for someone

56:10

struggling in another part of the country , I'm

56:12

all about it . I'm part of our department's peer support program

56:14

for a reason because I do want

56:16

to do this to help

56:18

people .

56:20

Absolutely Well . Stay by one

56:22

second while we wrap this up . Everybody

56:25

again for listening and we will see you

56:27

.

56:29

Bye y'all .