 Hey, so I wanted to do a video for Veterans Day, so I decided to ask a couple of veterans that I know, my dad and my friend Justin. A few questions just about what they did in the service and why they chose to serve. I did ask both of them at least one different question each, so the answers may vary a little bit and the questions you hear may also be a little bit different, but I just wanted to do this kind of as a thank you for Veterans Day. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Could you like say, what branch to rank? Okay. Test start? Yes. Russell Walkie, I retired after 32 years combined service in the Coast Guard and Coast Guard Reserve and retired at the Rate of Command Master Chief. Alright. Could you also say, like, why did you decide to join the military? Well, I always thought about joining the Coast Guard. I can remember when I was young, I was probably 10 years old, watching a documentary one day on the Coast Guard's new self-riding patrol boats, the 44-foot motor light boats that roll over when they're turned upside down in the surf and I thought that would be a neat job to do and then I can remember going down as a Boy Scout, we went to Dauphin Island Alabama for a three-day weekend, one year and we camped right next to the Coast Guard station and the guys let us fish off the Coast Guard pier and the back of the Coast Guard boat so we got to talk to them and I just thought that it would be nice to join the Coast Guard where it could be helping safe people as opposed to the other branches of the military where it would have to go. As we like to say in the Coast Guard, other services train and train and train for a job they hope they never have to do whereas we're out doing a job every day we rarely have time to train for because we are protecting the waterways and saving lives all the time. And what does serving your country mean to you? To me, it means giving back. I mean a lot of people have given a lot to make this country what it is and I just felt it was necessary for me to help push that long and just decided that being a member of the military was the way I could do that. What did you do? Well, I mean I can walk you through my career is a bit different from the average career. I finished college in December of 1984 and decided I wanted to join the Coast Guard so I had moved home and was working on an old farmhouse and I called the Coast Guard recruiter and we talked and 1985 was kind of a down year for the services. A lot of the services were downsizing and the military was shrinking so in 1985 they only took one OCS class that year and they took 10 reserve candidates and 10 temporary candidates. Temporary candidates were prior service, active duty personnel so in other words they only took out of 650 something applications only 10 people got selected to go from the outside. So I looked at it and I said you know if I really want to do this I can enlist and in worst case scenario do my four years and get out. So on December 2nd of 1985 I enlisted in the Coast Guard and spent my first year at station Alexandria outside Washington DC in the Honor Guard doing ceremonies at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery at the Pentagon and other cemeteries throughout the area. I did not get to work at the White House as a non-rape because I wasn't there long enough. After the first year I got selected for OCS. I kept applying and finally got selected so in January of 1987 I went to Yorktown and did 17 weeks of training and graduated on the 1st of May and was assigned to the Coast Guard Cutter Firebush in Kodiak, Alaska. I spent two years in Kodiak working buoys between Kodiak and Betjubin Bay on the east side of Unimak Island. I think we had a lighthouse on the west tip but we only went out there once when I was there. And then after that I ended up at the Coast Guard headquarters for three years in the training branch and in the uniform clothing branch and then I went back to 17th District in Juno, Alaska for three years on the staff at the AIDS Navigation Branch. At that time I decided to resign my commission and join the reserves and then ended up going back to law school and unfortunately was passed over twice as a reserve so I never made it to a commander and then I decided after law school since I had 12 and a half years total service at that point in time I said well you know worst-case scenario is I do seven and a half years as a second-class petty officer and they still got to retire me as lieutenant so I came back in the second-class quartermaster and then the Coast Guard in their infinite wisdom decided to do away with quartermasters and we all became Boson mates so I became a Boson mate by default not by choice and ended up you know I would take the test and get advanced and I ended up make a chief quartermaster and then transfer to station Washington DC where I was the senior enlisted first senior enlisted reservist at the station and we put together the unit and when I left we had three qualified boat crews and one of those was actually fully law enforcement qualified so they were fully capable of caring every mission of the Coast Guard and I was proud of that when I left then I went back on active duty for a couple of years special project in Alaska working on some legal work where I was able to use my lawyer background to do stuff for the Coast Guard but since I was enlisted person I didn't have to sign anything so it wasn't my name that was on the line I handed it to a lawyer he signed it then after that ended up as the kept getting promoted made senior chief made master chief and when I left Alaska I went back I was the reserve command master chief for the 13th Coast Guard District in Seattle for the last five years of my career as the senior enlisted person for the district I worked for the district commander directly and was one of the best jobs ever had other than having to fly cross country every six weeks and then I you know hated to leave but you know after 32 years they tell you it's time to go home so but I you know I thoroughly enjoyed it I miss the people I don't miss the job so much because flying back fourth cross country was kind of a pain but I really miss the people that I worked with in the Coast Guard because they're all really good good folks could you just say your like name what rank you were in the military that okay well my name is Justin Sawyer obviously I made it to specialist the United States Army I served from August 2012 right out of high school until about December 2015 he was right on my dad's birthday I got out actually and I was in the 101st Airborne and I also filled our toilet basically really big guns they go boom you'd be surprised me people don't know what field artillery is all right could you say like what serving your country means to you and like what why you decided to join up that's a very heavy question I feel like everybody has different answers that question obviously I grew up in the whole I still remember being second grade I want to say I was in grade and all my teachers coming in crying for on September 11th and I never understood as I grew up I grew up learning more and more what that meant as an American having that slap in the face and I maybe I guess those instilled in me I can't imagine ever going through that again or God forbid if my family was in one of those towers and I wanted to make sure nothing like that was gonna happen not just here but anywhere and so then I have a kind of military background in my family so I knew I knew that was coming I just didn't know what branch so but when I knew there's a somebody to slap back I guess you'd say I found a job which I could do that being the small guy that I am what does serving mean to you like specifically what it has always meant to me has it's always meant no matter how big or small you are no matter what situation you're in standing up for you believe in even if even if all the odds were against you and everybody's against you say no this isn't right or I this is what needs to be fought for if that makes any sense at all I know that's a vague cheesiest answer but that's always best and I feel like everybody has things deep inside them that they know are right and they're constantly itching for you to do it's like the deep voice say when you don't hold the door open for somebody when you easily could have it goes like that saying I guess um I've always lost fire man so like with great power comes great responsibility that's always what I grew up with if you have the ability to do something for somebody I do believe it's your responsibility to do that I feel like the world be a much better place if everybody just act that out at least once a day again it's not always something as dramatic as him when joined the army but it could be as simple as holding the door open somebody or going your way for somebody else even though you really don't want to trust me up a lot of those days lately but that's what servings always meant to me putting somebody else before yourself so that's just how I was raised I guess would you recommend joining the army to anyone that's like even no mountain your crew is a liar okay I pretty cool my the first thing my recruiter said to me is was you know you're gonna have gas stand right I said that's the plan so what I recommend it yeah I would recommend it I still have friends I still talk to shoot I would have met my wife I was if I never joined the army but um but it's it's a kind of family you can't get anywhere else there's people in the army who are still in that I'm closer to that and even for my family even in family that I grew up with there's people I'm closer with who are in the army I've seen I haven't seen in years I'm still closer to them because there's bonds that you form I know this sounds very band of bruh band of brotherish it or like I'm about to give a speech from Henry Henry the fifth or whatever the Shakespeare play but it's honestly true you don't get that kind of camaraderie anywhere else I've talked to cops I've talked to people in fraternities nothing comes close to the stuff you get in the military especially when you're down range especially if you had a rocket fly overhead that day you guys talk about like so I could have just wiped so out hey you want to go eat my stuff like that so you don't really get to anywhere else so I would recommend it especially if you if you have any if you have the edge like me to serve and you want to put your country above yourself then you can't find a better way to do that do I think everybody should join the army I don't know about that but I feel like if everybody took some sort of service to heart and again I feel like I know I'm preaching a lot but people ask me go back to what you asked what's the serving me to me it's not always something as dramatic as joining the army but helping people count themselves for example I had I had a lot of elderly neighbors who couldn't like break their leaves couldn't move the lawns something like that go out of your way for somebody do you have to join the army no I wouldn't you regret it some days but I can't I just I even right now I'm slouching over cuz sitting up straight hurts my back cuz rounds are as heavy as I am but um but there's parts of it I still miss this part of I still wake up me like man I wish I could do this today but I'm not gonna be able to do it for us my life so do I think you should join army not necessarily but if it's your calling yes I feel like it's if that shirt or your it takes you do it cuz it'll be bothering you for us your life but do I think that everybody should serve in some way I think so I think so I think I um I grew up very much with the idea I don't care what your politics are the quote from Kennedy that says ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country I think that's a resume with everybody cuz that's a resume of me my entire life and it still does to this day and I'm been out for years now so that's a very winded answer to your question but hey guys I hope that you enjoyed that video um I just wanted to say thank you to all veterans out there thank you for your service and the sacrifice you have made to serve your country I hope that you all have a great day and as always peace out