Ep 43 Army Veteran, Firefighter & Artist Robert "Shrek" Harrell | His Story & Artwork | Part 1

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What's up, Hero Stock Nation? What's up, Hero's
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Talk Nation? It's Tom Lamogg here at the Roundtable
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Wear Hero's Talk. That's the program you're watching.
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Whether you're joining us on YouTube, Facebook,
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or listening on your favorite podcast platform,
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we're glad that you're here. Here at the Roundtable,
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we believe every veteran, first responder, and
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community leader has a story worth telling. Our
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goal isn't simply to talk about what people have
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done, but to explore the experiences that helped
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them, that shaped them, the challenges that they
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faced. and the lessons they've learned along
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the way. We hope those conversations inspire
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others who may be walking a similar path. As
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always, I'd like to introduce you to our good
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friend, fellow musician, songwriter, Army veteran,
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and my co -host, Matthew Jones. What is going
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on? I tell you what, I feel like every time you
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introduce me, you got this big smile on your
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face and I'm like, people have got to be tired
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of hearing you introduce me. Oh, no, of course.
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Are you kidding? You know, um I for one have
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not seen you in a month and it's yeah, you know
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what? This is the first Interview that we we've
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done in several weeks, obviously So I you know
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as much as I like doing this by myself. No, you
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always bring the game Do you always bring the
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conversation? I don't know if it's a testament
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to us just kind of getting older But why does
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it feel like every time we start an episode we're
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relearning something? You know that's that's
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how life is you know it's like you you keep on
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learning at least i can say that about guitar
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it's kind of like you know i'm going to continue
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to learn and learn and learn and uh never look
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back but it applies to a lot of other things
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as well too oh absolutely hey now listen um the
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big the big event is coming up the big festival
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resource fair hero stock 26 ashland nebraska
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uh 43 days away did you know 43 42 if you're
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coming to the pre -party yeah the pre -party
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we know the pre -party uh it's kind of got a
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little bit of rock yeah them boys from pennsylvania
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who who are those guys die those guys die tired
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yeah yeah die tired and yeah they're gonna come
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back and rock the place this is those guys are
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awesome man i love those guys consecutive years
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that they've made their appearance and special
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treat they're going to be our guest in the next
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in the next few weeks before the oh yeah yeah
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before the big festival so they're coming back
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there's also something new that Jason Steiner's
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planned the Omaha Hill Hounds and maybe you know
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you're a local boy out there you may have heard
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of them uh maybe a little bit uh But you know,
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I stay pretty busy. So you're gonna have to fill
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me in man. What's what's Jason up to now? This
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is medieval combat, right? I did see this I did
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see this This is like Jim Carrey in the cable
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guy, you know This is gonna be awesome. Yeah,
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it's kind of like a cage match without the cage
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and lots of yeah lots of stuff a lot of action,
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but that's coming on the pre -party 42 days from
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now. Let's talk about some of the other things
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that are happening that we know about. In the
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last month, we've learned more about Doc Goodbeard's
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big, beautiful, badass beard paddle, and there
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were prizes involved. And I, you know, you're
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not competing in that, are you? No, I absolutely
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am competing. I mean, I've tried the beard products,
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man. I mean, you can't try Doc Goodbeard products
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and then not want to compete in a competition
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that earns you Doc Goodbeard products. It just
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doesn't make sense. You're right. And Doc Goodbeard
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would have it no other way. And you know what
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I'm looking forward to is the shampooing contest.
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Oh, yeah, we're gonna have to lather that we
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have to lather the beard up You've already given
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us that day. Yeah, I gave you a demo You only
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get one you only get one make sure to stop by
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Facebook or even yeah, even Our website hero
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stock dot org to actually see Matt Undergo, you
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know this transformation of becoming the dog
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good beard model. Oh, I don't know about all
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that I'm not the model. Hey the fourth the fourth
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singer songwriter has also been named uh yes
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round table live you know that's going to be
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the uh riders round for hero stock 2026 it's
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the the round table live um dj bridwell yes Yes,
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a man who is not only deeply involved with singer
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songwriting for himself performing, but he's
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also invested in making sure that singer songwriters
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in the area are also recognized as well, too,
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through the Trails of Tales Songwriters Festival
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that he does every year. So we know that he's
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going to be there. And the last thing that I
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know that I've heard from The folks over here,
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part of the board is that we're looking for non
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-profits, for -profit vendors, government entities
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to be a part of our resource fair. We're shooting
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for 75 organizations to show up and attend. So
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there's a... There's a lot of stuff that's been
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happening this last month, which is why you probably
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haven't seen me and Matt, because we'd be on
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the scenes. We're scrambling to get all of that
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stuff in order as well, too. So looking forward
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to that. Anything. Absolutely. Let's move on.
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We do have our guest with us. And this is going
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to be a special treat tonight. We're honored
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to welcome Army veteran, retired firefighter,
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paramedic and accomplished artist Robert Schreck
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Harrell. Schreck has spent a lifetime serving
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others. from fighting wild land and structural
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fires to serving as an army firefighter and a
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paramedic. Like many veterans and first responders,
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those years came with invisible wounds. Instead
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of allowing trauma to define him, Shrek discovered
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healing through art. Tonight, we'll explore the
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people and experiences that shaped his life.
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his military and fighting careers, his battle
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with PTSD, and how a paintbrush became one of
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the greatest tools in his recovery. And later
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in the program, Shrek will give us a live painting
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demonstration while we continue our conversation.
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Shrek, sir, welcome. Welcome to the show. How
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are y 'all doing? It's an honor to have you.
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I mean, we've we have talked probably about a
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month ago or so. And since then, I got to tell
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you, man, first artist to come and paint on our
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show. We've been looking forward to this conversation.
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So yeah, thank you for being here with us. Well,
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thank you for having us. It's an honor to be
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here and I really appreciate it. Well, there
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isn't a whole lot of information that I was able
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to find about you. we're going to go ahead and
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just kind of jump right in and you know maybe
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you can help us get to know who you are from
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the very beginning you know and the things that
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i was able to learn about your life and this
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is thanks to our mutual friend ryan rogers from
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uh choices not chances podcast i was learning
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more about your life and things to me after watching
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the interview things became pretty clear long
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before the military or the fire service there
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were experiences that obviously shaped you into
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the man you are. Maybe what you can do is tell
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us a little bit about, taking us to the beginning,
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about your youth and growing up and things that
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stand out to you most. My name is Robert Harrell,
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my legal name. I go by Shrek. I've had that nickname
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since 2003. My Native American name is Bijiki,
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which means buffalo. I'm Choctaw from Oklahoma.
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I'm a registered Choctaw artist. And we'll start
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at the beginning as far as I can remember back.
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My mother was, I started taking care of my mother
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around seven. My mother was handicapped from
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seven to around, well, 16 when she passed away.
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So from seven to 16, I was their primary caregiver
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for the most part. My brother -in -law and my
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sister did a lot of the caregiving too, but when
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they wasn't at the house, me and my little brother
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did the caregiving. From about the age of six,
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I knew I was artistically gifted more than any
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other child that I knew. And what I mean by that,
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like when I was six years old, I was... I could
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do what probably a 15 year old can do artistically.
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And as I grew, it just got more advanced and
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more advanced. So we were pretty poor. I thought
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I was poor until I went to some other countries
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and then I realized I was just, just a little
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off compared to some other people, but I wasn't
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as poor as I thought I was. And so my mother
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did the best she could for us. I have four siblings.
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Two of them are... Well, three other siblings,
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I'm sorry. Two of them are still alive. There's
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four of us total. What really kind of started
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helping shape my life was my mother. My father
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was never around, and my mother was everything
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to me. She was my mother and father. So she taught
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me in the morals and values and right from wrong.
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And she made sure we was in church. And even
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though we didn't have a lot, she instilled everything
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that I thought was important to me and still
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is important to me. And she ensured that I made
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sports. She ensured that I was, you know, everything
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I needed, she provided the best she could. So.
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She always supported me in my art and she loved
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watching me do art. And some of the best memories
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I have with her was when I was doing art and
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she would watch. She was always a big supporter
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in art. And I'm glad she was always supportive
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of everything I did. And so a lot of times, even
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in school, It is funny because she I would have
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to take her to a lot of doctors appointments
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She would have 31 knee surgeries before she passed
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away. And so the school would let me 31. Yeah
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And so a lot of this stuff that you see nowadays
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Bone stimulators and a lot of things were tested
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on my mother Back in the 80s and 90s, you know
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stuff that they were trying to help her get better,
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but she would spend months and months in the
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hospital. It's not like going in for a knee surgery
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now and be out in three days. She would be there
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months at times and we would stay with different
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people, my teenage years especially, with deacons
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in our church. I would stay with one deacon and
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my little brother would stay with another deacon.
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It was challenging at times I would say, but
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it also taught me that life is going to be hard
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no matter who you are and what you do, right?
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And you have to just get tough and move on with
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it, right? And so my mother was one of the best
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fishermen I knew, or a fishing woman. A lot of
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the children that I went to school with called
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her fish mama. And during the summer, when I
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wasn't playing sports, we would fish every night
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in the summer. And that was her thing. So, we
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would fish all night. What did you guys fish
00:13:00.970 --> 00:13:05.629
for? Anything that moved by, catfish, crappie,
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bass, burrito, it didn't matter. Would this be
00:13:09.990 --> 00:13:15.129
like at a lake or a pond? It was a lake. It was
00:13:15.129 --> 00:13:17.610
called Lake Hall. It's near Hollis, Oklahoma.
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And mainly catfish and crappie. Did she ever
00:13:24.509 --> 00:13:28.509
tell you where she learned all that from? I can't
00:13:28.509 --> 00:13:30.710
remember. I think she's just been fishing her
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whole life. I think my aunt said that she always
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did that. My aunt was always doing something
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else and my mother was always fishing. So I think
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she had did it all her life too. There's a lot
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of things I wish I could remember about. I mean,
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it's been 33 years ago since she passed away.
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And I wish I could remember a lot of those things,
00:14:00.830 --> 00:14:03.970
but being 16 and not knowing that your mom's
00:14:03.970 --> 00:14:05.750
about to pass away, you don't know the questions
00:14:05.750 --> 00:14:11.529
to ask, right? So, hindsight's always 20 -20.
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And, you know, looking back at it now, there's
00:14:15.970 --> 00:14:18.129
things I would have liked to have known, but
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I didn't. So... It is what it is, but she didn't
00:14:23.190 --> 00:14:27.649
tell me a lot of life values and so I want to
00:14:27.649 --> 00:14:30.769
ask you something because I The program you mentioned
00:14:30.769 --> 00:14:33.070
going back to art now for just a second that
00:14:33.070 --> 00:14:36.649
it's six years old There was a discovery a profound
00:14:36.649 --> 00:14:38.570
discovery that was made I don't want to lose
00:14:38.570 --> 00:14:41.750
sight of this because this that's pretty much
00:14:41.750 --> 00:14:47.009
the the foundation for You know taking your art
00:14:47.230 --> 00:14:49.909
Career if you will to the next level. Can you
00:14:49.909 --> 00:14:52.990
talk a little bit about that? About what is it
00:14:52.990 --> 00:14:56.309
that you you saw happen or was there something
00:14:56.309 --> 00:14:58.429
that you felt inside you that it's like all of
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a sudden I'm approaching things differently Not
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it's not just scratches and you know drawing
00:15:05.429 --> 00:15:08.549
and filling in, you know Symbols or anything
00:15:08.549 --> 00:15:10.929
like that. I'm actually doing something that's
00:15:10.929 --> 00:15:15.169
artistic. Do you recall that? Well, I remember
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like I'm sure y 'all do too, but you would always
00:15:17.830 --> 00:15:21.049
have like things in each class you went in, like
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you would do art projects, right? And I remember
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like I would get picked on or they'd call it
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bullying or whatever you want to look at, however
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you want. I would get beat up for wearing some
00:15:34.049 --> 00:15:37.570
garage sale clothes from another kid. But here's
00:15:37.570 --> 00:15:41.070
the thing, when it came to art, nobody could
00:15:41.070 --> 00:15:44.389
compete on my level, right? I don't care how
00:15:44.389 --> 00:15:47.009
much money you had. or what you're wearing, you
00:15:47.009 --> 00:15:48.809
could be the smartest kid in the class. But when
00:15:48.809 --> 00:15:51.909
it came to the art part, nobody was winning.
00:15:52.789 --> 00:15:59.570
And I knew that from six on up. And so whatever
00:15:59.570 --> 00:16:02.669
they wanted to do, it didn't matter. And so when
00:16:02.669 --> 00:16:08.529
I got to when I was in Sarah, it just when I
00:16:08.529 --> 00:16:13.289
say at 15 years old, I could do whatever I wanted.
00:16:14.279 --> 00:16:18.519
Can I just say that I remember in I remember
00:16:18.519 --> 00:16:22.299
in high school Just being all thumbs. I still
00:16:22.299 --> 00:16:24.679
am to this day, you know, you give me a paintbrush
00:16:24.679 --> 00:16:26.899
forget about it Yeah, give me a guitar pick.
00:16:26.940 --> 00:16:29.700
I'll I can do something with that But I remember
00:16:29.700 --> 00:16:33.200
sitting next to a classmate who was a phenomenal
00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:36.620
artist and she was just doing drawing hand drawings
00:16:36.620 --> 00:16:41.440
pencil sketches and By the time class was done
00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:46.470
and she would show it to everyone. It's probably
00:16:46.470 --> 00:16:48.350
like, all right, do you want us to pay you now
00:16:48.350 --> 00:16:50.129
or pay you later kind of a thing? Just like what
00:16:50.129 --> 00:16:52.289
you're describing is kind of there's no one can
00:16:52.289 --> 00:16:55.710
touch me. She never really said that it's all
00:16:55.710 --> 00:16:58.149
the work that she had done spoke for itself.
00:16:58.470 --> 00:17:00.809
Is that how it was with you? Well, just driving.
00:17:01.090 --> 00:17:03.690
Yeah, you didn't have to say anything. Yeah.
00:17:04.329 --> 00:17:06.109
Yeah, you didn't have to say anything. It spoke
00:17:06.109 --> 00:17:10.230
for itself. But I think the only time I really
00:17:10.230 --> 00:17:13.690
got in trouble for school I got paddling because
00:17:13.690 --> 00:17:16.650
it was still like, you know, board of education
00:17:16.650 --> 00:17:21.269
board of you. I got in trouble for drawing in
00:17:21.269 --> 00:17:25.289
class. Oh, I got punished for drawing in class
00:17:25.289 --> 00:17:27.990
when we weren't even doing an assignment. So
00:17:27.990 --> 00:17:31.549
the teacher was mad about it. I guess it wasn't
00:17:31.549 --> 00:17:35.829
an art class. No, we didn't have art in that
00:17:35.829 --> 00:17:42.099
one school. So yeah, whatever it was. Is it something
00:17:42.099 --> 00:17:45.180
that when it comes to, you know, when you start
00:17:45.180 --> 00:17:47.359
like a project, an art project of some sort,
00:17:47.700 --> 00:17:49.980
if it happens, it's got to be done now? I mean,
00:17:50.099 --> 00:17:52.039
is that what you remember when you were growing
00:17:52.039 --> 00:17:54.119
up? It's like, I'm just going to draw this now,
00:17:54.220 --> 00:17:55.900
or I'm going to paint this now. I'm not going
00:17:55.900 --> 00:17:59.160
to wait. Is it pretty immediate when it comes
00:17:59.160 --> 00:18:02.259
to, I need to express myself in this artwork?
00:18:04.579 --> 00:18:08.490
Well, here, the thing was, it was like... No
00:18:08.490 --> 00:18:11.230
matter what I was struggling with in my life
00:18:11.230 --> 00:18:14.490
If I had a pencil and a piece of paper regardless
00:18:14.490 --> 00:18:17.789
of it had lines or not Nobody could take that
00:18:17.789 --> 00:18:21.690
away from me. I Could express all my emotions
00:18:21.690 --> 00:18:27.529
and not have to tell anybody Nobody knew I could
00:18:27.529 --> 00:18:30.250
draw whatever and I'll tell people to this day.
00:18:30.250 --> 00:18:33.009
It doesn't matter what I'm painting today They've
00:18:33.009 --> 00:18:37.039
all been painted with anger at some point every
00:18:37.039 --> 00:18:41.059
painting, because at some point, anger is a secondary
00:18:41.059 --> 00:18:44.200
emotion. But at some point, I've been angry when
00:18:44.200 --> 00:18:46.960
I've painted all my paintings. And I still deal
00:18:46.960 --> 00:18:52.859
with that on a daily basis. So nobody like you
00:18:52.859 --> 00:18:55.740
can take stuff away from people, but they never
00:18:55.740 --> 00:18:59.380
could take that away from me. I got to ask it.
00:19:02.700 --> 00:19:06.000
So starting out, you said, So a lot of pencil
00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:10.779
work as you started to really get good with pencil
00:19:10.779 --> 00:19:13.759
work. I mean, I know everything was already good,
00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:16.599
but as you started to develop with that, did
00:19:16.599 --> 00:19:20.119
you start to get interested in different other
00:19:20.119 --> 00:19:25.940
types of art like pencil paint? Like let's say
00:19:25.940 --> 00:19:27.799
they do like, yeah, that was a biography or something
00:19:27.799 --> 00:19:31.640
like wood burning stuff like that. Yeah, we I
00:19:31.640 --> 00:19:33.720
do all that stuff now, but that was introduced
00:19:33.720 --> 00:19:36.099
when we got to Sarah Oklahoma when I was talking
00:19:36.099 --> 00:19:39.099
about mark We actually had an art class and then
00:19:39.099 --> 00:19:44.720
I was introduced to different mediums, but I
00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:47.240
Had taught myself with like paint by numbers
00:19:47.240 --> 00:19:49.420
because I couldn't afford like canvases and all
00:19:49.420 --> 00:19:51.960
kinds of other stuff So I would buy like a cheap
00:19:51.960 --> 00:19:54.940
paint by number Teach myself how to paint and
00:19:54.940 --> 00:19:56.980
then I'll be like well I don't like just the
00:19:56.980 --> 00:19:58.559
lines on a paint by number that I've learned
00:19:58.559 --> 00:20:01.390
how to blend Right, so it was all self -taught
00:20:01.390 --> 00:20:04.069
stuff, right? Self -taught colored pencils, self
00:20:04.069 --> 00:20:07.029
-taught wood varnish, self -taught watercolors,
00:20:07.230 --> 00:20:10.609
self -taught everything. So when you got to Sarah,
00:20:10.769 --> 00:20:14.470
it was like that art class kind of opened you
00:20:14.470 --> 00:20:17.289
up to all these other styles of art and these
00:20:17.289 --> 00:20:20.549
other forms of expression? Like, was it real
00:20:20.549 --> 00:20:25.410
easy to kind of pick up? Yeah, I mean, I can
00:20:25.410 --> 00:20:30.720
take... I could pick up something and mess with
00:20:30.720 --> 00:20:33.079
it for an hour or two and then be pretty proficient
00:20:33.079 --> 00:20:38.839
at it. I wouldn't say it's scary, but it's pretty
00:20:38.839 --> 00:20:43.839
dumb. When I painted the plane that flew over
00:20:43.839 --> 00:20:45.339
the Super Bowl... Not the word I would use. I
00:20:45.339 --> 00:20:47.619
would be way impressed. I would say the word
00:20:47.619 --> 00:20:52.099
I would say is impressive. It's impressive, but
00:20:52.099 --> 00:20:55.640
it's kind of dumb that it's like... It shouldn't
00:20:55.640 --> 00:20:57.559
be that easy, because when I painted the planet
00:20:57.559 --> 00:20:59.099
Fleur the Super Bowl, we'll talk about that in
00:20:59.099 --> 00:21:03.839
a little bit. I was getting the airbrush out
00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:05.380
my wife's like, you don't even know how to airbrush.
00:21:05.480 --> 00:21:09.420
I was like, nah, I got it. I messed with it for
00:21:09.420 --> 00:21:11.579
like an hour and I was like, I'm good. Challenge
00:21:11.579 --> 00:21:15.819
accepted. Yeah. Hey Shrek, maybe now is a good
00:21:15.819 --> 00:21:19.230
time to bring up some of these. these images
00:21:19.230 --> 00:21:21.849
that you shared with me let me yeah this up on
00:21:21.849 --> 00:21:25.190
screen right now and maybe what you can do is
00:21:25.190 --> 00:21:28.250
uh you know you can kind of talk through these
00:21:28.250 --> 00:21:30.069
images I'll just bring up a few right now I know
00:21:30.069 --> 00:21:33.569
this is what we opened uh the show so this is
00:21:33.569 --> 00:21:39.289
this is me in Albania uh prior to us invading
00:21:39.289 --> 00:21:43.130
Kosovo in 99 so I spent the first month in Albania
00:21:43.130 --> 00:21:46.529
and then we uh took a ship into Thessaloniki
00:21:46.529 --> 00:21:50.849
Greece convoyed into Macedonia then invaded Kosovo.
00:21:51.430 --> 00:21:54.769
And I was doing art no matter where I went. My
00:21:54.769 --> 00:21:57.809
first deployment went to Haiti and I would draw
00:21:57.809 --> 00:22:01.509
a skull on the wall every day in the hoops for
00:22:01.509 --> 00:22:05.069
every day I was there. And here is the sign for
00:22:05.069 --> 00:22:07.970
our fire station that's sitting on the front
00:22:07.970 --> 00:22:11.730
of our fire truck. So I painted the Air Force
00:22:11.730 --> 00:22:15.019
sign too. I was always doing art. It didn't matter
00:22:15.019 --> 00:22:17.339
where I deployed to or what I did, and I still
00:22:17.339 --> 00:22:21.940
do it everywhere I go. There's always art. You
00:22:21.940 --> 00:22:27.240
just keep on talking. This picture is in Freedom
00:22:27.240 --> 00:22:29.779
Ranch for Project New Waters. That's in Montana.
00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:35.900
Who asked for it? What's the story behind this?
00:22:37.279 --> 00:22:41.140
You mentioned you are a fisherman, but maybe
00:22:41.140 --> 00:22:43.720
you can tell us, what is it that you think of?
00:22:44.119 --> 00:22:49.279
you start well this so i what i do is when i
00:22:49.279 --> 00:22:52.480
go there's a lot of programs that i'm associated
00:22:52.480 --> 00:22:55.500
with project hand waters hope for warriors the
00:22:55.500 --> 00:22:59.720
brotherhood of warriors and when i am blessed
00:22:59.720 --> 00:23:04.380
to be invited to certain places i always try
00:23:04.380 --> 00:23:08.980
to return the favor so i had been out to montana
00:23:08.980 --> 00:23:12.400
in like 2018 with project hand waters and it's
00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:16.059
uh a big ranch there and they have a river. And
00:23:16.059 --> 00:23:18.539
I told them if I get to ever come back, I'm bringing
00:23:18.539 --> 00:23:22.440
them a painting. And so I just painted this picture
00:23:22.440 --> 00:23:25.859
of this brown trout. Other than the brown trout,
00:23:26.619 --> 00:23:28.900
there's no other meaning behind it other than
00:23:28.900 --> 00:23:32.500
I promised them a painting. And that's the kind
00:23:32.500 --> 00:23:36.579
of stuff I do. How did they respond to that?
00:23:37.890 --> 00:23:41.150
The owner loved it. It's wonderful that they
00:23:41.150 --> 00:23:46.710
hang this stuff up. This is a This is for my
00:23:46.710 --> 00:23:51.190
buddy Tommy's fish and tournament This was given
00:23:51.190 --> 00:23:53.809
to the first place fish and tournament the blue
00:23:53.809 --> 00:23:57.430
falcon Invitational this is so it's a flatfish
00:23:57.430 --> 00:24:01.549
all paint. This is this is like this is this
00:24:01.549 --> 00:24:05.259
is acrylic. Yes, sir Love the way you have the
00:24:05.259 --> 00:24:08.200
white in there that shows the reflection of light
00:24:08.200 --> 00:24:11.339
on the hook But then the other the other section
00:24:11.339 --> 00:24:14.619
of white that's kind of broken up gives it Depth
00:24:14.619 --> 00:24:17.019
makes it look rounded like it's it's so clean,
00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:22.039
man Yeah, so what I I don't like texture on a
00:24:22.039 --> 00:24:27.640
painting not and People who use it good for you.
00:24:27.640 --> 00:24:31.890
I think it's more challenging to Paint something
00:24:31.890 --> 00:24:35.349
three -dimensional with no texture. Yeah, and
00:24:35.349 --> 00:24:39.109
I Choose not to use texture at all. So these
00:24:39.109 --> 00:24:42.490
paintings that I paint are probably Ten eight
00:24:42.490 --> 00:24:45.769
to ten layers of paint to get the color to that
00:24:45.769 --> 00:24:50.569
because they're so thin. Yeah, so I'm all about
00:24:50.569 --> 00:24:53.529
Clean lines every detail the lines. That's what
00:24:53.529 --> 00:24:55.250
I'm thinking. It's kind of like wow this work.
00:24:55.250 --> 00:25:01.640
Yeah People they caught painting loose which
00:25:01.640 --> 00:25:05.740
would not be that fine line stuff This is for
00:25:05.740 --> 00:25:11.180
my cousin Robert That was for his 60th birthday,
00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:14.700
so I give a lot of stuff away. I love that reflection
00:25:14.700 --> 00:25:18.519
on the water Thank you. That's just the northern
00:25:18.519 --> 00:25:23.240
lights and the starry sky I Mean each each dot.
00:25:23.900 --> 00:25:27.180
It's it's not like they're all put there. Yeah,
00:25:27.180 --> 00:25:30.819
that's so cool, man And how is it that you don't
00:25:30.819 --> 00:25:33.240
make those colors run into each other or do you
00:25:33.240 --> 00:25:35.940
and we're just you're just good at it that every
00:25:35.940 --> 00:25:40.740
look at that. I mean, just a pro man. Shrek messed
00:25:40.740 --> 00:25:42.960
with it for like two hours and he was a pro.
00:25:43.180 --> 00:25:46.740
I mean, look at this. Well, to be to be fair,
00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:50.839
that's a 16 by 20 painting and they take 20 to
00:25:50.839 --> 00:25:55.619
40 hours of paint. Wow. And those are quality
00:25:55.619 --> 00:26:01.769
hours. Look at that, Scott. Actually, that was
00:26:01.769 --> 00:26:05.349
given to Jill Biden. Jill, not Joe, that was
00:26:05.349 --> 00:26:07.230
given to Jill Biden. I met her through the Vet
00:26:07.230 --> 00:26:09.410
Center and that painting was actually in the
00:26:09.410 --> 00:26:14.329
White House. Wow. Wow. Dude, those colors. You
00:26:14.329 --> 00:26:18.250
paid for people who are pretty well known. Now,
00:26:18.529 --> 00:26:21.289
did she did she come by and visit? Then you said,
00:26:21.410 --> 00:26:23.200
well, I'm gonna. I mean to paint something for
00:26:23.200 --> 00:26:26.039
you or should she see your work? Well, no, she
00:26:26.039 --> 00:26:28.359
was visiting Camp Lejeune. She was meeting with
00:26:28.359 --> 00:26:33.039
veterans and I was promoting art therapy and
00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:36.359
the Vet Center. And so we spoke with her approximately
00:26:36.359 --> 00:26:40.839
an hour and then we had a booth. But I had talked
00:26:40.839 --> 00:26:46.519
to her. I didn't. The goal wasn't to really give
00:26:46.519 --> 00:26:49.140
it to Jill. The goal was to slip a piece of native
00:26:49.140 --> 00:26:53.309
artwork into the White House. That was the goal.
00:26:54.069 --> 00:26:56.309
And it was successful. Mission accomplished.
00:26:56.549 --> 00:26:58.950
That's what I'm talking about. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:26:59.130 --> 00:27:04.349
I was represented. There were so many, so many
00:27:04.349 --> 00:27:06.769
more that you've shared with us here. But why
00:27:06.769 --> 00:27:08.210
don't you finish your thought here. I just, I
00:27:08.210 --> 00:27:11.250
didn't mean to catch you off. Sorry. No, so I
00:27:11.250 --> 00:27:15.690
wanted to get a piece of Choctaw art in the White
00:27:15.690 --> 00:27:18.809
House. And that was, I had asked if I could give
00:27:18.809 --> 00:27:25.579
her a piece. We met, and then at the end of it,
00:27:26.180 --> 00:27:29.460
she was talking to us, and she wasn't able to
00:27:29.460 --> 00:27:32.460
touch it. Secret Service had to take it. After
00:27:32.460 --> 00:27:34.680
inspection and all that good stuff, it was in
00:27:34.680 --> 00:27:37.500
the White House. I got a handwritten letter from
00:27:37.500 --> 00:27:40.119
her and Christmas cards for the rest of their
00:27:40.119 --> 00:27:45.299
time in the house. Shrek, let's talk about the
00:27:45.299 --> 00:27:48.160
next phase in your life, which is basically...
00:27:48.440 --> 00:27:52.559
you know, firefighting and your military service.
00:27:52.799 --> 00:27:54.519
Maybe you can talk a little bit about that. I
00:27:54.519 --> 00:27:57.619
know that in the bio that I had read earlier,
00:27:58.619 --> 00:28:03.339
were you a firefighter in the Army? Or were you
00:28:03.339 --> 00:28:06.339
a firefighter before the Army? Or maybe you can
00:28:06.339 --> 00:28:08.599
explain that a little bit to us. Tell us about
00:28:08.599 --> 00:28:12.720
that. So when I got to Allen, Oklahoma, I started
00:28:12.720 --> 00:28:14.660
dating this girl. Her dad was a volunteer fire
00:28:14.660 --> 00:28:17.940
chief. And so I thought I was going to work for
00:28:17.940 --> 00:28:21.140
Disney. I finished my year and a half there in
00:28:21.140 --> 00:28:26.720
Allen. And one night, her dad needed help fighting
00:28:26.720 --> 00:28:29.420
a car fire out in the middle of nowhere in a
00:28:29.420 --> 00:28:33.440
town of 180 people. And I went out there and
00:28:33.440 --> 00:28:35.779
helped him fight a car fire. And then I knew
00:28:35.779 --> 00:28:38.599
what I was supposed to do. And that was not working
00:28:38.599 --> 00:28:42.279
for Disney. It was to be a firefighter. And so
00:28:42.279 --> 00:28:45.670
I knew. I'm not saying that art wasn't there,
00:28:45.970 --> 00:28:50.849
it just, my purpose in life at this time was
00:28:50.849 --> 00:28:56.829
to be a firefighter. And so, I started taking
00:28:56.829 --> 00:28:59.329
classes that were free through the volunteer
00:28:59.329 --> 00:29:04.349
fire department in Gertie, Oklahoma. And I knew
00:29:04.349 --> 00:29:06.670
that if I was going to try to get on like Oklahoma
00:29:06.670 --> 00:29:09.930
City Fire Department or any big city, that I
00:29:09.930 --> 00:29:15.299
was gonna have to streamline this process. And
00:29:15.299 --> 00:29:22.299
meantime, the Chickasaw Nation, which is in Aida,
00:29:22.299 --> 00:29:24.940
Oklahoma, which is next to Allen, they were starting
00:29:24.940 --> 00:29:29.259
up a forestry crew. And so they were taking all
00:29:29.259 --> 00:29:35.059
tribes, as long as you had an Indian card, you
00:29:35.059 --> 00:29:37.740
could apply. And so at 18 years old, I applied
00:29:37.740 --> 00:29:40.500
for the Chickasaw Nation forestry crew and made
00:29:40.500 --> 00:29:46.589
it. And then we had been formed. We did our school.
00:29:47.890 --> 00:29:51.569
I graduated, got red -carded. And then in about
00:29:51.569 --> 00:29:57.269
two months of being part of the crew, our first
00:29:57.269 --> 00:29:59.849
call was to go find a missing two -year -old
00:29:59.849 --> 00:30:03.910
child. So at 18 years old, that was my first
00:30:03.910 --> 00:30:10.759
call. And we got called out. It took us about
00:30:10.759 --> 00:30:12.539
two and a half hours to get where we were going.
00:30:13.460 --> 00:30:15.799
This child had been missing already at 12 hours
00:30:15.799 --> 00:30:19.039
at this point. They had dive teams in the lake.
00:30:19.099 --> 00:30:22.759
It was at a campground. And we got there like
00:30:22.759 --> 00:30:25.460
two or three in the morning. And within about
00:30:25.460 --> 00:30:27.660
three hours of searching, we found that child
00:30:27.660 --> 00:30:32.440
three miles away next to a pond. And the child
00:30:32.440 --> 00:30:36.400
was in a diver. And so we tracked the child and
00:30:36.400 --> 00:30:40.279
found it. And then they landed a helicopter and
00:30:40.279 --> 00:30:44.460
met a vector. So, that's the first thing we did
00:30:44.460 --> 00:30:47.539
as the Chigasol Foundation Foreshoot Crew that
00:30:47.539 --> 00:30:50.839
had just been formed. And then two months later,
00:30:51.759 --> 00:30:56.420
we would go to Oregon in 1996. And I would spend
00:30:56.420 --> 00:31:01.660
three weeks doing, I'd say the coolest firefighting
00:31:01.660 --> 00:31:05.400
I've ever done, wildland firefighting. Why is
00:31:05.400 --> 00:31:08.630
that? In Oregon. Yeah, understandable of all
00:31:08.630 --> 00:31:11.829
the wildfires that are on the west, out on the
00:31:11.829 --> 00:31:15.569
west. But what made it? Well, I mean, I fought
00:31:15.569 --> 00:31:18.549
fire in combat. I fought fire, you know, for
00:31:18.549 --> 00:31:20.529
the government. I fought fire in Afghanistan.
00:31:22.049 --> 00:31:25.750
You know, I did all kinds of stuff. Wildland
00:31:25.750 --> 00:31:31.069
firefighting on that level is probably the most...
00:31:33.549 --> 00:31:36.109
People don't realize when you have a hundred
00:31:36.109 --> 00:31:41.009
foot tall tree and it's fully involved or consumed
00:31:41.009 --> 00:31:44.230
from the ground up and Then the flame wall is
00:31:44.230 --> 00:31:47.650
another 60 feet on top of that So you have a
00:31:47.650 --> 00:31:50.069
hundred sixty foot flame wall that's coming and
00:31:50.069 --> 00:31:53.630
doing whatever it wants Man, I can only there's
00:31:53.630 --> 00:31:59.049
only the two most powerful Well, it's There's
00:31:59.049 --> 00:32:01.309
two most powerful thing waters the first and
00:32:01.309 --> 00:32:04.579
fires the second Yeah, not gonna stop water.
00:32:04.599 --> 00:32:08.559
It's hard to stop fire. Yeah, and to see like
00:32:08.559 --> 00:32:13.319
whole mountains burn in a day at at that level
00:32:13.319 --> 00:32:20.819
is just It's just amazing it's amazing and Destructive
00:32:20.819 --> 00:32:24.380
at the same time like it's you're in awe, but
00:32:24.380 --> 00:32:28.619
it's just wrecking everything You're talking
00:32:28.619 --> 00:32:33.710
about a career in firefighting And this is just
00:32:33.710 --> 00:32:37.430
one of, obviously, you were talking about when
00:32:37.430 --> 00:32:41.210
you were in the service, and the variety of firefights
00:32:41.210 --> 00:32:46.069
that you've found yourself into. What is it that
00:32:46.069 --> 00:32:50.730
draws you towards that? Is it just really the
00:32:50.730 --> 00:32:53.589
natural instinct that I want to help someone?
00:32:53.630 --> 00:32:56.250
I want to help, I want to get in there and fight
00:32:56.250 --> 00:32:59.470
the good fight. And I guess the next part of
00:32:59.470 --> 00:33:02.900
that is does this... somehow address some of
00:33:02.900 --> 00:33:05.839
the anger that you've also been expressing. Are
00:33:05.839 --> 00:33:11.700
you able to direct your firefighting skills and
00:33:11.700 --> 00:33:14.819
such in addressing some of that anger? Are the
00:33:14.819 --> 00:33:18.940
two related? Well, I don't think you really get
00:33:18.940 --> 00:33:22.359
to when you get into emergency services. They
00:33:22.359 --> 00:33:25.500
really don't tend to like being a veteran. They
00:33:25.500 --> 00:33:29.119
teach you how to do all this stuff to fight wars.
00:33:29.950 --> 00:33:31.769
and they teach you how to save people but they
00:33:31.769 --> 00:33:34.029
don't teach you what the aftermath they don't
00:33:34.029 --> 00:33:36.769
teach you how to deal with the aftermath right
00:33:36.769 --> 00:33:38.950
and that's the problem with all the military
00:33:38.950 --> 00:33:42.670
bridges is and i think that's what we all struggle
00:33:42.670 --> 00:33:45.210
with or we wouldn't be doing these podcasts right
00:33:45.210 --> 00:33:52.589
yeah the aftermath is inevitable yeah so we all
00:33:52.589 --> 00:33:56.549
struggle because nobody teaches us what to do
00:33:56.549 --> 00:34:04.130
right so You really don't deal Why you're doing
00:34:04.130 --> 00:34:07.150
it it's hard to deal with the demons you're battling
00:34:07.150 --> 00:34:13.329
Because You just can't You're just kind of running
00:34:13.329 --> 00:34:15.889
from them, right? You're trying to stay ahead
00:34:15.889 --> 00:34:19.530
of them. I guess yeah, and then until they catch
00:34:19.530 --> 00:34:24.730
you You just try to stay ahead and then they
00:34:24.730 --> 00:34:27.369
eventually get you and then you have to deal
00:34:27.369 --> 00:34:31.019
with your problems whatever that looks like rock
00:34:31.019 --> 00:34:34.739
bottom or Wherever you wherever you ended up
00:34:34.739 --> 00:34:38.599
some people it's the 22 a day, you know me Yeah,
00:34:39.019 --> 00:34:41.039
some of us get therapy some of us do art some
00:34:41.039 --> 00:34:43.599
of us play music some of us rap poetry some of
00:34:43.599 --> 00:34:48.300
us rap books right Some of us make it out some
00:34:48.300 --> 00:34:51.400
of us don't and that's that's the whole point
00:34:51.400 --> 00:34:55.860
of this talk right now is to Inspire people not
00:34:55.860 --> 00:35:00.500
to be the 20 Second person today or the 23rd.
00:35:00.500 --> 00:35:03.320
Yeah, you know, that's the only battle I care
00:35:03.320 --> 00:35:08.980
about winning Yes Every day just give me another
00:35:08.980 --> 00:35:15.260
day to win Yep, and my battle now is to Help
00:35:15.260 --> 00:35:19.400
share my story and help people, you know find
00:35:19.400 --> 00:35:22.960
a way to battle these Demons that nobody really
00:35:22.960 --> 00:35:26.260
taught us anything about Right and I'm at that
00:35:26.260 --> 00:35:28.039
point in my life. I've been doing therapy ten
00:35:28.039 --> 00:35:32.320
years and I go there every day I teach people
00:35:32.320 --> 00:35:35.860
how to paint and I teach people how to Do therapy
00:35:35.860 --> 00:35:39.280
and I try to be a role model still I still try
00:35:39.280 --> 00:35:42.619
to help people that's never gonna stop that's
00:35:42.619 --> 00:35:46.059
in my blood like Like I said when I was groomed
00:35:46.059 --> 00:35:48.920
earlier at his young child. I just didn't know
00:35:48.920 --> 00:35:55.869
it and it still don't stop and so You know fighting
00:35:55.869 --> 00:35:59.690
wildfires at 18 and then coming back I was in
00:35:59.690 --> 00:36:05.530
college and I Was working three jobs trying to
00:36:05.530 --> 00:36:09.650
make it and I was like I'm not gonna make it
00:36:09.650 --> 00:36:15.329
and I've got a get streamlined this and so I'd
00:36:15.329 --> 00:36:17.489
always wanted to be in the military as a kid
00:36:17.489 --> 00:36:22.269
and There's only three branches that do firefighting
00:36:22.269 --> 00:36:25.519
in the military Air Force was number one army
00:36:25.519 --> 00:36:27.800
was second in the Marine Corps last because they
00:36:27.800 --> 00:36:31.179
only do crash bar rest So when I called the Air
00:36:31.179 --> 00:36:33.420
Force, they wouldn't guarantee the contract it
00:36:33.420 --> 00:36:36.400
wouldn't guarantee me to go to fire again Army
00:36:36.400 --> 00:36:40.179
would as long as you pass basic So army here
00:36:40.179 --> 00:36:45.639
I come right? Yeah and so I go to a interview
00:36:45.639 --> 00:36:49.340
at Tyson hog farms I Had some buddies that were
00:36:49.340 --> 00:36:52.630
managers on the hog farms And I was just trying
00:36:52.630 --> 00:36:54.909
to get on there to make some better money. And
00:36:54.909 --> 00:36:57.030
so you got to start washing out truck trailers,
00:36:57.030 --> 00:37:00.510
right? So I go for an interview. I'm on the way
00:37:00.510 --> 00:37:05.469
back and I stop at a generic Taco Bell called
00:37:05.469 --> 00:37:08.889
Taco Mile. And there's an army recruiter on there.
00:37:09.010 --> 00:37:11.090
And I was like, I go up to him. I was like, you
00:37:11.090 --> 00:37:12.849
ever put anybody in as a firefighter? He's like,
00:37:13.010 --> 00:37:18.630
no, but we'll try. I said, good. So we go up
00:37:18.630 --> 00:37:21.420
to maps. They have one slot. I leave for the
00:37:21.420 --> 00:37:25.659
army a month later. That quick. Boom, boom, boom.
00:37:25.900 --> 00:37:29.800
That quick. Yeah. There's only 300 active army
00:37:29.800 --> 00:37:35.599
firefighters at any given small MOS. And that
00:37:35.599 --> 00:37:37.960
one slot was there and I couldn't not pass it.
00:37:38.059 --> 00:37:42.139
Like I had to take it. And so I left for Fort
00:37:42.139 --> 00:37:48.239
Leonardwood in February of 1997. I did basic
00:37:48.239 --> 00:37:52.610
there. finished basic, and then when I went to
00:37:52.610 --> 00:37:56.090
San Angelo Air Force Base, and that's where I
00:37:56.090 --> 00:37:58.590
did my fire academy, then I came back to Fort
00:37:58.590 --> 00:38:07.030
Leonard Wood. So at Fort Leonard Wood, I'd be
00:38:07.030 --> 00:38:10.409
stationed there, but as soon as I got back from
00:38:10.409 --> 00:38:17.019
San Angelo, I went to EMT school, right? That
00:38:17.019 --> 00:38:21.480
was in August of 97 and then December of 97.
00:38:21.480 --> 00:38:25.619
I would be going to Haiti was that it was a normal
00:38:25.619 --> 00:38:29.360
progression from becoming a firefighter to Emergency,
00:38:30.119 --> 00:38:33.659
I mean is that well pretty much all firefighters
00:38:33.659 --> 00:38:36.980
have to be EMTs at some point if you're gonna
00:38:36.980 --> 00:38:41.340
work minimum either as a federal or a civilian
00:38:41.340 --> 00:38:45.449
firefighter, but They allowed us to be EMTs too.
00:38:45.630 --> 00:38:48.670
So the hospital put on the class. So if they
00:38:48.670 --> 00:38:50.110
said, y 'all want to go take it, we all took
00:38:50.110 --> 00:38:57.210
it. We all had to take it. Our unit was eight
00:38:57.210 --> 00:38:59.949
people. That's how we deployed a fire truck,
00:39:00.250 --> 00:39:01.969
a tanker and a Humvee and eight people. That
00:39:01.969 --> 00:39:05.449
was how we deployed. And then we would get, we
00:39:05.449 --> 00:39:09.650
were like stepchildren to whoever. We fell under
00:39:09.650 --> 00:39:11.929
combat engineers, so we would be attached to
00:39:11.929 --> 00:39:14.610
whatever combat engineers wherever we were deployed.
00:39:15.469 --> 00:39:17.550
Yeah, those engineers, man, I'll tell you what.
00:39:18.969 --> 00:39:24.510
I was an engineer. I was a vertical engineer
00:39:24.510 --> 00:39:28.429
assigned to a combat heavy brigade, so it's like,
00:39:28.590 --> 00:39:33.849
damn, I can't win right now. Yeah. No, it was
00:39:33.849 --> 00:39:35.949
always horrible, whoever we got attached to.
00:39:36.190 --> 00:39:38.170
We were attached to the fifth engineers there
00:39:38.170 --> 00:39:40.610
at Fort Leonardwood and they didn't have a clue
00:39:40.610 --> 00:39:43.530
what we did. We deployed more than they ever
00:39:43.530 --> 00:39:45.730
did. I was there five years, they never went
00:39:45.730 --> 00:39:48.030
anywhere. Sure, maybe you can talk us through
00:39:48.030 --> 00:39:50.829
some more of the stories that you have behind
00:39:50.829 --> 00:39:56.050
us. All right, so beautiful. This is Picasso.
00:39:56.849 --> 00:39:59.889
He's a wild Mustang from, he's famous Mustang
00:39:59.889 --> 00:40:06.469
from Colorado. That was for a gentleman. I know.
00:40:06.750 --> 00:40:08.670
That's three foot by four foot. That probably
00:40:08.670 --> 00:40:11.309
took about 200 hours. That's what I was about
00:40:11.309 --> 00:40:13.769
to ask you next. How big is it and how long did
00:40:13.769 --> 00:40:19.170
it take? Man, 200 hours. Three foot by four foot,
00:40:21.250 --> 00:40:24.929
200 hours. Oh, who's this? Oh, my wife would
00:40:24.929 --> 00:40:27.190
want this in a heartbeat, man. She's a Star Wars
00:40:27.190 --> 00:40:32.929
nerd. Was this painted on the floor? No, it wasn't
00:40:32.929 --> 00:40:41.699
painted on the floor. What what inspired this
00:40:41.699 --> 00:40:48.559
One of my friends was talking trash about the
00:40:48.559 --> 00:40:50.880
some paint I was using and I was like he was
00:40:50.880 --> 00:40:53.440
painting a stormtrooper I said, you know what?
00:40:53.539 --> 00:40:55.559
I'll paint one before you finish yours and it'll
00:40:55.559 --> 00:41:02.000
be better. I did. Oh man And that's 24 by 36
00:41:02.000 --> 00:41:09.750
or two by three Yeah, this is a This is a different
00:41:09.750 --> 00:41:16.929
one than what we saw before Yeah, so It's painted
00:41:16.929 --> 00:41:22.329
wood grain. It's wood grain painted on wood Yeah,
00:41:22.329 --> 00:41:26.730
the other one had the the black and white Tails
00:41:26.730 --> 00:41:30.349
it had a lower section Towards the hook. Yeah,
00:41:30.349 --> 00:41:32.610
they're all different. They're all salmon flies
00:41:32.829 --> 00:41:38.170
Are these, as a fisherman yourself, are you drawing
00:41:38.170 --> 00:41:43.150
from your own fish and tackle? I mean, do you
00:41:43.150 --> 00:41:45.289
have a tackle box or maybe a box of flies or
00:41:45.289 --> 00:41:48.309
something? No, I don't tie these salmon flies
00:41:48.309 --> 00:41:50.610
because they take too long and I'm not going
00:41:50.610 --> 00:41:52.610
to fish something that you're going to lose anyway.
00:41:53.849 --> 00:41:59.329
I tie different flies for salmon. So tying flies
00:41:59.329 --> 00:42:04.579
is its own art. Did tie flies and I tie really
00:42:04.579 --> 00:42:07.639
good flies, but I do not tie these these would
00:42:07.639 --> 00:42:11.820
these flies probably take 30 to 45 minutes to
00:42:11.820 --> 00:42:14.760
tie one and I want to be able to tie something
00:42:14.760 --> 00:42:18.659
like Because I have to tie a bunch of them. So
00:42:18.659 --> 00:42:22.900
you mean I reference these from your interweb
00:42:22.900 --> 00:42:28.239
That's Michael Myers That is scary dark stuff.
00:42:29.239 --> 00:42:34.929
Thank you. That's scary good Man I got to tell
00:42:34.929 --> 00:42:40.050
you dude. That's Is phenomenal dollars is that
00:42:40.050 --> 00:42:49.309
what this is That's uh, that's from uh Or I can't
00:42:49.309 --> 00:42:52.150
remember but it's from the movie. Yeah. Yeah.
00:42:52.150 --> 00:42:55.309
Yeah. So I had to change it up because it's copyright
00:42:55.309 --> 00:43:01.869
infringements. So no names here. Oh You say it
00:43:01.869 --> 00:43:05.699
is what it is but Yeah, and I know who signed
00:43:05.699 --> 00:43:10.159
it. We've got them as our guests. Get out of
00:43:10.159 --> 00:43:16.679
here. Get out of here. So that is colored pencil.
00:43:17.420 --> 00:43:21.320
Yeah? Yeah, that's Prismacolor pencil and that
00:43:21.320 --> 00:43:24.300
took 33 hours to make that. Now I've used the
00:43:24.300 --> 00:43:27.260
Prismacolor pencils when I do wood burning and
00:43:27.260 --> 00:43:29.860
I'll kind of use them to accent certain colors
00:43:29.860 --> 00:43:32.820
like if I do a wood burning for an eagle. You
00:43:32.820 --> 00:43:35.539
know the whites really absent a lot in the eyes,
00:43:35.539 --> 00:43:39.139
you know, because eyes give it life Man, this
00:43:39.139 --> 00:43:42.579
is we'll talk offline But you start using watercolors
00:43:42.579 --> 00:43:45.199
on your wood after you would burn. It's a whole
00:43:45.199 --> 00:43:49.840
level. Yeah Okay, okay. Oh, that's the You'll
00:43:49.840 --> 00:43:52.099
do the outline of your wood first and then put
00:43:52.099 --> 00:43:55.239
the water color. It won't go past the burn Okay,
00:43:55.239 --> 00:43:58.219
this is 48 by 64 foot by five foot and that's
00:43:58.219 --> 00:44:00.179
actually a vietnam nurse that hangs at the vet
00:44:00.179 --> 00:44:04.000
center. That's an actual Lady I don't know her
00:44:04.000 --> 00:44:09.300
real name But I found that and she hangs I call
00:44:09.300 --> 00:44:12.639
her Abby I don't think those sunglasses are government
00:44:12.639 --> 00:44:22.059
issue. I'm just gonna say it right now So Shrek
00:44:22.059 --> 00:44:25.519
is this an image do you have like a photographic
00:44:25.519 --> 00:44:28.820
memory and then it's like okay you envision how
00:44:28.820 --> 00:44:32.380
you're going to paint this. Or is this image
00:44:32.380 --> 00:44:35.500
that's just your creation, the individual in
00:44:35.500 --> 00:44:38.179
this painting? That's a real image. Okay. Or
00:44:38.179 --> 00:44:40.760
do you pick a photograph and then you just look
00:44:40.760 --> 00:44:43.280
at the photograph and then you just kind of...
00:44:43.280 --> 00:44:46.960
I reference the photograph, but then to a certain
00:44:46.960 --> 00:44:50.519
point I'll look at it and then I'll change it
00:44:50.519 --> 00:44:53.820
to however I want it to look. So it won't be
00:44:53.820 --> 00:45:01.179
exact. Colors may vary. Depending as you do have
00:45:01.179 --> 00:45:04.099
to change them by 10 % for the most part if you're
00:45:04.099 --> 00:45:07.320
selling them. I'm not selling that It's just
00:45:07.320 --> 00:45:10.099
to hang at the vet center So I think it's crazy
00:45:10.099 --> 00:45:14.000
how you you made this look like it's an old like
00:45:14.000 --> 00:45:16.840
it's a it's a new picture It mean you you created
00:45:16.840 --> 00:45:21.539
it, but you've made it look aged With like the
00:45:21.539 --> 00:45:24.139
dirt. Yeah, I want to look like it was down below
00:45:24.139 --> 00:45:30.440
like I wanted it to look like it was the era
00:45:30.440 --> 00:45:34.599
it was coming from. Yeah. Man, let's look at
00:45:34.599 --> 00:45:38.820
another here and then we're going to... All right.
00:45:38.960 --> 00:45:41.139
What's the story behind this one? You said you
00:45:41.139 --> 00:45:43.139
paint when you're angry. Is there something that
00:45:43.139 --> 00:45:49.280
triggered this one to be painted? So every painting
00:45:49.280 --> 00:45:54.219
I do, I try to challenge myself. From the no,
00:45:54.400 --> 00:45:57.000
it's not like I don't have mark anymore to challenge
00:45:57.000 --> 00:46:01.199
me So each thing I do I have to challenge myself
00:46:01.199 --> 00:46:04.199
so When the whole point behind this painting
00:46:04.199 --> 00:46:07.340
was to paint all the scales and to make the rattlesnake
00:46:07.340 --> 00:46:11.219
look like it did Kind of came afterwards. Yeah,
00:46:11.280 --> 00:46:14.239
so I was crazy paint the rattlesnake single every
00:46:14.239 --> 00:46:19.159
single line in every Diamond that you see in
00:46:19.159 --> 00:46:23.280
there every scale Yeah, you see all that depth
00:46:23.280 --> 00:46:25.420
because those scales are turning man that must
00:46:25.420 --> 00:46:30.340
have how long did this take ah It probably took
00:46:30.340 --> 00:46:34.239
about 30 hours I Love that you got that that
00:46:34.239 --> 00:46:36.199
rattle on the tail right in the middle and then
00:46:36.199 --> 00:46:39.719
you have on each side To simulate that rattling
00:46:39.719 --> 00:46:45.519
effect It looks like it's cool. Yeah Shrek what
00:46:45.519 --> 00:46:48.219
kind of patience goes behind this? I mean, you
00:46:48.219 --> 00:46:50.960
know that this is gonna take a while Is this
00:46:50.960 --> 00:46:53.460
something that when you go into this project?
00:46:56.539 --> 00:47:00.440
So when I tell people, so when I first started
00:47:00.440 --> 00:47:03.500
on the therapy, we've been talking about anger,
00:47:04.199 --> 00:47:10.079
right? And my first therapist told me I'm the
00:47:10.079 --> 00:47:13.480
only one that makes me mad. And I had to swallow
00:47:13.480 --> 00:47:18.440
that pill because it was hard to swallow. because
00:47:18.440 --> 00:47:20.400
I was blaming everybody else for my problems.
00:47:21.860 --> 00:47:24.420
And when he told me that, it just kind of slapped
00:47:24.420 --> 00:47:28.079
me in the face. But I really didn't have an anger
00:47:28.079 --> 00:47:31.659
problem. I do, but I also had a patience problem.
00:47:32.699 --> 00:47:35.920
So when I was going through all my surgeries
00:47:35.920 --> 00:47:40.719
and starting therapy, I would work on my patience
00:47:40.719 --> 00:47:43.340
by going standing in the longest line at Walmart.
00:47:45.559 --> 00:47:57.579
On purpose. Yeah, but also I didn't realize that
00:47:57.579 --> 00:48:00.980
I already already had the patience in painting
00:48:00.980 --> 00:48:05.119
I just had to turn to it and So when I tell people
00:48:05.119 --> 00:48:07.440
that painting and you can you can use this to
00:48:07.440 --> 00:48:09.199
time when you're teaching it Matthew when you're
00:48:09.199 --> 00:48:11.820
teaching guitar lessons I tell people to follow
00:48:11.820 --> 00:48:16.679
the two peas patience and practice Patience build
00:48:16.679 --> 00:48:20.880
practice builds patience and patients want to
00:48:20.880 --> 00:48:27.119
make you practice hard and longer So It was good
00:48:27.119 --> 00:48:34.059
patient comes with practices good words Yep All
00:48:34.059 --> 00:48:38.019
right. Well, you know As we promised our guests
00:48:38.019 --> 00:48:41.139
there will be that live demonstration Coming
00:48:41.139 --> 00:48:43.619
up. Are we there? Are we there yet? Almost we
00:48:43.619 --> 00:48:47.730
were oh my gosh I want to, you know, we've come
00:48:47.730 --> 00:48:52.789
this far in talking about, you know, some of
00:48:52.789 --> 00:48:55.090
the emotions that you're feeling, some of the,
00:48:55.090 --> 00:48:57.389
some of the ailments that you have been experiencing.
00:48:59.329 --> 00:49:03.070
I want to, I just want to touch on that. So people,
00:49:04.489 --> 00:49:07.789
particularly like myself and civilians who have
00:49:07.789 --> 00:49:11.349
not served in the armed forces and came away
00:49:11.349 --> 00:49:16.099
with being You know, with wounds, with PTSD,
00:49:17.280 --> 00:49:21.239
TBI, and other ailments as well, too. Is there
00:49:21.239 --> 00:49:24.239
a way you can describe that in a way where people
00:49:24.239 --> 00:49:27.639
who have not served have no clue about what this
00:49:27.639 --> 00:49:29.599
ailment that you're talking about is or why you
00:49:29.599 --> 00:49:33.300
do art? Maybe you can talk about that. And then
00:49:33.300 --> 00:49:37.579
we can go into art and then talk more about what
00:49:37.579 --> 00:49:40.599
art is doing for you to address some of these
00:49:40.599 --> 00:49:45.619
issues. Well, PTSD post -traumatic stress disorder
00:49:45.619 --> 00:49:48.699
or if you would take a look at right really what
00:49:48.699 --> 00:49:53.440
I'm diagnosed with is would be complex PTSD Which
00:49:53.440 --> 00:49:55.960
is multiple trauma stacked on top each other
00:49:55.960 --> 00:50:00.000
over a year over here So I know we kind of touched
00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:02.840
on Haiti. I would go to Kosovo. I would go to
00:50:02.840 --> 00:50:04.659
Afghanistan I would do a bunch of different stuff.
00:50:04.659 --> 00:50:07.440
I'd work in the fire department for 22 years.
00:50:07.659 --> 00:50:11.039
I Crunched the numbers one time. I treated over
00:50:11.039 --> 00:50:16.789
10 ,000 people my career And at the end of my
00:50:16.789 --> 00:50:19.869
career, I would break, I would have a knee replacement
00:50:19.869 --> 00:50:24.070
and I would break my knee at work. And that would
00:50:24.070 --> 00:50:26.449
lead me to have five knee replacements in six
00:50:26.449 --> 00:50:30.010
months. I would get a staph infection that would
00:50:30.010 --> 00:50:33.150
cause me to have a brain injury or almost like
00:50:33.150 --> 00:50:37.050
a TBI with a traumatic part. And that pretty
00:50:37.050 --> 00:50:42.239
much wiped half of my memory. And so, Everybody's
00:50:42.239 --> 00:50:43.940
going to deal with trauma. Trauma is trauma no
00:50:43.940 --> 00:50:50.840
matter where it comes from. And so regardless
00:50:50.840 --> 00:50:53.480
of what trauma you're dealing with, let's talk
00:50:53.480 --> 00:50:57.760
about art and the therapy benefits of art. So
00:50:57.760 --> 00:51:03.639
art is used all the time for therapy. It's used
00:51:03.639 --> 00:51:06.500
in Walton Reed. It's used here at Camp Lejeune
00:51:06.500 --> 00:51:09.309
at the Wounded Warrior Battalion. They also have
00:51:09.309 --> 00:51:12.530
a TBI clinic called Intrepid Spirit. And me and
00:51:12.530 --> 00:51:15.170
you had talked about this initially, Tom, that
00:51:15.170 --> 00:51:18.130
art therapy is used in the minimum of 45 minutes.
00:51:18.289 --> 00:51:21.369
So I don't care what you're doing, if you're
00:51:21.369 --> 00:51:24.110
coloring in a coloring book, using colored pencils,
00:51:25.130 --> 00:51:29.170
whatever, playing music, writing journal, poetry,
00:51:29.610 --> 00:51:34.739
if you do it for 45 minutes. Your cortisol levels
00:51:34.739 --> 00:51:37.320
drop at 45 minutes. This is science, you can
00:51:37.320 --> 00:51:39.300
look it up. I want you to look it up. Don't take
00:51:39.300 --> 00:51:44.360
my word for it. But your cortisol levels drop,
00:51:44.460 --> 00:51:48.599
right? So we know that at 45 minutes, and you
00:51:48.599 --> 00:51:50.699
talked about you do guitar lessons for an hour,
00:51:51.019 --> 00:51:54.679
which covers the 45, but if you do 45 minutes
00:51:54.679 --> 00:51:58.059
a day, your cortisol levels drop. So that's the
00:51:58.059 --> 00:52:01.820
benefits of our therapy. along with you get to
00:52:01.820 --> 00:52:05.219
express yourself emotionally and Get images out
00:52:05.219 --> 00:52:08.280
of your head that you probably Couldn't express
00:52:08.280 --> 00:52:10.059
yourself in any other way and you don't have
00:52:10.059 --> 00:52:15.900
to say anything so things of art so when I was
00:52:15.900 --> 00:52:20.260
injured and was going through all and laying
00:52:20.260 --> 00:52:25.760
in bed and struggling with All these emotions
00:52:25.760 --> 00:52:33.920
almost took my life I turned back to art. And
00:52:33.920 --> 00:52:36.880
because it's always been there for me, I've always
00:52:36.880 --> 00:52:42.400
had it. But I had to really lean on it. And so
00:52:42.400 --> 00:52:45.460
when I started going to the vet center, they
00:52:45.460 --> 00:52:48.139
only had one other group besides the process.
00:52:48.260 --> 00:52:50.539
They only had one group that wasn't a processing
00:52:50.539 --> 00:52:56.699
group, and that was our group. And so I wanted
00:52:56.699 --> 00:53:01.019
to go to inpatient treatment initially. and they
00:53:01.019 --> 00:53:03.500
didn't think I should so they allowed me space
00:53:03.500 --> 00:53:06.000
so I would attend all groups and when I wasn't
00:53:06.000 --> 00:53:11.019
in group I could just paint our conversation
00:53:11.019 --> 00:53:14.420
with US Army veteran firefighter paramedic and
00:53:14.420 --> 00:53:17.860
artist Robert Shrek Harrell continues after this
00:53:17.860 --> 00:53:20.139
short break you're listening to the roundtable
00:53:20.139 --> 00:53:22.900
where heroes talk the herald stock nation podcast
00:53:22.900 --> 00:53:26.360
what's up hero stock nation hey Just wanted to
00:53:26.360 --> 00:53:28.280
pop on quick and talk a little bit about what
00:53:28.280 --> 00:53:31.199
we got going on this year with our festival that's
00:53:31.199 --> 00:53:35.400
coming up. So with the the tickets that we're
00:53:35.400 --> 00:53:37.739
selling again this year we're giving 50 % of
00:53:37.739 --> 00:53:40.840
that back to the community. We have narrowed
00:53:40.840 --> 00:53:43.079
it down to two fire departments that we would
00:53:43.079 --> 00:53:45.900
like to work with to give part of our money back
00:53:45.900 --> 00:53:49.559
to. They are non -profits and then one of the
00:53:49.559 --> 00:53:51.780
non -profits that set up sets up with us this
00:53:51.780 --> 00:53:55.090
year at Hero Stock during our event. will be
00:53:55.090 --> 00:53:58.429
put into a bucket, and we will draw a name right
00:53:58.429 --> 00:54:01.510
before the headliners, Blackhawk, comes out and
00:54:01.510 --> 00:54:05.309
takes the stage. You know, there are $30 tickets
00:54:05.309 --> 00:54:07.190
this year, but half of that goes back to your
00:54:07.190 --> 00:54:10.530
community. So, make sure you spread that word,
00:54:10.590 --> 00:54:12.829
make sure that your friends understand what that
00:54:12.829 --> 00:54:16.369
is, and if you're a non -profit, get signed up.
00:54:16.670 --> 00:54:18.610
It's free for you to come out and set up, and
00:54:18.610 --> 00:54:21.389
you have a chance of getting 25 % of our ticket
00:54:21.389 --> 00:54:25.760
sales. You got any questions reach out to me
00:54:25.760 --> 00:54:29.679
later Hero Stock, August 15th at Country Drive
00:54:29.679 --> 00:54:32.300
Golf Course in Ashland. Featuring Blackhawk,
00:54:32.519 --> 00:54:34.860
the Trainer Band, Briella Steiner and the Wicked
00:54:34.860 --> 00:54:37.599
Ones, Shelby Kay and the High Class Hillbillies,
00:54:37.679 --> 00:54:40.780
and more. This is a day dedicated to community
00:54:40.780 --> 00:54:43.900
and honoring heroes. Free entry for military,
00:54:44.460 --> 00:54:47.420
veterans, first responders, and Gold Star families.
00:54:47.659 --> 00:54:50.340
Bring your friends and lawn chairs. See more
00:54:50.340 --> 00:54:53.619
than 75 vendors and enjoy the music. Tickets
00:54:53.619 --> 00:54:59.480
and info at herostock .org. Drexel University,
00:55:00.380 --> 00:55:02.780
a seminal study by Drexel University found that
00:55:02.780 --> 00:55:06.159
just 45 minutes of creative extracurricular activity
00:55:06.159 --> 00:55:09.500
significantly lowers cortisol, the body's primary
00:55:09.500 --> 00:55:13.780
stress hormone, in roughly 75 % of participants.
00:55:14.619 --> 00:55:19.500
And for those 75%, the remaining 25%, their levels
00:55:19.500 --> 00:55:22.320
either stayed the same or slightly increased.
00:55:22.719 --> 00:55:26.039
but that was likely due to being alert and engaged
00:55:26.039 --> 00:55:30.599
in a state of creating. So yeah, 100 % hands
00:55:30.599 --> 00:55:33.440
down, it's the truth. I mean, we, you know, I
00:55:33.440 --> 00:55:35.820
mean, we talk about this on the program often,
00:55:35.820 --> 00:55:38.179
but we don't go into the scientific side of it,
00:55:38.179 --> 00:55:39.780
the studies that took place, even though we've
00:55:39.780 --> 00:55:43.179
had people come on and talk about this, but these
00:55:43.179 --> 00:55:45.219
are real numbers that I think for sure, if you
00:55:45.219 --> 00:55:49.460
don't know anything about these, these types
00:55:49.460 --> 00:55:56.349
of solutions that art and music does. Next week
00:55:56.349 --> 00:55:58.869
when we return we'll explore the next chapter
00:55:58.869 --> 00:56:01.760
of Shrek's Journey. how we found healing through
00:56:01.760 --> 00:56:04.659
art. We'll take a closer look at some of his
00:56:04.659 --> 00:56:07.000
incredible paintings, hear the stories behind
00:56:07.000 --> 00:56:09.880
them, and watch as he creates a painting live
00:56:09.880 --> 00:56:13.380
here in the studio while sharing what goes on
00:56:13.380 --> 00:56:15.719
through his mind during the creative process.
00:56:16.039 --> 00:56:18.579
It's a powerful conversation you don't want to
00:56:18.579 --> 00:56:21.480
miss. I'm Tom Lamont for Matthew Jones. This
00:56:21.480 --> 00:56:23.800
is the roundtable where heroes talk, reminding
00:56:23.800 --> 00:56:27.340
you to keep the conversation going and keep honoring
00:56:27.340 --> 00:56:50.030
our heroes. Good night. Well I can see her head
00:56:50.030 --> 00:56:53.969
poking out the window Counting those posts with
00:56:53.969 --> 00:56:59.309
every mile But she won't look back at me In what
00:56:59.309 --> 00:57:03.889
seems more than a while Well I can see the sunset
00:57:03.889 --> 00:57:09.909
glow Shining through your hair And I just want
00:57:09.909 --> 00:57:15.190
you to know You don't have to go nowhere But
00:57:15.190 --> 00:57:18.769
I keep changing I keep chasing miles, staring
00:57:18.769 --> 00:57:23.610
past the dash for light It's like a father that
00:57:23.610 --> 00:57:28.730
we drive, we close the gate to goodbye And I'm
00:57:28.730 --> 00:57:32.889
here trying all the while, to bring you back
00:57:32.889 --> 00:57:40.449
by my side But I keep chasing miles, and you're
00:57:40.449 --> 00:57:51.840
leaving me behind I keep talking low, filling
00:57:51.840 --> 00:57:57.019
up the words you want And I'm praying for a sign
00:57:57.019 --> 00:58:01.219
from you and I'm scared to say you won't And
00:58:01.219 --> 00:58:04.960
if your heart's already gone, girl, tell me now
00:58:04.960 --> 00:58:09.780
before we roll Cause I can't keep on driving
00:58:09.780 --> 00:58:16.239
if I'm driving you to go But I keep chasing miles,
00:58:16.559 --> 00:58:20.579
staring past the dashboard light It's like the
00:58:20.579 --> 00:58:25.800
farther that we drive The closer you get to goodbye
00:58:25.800 --> 00:58:30.199
And I'm here trying all the while To bring you
00:58:30.199 --> 00:58:37.380
back by my side But I keep chasing miles And
00:58:37.380 --> 00:58:54.090
you're leaving me behind And I wonder if I'm
00:58:54.090 --> 00:59:00.250
losing yours Learning how to drive But I keep
00:59:00.250 --> 00:59:05.429
chasing miles Staring past the dashboard light
00:59:05.429 --> 00:59:10.309
It's like the farther that we drive Until you
00:59:10.309 --> 00:59:15.349
get to goodbye And I'm here trying all the while
00:59:15.349 --> 00:59:22.510
To bring it back by my side I keep chasing miles
00:59:22.510 --> 00:59:31.929
Yeah, I keep chasing miles You're leaving me
00:59:31.929 --> 00:59:32.489
behind