- Who made that tripod?
- Oh, nice.
Yeah, we use their stuff in the army.
They make good stuff.
- Uh, sniping, and long range observation.
You set your sniper rifle on top of it,
get a good, steady shot.
(light electronic music)
- Yeah.
- It was a video about my time in Afghanistan,
my time during the war and how it was to kill someone.
If they mean to do harm to myself or my family,
I'll do anything I can to prevent them from doing it.
If it means taking their life, fuck 'em.
They've chosen their path.
- No, not in the slightest.
I know you personally.
You guys ran the edits by me multiple times.
I said what I said and I meant it.
Nothing I said during that interview was a lie.
And I just watched my round go right in
and just nail him right in his feet.
It was just, guts.
It was pretty rad.
It's hard to stomach that for some people.
It's hard to swallow it.
But, the truth is the truth.
What do you want?
- Yeah, there definitely were veterans that posted.
And the one I saw that stood out the most
was a veteran who said my opinion,
what I had said in the video,
does not reflect all veterans.
Kid was absolutely right.
Actually, what I said really doesn't
reflect how I think all the time.
There is nothing more manly than
watching helicopters fly overhead
as you shoot a bunch of dudes.
You know, as you're in a fuckin' gun fight.
Or shooting a goddamn missile at a person.
That's awesome.
There were definitely some veterans who were like,
"Well, could you have been less intense?
"Could you have been..."
No, I'm not going to change the truth.
I had a rad fuckin' time.
I miss every goddamn second of it.
The war was awesome.
It was so primal and deep almost.
They didn't serve, they weren't there.
They weren't running through minefields,
picking up kids.
They weren't there pulling their buddies,
19 year olds behind cover
while they're bleeding to death.
So what the fuck do they know?
Fuck 'em.
If there was something I would like to
rephrase from the first video.
I'm not a good Jew.
Judaism is one of those religions where
killing wasn't a bad thing.
It's just,
they look at it at a realistic standpoint.
We're not a bunch of murderers.
I don't represent Judaism properly.
I don't believe in God.
I've seen too much bullshit in Afghanistan
to believe there's a higher power watching over me
while a bunch of kids step on landmines.
What I meant to say was,
when backed into a corner,
we're good at fighting.
But the rest was all true.
Shooting people was fun,
because they weren't good people.
In war, you have to kinda weigh
someone else's life versus yours or your buddy's,
and live with that feeling that you've killed someone
because you have to go home yourself.
- Yeah,
I think the mindset I had
during the time of the first interview
has lessened a little bit.
Now it's time to take the next step forward.
I think every veteran should talk.
We're not wounded ducks.
Fuckin' soldiers.
After the video got released,
I remember meeting up with vets and be like,
"Hey, you're that guy from that video."
I remember this one kid very specifically,
was a marine.
He was like,
"Yeah, that helped me,
"that just helped me and my boys,
"all my friends in the platoon shared the video.
"We all love it.
"It helps us.
"They're more likely to talk about it now.
"To seek help if they need it.
"To put the bottle down.
"To put the pills down."
- Yeah, definitely.
When I came back, it was real hard.
My young life was, from 18 to 24,
was go and kill and die and kill.
So we come back to a society that's like,
"Meh, maybe you're not quite right in the head."
Yeah, maybe you're right.
- Oh, without question.
When I first got back,
motorcycles that would backfire,
I'd hit the ground.
You'd see trash in the road,
swerve out of the way real quick.
A lot of drug use.
'Cause you want to feel back on that high again.
I've never felt a better drug in my entire life
than the adrenaline I felt during combat.
It felt like ancestors were inside me, you know.
Like you're doing something that mankind's
been doing ever since we've had mankind.
- After the first interview I did,
I started taking school a lot more seriously.
I'm actually just about to get my minor in Psychology.
The game plan is to go in to get
my Bachelor's in that.
Might go into grad school, get my PhD,
and help veterans like myself transition properly.
And prevent more suicides.
I've had friends die since the first interview.
I've had friends die.
And I don't want that to happen again.
We shouldn't be dying out here.
- Therapy isn't...
Yeah, it is.
The reason why therapy is taboo
is a lot of us guys are,
when we get out, we're in for treatment.
We chose the most dangerous job you can do,
so the last thing any of us need is
to go talk to some shrink.
But in actuality, that's not how this works.
You can't, we can't be some stubborn lone wolf
and still lead a productive life.
Everyone needs help once in a while.
That's why people like me are important.
'Cause we were infantry, we were there.
We're the ones that we can talk to.
So, it's important for vets to go out
and talk to someone,
'cause it's statistically shown
to make you get better.
- Yeah, no, I definitely think there's (mumbles)
Mission 22, is a real good one.
Preventing veteran suicide.
We have one of the best support chains on planet Earth.
If you think you're alone,
it's 'cause you're making yourself be alone.
Your boys are out there.