[HELICOPTER]
[YELLING]
[EXPLOSION]
Rodney Ridgeway: As an infantryman,
you're on high alert 24/7.
I can't count how many times I almost died.
You're getting bombed while you're sleeping.
You're getting mortared every night.
Even when you’re asleep,
you're not asleep.
And I still have that to this day.
You come home and it's like,
OK, be normal.
Chill out.
No, there's no chilling out, man.
That's why I'm divorced.
Without my mom, I wouldn't even be here.
Ida Carson: I identify myself
when we go to the VA
as his caregiver first,
slash mom. 22 00:00:58,360 --> 00:01:02, 260 I'm his mother but I'm acting in a different capacity.
In 2012, when Rodney returned
from his third deployment from Iraq,
he was diagnosed with
The issues that he deals with internally,
those are the things that people don't see.
Rodney Ridgeway: I ain’t cried since
2007.
I don't have any tears.
I've seen 11 of my friends commit suicide.
I don't know how many died in combat.
I'm scared every day, but you can't show that,
because I was in a position of leadership.
Adam Bentley: Rodney and I were
deployed together in Kirkuk, Iraq.
As a soldier,
he is someone that you look up to,
someone that you
try to strive to be.
We were in a Humvee on patrol,
just driving down and getting
ready to go to the market.
We stopped and then a suicide bomber came and hit the truck
and blew up.
If I didn't have a good leader like that,
I could have ended up dead.
Since I've been back,
we're always checking on each other,
making sure we're OK,
because I do suffer from some of the
same injuries as Rodney.
Ida Carson: My house is about 75 yards from Rodney's house.
It has given me the opportunity to be here at a moment's notice
when he's ill.
But it's been my goal to make sure that just his basic needs
that he fought for are met,
and that he doesn't have to fight battles
that he's already fought overseas.
We use the refrigerator as a communication tool
to just stay up on point with his appointments.
So as a caregiver,
I took the role on making sure
that his appointments are kept,
made and followed up.
I've got all his medications on my phone.
Hey, sweetie; it's Mom.
I was just returning your phone call.
I keep detailed records
of everything that has to do with
Rodney's care.
I have an office, and half of the file cabinets are Rodney's.
So, this is my caregiver bible.
I keep his test results,
his doctor's requests,
information for his resources.
So, I use this consistently,
on a daily basis.
Rodney Ridgeway: There's days I get up
and I don't want to get out of my f****** bed,
but I have to force myself to,
because I have three girls that are depending on me
to make those appointments
and get myself right.
My mom was the first person
to realize when I came home
that I wasn't me no more.
The happy-go-lucky class clown, I was gone.
Ida Carson: I saw immediately.
I was at the VA,
and I made it a point that whatever it takes,
he is not going to be a statistic.
He would not be the 21
that's killing themselves on a daily basis.
I demanded to speak to somebody,
that they can get my son the care that he needed.
I spoke to a four-star general who took my complaints
and promised me that something would be done.
Lo and behold I had no idea to what degree
things were going to be done.
Not only did I want that for Rodney,
but I want it for all the other veterans that don't have anybody
to speak up for them.
Rodney Ridgeway: It's crazy, like,
she goes to D.C. and fights for vets,
not just me.
And it's like, if you've got somebody like that in your corner,
I can't put it in words...
I love her to death,
with everything in my being.
Ida Carson: I would just tell him,
"Your life is proof that you can go on.
Forty years ago, I gave birth to you,
and you became the man
that I see before me.
I am just grateful to call you my own,
and I love you."