Empowering Mental Health Conversations Raw Resilience

Everyday conversations regarding Mental Health in this show where we talk about these issues that affect everyone and we will also look at veterans and their issues.

https://www.richingram.com/
This is my website, Raw Resilience. Listeners can request me to speak as well as read my blog that has powerful stories and techniques for cultivating resilience.

Retired United States Army Captain Rich Ingram is a keynote speaker and ultramarathon, endurance athlete. Despite losing his arm in combat during his first deployment, he didn't let the Army write his story and challenged policy to become the first amputee to commission as an Army officer, where he served three more combat tours. 

Rich is an inspirational and motivational speaker who performs powerful presentations with a message of perseverance and resilience. 

Listeners will be inspired to cultivate resilience in their lives by hearing the trials and adversity that Rich has overcome, as well as practical techniques to cultivate that resilience. They will find hope in their own journeys. They will own their lives and situations, and learn wins and losses are just part of the process. And whatever it takes, keep moving forward.

In this series we will be exploring all aspects of mental health looking at suicide, PTSD, wellbeing, cancer, bereavement, physical and mental wellbeing, care for the carer, self preservation, relationships and any other factors around the subject.

If you would like to come on the show to highlight and issue or just want us to cover and issue then get in touch, you can join in the conversation every week by watching the show and commenting in the comments box, subscribing to the channel doesn't cost a penny and if you click the bell icon you will get notified when we go live also click the like button as it will also help the channel and please share it with your friends.

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TREASON: Claus von Stauffenberg and the Plot to kill Hitler

In ten episodes, Treason tells the remarkable and true story of Claus von...

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Transcript

Speaker 0 (0s): Welcome to the Tim Heale Podcast. If you have the time, you cannot only listen to the episodes, but you can also watch all the shows and you'll find the links in the description below. thank you.

Boom. I'm in the room. Good afternoon, good morning, good evening. Wherever you are watching from now, you are here because there's nothing on the tele. And I'm here because I can. Now I'm coming to you from the Old Heale Manor and I'm your host Lord Heale.

Now, today we have got a guest on and we are gonna be looking at resilience. Now, you know what this is all about. It's all about mental health, taking the stigma out of it. And yeah, and I'm still looking for guests, so I've got one today. He's a veteran. So without too much further ado, I'll drag him in front and center, sir, rich.

Good afternoon. Or should I say Captain, sir?

Speaker 2 (1m 12s): That's, that's right. Lord Heale. I guess I should be saluting you, huh?

Speaker 0 (1m 19s): Rich, you've got a bit of a story to tell Samya.

Speaker 2 (1m 22s): Little bit. I've had a journey, had had quite the journey.

Speaker 0 (1m 26s): Yeah. And it's quite a journey and mean, we had a, a little tiny chat beforehand and, or, or just one hand actually, but we come onto that.

Speaker 2 (1m 41s): That's right.

Speaker 0 (1m 42s): Now you can get that 'cause he's military and he gets the black humor. So Rich, if you can, if you can give us a few minutes to tell us of a little bit about yourself and a little bit about what happened. And then I'll come in and we'll have a bit of a, a chat and we'll drag out some of the salient points and the, and talk about the resilience that you sort of gone through and, and what you push is amazing. So the platform or the Pride square is yours.

Speaker 2 (2m 16s): Alright, thank you. So I, I was in college when, when nine 11 happened, when the planes hit the World Trade Center. And shortly thereafter I signed up for the military and my unit got orders to deploy to Iraq. So this was in 2005. And, and I truly found my purpose in the military in a combat arms unit. And just to kind of put it clearly, you, you and I were discussing this prior, this was an area known as the Triangle of Death.

So my second day there we were Mortared And. that was the first time that I, I'd seen death and blood that way. And then three months later I'm on a patrol. I'm the rear gunner and a Humvee, and my vehicle strikes a roadside bomb. you know, I had played over how I engaged with the enemy and And I was trained for it. I was ready for the fight. And I was not envisioning it happening that way.

So the roadside bomb hit my vehicle, catapulted the vehicle in the air, and sent me flying through the air. And I remember the only thing I, I I can say to myself was lights out, say a prayer. And when I landed, I, I couldn't believe I was alive. And when I looked up, I saw my driver now in the passenger seat of the Humvee, and he was unconscious. So I moved to go help him. And that's when I felt what I thought was a break in my arm. And when I tried to feel for that break, my hand just hit nothing.

And I looked down and my arm was lying on the ground hanging on by something no bigger than a piece of flesh. So I had to pick it up and run with it. And fortunately, the driver, my driver became conscious and he put a tourniquet on and the medevac chopper came and took me to Baghdad bag And. you know, the, the rest I think we can, we can talk about here shortly, but, you know, I remember waking up on the, on the gurney being wheeled into a hospital room after the surgery.

And I saw my limb wrapped in bandages. And I, I tried not to cry and it, it was, I saw everything that I had identified with in my life crashing down at once. 'cause all I knew was how to be a soldier. I relied on my physical prowess to take me for, you know, a career, spent my life in combat arms and all of that had ended abruptly.

So that's, that's the series of those events.

Speaker 0 (5m 6s): Yeah, that's, I mean that is, that's one way to do it. Not the best way to do it. But I mean, obviously you picked up your arm, but they're not able to save it quite often. They're able to sort of save a limb and, and then stitch it back on and you get so limited juice from it. Was that not the case?

Speaker 2 (5m 31s): Now You know, one of the physicians had to call me 'cause they wanted to use my, my case in a study that they were doing on amputees. So he had to get my permission. I asked him that. I was like, man, you know, could y'all not save my arm? And he, he told me it, it was too mangled. He said that the, the nerves were too severed and So. yeah, they, they couldn't say that.

Speaker 0 (5m 55s): So, so what actually severed the arm off was, was it the, the sort of vehicle landing on you? Or do, do you know what

Speaker 2 (6m 2s): So, so we don't did it. They don't really know the, the driver, the vehicle that was in front of me said he saw the blast. And I mean, it raised the vehicle in the air. And, 'cause I'm a gunner, so I mean, my chest and my arms are out in the vehicle. I in deter it because this is back before we had the mine resistant ambush protected vehicles. This, these are just vees. Yeah. So we don't know it, it could likely be that it, you know, rolled, the vehicle rolled over and the the end result was, was the same.

Speaker 0 (6m 41s): Yeah. So, you ended up in Baghdad with just the one arm. What was actually going through your mind at that sort of time? I mean, you, you said that you, you, your military career was affected the over, but it wasn't, was it

Speaker 2 (6m 60s): So? it? Well, it, it wasn't, but I had no, I had no idea that, that it wasn't. And my entire childhood, you know, I I was like a, just like a star exploding. I had no direction, but I had all this energy with no, no purpose. And that's, that's why this was so impactful to me because I found that purpose in being a soldier. So when I saw my arm, I mean, I saw all, all of that. What am I gonna do now?

I had no idea. And what's what's interesting is when I got the Walter Reed in Washington DC and two, two days later, my mom was waiting for me in the hospital room and she had my fly fishing rod. And, and of course I'm like, what am I gonna do with this fly fishing rod? I have, I have one hand. And were,

Speaker 0 (7m 54s): Were you left-handed or right-handed?

Speaker 2 (7m 56s): I was, I was right-handed. Oh, so,

Speaker 0 (7m 59s): So at least you could cast a thing.

Speaker 2 (8m 3s): Well, You know, so that, that was the, I I could, but I, but I couldn't because I couldn't figure out how to control the line. And then you have to strip line. Yeah, my cousin took me on the front lawn and I'm a, I have my, my limb is in bandages. I'm gonna connect it to all these IV tubes on an IV tree. And, and so he hands me the flower, like, let's try this. And, and I, I mean, I was brought to tears because it was another thing that I had identified with that had been taken away.

And, and Lawrence just said, we're gonna keep at it. So I kept at it. I kept at it and I realized I could use my teeth, the strip line, and I could cast letting the line come out from my two fingers. And that's when I was, you know, I remember looking at my arm like, man, You know this. This is nothing I I can keep moving forward here. And so that's when my mindset really started to shift through that experience.

And my mom had no idea that, that I would have that experience. She just didn't know what else to do. And, and so I'm grateful for that. But that is where my mindset really started to shift into what am I going to do now to,

Speaker 0 (9m 20s): Yeah, it, I I think there's two different mindsets there in there. There's, there's a mindset of my life's over. I I just need to sit and feel pretty on myself. Or there's the other, I can still do this stuff. I can adapt and overcome and I can, I can make it work. So

Speaker 2 (9m 43s): That's exactly right.

Speaker 0 (9m 44s): That's, that's the mindset I guess that you've got into

Speaker 2 (9m 48s): That's exactly right. And. you know, I, I, when I was at the hospital, I, I ran into a, a wounded soldier who in that mortar attack I was just talking about, he was one of the casualties from it. And he was like, oh man, hey, you know, I heard you got injured. I'm sorry, you're gonna love it here. All we do is sit out front, drink beer, take our pills. And it was like, we gave, we gave one of the pills to a squirrel the other day. Oh. I just laid there for three days. And, and I can remember thinking even at a young age, you know, at 21 where beer drinking is, is big deal to you.

I do not want that to be me. And and this was a good guy. He was, he really was. But I think he had not transitioned into the other mindset yet.

Speaker 0 (10m 40s): And, and I guess you, you can sit in that mindset of just letting the world go past or you can go and grab it with the one end and, and adapt to what you can do as opposed to what you can't do So. yeah,

Speaker 2 (10m 59s): Exactly.

Speaker 0 (10m 59s): What what rank were you at when, when this happened then?

Speaker 2 (11m 3s): So I was a, an e four specialist at the time.

Speaker 0 (11m 8s): Okay. So how long did you spend in the hospital and did they fit you with a prosthetic?

Speaker 2 (11m 17s): They did. So I have, I have multiple prosthetics. My time in the hospital was amazing. I, I decided because of this, this fishing experience decided I'm going back to school. I mean, I, I took it and ran with it. And so I asked my doctor, I said, Hey doc, you know, do you think I can get outta here? 'cause July is when I lost my arm. Do you think I can get outta here to be back at, at school in January? And he said, if you do, you'll be the quickest amputee to ever leave Walter Reed. And like y'all are keeping tabs on the, okay, this is a competition.

And, and so I spent every day in the ortho clinic doing all of my procedures, timing myself to make sure I was getting better and really just took advantage of all the resources that they had for us. So I, I did, I left in December, so I think, you know, probably about four months, a little over four months. And I went back

Speaker 0 (12m 14s): Home. Did you have any money on it?

Speaker 2 (12m 17s): Did I have any money?

Speaker 0 (12m 18s): Yeah. Did you have any money on it? Did did you have a bet?

Speaker 2 (12m 22s): Oh, oh yeah. We should have. We should have. I would've gotten outta there in October.

Speaker 0 (12m 27s): So So it would've paid you for your college fees.

Speaker 2 (12m 30s): That's right. That's right. Yeah.

Speaker 0 (12m 34s): So So you managed to get out at Christmas with a few prosthetic arms.

Speaker 2 (12m 42s): That's right. So, or

Speaker 0 (12m 43s): Is it, or is it just the one with adaptable hands and clamps and all that sort of thing?

Speaker 2 (12m 49s): No, so I, I really used the body powered arm, which is mechanical. you know, there's a, there's a, looks like a phy figure eight strap, that residual limb. It goes, goes through and this goes, yeah. Right. And you can open it by put applying pressure with the other straps of your scapula and So it, you know, will hook open. And I, and I do have a myoelectric arm as well, but my residual limb is so small that there's not really that much room to, to make it impactful use for me.

And so I, I love the body power and then I really just use it for cycling, fishing and, and, and things, lifting weights and stuff like that. I don't wear it every, all for day to day stuff.

Speaker 0 (13m 38s): So One question, did you get the Purple Heart?

Speaker 2 (13m 43s): I did, I did get the, get the Purple Heart. So

Speaker 0 (13m 46s): A along with a, along with the, the Rack medal.

Speaker 2 (13m 50s): That's right. Yeah. They gave me, yeah, they gave me that and a license plate for free. Wow. But yeah.

Speaker 0 (13m 59s): So what, what happened after you left the hospital then with your, with your new arms?

Speaker 2 (14m 5s): So I, I was, I was very fortunate while I was in the hospital, I took advantage of some of the nonprofits because all of these individuals were really wanting to help get soldiers, You know back in the fight or back into an active lifestyle. And so I ran the Army, army 10 Miler in Washington DC And that, and I didn't do poorly, but a a guy saw that, you know, I ran it at whatever time he was like, Hey man, you ran pretty well. Do you wanna be on my triathlon team?

And, and, and I really, I remember saying to him, I didn't really know what a triathlon was. I knew that

Speaker 0 (14m 42s): It was three,

Speaker 2 (14m 43s): 'cause I took, I took Latin in fourth grade. But, you know, I told him, I was like, look man, ride riding a bike. This is something you do when you're 12 to your buddy's house. And swimming, you know, like I, I'm gonna swim in circles, but I'm in And. that, that was really, that decision was what catapulted my rehabilitative journey in a positive manner. And what really, because you have to, it is time consuming. Triathlon is time consuming. That's why I still run the ultramarathon now.

So you yeah. You were always doing something that is very challenging with an ambitious target that you're trying to, that you're trying to reach. So, I mean, a lot of these days were two a days and stuff like that. So I started doing that while I was in the hospital. And then when I got back to school, I was fortunate enough to find a great social circle of athletes and we actually started a triathlon club at our university. And And, that was the catalyst for my rehabilitation.

And which subsequently led me to say, Hey, if I'm competing in these events with, with folks with two arms, why can't I go back in the military? And, and so that's what, that's what really set up, set the stage for me to start fighting back. Say, I'm not, I'm not letting you guys write my story. I'm, I'm, I'm going back in. I had a dream of being an officer. I'm gonna, I'm gonna keep going after.

Speaker 0 (16m 14s): So, so what you studying at, at college then?

Speaker 2 (16m 19s): Finance, finances. I was always good with numbers. So, it came, it came, it came easy. And I, I did more military stuff than I did school stuff. So, it worked out for me.

Speaker 0 (16m 34s): So, so the, the triathlons then, so that, that's like obviously three different events. So you, you, you, you start off with a, with a swim,

Speaker 2 (16m 45s): Right?

Speaker 0 (16m 46s): And then, and then a bit of a bike ride and, and, and then a little jog along to finish off, finish it

Speaker 2 (16m 52s): Off with the run.

Speaker 0 (16m 54s): So where, what, what's the ultra then, what's the ultramarathon stuff? That's a hundred milers, is it?

Speaker 2 (17m 2s): Technically it's anything that's over marathon. So anything that's greater than 26.2 miles. I have a a hundred miler coming up in, in August. It's in the place called Leadville in Colorado. And, you know, so that, that takes up a lot of my time. But I, I need it for, that's how I maintain what I call my emotional threshold, my emotional stability. And, and that's how I can continue to, to show up positively and resiliently posture.

So I I, I feel my time training as much as I can.

Speaker 0 (17m 38s): So, so how do you go about training for an ultramarathon that's a hundred miles long? I mean, 'cause 'cause a hundred miles up was, how long is that gonna take you? 36 hours.

Speaker 2 (17m 51s): They cut you off at 30 for this one, so. Oh, right. you know, and, and it depends on your terrain, right? I mean they, some of them are, are, are flat loops. This one is in, so Leadville is known to be the highest populated city in, in America. So I think the city's at, it's either at 10,000 or 11,000 feet. So that's where I'm, you know, I'm going out there three weeks before to acclimatize to the, to the altitude. Yeah. I did a 50 miler out there last

Speaker 0 (18m 21s): Because that, that'll break you. The altitude alone. Get to breathing fairly heavy. Brutal. Do you carry oxygen with you?

Speaker 2 (18m 34s): No. You know, I tried to stay away from the, the canisters, you know, but by going out there last year I went out there two weeks prior and And, I was, I was relatively I didn, didn didn't have any, any issues during the run. So this year I'll do the same thing. It was a 50 miler last year that I had to do to qualify for the hundred miler. But yeah, you know, it's a lot of running, running and, and strength training

Speaker 0 (19m 1s): Run forest run.

Speaker 2 (19m 3s): That's it. Just keep moving forward.

Speaker 0 (19m 6s): Yeah, every race starts with a first step.

Speaker 2 (19m 10s): That's it.

Speaker 0 (19m 12s): So how did you get back into the military? How did they let you back in? Obviously you wouldn't be allowed to go back into a combat role or did they?

Speaker 2 (19m 23s): I did. I did. And what, what's very interesting is, so everything just aligned for me. you know, you call it luck, you call it higher power What? Whatever. But I was requested to be an intern for a state senator in the state of Georgia. And, and so I went to Atlanta and I interned for a guy named John Douglas. And he asked me at some point, he said, what, what are you gonna do after college? I said, well sir, I'd like to go back into the military and, and be an officer.

Next thing I know I'm in Washington, DC with him sitting in front of one of President Bush's generals on his staff. And, and the guy said, look, we we love you. We resubmit your paperwork. And so I, I rejoined ROTC, I started going through all the motions. I didn't find out I was gonna commission as an officer until the day before I graduated and commissioned my buddy who asked me to be on his triathlon team, if you remember, calls me up.

And he said, rich, why didn't you tell me this is what you're doing. I'm aid to camp to the general that has the sign your waiver to get back in. And I, I mean, I get chills even saying it now, like how does that happen? And And, you know, not that he could put the general signature on there, but he could vouch for me and, and everything. Yeah. And I had done well, You know, fortunately

Speaker 0 (20m 53s): Pull you generat in the right direction.

Speaker 2 (20m 56s): Yeah, that's right. And, and fortunately I had not lost because of the triathlon, any my physical prowess. I could still do all the same things. Mean, matter of fact, I held, I held a record for a little bit at Ranger Challenge. I did 134 pushups in two minutes. And, and, and

Speaker 0 (21m 14s): So Bon Buns,

Speaker 2 (21m 16s): You know, I have a prosthetic, so I with a prosthetic that has a little rubber mushroom on it. Yeah. And so I, you know, I'm not doing rocky style, which is one hand, but, but, but you know, it is just, it's that, that, but that's, that's how it ended up happening. So now I went on to be an engineer officer and so my, my first, I guess my first tour as an officer was back in Iraq and I was a combat engineer, platoon leader.

And so we're doing route

Speaker 0 (21m 48s): Did did you go through West Point then?

Speaker 2 (21m 52s): I didn't. So I went to the University of North Georgia, which is a lot of people never heard of it, but it's actually one of six senior military colleges in the country. And it's the largest army ROTC program in the United States. so

Speaker 0 (22m 5s): That

Speaker 2 (22m 5s): Right. But we also, we also have civilians as well. So we're kind of like a, you know

Speaker 0 (22m 10s): Yeah. Just a

Speaker 2 (22m 12s): Lot,

Speaker 0 (22m 12s): Lot of us. So, so So you, you've, you've passed out, you've got commissioned as a captain or a lieutenant

Speaker 2 (22m 19s): Comm commissioned as a second lieutenant.

Speaker 0 (22m 21s): Yeah, as a combat engineer. Now, I guess as, as an officer, my experience with officers, they don't actually get their hands dirty, but they direct the traffic of, what's that to be done So, you didn't have to get sort of down and dirty with a, with a shovel and, and, and dig trenches and all that for the lads. But you, you, you got people to do it for you.

Speaker 2 (22m 45s): Well, it, it depended. It, it depends, you know, I mean that's just like any leadership role. Yeah. I think there's a time and a place where you do need to get your hands dirty and you need to motivate your people and, and they need to know if you're down there with 'em, Hey, this is important. So when you have something that's impactful that you need to drive and you need to get down there and go with them. I will say in my fourth deployment, so my third as an officer, I was a captain in Afghanistan and I ended up, anytime instead You know when you come up on a a, you know, whether it's a cash or weapons or an IED, you're supposed to wait for the, the ordinance guys to come out there and do whatever.

They, man, these guys would take four hours and stuff. So I'm done with this. Not, this is too much time. So I started, I started laying explosives on it and just blowing it up and they, I mean, they got pretty ticked off because they want to take it back and analyze it and all this stuff. But one of the infantry,

Speaker 0 (23m 40s): I mean that, that kind of stuff is, is fairly important because to get the intelligence on it, it helps sort of save lives really. So.

Speaker 2 (23m 50s): Yeah. And, and, and, and I, and I agree. Not saying it was the right thing to do, but You know.

Speaker 0 (23m 56s): Yeah. But they should be a bit quicker to get it out, you know, mean they, they grew upon themselves as far as I can see. I mean, the up guys, well they ended, if they ain't quick enough, then the longer that you stay in one place on the ground, it's pretty dodgy. Especially if we, we were running, if you're in hostile area and they've been planting stuff anyway.

Speaker 2 (24m 18s): Oh right. Yeah, exactly. I mean, but we finally got a, a unit, the brigade commander attached an EOD detachment to us. so that, that ended up being the end of my fun. But it's what it's, I was there to be an engine, you know, I was there to build the road and help the Afghans build the road. So.

Speaker 0 (24m 42s): Yeah.

Speaker 2 (24m 42s): So. it was a good time.

Speaker 0 (24m 46s): So you a, after your first one where you got to lost your arm, you did three further deployments then.

Speaker 2 (24m 54s): That's right. So two in Iraq and then my last one in Afghanistan.

Speaker 0 (24m 60s): Hmm. How was Afghanistan?

Speaker 2 (25m 4s): Loved it, loved it. you know, I can't remember the poet's name, but, but he said that it's in Northern Afghanistan's, the most beautiful place that he's ever been. And the, the people, the soldiers actually cared when we trained them. They wanted to do the right thing. And they had some really squared away guys. They really did. Yeah. And, you know, I, I feel bad for the people 'cause they have two choices. You either go work for the government or you go work for the Taliban.

That's it. And So, you

Speaker 0 (25m 39s): Don't too much choice there.

Speaker 2 (25m 41s): You don't. And, and so if all you've ever known is an area is the Taliban, who, who by the way, you know, they, they pr they might be providing food or money and, and you have never had any kind of external presence, where do you think they're gonna go? So, you know, there's a lot of, you know, externalities there that, that sometimes are overlooked. And we just say, oh, terrorists, well, You know you do a deeper dive into that.

Speaker 0 (26m 8s): It's, it's not as black and white as people think. I mean, I I, right. I did three tours in a, in Afghanistan and loved them. I loved every one of them. I, I I really enjoyed the country. I know it's difficult, you know, mean it's, it is a harsh environment and I got to know an awful lot of, of the people. And I was, that's my main role is working with people in ops, right. Is understanding their mentality. Trying to find ways of pretty much hearts and minds.

So. you have to understand the people to be able to have an influence on their attitude and behavior and yeah. I've got a lot of time for Afghans. Yes,

Speaker 2 (26m 48s): Yes. So, you understand it more than anyone. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Say this is a great place. I miss it. Honestly,

Speaker 0 (26m 57s): You know, I mean, I really feel sorry for the girls there. I mean they, they had 20 years of us there, fair amount of stability, Albert to go to school and all the rest of it. And, and then we just left them in the lurch. I felt really, really bad about that. And it, it, it is the goals that, that really suffer out there.

Speaker 2 (27m 18s): They do. No, you know, they can't be educated. They,

Speaker 0 (27m 21s): Yeah, I mean that's, that's, I mean that's, that's the problem that they've got now is that lots and lots of these girls have had an education and I mean you, you, you, you see there, there were some, it's gone off the news now, but there were some rebelling against it and ditching the, the birka and all the rest of it. And I think that didn't end well for him. Certainly from what I saw.

Yeah. It didn't end well.

Speaker 2 (27m 54s): I mean it

Speaker 0 (27m 55s): Different world. I mean, there's nothing we can do about it. And that's, that's, that's the real rub of it. We can't do anything about it now. It's too late. Yeah. So bit more then So, you, you're a captain. You, you've done your, your your fourth tour.

Speaker 2 (28m 12s): That's right.

Speaker 0 (28m 14s): What did you do when you got back? Are you still in the military?

Speaker 2 (28m 19s): So I'm not, I got out in, in 2013. So I, I tore my hamstring and I finally said, okay, I, I have a messed up leg, a messed up arm. And I'm not even 30 years old. I'm, I'm done. And, and so So, yeah, I got out after that last deployment. It, it was really difficult though. Very, very tough. I did not transition well at all. I, I came from having complete autonomy on a battlefield And, you know, you know how it is.

You, you come home and I mean, I could have blown, I could have put C four or anything wherever I wanted, you know, if someone got killed, just animal, animal shovel. And, and coming back home to the states was really no transition. It was, it was hard on there.

Speaker 0 (29m 13s): Did, did you not have a re resettlement package that you go through? I mean, where, where we leave the bit, it's military. Once you've done, I think you have to do over four years, you get what you call a transition package, re resettlement package. And you are entitled to a few bits and pieces to try and ease your back into civilian life.

Speaker 2 (29m 38s): Did they do that for you? For, for us, after each deployment, you're supposed to go through, I, I forgot what they called it, but you're supposed to go through a

Speaker 0 (29m 49s): Transition,

Speaker 2 (29m 49s): Compression transition period. Right, exactly. And to integrate back in solely. And I didn't have that. And, and whether it would've worked or not, I don't know. But, but I was sent back a little bit early to go to an education course. And, and that's why I I, I was in fifth gear now I walk in and there, there's a female in tennis shoes and her uniform and, and we didn't have females. And so I'm just saying, oh my gosh, what did I get myself into? And, and it it, it was just, you know, it wasn't, it's not like it's the female's fault.

She hurt her ankle or something like that. But it's just, I was in fifth gear. I had certain expectations of everything continuing at a hundred miles an hour. That's not the reality. Which I soon learned. So, I mean, I was sent to anger management courses by the Commander And, you know, I mean, it it takes its toll.

Speaker 0 (30m 46s): Yeah, it does So it bring us a bit more up to date. Then So, you, you So you got through all of that. You retired from the military, you, your transition and your decompression was a bit lacking, shall we say. And so, so where did that take you? I mean, you, you, you're still obviously resilient. You, you can, you, you've got a great mindset.

Speaker 2 (31m 16s): So I, I think what, there were some turning points for me still, it still took me, I'd say at least five more years after I got out the second time to, to really figure things out. 'cause when I got out, I, I had a great job in a Fortune 500 company corporation. And I put everything I had into it, but I was still just kinda lost. I didn't know what, what to do. And, and what really put me back into or made me realize what I was lacking was my kids and my family when I started a family.

'cause I was kind of falling back into these habits. 'cause now I had a, I had a, in the injured leg that, my gosh, now, like I, I was really scared to get back into running and, but my, my youngest daughter called the couch my bed several, probably about four years ago. And, and I said, this is it. And, and like the, the flip of a switch I got back on the horse. And, and so, you know, that's, that's where I'm at now, not too long ago.

So I, after the fortune, after I was working for the corporation and started my family, my wife's like, you're working too much for a flat salary. You, you have to, you gotta do something So, you can make a little more money. So I started an insurance agency selling just regular property casualty home auto flood insurance. And realized after five years of that, that I'd rather cut off my right hand and continue doing that. you know, So, you coming from combat arms to insurance, it just, yeah, it did something clicking.

So I sold it profit pro profitably. Oh my gosh. I mean, you know, but I sold it at a profit, I learned a lot of great things. And then I followed my passion of motivating, motivating other people. Took, you know, took courses on professional speaking classes, acting classes to get the, the message to make it more impactful. And, and so that's really, that's where I'm at now. I love, I truly believe that there is a certain framework where everyone, everyone just needs battle drills to get through the, these, these, I call 'em fits.

I mean, you call 'em whatever you want. I hate labeling things, but you know, anxiety strikes us all. We think we're not cut out for this or what are we doing? We bitten off more than we can chew. And, and I have a battle drill that, that I execute to try and I mean, it, it works for me. That helps me get out of that. And so those are the little things that I try and do. And in the, the ultra running now, it's just another way that, that I resiliently posture myself to remember who I am and why I'm here.

And so You know that's, that's, that's where I'm at now. I love motivating people and you know, I I love the fitness aspect because the fitness aspect alone motivates, motivates. People are like, oh man, that guy hasn't getting up.

Speaker 0 (34m 28s): You get, you get them endorphins kicking in and, and and can't leave it alone.

Speaker 2 (34m 34s): Yeah. And you got, you gotta have it. It's the best fix you can get. It's free.

Speaker 0 (34m 38s): So, so this, this speaking malarkey then, is it, is it sort again up on a stage to a, to a big audience? Or is it sort of on, on a one-to-one basis? And I mean, if you're doing it in a big auditorium to, to give a motivational speech, do you get nervous beforehand? Do you have a routine to go through? Do you imagine everybody naked? What's, what's,

Speaker 2 (35m 7s): What's your process? I don't, 'cause not not, I don't wanna see everyone naked. No, but, but I do. But yeah, I, I I I get nervous. And, and so for me, affirmations always work, honestly, like some quick physical activity just to get, because you know, our, our our anxiety can be such a benefit to us. And, and we can use that to really catapult.

But the biggest thing is what I have found, you gotta put in the work and be prepared. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter whether you're getting on the, on the stage or you, you have a, you're a surgeon, you have a case, whatever it is, you're gonna be nervous no matter what, because there's a lot at stake when you're talking to a lot of people. There's a lot at stake because if you botch it, word's gonna get out. Oh my gosh, that guy was horrible. But at the end of the day, if you put in the work and you've prepared, and then you have to know, you have to have the mindset of I have a product that is providing value and there will be someone that gets something out of this that can transition their life or continue to lead a better life.

And so that's, that's, that's how I position my mind when I'm going out there, is to try and be a servant, if that makes sense.

Speaker 0 (36m 36s): Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Forearmed is for or forewarned is forearmed.

Speaker 2 (36m 42s): Right, exactly.

Speaker 0 (36m 44s): And it's having a passion for, for your subject. There's nothing worse than than sitting through somebody that doesn't want to be there and they're trying to get something across that they're not interested in.

Speaker 2 (36m 59s): Right. You can tell. Yeah. You can tell and,

Speaker 0 (37m 3s): And, but you get somebody passionate about what, what they're talking about and, and And that you just captivated.

Speaker 2 (37m 11s): Right. And And, you know, it, what's what's funny is after I lost my arm, I started and got back to college. I, I was asked to speak at several functions and then I was asked to, to b on, I can't remember what mc of a parade and, and all these different things. And I finally said, I'm going back in the military, I don't, I don't want this limelight anymore. And the failure there was that I could have done both. The failure was that no one would ever remember my name, but they remember how I made them feel.

And so looking back on that, in hindsight, it it was, it was selfish because there, there were people that were getting something out of that message, And that I took away. And so I've come back around full circle say, Hey, you know what, there is a message here and people, people can get something out of it. And, and I hope that this can impact them and, and jump on the resilience train.

Speaker 0 (38m 12s): So how does somebody get a hold of you to come and give 'em a chat?

Speaker 2 (38m 18s): So my website is rich ingram.com. That's, that's the best way. There's a contact form and you can check me out. you know, you'll, there's a picture of me running, but you'll see some of the speaking programs that I offer and So. yeah. And I, I have a blog where I try and some of the points that we've discussed, I try to outline what, what some of my tools are for Yeah. Fighting some of these, if we wanna call it mental health issues, like when the anxiety hits us and or we're, we're feeling like we're not cut out for this. 

And so that, I think those are good resources as, as well if, if anyone, anyone 

Speaker 0 (38m 56s): Wants to check that out, well I'll, I'll pull that, put all that down in the description. So if there's anybody out there that would like to, to use Rich and get him to come and give you a, a talk, then I'm sure he won't mind you getting in touch. 

Speaker 2 (39m 13s): Not at all. 

Speaker 0 (39m 15s): Well, rich, I found that fascinating and I mean the resilience, I mean I've known that quite a few guys that have lost limbs. I spent eight years as a welfare officer in London and I saw lots of guys coming back injured. So yeah, that mindset that these guys get into so that there's a just, there's only two mindsets. One is to give up and the other is to, to getting amongst it and get on with it and yeah, that resilience is, is key to success, I believe. 

Speaker 2 (39m 48s): That's right. Absolutely. 

Speaker 0 (39m 52s): Well, rich, thank you so much. 

Speaker 2 (39m 55s): Thank you Lord Heale. It's been a, a pleasure and an honor to, to get to have a conversation with you. Thanks for having me on. 

Speaker 0 (40m 2s): You are welcome. Wow, that is truly inspirational. If you haven't taken any inspiration from that, I dunno what you've been doing and did you fall asleep? Anyway, that's another terrific guy that we've had a chat with another military veteran and if you want to get in touch with him, the details are down in the description. So until next week, when hopefully I'll have another guest on, if you wanna come on as a guest, just get in touch. 

So until then, TTFN Tatar for now. 

Welcome to the Tim Heale podcast. If you have the time, you can not only listen to the episodes, but you can also watch all the shows and you'll find the links in the description below. thank you.