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Global Voice Magazine
B R IA N F L E M I N G M Y PAT H T O M Y P U R P O S E T H E F O L L O W I N G I S A N I N T E R I E W T R A N S C R I P T O F B R IA N F L E M I N G A N D D E N I S E J O Y T H O M P S O N
Denise: Brian, thank you for being available to speak to me; for saying yes to being p a r t o f t h e No v e m b e r i s s u e o f G l o b a l Vo i c e M a g a z i n e . I h a d mentioned I had met you at a conference where you were s p e a k i n g , i n 2 0 1 5 o r 2 0 1 4 . I ’v e been following you since that time. B eing a veteran mys elf, knowing your stor y and seeing what you are doing with your life, with what has happened to you, and how much you are able to share of yourself with others to help them put difficult situations into perspective and not let something that has happened in our life totally derail us or stop us from moving for ward.
Denise: I would like you to talk a little bit about your s t o r y. It s e e m s a s i f t h e p i v o t a l moment in your life was what happened to you in Afghanistan and the injuries that you suffered during one of your missions. Brian: Sure. I started with t h e U S A r m y ’s Te n t h Mo u n t a i n Division in Afghanistan back in 2006 and two vehicles that were blown out and totally destroyed. The first one was o n Ap r i l 1 8 t h , a r r i v e d t h e r e and it was a double stack of anti-tank mines buried in the r o a d . My v e h i c l e r a n i t o v e r, s et it on f ire and two of my guys were injured. They both returned to duty a month later and I walked away completely
physically unharmed f rom that explosion. B r i a n : It a l s o t u r n s o u t t w o days later we got back to our for ward operating base in Kabul province and I had an email f rom my mother waiting for me and she had sent it the day we returned. She basically just said, Brian, this might sound odd, but a couple of days ago I had this really strange, intense feeling to pray for your protection. I thought that was kinda cool because we had just gotten blown up two d a y s a g o. A n d , a l l r i g h t , G o d l i s t e n s . Yo u k n o w, I l e a r n e d God tells women ever ything. I h a v e b e e n m a r r i e d 1 3 y e a r s . It comes to mom and for my wife, Ja m i e . I k n o w, I t r y a n d s t a y
