1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,640 All across America and around the world, this is Veterans Radio. 2 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:15,920 This is Veterans Radio. 3 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:17,840 Welcome to Veterans Radio. 4 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:20,560 I am Jim Fossone. 5 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:22,880 I'm the officer of the deck today. 6 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:24,720 We've got some great programs for you. 7 00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:27,760 I think you'll find very interesting. 8 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:34,480 We always want to remind you you can find more about Veterans Radio at its Facebook site 9 00:00:34,480 --> 00:00:37,280 or at the web. 10 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:42,720 VeteransRadio.org is our new URL, VeteransRadio.org. 11 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:48,240 Where we're on the web 24-7, you can find a lot of our podcasts there as well. 12 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:55,520 We post new ones every Tuesday, so you can get a new story, a new interview, something 13 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:59,280 you didn't know before by going to VeteransRadio.org. 14 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:04,560 And before we get started, we want to thank our sponsors. 15 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:13,840 First up, we want to thank National Veteran Business Development Council, NVBDC.org. 16 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:19,520 It was established to certify both service disabled and veteran owned businesses. 17 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:26,080 You'll find out how they can help your business by going to NVBDC.org. 18 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:29,600 We want to thank Legal Help for Veterans. 19 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:35,080 Legal Help for Veterans fights for veterans disability rights all across the nation. 20 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:47,200 You can reach them at 800-693-4800 or on the web at LegalHelpForVeterans.com. 21 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:54,040 We want to welcome to VeteransRadio today Travis Harmon, Staff Sergeant in the Army 22 00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:59,960 National Guard, wrote an interesting story, a remote outpost fighting with the U.S. Army 23 00:01:59,960 --> 00:02:01,600 in Afghanistan. 24 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:06,320 But it's more than just his story, it's also a bit of his father's story. 25 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:10,000 Travis, welcome to VeteransRadio. 26 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:11,000 Thank you for having me. 27 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:17,120 Well, this is a bit of an unusual story and a number of fronts. 28 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:21,480 You weren't the prototypical recruit the Army was looking for. 29 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:26,560 I think you're a self-described young skater punk at the time. 30 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:33,960 So tell us a little bit about your background, where you grew up in Pennsylvania and this 31 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:37,200 decision about joining the Army. 32 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:44,480 Okay, I grew up in Central Pennsylvania around Williamsport, known for the Little League 33 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:46,840 World Series. 34 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:54,120 So there's a lot of farming communities around Williamsport and I grew up from one in Hughesville. 35 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:57,800 Basically, 9-11 happened. 36 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:04,040 My father had joined in the 80s and got out when I was born. 37 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:07,880 So I always had a family tradition of military service. 38 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:12,120 My grandfather was in, a few of my uncles were in. 39 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:17,800 My older brother joined the Air Force when I was around 10. 40 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:23,720 So I had a lot of family influence in joining and once 9-11 happened, I was only in eighth 41 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:31,240 grade, but I hoped that one day I would be able to go and fight and my dream came true. 42 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:36,360 Well it was not only yours, but talk to us about your relationship with your father, 43 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:44,000 Dean, and how sort of all those family influences led you to say, hey, I'm going to enlist. 44 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:45,240 Right. 45 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:55,080 So my father joined the Marines in the 80s and like I said, he ETF'd out after I was 46 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:56,640 born. 47 00:03:56,640 --> 00:04:02,160 He joined the Army NAFTA, PA Army National Guard in the early 90s while I was a little 48 00:04:02,160 --> 00:04:03,160 kid. 49 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:09,120 So I grew up seeing this military service and we would watch war movies together and 50 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:13,320 that made it even more exciting for me. 51 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:18,640 So as time grew on, I kind of lost interest in it, but my dad would talk to me at random 52 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:19,640 about it. 53 00:04:19,640 --> 00:04:25,320 Then once 9-11 happened, he enlisted in the PA National Guard again. 54 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:31,360 And I saw that as my opportunity to kind of, we never had a really close relationship while 55 00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:37,720 I was growing up, so that was kind of my way of earning his acceptance by enlisting with 56 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:40,040 him. 57 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:45,040 And you then enlisted in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. 58 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:46,040 Correct. 59 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:50,660 It's kind of, that's a whole different process after 9-11. 60 00:04:50,660 --> 00:04:57,000 People who are familiar with the Guard pre 9-11, you know, it's a different training 61 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:00,600 tempo, it's a different op tempo. 62 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:07,480 As you got in, this wasn't the National Guard that your dad was in in the 90s. 63 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:13,760 Did he talk to you about, hey, this is a whole different op tempo here? 64 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:14,760 Right. 65 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:21,520 Yeah, so I initially wanted to go active duty Army, and he talked to me and was like, you 66 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:25,600 know, maybe you should go PA Guard for a little bit. 67 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:27,720 It's one weekend a month, two weeks in the summer. 68 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:29,480 If you like it, you could go active duty. 69 00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:34,000 If you don't, then you're stuck with your one weekend a month, two weeks in the summer. 70 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,200 But like you said, the op tempo was completely different. 71 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:45,680 My unit had not, they had deployed to Germany in, I believe it was 04, and then the PA Army 72 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:51,280 Guard 2nd Brigade deployed to Ramadi, Iraq in 06, and my father went with them. 73 00:05:51,280 --> 00:05:55,040 And a lot of the guys from my unit went with them as well. 74 00:05:55,040 --> 00:06:01,800 So they got back and while I was in basic training and advanced training, and once 75 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:07,760 I got home, within a week's time, I got orders to go to Afghanistan. 76 00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:13,960 So you did some of your training at Fort Benning and Fort Gordon in Georgia, a whole 77 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:18,400 lot different than Hughesville, Pennsylvania, wasn't it? 78 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:19,400 Oh, absolutely. 79 00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:23,480 I, I would prior to that, I'd never flown. 80 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:27,920 I'd only left the state once to go to New Jersey to the beach. 81 00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:32,680 So it was definitely an experience for me. 82 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:40,000 And was this, did you feel like this is part of what my dad wanted me to experience, maybe 83 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:42,320 wanted me to grow up a bit? 84 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:46,640 Because I'm sure everybody who goes in goes through this and goes, I'm not the same kid 85 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:48,560 I was a year ago. 86 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:49,560 Right. 87 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:50,560 Yeah. 88 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:55,680 So like any son and father, he was trying to give me advice, you know, pull your head 89 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:58,040 out of your butt. 90 00:06:58,040 --> 00:06:59,680 We've all got that one. 91 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:00,680 We've all got that one. 92 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:01,680 Yeah. 93 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:02,680 Or given it. 94 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:03,680 Yeah. 95 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:10,160 So once I did that, you know, he talked to me about joining and I decided it was probably 96 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:19,120 for the best because I had no, you know, aspirations or anything I wanted to do. 97 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:20,720 So yeah, he talked me into it. 98 00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:27,320 And then at the time, band of brothers had come out on HBO and my grandfather fought 99 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:28,520 in World War II. 100 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:31,800 So I was very interested in that. 101 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:35,280 And I watched that and that was kind of my deciding factor of joining. 102 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:39,320 I, you know, I said, I want to have a band of brothers like that. 103 00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:40,680 I want to go into combat. 104 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:42,840 I want to serve my country. 105 00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:49,080 Well, as you say, you go through your training and then, you know, like a week later, you 106 00:07:49,080 --> 00:07:51,640 get orders to go to Afghanistan. 107 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:58,080 How did that impact you, the family, your dad, Dean? 108 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:03,440 So my parents had divorced when I was 10. 109 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:10,840 But as far as my grandmother, his mother and that side of the family, they were very worried 110 00:08:10,840 --> 00:08:11,840 for both of us. 111 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:16,960 They were happy that he was going with me because he also received orders to deploy. 112 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:19,000 We were in the same battalion. 113 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:20,240 He was in Alpha Company. 114 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:26,840 I was in the headquarters element of the Hunter and Third Armour. 115 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:32,440 And yeah, so the family was worried, but at the same time, my mom came to me and said, 116 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:34,960 I'm glad he's going with you. 117 00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:41,680 It's really an unusual situation where one deploys, even with a family member, a brother 118 00:08:41,680 --> 00:08:47,360 or a sister, a mother or a father, really unusual. 119 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:52,200 Did you know anybody else who was doing that type of deployment? 120 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:58,440 Not so much parent-child relationships, but brother, brother, brother, sister, sister, 121 00:08:58,440 --> 00:09:03,000 sister, you know, relationship, sibling relationships. 122 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:04,000 That was more common. 123 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:11,160 I think we came across one other father-son duo that was over there at the same time we 124 00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:12,160 were. 125 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:17,440 So this is what, 2009 when you were in Afghanistan? 126 00:09:17,440 --> 00:09:18,440 2008. 127 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:21,440 2008. 128 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:28,840 Tell us about the conditions of fighting in Afghanistan at that point. 129 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:33,440 So when I first got there, it wasn't too bad. 130 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:39,120 Things were pretty light as far as attacks. 131 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:44,880 Once the old unit ripped out of the outpost we were on, it progressively got worse and 132 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:45,880 worse. 133 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:52,000 The month of April, we were hit pretty much every day, whether it be mortars, attacks, 134 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:55,720 you know, IEDs, what have you. 135 00:09:55,720 --> 00:10:01,920 Yeah, so, and the interesting part was my father was stationed at Bagram and he could 136 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:08,600 go into the talk and see what was going on at my outpost while I was getting attacked. 137 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:10,680 What was happening at the time? 138 00:10:10,680 --> 00:10:12,320 So let's expand on that. 139 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:18,240 And the title of the book is Remote Outpost, Fighting with the US Army in Afghanistan. 140 00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:20,680 And we're talking to Travis Arman. 141 00:10:20,680 --> 00:10:27,480 Travis, explain to us the outpost you were at and give our veteran radio listeners a 142 00:10:27,480 --> 00:10:30,520 little bit of insight of what that was about. 143 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:31,520 Okay. 144 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:40,560 So the outpost was called Combat Outpost Nigel and it was in the, I believe it was at the 145 00:10:40,560 --> 00:10:42,040 top of the Alashang Valley. 146 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:48,760 It was at the top or the bottom where the Alashang and Alangar valleys met. 147 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:55,680 We were put there to kind of stop Taliban traffic coming back and forth through Mederlam. 148 00:10:55,680 --> 00:11:01,800 Because Fah Mederlam was our main base that we operate out of, but 90% of the time we 149 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:04,880 were at the outpost. 150 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:13,600 So generally we would see combat while deployed on the outpost, not so much outside the wire. 151 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:18,480 It became, it started to become pretty heavy where we would get fire outside the wire, 152 00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:22,320 but the majority of it was they were trying to overrun us. 153 00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:26,680 And talk about, again, there are a lot of people who are listening, Travis, who don't 154 00:11:26,680 --> 00:11:30,760 understand what these outposts were in Afghanistan. 155 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:32,880 This is not a big formal base. 156 00:11:32,880 --> 00:11:33,880 There's not a lot of people. 157 00:11:33,880 --> 00:11:41,160 And give us some sense of the size and the protection that is available in these remote 158 00:11:41,160 --> 00:11:42,160 outposts. 159 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:43,160 Okay. 160 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:47,920 So we had one guard tower initially. 161 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:54,960 It was called Punisher Base or Punisher Tower and it oversaw a village that sat right across 162 00:11:54,960 --> 00:11:56,960 the road from us. 163 00:11:56,960 --> 00:11:59,680 There was a road and then a little bit of a creek. 164 00:11:59,680 --> 00:12:01,560 And across that was the village. 165 00:12:01,560 --> 00:12:02,880 I can't remember the name of it. 166 00:12:02,880 --> 00:12:05,880 I'll top my head. 167 00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:11,760 But yeah, so the outpost itself was encircled with three rows of Constantine wire and then 168 00:12:11,760 --> 00:12:15,320 claymore mines and trip flayers. 169 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:21,280 There were some Hesco barriers that, you know, the barriers filled with rocks and dirt to 170 00:12:21,280 --> 00:12:24,120 try and stop bullets and shrapnel. 171 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:29,040 But we had very limited sources up on the outposts. 172 00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:37,320 In terms of manpower, we had a platoon of about 20 guys ourselves. 173 00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:42,560 And then the Afghan army had about 20 soldiers as well. 174 00:12:42,560 --> 00:12:49,000 I mean, this time when you're in this rotation, that platoon is made up of all Pennsylvania 175 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:51,240 National Guard members? 176 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:52,240 Yes. 177 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:57,840 Now, the unique part about our platoon, we were an infantry platoon. 178 00:12:57,840 --> 00:13:07,440 I joined as a radio operator and I was assigned to this infantry platoon as their RTO. 179 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:11,880 But the unique thing about our platoon was it was a thrown together platoon. 180 00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:18,040 So we were infantry on paper, but realistically our jobs were, you know, we had cooks, we 181 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:24,320 had mechanics, we had artillery guys and a handful of infantry guys. 182 00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:29,600 But the majority of us were from different, you know, occupational specialties. 183 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:36,000 And that was fairly common, I think, as the war wore on and they kept kind of having to 184 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:39,040 put units together to man up. 185 00:13:39,040 --> 00:13:45,280 And so these weren't guys that you necessarily drilled with on a regular basis. 186 00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:47,160 Right. 187 00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:53,480 I would say only about two of them were from my actual unit that I drilled with. 188 00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:56,080 The rest were from throughout the state. 189 00:13:56,080 --> 00:14:02,000 So now you find yourself in Afghanistan at this remote outpost. 190 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:10,160 What's going on through your mind between that image that you had prior to joining up 191 00:14:10,160 --> 00:14:14,920 and the reality that you're now facing? 192 00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:21,640 So it didn't really hit me until about the first weekend and I was at the main base of 193 00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:23,640 Bob Mederlam. 194 00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:28,720 And I saw a Medevac helicopter was landing and they were pulling body bags off of Afghan 195 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:30,200 troops. 196 00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:37,000 And they were refueling, re-arming the kaih was that were coming in the Blackhawks. 197 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:40,200 And you know, that's when it really sunk in that this is real. 198 00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:43,960 This isn't some movie that I've watched growing up. 199 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:46,240 Like I need to keep my stuff together. 200 00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:49,640 I need to keep my head on a swivel, you know. 201 00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:54,600 And once the first time outside the wire, I thought I was going to be dead within seconds 202 00:14:54,600 --> 00:14:59,920 because I was just not ready for what was to come. 203 00:14:59,920 --> 00:15:09,160 And I think that's the point at which fear, questioning, do I have the stuff to do what 204 00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:12,680 needs to be done for my buddies? 205 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:14,800 All that's playing hard on you, isn't it? 206 00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:15,920 Right, yeah. 207 00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:19,520 So it's a lot of stress, obviously. 208 00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:21,240 You don't want to let your team down. 209 00:15:21,240 --> 00:15:22,720 You want to make it home yourself. 210 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:26,680 You want to make sure your buddies make it home with you and you want to accomplish your 211 00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:28,160 mission at the same time. 212 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:38,760 And you know, as it wore on or went on, I kind of just wrote myself off as dead already. 213 00:15:38,760 --> 00:15:43,560 And that took away a lot of the fear for me. 214 00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:48,280 Just mentally saying, hey, this is going to happen, so quit worrying about it? 215 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:49,640 Exactly, yes. 216 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:56,840 And the horrific realities of warfare did it come to this outpost? 217 00:15:56,840 --> 00:15:59,520 Tell us about that. 218 00:15:59,520 --> 00:16:01,760 The warfare at the outpost? 219 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:03,160 Yes. 220 00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:06,640 So it was pretty, like I said, in the beginning, it wasn't so bad. 221 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:13,280 A couple of pop shots here and there, maybe an RPG fired at us. 222 00:16:13,280 --> 00:16:21,440 But as this time passed, it became, we would have to start flying up to the outpost versus 223 00:16:21,440 --> 00:16:24,440 taking humvees because the IEDs were so thick. 224 00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:27,160 And there's so many of them planted along our route. 225 00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:31,640 We only had about one or two routes we could take by humvee to get there. 226 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:32,840 So they began to fly us in. 227 00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:38,640 Well, when they began to fly us in, they'd be waiting for it to land on the helipad. 228 00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:41,160 And they would start shooting at the helicopter. 229 00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:48,320 I came back from pass in Qatar in the beginning of July. 230 00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:52,400 And our helicopter couldn't land on the outpost because it was taking fire and the outpost 231 00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:53,400 was taking fire. 232 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:57,240 So we had to circle around a couple of times. 233 00:16:57,240 --> 00:17:05,640 And we did a combat landing and got off just in time to get attacked again. 234 00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:10,600 Tell us a little bit about some of the injuries and casualties associated with the 20 guys 235 00:17:10,600 --> 00:17:16,720 and the Afghan troops up there at Outpost Najil. 236 00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:24,080 So we had one of our soldiers, the PA Guard soldiers, take some shrapnel from, I believe 237 00:17:24,080 --> 00:17:31,600 it was a Chinese rocket, came in and hit the entry control point that he was manning. 238 00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:38,880 Because at this point we had built up a couple other towers to basically secure the outpost 239 00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:42,520 a little better because it was getting to the point where they were getting pretty close 240 00:17:42,520 --> 00:17:45,220 to getting inside the wire. 241 00:17:45,220 --> 00:17:49,680 So we decided to push back the perimeter. 242 00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:55,240 And in doing so they started figuring us out even more. 243 00:17:55,240 --> 00:18:00,520 And it seemed like we had somebody, one of the Terps, or not one of the Terps, but one 244 00:18:00,520 --> 00:18:11,160 of the Afghan workers on the outpost was an insider working for the Taliban. 245 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:17,440 But in terms of other casualties, usually the Afghan soldiers took the brunt of it. 246 00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:21,840 It seemed there were multiple casualties there. 247 00:18:21,840 --> 00:18:27,440 Some killed, some wounded, shot through the legs, shot other places. 248 00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:32,640 It was just they seemed to be bullet magnets in my eyes. 249 00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:37,840 Well, they certainly probably were from the Taliban's viewpoint too that those were the 250 00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:40,280 traitors, if you will. 251 00:18:40,280 --> 00:18:48,240 As the radio operator at the outpost, again, give the civilian listening here some understanding 252 00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:57,280 of what you're doing during these attacks and what the role for the radio operator is. 253 00:18:57,280 --> 00:19:02,760 So if we were on the outpost and we would be attacked, it was my job. 254 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:10,800 I was also a UAV operator, a drone operator, a handheld drone drone. 255 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:14,920 And it was my job when we started getting attacked to set this drone up, get it in the 256 00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:17,320 air to see where the Taliban is. 257 00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:23,680 So that was one of my duties as the operator, the radio operator. 258 00:19:23,680 --> 00:19:28,320 But generally on a daily basis, I would have to go around and check every radio in the 259 00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:32,720 morning, check all the radios before patrol, make sure they had the right, you know, frequent 260 00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:37,440 season whatnot, they were encrypted the right way. 261 00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:43,040 And then I would go out on patrol with everyone and take my, you know, my radio with the giant 262 00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:47,200 antenna that you see in like the Vietnam movies. 263 00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:50,000 And that's what that reminded me of a lot was Vietnam. 264 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:56,640 Like, obviously, I'm too young to have fought in Vietnam, but the landscape and just the 265 00:19:56,640 --> 00:20:01,720 patrols on foot reminded me a lot of movies I watched as a kid. 266 00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:05,960 When you're over in Afghanistan, how old are you? 267 00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:09,000 When I'm there, I'm 20. 268 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:12,040 And how old is your dad about? 269 00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:15,640 He is at that time he would be 40. 270 00:20:15,640 --> 00:20:17,320 And he had a different job. 271 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:19,560 You mentioned he was back at Bagram. 272 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:22,840 The whole time you're up at the outpost, is he down at Bagram? 273 00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:23,840 Yeah. 274 00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:27,440 So he was the unit movement officer for the battalion. 275 00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:36,040 He was the NTO in charge, not the actual officer, but he was in charge of all the helicopter 276 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:42,080 routes for our battalion and our supply movements and troop movements. 277 00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:48,440 So you know, he, I used to joke with him and say, you have a cushy desk job because he 278 00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:53,840 had a desk and he was in a building with air conditioning and there I was sleeping in a 279 00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:57,280 tent with 10 other guys on the side of a mountain. 280 00:20:57,280 --> 00:21:00,480 Remember, you're 20 years younger too. 281 00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:12,880 So let me ask this part of your getting involved here was to demonstrate something to your dad 282 00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:17,160 or to create a different relationship with your dad. 283 00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:24,120 How did this experience over in Afghanistan that you both experienced in a different way 284 00:21:24,120 --> 00:21:27,480 ultimately impact the relationship? 285 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:32,440 If anything, it brought us closer together. 286 00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:39,880 Not only were we father and son in a closer relationship, but we were now brothers, that 287 00:21:39,880 --> 00:21:42,440 band of brotherhood that I wanted. 288 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:46,400 And I never thought I would find it was my father, but it turned out that it did. 289 00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:49,680 And even when we came home, we would swap war stories. 290 00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:55,720 And you know, he was in Iraq and prior to Afghanistan, I would ask him how did it compare 291 00:21:55,720 --> 00:22:01,960 to my deployment versus your deployment, the combat and different scenarios that we had 292 00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:02,960 been in. 293 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:06,600 And yeah, so it actually brought us really close. 294 00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:09,920 I asked this of a lot of guys. 295 00:22:09,920 --> 00:22:19,360 As you know, the military Travis is having a hell of a recruiting problem, right? 296 00:22:19,360 --> 00:22:22,600 Military branches. 297 00:22:22,600 --> 00:22:29,920 But your dad would have encouraged you to join up and participate and some of that's 298 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:35,280 family history, some of it's his own experience from being in the Marines. 299 00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:41,000 As you reflect back and when it's time for you to have a son or a daughter, a niece or 300 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:49,320 a nephew, come ask Uncle Trav, hey, I'm thinking of joining in. 301 00:22:49,320 --> 00:22:51,960 What do you think about that? 302 00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:55,360 What's your view on it now? 303 00:22:55,360 --> 00:23:01,560 My thoughts now are my first thought would be no, please don't. 304 00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:08,240 But then that would retract and you know, it's a great career if you make it one, you get 305 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:14,200 out of it, what you put into it, they're great benefits, you know, it's hard to navigate 306 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:15,760 the VA afterwards. 307 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:21,120 But you know, once you figure it out or find somebody that can figure it out for you, you 308 00:23:21,120 --> 00:23:23,440 know, all the benefits are there for you. 309 00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:26,080 It's great in that aspect. 310 00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:31,760 What I would say as a word of advice is be careful what job you pick or know the job 311 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:34,840 you're going into. 312 00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:38,360 And you know, I think that's good advice for anything in life, right? 313 00:23:38,360 --> 00:23:43,600 Do you do a little more study, do a little more due diligence, look into things, you 314 00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:50,160 know, see what might be useful if you only spend two or four or six years in what might 315 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:52,040 be useful afterwards, right? 316 00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:54,600 I think that's what you're kind of saying. 317 00:23:54,600 --> 00:24:01,320 Yeah, so in my entire 13 years in the PA Guard, I did four different jobs. 318 00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:10,640 I was a radio operator, a signal support NCO, an infantryman and a supply sergeant when 319 00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:15,320 I was medically retired in 2018. 320 00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:21,160 You know, I hated being a supply sergeant and I loved being an RTO and an infantryman. 321 00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:26,840 So I mean, it's a hard life and it's hard on your body and your mind, but it's very 322 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:27,840 rewarding. 323 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:33,080 Well, and you developed that band of brothers that you were looking for, you probably still 324 00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:40,480 have a bunch of guys who you're connected with that shared your experiences in a way 325 00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:44,320 that nobody else can really relate, I suppose. 326 00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:47,920 Oh yeah, they're my family, everyone I served with. 327 00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:52,800 And like I said, even though my father was on the outpost with me, I still consider him 328 00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:54,760 a brother in a sense. 329 00:24:54,760 --> 00:24:59,720 And you know, we have a bond that I feel can never be broken. 330 00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:04,600 While we're talking to Travis Harman, he wrote remote outposts fighting with the US Army 331 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:05,600 in Afghanistan. 332 00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:07,600 It's published by CaseMate. 333 00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:13,120 Travis, if people want to read the book and learn more, how do they do that? 334 00:25:13,120 --> 00:25:15,040 So there's several ways. 335 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:19,840 You can go to my website, www.travisharman.com. 336 00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:23,200 It's spelled H-A-R-M-A-N. 337 00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:30,240 Or you can go to CaseMate Publishers and Google, or search remote outposts. 338 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:31,400 You can just Google my name. 339 00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:33,560 You can Google remote outposts, Travis Harman. 340 00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:34,560 It'll pop up. 341 00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:36,320 It's on Amazon, Barnes & Noble. 342 00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:38,320 It's available pretty much everywhere. 343 00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:43,600 Well we really appreciate not only your service, but taking some time to spend with us here 344 00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:45,320 on Veterans Radio today. 345 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:50,920 Travis, really a great job and we're glad that we got a chance to speak. 346 00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:51,920 Thank you. 347 00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:52,920 Thank you for having me. 348 00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:57,200 And I want to thank everybody for listening to Veterans Radio today. 349 00:25:57,200 --> 00:25:58,720 I am Jim Fawcone. 350 00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:01,040 It's been a pleasure to be your host. 351 00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:05,800 I'm a Veterans Disability Lawyer at Legal Help for Veterans and you can reach us at 352 00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:13,360 800-6934800 or legalhelpforveterans.com on the web. 353 00:26:13,360 --> 00:26:18,280 You can follow Veterans Radio on Facebook and listen to its podcasts and internet radio 354 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:22,880 shows by visiting us at veteransradio.org. 355 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:26,240 And until next time, you are dismissed. 356 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:30,520 If you have a VA claim denied by the Board of Veterans Appeals, 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Kettles Chapter, Ann Arbor, Michigan, VFW Graf O'Hara Post 423 in Ann Arbor, and 365 00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:15,640 the American Legion Press Corn Post 46 also in Ann Arbor. 366 00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:22,760 For all your support, you can go to veteransradio.net, click on the sponsor level, and continue 367 00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:26,440 to support keeping Veterans Radio on the air. 368 00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:47,800 And until next time, you are dismissed.