Scott DeLuzio: [00:00:00] Thanks for tuning in to the Drive On Podcast where we are focused on giving hope and strength to the entire military community. Whether you’re a veteran, active duty, guard, reserve, or a family member, this podcast will share inspirational stories and resources that are useful to you. I’m your host, Scott DeLuzio, and now let’s get on with the show.

Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Drive On. I’m your host, Scott DeLuzio. And today, my guest is retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Les Carroll. Les is an award winning military journalist, an acclaimed documentary filmmaker, and author of the novel, This Troubled Ground. Uh, his work is based on his deployments to Afghanistan and his time at Dover Air Force Base where he supported the return of over a hundred fallen service members.

And today we’ll discuss his experiences, his novel and his documentary film, Bringing the Fallen Home. [00:01:00] Um, Les, uh, welcome to the show. I’m really glad to have you here.

Les Carroll: Thank you, Scott. Thanks for having me. It’s an honor.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, absolutely. Um, as I talked about in the intro, um, talked about. All the work that you’ve, you’ve done, um, and one thing that is particularly near and dear to me is your work at Dover Air Force Base. As I think, you know, my, uh, brother was killed in action in Afghanistan. He came through Dover Air Force Base and all the, the men and women, all the work that they do down there to, um, you know, support the fallen service members who, who are coming back home through there, um, is, it just means a lot to.

People like me, uh, me, my family, and, and others out there who, uh, have lost a, a, a family member, uh, in their service to our country. So thank you for the work that you’ve done, uh, down there. Um, can you tell us a little bit about your background kind, [00:02:00] um, a little in the, the military, uh, service and, you know, kind of what, what got you to, uh, what got you to where you are now?

Les Carroll: Yeah, sure. No problem. Um, I, uh, I joined the Air Force in 1985. I went to the old Air Force, uh, officer training school at the Medina Annex of Lackland Air Force Base, served four years, about four years in the, on active duty, and then, and then, uh, joined the Air National Guard here in South Carolina. Um, the base was, um, was about a mile from where I grew up in my teen years, and I used to sit out on my You know, on the hood of the car on a Sunday afternoon and watch the jets fly over on their drill weekend.

I never, you know, I never imagined that I would be, you know, I swear I would work or I would be affiliated with the, with the unit as a, you know, as a youngster. I wasn’t, um, thinking about a military career, but, you know, after, after college and after I started working a little bit, I, I then joined the Air Force [00:03:00] and, and then ended up right at that base eventually.

But, uh, yeah, I served there, uh, back. 1989 through, you know, things were peacetime and then all of a sudden 1990, the invasion of Kuwait and, and our unit was, was heavily involved in Desert Shield, Desert Storm. Our unit was heavily involved in all the no fly zone enforcement throughout the 90s and really leading up to 9 11 and then it, it.

You know, obviously when 9 11 happened, everything changed for everybody. And, and the last, you know, 12, 13 years of my career, my unit was, was very involved with, uh, with pretty much everything going on in the M...