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 Brian Fleming. Brian is a combat wounded military veteran, army veteran, a motivational speaker and author who has dedicated over 16 years to helping trauma survivors heal by sharing their stories. He has spoken to over half a million people worldwide and developed the Use Your Story program to guide others in transforming their lives.

Today, we’re going to discuss how sharing your story can heal trauma and transform lives and hopefully help some folks out along the way. So before we get into that, uh, Brian, I want to [00:01:00] welcome you to the show. I’m really glad to have you here.

Brian Fleming: Hey, thanks for having me fellow 11 Bravo.

Scott DeLuzio: Yes.

Brian Fleming: When you told me you were infantry, I’m like, Oh, this is going to be good.

Scott DeLuzio: This is, I know when, when, when, when we, once, when you get another infantryman, I mean, it could go one of two ways. It can go really good or it can go downhill real quick and hopefully

Brian Fleming: that can be good if you have other 11 bravos listening.

Scott DeLuzio: That’s true. So stay tuned. We’ll see. Um, tell us a little bit about your, your time in the military. Um, you said you were deployed to Afghanistan before we started talking here, um, and your experiences there and kind of how it led you to what you do now.

Brian Fleming: Yeah, I joined the army straight out of high school in Miami, Florida back in 2003. Joined his army infantry. Army said, hey, well, we’ll even give you 5, 000 bucks to Shoot some big guns and blow some stuff up. If you sign here and I’m like, I’m 18, five grand, dude. I’m about to buy my mom a house, you know, retire. [00:02:00] Oh, that didn’t happen. But, uh, yeah, it was just after 9 11 and so big war effort was going on. Afghanistan was heating up and a lot to be done. And, you know, at that time, you know, 9 11 was still so fresh in everyone’s minds that, you know, you can’t just sit back and do nothing when something like that happens.

So it always cracks me up when I hear people say, Oh, we never should have been there. It’s like, were you fucking alive in 2001? Like, like, do you remember, like, you don’t just sit back and like do nothing, especially you’re America, like we’re always looking for a fight. And so anyways. I joined the Army’s infantry, went through basic training and all that.

Infantry training at Fort Benning in August to December of 03. And, uh, yeah, nice and hot. I didn’t think, I didn’t think any place North of Florida could be hotter than Miami. I think Fort Benning was in August. It, it was pretty intense, but,

Scott DeLuzio: I think, I think they import heat there and humidity and all the creatures that can kill you, they, [00:03:00] they import those and, and they just drop them in the woods. So when you’re, you’re sleeping out, uh, in the middle of the woods at night, uh, this thing that’s crawling across your face, it’s pr...