Scott DeLuzio: 00:00:03 Thanks for tuning in to the Drive On Podcast, where we talk about issues affecting Veterans after they get out of the military. Before we get started, I’d like to ask a favor if you haven’t done so already, please rate and review the show on Apple podcast. If you’ve already done that, thank you. These ratings help the show get discovered so it can reach a wider audience. And while you’re there, click the subscribe button so that you get notified of new episodes as soon as they come out; if you don’t use Apple podcasts, you can visit DriveOnPodcast.com/subscribe to find other ways of subscribing, including our email list. I’m your host, Scott DeLuzio and now let’s get on with the show. Hey everybody. Today, my guest is Steven Break. Steven and I found each other through a post on the Veterans helping Veterans Facebook group, where he was looking for guests on his podcast. The Lucky Break podcast and his podcast is all about telling other people’s stories. So I figured let’s have him on and you know, maybe you give him a chance to tell his story and see how we can help each other out. So welcome to the show, Steven let’s hear a little bit about yourself and your background and all that kind of stuff.
Steven Break: 00:01:16 All right. Well, I was born and raised in Northern Arkansas and then my mother passed away when I was seven. And so my granny lived in Illinois, and that is where I lived the other half of my life until I joined the Army when I was 21. And I went to the St. Louis Mets and had no clue what I was doing. Matter of fact, I remember running from the recruiters before I decided to join the Army because the recruiters were after me. And I was just smoking weed and skateboarding. And they were knocking on my door, didn’t answer the door, skateboarding down the sidewalk, see him walking out my door would turn around and run. Then when I turned 21, I was like, what the hell am I going to do in my life? Then I was going to do, and tried a couple of jobs.
Steven Break: 00:02:14 Now. I know how it goes. And I’m like, all right, I’ll try to join the Marines. So I tried to join the Marines. I failed the piss test and I was like, no, go. I was like, you’re not even going to give me a chance to get clean. Nope, no way. So the Army is like, you got 30 days to get clean, I was like, deal three days later, I was on a plane to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. That’s where I went to basic training and AIT. I forget if they changed it, did they change the basic training? It was nine weeks, but now it’s like, well, 13.
Scott DeLuzio: 00:02:56 I forget what it is now. Even when I was in, this is back in 2006 or so when I went through basic training, I forgot what the whole program was.
Steven Break: 00:03:09 So, then I think it was nine weeks basic training. You know when you’re with a bunch of people, you get to know them, then you all split up and go to AIT, made a bunch of other new people, get to know each other, then you all split up. Finally, there’s your duty station for three weeks, your brothers and your everybody. And I had one guy that actually went to basic training, AIT, and to my duty station with me, that was Paul Marks, every single one with me when we were in the non Bravos as the ammunition specialist. So we got to play with the explosives and stuff and in 05, as soon as we got there, we deployed right over there. And 04/05, it was still pretty rough.
Steven Break: 00:04:13 Like, not like it is today. Over there today, they have actual bases built up. When I first went, they just had barbed wire around;...
