This is an iHeart Podcast. There's nothing like sinking into luxury. At washablesofas.com, you'll find the Anibay sofa, which combines ultimate comfort and design at an affordable price. And get this, it's the only sofa that's fully machine washable from top to bottom, starting at only $699. The stain-resistant performance fabric slip covers and cloud-like frame duvet can go straight into your wash.
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Shop now at washablefas.com. Add a little. to your life. Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. iHeart presents the Big Three Championship next Sunday, August 24th.
The remaining two teams fight it out for the Big Three Championship, Dr. Jay Trophy in the most physical, fierce, and competitive basketball league in the world. The action starts with the Big Three 8th Annual All-Star Game, featuring all-stars Dwight Howard, Montrez Horrell, MVP Michael Beasley. Lance will make you Dan Stevenson, Jordan Crawford, Greg Monroe, Earl Clark, Nazia Core, and more. Show you why they are the best three-on-three basketball players in the world.
Big Three's exciting All-Star Game, plus the crowning of a new Big Three Champion. The No Holds Bart Action starts Sunday at 2 p.m. Eastern 11 Pacific, only on CBS. Good morning. Welcome to Today.
From back to school to tackling your to-do list, the Today Show is your best start to the day. It's a new season and every morning. We're here to help you take it all off. As the forecast calls for football all across the country. Blockbuster stars, live concerts, and so much more.
Wake up to where it's all happening. We're getting back to all of it. And the best way to start is together. Watch the Today Show, weekday mornings at 7 a.m. on NBC.
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Crypto trading involves risk of loss and is offered to US customers through Payword Interactive Inc. Terms and Conditions Apply. As a parent, you wear many hats. At dinner, you're the chef. When your kids play, you're the ref.
And let's face it, you're basically a full-time chauffeur. Fortunately, when it's time to wear your teacher hat, Abecca makes things easy. Our proven, flexible homeschool curriculum is designed to let your kids retain and build on the knowledge they acquire, setting them up for success later in life. Abeca, learning for life begins with the right homeschool education. Learn more at abeccahomeschool.com.
This is Lee Habib, and this is our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people. and to search for the Our American Stories podcast. Go to the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Up next, a story out of Clemson, South Carolina. Today, the oldest a person can be if they wish to join the army is 35.
But for a short time during the war on terror, One could join in their forties, Our next story comes to us. From one of these men who joined late in life. Here's Ken's scar. How? My whole life I was an artist.
I was the exact opposite of someone you'd think who would join the army. And I grew up in the 80s and 90s, which was a very peaceful time for our country. We weren't really at war. The military was what other people did. I never even considered it.
I always wanted to be in the arts. be a writer. And I I I ended up working in theater and television for a long time. I was a scenic artist, like for Broadway plays and television shows. We're the ones who paint the sets for plays, drops and the murals that are in the backgrounds of television shows.
Yeah, I was always the art kid in high school. You know, I was the nerdly nerdy little guy. This was back in the eighties, like I said. And when I was in high school, I took art class like two or three times a day. That was sort of my refuge because you know, I wasn't one of the popular kids, and I got bullied by the football players, you know, like.
All of us nerds did back then.
So, art was my refuge, and so I was always artistically and creatively inclined, and that's not the typical type of person. That joins the military. When I was growing up, the people that joined the military were like rednecks. And people that couldn't get into college. At least that was the perception.
And that was my perception. I'm ashamed to say I had the wrong perception like a lot of people back in. in those days in America. What happened was I was a, you know, I was a show business. I lived in San Diego.
I was working at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego, and then I went into television. There's a lot of television that happens in San Diego. And then me and I got married, and my wife and I had. Kids And the cost of living in San Diego is so high that we decided to move back to our hometown in Colorado. And I started my own painting company.
But then my marriage fell apart very suddenly. Um And it kind of sent me off the rails. And I got to a really low point in my life and I started looking into options. Basically to kill myself, you know, I looked into buying a gun and shooting myself. I even went to a gun store and looked at guns for the first time in my life.
I'd never even thought of owning a gun until then. you know, the thought just kind of hit me of My kids. Moving on in life without their dad and knowing their dad had done something like that.
So I'm like, well. Maybe there's another way I could go out that's maybe more noble. And so I actually looked into the Foreign Legion. There's still a Foreign Legion, believe it or not. And that sort of led me into the American military, looking into the military.
At the time, this was 2009, so we were at the height of the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The army had raised its Maximum age to 42. It's back down, I think, to 35 now. They just raised it up to that for maybe a year or two. Most people my age that were 40 that tried to join back then didn't make it through MEPs.
which is where you go to get analyzed if you can even be a soldier. You know, most people my age had back problems or knee problems, and they're like, you know, would get denied. But I passed all the tests, and so the Army's like. Come on in, be a soldier scar. Yeah.
And I said, well, I'd like to be a photojournalist. They're like, oh, there's only like a few of those in the whole army. There's no spots for that. And I said, well, thanks anyway. And I left.
Then they called me back a couple months later because I had scored really high on the ASVAB, sort of like the SAT or that you take when you graduate high school, where they sort of. determine how smart you are and what you know and if you're Smart enough to join and be a soldier.
So, anyway, I scored really high on that test. And so they called me back a couple months later and said, Hey, you still want to be a? Photojournalists, you know, a spot opened up. I said, okay, I'll do it.
So that's what led to me being in the Army at 40. It was basically a weird kind of half-assed suicide attempt, I like to tell people. When most people ask me, I say, I just wanted to serve, you know, and that window opened up. for people my age and I kind of jumped through it and that was also part of it. When I went to basic training, They did give me a lot of grief.
Old man Scar, you know? And my name itself, my drill sergeants love my name, Scar. S-C-A-R is my last name, right? They're like, bring your pride over here, Scar. We know you just can't wait to be king.
The hope. Lion King thing, you know? you know, when I first bust into basic training, that, you know, they put you out in buses. It's just like in the movies, man. You're all a bunch of fresh-faced, you know, ignorant, don't know what you're in for in your civilian clothes.
You get on a bus and they take you onto the base. and the bus parks and a drill sergeant jumps on the bus and just starts yelling at you, just like in the movies. And this drill sergeant jumped on our bus. With his hat, you know, and his uniform, he was just completely squared away, yawning at us. And they His eyes locked on me and he looks at me and he's like, you look...
You are seasoned. He says, he says, how old are you? And I said, I'm 40 drill sergeant. And he says, 40. I'm 40 and I'm about to retire.
He says, if I had to do this all over again at this age, I'd cut my own nuts off. That was my first five minutes in the military. And you've been listening to Ken Scar tell his story, and what a story it is. For all purposes, he was just a meandering artist who struck up a decent gig in San Diego. doing production arts for T V sets and for Her theater.
But his marriage dissolves. And then everything goes sideways and He's contemplating suicide, but Doesn't take it all the way, praise God. And then he finds the military and that sergeant. And what a funny scene that must have been for him. Certainly not the sergeant.
When we come back, more of Ken Scar's story. Here. on our American stories. Lee Habib here, the host of Our American Stories. Every day on this show, we're bringing inspiring stories from across this great country.
Stories from our big cities and small towns, but we truly can't do this show without you. Our stories are free to listen to, but they're not free to make. If you love what you hear, go to ouramericanstories.com and click the donate button. Give a little, give a lot. Go to ouramericanstories.com and give.
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With a modular design and changeable slip covers, you can customize your sofa to fit any space and style. Whether you need a single chair, love seat, or a luxuriously large sectional, Anibay has you covered. Visit washablefas.com to upgrade your home. Right now, you can shop up to 60% off store-wide with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Shop now at washable sofas.com.
Add a little. to your life. Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. The reviews and ratings are in, and Ice Cube's Big Three is the surprise hit of the summer. And to cap off the season, iHeart presents the Big Three Basketball Championship and eighth annual Big Three All-Star Game this coming Sunday, August 24th, live from Orlando.
The remaining two teams fight it out for the Big Three Championship Dr. Jake Trophy in the most physical, fierce, and competitive basketball league in the world. Don't miss the wild conclusion of Big Three's eighth and most historic season ever. This is the game no one wants to lose, and there's no crying in the Big Three. The action starts with the Big Three eighth annual All-Star Game.
Don't miss All-Stars Dwight Howard, Montrez Harrell, MVP Michael Beasley, Lance Will Makeup Dan Stevenson, Jordan Crawford, Craig Monroe, Earl Clark, Nazi Erkor, and more show you why they are the best three-on-three basketball players in the world. Big Three's exciting All-Star Game plus the crowning of a new Big Three champion. The No Holds Part action starts Sunday at 2 p.m. Eastern, 11 Pacific, only on CBS. You don't need $1,000 to buy Bitcoin.
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Terms and Conditions Apply. As a parent, you wear many hats. At dinner, you're the chef. When your kids play, you're the ref. And let's face it, you're basically a full-time chauffeur.
Fortunately, when it's time to wear your teacher hat, Abecca makes things easy. Our proven, flexible homeschool curriculum is designed to let your kids retain and build on the knowledge they acquire, setting them up for success later in life. Abecca, learning for life begins with the right homeschool education. Learn more at Abecahomeschool.com. Good morning.
Welcome to Today. From back to school to tackling your to-do list, the Today Show is your best start to the day. It's a new season and every morning. We're here to help you take it all off. As the forecast calls for football all across the country.
Blockbuster stars, live concerts, and so much more. Wake up to where it's all happening. We're getting back to all of it. And the best way to start is together. Watch the Today Show, weekday mornings at 7 a.m.
on NBC. And we continue with Our American Stories and with Ken Scar. When we last left off, Ken had decided to join the army in order to, in his own words, kill himself. after his marriage fell apart. He did this in his forties, making him much older than most of the recruits and subject to some jokes at his expense.
Let's continue with the story. I got grief from the minute, literally the minute I arrived at basic training. But then when they had to run with me, I usually had the fastest run time in the Army and pretty much in any of the services. If you have a good PT score, physical fitness score, that gives you more respect than almost anything. You get immediate respect if you're in shape.
In the Army, when I was in, the physical fitness test was how many push-ups you could do in two minutes. how many sit-ups you could do in two minutes, how fast you can run two miles, right? I could run two miles in about 12 and a half minutes. That was enough to pretty much beat any. any other soldier in my unit most of the time.
As soon as they did, you know, as soon as they saw I was in shape, That kind of yeah. gained me some respect. And then when they when they saw what I could do with the camera That also got me respected. But you know, every unit I went to, and I wasn't in that many units, but I had to earn respect. As being an older guy.
And I usually did. You know, you're in a bay with 60 other Recruits. All the other recruits in my bay were 18, 20. maybe 21. I went to basic training at Fort Benning.
It was one of the hardest You know, three months of my life. It was the mental part, it was the dealing with all the stupid. Idiocy. that comes with being with 60 young men, living with 60 young men in a room for weeks and weeks at a time.
So much ridiculousness happens and as a as an older man It was very hard to just get through that part of it. And just like keeping myself from strangling one of these kids that whole time. It was just like in the movies, you know, they did such, it's designed to. Make young men do stupid things and they do. They do, and they did.
And uh I was just like Don't you see they're trying to make you act like this? and now you're acting like this. Sneaking out of the bay in the middle of the night to go across the street because, in basic training, they take away everything. They take away your phones, they take away. Sweets, they take away coffee, cigarettes, you know, you don't get any of that stuff.
And uh some of these recruits that I was with Going a month without a Snickers bar was like too much for them.
So they like snuck out of the bay across the street in the middle of the night to where there were some vending machines and bought a bunch of candy and chips and tried to sneak back into the bay with them. And of course the drill sergeants caught them. And so we all got woken up at 3 a.m. that night. We all had to wake up and they smoked us, and that means when they make us do push-ups and sit-ups and all these other.
physical activities non-stop for you know for an hour as punishment because when One person in the army messes up. the entire unit gets punished. And that was hard to deal with. That was a hard three months to get through, let me tell you. I got through it and I couldn't believe it, you know, and graduating basic training is one of the proudest moments of my life, you know, at 40 years old.
My gig in the Army was: I was a 46 Quebec, which is a photojournalist. or combat camera they call us and We kind of act as public relations. We also like to tell the story of soldiers. That was the main job: telling the story of soldiers and what they do. And trying to bring them deserved recognition.
It was a really cool gig because. When I was in Afghanistan, for instance, I got to go see all the different things soldiers do. I wasn't just stationed in one colour. combat outpost or one Forward operating base, right? I got to.
Go all over Regional Command East, which was the area of operation that I was in. I got to go on air assaults and Blackhawk helicopters. I got to go on transportation missions with transportation units, you know, driving across the country. I got to go on foot patrols with scout units. I even got to spend a day with John McCain when he came to visit.
So it was a big variety of things I got to do, which was something a lot of people would never imagine you could do if you joined the army.
So we deployed in August of 2000. Eleven. and my first unit was to Forward Operating Base Tillman. And I jumped out of the chopper. There was green smoke going off on the landing zone.
I jumped out with all my equipment and my Rucksack. and I could hear the .50 caliber machine guns going off. Just over my right shoulder you could hear machine guns going off. And that was intense. And I said it under my breath: dang, that's intense.
And the soldier that had come to pick me up, he's like, what's intense? Because he'd been there for six months. And I said. That machine kind of gone off up there. That's intense.
And he's like, you know those are our guys shooting. And I said, yeah, but they're shooting at someone, right? They're shooting at someone. The soldiers that had been there were completely desensitized. He's like, yeah, whatever, you know.
But to me, it was like, holy cow, what have I gotten myself into? I'm literally in a war zone. And that's the first time it really hit me: like, what have you done, dude? What have you done? And then, you know, the next day.
I mustard with The unit that was there, they were going out on a foot patrol to patrol. outside the base, all the uh there was a place where they had been getting shot at. Mortar rounds so that we're going to go to this Pooh, point of origin. Where these mortars had been being fired at the base.
So we were gonna. walk out the gates of the base. Out into the lands outside the base and through the little villages out there until we got to this point of origin to see. what was going on, assess the situation.
So we mustard before dawn in the dark and the pl platoon leader, which was a I think a Second lieutenant, he gathered everyone around and said, Okay, guys, we take fire every time we go out there, so just keep your heads on a swivel, be ready for anything. And I'm standing there thinking, How the hell did I get here? I'm a 40 years, I'm a painter. What am I doing here? You know?
It was way too easy. to get there. I just got online and looked up how to join the military. And less than a year later, I'm in Afghanistan. I'm about to go out on my first mission outside the wire.
I had my full kit on, which is all the body armor you have to wear. I had my M4. Which is the the weapons they give us. You know, I have w as a Military photographer, we have all the same equipment as any other soldier. And then, plus that, we have our cameras.
Hanging around our shoulders to take pictures of what happened. We walked out the gates that morning. And I was just... scared to death. I was scared to death.
But I could not do it at that point. I I did it. I walked out with them. And within a couple of hours I felt a lot more comfortable because I realized uh these soldiers that I was with knew what they were doing. And if anything happened, I would probably be okay.
You know, they would know what to do. And so I just started taking pictures of them. walking through these amazing mountainous regions where we were. And then later in that day, sure enough, we got ambushed. We took fire and we all had to die behind, you know, rocks.
and return fire. And I earned my combat action badge. You know, my very first mission outside the wire that day. We were out there for over Almost three days, I think. We spent the night on the top of a ridge.
A lot of things happened during that mission, but that was my very first mission outside the wire. By the time I got back to Fob Tillman, I was a different person. I was a soldier. And what a story Ken Scar is telling. And imagine having to try and win the respect of a bunch of 18, 19, and 20-year-olds when you're 40.
Usually, it's the other way around, and then having to live with them. And all the nonsense. We all love teenage boys, but my goodness, when you're in your forties and you have to live in bunk beds with them. Days and weeks and months at a time, well this is a new test of will and character. And it turns out this was a formative experience.
In Ken Scar's life, he gets deployed to a war zone. What have you done, man? He asks of himself. And then that first mission outside the wire. Three days.
and he said it best by the time I got back to the Fob. I was a soldier. And by the way, any man who served and then gone into combat has had the same experience. And it doesn't mean people who served who didn't go into combat aren't essential. But there's something about combat.
as Winston Churchill said in our great Churchill piece, That bullet whizzing by your head Well, that's when you feel most alive. When we come back, more of this remarkable piece of storytelling, Ken Scar's story here. on Our American Stories. There's nothing like sinking into luxury. At washablesofas.com, you'll find the Anibay sofa, which combines ultimate comfort and design at an affordable price.
And get this, it's the only sofa that's fully machine washable from top to bottom, starting at only $699. The stain-resistant performance fabric slip covers and cloud-like frame duvet can go straight into your wash. Perfect for anyone with kids, pets, or anyone who loves an easy-to-clean, spotless sofa. With a modular design and changeable slip covers, you can customize your sofa to fit any space and style. Whether you need a single chair, love seat, or a luxuriously large sectional, Anibay has you covered.
Visit washablesofas.com to upgrade your home. Right now, you can shop up to 60% off store-wide with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Shop now at washable sofas.com. Not a little. to your life.
Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. The reviews and rating Are in and ice cube's big three is the surprise hit of the summer. And to cap off the season, iHeart presents the big three basketball playoffs. This Sunday at 3 p.m. Eastern, the remaining four teams battle it out for the right to make the big three championship in the most physical, fierce, and competitive basketball league in the world.
The action starts with the big three monster energy celebrity game, where your favorite stars compete in big three three-on-three basketball. Then, the first of two semifinal games features Dwight Howard and the LA Riot taking on Montrez Harrell and Dr. J's first-placed Chicago Triplets. The finale will see popular Miami 305 with stars MVP Michael Beasley, and last will make you Dan Stevenson take on Nancy Lieberman's Dallas Power, who finished the season winning five straight weeks to capture second place. Can Glenn Rice, Greg Monroe, and Paul Milsap stop Miami's physical assault, or will Miami and Beasley put an end to Dallas's winning ways?
Who will make it to the big three championship? This no-holds-bought action starts Sunday at 3 p.m. Eastern, 12 Pacific, only on CBS. You don't need a thousand. dollars to buy Bitcoin.
You just need a plan. Kraken lets you set up recurring buys so you can build your position over time. Invest on your schedule, not the markets. Set it and forget it. Kraken handles the rest.
Download Kraken. Get $10 in Bitcoin after your first trade of $10 or more. Just enter code iHeart10 under Add Invite Code when you sign up. Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss and is offered to U.S.
customers through Payword Interactive Inc. terms and conditions apply. As a parent, you wear many hats. At dinner, you're the chef. When your kids play, you're the ref.
And let's face it, you're basically a full-time chauffeur. Fortunately, when it's time to wear your teacher hat, Abeca makes things easy. Our proven, flexible homeschool curriculum is designed to let your kids retain and build on the knowledge they acquire, setting them up for success later in life. Abecca, learning for life begins with the right homeschool education. Learn more at AbecaHomeschool.com.
Good morning. Welcome to Today. From back to school to tackling your to-do list, the Today Show is your best start to the day. It's a new season and every morning. We're here to help you take it all off.
As the forecast calls for football all across the country. Blockbuster stars, live concerts, and so much more. Wake up to where it's all happening. We're getting back to all of it. And the best way to start is together.
Watch the Today Show, weekday mornings at 7 a.m. on NBC. And we continue with our American Stories and Ken Scar's story. Ken joined the Army late in life, in his 40s. After spending years working as an artist, After graduating basic training, Ken would become a 46 Quebec.
or a photojournalist. and was deployed overseas where he took many photographs. of our troops in action.
Sometimes under fire himself, Let's continue with the story. Um The photographs turned out pretty good. I got a lot of them. A lot of them got picked up all over the world. I got some good shots of our guys out there.
As a photographer, it's always the ones you don't get that kill you. When we got ambushed I hid behind a rock with a couple other soldiers and they started returning fire. I got some shots of them, which weren't very good. but if I had to turn my camera just to the left of me, One of our guys had a saw. 249 which is an automatic machine gun.
And he was like, just opening up, you know, down this riverbed at the enemy. You know, like just total like Rambo stuff. And I just stood there and looked at it. I'm like, wow, that's really cool. And I didn't think to like, Turn my camera and take some pictures of him.
And I regret that to this day because those would have been. award-winning photos of how they just thought of that, you know? And years later, I always think back: like, you know, I'm a much better photographer now than I was then. I didn't know. photography when I first got to Afghanistan.
I didn't know How to work the cameras. You know, the Army gives us these really great Nikon. professional cameras with all the lenses. And I you know, I sort of learned as I went while I was over there. But if I could go back now, I would take much better pictures.
But as it was, my pictures turned out pretty good. You know, the composition was good, and I was surprised because, as military photographers, Military journalists, all our content is public domain. It belongs to the American public. And Media outlets know that.
So they know where to find our stuff if they're looking for photos of a particular thing or if they need a photo for a certain story.
So my photos almost immediately started getting picked up by USA Today, New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, Fox News, Huffington Post. You name it. I was amazed because, also, as military photographers, we can go places that civilian photographers can't go. And my stuff still gets picked up. I still find my photographs on websites or friends will.
call me like or you know text me like hey Scar is this your photo? And I was like, holy cow, it is my photo, you know, an AP. It's like, it's amazing. places my content went.
So that was kind of cool. One of my most famous photos is of a. was when I went to Organee on that first mission before they flew me to Fob Tillman. I had a couple days at Fob Oregon E, which is a weird. name for a place.
I still don't know why it was named that. We had a howitzer crew there. which is Howitzer 777 cannons. which are these giant weapons that can send a round Okay. I don't know, hundreds of miles with pinpoint accuracy, right?
These guys have to take into account the curvature of the earth when they aim their weapon. I had a couple days at this base, so I went down to just take some shots of these. These canaker spiring. One of my shots, I captured the Flame, the ball of flame that comes out of these cannons that the naked eye can't see. and the ball of flame just perfectly framed.
The soldier that was pulling the lanyard to fire the cannon. And I was like, oh, that's pretty cool, you know?
So I went back. to the office and uploaded the picture. And it got picked up all over the place immediately. I didn't even realize how unique that photo was. I had a U.S.
Army Photo of the Year was the easiest photo I ever took. I was in a Chinook. Flying from Bagram to Jalalabad. Yeah, Jalalabad's where the Khyber Pass is. Big city.
I don't know how far the flight was, a couple hours maybe. But we got in this big Chinook helicopter. And The load master, which is the Soldier that's in charge of loading everything, whether that's people or equipment, into the Aircraft and making sure it's locked down, strapped in. She saw I had a camera and she set me at the very back. of the Chinook.
And we took off and we're flying, and you know, between Bagram and Jalalabad are these incredible mountains. It's the Himalayan, it's the roots of the Himalayan mountains. You know, if you follow them up far enough, you'll get to Mount Everest.
So there are these incredible mountain ranges that we're flying over, just beautiful. And I don't know, we're like 30 minutes into the flight and she presses a button and lowers the tailgate of this Chinook. Helicopter. Mid-flight.
So we can look out and see all the mountains as we're flying over them. And then she walks out and sits on the edge of the tailgate. You know, she's like strapped in. But she likes to dangles her feet over the edge of this tailgate and just kind of watches There was another Chinook following us, and she was sort of watching the Chinook and looking at the scenery as we're flying over it. And I just kind of turned and like took a shot of her sitting there.
And It was the US Army photo of the year that year. Easiest photo I ever took. They have an entire award system, so it's kind of like The Emmys or the Pulitzers. The military has its own awards. It's a very big deal if you're in that job field.
So yeah, the Department of Defense, they have their own awards and the Army has awards, they're called the Keith L. Ware Awards. and they're named after a Medal of Honor recipient who was a public affairs officer. And I've won 22 of them. And One of them was I was named the US Military Journalist of the Year in 2013.
which is the highest award given in that job field. Yeah. I came back in August 2012. Flew back to Fort Hood. My kids were there to meet me, which was great.
The one thing I wanted the most was a Starbucks coffee, 'cause we didn't have Starbucks in Afghanistan, so. I got myself a Starbucks coffee and it It was the best tasting coffee I ever had.
Now I work at Clemson University. I'm in Public information director.
So I do a lot of kind of what I did in the Army. I take pictures, write stories. You know, this was 2014, so I was still the standing United States military journalist of the year.
So that helped me get uh an interview at Clemson. That kind of got my foot in the door and that's sort of how I landed the the job. I had an amazing portfolio after five years as an active duty soldier. Has it combat camera photographer, you know. portfolio that a lot of photographers would would kill for probably.
So, because I had so much opportunity to take pictures of amazing events and things. And I'm proud of what I did when I was over there. I really tried to elevate what our soldiers were doing and elevate the citizens of Afghanistan. You know, winning hearts and minds was a big part of our job. I would have never imagined when I was young being a soldier, but now that I have been a soldier, I'm glad that I was because.
It was just uh meaningful. to be a part of something bigger than myself. And a special thanks to Monty Montgomery for the post-production. and Faith Buchanan for the pre-production on this story. And a special thanks also to Ken Scar.
by sharing his full story with us, and the hard parts especially. And that part of his life where everything could have turned south. And I have experienced suicide in my own family, and anyone who has. knows the consequence. A beautiful niece of mine took her own life, and if she had gotten through that day, anything was possible for her.
And my goodness, awards for shots, his photos appearing everywhere: AP, HP, that's Huffington Post, the NY Times, Fox News, USA Today, U.S. Army Photo of the Year, from suicide to that. and more. And he said he was proud of his military service, proud of what he'd done with his life, and now he's doing it on a great American college campus. and that's the campus of Clemson University.
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