Sharing memories with other veterans
‘What got you started in riding? I know for me, I got back from the military and I was Airborne and a Scout, so I was used to doing pretty adrenaline-filled stuff and pushing that danger button. And when I came back, I had no experience on two wheels, but I was like screw it, this has always been something I wanted.’
David Berry Army veteran and Wright State student from Springfield
For four years, public radio station WYSO-FM (91.3) has run an unusual project in which military veterans interview one another about their experiences for broadcast. This season’s “Veterans’ Voices” project ran during the fall and was a collaboration between the Yellow Springs station and Wright State University’s Veteran and Military Center. The project was originally part of Veterans Coming Home, a national public media initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and now receives funding from Ohio Humanities. The series features stories of Miami Valley veterans who served in a variety of conflicts and branches of service and focuses on the veterans’ stories of re-entry into civilian life. The stories are reported by student veterans attending Wright State who are trained in WYSO’s Community Voices model, in which local people learn the techniques of long-form radio reporting. Veterans’ Voices is supported by Wright-Patt Credit Union and was produced by Will Davis. To hear the stories and others in the station’s Community Voices series, visit wyso.org. We’re reprinting these today courtesy of WYSO. We’ll run more of these interviews in this space in the coming weeks.
Veterans find solace, common ground on the open road
Recent scientific studies show there are significant mental and physical health benefits to motorcycling. But many military veterans already know that riding motorcycles is good therapy. This segment from WYSO’s Veterans’ Voices series features Army veteran and Wright State student David Berry of Springfield and Marine Corps veteran Steve Ratcliffe of Dayton, who share a love for the open road.
Steve Ratcliffe: As I was walking by where all the recruiter’s offices are, they were in a row downtown, I saw the Marine recruiter there, the Dress Blues in the window, and I thought, “Hey, aren’t they supposed to be like the toughest and do the coolest stuff ?” And I want to do cool stuff, so two weeks later I was in Parris Island on an infantry contract.
David Berry: What was your role? Were you a Team Leader or a Pointman or a Gunner?
Ratcliffe: Primarily, I was a Pointman. It’s an interesting job, probably the most casualty-inflicted position in an infantry unit, but you get the adrenaline and you’re first on everything so you definitely have stories to remember.
Berry: You said you wanted to do cool stuff, and a Pointman is about the coolest stuff you can do.
Ratcliffe: Right.
Berry: What got you started in riding? I know for me, I got back from the military and I was Airborne and a Scout, so I was used to doing pretty adrenaline-filled stuff and pushing that danger button. And when I came back, I had no experience on two wheels, but I was like screw it, this has always been something I wanted. I have some deployment money, so I’ll go out and buy a bike and if I crash it, I crash it, it’s my bike. And then it kind of grew into an obsession from there. So what do you think it is about motorcycles and veterans that go hand in hand?
Ratcliffe: The adrenaline of it. There’s something to be said about being on two wheels, not too high off pavement, and ripping down the road a little faster than you should be sometimes, so it’s kind of dangerous and keeps your head on a swivel. You’ll be enjoying the sights and you’ve been enjoying the wind for hours, and you start smiling, and it’s a feeling of, as cliché as it sounds because everybody says it’s freedom out there, but it really is. You feel great. I can’t help but feel a tingle inside my chest. And a lot of military folk are used to that adrenaline depending upon what your job was. You might have had adrenaline all day everyday and you’re looking to fill that void, you’re looking to find that excitement. It does bring back lots of memories and it feels like it goes hand in hand.
Berry: I would definitely agree. And to take it a step further, when I get on the bike, I feel focused again. Whenever I was out on a mission or whatever, I was doing cool adrenaline dangerous stuff just that focus always seemed to come up, and the bike is the fastest way I can get that mindset back. And another thing I like is that I spent a lot of time out in the field, so I really enjoy being a minimalist and only having the things I absolutely need on me. And when
I’m riding and feeling the wind and being out there in the elements, it reminds me of being back in the field, to a degree.
Ratcliffe: Yeah, I agree with that, especially if you’re on a camping trip and ride somewhere and camp. You meet some friends you’re going to become real close with because you’re going to pack up your bikes and go for a trip here, and camp for the night, and then go for a trip there. It forms a good bond, similar to what you had in the military.
Berry: Yeah, I love riding with military groups because they know how to do that formation, no one really messes up, they keep their intervals, they pass back signals. That’s one of the quickest things that take me back and I’m like, Yes.
Ratcliffe: Yeah, I can see that because you’re in the exact same formation, you’re going for a long time, you’re just following the guy in front of you. It’s very similar to that.
Berry: When I’m riding with people, I’m not even looking at the speedometer.
Ratcliffe: Me too. Unless I’m point or lead on the ride, then I have to pay attention to the speedometer. But if I’m not doing that, I don’t look at it either. I just follow the person in front of me and enjoy the time.
Building a family in a dual-military marriage
When most people think of a military marriage, they likely imagine only one spouse in the service. But dual-military marriages, where both spouses are service members, are becoming more common in every branch
of the military. This part of the Veterans’ Voices series focuses on Army veterans and Wright State students Loghan and Joe Young of Huber Heights. The Youngs built their marriage on the experiences they shared in the armed forces.
Loghan Young: When I first joined the military, I was looking for something new, looking for a change to start my life fresh, and I had no intentions of getting married or meeting somebody. I was actually done with meeting people. I just wanted to focus on my career. What about you? Did you intend on finding a wife when you joined the military?
Joe Young: Not at all. Actually, the complete opposite. I just wanted to focus on me, do my own thing.
Loghan Young: So what made you want to get into a relationship with me?
Joe Young: I don’t know. I thought you were pretty cute. I wanted to talk to someone, I guess. We had something in common, so it was easy to talk. We were both about to join the military, in the same position in life. It all just seemed to make sense. I became more and more interested.
Loghan Young: Yes, the more we talked, I felt like we had more in common.
Joe Young: Right.
Loghan Young: So then I went to Basic.
Joe Young: We started writing each other a lot during Basic. Almost every day, wrote a new letter every day. Then when you came home from Basic, it was crunch time. You were going to move away and I was never going to see you again or we were going to get married and make it happen some way.
Loghan Young: So you obviously felt strongly enough to jump in and get married?
Joe Young: Clearly. Loghan Young: And then I found out I was deploying, and then a month after that you went to Basic. Right?
Joe Young: Right.
Loghan Young: So while I was in Afghanistan, I just happened to be the security detail, driving around the higher-ups and the Colonel, and transporting supplies, and doing convoy missions. So, luckily, I got to drive the brigade Sergeant Major and the brigade Lieutenant Colonel and they were like, “Oh, what does your husband do?” And I said, “He’s actually in Fort Lee, Virginia.” And they said, “Wow, does he want to deploy?” And I said, “Hell, yeah.” And they said they’ll do whatever to get him deployed. And I remember his name was Sergeant Major Young, and I thought that was ironic given that that’s our last name.
Joe Young: That’s interesting.
Loghan Young: He said, “I’ll do whatever I can to get him deployed.” And I thought sure, because they always say that.
Joe Young: Yeah, I didn’t think it was going to happen. When you called me that day you told me all about that — I didn’t think it was really going to happen. I didn’t think when I first got there that you would be the one to pick me up.
Loghan Young: Your first day in country, what was that like?
Joe Young: I remember just being in culture shock being over there. Day one, I remember looking out the window and seeing a guy riding a bike holding a donkey head. I’ll never forget it. That was the moment I thought, “You’re not in America anymore.” That’s crazy.
Loghan Young: So after the deployment, I think we came home the Fourth of July weekend.
Joe Young: I was excited cause finally we got to start a life. At that point, we had been married for two years and we never even lived together.
Loghan Young: Yeah, that’s true.
Joe Young: So I was like, finally I get to have a wife. When we get back, we’re going to do our thing and start a family and start a life together.
Loghan Young: Were you scared at all? Like you said, we were married for two years and never even lived together.
Joe Young: No, I was pretty hyped about it.
Loghan Young: I think we had a pretty great routine after that. It was just you and I. And I feel like that’s where we built our foundation together.
Joe Young: Right. It was nice, too, coming home from work and being able to talk about work and you understood what I’m talking about, or coming from. You understood how my life worked. It was just so much easier to relate.
Loghan Young: So you think dual-military was better?
Joe Young: I feel like a lot of people would complain about their significant other, how they didn’t understand why this or why that, but you understood it. I didn’t have to explain anything, and it didn’t cause any problem. You just got it.
Loghan Young: I agree. That’s what always made our relationship work so well. We were always on the same page, working toward the same goal. Always.
Joe Young: Right. The experience of serving your country and being a veteran, I appreciate the effort and guts it takes to do what you did, so it means a lot to me. It means even more to me that we both did it. I think it’s pretty sweet.