After 15 minutes of his friend being in the bathroom, Dan walked up to the door and started pounding. “I was knocking on the door: ‘Hey, Adam, I’m going to leave,’ and he wasn’t responding. So his step dad came down and asked me what was going on. I told him: ‘He’s not answering. I’m going to leave, he’s being an asshole. He’s taking a shower.’ And then his step dad said that there was no shower downstairs.” With permission to kick down the door Dan did just that. Laying on the floor was a mottled blue version of his friend, left without a pulse from a heroin overdose. Why his old high school friend chose to do heroin on this October day, after not seeing Dan for some time, confused him and angered him. But Dan knew what he had to do. He immediately started performing chest compressions on his friend until he had a pulse. When the EMT’s finally arrived to haul him off to the hospital they told Dan that his friend would have been as dead as his bathroom’s doorknob if it wasn’t for his help.

It is a story that has become so common in the suburbs of Southern California. Privileged young adults diving deep into the depths of heroin addiction to escape what they see as a dull existence. Dan very well could have chosen to use drugs to escape poverty, but he never did. Instead, he faced his existence and joined the Army as a way to improve himself and support his family.

“My family grew up really poor. My dad used to live in a room about this big (Dan points around his room) with like 10 people and no roof. My mom had like eight sisters, and two brothers in Mexico. This was back in the 60’s. So there’s a lot of pressure on me because they expect me to do better, since they didn’t have a good life. They worked their whole life just for me to be able to get an education.”

I have personally known Dan since I was 14. He was one of the first kids to talk to me when I entered a brand new school in a brand new town on my first day of high school. And to this day he is still here as one of my best friends. Dan is the sort of friend you want to have in your life when things get rough and people walk out; and he’s the exact sort of person the Army wants with its “Leave no man behind” mantra. Dan’s actions on the night his friend overdosed are a reflection on his personal character, and a reflection of the discipline instilled within him during his time in the Army’s 82nd Airborne division.

Like many Afghanistan combat veterans, Dan has his share of sad stories and of hilarious stories involving goofball soldiers trimming lawns with scissors as discipline. And of course there was the time his mom mailed him a loving care package of snacks during boot camp…which the drill sergeant ordered him to eat in 10 minutes. I got together with Dan recently to interview him about his time in the Army, his family, and his love of weightlifting. On this Veteran’s Day 2014 we should all take a moment to reflect on the personal sacrifice soldiers make for us every day, and if possible, spend some time with a soldier and thank them for their service.

---

Why did you decide to join the Army right out of high school?

Well I actually didn’t join right out of high school, I went to MSJC community college for one semester. My family had bought a house in Temecula and we had a hard time paying for college, so I decided to join the Army. We were living paycheck to paycheck. I didn’t join out of honor initially, but as time went on I gained that respect for the military. I said to myself, “I’m gonna do Airborne, air assault, try doing some Ranger training, all that.”

What was the toughest part of training?

I don’t think it was hard. I think it was hard in the beginning because I was sort of overweight, but once I lost a lot of weight I was kind of just training a lot more…I think mentally it was tough. You know, I was away from my family. Because I’m big with family and we’ve always been close growing up. So I guess physically it wasn’t hard but mentally it was—spiritually, emotionally.

What was your favorite gun to shoot in the Army?

I liked the 240 Bravo. It was just manly. Every time I shot it I thought, “I could mess someone up.” It was cool to train with because I’m a big guy and I like having that bigger gun with me. I felt comfortable with it, like it was my baby. So it was fun shooting that a lot when we went to the range.

I actually got hurt with it one time when we were doing live fire training. I was carrying my 240 and I was running down to cover fire, and I just fell, I fell on my right shoulder and broke it.

Tell me about the time you jumped out of a C-130 and were knocked out mid-air.

We were doing our typical mass tech jumps which is where our whole division jumps together. So there are basically hundreds of paratroopers in the air at night. Once we land there is an objective—I was artillery so I would have to get my comms up, and we had to support the infantry going towards the village. That night I had a lot of weight, at least 60 lbs., and I was carrying extras like radios, extra ammo, MRE’s and sleeping bags. There was a lot of turbulence so right when I jumped out I fell forward and hit the side of the airplane.

I don’t remember anything else. I just remember waking up in midair, and I looked up to check my canopy—the canopy holds you—I looked up and it was open. I said, “Good.” But as I was falling down I felt a lot of blood coming out of my mouth. I was like, “What the fuck.” So I landed and I told my friend, “Hey, Howzer, come here dude. Look at my face.” He was all, “Yeah, dude, you’re bleeding.” So my whole face was gushing, I was missing teeth, I was talking funny.

But I had to do a mission. I was the radio guy that day. So I had to go set up comms so we could shoot fire at the “enemy.” So I had to suck it up, and I ran maybe half a mile to our vantage point. Once I got there I set up comms, set up the antennae, did a digital mission, and I was out there all night bleeding.

You eventually ended up doing two tours in Afghanistan. Is there one thing you could say about the situation over there that most people might not know?

I think the people over there get a bad rep sometimes because the media portrays them as evil. You see innocent journalists getting beheaded…so people think that they (the civilians) are evil too, but that’s not true. There are a lot of good people over there. I met a lot of nice civilians over there. They’re just there to make money; nice, hardworking guys. I remember a lot of people used to give them bad looks and it just sucks. The media likes to twist our minds and tell us, “All Muslims are bad.” It’s like when 9/11 happened everyone started profiling every Muslim like they were a terrorist. When you’re over there you get people giving them bad looks. They’re just human beings like us.

You had a Colt M4 over there. How did it work out for you?

It was nice actually. It never jammed…well, I actually cleaned it every day. Our sergeant made us clean it. So it was always ready to shoot. I never had a problem with it at all. I always kept it clean, always had my magazines clean, my rounds were clean, everything. It was always ready to fire when I had to shoot it.

When you came home from Afghanistan was it hard to adjust back into civilian life?

It was at first, like the first six months. Such as sleeping patterns, because over there we had a strict four to six hour sleep, 12 hour shifts. So it was kinda hard as far as that. But I had a really strong family; they always called me, showed support. I could always call my brothers, good friends. I think once you have a really strong family bond you can get through anything. I know a friend that isn’t really close to his family, and he still suffers from PTSD. So I know having a strong bond with your family helps out a lot with the transition out of combat.

Did you have trouble getting a job afterwards?

I did, actually. I applied to almost every PD: LAPD, Orange County PD, San Diego PD, San Bernardino PD. I kept getting stuck at backgrounds because they would say I wasn’t experienced enough. Or after two weeks they would say I didn’t make it. But I think they just weeded out the people they didn’t want. Right now I’m just going to school (Dan is also working as an armed guard), and hopefully I can get a law enforcement job afterwards.

You’re big into weightlifting. What’s the best advice you could give to a newbie?

I like to powerlift, I like to get stronger. I couldn’t give any advice to bodybuilders, because I don’t look like one, but if anyone wants to get stronger and get bigger my advice would be to start eating clean, eat a lot. A lot of clean chicken, tilapia, salmon, grass-fed beef, lentils. Just eat a bunch of food and lift heavy as fuck.

What’s one thing that you took away from the military that you could tell someone?

I think being away from my family gave me a better understanding about having family and close friends. You really appreciate having a mom, having a dad, a brother, close friends. So when I see somebody and they ask me about my experience I always tell them, “I just appreciate life now.” Because it’s so short, it really is. Every day when I see my mom I give her a hug, give my dad a hug, tell them I love them; my brothers, all of them, and my friends. Because I know life can be taken away in an instant.

So I think the military, and my life in general, has shown me to be more appreciative of my friends and family. I’m just lucky to be alive.