1 00:00:01,440 --> 00:00:04,349 Good . OK . And then you can just flip 2 00:00:04,349 --> 00:00:06,293 it up . OK . I'll never forget our 3 00:00:06,293 --> 00:00:08,819 instructor said . As soon as you take 4 00:00:08,819 --> 00:00:12,710 the lid off , your focus goes directly 5 00:00:12,710 --> 00:00:15,420 into that hive and everything around 6 00:00:15,420 --> 00:00:16,959 you quiets . 7 00:00:21,909 --> 00:00:24,076 And so there are a lot of stressors as 8 00:00:24,076 --> 00:00:27,540 we discussed um in life , being here , 9 00:00:27,750 --> 00:00:29,917 being away from family , coming off of 10 00:00:29,917 --> 00:00:31,917 this deployment . But this has been 11 00:00:31,917 --> 00:00:33,806 such an awesome hands on learning 12 00:00:33,806 --> 00:00:35,861 opportunity where you open that hive 13 00:00:35,861 --> 00:00:38,083 and you are like yes what are we seeing 14 00:00:38,083 --> 00:00:40,139 what are we doing you know there's a 15 00:00:40,139 --> 00:00:42,139 safety piece to it too you know you 16 00:00:42,139 --> 00:00:44,306 wanna be gentle , you wanna be careful 17 00:00:44,306 --> 00:00:46,472 and it has been awesome to learn about 18 00:00:46,472 --> 00:00:48,740 and and it truly does take me away from 19 00:00:48,909 --> 00:00:51,131 the other life stressors as . I learned 20 00:00:51,131 --> 00:00:53,242 about the process of making honey and 21 00:00:53,242 --> 00:00:55,298 and taking care of the bees . Put it 22 00:00:55,298 --> 00:00:57,549 down , he said leave it open till we're 23 00:00:57,549 --> 00:01:00,430 done . OK . I have a wrist injury and 24 00:01:00,430 --> 00:01:02,597 it affects pretty much everything that 25 00:01:02,597 --> 00:01:05,589 I do . And on my civilian career , I'm 26 00:01:05,589 --> 00:01:07,760 a large animal veterinarian and I use 27 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:09,871 my hands a lot . I work with cattle , 28 00:01:09,871 --> 00:01:12,949 sheep , goat , pig , um , and my , my 29 00:01:12,949 --> 00:01:16,629 career depends on My hands and the use 30 00:01:16,629 --> 00:01:18,989 of my arms . And when I was having 31 00:01:18,989 --> 00:01:21,322 difficulty doing patient administration , 32 00:01:21,389 --> 00:01:24,269 typing , uh , I knew that there was , 33 00:01:24,430 --> 00:01:26,989 this was gonna impact my , my civilian 34 00:01:26,989 --> 00:01:29,180 career and my , my life overall . So . 35 00:01:31,069 --> 00:01:33,389 And at this point , we're going to do a 36 00:01:33,389 --> 00:01:36,419 surgical procedure next month on 37 00:01:37,269 --> 00:01:39,750 trying to see if there are things that 38 00:01:39,750 --> 00:01:42,669 we can repair . I've come to terms with 39 00:01:42,669 --> 00:01:46,139 the fact that I am in pain right now 40 00:01:46,349 --> 00:01:48,779 and I'm in pain doing daily function , 41 00:01:49,190 --> 00:01:51,389 and I know that going home and trying 42 00:01:51,389 --> 00:01:53,556 to do my civilian career with the pain 43 00:01:53,556 --> 00:01:55,500 that I'm in right now would not be 44 00:01:55,500 --> 00:01:58,029 feasible . So what I've come to terms 45 00:01:58,029 --> 00:02:01,110 with is getting this procedure will be 46 00:02:01,110 --> 00:02:03,166 better than where I'm at right now . 47 00:02:03,166 --> 00:02:06,790 Yeah , it's got quite a bit of backside 48 00:02:06,790 --> 00:02:08,830 looks nice too . That's a good . 49 00:02:10,529 --> 00:02:14,289 By being a part of a community , I have 50 00:02:14,289 --> 00:02:17,649 not only met people here at the SRU but 51 00:02:17,649 --> 00:02:20,289 um people that are within the B 52 00:02:20,289 --> 00:02:23,490 community and have offered to help me 53 00:02:23,490 --> 00:02:26,169 even when I go home . Uh , it's , it's 54 00:02:26,169 --> 00:02:29,740 basically a form of mentorship . And 55 00:02:29,740 --> 00:02:33,490 one thing that I've really enjoyed is 56 00:02:33,660 --> 00:02:37,339 that Fort Riley was able to have bees 57 00:02:37,339 --> 00:02:39,450 put on the property and it was within 58 00:02:39,450 --> 00:02:41,617 walking distance of where our barracks 59 00:02:41,617 --> 00:02:44,100 are . And so not only do we have a 60 00:02:44,100 --> 00:02:46,100 classroom based discussion where we 61 00:02:46,100 --> 00:02:48,059 learn about the bees and and the 62 00:02:48,059 --> 00:02:50,020 process of honey and how to make 63 00:02:50,020 --> 00:02:53,020 beeswax and and and make candles out of 64 00:02:53,020 --> 00:02:56,139 the beeswax , but we get to go do hands 65 00:02:56,139 --> 00:02:58,330 on with the beehives . 66 00:03:01,070 --> 00:03:03,070 I would like to continue beekeeping 67 00:03:03,070 --> 00:03:05,789 when I go home , um , one for the 68 00:03:05,830 --> 00:03:08,309 therapeutic effect . I do think that 69 00:03:08,309 --> 00:03:10,830 the world shuts off around you as 70 00:03:10,830 --> 00:03:13,190 you're manipulating that hive , and I 71 00:03:13,190 --> 00:03:16,940 have really grown to like the bees . I , 72 00:03:17,110 --> 00:03:19,221 I talk to them , I say , Good morning 73 00:03:19,221 --> 00:03:23,100 ladies , you know , hello , um , 74 00:03:23,110 --> 00:03:24,943 rather than squish any of them . 75 00:03:31,330 --> 00:03:35,089 Gary's fearless . Survival 101 , don't 76 00:03:35,089 --> 00:03:36,440 make the bees mad . 77 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:42,216 These are not bad at all . These are 78 00:03:42,216 --> 00:03:44,549 nice bees . I think this experience has , 79 00:03:44,549 --> 00:03:48,520 has been very impactful . Um , 80 00:03:48,889 --> 00:03:51,210 we've gone throughout this discussion 81 00:03:51,210 --> 00:03:54,289 from me leaving a deployment early due 82 00:03:54,289 --> 00:03:57,610 to an injury to Me going on remote 83 00:03:57,610 --> 00:03:59,777 management to get the care that I need 84 00:03:59,777 --> 00:04:01,610 with a new interest that I never 85 00:04:01,639 --> 00:04:05,130 thought I would have . Um . I think 86 00:04:05,130 --> 00:04:07,729 that that's extremely powerful and the 87 00:04:07,729 --> 00:04:10,720 SRU staff have all been very supportive 88 00:04:11,169 --> 00:04:14,910 and Willing to teach , willing to 89 00:04:14,990 --> 00:04:16,879 to help in any way and willing to 90 00:04:16,879 --> 00:04:19,619 mentor and so . I've had a very 91 00:04:19,619 --> 00:04:21,786 positive experience here and I've I've 92 00:04:21,786 --> 00:04:25,440 talked to my command . At the 204 MCAS 93 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:27,662 and I , I've shared my experiences with 94 00:04:27,662 --> 00:04:29,630 my command and , and how positive 95 00:04:29,630 --> 00:04:32,089 things have gone so far for me . So I 96 00:04:32,089 --> 00:04:34,200 think the future is bright . I'd like 97 00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:36,367 to return to duty and get back to work 98 00:04:36,367 --> 00:04:36,959 and this is that next step .