War Ended. Real Fight Began with Lee Freeburg | Ship's Log #51

So in Iraq as a corpsman, you were one people were brought to when it's bad.

You're seeing, you know, what war actually does to a human body.

So did that change something in you while you were still over there? Or did you not feel it until you came home?

I would say that it didn't really affect me while I was in combat.

And even after getting home, I have a few things that kind of lingered with me over the years.

But for the most part, some things kind of just decided I got integrated back into society.

While there's still some major differences, I think, between civilians and military life, I found a way to make it work for me.

Okay.

Yeah.

Most people come home and nobody asks what they carried back with them.

So you've talked openly about experiencing real drift after the military, not just adjusting, but actually losing your footing.

What did that look like for you? And what finally started to crack it open?

One thing the military is good at is instilling necessity of discipline and an identity.

And while you're on active duty, living up to that discipline and living that identity is very simple.

Just do what you're told and you get to go home at night.

When you leave the military...

No longer do you have that parental guidance or correction over you.

That discipline, if it's not instilled in you, you leave without it.

And I think for a lot of people in the Navy or even just in the military in general, I think we leave the military.

And when we leave, we leave that identity and that discipline behind us.

And we go out, we say, okay, now it's my life.

I get to live how I want to live.

And without a plan or without a direction, many of us just slip into this drift.

We do what we think we're supposed to do, go get a job, buy a car, get married, have kids, all while living unfulfilled.

We've lost our purpose.

So in Iraq as a corpsman, you were one people were brought to when it's bad.

You're seeing, you know, what war actually does to a human body.

So did that change something in you while you were still over there? Or did you not feel it until you came home?

I would say that it didn't really affect me while I was in combat.

And even after getting home, I have a few things that kind of lingered with me over the years.

But for the most part, some things kind of just decided I got integrated back into society.

While there's still some major differences, I think, between civilians and military life, I found a way to make it work for me.

Okay.

Yeah.

Most people come home and nobody asks what they carried back with them.

So you've talked openly about experiencing real drift after the military, not just adjusting, but actually losing your footing.

What did that look like for you? And what finally started to crack it open?

One thing the military is good at is instilling necessity of discipline and an identity.

And while you're on active duty, living up to that discipline and living that identity is very simple.

Just do what you're told and you get to go home at night.

When you leave the military...

No longer do you have that parental guidance or correction over you.

That discipline, if it's not instilled in you, you leave without it.

And I think for a lot of people in the Navy or even just in the military in general, I think we leave the military.

And when we leave, we leave that identity and that discipline behind us.

And we go out, we say, okay, now it's my life.

I get to live how I want to live.

And without a plan or without a direction, many of us just slip into this drift.

We do what we think we're supposed to do, go get a job, buy a car, get married, have kids, all while living unfulfilled.

We've lost our purpose.