Sergeant First Class Martin Acosta served as a Green Beret in the 7th Special Forces Group and is now transitioning to civilian life. He talks about his time in the military, the unique brotherhood that is found in the ranks of the elite forces, and the importance of mental health challenges that we have so many of our veterans wanting to address. He also shares his thoughts on the State of the Union Day ceremony, which is a moment for our country to hear from the President of the United States about vision and goals. Martin also discusses his path to the U.S. Army and how he became a member of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO), the elite unit tasked with destroying enemy enemy targets in Afghanistan. He also talks about how he got into the military and why he decided to stay in the service, and what it takes to be a hero in the eyes of the public, even when you don t have the physical training to be one. Firebrand is a production of the Firebrand Podcast, produced and produced by Firebrand Media and Firebrand Productions. Thank you for listening and supporting our mission to make a difference in the lives of men, women, and families everywhere. We can't wait to do it again! Thank you, Firebrand! -Jon Sorrentino Jon Rocha John McCain Matt LaFleur Rep. Matt Gaetz Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ronna McDaniel Joe Crowley Sen. Ted Poe, D-Massachusetts Steve Scalise and Rep. John Flemingert Pizzi & Rep. Rick Soto Adam Schiff . And so much more! -Jon Ocasio-Roman - Jon Taffer Dan Quinto Mike McLendon Ben Wisnowski Daniel Pascual Michael Ocio Tom Long Jake Wisniewski Brian Wisnaw David Perla Tim Longoria Julian Castro Brad Bradshaw Paul Kasinski Rick Sinek Carl Gooding , Gorms Kevin McCarthy Gary Vellian Martin A. Chacosta Carlos Vazquez Chris Clark Stephen Kortorf Alex Castellanos Jordan
00:04:52.000Matt Gaetz was one of the very few members in the entire Congress who bothered to stand up against permanent Washington on behalf of his constituents.
00:04:59.000Matt Gaetz right now, he's a problem in the Democratic Party.
00:05:02.000He could cause a lot of hiccups in passing applause.
00:05:05.000So we're going to keep running those stories to keep hurting him.
00:05:09.000If you stand for the flag and kneel in prayer, if you want to build America up and not burn her to the ground, then welcome, my fellow patriots!
00:05:46.000We're broadcasting live out of room 2021 of the Rayburn Office Building here at the Capitol Complex in Washington, D.C. And there is always a great deal of energy on Capitol Hill when it is State of the Union Day.
00:05:59.000Extra security, extra focus, a lot of folks trying to cast a vision.
00:06:05.000Here in the halls of the House of Representatives this evening to deliver the State of the Union and there's always a great deal of interest in who members of Congress select to be their guest for the State of the Union and I invited Sergeant First Class Martin Acosta Someone who served as a Green Beret in our district and is now transitioning to civilian life.
00:06:26.000He's got a lot to share about his time in Afghanistan, about the unique brotherhood that appends to service in our military, about the path to special forces, and about mental health challenges that we have so many of our veterans wanting to address and they want to advocate for those who are still in uniform, their family members.
00:06:49.000Take a listen to Sergeant First Class Martin Acosta.
00:06:54.000We're joined now by Sergeant First Class Martin Acosta, served our great country as a Green Beret, was working right there with the 7th Special Forces Group and a member of that elite organization.
00:07:07.000And my good friend, we actually met for the first time at Walter Reed and have stayed in contact ever since.
00:07:13.000Martin, thanks so much for joining me here in the office.
00:07:40.000I am very grateful for the opportunity of being able to attend with you and see this side of the government that not a lot of people get to see.
00:07:49.000You will definitely get the behind-the-scenes views and now see everybody likes that they can have the cameras to see who's talking and who and chit-chatting with you, and you'll have the whole perspective.
00:07:59.000You're a big dude, so I only feel bad about whoever has to sit behind you because they might not have as good a view.
00:08:03.000But I wanted to talk to you about Your path to the United States Army, because right now in the Armed Services Committee, we're very concerned that recruiting has become harder, that the people who are even physically eligible to serve in the Army is less and less over time.
00:08:20.000And so you're one of our great celebrated heroes.
00:08:23.000Tell us about what brought you to the United States Army.
00:08:28.000Well, let me just start out, sir, by saying, you know, I was born in Texas, but I pretty much grew up in the south side of Chicago.
00:08:36.000So, you know, I tell people nowadays, you know, I kind of got to see combat before I actually joined the military.
00:08:44.000So, one of the big major reasons why I joined, why I enlisted in the Army back in 2009 was to kind of get away from the gang violence in Chicago.
00:08:56.000And as you've told it to me before, it was not the best news your mother wanted to hear.
00:09:04.000Actually, I still don't think she's convinced.
00:09:07.000It was just something I really wanted to do.
00:09:10.000I grew up watching Rambo, all those movies, and it's just something that I felt I had a passion for.
00:09:21.000Coming from a household, being a single, you know, Hispanic woman with three boys and a young girl, you know, she was in her 20s.
00:09:30.000She's worked all her life to raise us.
00:09:32.000So, you know, as an older guy, I was the oldest out of the four.
00:09:37.000I kind of just took on the role to try to set an example.
00:09:40.000You know, my job is like, hey, we don't really have a father figure at this time, so what do I need to do to get these guys to follow me later on?
00:09:48.000So my mom was pushing college a lot, mainly to kind of set the example for the others to follow.
00:10:33.000And just with the sign of a paper, he canceled my orders to my unit and said, hey, you're going to Special Forces Assessment and Selection.
00:10:41.000And from this point on, it's up to you if you make it or not.
00:10:44.000And that's kind of how I got my start in the United States Army back in 2009. What was the hardest part of that Special Forces transition for you?
00:11:12.000I just needed something, a new challenge.
00:11:14.000I think around that time is when the Call of Duty games were big.
00:11:18.000And just one day, I just had enough, and I said, I want to do this for real.
00:11:23.000And, you know, everybody thought I was joking for a while.
00:11:27.000They thought maybe I just went away for a few years and was living with family in California.
00:11:32.000But when I came back after graduating, the first time, you know, when I was officially a Green Beret and I came back to Chicago, Just to see the smile in my mom's face, I felt like it was all worth it.
00:11:47.000She knew the sacrifice that went into that.
00:11:49.000It was essentially me having a college diploma.
00:11:51.000Even though I'm going to college now to get my diploma, it was like having a college diploma.
00:12:00.000We're joined by Sergeant First Class Martin Acosta.
00:12:03.000He's my guest to the State of the Union and one of Northwest Florida's finest and bravest and represents the Seven Special Forces community so well.
00:12:11.000And it's a community that certainly has gone deep into the fight.
00:12:15.000If we were Talking to somebody who was making that decision about the United States Army that was a young person trying to find themselves, wondering if the Army was the right option for them.
00:12:27.000What advice would you give about the traits that people need to have to be successful like you are?
00:14:35.000Stand up, and then the rest is on your own.
00:14:38.000So I think we definitely, I wouldn't say necessarily stop a lot of stuff, just maybe restructure it.
00:14:46.000You know, have a better understanding of why people are doing the things that they're doing.
00:14:51.000Well, you made this choice to go into the Army, you then get tapped for Special Forces, you go excel there, and you find yourself in Afghanistan.
00:15:02.000I know the story, but for those who don't, share your experience in Afghanistan, the mission you were working on, the work you were doing, and then how we ultimately came to meet up at Walter Reed.
00:19:31.000You know, while I was on the ground looking at my buddy and seeing the chaos around us, the only thing I could think of was my wife and kids.
00:20:03.000Some of your commanders have told me sometimes it can come to blows with Green Berets not wanting to be home but being so willing to be in the fight to have those moments.
00:20:13.000And it's just, you know, and it's that go-getter mentality, you know.
00:20:16.000We don't like to settle for being second.
00:20:24.000But there's a full understanding of the sacrifice because I remember when I was there with President Trump when Jaguar...
00:20:30.000I came home on dignified transfer with Antonio, and the members of the 7th Special Forces Group were standing right there in the rain in observance of that moment.
00:20:42.000And so it is not a decision that seems entered in too lightly.
00:21:53.000Maybe I could answer that question in six months because right now I'm still trying to figure it out.
00:22:00.000And this is something that we see kind of across the economy.
00:22:04.000So many businesses wanting to hire veterans because of the skill set, because of the discipline, because of the sense of purpose and mission, and so many veterans transitioning to corporate and civilian life.
00:22:18.000Having to feel like it's so different and the energy and the tempo sometimes doesn't really compare from what I've heard from a lot of folks.
00:22:28.000What advice would you give people that have just, you know, made that initial step like you have to just where you are saying, look, I'm going to take these skills that the United States Army taught me.
00:22:39.000I'm going to put them to work for my career progression, for my family.
00:22:43.000How would you advise people that are kind of on that initial step of the path?
00:22:48.000I would say they need to ask themselves two questions.
00:22:54.000What do they think their purpose is and what do they want to do?
00:22:58.000If they could answer those two questions and find something that they have in common, that's a good place to start.
00:23:06.000We could do that with a lot of the folks in Congress and probably improve the place a good bit.
00:23:10.000Joined by Sergeant First Class Martin Acosta, my guest to the State of the Union, served in Afghanistan, was injured there, came back and is living a great life in Northwest Florida and we couldn't be prouder of him.
00:23:22.000When we were at your retirement ceremony, you really reflected on the need for people to focus on mental health for a lot of the folks who are still in active duty and just getting out of active duty.
00:23:36.000Why was that something you really wanted to draw focus on?
00:23:42.000At first, just like everybody, I thought it was a myth.
00:23:47.000I thought it was just another excuse for people to not do what they needed to do.
00:23:53.000Once I started seeing not how it just affected me, how it affects my family, that's when it clicked.
00:24:00.000You know, that's when it clicked that this is real and we need to do something about it.
00:24:06.000And when I saw how hard it was for me to get help while being active duty, I started paying attention to my surroundings and started realizing that I wasn't the only one.
00:24:22.000Maybe it's the background that I have.
00:24:24.000Maybe it's, you know, the training that I had.
00:25:26.000And mainly, if we can get people to open up about it and say, hey, this is a problem, I think that's a very good start.
00:25:34.000We need more people to be open about it.
00:25:36.000You know, it's interesting in a lot of our military policy, we have historically always assessed how physically able is this particular group of people for a deployment, for a particular mission, and now we're starting to do those types of assessment for people's mental health based on rapid deployment schedule,
00:25:57.000based on the intensity and acuity of the conflict, Distance, duration, all those types of things can inform on readiness, really, in a lot of ways for active duty.
00:27:41.000Last week my office extended an invitation to a veteran to lead the House Judiciary Committee in the Pledge of Allegiance.
00:27:47.000It was a unifying moment for Republicans and Democrats in the committee to open the business of the committee with a reminder of why we serve the American people, led by someone who once fought for our country.
00:28:01.000Unfortunately, my decision caused some unintended consequences.
00:28:05.000The veteran I invited had prior involvement with law enforcement Which I was unaware of until after the ceremony in the Judiciary Committee.
00:28:13.000The family affected by this activity brought the situation to my attention.
00:28:20.000When our office encounters a veteran in need of assistance, our first thoughts aren't, let's run a background check, or I wonder if this person had any run-ins with the law that might make someone look bad.
00:28:32.000Our first thought when we see a veteran is to thank them for their service and to think about how we can be helpful and productive.
00:28:41.000Congressional offices don't look like the inside of any sort of law enforcement headquarters.
00:28:47.000We don't have access to any type of surveillance technology or databases that would rise to the level of even some of the folks you'd see in your local police department.
00:28:58.000We do have a team of dedicated young professionals who don't look for and assume the worst in our constituents and especially our veterans.
00:29:07.000They maximize their capabilities by using them with good intentions and sometimes even with the best of intentions we fall short.
00:29:15.000I apologize to the family For the unintended pain that our invitation caused to them.
00:29:22.000Going forward we will use this experience to better inform on our standard operating procedure for inviting guests to ceremonies and official events.
00:29:32.000Thank you so much for joining us today on Firebrand.