Pepe Ramirez’s ambition to soar as a pilot or astronaut as a young boy steered him onto a path of military service. Despite setbacks, including diminished vision, Pepe’s determination saw him enlisting in the Marine Corps in December 1988. His experiences in boot camp during the Christmas season laid a strong foundation for his future, confronting him with a blend of chaos and camaraderie that solidified his resolve to serve.
Throughout the episode, Pepe shares insights into the training regimens that forged him into a Marine. He recalls the principles instilled by Marine Corps leadership as every Marine is first and foremost a rifleman, a philosophy underpinning the Basic Warrior Training introduced during his years of service. His accounts underscore the crucial importance of rigorous discipline and training in preparing Marines for the realities of combat.
Pepe also reflects on his time as a drill instructor, where his mission was to prepare recruits not just for military service, but for life. He recounts stories of shaping young minds through challenging exercises that demanded both mental and physical resilience. His tales reveal the transformative power of military training in developing character and dedication to duty.
Yet, the conversation also touches on the challenges returning service members face, particularly the often harsh transitions back into civilian life. Peña emphasizes the importance of support systems for veterans, illustrating this with personal anecdotes including his own family’s journey through adversity. His narratives highlight the ongoing battles many veterans face and the need for understanding and advocacy in civilian society.
Pepe’s views on the broader cultural attacks on masculinity and the warrior class present thought-provoking perspectives on societal expectations and the value of traditional roles. He stresses the importance of recognizing the natural instincts and skills honed in military service, arguing for a nuanced understanding of masculinity in modern contexts.
The episode wraps with a call to honor and support veterans, recognizing their sacrifices and contributions. Through the efforts of the USMC Memorial Foundation and other civic initiatives, Pepe underscores the importance of preserving the stories and legacies of past and present service members. Kim Munson’s conversation with Pepe Ramirez is a powerful testament to the enduring spirit and sacrifice of America’s veterans.
Honor our Veterans Saturday, November 9th, 2:00 at the USMC Memorial at 6th and Colfax in Golden. Marine Veteran Sgt. Major Pepe Ramirez is the keynote speaker. We are re-broadcasting an interview with Sgt. Maj. Ramirez. Ramirez was born in the Philippines, grew up in the south side of Chicago, and graduated high school in Houston, Texas. Ramirez shares nuggets of wisdom that will inspire you to take care of the little things.
SPEAKER 05 :
World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Afghanistan, and our other wars and conflicts. America's fighting men and women strapped on their boots and picked up their guns to fight tyranny and stand for liberty. We must never forget them. Welcome to America's Veteran Stories with Kim Munson. These stories will touch your heart, inspire you, and give you courage. We stand on the shoulders of giants. Here's Kim Munson.
SPEAKER 09 :
And welcome to America's Veterans Stories with Kim Munson. Be sure and check out our website. That is AmericasVeteransStories.com. And I do this show because of a trip that I took in 2016 with a group that accompanied four D-Day veterans to Normandy, France, for the 72nd anniversary of the D-Day landings during World War II. and return stateside realizing that we need to know the stories. We need to broadcast them and archive them, record them of our military and our veterans. And so it is just an honor to get to do this show. And I'm so honored to have in studio with me Marine Pepe Ramirez. Pepe, it's great to have you here.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thank you, ma'am. It's an honor to be here, and it's a very humbling experience.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, I can't wait to get into your stories. But let's start at the beginning. Where did you grow up?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I was born in the Philippines, and so my dad was actually recruited by the U.S. Army during World War II to fight against the Japanese. He used guerrilla warfare. And then back in 71... decided to come to the United States. And the only thing he had when he came here was a suitcase and clothes in his back. So he taught me a lot of perseverance, taught me to be a man, a chivalrous man, and to have integrity.
SPEAKER 09 :
Wow. Did he ever talk much about his experience in World War II?
SPEAKER 04 :
That's kind of funny. I didn't even know he was a veteran until after I joined the Marine Corps. That's when I found out that he actually served. And I saw his discharge papers, equivalent to a DD-214. And so I saw what his exploits were. And It was kind of funny. And then after coming back from Iraq, from my first tour, again, he opened up a little bit more.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, it was pretty brutal in the Philippines, World War II, guerrilla warfare. Yeah. Wow. So, uh, and then why, why did you join the Marines? Why did you get into the military? Many times it's because sons have looked to, you know, know about their father's military service, but if that wasn't the case, how did you end up in the Marines?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, um, I've always wanted to become a pilot. And so I was, I remember writing the president of the United States because I wanted to become an astronaut. And, um, What happened was... How old were you? I was in eighth grade at the time. Oh, I love it.
SPEAKER 09 :
Oh, I love it.
SPEAKER 04 :
And he sent me all kinds of things about the astronauts and everything else like that. There was a publication from the Library of Congress. It had all the bios of the cosmonauts as well as us astronauts. It was very interesting. And so as I got older, I was like, okay, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this.
SPEAKER 09 :
Did the president send this back?
SPEAKER 04 :
It was NASA. It was NASA. Okay.
SPEAKER 09 :
And which president did you write?
SPEAKER 04 :
Do you remember? I don't remember.
SPEAKER 09 :
It was the president.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 09 :
But through that, then you got all this information from NASA. Okay. Fascinating.
SPEAKER 04 :
It was very interesting. And then I had, like, 2010. I had very great vision until I finally went to high school. And I'm like, my vision kind of diminished. And so I guess I'm not going to become a pilot. So... Over the years, I was like, I'm going to join the military, I'm going to join the military. Then all of a sudden, I started thinking about which brand. So I finally joined on December 13th of 1988, right before Christmas. And I'm like, I'm going to be in Christmas. I'm going to be in boot camp in Christmas. And so... That was fun times, I would say. And I think every Marine, every soldier, sailor, airman, at one time or another while they're going through boot camp, there's a realization that, you know... I am here. I am in the midst of chaos. And am I going to thrive or am I going to give up? So I think everybody feels that way. I could be at home waking up late. I could go to the bathroom by myself in private and have a cup of coffee and take my time without being yelled at by a drill instructor or drill sergeant or whatever.
SPEAKER 09 :
So you were in boot camp for Christmas? Yes. Okay. Did they ease up at all on Christmas Day or not? No. Okay. Okay. I've heard boot camp, really, the training is so important because you do get involved in actual combat. The training is so important. Did you feel, and I've heard that at least World War II guys, Korea, Marine boot camp was really tough. So what would you say to that?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. Well, General Gray was commandant of the Marine Corps at that time, so he implemented what he called basic warrior training. And it was back to basics. Marines are supposed to be riflemen. Every single MOS, regardless of what your job is in the Marine Corps, you are a rifleman. And the Marine Corps is one of the smaller services, and... I think the best book to really read about the Marine Corps, if you want to know more about it, is by General Krulak, First to Fight. In fact, I've got an autograph book from General Krulak. He was a World War II veteran, and he wrote about the history of the Marine Corps. But what it comes down to is... you're going to learn how to shoot the weapon. Because back in World War I, the Germans were coming into Europe. And what happened was General Pershing actually went to the Marines and said, hey, we need you. So they took all the Marines in. And regardless of MOS, cooks, motor T guys, everything, they brought him to the front lines, and they actually defended France. And hence, that's where Belleau Wood came in, which is the Marines Woods is what they called it.
SPEAKER 09 :
And that is one of the most famous of the Marine battles, right?
SPEAKER 04 :
Correct. And so that's—I mean, even before then, back into the Revolutionary War, I mean, the whole history of the Marine Corps has always been every Marine is a rifleman. And so that's been brought up. And— I was a drill instructor from 1996 to 1999, and they implemented this thing called the crucible. And, again, this is General Krulak's son. General Krulak was a commandant in the Marine Corps at the time, and he implemented the crucible. I was with Charlie Company. We were the first company to actually go through the crucible with the recruits. And it was very... interesting because a lot of services were decreasing their requirements for boot camp. The Marine Corps went the other way and they made it more challenging. And I felt that that was a great turning point because it made us more of a war fighting. And every single Marine either went to a school of infantry or another form of infantry training. So for the non-infantry Marines.
SPEAKER 09 :
Pepe, you're bringing up something that I've had some conversations with people about. And, you know, I think touched on it a little bit when we were talking before. But that is the warrior class. Those men that... are willing to be the warriors, to protect what is behind them and next to them. And I think there's been a real attack upon our warrior class from a kind of a cultural standpoint. What would you say to that?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I think, yes, there is an attack. And what it comes down to, like we talked about earlier, you know, People don't realize that we have the Atlantic Ocean on the east. We have the Pacific Ocean on the west. We have, of course, Mexico on the south and Canada on the north. And if there is an invasion in this country, we're going to be able to see it. We may be. Needless to say, yes. Needless to say, but... You know, with the open borders and everything, that's a whole different subject. And I know there's military-age men coming through the northern border as well as the southern border. And my opinion is they're going to fight us from within. And they're infiltrating. I mean, they're going through it. People don't realize... that there are cells out there, and they're sleeper cells. But again, like I said, I'm not going to go through that. But as far as going back to your question, with all these things about toxic masculinity and everything else like that, my opinion is, and this is my own opinion, let men be men, let women be women, okay? All I could tell you... How radical of you. Yeah. All I could tell you is there's no way I could endure the pain of having a child. I mean, birthing a child, I should say. Raising a child is a little bit different. But our physical makeup is totally different. And the way... evolved was we were the hunters, and that's what it came down to. I think now it's a natural security issue in which we cannot decrease our training. It has to be more challenging. So I spent 20 years in the Marine Corps, did three tours in Iraq. And I remember I was with 1st Marine Division, RCT-7. Colonel Hummer was Regimental CO at the time. And Sergeant Major Lucas came up to me, and he says, 1st Sergeant. I said, yes, Sergeant Major. I hear you have females in your unit. I said, Sergeant Major, I have Marines in my unit. And so he was kind of shocked with what I said. And he was very impressed. And I told him, every one of my Marines have at least a green belt. Because I was a black belt instructor in the Marine Corps. How that evolved also, if you're talking about war fighting. So Gerald Mundy was a lieutenant back in Vietnam. And he became the commandant of the Marine Corps. And he observed what was happening. So the Army was getting challenged. The Marine Corps, we still had our legacy from World War II. And, of course, Korea. kind kind did not want to really attack the Marines head-on because of our Legacy in our history so and then there were South Koreans along the lines as well and he noticed that the Vietnamese weren't really attacking the South Koreans come to find out he found out that the Vietnamese thought that all South Koreans were black belts. So when General Mundy became Commandant Marine Corps, he actually took all the subject matter experts from around the world, brought them to Quantico, and And hence the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program came about. So I think that was another way of increasing the lethality of every single Marine.
SPEAKER 09 :
Boy, that is absolutely fascinating. I'm talking with Marine Pepe Ramirez. And this is an appropriate time to mention the USMC Memorial Foundation. And they are raising money for the remodel of the Marine Memorial, the official Marine Memorial that is located at 6th and Colfax. And, Pepe, you're on the advisory board for that, right? Yes, ma'am. It's amazing work that Paula Sarles and the whole team is doing. And it is so important during this time in our country that we remember and honor all those who have been given, has given their lives, been willing to give their lives for our freedom. And people can buy a brick for one of the walkways that will be on the new Marine Memorial. And it's a great gift. In fact, I've purchased two bricks, one for my father's service and one for my father's cousin who died at Pearl Harbor in World War II. So it's a beautiful gift. You can get more information by going to usmcmemorialfoundation.org. We'll be right back with Pepe Ramirez.
SPEAKER 08 :
Remax Realtor Karen Levine helps bring to life the individual stories of our servicemen and women. With her sponsorship of America's Veteran Stories with Kim Munson, Karen honors the sacrifices of our military and is grateful for our freedom. As a member of the National Association of Realtors Board of Directors, Karen works to protect private property rights for all of us. Karen has a heart for our active duty military and veterans and is honored to help you buy or sell your home. Call Karen Levine at 303-877-7516 to help you navigate buying or selling your home. That's 303-877-7516.
SPEAKER 06 :
All of Kim's sponsors are an inclusive partnership with Kim and are not affiliated with or in partnership with KLZ or Crawford Broadcasting. If you would like to support the work of The Kim Munson Show and grow your business, contact Kim at her website, kimmunson.com. That's kimmunson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
SPEAKER 09 :
And welcome back to America's Veterans Stories with Kim Munson. Be sure and check out our website. That is AmericasVeteransStories.com. The show comes to you because of great sponsors. One of those sponsors is Hooters Restaurants, and they have five locations. That's Loveland, Aurora, Lone Tree, Westminster, and Colorado Springs. And how I got to know them, it's a really interesting story from when I was on city council. And it's how freedom and free markets and capitalism, we had PBIs, those politicians and bureaucrats and interested parties were trying to exert control. It's a really interesting story, but they do have five locations. And they have lunch specials Monday through Friday, and they've been a valued sponsor for many, many years. So honored to have in studio with me Pepe Ramirez, Marine. And what was your highest rank after, you know, before you?
SPEAKER 04 :
I retired as a sergeant major. Okay. So I was very fortunate. I had some really good leaders that took me under their wing. So I went to boot camp as a contract PFC because I had ROTC training. In high school, I was meritoriously promoted to Lance Corporal. That's an accelerated promotion. And that took a lot of effort because it's very rare for someone to graduate as a meritorious Lance Corporal. A year later. I have to ask you.
SPEAKER 09 :
So I'm thinking of young people. I'm hearing some I'm hearing leadership. I'm hearing discipline. I'm hearing different things. What are these things that that went into making you you that and what you could say to young people right now?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I think a lot of young people, including myself at that time, were searching for something more than we are. Maybe a sense of belonging and love. I found that in the Marine Corps, and I feel like every service member feels that same thing, that camaraderie, that teamwork. What it comes down to is unselfishness. We learn about taking care of each other. For example, in boot camp, what happens is that everyone thinks that it's atrocious. Yes, of course it is, because war is hell. And what it comes down to is we have to, for example, there was 120 of us when we first started boot camp. When I graduated, out of the 120, there was only 65 of us that graduated. So it instills confidence. It instills this inner strength. It builds resilience. And what it comes down to is if you build that resilience, you're going to be stronger. And that's one thing I loved about that book, First to Fight by General Krulak, is his vision or the Marine Corps' vision is to be able to make Marines. And when they leave the Marine Corps, they're going to be better citizens. And I truly believe that. It's a sense of belonging. It's a sense of self-sacrifice. It's not just about you. So we, yes, you could say we break down that individual, but people don't understand why we break down that individual. We break down that individual. As a drill instructor, we break down that individual and mold them to work with others. So... like General Kulak says, we are a reflection of society. We've come from good families, not so good families, and everything else in between. And I remember this young man, mom and dad were doctors, surgeons, and he had a Mercedes Benz, and he loved that Mercedes Benz. And I was an instructor trainer for water survival. That's when they tie your hands behind your back, tie your feet. You're supposed to jump off a tower. Do a forward somersault underwater, backward somersault underwater. If you have any ripples in the surface of the water, you have to start all over again. Grab a boot from the bottom deep end. Bring it up to the surface. It has a break. And then swim another 25 meters. If you were untied at any time from the beginning to the end, you had to start all over again. There was 50 Marines that started. Seven of us graduated. It was very intense training. I think that was the most challenging training I've ever had. Oh, my gosh.
SPEAKER 09 :
You did all this tied up?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, that was one of the requirements. So, to become an instructor. Then, I guess I was a glutton for punishment, I became an instructor trainer. So, and that's what happened. But again, as far as boot camp goes, what worked, this young man, and he didn't want to jump off the tower. And we were talking, and he said, you know, I'm going to go back to my Mercedes-Benz. And I said, good. A couple years from now, your Mercedes-Benz is going to be rusted. But you're going to look back in your life and say, I could have been a Marine. Your mom and dad bought you that Mercedes-Benz. Your mom and dad's not going to buy you the title Marine. He graduated. No. I just got chills. He came up to me afterwards and he said, he found me. He came back to the pool and he thanked me. He said, no one's going to take this away from me, not even my mom and dad. And honestly, I earned it. That was very enlightening. And it was very humbling. And so I earned my bachelor's degree in psychology while I was in active duty, my master's degree from University of Denver. and I'm working on my doctorate degree in psychology. So all I've got left is my dissertation and a research practicum, and then I'll be done. So you could call me, I guess, Dr. Sergeant Major Ramirez. I don't know.
SPEAKER 09 :
I'm just kidding. I will do. So what are you going to do after this?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I think I've used that my, so as a drill instructor, my opinion is my knowledge of, people not just the personalities I think there's their inner self and what we really look at is how can we motivate this individual to be the best that they can be and that's always been my philosophy And as a drill instructor, I challenge them so that they can make it. I remember this young man. I checked in to my next unit. I was the first sergeant at the time. And this young man comes out the door. And he freaks out. He runs back to his gun and he said, do you know who our first sergeant is? And the gunny and I were good friends. And he said, I hated that guy. He was my drill instructor. So the gunny calls me up and we started talking. I said, hey, send him into my office. So he comes in. And as drill instructors, we have names for, you know, all these recruits. So his name was Amendoza. So I called him Corn Oil, Amazola. So a lot of it is mind games. And so, again, building that resiliency. And he basically said, you could never get my name right. And I said, yes, I did. I said, you were sandbagging. And I made sure that you were going to reach your potential. And I said, you are so pissed off at me that you wanted to prove me wrong and you're going to graduate, which he did. And so all of a sudden you see the light at the top of his head. It's like, boom, okay. And we had a great time. And he goes, thank you. I didn't realize what you were doing. I'm like, I know what your potential was. The great thing about that young man was he had several Meritorious Promotions himself, which was amazing.
SPEAKER 09 :
So Pepe... Can you – I mean, there's so many people that – I don't know if washout is the right term – that wash out. Can you – is there something about you that you can tell the inner part of a person and how far to kind of push them or what? Yeah.
SPEAKER 04 :
All I could say is I think I'm very blessed. I will tell you that right now. I'm 61 years old. If I was a cat, I'd be dead 60 times over. I'll tell you that right now. As far as the resiliency aspect of it, is again, each of us have trials and tribulations in our lives. And I think this... life that we have is a whole new classroom, you could say. How can we overcome all these trials and tribulations? For example, I did three tours in Iraq. I remember I was in Iraq in 2003, came home in October, Not even a week after I got home, my CEO said, you're transferring to another company. You're going to this company. And you're shipping out in four months. And I'm like, sir, I'm the last person starting to come back home. And why am I going back? And he said... Well, you've got the combat action ribbon and the CEO has no combat experience. XO has no combat experience. So they want you to be in this company. I'm like, great. So here it is, October. Thanksgiving is coming up. Christmas is coming up. New Year's is coming up. And I didn't want to tell my children and my wife that I was shipping out in a matter of months. Part of that was protecting them. And I remember January 2nd, my wife said, I finally told my wife. that I'll be shipping out in February. Well, needless to say, she was my drone instructor at the time. She was very upset. And she told me, why didn't you share this with me? And I said, I was trying to protect you. I was trying to be a good husband. And she said, you know, trust me. to be a good wife too. And I said, please understand that if I would have said it, how would the children feel knowing that dad is leaving in four months plus Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's? And she said, okay, I understand. But next time tell me. I'm like, all right. So part of what I'm using for my degrees is basically helping veterans and their families. And I look at it as a systems approach of taking care of families. I think it's very important to be able to do that because the veteran needs their wife. And I feel that their wife, they don't realize that their wives could be their teammate. I remember... coming back home, and we went to the mall, and we're having lunch. And I saw this pole in the middle of the food court, and I made sure that my back was, the pole was right behind me. And my head was swiveling like the Exorcist, 360, going 100 miles per hour. My wife was in front of me, and she said, I have your back. At that time, she helped me evolve to be a better person. And instead of 360, I was at 270.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, that's progress, huh?
SPEAKER 04 :
It is progress. And a lot of veterans have an issue with hypervigilance. Uh-huh. It's very challenging because I feel that hypervigilance. I remember one therapist came up to me and she said, you need to extinguish that. And I looked at her and said, ma'am, you don't understand. It's like cutting off my right arm. It's what made me stay alive. And so I look at it like this. I'm going to tell you to stop eating Jolly Ranchers. You're going to look at me like, hell no, you're not going to do that. I'm going to keep doing it. Well, same thing with veterans. You tell them what not to do, they're going to do the opposite. So what I tell them is like, hypervigilance is part of who you are now. That's part of your identity. The thing is, if you're locked up in your house and boarded up, then let's talk. Mm-hmm. But if you walk out there, especially nowadays, think about it. How many carjackings are there? How many people are walking down the road next thing you know, someone slugs them upside the head? So is hypervigilance a bad thing? No. When you're aware of your situation? No. Hypervigilance becomes a disease when you're locked up. in your home, barricaded and isolated. That, to me, is an issue.
SPEAKER 09 :
Okay. And I really think that's a great nugget of wisdom, and that is to be aware of your situation no matter who you are. So we're going to continue the conversation. I'm talking with Maureen Pepe Ramirez, and we'll be right back.
SPEAKER 11 :
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SPEAKER 09 :
And welcome back to America's Veterans Stories with Kim Munson. Be sure and check out our website. That is AmericasVeteransStories.com. And did want to mention the Center for American Values, which is located in Pueblo, Colorado. Pueblo is known as the home of heroes because there are four Medal of Honor recipients that grew up in Pueblo, Colorado. and the center for american values is focused on a couple of things one honoring our medal of honor recipients keeping those stories alive they're the beautiful uh portraits of valor with quotes from our medal of honor recipients and would highly recommend you put that on your bucket list of something to do the center is open seven days a week ten to four pm but also then taking these values of america of honor integrity and patriotism making sure we understand them instill them and pass them on to the next generation through some great educational programs that they've put together. So you can get more information about the center at AmericanValueCenter.org. That's AmericanValueCenter.org. And I'm talking with Pepe Ramirez, a Marine. Active duty was what years?
SPEAKER 04 :
December of 88 until May of 2009. Okay, that long.
SPEAKER 09 :
And Sergeant Major, now again, I'm a civilian, but those are the guys that really make everything happen, right? Not necessarily. Well, then that's what somebody told me.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I mean, I look at it like this. Each rank, one thing about the Marine Corps, if there's... Two of you, one of you has to be a leader. That's how we've been brought up, okay? So every level, as far as the rank goes, we have our purpose. We have our mission. We have different levels of leadership. And, again, yeah, the SAR major is up there. One of the things I'll tell you, one of the reasons why I left the Marine Corps at about 20 years is because as you moved up in rank, it became more political. And there was a young man that came back from Iraq, reservist, and... His buddy was blown up beside him, and needless to say, he took some drugs, and he turned himself in, tested positive for drugs. I recommended to the CEO. I said, we need to retain him until the EAS. He needs help. Higher headquarters basically said, no, we need to kick them out, rain zone, do that. I'm like, that higher up sergeant major was not a combat vet. And that's what's going on with, I think, the lack of leadership from all branches of the military. You know, we were supposed to take care of our veterans, our service members, And our motto is we don't leave anyone behind. Well, guess what, gentlemen, ladies, quote, quote, leaders. When we come back home, it's a whole new battlefield. And people don't understand, especially the reserve section, within 24 hours they're back home. And the next day they go back to the civilian world. And one of their coworkers makes a comment, how many people have you killed? And I was like, wow, really? So, again, they're in a one-man fighting hole somewhere in the United States. They feel like they're isolated. They don't have anybody there. And part of what leadership should be able to recognize is taking care of our own. And one of the biggest things that I thought about, I remember one Marine who was getting ready to leave. He had several tours in Iraq. And his company, Gunny, was making his life hell. And I called up the company, Gunny, and I said, why are you playing... you know, FF games with him. And I said, you know what? Here's how we retain Marines. And here's, he will be the best recruiter if we treat him well. You're not going to need him in the next two weeks. He's phased out. So why don't you give him an opportunity to transition? Give him an opportunity to show up for formation in the morning. Hey, I know you got some things that you need to do. And then come back at the end of the day for formation. When you take care of that young Marine like that, and he leaves the Marine Corps or any branch of service, How would that Marine feel when some civilian comes up and asks him, what was your experience with the Marine Corps? Well, the last thing he's going to remember is that we took care of him. What better way to have recruiters out there? And with the environment at this moment, we need to be able to take care of him. even when they get out. And I think it's a disservice when we use them up and then kick them to the curb. And so that young man, when I fought for him, I said, you know, if you kick him out, I'm out of the Marine Corps. And they said, well, you need two years' time in grade to retire as a sergeant major. I said, I'll have two years, a couple months. Well, you need 20 years to retire from Marine Corps. I'll have 20 years, a couple months. Well, you can't leave until I find a replacement. I said to the group sergeant major, I said, you know what? According to ADCET manual, you have four months. Kicked him out. Here's my retirement paper. And I retired. And I think it was time at that moment to, I think God put me in a different path to take care of veterans and their families. And so I became the COST coordinator for the Marine Corps, which is the Combat Operational Stress Control Regional Training Coordinator for the Marine Corps. We had first Marine, one MEF, two MEF, three MEF, and I was in charge of Marine Forces Reserves. And I traveled extensively throughout the United States giving deployment briefs, pre-deployment briefs, reintegration briefs, and so forth to Marines, sailors, and their spouses. And I loved that job. It was great. And I feel that, again, I'm going to go back to families again because I feel that's very important. for those veterans out there that feel like i have to be strong i have to be i have to project the strength all the time so i'll just tell you a little story one week before i left for my third tour in iraq my oldest son was diagnosed cancer um how old he was 23 at the time and then um Came back home. He had gone through chemo. I was in Fallujah at the time. My wife took care of the six kids. And she's my hero. She also protected me. She made sure that I didn't worry about her and the children. Gas at that time was about $5, $6 in California. She was driving from Lake Elsinore to San Diego. She would drop off our kids at daycare or school, drive to San Diego for my son's treatment, drop him off, drive back to Lake Elsinore, pick up the kids, drive back to San Diego, pick up our son, drive back to Lake Elsinore. I didn't know that. She made sure that I focused on my mission. And it was tough. And so I came home. I remember the doctor coming to us. He had his third set of chemos. Doctor came up to us and said, he has to go home for hospice care. And I remember my wife looking at me, she's like, how come you don't have any emotion for a child? How come you don't have any, you don't care, you don't love us, you don't love him. And I said, I'm supposed to be your knight in shining armor. You know, I'm supposed to be strong. I'm a U.S. Marine. I went to jungle survival training. I was a drill instructor. I went to mountain warfare training. I did all these things. And she said, you're still my knight in shining armor. But you're also human. And so I was there with my son on his last day, and I was holding his hand, and he looks up to me, and he said, Dad, you're still here? And I said, yes. And then you could see his spirit leave his body. You see one tear coming down his cheek, and that's when I lost it. And my wife and my family have never seen me cry that much the entire time they've known me. And all I can tell you is that that's part of being human. That's part of being a man. That's part of being that knight in shining armor. I lost... My third tour in Iraq, I had a husband and wife serve with me. And I was the ISR major up here, and his name came across my desk, and I was in denial. I was like, there's no way this is my Marine. So when the name comes across your desk, this is someone that has been killed? Yes. Okay. And so we're supposed to have CACO call, Casualty Assistance Calls Officer. That's when we send a family to notify. I mean, we send a representative from the Marine Corps to notify the family. And it was one of my Marines. and Sergeant Glenn Martinez from Alamosa. He graduated from CU Boulder. And he and his wife had bachelor's degrees, and they wanted to be enlisted first. They wanted to know what enlisted were like, and that's part of their ethos as far as being good leaders. And their goal was to become an officer. And the toughest thing I've ever had to do in my entire career was to give that American flag to to Sergeant Martinez, called her Landis. That was her last name, her maiden name. That was the hardest thing I ever had to do while I was in active duty because I knew both her and her husband, both Marines. Well, she fulfilled their dream. She became an officer. All I can tell you, as you're living day to day, Ronald Reagan said, some people go through life wondering whether they made a difference in their life. Marines don't have that problem. But honestly, each of us have that capacity to be able to make a difference in someone's life. Whether you open the door for somebody, just a quick smile, You're going to touch a person. And I think that's one of the things that we need to leave here with all the chaos that's going on around the world. All those little things that we could do to enlighten other people. You know, we are the light of the world. I truly believe that each of us have a light within us that we could... emanate throughout. And I said, the guy upstairs led me, kept me alive, giving me this journey. And I'm truly blessed. And I attained this wisdom because of Not because of me, because I have brains. No, it's because of my wife, my leaders, my dad, my mom. Honestly, I make a joke out of it. My mom was my first drill instructor. So when I went to boot camp, it's like, oh, you don't have nothing on my mom. You know, I love that. She there was a lot of psychological warfare on her part. Honestly, when if you are thinking, well, I had a bad mom, I had a bad dad. Maybe you know what? Maybe you deserve that discipline. Think about it. Is it discipline or is it abuse? You know what's what. And if you can't dissect that, you need to define what abuse is and what discipline is. Because I could tell you, when I was growing up, I felt abused. But now, in hindsight, my mom was disciplining me. I wouldn't be the man that I am today if it wasn't for my mom. She taught me how to cook. She taught me how to sew. She taught me how to iron. And she taught you how to be a man. Exactly. And that's what I was going to say. She taught me to be a man. Okay.
SPEAKER 09 :
Pepe, this is absolutely fascinating. The nuggets of wisdom are just emanating, as you would say. So I'm talking with Pepe Ramirez, Marine. And I really wanted to talk about when you were in your service in Iraq. So we're going to have just a few minutes to do that. We'll be right back.
SPEAKER 03 :
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SPEAKER 01 :
You'd like to get in touch with one of the sponsors of The Kim Munson Show, but you can't remember their phone contact or website information. Find a full list of advertising partners on Kim's website, kimmunson.com. That's Kim, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
SPEAKER 09 :
from the mountains to the prairies welcome back to america's veteran stories with kim munson be sure to check out our website that is americansveteranstories.com i am interviewing fred weiss he's 99 years old he was a b-17 pilot in world war ii and we haven't even gotten to that yet so during break fred and i were talking we're going to schedule another time to do an interview about all that. This is so fascinating to me. One thing, before we went to break, you said this B-17 comes in, and you go out to take a look at it, and it's being piloted by women. Now, I had talked to someone who had said, could it have been Hap Arnold? They were concerned that one of the bombers was having a record of crashes, and so that they had some women... Flying, though, so that the guys realized if the women could fly it, they could fly it. Does that have anything to do with that, or do you know?
SPEAKER 07 :
I have no idea. Okay.
SPEAKER 09 :
But you were surprised that it was women that were flying this B-17?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, I had never run into women flying before. I had never even conceived that idea. Uh-huh.
SPEAKER 09 :
And so you see the B-17, though. Did you like the plane when you saw it?
SPEAKER 07 :
Oh, yeah, of course I did. I was mesmerized by the size of the thing and that it could get off the ground at all. But I knew it was flyable. I had seen it, heard of it, and so forth. Now, we were at Minner Field at that time, and on that stage landing thing, I had not done well with it the first day. And the captain said, Reese, if you don't get that down right, the next time we fly, you're washed out. Well, it made me think about it again, that mantra of mine. So... I did graduate from that area. And then went down. The next issue was to go to advanced training, advanced pilot training. And this put us in either multi-engine or we were in single engine. And he had already told me I would never be in a single engine. So that was fine. So we were on train. We were detrained at a place out in the middle of the desert. And we didn't know where we were. It was down in between Marfa, Texas and Alpine. And there was a field called Marfa Army Airfield out there. um we had to get off there off the train you could see nothing we marched out there to the place it was all of our baggage on our shoulders it about seemed like a mile or more and we were out in the desert in southwest texas Now, we were flying at that time the Bobcat, and it was a two-engine aircraft, and we called it the Bamboo Bomber. It was made of wood. I think it was a Cessna. We had experiences there that were different, too. Now we had retractable gear. We had flaps, and we had radio transmissions. We had a fly-by-night, and we had to do stuff like that. There was an airplane that could carry two people and possibly three. And so we had two students flying as we were checked out. And I enjoyed it. Our plane, there was nothing to it. It had no power at all much, but we did stay up in the air.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, that's a good feature.
SPEAKER 07 :
It was. And as I graduated there, I graduated as a flight lieutenant. I had no idea why, but I assumed that I was not... As able as some others. But that wasn't the truth. They had run out of spaces for second lieutenants. So we were temporarily in that category. And I remember the serial number that well. T-2835. And I remember the serial number so well. Yeah, that's amazing. 1705. I'm going to have to go back and get that one. I've got it written down somewhere. Thank you. Anyhow, they gave us that same, that ranking, and now we were being paid the same as the second lieutenant. It didn't matter anyhow. So I got my second lieutenant here after I got to the second station I was assigned to. However, we were then introduced to go down to Roswell, New Mexico, And that was a station, I think it was Roswell Army Airfield at that time. And it was a B-17. Now, this time I got to get up close and personal with a darn thing. And I'll tell you what, it was an airplane that just fascinated me. And we went up with our two students and an instructor. And, of course, I had a flight engineer with them. And maybe an observer, I don't know that. But that training took two and a half months. And then I was assigned to go to Lincoln, Nebraska, pick up a crew. And when I got there, they put me as a pilot, and I had a co-pilot. And I had eight other guys. So a total of ten. Nine other guys. Yeah, a total of ten. So a total of ten, yeah. We trained in Rapid City, South Dakota. Well, at Rapid City, we had to do aerial work, and the first thing we had to do was go out and prove that we could fly instruments. And I did pretty well, apparently, on the first instance of flying instruments. We had to go out and orient ourselves into the cone of the beacon that was right over on our station, on our field. And you get that stuff done, and you had no windage and such as that. And they listened to the radio and we had oral null at that time. That was our beacon type of radio. And it was just a sound, an A or an N. And when you get to the middle of that, it was a solid tone. So that's what we're looking for, is trying to get that solid tone. And I did make my flight into it and came out right over the spot. Now we had to go out and turn around and come back in. Now the signal is reversed. And I hit it again right on the button. And at that time, my engineer said, I think we've got a good crew. And that was the end of that. I will tell you that the next thing I did, I had to go fly formation. On my first flight of formation, we had a whole crew aboard. And I'd just gotten in position to fly in my own spot that I assigned to be. And all of a sudden, my aircraft started shaking like the dickens. Couldn't figure out what it was. I changed props. positions. I changed the throttle, forward and aft, and put down flaps and lifted them. Tried to lift it, put the gear down and so forth. Everything worked. Couldn't figure out why I had to be doing that. So we went, I broke formation. I told the commander of the formation that I had to break out. My airplane was shaken. And he didn't like it. What he said, it was not very nice. Okay. Anyhow, I went in to land, and it shook like the dick, and I thought it was going to come apart, that whole airplane. I can't emphasize enough about the vibrations we had. So we got on the ground, and I got stopped. And I could see an officer running out to the airplane. And it was the maintenance officer. He says, he got up board and he said, everybody off here but you. And he pointed at me. He said, we're going to fly this airplane. We'll prove to you that there's nothing wrong with it. So he got us all off. And the engineer, I think, came along with me. I'm pretty sure he did. And we took off, and the moment that we broke ground, he started yelling, Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, all the way around the circuit coming back in. And he had all the fire trucks out there and everything else, and he was shaking like a leaf. And I never heard another word about it. Oh, my gosh.
SPEAKER 09 :
Fred Weiss, we are out of time for this interview. This is part one. We'll be scheduling part two very soon. This is fascinating, talking with Fred Weiss, World War II veteran, flew B-17s. And, my friends, these stories are so rich. We indeed, we stand on the shoulders of giants. So God bless you and God bless America.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you for listening to America's Veteran Stories with Kim Munson. Be sure to tune in again next Sunday, 3 to 4 p.m., here on KLZ 560 and KLZ 100.7.
SPEAKER 10 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
