In this episode, Kim interviews Pepe Ramirez, a Marine who rose through the ranks with unwavering dedication. Pepe shares candid reflections on military life, the challenges faced by today’s warriors, and the importance of preserving our freedom. This episode uncovers leadership lessons and life experiences that motivate young listeners and honor the sacrifices of our veterans.
SPEAKER 09 :
World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Afghanistan, and her 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 Monson. These stories will touch your heart, inspire you, and give you courage. We stand on the shoulders of giants. Here’s Kim Monson.
SPEAKER 07 :
And welcome to America’s Veterans Stories with Kim Monson. 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. It’s a very humbling experience.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, I can’t wait to get into your story, 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 1971, 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 07 :
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. So…
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, it was pretty brutal in the Philippines, World War II, guerrilla warfare. So, wow. So then why did you join the Marines? Why did you get into the military? Many times it’s because sons have looked to 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, I’ve always wanted to become a pilot. And so I remember riding the President of the United States because I wanted to become an astronaut. And what happened was… How old were you? I was in eighth grade at the time. Oh, I love it.
SPEAKER 07 :
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 07 :
Did the president send this back?
SPEAKER 04 :
It was NASA. It was NASA.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay. And which president did you write?
SPEAKER 04 :
Do you remember? I don’t remember.
SPEAKER 07 :
It was the president.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
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… uh 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 um i started thinking about which brand so i finally joined in december 13th of 1988 right before christmas and i’m like i’m gonna be in christmas i’ll be in boot camp in christmas and so um 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 that I think everybody feels that way. I could be at home waking up late. I could, you know, go to a bathroom by myself in private and have a cup of coffee and take my time without being yelled at at a drill instructor or drill sergeant or whatever.
SPEAKER 07 :
So you were in boot camp for Christmas? Yes. Okay. Did they ease up at all on Christmas Day or not? No. 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 :
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. 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… Bella Wood came in, which is the Marines Woods is what they called it.
SPEAKER 07 :
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 on 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 07 :
Pepe, you’re bringing up something that I’ve had some conversations with people about. And you and I, 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, 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. 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 is… How radical of you. Yeah. All I could tell you is there is no way I could endure the pain of having a child. I mean, birthing a child, I should say, okay? Raising a child is a little bit different. But that’s… Our physical makeup is totally different. And the way… Men 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 regional CEO at the time. And Sergeant Major Lucas came up to me and he says, First 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, you know, getting challenged. The Marine Corps, we still had our legacy from World War II. And, of course, Korea. So the Viet Cong was… 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, 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 07 :
Boy, that is absolutely fascinating. I’m talking with Marine Pepe Ramirez, and the official Marine Memorial is located right here in Colorado in Golden at 6th and Colfax. It was dedicated in 1977, and it is time for a facelift. And the USMC Memorial Foundation is working diligently to raise the funds to make that happen. And a great way that you can honor our military, to say thank you to those people who have put their lives on the line or have given their lives for our freedom, is to support the USMC Memorial Foundation. And you can do that by going to usmcmemorialfoundation.org. And a sponsor that I greatly appreciate for America’s Veterans Stories is Hooters Restaurants. They have locations in Loveland, Westminster, and in Aurora on Parker Road. And great specials Monday through Friday for lunch and for happy hour. Great place to get together with your friends to watch the sporting events and just have some great food. In particular, their fish and chips and their nachos are delicious. I hear that their fish tacos are quite good as well. So again, thank you to Hooters Restaurants for their sponsorship of the show. We’ll be right back with Pepe Ramirez.
SPEAKER 06 :
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SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you so much for having me. To learn more reach out to Teresa at 520-631-9243. Teresa would love to talk with you. Again that number is 520-631-9243.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you so much for listening to America’s Veterans Stories. We are rebroadcasting some of the shows that we have recorded in the past because we have these amazing guests and these amazing stories, and we need to hear them. And so we thought that it would be a great idea to rebroadcast some of these so that you can hear our history and know our history because it is so important. So again, this is something that was recorded earlier, and thank you for listening. And welcome back to America’s Veterans Stories with Kim Monson. Be sure and check out our website. That is AmericasVeteransStories.com. 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 experience. 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 07 :
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 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 belonging. 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 kulek 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. You did all this tied up? 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 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 07 :
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 their 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 challenged 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 gunny, and he said, 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 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 were so pissed off at me that you wanted to prove me wrong and you were going to graduate, which you 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 07 :
So Peppy… 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 first sergeant 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 07 :
Well, that’s progress, huh?
SPEAKER 04 :
It is progress. And a lot of veterans have an issue with hypervigilance. And, again… 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. It’s like, 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. But if you walk out there, especially nowadays, think about it. How many carjackings are there? How many people are walking down the road and 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 07 :
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 01 :
All Kim’s sponsors are in 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 Monson Show and grow your business, contact Kim at her website, kimmonson.com. That’s Kim Monson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
SPEAKER 05 :
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SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you so much for listening to America’s Veterans Stories. We are rebroadcasting some of the shows that we have recorded in the past because we have these amazing guests and these amazing stories, and we need to hear them. And so we thought that it would be a great idea to rebroadcast some of these so that you can hear our history and know our history because it is so important. So again, this is something that was recorded earlier, and thank you for listening.
SPEAKER 09 :
God bless us. America, land that I love.
SPEAKER 07 :
And welcome back to America’s Veterans Stories with Kim Monson. Be sure and check out our website. That is AmericasVeteranStories.com. And did want to mention the Center for American Values is located in Pueblo on the beautiful Riverwalk. And it was founded for several reasons. One, to honor our Medal of Honor recipients. And they do that through… Over 160 portraits of valor of Medal of Honor recipients. But additionally, they are teaching these foundational principles of honor, integrity, and patriotism through many of their educational programs and also their On Values presentations. So for more information about the center, go to AmericanValuesCenter.org. That’s AmericanValuesCenter.org. And I’m talking with Pepe Ramirez, a Marine. Active duty was what year’s?
SPEAKER 04 :
December of 88 until May of 2009.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay. And Sergeant Major, now again, I’m a civilian, but those are the guys that really make everything happen, right? No, 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 star 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 him out, Raines won’t 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’re 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 co-workers makes this 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. 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… What 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 them. What better way to have recruiters out there? And with the environment at this moment, we need to be able to take care of them, even when they get out. And I think it’s a disservice when we use them up and then kick him 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 he 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 the 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’s art manager, 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 a 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. 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 sets of chemos. And 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. He looks up to me, and he said, Dad, you’re still here? And I said, yes. 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, 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 an ISR major up here, and his name came across my desk. 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 the 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 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 could 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. 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’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 abuse. But now in hindsight. My mom was disciplined in 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. 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 07 :
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 08 :
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SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you so much for listening to America’s Veterans Stories. We are rebroadcasting some of the shows that we have recorded in the past because we have these amazing guests and these amazing stories, and we need to hear them. And so we thought that it would be a great idea to rebroadcast some of these so that you can hear our history and know our history because it is so important. So again, this is something that was recorded earlier, and thank you for listening.
SPEAKER 09 :
From the mountains to the prairies.
SPEAKER 07 :
And welcome back to America’s Veterans Stories with Kim Monson. Be sure and check out our website. That is AmericasVeteranStories.com. So honored to be interviewing Pepe Ramirez, a Sergeant Major in the Marine Corps. Pepe, first of all, we’re going to have to do another interview. There is so much to talk about. We haven’t even talked about… when you were deployed, your three tours in Iraq. So let’s get to a little bit of that, but then also what you’re doing afterwards. So we’ll get that scheduled. So three tours in Iraq. We’ve got just a few minutes. What initially should people know?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, all I could tell you is that regardless of your MOS, regardless of your job, my opinion is I remember one veteran coming up to me and he said, well, I was just in supply. Well, guess what? you move that pallet of MREs from one side of the supply warehouse to another. And guess what? Maybe those MREs, I was eating them. Or those pair of boots, you were actually sending them our way so that my Marines didn’t have to have torn uniforms or torn up boots and stuff like that. So everybody has their mission, regardless of what… MOS you’ve got, whether you deploy it or not. I remember Desert Storm. They told me, you got two hours, pack your stuff. I was in the Philippines. I mean, I was in Okinawa at the time. So packed my stuff, ended up in a C-130. They said, you’re either going to… The desert or tropical island. I ended up in the Philippines. And we had a volcano earthquake and typhoon all in one day. That was when Mount Pinatubo blew up. So we did humanitarian missions, evacuations of military personnel as well as civilian personnel. And I remember those guys and gals coming home. They came through the Philippines. I met up with a friend of mine from – his name was Geiger. Both of us were short, so when we were in boot camp, we were called the house mouses. So I remember him coming home, and we just swapped stories and everything. But as far as deployments go – Anybody that’s there, be prepared for anything. I remember a lot of the things that we did I think was very important was pre-deployment. I had this one Marine. He was born in Jordan. He knew how to speak Arabic, and I told him, I said, I want you to come up with a three-by-five card with phrases. Hello, marhaba. And of course, he gave us some bad words as well, which is good. But part of that was training. We had PT with boots and utes and flak jackets and gas masks. And I remember my battalion commander looking at me like, what the heck are you guys doing? I said, I’m making sure my Marines are comfortable with the gas master and just preparation, be able to look ahead. And that’s one of the things that I think God bless me with hopefully some good insight. I’m not perfect. I make a lot of mistakes, just ask my wife. But all in all, all I could tell you is just take care of yourself. One of the things I will tell you, I know, Kim, I know you want to talk more about Iraq and deployments and so forth, but I think we need to wrap it up a little bit. So we’ll do that next time. So… My thought process is you take care of yourself. Wealth comes from great health. So what I tell veterans all the time is make sure that you take care of yourself. You eat well. Think about this. You put bad gas in your car, it’s not going to run well. Well, think about the food that you’re eating. You know, if you’re eating… Process foods all the time. And guess what? That’s what you’re putting into your gut. Another thing, too, is exercise. Whether you believe it or not, exercise is great for you. When I remember, no canal, zero dark 30. We’re going for a run Monday morning. All the Marines have been drinking all weekend. We’re hacking and everything else like that, and all those body fluids coming out of your mouth. And then afterwards, we felt better. And that’s one of the things that you need to do. Again, like I said, wealth comes from great health. Start researching probiotics, gut health, because if you’re taking all these medications, it destroys your gut health. I wrote a paper on Alzheimer’s for my doctor. And You have to take care of your gut health in order for your brain to work well. Take time for yourself. Self-care is not being selfish. As leaders… You know what? If you’re not at your optimum, guess what? Same thing. So why don’t you take care of yourself? Because when we were in active duty, we took care of ourselves. We made sure that we were ready to go. Well, you could implement that into your lives as well. Again, I just want to say thank you, Ms. Monson. My God, thank you for blessing me, my family, my mom, my dad. Pass away on Easter Sunday. I think that was very poetic because that was Easter Sunday. He passed away. He rose from the dead, just like Jesus. And of course, my wife and my children, they’re my heroes. They keep me sane. They keep me be the man that I am.
SPEAKER 07 :
Pepe Ramirez, you just never know what’s going to happen when you get up in the morning, who you’re going to get to talk to. This has just been a gift. Thank you. We’re going to get another interview scheduled, and so stay tuned for part two with Pepe Ramirez. But as we hear these stories on America’s Veteran Stories, indeed, we are blessed. And God bless you, and God bless America.
SPEAKER 09 :
Thank you for listening to America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson. Be sure to tune in again next Sunday, 3 to 4 p.m. here on KLZ 560 and KLZ 100.7.
SPEAKER 03 :
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.
