1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:00,000 2 00:00:04,350 --> 00:00:06,730 my name is Technical sergeant Charles 3 00:00:06,730 --> 00:00:08,910 Crispo . Um The diversity inclusion 4 00:00:08,910 --> 00:00:12,680 manager for Air Force Base . My job 5 00:00:12,690 --> 00:00:16,550 is to change the culture for a positive 6 00:00:16,550 --> 00:00:18,420 work environment across the wing 7 00:00:19,250 --> 00:00:22,870 Macdill had suffered an accident And it 8 00:00:22,870 --> 00:00:25,550 wasn't removing a boom of occasion . 1 9 00:00:25,550 --> 00:00:28,970 35 boom was off , but it wasn't coming 10 00:00:28,970 --> 00:00:31,800 down when I put my hand on it , The 11 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:34,520 boom came down , end up crushing my 12 00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:36,687 back . I didn't realize at that moment 13 00:00:36,687 --> 00:00:38,853 the severity of my wound , I herniated 14 00:00:38,853 --> 00:00:42,150 11 uh spinal disc at the same time from 15 00:00:42,150 --> 00:00:45,690 my neck all the way to my tailbone . So 16 00:00:45,700 --> 00:00:48,300 I'm in constant pain . But I kept 17 00:00:48,310 --> 00:00:51,940 jobbing it up , keeping quiet from 2009 18 00:00:51,940 --> 00:00:55,090 to 2012 . I've been tapering the pain 19 00:00:55,100 --> 00:00:57,110 and actually covering it up with 20 00:00:57,110 --> 00:00:59,110 prescribed narcotics . I was taking 21 00:00:59,110 --> 00:01:02,640 opioids . I retired in 2012 . Their 22 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:05,030 force retired me when I had my orders 23 00:01:05,030 --> 00:01:07,030 already for retirement . One of the 24 00:01:07,030 --> 00:01:10,210 levels of my neck collapsed , C2C3 . 25 00:01:10,220 --> 00:01:12,920 The surgery was a success was still 26 00:01:12,930 --> 00:01:15,640 getting the narcotics . And then after 27 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:17,862 the treatment was gone , they caught me 28 00:01:17,862 --> 00:01:20,084 clean off with no winging me off by any 29 00:01:20,084 --> 00:01:23,290 means . My brain stopped literally 30 00:01:23,290 --> 00:01:26,170 functioning in a normal manner . To 31 00:01:26,170 --> 00:01:28,450 quote my wife here , she said that 32 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:32,370 described that period in our life as 33 00:01:32,380 --> 00:01:35,250 the devil took over my body . And it 34 00:01:35,250 --> 00:01:38,690 was horrible to the point that she left . 35 00:01:38,700 --> 00:01:41,560 We just had a son . I got to the point 36 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:44,260 where I just got desperate and I 37 00:01:44,270 --> 00:01:48,180 decided to take my own life . I had the 38 00:01:48,180 --> 00:01:50,720 rope already around my neck . I went to 39 00:01:50,770 --> 00:01:53,010 Lowe's get it everything set up . 40 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:57,480 But I remember one source commercial , 41 00:01:58,450 --> 00:02:02,300 believe it or not . And uh and thinking 42 00:02:02,300 --> 00:02:06,160 about my brand new baby and I stepped 43 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:10,010 down and I called the number and all of 44 00:02:10,010 --> 00:02:12,850 a sudden I got the treatment that sent 45 00:02:12,850 --> 00:02:16,780 me to a detox clinic . I was there for 46 00:02:16,780 --> 00:02:20,120 three months and already retired and 47 00:02:20,130 --> 00:02:22,550 was brought back and people from my 48 00:02:22,550 --> 00:02:24,990 unit supported me . But a lot of people 49 00:02:24,990 --> 00:02:28,530 from my unit just disregarded me . They 50 00:02:28,530 --> 00:02:30,419 accepted me in the in the wounded 51 00:02:30,419 --> 00:02:33,840 warrior program . It helps has helped 52 00:02:33,850 --> 00:02:36,220 to certain degree . But every time I 53 00:02:36,220 --> 00:02:38,580 met as a new supervisor , the question , 54 00:02:38,580 --> 00:02:40,747 the first question that came in is why 55 00:02:40,747 --> 00:02:42,913 you PT score looks like that because I 56 00:02:42,913 --> 00:02:44,913 couldn't do anything . But I always 57 00:02:44,913 --> 00:02:47,130 pushed through . I beat the odds , 58 00:02:47,740 --> 00:02:50,300 proving a lot of people wrong that a 59 00:02:50,300 --> 00:02:52,600 disabled airman can actually perform . 60 00:02:53,190 --> 00:02:56,520 It's hard to see how we have wounded 61 00:02:56,530 --> 00:03:00,160 airmen hiding suffering in silence 62 00:03:00,170 --> 00:03:02,860 because they're afraid that their 63 00:03:02,860 --> 00:03:06,290 careers is gonna take a downturn when 64 00:03:06,290 --> 00:03:09,130 you see somebody struggling help them 65 00:03:09,130 --> 00:03:11,780 out . I think I'm here to help as many 66 00:03:11,780 --> 00:03:13,920 people as I can and I'm gonna keep 67 00:03:13,920 --> 00:03:15,250 doing it until I retire