WEBVTT 00:05.119 --> 00:07.230 I didn't really know what I wanted to 00:07.230 --> 00:09.175 do with my life . I was definitely 00:09.175 --> 00:11.230 interested in military service . But 00:11.230 --> 00:13.397 when it came to choosing a branch , my 00:13.397 --> 00:15.730 mom's dad , Jim Shalala , who we called . 00:15.730 --> 00:17.786 Papa is easy company . Second Ranger 00:17.786 --> 00:17.350 Battalion in World War Two , 00:22.350 --> 00:24.517 certainly had a huge influence on me . 00:24.517 --> 00:26.739 Me and my brothers would try to look up 00:26.739 --> 00:28.906 what Second Ranger battalion did , but 00:28.989 --> 00:31.211 it wasn't something that he ever wanted 00:31.211 --> 00:33.267 to talk about . I think he wanted to 00:33.267 --> 00:35.322 shield it from us . I think in a way 00:35.322 --> 00:37.489 that made it even more impactful on me 00:37.489 --> 00:39.711 because I knew that I wanted to be like 00:39.711 --> 00:41.878 him . You know , he was someone that I 00:41.878 --> 00:44.045 always emulated growing up and the way 00:44.045 --> 00:46.322 he carries himself and the way he acts , 00:46.322 --> 00:48.545 the way he treats people . I want to do 00:48.545 --> 00:50.600 the same thing . Major Jack Gibson . 00:50.600 --> 00:52.711 I'm the regimental judge advocate for 00:52.711 --> 00:54.767 the 75th Ranger regiment . My oldest 00:54.767 --> 00:56.933 brother RJ , he also was in the army . 00:56.933 --> 00:58.933 He was an infantry officer . He was 00:58.933 --> 01:01.100 scheduled to deploy with his battalion 01:01.100 --> 01:03.211 to Afghanistan . My grandfather , you 01:03.211 --> 01:05.433 know , wanted to be there , Papa wanted 01:05.433 --> 01:07.433 to be there to see his grandson you 01:07.433 --> 01:09.545 know , go off and deploy . You know , 01:09.545 --> 01:11.878 obviously given his background , my mom , 01:11.878 --> 01:13.933 my youngest sister and Noni and Papa 01:13.933 --> 01:15.933 went down , they saw him off . They 01:15.933 --> 01:17.822 were headed back home , they were 01:17.822 --> 01:19.878 sitting at a red light , a car slams 01:19.878 --> 01:21.878 into the back of my mom's van going 01:21.878 --> 01:23.711 about 70 miles an hour . Both my 01:23.711 --> 01:26.959 grandparents died instantly . My sister 01:26.970 --> 01:29.800 was life lighted to Baton Rouge LSU 01:29.809 --> 01:31.976 hospital . She eventually succumbed to 01:31.976 --> 01:33.809 her injuries . The next day , it 01:33.809 --> 01:36.031 affected me in every way that you might 01:36.031 --> 01:38.142 imagine . This was March of my senior 01:38.142 --> 01:40.198 year . So I was two months away from 01:40.198 --> 01:42.420 graduating high school . I had a lot of 01:42.420 --> 01:44.587 thoughts going through my head . There 01:44.587 --> 01:46.753 were several days where I didn't think 01:46.753 --> 01:49.019 that , that I was gonna go to West 01:49.029 --> 01:51.196 Point or maybe request to defer it for 01:51.196 --> 01:53.362 a year . But ultimately , I decided to 01:53.362 --> 01:55.362 go and I started thinking about the 01:55.362 --> 01:57.529 impact that my grandfather had on me . 01:57.699 --> 01:59.810 I think a lot of what made him who he 01:59.810 --> 02:01.810 was was his experiences with Second 02:01.810 --> 02:03.921 Ranger Battalion in World War Two . I 02:03.921 --> 02:05.977 was hoping that I could sort of take 02:05.977 --> 02:08.199 maybe a little bit of what made him who 02:08.199 --> 02:10.199 he was and sort of apply that to my 02:10.199 --> 02:12.470 life . One of the first couple of weeks 02:12.479 --> 02:14.535 that I was at Ranger Regiment with a 02:14.535 --> 02:16.815 staff physical training event at Pedon 02:16.824 --> 02:19.205 Field , uh Colonel Kersey's favorite 02:19.214 --> 02:21.270 physical training event . And at the 02:21.270 --> 02:23.325 end of that event , he said a ranger 02:23.325 --> 02:25.547 speaks with his deeds , not his words . 02:25.547 --> 02:27.770 When he said that I kind of pictured my 02:27.770 --> 02:30.095 grandfather almost instantly . I always 02:30.104 --> 02:32.160 knew him as someone who , you know , 02:32.160 --> 02:34.493 spoke with deeds , not words . You know , 02:34.493 --> 02:36.715 he's very humble . He cared a lot about 02:36.715 --> 02:38.604 helping people spending time with 02:38.604 --> 02:41.014 people . What really makes a ranger is , 02:41.024 --> 02:43.246 you know , what they do , not what they 02:43.246 --> 02:45.899 say . I've thought a lot about going 02:45.910 --> 02:48.132 over to Normandy , obviously , over the 02:48.132 --> 02:49.966 past couple of months , I've got 02:49.966 --> 02:52.077 emotional a lot thinking about it now 02:52.077 --> 02:54.299 that I have a better understanding of , 02:54.299 --> 02:56.410 of what it means to be a ranger . You 02:56.410 --> 02:58.466 know , what specifically your second 02:58.466 --> 03:00.688 ranger battalion did in particular in , 03:00.688 --> 03:00.500 in World War Two . Sort of just , I'd 03:00.509 --> 03:02.620 love to pick his brain and understand 03:02.620 --> 03:04.731 what was going through his mind , how 03:04.731 --> 03:06.820 he endured through , you know , the 03:06.830 --> 03:09.052 harrowing missions that , that he was , 03:09.052 --> 03:11.274 uh , you know , it's asked to be a part 03:11.274 --> 03:13.497 of how cool would it be if he was , you 03:13.497 --> 03:15.608 know , around or if I could have ever 03:15.608 --> 03:17.774 visited Normandy with him , you know . 03:17.774 --> 03:19.941 But honestly , I , I , I'm not sure if 03:19.941 --> 03:19.270 there's anything that I would really 03:19.279 --> 03:21.390 say to him , I think maybe just being 03:21.390 --> 03:23.557 with him , spending time with them . I 03:23.557 --> 03:25.723 would love for him to see , you know , 03:25.723 --> 03:26.770 hit me being a ranger .