Green Beret Justin Lascek Leaves Joe Speechless

This is uh... Oh, do we even... Do we even introduce you properly? No? Okay, that's Justin. I think we did introduce Mike Tyson to me, ladies and gentlemen. Yeah, so I'm... I'm hanging out with these guys because I'm a Green Beret and I got hurt and you saw the show last night. So I'm speaking at the shows because uh... Sturgill on his own... Well, let me back up. I got blown up in March. I was in the hospital. Previous year I'd like come off of a deployment. I had like 11 months before the second one was a bit down in the... Down at the dumps, got divorced, had a dude die on the first trip. So it was kind of like... It was real rough to deal with and then was listening to these dudes quite a bit and then let into the next deployment. I was there a month. Boom. Almost died pretty hard. Teammates saved me and We had blood on the ground like I got blood on on target and then they made a hellacious movement to get me to the Medivac. Long story short, I'm eating dinner in the hospital. One of the first meals jamming out to these dudes and I was like, mom I want to meet Sturgill Simpson and then she Tried to get a hold of him. Socom eventually did and he came hung out for like two hours. I made My friend now General Baudette wait like 15 minutes so that we could finish talking about what we were talking about Which when you're when you're an enlisted dude, you don't make generals wait, but I was on a lot of ketamine so it was sweet, but uh Then Sturgill had it on his own accord to like donate to the foundation so this little tour going on that coincides with the actual album release is Donating to the Special Forces Foundation. So that helps Gold Star Families, which are The families that remained of remained of the friends that got killed on this trip so there were four green berets and two your detects and So that money's going to them and that's that's what I care about I don't like I'm alive I don't have any legs below my knees for those that can't only can't see my legs on the video anyway But and I know how my testicles either So that's a different set of challenges But I don't care about getting taken care of other than the normal army processes But I want them to get taken care of from the foundation. So I'm Grateful to have these guys as friends now. They're awesome. They're amazing musicians but amazing people and then I'm grateful to be here and just to push that out so People are coming to the shows all that money goes to the the foundation and then people can Go on the foundation's website, which is Special Forces Foundation org and Yeah, I appreciate it That's fucking awesome man. Yeah, it's really really really cool. That's really cool that you're doing this and and thank you for coming here and telling everybody is you know, it's It's a great way to It's great way to help out and and your music, you know To connect it to that. I think that's that's just a fucking incredible thing. It's really cool You know when you send me the text message is telling me that you were going to the hospital You know, it's very touching That's it was like Yeah Yeah, you were you know, you could tell you're seriously moved by this and You know for someone like you truly understands the consequences of war like the physical consequences in a way that none of us will understand You know, it's it's very not just It's brave of you to talk about this but it's also it's so so valuable So valuable for everybody that that hasn't served to understand what it really is. So thank you for that Well, I always say I really like combat because I was in a lot of it Relatively speaking but bunch of guys have been in way more combat bunch of people treated more casualties I'm a medic, but I was in a fair amount almost got killed on the first trip of good handful of times and then So I just don't like the war aspect when you see your friends get killed and You're stuck in a hospital bed on top of all this stuff is, you know, I didn't shit for a week I pissed blood for a week. I've had Tons and nights of excruciating pain. That's the life of an amputee or they're guys that are worse than me so I'm just grateful for having what I have and Yeah, that's the beginning of it like especially on ketamine When you're going through all that and you're just like I was telling like the people that took the trash out in the room Like hey, I'm grateful for you, brother right on brother What is uh, what is ketamine like after catastrophic injury like that? Does it relieve the pain? Does it just put you in another dimension? So ketamine is a an empty sucker Yeah, just and ketamine is a Nmba antagonist in the brain. So it essentially is a dissociative So the way that it feels because we learned this in class as a medic and everything but the way that it feels is kind of It takes your perspective and it's like shh and always felt like a whirlwind when if I was getting a push of it but things it's like you're starting to get your vision masked and Your presence you're still there but you're dipping into like subconscious because you're still conscious because unconscious would mean that you're like You pass out and you cannot have a gag reflex depending on how unconscious you are. So Ketamine I Would close my eyes and immediately trip the most insane balls that you can imagine and open them and I'd be back in the room I'd be like what the fuck? Oh and then a friend of mine When I left my first rotation, he was an Air Force CCT that got blown up in the same village. I Had a few casualties in He stepped an ID he's an above the knees some missing fingers But when he was on ketamine when he was awake and looking around he'd see the walls on fire And then there'd be like women like white pale skin in the corners Peeling the skin off their back and he was like awake and I was like, dude Like whatever I don't know it must be like someone's psychology when they go in like set and setting type thing But I was in it when I got a lot of ketamine my legs were blown off I'm getting worked on I'm telling dudes how to treat me I cut my own shirt off and then I get the ketamine and I'm like in and out and I see these visions back and forth And like I was convinced I was There are two distinct moments. I was like, I'm not gonna make it and had that conversation. So And what's surreal about this right here is that You were talking to him on this show and you guys talked about combat medics And you were like and I just singing key and I was like right on they're talking about me and and then I got all kinds of jacked up Makes you appreciate makes you appreciate life and I've gone through a huge development last year through depression and then this year after this blast of like being grateful and like in doing introspection and Communicating and having empathy for other people and being compassionate human Which General Mattis has told us a group of us on the way back from my first trip It's like don't let this experience of war make you a more hateful human being because people haven't experienced it let it Allow yourself to go through post-traumatic growth and become a better human being and treat other people Like you want to be treated and treat and I would add on to that which came from Tim Ferriss Treat yourself the way you treat other people too. That's not a side of Mattis that you ever hear in the press, huh? I Suppose not that's I think that would be very valuable for people. They know that he thinks that way. That's a It's a very powerful way to view this inevitable the inevitable consequences of war that That started scraping me off the bottom to focus on that After that trip, yeah that ketamine shit is a weird one because a lot of people do it recreationally and apparently they They blast off and go into other dimensions and shit and they go into k-holes and I never did it I never tried it. I knew a dude who died from it. He was really into it. It's doing it a lot Well, what happened? I don't know like an infection. He I know he He probably was doing about a bunch of other things as well But he was getting treated for ketamine for addiction and then he wound up dying You can dose the shit out of ketamine. Yeah, you couldn't it doesn't kill you. You can give a kid 300 megs of it and They will fucking trip balls, but they are going to they're not going to die It's like the opposite of all the other drugs. I think he was doing other shit, too Yeah, I think the ketamine was just something he was treated for I think he was doing a bunch of speed and stuff, too Which uh, it's um Academy was originally like isn't a cat tranquilizer or something like that They give it to my wife about friends of veterinarian. She definitely is like jacking animals with ketamine It's it's increasing now and like civilian hospitals, but started as like a veterinarian drug, which I Mean it works great and you combine it with some other stuff. Do you know John Lily is? No, John John Lily was this scientist that he was a pioneer in interspecies communication He did all his work with dolphins And he was also a big acid freak and he would like to take he would take acid and try to communicate with dolphins He would have been allegedly give dolphins acid He was a part of his long-standing program try to get dolphins to talk to him But one of the things he invented was there not a movie about this there is altered states No way altered states is based a lot on John Lily because he invented the sensor sensory deprivation Does he give the dolphins acid the movie? No, because it just was loosely based on him because in the movie the guy Experienced with a bunch of different types of sensory deprivation tanks and everybody knew that this guy He was a legitimate doctor a brilliant guy, but he was also a ketamine freak and one thing He would do is like you take intramuscular ketamine and then get into the sensory deprivation tank Yeah, that's a double whammy sweet. Yeah a double whammy So is that stuff from difficult to get off of or do you have to worry about that? Is there? Like a withdrawal symptom the issue would be with the pain Like when you have something that's controlling some sort of level of pain and then coming off of that you usually will wean off Of it, but it's not a physical addiction issue You Know I should know the answer to that definitively but as a medic Yeah, but uh, I haven't heard of anything that where it's hard to come off of they had you on other stuff way harder to come off. Oh, yeah, I was on methadone. Ooh, and Sturgill friend shooter and Duff McKagan came to the hospital and Duff was like Methadone is worse than heroin like because G&R guys were rocking it in the 80s But that was like I mean one one week I dropped down 20 Migs instead of the 10 and it was like being a junkie like For nine hours. I was just like rubbing my legs like whoa, cuz they're just lit up with nerve pain It feels like there's daggers in your leg or some sort of electrocution And you look like on a movie with like someone cracked out or something. I was just like rubbing my shit We used to see these guys who would come into the pool hall when I used to play pool and white planes They would come in there was a methadone clinic down the street and they were all hair heroin people and my friend Johnny B Would call them methadone ins because they would come in they all had like this like sort of like dull shuffle to them They were all slowed down and I can never understand it. It was like I was like, is this like a culturally like Did someone agree? Did we make some sort of agreement like this drugs? Okay This is it's got you know, it's got some some stamp of approval So we're accepting that they have to get methadone every day, but they can't get heroin anymore Why don't we just give them heroin like is how much different is the methadone is the methadone get them high? Let's synthesize so it's easier to control but does it get them high? I Didn't have any effect while no, it's just fighting off the physiology. Yeah, so it just fights the physiology They're not you know, you'll never get high like the first one you spike really potent narcotic Yeah for like the other the adverse effects But don't people have like the best effects with like Ibogaine and things like that when it comes to For getting kicking opiates. Yeah, I mean if you want to go through that I would say, you know I would probably be your best but for a quick solution if that's what you mean like the methadone's like it is actually bad for You isn't it? Yes, it fucks yours. I didn't sleep. I didn't have deep sleep for four months And I was I'd go to get in bed at 9 not fall asleep till 3 in the morning that fucks with everything to yeah It's a pretty shitty year damn and how long did it take to get you off of the methadone? I Mean once you're off of it the doctors were saying that it stays in your adipose tissue She's your fat for like two or three weeks because I'd have random nights when I was off of it and just Get lit up with nerve pain and like getting hit with a hammer in my toes So probably four to probably like six weeks of weaning that and then I went another drug Lyrica I mean for you it had to feel me because you were there at Walt's read the whole time You had to feel frustrated. But for some like my first time I Came to see you it was only what? How much what a month after the blast at most so he was still in a lot of Makes more pain than I could even comprehend somebody being in you know from nerve pain for how many they have many surgeries on each leg It's close to 30 surgeries total which yeah, there's a lot of staples in your back to yeah, were they taking I Mean you you describe just man. I'm just like how can anybody? You know and then he was still as he said the first time we met he was highest giraffe balls on Academy like I was I was profoundly Impressed by even then like how clear-headed and articulate and I was obviously this guy's obviously brilliant You know, I mean like you just threw the fog and awareness of everything going on in the room despite the faint The pain he was trying to pretend like he wasn't in I just and then that place is full of guys like him And every and then when I went back, it's like all new faces you know these people But then when I went back the second time I went to see him was there a couple days And it was like just in a matter of short time It was leaps and bounds and you're using the gym on one leg like fucking busting out 20 pull-ups and everything you know, it's just kind of like There's got to be Something we can anything you can do to help in whatever way and and these guys since I've known him I've never once ever heard him ask for anything. His only concerns were like for the families of The guys that that didn't make it, you know, so That's just like really around an album release if I'm gonna have a bunch of attention on me I thought it would be a good opportunity to put attention on what other people can do to help these guys Then families because they're you know, the sacrifices is especially sitting in these rooms and looking at these dudes, man. I can't even You can't You know, what do you what do you call that? Yeah Well, I want to help so after the show, let's Figure out what we can do to jump in. Mmm. I want to I want to help So help with the podcast help with some comedy shows maybe to just whatever we can do I appreciate that. I'm yeah, listen, I'm blown away by all this as much as I think all these people are listening and watching this is It's beautiful that you're doing this man and I think that you know That's inspiring me to do something. I think it's probably inspiring a bunch of other people and that's that's that's those things that people talk about One thing that you might experience are here in life that sort of changes your worldview and moves you in a better direction This is this could be one of those things, you know Well, you're a good man, I said, well, I'm not fucking anything man, he's I'm Just a dude. Well, you're just an awesome dude all you guys it's cool. I'm very happy that you're bringing awareness to this I'm real happy that you're doing that Makes me feel great and it's you know, like Justin said the the worst side of it is the The tragedy I guess So it's not like, you know right or left. It's just like this is the reality of it and people are Making these sacrifices for you and when they come home What do we do for them? You know? It's a hard thought for people to accept that war is inevitable it's a hard thought and It doesn't seem like it's inevitable because it's not inevitable in this room I mean if we were the last people on earth and there was a bunch of food and places sleep I think we'd probably not kill each other who probably wouldn't go to war, right? It's like what is the number where you go to war? Is it a million? Is it two million? Is it separated by oceans? Is it just mountains or boundaries? But the fact that no one thinks that war can be solved like no one that I know Thinks that in our lifetime there'll be no war then there's never been a period where someone on earth That's human hasn't been going to war with each other It's a horrible truth of being a person and Nobody nobody knows it the way you do so for you to come on and Tell your story the way you just did I appreciate the fuck out of that man and I Would just want people If if if they hear that and it moves them it's more of like a I Just be grateful on a regular basis for what for anything. Yeah, I mean Steven Pinker was on your show. I ended up FaceTiming with him as a result of all this but like he has that book about basically the the Enlightenment worked and We still have war and then there are people still fighting it but overall the world is continuing to improve and like steadily getting better and fewer people are dying from genocide and war but it still exists so that I want the respect for war if Someone is wanting to go to war You know if someone is gonna be a commander in chief and that's it That's a heavy thing to like toss back and forth. Yes, it means that I may never have kids because I don't have my balls, you know, like like that you there's sacrifice like I and I'm the one that lived and I didn't have any kids but like my friends have four girls my other my other friend has three kids so like When you're if you're gonna move the chess piece to war then we need to understand the implications of what that means and try to do everything in political power in state strategy to Avoid overt war because it yeah, especially nasty of near peer You mean that's Russia Russia near here war would be the worst thing, you know It's that's World War three mutually assured destruction is the strangest thing on earth that we all have Enough weapons pointed each other to literally nuke every fucking man woman and child off the face the earth Many times over and that's what keeps us from using them. But yet we still have them And we still haven't pointed each other. I Mean remember when you were kids and we were worried about Russia. Do you remember that shit? Yeah, I'm older. I'm older guys and I'm worried about people walking into Target with a suicide vest. Yeah. Yeah When's that coming? Right? Yeah, you could all of it You Because Europe's been dealing with that shit for decades, you know, we really haven't tasted that yet Like on a widespread habitual scale