All About Change - Le Roy Torres - Veterans Speak Out on the Dangers of Burn Pits

Episode Date: October 30, 2023

In the early years of the Iraq War, thousands of Americans enlisted to fight for their country, fully aware of the dangers of that decision. Or so they thought. But one insidious threat had long-lasting impacts on the health of American troops: burn pits. Meant to provide an efficient way for soldiers to get rid of their waste, burn pits instead pumped tons of toxins into the air that found their way into the lungs of nearby service members. Service members like Beau Biden, President Biden’s son, and Le Roy Torres. Le Roy remembers the smell, and the almost immediate respiratory infections and headaches that followed. Now, more than 15 years later, he’s still dealing with the fallout. Le Roy joins Jay to discuss his trajectory from deployment until now, and the work he’s doing to ensure that veterans aren’t left to deal with mounting disabilities and health costs alone.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I had made up my mind to serve in the military when I was in elementary school. My dad was drafted during the Korean War. He was my hero. Hi, I'm Jay Rudiman, and welcome to All About Change, a podcast showcasing individuals who leverage the hardships that have been thrown at them to better other people's lives. This is all wrong. I say put mental health first because if you don't... This generation of Americans has already had enough. I stand before you not as an expert, but as a concerned citizen.

In 2007, U.S. Army Captain Leroy Torres was deployed to Balad, Iraq. One of the first things that I remember was the smell of the air, the stench. It was Leroy's first encounter with a burn pit. Imagine a large open area, sometimes the size of multiple football fields, where every form of trash, electronics, plastics, medical waste, everything is dumped and set on fire. And this fire, it burns all day, every day. I said, well, don't worry about it. It's being handled by the contractors. It wasn't long before Leroy started experiencing health problems.

Problems that would follow him home well after his deployment was over. My supervisor came in and said, hey, you can't let him come back to work. There's something wrong with you. You may be contagious. After failing to get the help he needed, Leroy and his wife set out on what would literally be the fight for his life. But it wasn't only himself they were fighting for. My wife, she told me, no matter the outcome, no matter the results we get, I'm going to fight for you. And I'm going to fight for others because this is not going to be the end. They were fighting for benefits and recognition for thousands of affected veterans, including Beau Biden, the son of President Biden, who died of a glioblastoma in 2015 at the age of 46. Just a heads up, Leroy uses a ventilator and still has difficulty in his

daily life due to his health. You'll hear this in the audio. Captain Leroy Torres, thank you so much for being my guest on All About Change. I want to start off by saying that I am extremely impressed with your activism. I've never been an individual who has both won a supreme court case and changed a major piece of federal legislation so congratulations on your activism i know that it's affected you know thousands of lives in our country first of all let me ask you how are you feeling these days uh well jay first off thank you for having. And for this, today has been a little challenging for me.

It has. Aside from my respiratory issue, toxic brain injury, I now battle GI issues. Lately, I've had the intermittent bleeding episodes. Thankfully, it's kind of been resolving slowly. But I can say today has been somewhat a challenging day. I'm sorry to hear that. Maybe I can take you back to the beginning of your career in the United States Army. Maybe you could tell us why you chose to enlist and when did that happen?

Actually, I had made up my mind to serve in the military when I was in elementary school. My dad was drafted during the Korean War, and he was drafted in 1950. So my dad was my hero, you know, growing up. And I made a decision early in life to join. And at 17, as soon as I was able to enlist, I enlisted in the Army National Guard. As soon as I was able to enlist, I enlisted in the Army National Guard. Of course, it was challenging for my mother because she had to sign because I was considered under 18, minor. It was very difficult for her, but my dad had no problem. Of course, he was proud.

At the same time, knowing that I was choosing to go into the military, that perhaps may come with challenges. go into the military that perhaps may come with challenges. But my dad was one who particularly inspired me to join the military and serve in the Army. When I first enlisted, my specialty was 11th Bravo, an infantryman. So I was still a junior in high school. So upon my completion of my junior year, I traveled to Fort Benning, Georgia for basic training at the U.S. Army Infantry Training Center and completed basic training. Then I returned back to Texas and completed my senior year. And a week after my graduation, many of my friends were headed to their senior trips and so forth. And I was headed back to Fort Benning for infantry school.

So tell us, you were deployed in 2007. Can you talk us through that time, what happened, how you were deployed, and where you ended up? I had just taken my dad to the VA clinic for one of his appointments. And we're sitting in the coffee shop having lunch after we're talking about a situation in Iraq. And, you know, that's a good thing you haven't been deployed yet.

And I said, I know that it's been, it's been, I'm pretty sure, you know, eventually my number will come up. Not even 10 minutes went by my phone rang and it was my immediate supervisor uh my major he was uh well i said your number's been called you're you're going to iraq november i was seven i i deployed to iraq and the challenging thing about it was that I was deployed with a totally different unit. I didn't know anyone in the unit.

I was an individual augmentee to a unit out of Rock Island, Illinois. The Army created this one unit and brought many women from different parts of the U.S. and put a unit together and deployed us to Iraq. Initially, I was supposed to go to Afghanistan as a company commander for a detachment. and put a unit together and deploy this to Iraq. Initially, I was supposed to go to Afghanistan as a company commander for a detachment. And while I was at Rock Island, Illinois, my orders changed. They said, no, you're going to Iraq

to a logistics brigade, a combat support. There was a Department of Defense personnel working as well as contractors. And our mission was to lead the logistical effort there in Balad, Iraq, and to other surrounding FOBs, pretty much handling battle damage equipment that was coming back through Balad and sending it back to the United States. Were you in barracks? Were you in tents? What was the situation like there? The living situation in Balad was we were housed. They called them CHOOS,

containerized housing units. And there were these pretty much these metal boxes that we shared a latrine with another person and you know had a twin bed in there and it was you know it was it was small but but yet comfortable and of course one of the first things that i remember arriving in balad and stepping off the shuttle was the smell in the air the stench and me having a law enforcement background i asked a lot of questions i started investigating what one of my first questions was what is that smell is this legal can they do this so that's the burn pit that's the burn pit that's where everybody throws all their waste and burn it and of course eventually i was just told to kind of stay in my lane that it was handled by contractors.

So let's talk a little bit about what a burn pit is for listeners who may not know. Was it used for how close were troops to the burn pits? A burn pit is pretty much, just imagine a huge hole, or we can picture a landfill, a huge hole, or you can picture a landfill, where all your daily trash, from plastic to styrofoam, you name it, everything that was thrown through trash, plus tires, batteries, equipment, was doused with JPA fuel and burned. Some people, well, it's just a small hole, but this pit was 10 acres in diameter. That's how big it was there a small hole, but this pit was 10 acres in diameter.

That's how big it was there in Balad, Iraq. What is the rationale behind a burn pit as opposed to carting off the garbage or even, you're in the desert, so even like, you know, taking a tractor and burying it in the sand? and burying it in the sand? The thing about a burn pit was an expeditious way to rid of waste. And it was convenient. It was there on post. So it was one of those things where you didn't have to spend all that time digging a massive hole and burying it, but just bringing it to the pit and burning it,

getting rid of it as fast as you could. Burn pits, there were in operation 24-7. There were times where you could see just the smog just hovering over the area. The times I would walk out in the mornings outside my housing quarters, my living quarters, and I could just wipe the AC, the unit, and the set from debris from the pit. And that's how serious this issue became. I remember going to the urgent care December 30th because I kept my sickle slip and I remember I had a really bad respiratory I was having a horrible cough and just I know I was coming down with like I had a bad cold well they said you have a bad upper wrist infection and they said well you just your body's just adjusting to the racket crud and it was going to take me a couple of weeks to acclimatize to the environment.

So I was placed on quarters for 72 hours. I had a really bad upper respiratory infection, gave me antibiotics and quarantined me for 72 hours. I also had really bad abdominal pain at the same time. And what was it like for your fellow soldiers? I mean, was anyone raising an issue saying, hey, this might not be the healthiest environment? And, you know, were there other soldiers that were experiencing symptoms that you saw? Comments were made. And, of course, other, just speaking within our unit, they were just, well, they're developing distriacov.

Some are having sinus issues. And, of course, when we go to the urgent care, they would just tell us, well, we're dealing with an Iraqi credit. So, in other words, it was something that wasn't really talked about at that time because they said, well, don't worry about it. It's being handled by the contractor. talked about at that time because they said, well, don't worry about it. It's being handled by the contractor. So we would, you know, at times comment on it, but it was something that we were trusting the government that it was okay what they were doing, that eventually it was just going to pass and that we would get back home and that things would resolve eventually.

So I know you just described some symptoms and some upper respiratory issues that you were having at the time and GI issues. Were there other issues that developed over time that weren't as immediate? One of the, for me, was the headaches, waking up with headaches. I remember towards the end, maybe about midway, closer to the end of my deployment, I remember waking up with headaches, and I'm thinking, well, it's just, you know, it's not dealing with, I'll just take some medication. But I remember once I came home,

that they started to get worse. Once I returned from the army. And, of course, the respiratory issue, that did become problematic. I actually went a couple of times to urgent care while I was there in Balad. You know, and it was pretty much the same thing. Well, here's a Z-Pak. Take it for five days. Stay hydrated and drive on.

And me growing up in that era of the Army where it was suck it up and drive on, I wasn't a complainer. So I would just take my medicine. And of course, the headaches are something that I just dealt with until I came back home. Approximately three weeks after I returned from deployment, I ended up in the emergency room. And I remember talking, deployment i ended up in the emergency room and i remember talking uh of course explaining to the emergency room doctor i had the horrible cough and that i had a really bad respiratory infection and uh he was just asking me questions if i was around any chemicals or i had been exposed to anything and when i mentioned that i was exposed to these burn pits were in iraq he says i'll be right back and then he came he came back with a mask and uh he goes well i said uh maybe it's uh eventually your body will just uh you know return back to normal from your exposure whatever you're exposed to

but uh say it was the same thing kind of give me uh put a bandaid on this. She just gave me medication for the respiratory infection, something for the cough. That's when flags went up and even talking to my wife, because she had already picked up on the issue that I had this dry cough and the hoarseness of my voice while I was at the end of my deployment, but I wouldn't tell her the issues that I was having. I didn't want to worry her and I didn't want her to think that something was wrong. But when I came back home, that's when I noticed the change. I saw an interview that your wife gave where she said, my husband went off to Iraq as a healthy person and the person that returned and got off the plane was not the same person. I'm sorry for everything that you've gone through, especially because you have served our country with distinction. What about your fellow soldiers or senior leadership? How did they react

to your illness? Before I left Iraq, I remember being handed a memo from Lieutenant Colonel Curtis, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel. It explained the issue with the potential as the burn pits, I mean, being hazardous to our health and kind of here, take this, you might need this later. And that's when I kind of figured where eventually this issue was going to be a huge problem for us. Maybe you can tell us a little bit about your experience with the Veterans Administration, with the VA. Did they offer support? You know, did they give you, you know, financial or medical? How did that work out for you? At the start, it was a tremendous challenge. I remember traveling to

Vanderbilt University Hospital to see Dr. Robert Miller about my respiratory issue. Right before that, I was admitted to the VA War-Related Illness and Injury Study Center in D.C., and this was after I had been dismissed from my civilian job. In August of 2010, they had said, my supervisor came in and said, hey, we can't no longer come back to work. There's something wrong with you. You may be contagious. You need to get checked. Well, that's what led us into this pressure of finding answers. But the dealing with the VA was very challenging for us. And knowing that while I was there visiting Dr. Robert Miller and talking to some of the personnel working, that they were

sending soldiers to see Dr. Robert Miller. But eventually it became an issue because of the diagnosis of the findings. So he was advised, in other words, to change the diagnosis or, you know, they would stop sending soldiers, which eventually they did. Thankfully, I was, as a reservist, I had my private insurance where this is how I was able to see Dr. Robert Miller. But knowing that I was trying to get support from the VA was very challenging. And even my wife asked there at the risk center in D.C. if they would do a lung biopsy. This is around October of 2010. And they said, no, it's not possible. We don't have the resources to do a lung biopsy.

But at that time, my wife had already been in touch with Dr. Robert Miller, who, you know, he wasn't encouraging it, but because of my job of wanting answers, that'd be the only way to discover my lung injury was through a biopsy, in which we moved forward with that. So let me just understand, the VA, did they understand that your medical situation was caused by exposure to burn pits? I had to prove my case. by exposure to burn pits? I had to prove my case. We started the process around 2010, the end of 2010, 2011, and finally in 2013,

but not until the Army Reserve came up with their findings through the line of duty, that's when the VA approved my case, approved my claim, because the Army discovered it, and now it's like, well, approved my claim. Because the Army discovered it, and now it's like, well, they couldn't. You know, evidence was there, the biopsy. And so they pretty much had no choice at that time already.

It was a case-by-case basis for me. But I had to prove my case to receive treatment. Going back to the initial interaction, when you're exposed to hazardous materials, there may not be a direct, immediate correlation. Sometimes diseases develop over a period of time. To put the impetus on you as the soldier to prove that this was caused by exposure to the burn pits seems to be onerous when you're developing these conditions over a period of time. You know, it was very disheartening for that burden of proof to be on the soldier, the veteran, and approved to be on the soldier, the veteran,

especially when the doors were closing. And especially me serving as a reservist, which made it a huge challenge. I remember my wife taking me to the Brook Army Medical Center. And at that time, there was a study called, it's called the Stampede Study, and they were actually doing research on soldiers returning back with toxic exposure issues. But I didn't qualify because I wasn't an active duty soldier.

So knowing that already that the Department of Defense was not supporting my issue and the obstacles that I was facing with the VA made it very challenging for me. And at the same time, I had a civilian employer who was also placing that burden on me as well. Like, you can't come back to work until you have answers. But I couldn't get an answer because of the delay and the denial issue at that time. Can you tell our listeners about the extent of your medical condition? Because I know it's not just the respiratory issues and the GI issues, but there was also some issues related to your brain. In 2018, I was diagnosed with toxic encephalopathy, let's say toxic brain injury, for 10 years. I struggled with these horrific headaches, with horrific cluster headaches, waking up with these headaches. I remember one of the episodes that I had, I had this headache for eight days. And it started affecting my short-term memory, my cognitive, until 2018.

So 10 years after I started having these cluster headaches, I was finally diagnosed and had answers. I actually went to a company. It's called SearScan, and they did a, it's called a Q-SPECT, and it was a two-day evaluation, of course, a scan of my brain, and they discovered that there were certain areas of my brain that were compromised. And areas of my brain were not receiving adequate blood flow. And that's what made it very challenging for me. So I was prescribed a supplemental oxygen to alleviate these headaches and to prevent the episodes of these cluster headaches.

So let's go back to, you come back from Iraq and you have several illnesses. You're still a Texas state trooper. What happens at that time? I mean, you're having discussions with your superiors about how you could continue to work for the state of Texas. And tell us what happened at that time. Once I came back from

seeing Dr. Miller and had received my results from the biopsy, of course, I'm thinking, well, now that I have the answer, I'll be allowed to go back to work in a different capacity because I already knew my limitations and what this disease, this permanent injury had done. So when I presented the biopsy and I filed a request for accommodation, I was granted a temporary position, a modified position, but it was only for a short while. And as I requested a permanent modification,'s when the the challenge began with the state knowing that I had attempted to follow a process through ADA and that I had done everything in my in my power to follow the accommodation you know in a timely manner where it was something that

kind of fell through there was was a drop in communication. They were not providing me that opportunity to remain employed. I remember that I was handed a memorandum from my supervisor saying, due to your medical conditions, you're no longer able to serve as a state trooper. And when I received that memorandum, that was very disheartening. So not only having challenges on the VA, DOD side, but now my civilian employer. It became a very difficult season in my life. My understanding is that the state of Texas is now telling you,

okay, you have to leave your job in order to receive disability, which is what you did. But then when you went and applied for disability, you were denied. Right. And why, that's not clear to me. Like, why, you know, if they forced you through this process where they said, okay, you can no longer be a Texas state trooper. You have to go on disability and you have to lose your job to do that. Why at that point deny your disability? And that's what didn't make sense to me, that when I asked the question about why am I being forced to go this route where it seemed like it's backwards because then if my disability is not approved then I'm out of a job but it's just the way that I believe it was something with with communication through my leadership and headquarters and eventually which led to well

we don't know what else to do with you so So the option is to resign. And of course, at that time, I was receiving treatment in Utah. I was in Utah for 40 days going through a program where they were detoxing first responders due to the work they were doing around meth labs. And they had, of course, reached out for me to have an opportunity to see if it would help my ailments at that time in 2012. So throughout this time that I'm being forced to submit this resignation or this process, I was not even home. I was receiving treatment.

But by that time, I was taken off the payroll. So it was the current situation at the time that put me under pressure because I was facing foreclosure. My credit was shot. I was already getting behind with all my payments. And that's what made it a challenge for me, where if I don't submit this resignation, of course, my response was, well, I'll submit a medical request for medical retirement because I had over 10 years of service. So I said, I should be given that opportunity to at least medically retire. You eventually go to court, you win your case, state of Texas appeals,

and the case goes to the Supreme Court. And ultimately, the Supreme Court, you know, held in your favor that you would do benefits. Significant ruling today from the Supreme Court involving a case that is centered right here in Texas. Justices saying that states can be sued by veterans who are alleging discrimination in the workplace. That's one part of your success in terms of advocating for yourself and others like you. But let's talk about what made you decide to create Burn Pits 360. You know, Burn Pits 360, actually, we had no intention of starting a nonprofit. All this started from the delay and denial experience that I faced, that my wife faced.

that my wife faced in 2010 as I was being wheeled into the operating room. My wife, she told me, no matter the outcome, no matter the results we get, I'm going to fight for you and I'm going to fight for others because this is not going to be the end. So Burn Christian Six's inception came about after our personal experience with delay and denial in seeking specialized health care. This is how it came about. It started on a kitchen table, knowing that the challenges that we faced, that we were not the only ones, that there was going to be so many others

that had already been affected and that were going to be affected in the future. And knowing that the challenges that I faced, not only serving as a reservist, but also the challenges that we're faced against with the VA, and then as an employer, that's what just put this, it lit this fire within us to not give up and to face the many challenges that we were facing at the time and the challenges that still continue to this day. You know, I've read that President Biden has said that he believes that his son's brain cancer and death was caused by exposure to burn pits. And now you enter this phase where you're on Capitol Hill and you're lobbying for legislation that becomes known as PACT.

What's the connection between what you're lobbying for in terms of legislation and the compensation that was given to survivors of 9-11? The PACT Act. Oh, wow. It's just monumental legislation. Veterans who were exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances can now receive additional health care and benefits from the Veterans Affairs. The care is available through the PACT Act. The challenges that how we got there throughout the years going to D.C. and the many walks that we did, those hallways. He passed on in December of 2021.

But knowing the impact that this legislation would do was something that was beyond our imagination. And that is still surreal to this day. And that honoring our pact has been something that has been for many years. has been something that has been for many years. And my wife, we would talk about this many times that as doors were closed or, no, you can't, there's no presumptive, or we can't do this because, you know, there was always a dollar sign behind the issues about money.

I was told by a member of Congress, I can't sign a blank check. Well, sir, I signed two. I signed two blank checks, one for my state and one for this nation. So what does PACT stand for? PACT? Excuse my, sorry, Jay, my... No, no, take your time.

Yeah. So sorry, I didn't pull my... I'm having just one of the challenges say that I've had to, I still want my cognitive is still a challenge. I understand that the members of Congress were able to understand the correlation between the benefits that they gave to survivors of 9-11 and the exposure to toxic materials that they inhaled at the site of the 9-11 tragedy at Ground Zero. And the toxins that you and other soldiers ingested at the burn pits so how was that who made that correlation which legislator was behind you in helping to to push this forward at that time uh i remember it was Congressman Joaquin Castro, Congressman Dries in California, who were very receptive. And knowing that we were not receiving the support from our local member of Congress here in my region, Congressman Dries was one in particular.

Congressman Reese was one in particular, and him being a medical doctor, he knew and he believed, especially give us that blanket of specialized healthcare for so many of us. And I think when some were allowed, that they opened their hearts to know what really happened to us. Like, for example, just to me, of many stories, sharing my personal journey is what really triggered some of these members of Congress to move forward and support us. Because this was real. And I think when they saw the impact that it made in their districts and when they went to visit these soldiers, these veterans who were struggling and who died, I believe that's when the tables started to turn

and where they acknowledged, hey, we need to make this right. We need to correct this wrong. Because there's so many of us that are going to be affected. And what was the role that Jon Stewart had? Because Jon Stewart's been very outspoken about the fact that, as you said, you know, we send men and women off to war who give up the ultimate sacrifice of their lives or come back with serious illness and injuries. And then we don't support them when they come back. America's heroes who fought in our wars outside sweating

their asses off with oxygen, battling all kinds of ailments while these motherfuckers sit in the air conditioning walled off from any of it. They don't have to hear it. They don't have to see it. They don't have to understand that these are human beings. Do you get it yet? So how effective was Jon Stewart's speaking out in his advocacy in terms of getting his legislation passed? Knowing the work that he did with the 9-11 first responders, I remember in 2019, the fall of 2019, my wife had set up a meeting and actually met, talked to Jon Field with the Feel Good Foundation. And I reached out, hey, John, is it possible to maybe meet up or even just to have a conversation with John Stewart about the issue that we're facing? Because it was very similar to the 9-11 exposure.

And sure enough, I received a FaceTime call. And it was John Stewart on my wife's phone. He goes, hey, it's John. And he goes, hey, I heard about, about i said i'm sorry about your job loss first of all and i'm sorry what you're going through you know i said hey we did it for 9-11 first responders we're going to help veterans out and i'm going to be a voice and john kept his word throughout those years and he he became a a strong supporter of us pushing that the pact act and the pact act is the uh what it stands for is the promise to address comprehensive toxics act and of course it was it was named after uh

sergeant first class heath robinson uh in his honor so with this pact that it was named after after the legislation was passed did you have a chance to speak to President Biden? Actually, we were standing next to President Biden of the signing of the bill. And I did have an opportunity to present him one of our challenge points of Burnt Page 360. of birth page 360 and that day i saw the commander-in-chief as a father who had lost a loved one to to toxic exposure and i remember i presented that coin to him and uh it was well accepted you know and just knowing the effort that led to us to be there that day, it was just beyond imaginable. Knowing that, you know, going back 13 years, how long that we had to push this issue. That it finally, you know, all the work finally comes to fruition throughout the years, the challenges that we faced.

Leroy, you and your wife and countless others I congratulate you on your success of everything that you've done for our country I know it's been a really long journey and I wish you good health going forward what do you think is next for you? Jay, you know, now that the PACT Act has passed and now it's the implementation we thought things would slow down but it's like the work continues.

Our organization is focused on the implementation phase. Of course, at the same time, my journey is still not over with my job loss case. It's actually scheduled for trial later this month. So it's been rather nerve wracking for me these couple of weeks. Just getting ready for that worst case scenario if we happen to go to trial at the end of this month but uh the way ahead for us is is that the work continues on the implementation phase and as well as uh seeking other health modalities we've been networking with this company uh 4d medical who does a four-dimensional lung imaging. I actually had my lungs scanned up in

Miami back in early January of this year. So it's just now looking at non-invasive health technologies where veterans don't have to go through a lung biopsy like I did and have to go through a year of recovery from the surgery. But knowing that there's these technologies out there that will hopefully help veterans that are dealing with issues like myself. And there's some that are still working, but yet are having difficulty with their rest of their conditions because they're afraid to say something because they don't want to get fired or they don't want to lose their job. So it's the way ahead. How can we make those non-invasive technologies available to veterans?

So that's what we're pushing for now. How can our listeners support the work you're doing? What can they do to help Burn Pits 360? They can actually go to our website. And just to add to that, there is a documentary in the works. It's called Thank You for Your Service. The Burn Pits story, a documentary in the works. It's called Thank You for Your Service, a Burnt Pits story. It's in the making, but if they go to our burntpits360.org page, to our blog page,

you can, of course, you can support our efforts. Also support our programs. One of our programs is the Warrior Hope Network, which we were able to provide, for example, concentrators, like you see me wearing this concentrator. Thankfully, I have Medicare, so I got mine through Medicare, but those veterans only have VA, and it may be difficult for them to provide this type of equipment, but that's one thing that we do, that we were able to help veterans just to make their quality of life better. We've already also purchased several hyperbaric chambers to help those veterans receive treatment at home for their either

traumatic brain injury or the toxic brain injuries and so forth. So it's some of the work that we are doing alongside with networking with our stakeholders who are providing these non-invasive technologies like 4D medical. And even looking at stem cell, myself, I had stem cell last year, bioaccelerator. I had to travel out of the country to receive it, but I believe in it. I have faith that it's made a difference. I'm hopeful that it will continue to work for me. But the work's going to continue for us at Burnt Pitch 360. Well, Captain Leroy Torres, I really want to thank you for your service to our country, which came at a heavy

cost for you and your family. And thank all those other veterans out there who've served our country and are suffering. And thank you for your service to the state of Texas. You've gone above and beyond for us. And thank you for being my guest on All About Change. I wish you good health, as I said, and I hope you go from success

to success. You've had a tremendous amount of success in advocacy, and I hope you continue to have more. So thank you. Most welcome, Jay, and thank you for having me as well. Have a blessed afternoon. Thank you. Thank you. Breathing is something I take for granted. For Leroy Torres, it's a struggle he'll face for the rest of his life. His lungs permanently damaged from exposure to toxic fumes. Having him on the show, speaking with him about his journey

while witnessing the reality of his injuries firsthand was incredibly moving. But the idea of him using his breath and his voice, straining himself in order to advocate for thousands of other veterans like him, that is truly courageous and an example we can all learn from. That's all for today's episode. and an example we can all learn from. That's all for today's episode. In two weeks, we'll close out our conversation around veterans with actor, speaker, and author J.R. Martinez in a conversation that will span from harrowing encounters with IEDs to dancing with the stars,

from struggling to help yourself to finding a calling and helping others. Today's episode was produced by Rebecca Shasson, story editing by Yochai Meital and Mijon Zulu. To check out more episodes or learn more about the show, you can visit our website, allaboutchangepodcast.com and follow me on Twitter at JRuderman. If you like our show, spread the word. Tell a friend or family member or leave us a review on your favorite podcasting app. We would really appreciate it. All About Change is produced by the Ruderman Family Foundation. Special thanks to our production

team at Pod People, David Zwick, Grace Pina, Morgan Foos, Brian Rivers, and Amy Machado. That's all for now. I'm Jay Ruderman, and we'll see you next time on All About Change.