An Army of Normal Folks - Richard Casper: The Secret Weapons of Music and Art (Pt 1)

Episode Date: April 9, 2024

Richard is a Marine veteran who was subject to 4 IED explosions and concussions in Iraq, his best friend being killed next to him, a traumatic brain injury, and post traumatic stress. He came home dealing with a lot and the arts ultimately saved his life. Richard felt called to bring this secret weapon of healing to his fellow veterans and this year alone his nonprofit CreatiVets will serve over 800 veterans!Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I only told was able to tell my story through song because I met a guy at a bar who's doing a writers round and He has nine number one hits. I think he wrote Alan Jackson's first number one Here in the free world and I said hey I've been trying to tell my story through song for a year and I just can't write I can't put Luke on a pedestal. He needs to be on If I come to you in Nashville just drive down there Will you sit with me and help me tell my story because there's gotta be easier way to do this than me trying on my own you obviously doing this

for a living and he said yeah to me and nobody from Chicago just like okay and I didn't know how big of a deal that actually was. Two months later I come down there and we write a song and a half in like three hours. So the first hour and a half we had a song and I'm in like three hours. So the first hour and a half we had a song, and I'm sitting here, I've been trying this for a whole year, and you took my words and put in a song an hour and a half. This is insane. So now that experience on top of me graduating

and being like, I'm almost back to normal, was like, how do I now just bring veterans to Nashville to tell their story, because it absolutely saved my life. Welcome to an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm a normal guy. I'm a husband, a father, an entrepreneur, and I've been a football coach in inner city Memphis. And the last part, somehow it led to an Oscar for the film about our team. It's called Undefeated. I believe our country's problems will never be solved by a bunch of fancy people in nice suits

talking big words that nobody ever uses on CNN and Fox, but rather an army of normal folks, us, just you and me deciding, hey, maybe I can help. That's what Richard Casper, the voice we just heard, has done. Richard is a Marine who served in Iraq and was subject to four IED explosions and concussions and his best friend being shot and killed literally right next to him. He came home dealing with a lot physically, mentally, and emotionally. And art and music helped him heal and ultimately it saved his life.

Richard felt called to bring the secret weapon of healing to his fellow veterans and this year alone his non-profit Creative Vets will serve over 800 veterans and they've helped save countless lives. I cannot wait for you to meet Richard right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. Hi I'm Martha Stewart and we're back with a new season of my podcast. This season will be even more revealing and more personal, with more entrepreneurs, more trailblazers, more live events, more Martha, and more questions from you. I'm talking to my cosmetic dermatologist, Dr. Dan Belkin, about the secrets behind my skincare. Walter Isaacson, about the geniuses who change the world. Encore Jane about creating a billion dollar startup. Dr. Elisa Pressman about the five basic strategies to help parents raise good humans. Florence Fabricant about the authenticity in the world of food writing. Be

sure to tune in to season two of the Martha Stewart podcast. Listen and subscribe to the Martha Stewart podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The big take from Bloomberg News brings you what's shaping the world's economies with the smartest and best informed business reporters around the world. Western nations like the U.S. and Europe. Mexico will likely have its first female president. And then you have China. And help you understand what's happening, what it means, and why it matters. He'll get his yo-yos to Europe in time.

But the longer this drags on, the more worried he's getting. They knew that they needed to do this as fast as they possibly could to get a drug on the this as fast as they possibly could to get a drug on the market as fast as they could. I'm David Duret. I'm Sarah Holder. I'm Saleh Emosin. We cover the stories behind what's moving money in markets.

Basically everyone was expecting, if not a calamity, certainly a recession. But the problem is that that paperwork, as our reporting showed, is fake. As someone who's covering the market, I'm often very worried about an imminent collapse. So I'm thinking about it quite often. Listen to the big take on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every family has skeletons in their closet. Mine certainly does.

Ones that go back a hundred years and reach thousands of miles back to our hometown in Sicily. Ever since I can remember, my relatives told the story of my great-great-grandmother who was killed by the mafia. I'm Jo Piazza, and in my new podcast, I'm taking on a generational vendetta, visiting the scene of the crime, confronting mafia experts, tracking down Italian officials, and even consulting mediums to set the record straight on my great-great-grandmother's mysterious disappearance. And in between the fact-finding missions, I'll be drinking a lot of wine and eating all of the pasta. Come to Italy with me to solve this 100-year-old murder

mystery. Listen to The Sicilian Inheritance on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Richard Casper, welcome to Memphis. Hey, thanks for having me. Thanks for driving down. Was it raining? A little bit. It wasn't too much.

Yeah, but what, three hour drive? Yeah. Yeah. Richard Casper, now from Nashville, but originally from a place called Washburn, I feel like that's like a Hee Haw salute to me. It's a small, I mean, it's 1,100 people and it's a farming community. And it's just, we have a highway running through it, but nobody's ever on the highway. We had one police officer and a lot of times they were off. They just have a shift like, hey, we'll be

here on the weekends. So if you got into trouble, which we did, they have to call the state rod to come up and it... You knew it was gonna be 45 minutes before anybody got there. What did your dad do? So he was a truck driver. When I was born, we lived in East Peoria area, which is obviously bigger, and then they moved out to Washington. I don't know why, just to get away. We grew up on food stands, very poor family, where my mom was working for a grocery store, and then finally got into Medmore Woodworking, which is owned by Hallmark, worked there for

25 years, because she didn't have a degree or anything. My dad didn't have a degree. He was in the Navy prior, but he was just a long haul truck driver. And so we found a really, really cheap spot because I have four, three siblings. So there's six of us in one little house, three bedroom house with a lot of space. And so they just want to move out to the country. And I don't know how they found Washburn because we didn't know anybody. Washburn, Illinois. I feel like it's like the place with one street light or one four-way stop or whatever.

No stop lights at all. It's six churches, two bars, no... Well now we just got a dollar general for... That was the first one ever two years ago, but yeah, there was nothing. It's one square mile by one. It's one square mile, one by one. So your high school must've been small. 22 kids in my graduating class, I was prom king.

Did they even have a football team? Was there no? No, we had, in my sophomore year, we had a co-op with like five other schools, which was funny story because they put us in a whole other division that we shouldn't even have been in because it was like, they took the calculation of all the school's students, but they didn't take any calculation that it's five schools and they're getting like two people over here, two people over here. So I was every single kicker and tight end and defensive end on both defense and offense. So with a bunch of kids you didn't go to school with every day.

Yeah, a hundred percent. And so in my sophomore years when we finally got football and that was the first time, and I think since then they disbanded it too. Wow. So rule. So, rule. Yeah, very. Rule. You know, in the 40s, that meant church, kids around the supper table eating, a working mom or a working dad, a mom at home mending clothes and not much money but, you know, kind of a wholesome family upbringing.

Somehow in our world, that has morphed to communities that have a lot of hopelessness, typically alcoholism and drug use and a lot of loss. The, you know, one big manufacturing plant that everybody went to work at, those don't really exist in a lot of places and have left a vacuum of hope and income. And I'm curious, is that Washburn? Yeah. We never had that big company come into Washburn, but it was 15-minute drive, 30-minute drive to Metamora. Like even my mom, she worked for Hallmark technically under that Metamora woodworking,

which took every single card holder, plastics, they melt down and turn it into the card holders that you see at Walmart and everything. They made and produced those, but after 25 years of her working there, they just got rid of her job. And so then she didn't have anything. And so she had to go to a agency where now she's getting paid 12 bucks an hour to work at another factory 45 minutes away just because there's no opportunity there. So it was a very, very small, very no opportunities.

Nobody gets out. They just stay there. And the only way to succeed is to get out. So coming up, were you surrounded by alcohol and drugs and stuff that seems to permeate our rural communities? So, my dad, he's one of 11, by the way. Every one of them owned a bar, worked at a bar, drank at a... He was like a long haul truck driver, but then the weekends he'd just go to the bar.

And so, like we didn't see him much. There's times where I would like come out for school and his truck would be running and he'd be in the passenger seat just Passed out and I'm like going off to school and I see like his side mirrors broken And I just we didn't know how he made it home But he made it home from the bar that night So that ran rampant then my three siblings all older me been to prison and jailing my sister just everything from drug There's there's a lot of that little city thing that kind of, it wasn't just our surroundings,

but we moved to that town and I was in kindergarten when we moved there and my brother's name is Elvis, very long hair. Elvis? Elvis Aaron Presley Marlowe. So he's my half brother, but... Holy crap. Yeah, they love... Welcome to Memphis.

His dad loved Elvis a lot. Clearly. That's all I noticed, he's like a one-legged Italian man that my mom met hitchhiking. It was crazy. He ended up having him. Oh my God. Yeah, that's a whole nother story. You didn't have my mom on those podcast.

A one-legged Italian hitchhiker. My mom was hitchhiking. And she, I think when she met him and then, but she- A one-legged Italian guy. Yeah. And had a child and named him Elvis Aaron. Elvis Aaron Presley. And then his last name was Marlo. So we kept the Marlo name.

And that's your oldest brother. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. But as you can imagine now, going to a small town like Washburn, and he was, I don't know what, he's born in 78. I don't know what grade he was at when we got there, second, third, fourth, fifth, whatever it was, he was now like extremely bullied for where he was. We were the outcast. We were so poor, like again, grew up food stamps. We had trash all over our yard like most poor families do.

Like we had all of our stuff. He had a dirt bike too that he'd ride around. We had three and a half acres and we lived in town. That's how small it was. And so the community fought against him and then he fought against them and that led to a whole dispute with police. And then it went into the drugs and the rebellion and then all three siblings. Cause my mom and dad didn't do drugs.

My dad heavily drank. My mom is a saint. She cold turkey quit smoking after 25 years or so. She cold turkey quit alcohol, everything when she was starting to have kids. And she knew that smoking bothered me too, because I was still small when she was smoking, she quit that. And so it was awesome. And my dad never did drugs that I know of, but my siblings got heavily into drugs and

just rebellion. And I still remember my one, my second oldest brother was on house arrest and that was back when he's still in high school. And so they have a automated system call you and be like Delaware and you have to say Delaware back. And so, cause he'd have to go, they had to prove that he's in the house cause they have an audio recording, but he'd have me do it sometimes because it worked. He tested out it cause you could do it a few times.

So he'd go out and he'd say, you sit here and say, Delaware, when this phone rings. Yeah. He tested it first time, just make sure. Cause if you say it wrong or in a different, or if someone else gets on there, it usually catches it and it says, can you repeat that? But I tried it a few times and it worked. It was bad technology back then. And he'd just go out and he'd be like, hey, can you pick up this phone? But there are also dealers and stuff. So at seven years old, I was holding like a pound of marijuana like in her basement, just like, oh, this is cool. And they're trying to push me to become a dealer because they

knew I didn't smoke or anything like that. So like you make more money if you do this because you don't actually use the product. How in the world did you not end up in that? That's crazy. I mean, I would say looking back, I was so aware at such a young age, like as we were growing up, and I see my siblings not graduating high school. I see my family not being successful, especially out of my dad's side, all 11. They even joined, most of the men joined the military, came back and still never did anything with their life. And I was like, well, there's one trait that they all have is they drink alcohol or they do drugs. So I was just like, I'm not ever

going to drink alcohol. And to this day, I've never even tasted a beer. And it was around that. It wasn't a religious reason. It was just because I was like, maybe if I don't do what they're doing, I'll be successful. And that was just a gamble I took and it seemed to pay off. You know, kind of an interesting side commentary is if people were seeing you, they would see this six foot three or four, probably? Five, but who's counting? Six foot five dude who looked like, it looks like you jumped off of a Norman Rockwell family portrait. You got the nice cropped hair, the little swoop over, good looking guy, big smile. But your story

is not at all dissimilar from many stories or your upbringing is not at all dissimilar from many stories we talk about coming from urban black communities. And I think the interesting narrative is it serves as a really important reminder to us that drugs and problems with it and everything else is not a racial issue. It's a socioeconomic issue. and you've said how poor you were on food stamps. Unfortunately, the truth is poverty and dysfunction lead to jail and problems in people's lives, regardless of if you're white from Washburn, Illinois, which I assume is a pretty much all white area to some urban area in Chicago or Memphis. Yeah. One Sicilian family, one Mexican family, then all white.

And that's where growing up too, I was like, man, it was, it was all the poor people that was kind of like getting into it and getting, and then it's a back and forth too, cause police can take advantage of that too, cause they know you're not, you don't have a big time family lawyer or something that's going to stop you from doing stuff. Like my sister got pulled over in the middle of town. She ended up losing her job because the cop said he thought she was speeding.

But then he had the dogs come in to sniff her vehicle because they knew my family had drug issues, at least my siblings did, my older brothers. And so they came with the dog, took like 50 minutes to get there, 45 or so. Now she got fired from work because she couldn't get to work on time, all because they thought she was driving.

And there was many of that happening. Like I watched my brother get pepper sprayed in our house from a cop, double handcuff him for no reason. It just like, just abuse, honestly. Once again, an interesting reminder and commentary on it really isn't a racial thing. It's a socioeconomic thing, including poor police work and the things that we are struggling with in our culture today. Oh yeah.

And you live that as a kid, as a sober kid watching your family. Yeah, well, even understanding money back then too, like I understand my dad was, I still love my dad and everything, but he was trying to buy my love. If he was gone for a week truck driving in the bar, he'd come over and be like, here's 10 bucks.

But I knew we were poor, so I never wanted to take the money. There was times too where my mom would forget to put out money for lunch at school. I remember being across from another kid, imagining what it would be like to have food because I was so hungry. I remember. How do you learn in that kind of environment? Uh, I mean, I was, I didn't really learn. I mean, I learned a lot about life through process. But.

Talk about American history and geometry. It wasn't good. Like, uh, I didn't have a respect for education either. Cause even I took, I remember taking a college-ish English class where if I just paid like 50 bucks, I'd get college credits. I was like, I'm not going to college. Like, I'm never going to do that.. That's stupid. Why would I go to college? No one around me went to college. I figured I was just gonna go to military

for 20 years and get out. That was my only route to it. And I started to rebel a little bit too. Not rebelling in a way that was anti-police and everything. It was more comedy. I would do some stupid crap. That's why I was class clowning and everything. I loved making people happy and entertaining people, but I didn't really put anything on education. When I talk now, it's funny because I was last in my class. And now, a few messages from our

generous sponsors, but first, I hope you'll consider becoming a premium member of the Army at NormalFolks.us. By becoming one for 10 bucks a month or $1,000 a year, you can get access to cool benefits like bonus episodes, a yearly group call, and even a one-on-one call with me. Frankly guys, premium memberships also help us to grow this army that our country desperately needs right now. So I hope you'll think about it. We'll be right back. Hi, I'm Martha Stewart, and we're back with a new season of my podcast.

This season will be even more revealing and more personal, with more entrepreneurs, more trailblazers, more live events, more Martha, and more questions from you. I'm talking to my cosmetic dermatologist, Dr. Dan Belkin, about the secrets behind my skincare. Walter Isaacson, about the geniuses who change the world. Encore Jane, about creating a billion dollar startup. Dr. Elisa Pressman, about the five basic strategies to help parents raise good humans. Florence Fabricant, about the authenticity in the world of food writing.

Be sure to tune in to season two of the Martha Stewart podcast. Listen and subscribe to the Martha Stewart podcast on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The big take from Bloomberg News brings you what's shaping the world's economies with you get your podcasts. what's happening, what it means, and why it matters. He'll get his yo-yos to Europe in time. But the longer this drags on, the more worried he's getting. They knew that they needed to do this as fast as they possibly could to get a drug on the market as fast as they could. I'm David Guret.

I'm Sarah Holder. I'm Saleh Emosin. We cover the stories behind what's moving money in markets. Basically, everyone was expecting, if not a calamity, certainly a recession. But the problem is that that paperwork, as our reporting showed, is fake. To someone who's covering the market,

I'm often very worried about an imminent collapse. I'm thinking about it quite often. Listen to the big take on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Solea Mosin, and I've covered economic policy for years and reported on how it impacts people across the United States. In 2016, I saw how voters were leaning towards Trump and how so many Americans felt misunderstood by Washington. So I started The Big Take DC. We dig into how money, politics and power shape government and the consequences for voters.

It's an election year. So there's a lot of focus on the voters that TikTok is reaching. The initial reaction is like, oh, things are looking so resilient. I don't want to be too pessimistic, but I just don't see the political will down in Washington right now to change their tune. will down in Washington right now to change their tune. I think the American electorate has been signaling that it expects a rematch of the 2020 election. These are unprecedented times. With new episodes every Thursday, you can listen to The Big Take DC on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'd be a good reverse motivational speaker. Be like, look what you can do. Be last in your class and still, you know, and because I didn't, I didn't put anything on education, on learning.

I mean, 9-11 also happened when I was in high school. So we had to grow up a lot faster than most people. Being like a junior in high school when that happened, you had to start learning history and what's about to happen. But other than that, I didn't respect education and I didn't get a very good education. It's interesting.

And I think just as a side note, looking at you and hearing your story frankly is no different than listening to stories of many people we interviewed from a completely different area of the world, but saying the exact same things, which speaks to the work we need to do socioeconomically with poverty if we're ever going to break the quote cycle. Yeah. I mean, honestly, it almost starts with a good breakfast. I think about it all the time.

Because they talk about how just a really good healthy breakfast will set your tone for the rest of your day. You could learn better. You have better mood and everything. In most of these economic places, it's either your mom's working two or three jobs and she's like, my mom did, I think, third shifts for a long time too. And so you're waking up fending for yourself and you're just kind of like, I'm not going to cook anything or I'm going to eat crap. And then you just go to school and that's a part of the

problem. And maybe not even eat lunch. Exactly. And imagine if just the world was just fed a really good healthy breakfast every morning and then they went out. Cause at least you still have all your issues, but you're going into it with a healthy mind and able to actually retain some of that. But that's established. So now you're graduating high school. Barely. And what's that? Barely. Barely.

Now they're giving you a diploma to get out of high school. And I think it was your sophomore, junior. You graduated in 2003, so your sophomore, junior was 9-11. And that's really probably the only thing that happened for you in high school that was an awakening, I guess. Is that right? So I mean, I knew after my dad served, I knew that just to get out of the town

and we didn't have money, I was gonna join the military. But I also had this deep like need to serve the military. It wasn't just cause it was a way out. I just had this, I wanna serve my fellow people. I wanna serve the military. It wasn't just because it was a way out. It was, I just had this, I want to serve my my fellow people. I want to serve my country. So for the longest time I just didn't know what I wanted to be in the military and didn't know what job I wanted to do. And I just kind of was like, okay, I'm gonna be military. But when 9-11 hit and I started asking people and what what was happening and how do I get over there first? It all led back to Marine Corps infantry.

They're like, hey, their first one's in, they settle, they go through there, the army takes over, they come back out. And so I was like, sweet, I'm going to go Marine Corps. And when I went to the recruiter, again, I was still military dumb. I thought everyone was army. You know how they always talk about it. People say soldiers and they think it's everyone. Army is a general term for the military.

So people say I'm going to the army. That could be Air Force. Yeah. But then when you're in the military, it's so far different that you wouldn't tell me I'm in the army and I'd be super mad if you did. And soldiers are army, marines are marines, airmen are Air Force, squids are Navy. No. There's a lot of different names for different branches and we're very much like, but I didn't know who sit what jobs. I didn't know who did what. And so when I went to the Marine Corps recruiter, they were just like, you know, for one, you're 17 so you have to have your parents sign this. And imagine in 2003 trying to get your parents to sign something, 2001 actually is when this

went. Yeah, but if you were in the military, you're probably going to Iraq, Afghanistan, Fallujah, something. Yeah. And so my mom and dad. And my parents are like, nah. My mom and dad knew that and they told me at first they wouldn't sign early. And so I became a good negotiator and I said, well, if you sign now, I get a whole year

of training with the debt program that the Marine Corps does. And so I'll do every month. I go there, we train, we run, we learn everything. If you don't sign, when I'm 18, I'm signing. Now you want me to go to the Marine Corps to war, like without knowing anything. So they thought it'd smarter to sign me up now so I could like get the training ahead of time. It's not bad.

It's a good sales pitch. And so I went in there and said that and they said, okay, they signed it. And then when I was looking for my job, I was just based off the recruiters. We're like, Hey, you want to be a combat engineer? I was like, what do they do? Like build stuff and blow it up. I're like, hey, you want to be a combat engineer? I was like, what do they do? They're like, build stuff and blow it up. I was like, yeah, let's do that. And then I'm sitting next to these other two kids

and I'm like, what are you guys doing? They're like infantry. And I'm like, what's that? And they're like, that's really kicking in the doors. I was like, no, sign me up for this. This is what I signed up for. Like, I want to go, I want to do this. I wanted like the best chance to go serve my country.

And I remember when 9-11 first happened, I didn't know who did it, nobody really knew what was happening. And so I was already writing reports on Saddam Hussein on how evil of a person he was. So I was like, okay, if it was Saddam, like why can't I be the one who catches him? Like I knew I wasn't going to be,

but I feel like optimism is a superpower these days. And so I just said, if I could believe that I could be the one, I'm gonna be a lot more successful. And so I was like, if I could believe that I could be the one, I'm gonna be a lot more successful. And so I was like, how would I do that if I wanted to be that? Okay, Marine Corps infantry be the first one overseas. So that's kinda how I started my journey

in the Marine Corps. You're preparing to go kick indoors and collect Saddam Hussein for your country. Yeah. And then they start testing. This was something I didn't know existed. I go to bootcamp and- By the way, until I read your story, I didn't know it existed.

It's interesting. Yeah. Can't wait to share this with our listeners. So I, well, I was always told by other older Marines, like, you don't want to be on a list in bootcamp. Like just go there, keep your head down and just do it. You don't want to be on a list. Not a list. Because a list is a sh-t list. Yeah. You don't want to be on a list. Not a list.

Because a list is a list. Yeah. You don't want the drill instruction to know your name. There's like 80 Marines in there. Like don't, don't volunteer for a second. This is like a smart, it wasn't like the normal Marine who was like, yeah, you should be guide, you should be squad leader. And they're like, okay.

Then you go there and you know, it's just straight punishment for being that in those roles that don't lead to anything. And he was, he was like, don't be on your list. Don't like sign up for anything. Keep your head down. Shut up. Do your job. Hopefully three months goes by, they don't

know your name, like that'd be perfect case scenario. And so within like two weeks they come out and they're like Casper and I'm like, ah crap, I'm on a list and it's a, and they call me a special tester. And so. Did you think that meant you me a special tester. And so. Did you think that meant you were quote special?

Oh my gosh. Yes. Because in high school, I didn't treat, again, I didn't treat, treat academics like they're anything and I knew, I knew I wasn't going to college. So when the state standardized tests was put in front of me, I was just seeing how fast I can get done with it. So I was like, see, see, see, see, see, see, just filled in the legit, and I'm like done and just sit there and watch everyone else work. While the class was going.

I had a guy, we had a guy in our class. He literally made Christmas trees out of the bubble sheets. And he also somehow figured out how to make a penis on the bubble sheet. And that was the bubble sheet. And that was the standardized test. And before he turned it in, of course there weren't phones back then, now we take, but he was like showing it to people and everybody was just dying laughing in the proctor's and give me that. Yeah, he, worse than Christmas treated, he penised it.

Yeah. And that's what I, that's what I did because I didn't treat it like it was anything. And then, but I did one test I treated like a test and that was the ASVAP to get into military. And so that's why I ended up on this certain list, a special testers list. And so there's, I don't even know how many, in bootcamp, there's like companies in each one. So each one starts, like our start date was June 9th, 2003.

And so a week later, another company would start and a a week later, another company of recruits would start. And so there was like 3001 was a whole platoon, 3002 was a platoon, I was 3007. That's my platoon. So there's 80 people, I'm not good at math, 80 people in each platoon, that's how many Marines are in one thing. And they took everyone who was in boot camp at that time. And so I don't know, I always say a number, but I don't know if it's actually true, but it was anywhere between probably 100 and 400 Marines that were on that

first sheet of special testers. And we just go, they just pull us out every once in a while. And there's probably like 12 from my platoon specifically. They just pull us out. We go meet with like a bunch of people, just random people. Like, are you an Apple or are you orange kind of people? Like where you fill out a questionnaire and they're like, Hey, this is your kind of thing.

But then asking questions like, do you talk in your sleep? Do your parents ever go out of the country? It was always super weird. And, and so then we just go back to normal training. Like that never happened. And then all of a sudden we get, I'd call back, Rich, you're Casper. Like you're going to this thing again. And I'd go and it's less and less Marines each time.

And I always joke when I get my big talks, I'm like, what's happening, are we killing them? Like, are they taking them there? Like getting rid of some of them, pulling them back. Like am I on a survival game? Uh, and then ends up, we do this transition from MCRD, which is the Marine recruit Depot in San Diego. And we do four weeks at Camp Pendleton, which is the Marine Recruit Depot in San Diego, and we do four weeks at Camp Pendleton, like on the actual base for training.

I still remember we were up there and I'm like, thank you for being in the special tester thing because we're about to go up on this huge mountain and you dig in. It was a whole thing you had to do during boot camp to dig a finding hole. They teach you how to dig a finding hole, but it was in like that bedrock mountain and they only give you those small e-tools and it's you and a buddy who are just like digging this thing out. You have to be able to sit in there. You have to have a, a grenade sump in there.

It's just a horrible, like nobody's looking forward to it. And then on the way up and we start digging and they pulled me off the mountain. I'm like, sorry, buddy. Good luck digging your home. I gotta go do some testing. I get to go answer about my favorite colors. Yep, yep. And so we go down there.

And this time it was a one-on-one interview with a gunnery sergeant or first sergeant. And at this level, being a recruit, you see them as the president of the United States, vice president. You think, oh my gosh, I have to go in there and talk to them? My whole career rides on this. And you didn't know at first what you were pitching towards, so they brought us all in the room.

There's only 20 of us left, roughly 20 of us left. And that's where before they tell, first they tell us you have to do an interview with these people, but here's what you're interviewing for. You guys are either going to guard, you're going to guard the President of the United States, either at Camp David or Boeing Air Force Base for what do they call it. It's Camp David or White House Communications. And we were just like, what? Like this is the actual job? And now they put us in. So if we weren't nervous enough to do like the whole six inches from the table, go in there, salute and say, you know, good morning,

gunner sergeant, blah, blah, and then ask you a bunch of questions while you're in parade rest. It's like, we're already nervous. Now they're like, oh, and this job's on the line. You don't have it yet. Here's the job. Now go talk with them and see if you get the job. And so talk about just like a crazy time. And so we go in there, I don't remember.

It's a long way from Washburn, Illinois. Yeah, and I blacked out during the, I don't know what I said. I don't really remember it. I just came out of it being like, I'm probably not going to get that. We'll be right back. Hi, I'm Martha Stewart and we're back with a new season of my podcast. This season will be even more revealing and more personal with more entrepreneurs, more trailblazers, more live events, more Martha, and more questions from you. I'm talking to my cosmetic dermatologist, Dr. Dan Belkin, about the secrets behind my skincare. Walter Isaacson, about the geniuses who change the world. Encore Jane about creating a billion dollar startup.

Dr. Elisa Pressman about the five basic strategies to help parents raise good humans. Florence Fabricant about the authenticity in the world of food writing. Be sure to tune in to season two of the Martha Stewart podcast. Listen and subscribe to the Martha Stewart podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The big take from Bloomberg News brings you what's shaping the world's economies with the smartest and best informed business reporters around the world. Western nations like the US.S. and Europe. Mexico will likely have its first female president.

And then you have China. And help you understand what's happening, what it means, and why it matters. He'll get his yo-yos to Europe in time. But the longer this drags on, the more worried he's getting. They knew that they needed to do this as fast as they possibly could to get a drug on the market as fast as they could. I'm David Guret. I'm Sarah Holder. I'm Saleh Emosin. We cover the stories behind what's moving money and markets. Basically everyone was expecting, if not a calamity, certainly a recession. But the problem is that that paperwork, as our reporting showed, is fake. For someone who's covering the market,

I'm often very worried about an imminent collapse. So I'm thinking about it quite often. Listen to the big take on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I never thought I'd take my three young kids to Sicily to solve a century-old mystery. But that's what I'm doing in my new podcast, The Sicilian Inheritance. Join us as we travel thousands of miles on the beautiful and crazy island of Sicily as I trace my roots back through a mystery for the ages and untangle clues within my family's origin story, which is morphed like a game of telephone through the generations.

Was our family matriarch killed in a land deal gone wrong? Or was it by the Sicilian mafia? A lover's quarrel? Or was she, as my father believed, a witch? Listen to The Sicilian Inheritance on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And then later on they said I was selected for it. I got Yankee. They call it Yankee White and it sounds so fake. When I tell people, when I first started telling people, I was like, yeah, Yankee White security clearance. Like who wrote that down? It's like a good idea for a security clearance. But if you Google it, go to Wikipedia, it's Yankee White category one is like the president. Yankee White category two

is a bunch of other people. Yankee White category three and then top secret. Those are the three above. So I was Yankee White category two because I could hold a loaded weapon next to the president. And so I had to go through- And that's ha ha clearance. Yeah. And so I had to go through that process. And so once I was selected, I was like, there's no way I'm going to actually get it because you're not promised a spot there.

You still have to do, it's anywhere from like, it could be five months all the way up to like, you're never going to get your clearance because they get to go back to your hometown of Washburn and start talking to people. And so I was like, oh crap, oh well, we'll see what happens. Like put in God's hands, I'll just go. So 2003, November, I'm going to the school of infantry, whichever Marine has to do. And so if you remember in 2003 was the first push on Fallujah 2. So I'm in the school of infantry.

My last name is Casper. So like the ghost, no relation, C-A-S-P-E-R. So I have Cartwright who's right here, C-A-R. I have Cherry who's over here, Horn who's down here, like they just do it alphabetically. And so these are like my S-Y mates. Everyone has to learn infantry. If you're infantry, you go to two months of this and then from there they decide where you go out to. And so we knew that we were the boot class, like the ones who were going to be in that first push for Fallujah.

And we knew there was going to be a lot of death, but I just didn't know how much death, but like everyone I just mentioned died because they were the first ones over there and they always put the boots to, and I say boots cause it's like the new, that's what we call our new, new guys, new recruits' boots, fresh suede. And so they're kicking in the doors. They're the first one in the door. So there'd be phone calls like, hey, Longoria just died. Hey, Horn just died.

Hey, this person. And I'm just sitting here. And I didn't know you can have survivor guilt without even going to war because you go over there, you come back, and then friends die and you have survivor guilt. I was having survivor guilt before I even went because all the friends, I thought I was going on this, you're going to war trajectory. And when I graduated S.O.I., I went Camp David route. I went to North Carolina to do security for school training while I was waiting for my

clearance and then I'd go to Washington D.C. at 8th and I had to wait for my clearance again and just stand posts until they told me I could go to Camp David or the White House. And throughout that whole 11 month process, it was like, this person died, this person died. I just didn't wanna hear it anymore. Did you feel like you were letting down your guys, your comrades, because they were over there kicking in doors, fighting, dying, sweating, bleeding, and you're hanging around DC?

I mean, that's what the guilt was about. Yeah, well, I thought I was letting down myself too. Did I make the right choice? I could have probably if I've really fought not went to Camp David and get this cushy job and maybe my trajectory was to go die in war. Did you felt like you were losing credibility as a Marine? That too. Because when the process came to, I now am in DC and 11 months goes by after just sitting there on security forever, which has its own bunch of funny stories when you're on to post for 12 hours straight with other Marines it's crazy.

But that's a whole other podcast. When it finally came down and I chose Camp David because it's in the country, I was like, this is awesome. I feel like it's more like you're more around the president. It's like more intimate. I went to Camp David and there was a process and we could talk about Camp David, but there's a 14 months hit and they're like, okay, you can stay up here now if you want the rest of your Marine Corps career, you don't have to leave,

but we'll give you the option because we're short on Marines up here. And I had to choose to leave. I just said, there's no way. Cause I had so much guilt that I should be going over there. Were you around the president much? Yeah, there was probably- Was it Bush? George W. And so I got to meet his dad and him and so there's a lot of, they don't want you to be seen while you're up there, but during church and other services, you're in church with him

because there's only one church there and they don't let you not go to church because of it. And so you'd interact with him every once in a while. And then on Christmas though, he'd bring up his whole family. So his dad, his brothers, her family, his family. They spent Christmas at Camp Dave? Every Christmas because a lot of the things was they didn't want to spend all that money going other places. And then they said, well, the base is already secured. They wanted their secret service to have off. They wanted to have a lot of people have off for Christmas. And they knew the base was guarded by Marines. And so if they brought- That's really selfless of Bush. I know. Really. I mean,- That's really selfless of Bush. I know.

Really, I mean the guy could go anywhere he wants to. Yeah, every single Christmas. And what he did too was took photos with every single person on base, no matter what branch you were, whether you're just someone that had to come up there every once in a while, he'd spend the whole day, him and Laura, I have like five photos with him

only because at Christmas time, he'd just sit there in the chow hall, small chow hall, every single person on base would get photos with him and they'd send him Christmas cards with the photo. How would you address him? Mr. President. Oh, I know, but you're the squared away. G-Dubs, that's good.

What up, Dom? No, but you're the squared away Marine charged with protecting him. You had to be a little bit in awe. Well, we were protecting the base. And so when I say garden of the, it was actually garden Camp David. And so him when he was there- I get it. But you're a Marine from Washburn, Illinois, and all of a sudden now you're with the president on Christmas. I mean, I guess what I'm saying is what was that like? I don't know. Were you starstruck? Kind of. It was, I tried to reflect back then on how I felt. I thought it was a really cool, cool job to have.

And I thought it was a cool story to tell my kids one day, but I didn't, I don't, I don't hold a lot of people at a higher, even now in the music industry, like the people I could just hit up and call and talk to, I don't feel like they're above me or below me. I just feel like they're humans and that I can relate to him. So I love that status that he was at, but I didn't really treat it as if like, oh my God, it's the president

and I've never really felt that way with anybody. That's awesome. And so it was just more of like- Do you feel that way with Alex the producer just for me? That's, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, only Alex the producer.

Yeah. I'm below. No. But it was just, it was an awesome experience and to be up there. But there was a funny time during, two times, one time for Christmas I was the bell ringer. So there's only one Marine that gets to do it. You dress up in your dress blues and that means you're guaranteed to interact with the president and his family. Because I'm in my dress blues and when he's coming into church, I get to ring the bell

as the president comes in and be like, you know, Merry Christmas, Mr. President. And then since his father was there too, then it's like, you know, Merry Christmas, Mr. President, twice. And I just get to meet the whole family. They thank me and they walk in. Because other than that, you're supposed to be in church before the president arrives. And this is so not around Christmas. And this is back in the day too, where phones didn't have cameras.

A lot of phones, some phones had cameras, but you weren't even allowed as a Marine to have a camera on base. Nobody was. And so nobody knows, the public wasn't allowed in, no cameras were allowed in. These are like, you're meeting them who they are. Intimately. What type of people they are. And so when we're in church and we look up and there's G-dub there with his little

kid and he's like, look at the Marines back there. Uh, and uh, dancing with them. What's he like? When nobody's watching. Was he really affable and approachable? Yeah, like he'd come in there, yeah, and there's another time where they're like, you have to, and this is when I first got to Camp David, you had to be seated before he got in there.

And so every Marine goes up early, we sit up a little bit higher in the back, and me and my buddy were running so late. And we come in there, and the major of the base, who's the highest-ranking person out there, and then the president were right there, we're like, we ran in, we thought we were gonna be in time, we weren't, and we were just like, ugh!

And we just kind of froze, and the major's like, ugh, because he knew we weren't supposed to be there, but he's like, come on, guys, we're like, oh, Merry Christmas, Mr. President, or it wasn't Christmas at the time, we're just like, hey, Mr. President! And he's like, because he knew we weren't supposed to be there. He's like, come on guys. We're like, oh, Merry Christmas, Mr. President. Or it wasn't Christmas at the time. We're just like, hey, Mr. President. And he's like right upstairs, like we're gonna get in trouble or something. By the way, while I was up there, in there, this is something I never really told anybody outside of there because it just, I remember being in the spot. So you know how they have Bibles at church and you can take the Bibles with you and all

that. So Camp Dave was no doubt. They always stocked books and Bibles there so you could take the Bibles with you and all that. So Camp David was no doubt, they always stocked books and Bibles there so you could take with you. And I grabbed mine and I opened it up and it says, property of William Clinton. And I'm like, oh, I'm gonna take this Bible. I got that Bible. But it was from... You have Bill Clinton's Bible? From Camp David.

But you stole Bill Clinton's Bible. I did not. I took this because it's a Bible at church. You're allowed to take Bibles at church. And it was back there, reset. It's the same as every other Bible. So it was made for him while he was president, obviously. So I think George, Obama, everyone has a Bible that's made for them, whether they use it

or not. They most likely have their own. But it was the one that just had the little placard. It didn't have a signature. It legitimately just says, like like President Bill Clinton or something. Have you gone through every page of that? No, I haven't. You might find Monalyn Wieskies' phone number or something scribbled in it somewhere. You

never know. I mean, it's worth looking. I'll check it out. I'll check out the pages. Yes, you might want to check it out when you get home. All right. I want people to know, you can take Bibles from churches. So you're having this incredible experience at Camp David, but you also are really fighting survivor's guilt and guilt about not serving. When they ask you to stay, you say, thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you, Mr. Major. Thank you, United States. I'm going to serve. Yeah. It was my first sergeant who was like, just gave me that option, just like, hey, by the way, we let my other buddy count. I think it was count. Did you know you were leaving one of the coolest jobs in the world to go risk your life?

I mean, that's hard on you know you were leaving one of the coolest jobs the world to go risk your life? I mean that oh, yeah, yeah, because I mean this is you're living at Camp David a president retreat Although it wasn't our living standards weren't gin orbs We still had roommates in very small rooms one shower and like it wasn't the best of the best But it was still a great community But I just had to get out of there It was that what we go back to when you asked if I felt guilty about not serving or however you said that about myself. I was like, I now know I'm not going 20 years.

I'm only going four years, but I need to serve. And that concludes part one of my conversation with Richard Casper. And you do not want to miss part two that's now available to listen to. Richard was already serving, I mean he was protecting the president, but he means serving overseas in Iraq. We'll continue with that story and how he's now serving his band of brothers here at home in part two. Together guys, we can change this country, but it'll start with you. I'll see you in part two. Hi, I'm Martha Stewart,

and we're back with a new season of my podcast. This season will be even more revealing and more personal, with more entrepreneurs, more live events, and more questions from you. I'm talking to my cosmetic dermatologist, Dr. Dan Belkin, about the secrets behind my skincare. Encore Jane, about creating a billion dollar startup. Walter Isaacson, about the geniuses who change the world. Listen and subscribe to the Martha

Stewart podcast on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Suleyha Moson I'm Suleyha Moson, and I've covered economic policy for years and reported on how it impacts people across the United States. In 2016, I saw how voters were leaning towards Trump and how so many Americans felt misunderstood by Washington. So I started The Big Take DC. We dig into how money, politics, and power shape government and the consequences for

voters. With new episodes every Thursday, you can listen to the Big Take DC on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My whole life, I've been told this one story about my family, about how my great-great grandmother was killed by the mafia back in Sicily. I was never sure if it was true, so I decided to find out. And even though my uncle Jimmy told me I'd only be making the vendetta worse, I'm going

to Sicily anyway. Come to Italy with me to solve this 100-year-old murder mystery. Listen to The Sicilian Inheritance on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.