Episode 175: I Met God in a Burger King Parking Lot

Welcome to the world, I'm your host, Jack Wagner. That episode you're about to hear is probably the most surprising interview I have done on this show. It was originally sent in as a very brief and funny email, funny enough that we even joked about it in a bonus episode of this show. The subject line of the email was something like "I met God in the parking lot of a Burger King." Now I wasn't sure if the person sending this email was playing a joke on us, maybe they were not in their right mind, either way this person completely stopped responding to us, which only made me more curious about the story and what that email even meant. Eventually this person came back and I scheduled an interview and when the day finally came around, I remember I was in a terrible mood, I was extremely stressed and busy with other stuff going on in my life and I hate to say it, but I was dreading having to sit down for an interview in that moment, especially one that might end up being absurd and a complete waste of my time. Well, I got on, met this person and we ended up talking for several hours and by the end of that conversation not only was I no longer in a bad mood, I felt completely better and I felt like a new person. This ended up being one of my favorite episodes of the show. It turns out the story was not a joke at all and it was probably one of the most heartfelt conversations I've had while making other world. It comes from a guy named Paul who is incredibly nervous during this interview and is probably nervous now and it all started one day when he was young and on the way to meet his girlfriend who lived in a different town and decided to pick up a hitchhiker on the side of the road. Just a heads up, this episode covers some topics that might be difficult for certain listeners including suicide, violence and war. I'll let Paul take it from here. This episode is called I Met God in a Burger King parking lot and you're listening to other world. Okay, my name is Paul, I'm 43 years old, I'm an army brat. I was born in Fort Bell, Virginia, but I currently live in Wisconsin, Sanland, North Carolina. Moved around a lot because my dad was an army, married, have one kid, she's 17, which is crazy because I still feel like a kid. I'm currently a mechanic at a tobacco company. My dad got stationed in Europe a lot, which was really cool because I grew up in Belgium, France, Germany and it was just really nice like moving around and seeing all those places that my dad would take me to all these historical sites. I was God, 8, 9, 10, so and now I was back in the day where you can like run around and he would just let me loose and I would just run around base. About that retired in 95 and we came home in North Carolina. I was, I can't remember, but I was in eighth grade, I've got a hole that is and it was a culture shock because I wasn't used to like, I guess American culture because I was used to being around all types of people and coming home North Carolina, it was just white country, AK Rednecks and they treated me different, it was just weird because I am white, I had to get used to that and started high school 97. Always knew I was going to join the military because my dad, it was just no other choice. Graduated to July 2001, right before September 11th, but I joined the Navy because the Navy or Kooter got to me first and tricked me on joining the SEALS knowing I wasn't ready for the SEALS, but I think that's why everyone joined the Navy. Yeah, I joined the Navy, thinking I was going to be a Navy SEAL, but that didn't happen. I was 18, it was July 17th, 2001, I went off for basic, of course that means I was in basic for 9/11 and I was a week before graduation when 9/11 happened and I remember we were returning in in our gas mass, yearly you have to get pretty much dose with CO2 gas, I don't know if it's called CO2 gas, but it's like it's tear gas, you know like the cops use, put on the gas mass and they take you into building and they put the tablet on a burner and they fill the room up with tear gas, they make you take your gas mask off and then you got to breathe it in and say your name, so it's carrying number and then it just lets it affect you. And for some people it doesn't hurt them, it affects me bad because like I would puke and snot would come out and I'd be crying, but we were returning our gas mask and I remember the door like busted open and this dude was like yelling, they got us, they got us and we didn't know what was going on and our hydro instructor told us to drop our gas mask and he marched us back to the barracks and we weren't seeing cadence which was weird and it was funny because he brought us up front and told us to sit down and he brought out a television like the elementary school and he turned a TV on and it was couple minutes before the second plane hit the tower, it was my bogland and yeah that was that, honestly I was thinking I wish I would have joined the Marines because at that point I already took the test for buds and I failed because the level of physical fitness for the seals was just so far above me that I know I couldn't reach it and I was like well I got fucking four years just bullshitting the Navy and there's no way I can reach it and now like it's obvious now we're going to go to war with whoever's attacking us because we didn't know at the time who's attacking us and I was like I wish I'd joined the Marines so I get orders to go to the ship, I spent six months in the Gulf, I hate every second of the Navy, it just wasn't for me, well I was a gunner's mate, I would wake up like nine because there's like no military structure in the Navy, I go eat, then I'd go to the magazines which pretty much will hold there all the ammo, act like I'm cleaning, then wait for lunch. The main thing I did was the underway replenishment which a boat would come up alongside us and I would shoot an M14 with a dummy round with a rubber duck with a line tied to it and it would go overboard with the other ship and I like doing that because I would actually try to shoot somebody, I mean we wouldn't hurt them because it was rubber ducky but I always aimed for somebody and I was pretty good at it but it was trying to pull on the porch and like getting drunk and I mean I was 18 just drinking my first like really taste of freedom and getting belligerent and I mean I mean we pulled in the Italy and it was this way, they had like tables outside and it felt so European to me because I used to live in Europe you know and it was outside drinking their like coffees and little drinks and I didn't know what to drink because I was so young so I ordered a martini you know shaking out stirred and like I remember they had like this parade come by us and it was just so European and people were like flipping and like spitting fire and I thought that was cool, it had like five months left on the mid-tour which is six months, it was hot, there's no AC on the boat accepting your burden where you sleep all I did was try to hide because I was only like an E3 which it has no rank so everyone could tell me what to do and just hate life until we came home, okay when I was in A school which is your school for the Navy. They asked me where I wanted to go and I talked to them. them. I don't want to go anywhere near North Carolina. So of course, they sent me to North Fort Virginia, which is like four hours from my house, which I hated. And so I, when I came home from my first appointment, I had like two weeks to leave. So I came home. I was 19 at the time. I thought I was so cool. So I wore my like dress uniform everywhere and like tried to pick up girls and it kind of worked. And that's how I met my girlfriend at the time who family had a restaurant in Hillsville, Virginia. And this is where the story goes into. Every weekend when I was stationed in North Fort Virginia, I would drive home four hours. Because this is my home, North Carolina. I was only four hours away. So I was like, I'll just drive home, you know, because that's where I know where to go. So I was 19. It was this summer time. We were freshly dating. So every second that we could be together, we were together. So Friday, 1500, three o'clock. As soon as I got off work, I was hit in the highway and beating home. God, this is kind of before cell phones. And I remember, they used to have phones on the pier where you had to put a quarter in the call. And I remember calling her. If she says she was going to work at the restaurant that day. And I said, well, I'll be there in like five hours, flying down the road in Virginia. And I go through Mount Erie and I come up 52. And thing about me, like in my family, now hates it about me. I love to pick up hitchhikers. I don't know what it is. It's just meeting new people and their stories. And you never know who you're going to pick up. Like, obviously, some of them might stink. Some of them might be a little higher drunk. You never know. It's just, I just love meeting them. And then helping them, you know, you help them go somewhere. And you just talk to them, you know. And so I'm going down the road, listen to Red Hot Chili Peppers. And I see this guy walking up the mountain. I remember he had like the brown socks that come up to your knee, like thick ones. And he had boots and old-school rucksack with like the bedding rolled up on top. And I was like, look at this dude. You know what I mean? Like, there's just no way in hell. I'm not going to pick this guy up. So I pull over. He walks up and I'm just like, hey man, where are you going? And he's like, I'm going to Hillsville. I'm going to meet life. You know, I got, I mean, him's got some words. I've got some, I'm tired of him taking advantage of me. And I'm just taking, oh yeah, jump it. Like, it's crazy. He said he was going to go meet life. He said he's going to go meet life. He's going to have some words with him because he's tired of him taking advantage of him and taking him for granted. Life, life is a he. He spoke him as a he. And like when when he said that, I was like, I kind of understood it. I was like, yeah, life sucks, you know, everyone thinks that unless you're rich, but how old was he? Oh, he, God, what the time, he pretty much my age now. He was like 40 something, but that was pretty old to me at the time, because I was like 19. I wasn't able enough to drink. He was like, what was? When he said he was going to go meet life, I really didn't think he was going to go meet life. Like once you hang out with like crazy people enough, they will just say things and you'll be like, yeah, okay. But you don't like take it for like, oh, he's really going to do that. Um, he jumps in the truck. Um, he didn't like stink. He didn't seem high or drunk. Just seemed like a regular guy. He said, uh, he's going to meet him at the Burger King in Hillsville, which I knew where it was at because it's just up the road for my girlfriend's restaurant. And I was like, last time I'm going anywhere. Let's go, man. And I started talking to him. I just asked him where he's from. He said he was from Michigan and his name was Sebastian, which no only time only thing I can think about was the lobster from the little mermaid. He was just a regular dude. And he, he said he like, he doesn't believe in working and making money for the man. Like he can live on his own. I told him I was in the Navy, you know, and he was really anti-war and he didn't believe that we should be attacking people that weren't involved with anything. And I don't want to get too political. But the things he was saying, of course, I didn't believe at the time because I was so brainwashed and thinking they were bad that we're good, you know, that they have to die, you know, because they hate us because of our freedoms. And I remember he got pretty deep into it. And I really wasn't picking up what he was putting down, but he got pretty conspiracy theory ish, which I didn't understand until later in my life. He said this was everything that's happening is set in the world up for the Antichrist to come into the world. And I was just like, because I was just beyond my recognition, like, understanding at the time, I was still a child. So I really didn't push the issue. I just let him have his moment because this was just like news to me because I didn't understand this at the time. I would just be like, okay, and just let him talk, you know, because there's only like 15 more minutes. And he starts telling me about his book. He's writing for Civil War, about the Civil War. And I told him I was going to go meet my girlfriend. And then he was all like, kind of being like a creepy old man. He was like, oh, yeah, you know, young girls and stuff. And I was like, man, this guy's like really out there. I remember before we pulling the Burger King, I was like, so it's life going to be here. And I remember he said, I hope so. I've called him out plenty of times. He really has never showed up. And so we pulling the Burger King. It's still sunny out. Pulling in, I looked to my left. There's an old guy sitting on the curb with a button up shirt, khaki shorts, flip-flops, white long hair, and a white beard, smoking a cigarette. And he's like looking at us. And like, I come to a stop because I'm looking at him. And Sebastian, next to me, he goes about fucking time. And like he jumps out. I'm looking at this guy. And like, he stands up and he's walking toward me. And it was, I couldn't really take my eyes off of him because he was like, I was thinking. I was like, there's this, there's this no way. He had like aura about him. It wasn't like paranormal. He just looked like a good dude, you know what I mean? Like, you know how you see something like that's a good dude, you know. I remember I wasn't scared. Like, he didn't look like old, old because his skin wasn't wrinkly. It was kind of like smooth. And his hair was coming back. It just looked pretty cool, you know what I mean? He walked up to me. I remember he put his hand on the door and he goes, thanks for bringing him. I really didn't want to walk to meet him. And I'm just like taking back. And about this time Sebastian runs up to him. And like, they hug, like, like they know each other. And like, they separate. And they like, he's like, don't inside, you know, I got to have a couple wars. And the dude's like, okay, make sure you get some money because I don't have no money for food. So Sebastian grabs his book bag all the back of my truck and goes inside. I'm sitting in my truck, I have the window down. And he had his hand on the door, like, like looking at me. And this wherever he was turns to me. And I asked him, I said, Sebastian told me that your life. And he said, I'm just a person doing my job. And I remember, like, he said, well, I gotta go. He said, thank you for bringing him. And he goes, just remember when the shadow falls, duck. I had no idea what that meant, of course, until later on in my life. He said, tell me to remember. When the shadow falls, don't forget to duck. And he walks away. And I'm just like, I'm sitting or dumbstruck. And he stops and he comes back. And he's like, can I get a 20 for lunch? And I had him the money on my pocket. And I asked him, as he walks away, I said, how do I die? Because that's the only thing I can think I really just say. And he stopped. And he kind of looked down. And he turned and looked at me. And he said, at the end, check your pockets. And he's like, all right, he's like, I gotta go. That's it. And he just walks away, goes in a burking. I'm dumbfounded. I don't know what to say. I don't know what to do. So I just drive off and go meet my girlfriend. What made you want to ask him such a question? Well, if he was life, of course he's going to know when I die. So I kind of wanted to know at the time. Which I don't want to know now. Did you think he was life? No. Maybe an angel is like, did he have that kind of energy about him? Did he seem a little more than human or something like that? I've never seen like an angel or a ghost or anything paranormal per se. I mean, like when I first contacted you guys, like I was which I am now. I'm still scared to tell the story because this is going to reach millions of people, thousands of people. I've just told people that I've known. And like, I don't know who this person was. And what if he is? Like, that means I'm going to meet this person when I pass in this world. And it's just going to be like, hi, you know what I mean? Like, I don't know. I don't want to piss them off. You drive off. What's going through your head? What are you thinking? I wasn't thinking too. I mean, I was thinking about it. But I mean, it was, I was more thinking about getting to the restaurant. I mean, I just, I put it in the back of my head. Just something to tell a crazy story about. I wasn't excited about it. It was just less crazy. I pull off. I mean, I keep glances in the mirror, rearview mirror. He like waves at me goodbye. And I just pull around and drive off the hurry up to the restaurant. I remember telling my girlfriend at the time the story. She didn't think anything about it. She just made fun of me. Payed no attention to it. And that was it until years later. And so after I got out of the Navy and joined the Army, this is two years later, I just did another deployment. My ship at the time was decommissioning. It was 2004. They come up to me and say, do you want to have an early out six months early? And I was like, hell yeah, I want to have six months early out. And they shove a paper in front of me. I signed it in December 17, 2004. I'm out of the Navy. And I've never been more happy in my life. You know? And the driving home. And I started dating this new girl. She tells me she's pregnant in January, which is kind of, you know, real soon for me. But I'm stupid. The guy, you know what I mean? I don't think too much about it. I'm thinking to myself, well, I got to do the right thing. Marry this woman. I got to raise this child, because I'm not going to be no deadby dad, you know, and just not take care of the kid. So I go to the Army recruiter. He tells me I have to wait six months until once you get out of the service to rejoin. And I had like, I just got out in December. So I got like five more months. So I'm like, okay, well, you'll see me back the day he hit six months. I remember I used to take her to every doctor's appointment because I didn't have a job. I was just living up my parents playing gangcube. One doctor's appointment, she tells me not to go. She'll take care of herself. And I was like, okay, well, whatever. And she called me up on my singular phone. I don't know if you remember those. She told me because the kid wasn't mine, which turned out it wasn't mine. That she got pregnant two months before I came home. So we, uh, we separated next month. I meet my future wife, which I've been married to for about 19 years now. I'm, I fell in love. Like I'm talking head over heels. I've never felt like this before. I'm, I'm talking just, I remember that the day I met her, my buddy called me up. And he said, you need to get over this house, dude. There's this cute blonde over here. And I know how you like blondes. And I'm just like, whatever dude. I like, where are you at? And he's like, he told me he wasn't in yak and field, which is like 45 minutes from me. I was like, there's no way I'm driving 45 minutes for some blonde girl. And like, she picked up the phone. And like, she had this country accent that was just, oh my god. And I was like, she told me she wanted beer. And I was like, I'll be there. And like, I walked into the apartment. She was sitting in front of the television, listening to music. And she stood up. And I remember she had blue jeans and these like, the old school flip flops that had the hard backs and his blonde hair. And it was, I didn't, I don't want to say I fell in love at first sight. But I was in love. Like, I was just like, oh my god. Like, and then she like grabbed a beer out of my hand. And she started like kind of yelling at me. And I know that sounds bad, but he's a firecracker. That's just who she is. And I was, I've never had a woman talk to me like that. And I was just like, I'm gonna marry this woman. Like, that's it. Like, and I did. I made her mine. Where I lived was 45 minutes from my job or 50 minutes. Her mom worked in the same factory. And they lived 15 minutes from it. She got her mom to let me move in with them. And her mom and her would drive to work. And I would live in the house with her, my wife, which was my girlfriend. It was, you just imagined a 20 year old at that time. Just I was in top of the world. I had no plans of going back into the army. But I know how stupid this sounds. But you remember that green day song, wake me up when September ends? Yes. That music video, I saw that music video. And I saw like the quote unquote like army. Well, what they were doing. I was like, I fucking want to do that. I want to go shoot people. I want to go die from my country. I want to fucking do that. The propaganda worked on you, bro. It fucking story was bad. And I remember I was telling I was telling about it. And she was like, no, there's no way I can't lose you. I don't want you to go. And I was like, I got to do it for my country. And it was terrible. It's been a long time since I've seen that music video. But I feel like the intended message was not how great it is to be overseas, fighting in the Middle East while the love of your life is at home. Isn't it like probably the opposite? Yeah, there isn't probably about like wanting to not be overseas and be. It is when September ends. It got me. It got me, man. And it has that young actress in it. That was in the movie 13 and she was in true blood. She's my wife is beautiful. And I'm not just saying that because she's my wife, but she is like out of my league. I really don't know how to this day, how I got her. But she looks like the girl off the girl next door, the blonde. You see that movie? I swear to God, she looks just like her. I knew if I left every dude, it would be at her door. And I just couldn't, I couldn't leave yet. But her mom leaves her husband at the time, which we were living at the house together. And we literally had nowhere to go. And we moved in with her dad, which her dad is, he's something else. God rest his soul. So I'm living at his house. And I'm like, there's just no way I can keep this up. I can't live here because he's just a mean person. And I was thinking to myself, I'll just go join the army. And I can get out of here. And we can go start on life. So I go talk to recruiter, what November 2007. And I was in basic February 2008 in the army, looking stupid and ACUs, not knowing what to do yet. But it was crazy. I'd sign up. I was in 94 Fox, which was pretty much night vision repair. They offered me $40,000 to sign up for this job. And I was like, well, okay, you know, they, they, they tell me I was shovel shit. I'll do that for 40,000. I was an AIT in Georgia, Fort Gordon. I was there for four months for AIT, which seemed to get a little long, but it's whatever. And then like during that time, my wife was only like two hours away in North Carolina. During those times, she would drive down. I get my first orders. My first orders is the camp Casey Korea, which is 6,000 miles in the wrong direction. And she was pregnant. And I was just like, well, I was going to be there for a year. I was going to miss the pregnancy. I was going to miss the birth. And I was, this is hardbroken. She was upset. I was upset. But what are you going to do? You can't tell the government. No, I mean, you can, but bad things happen. But you could say like, wake me up when September ends, and I could go home. Oh, man. Yeah, you're right. When you go to Korea, the halfway through the year is called R&R. You get to come home, but you have to buy your own plane ticket. which was like $1,000 to five in Korea to home. It so happened that the six months was land during the last two weeks of my wife's pregnancy. And I remember I was playing war at war on the most crappiest internet in the world in South Korea. And I had my Dell computer with Windows live. It wasn't even Skype at the time. And I get a call and I open it up and I've never seen her. And she had blood just coming out. And she's like, oh my god, (beep) and I'm drunk off my ass. I'm talking just wasted. 'Cause that's all you're doing in Korea is drinking, like, call duty. That's it. And she's like, I'm having the baby. You got a coma, I'll come home right now. And I was like, why the hell am I gonna do that? And I see a bunch of, like, paramedics come in the room and like, they take care of her. And like, they take her away. And like, it's just a blank screen. And like, I'm still playing World of War, like, looking at the screen. And I'm like, well, shit, I gotta try to go home. And it's like, God, midnight ish. Or I'm at, and I call the first sergeant from the duty phone at Staff Duty. And I wake him up and he was mad that I was calling him. But it wasn't even not bad. I was just trying to go home because I was going home Monday. It was this Friday, Saturday morning. I was going home Monday for mid-tour. And I was calling. I was like, hey, can you just approve my leave? Like, for, like, now, like, a day or two, half early. So I can go home, like, I'll find a bus. I'll buy it earlier or take it. So I can go home, like, be with my wife. And he was like, no, you can wait till Monday, ma'am. So I waited till Monday. I get, I get home. And I remember, I walked into the room in my wife. She was in the room by herself. She was like, watching TV. And she had that little medical gown on. I remember she just looked over at me. And she was like, what's that? Because she was like out of it, you know? Because she just had a baby. You know, we hug and we kiss. And I remember talking to her. And it, then it occurred to me. I was like, oh, yeah, I have a kid. So we go to the next room and like, where she's in a little, whatever that thing was, big old tray. And I remember, do you have kids? My wife's actually pregnant with her first. You're going to know this when she has, as soon as that shot, when you lay eyes on that child, your blood memory is going to, and you're going to be like, I love this kid, no matter what. It's instant. And I'm just like, I love this child. It was so crazy. I just remember that Tuesday. I remember how I was crying. I was holding her and it's just, congratulations on your kids though. I remember, I got two weeks home. My daughter, she had like a condition because my wife had a, oh, my gosh, she's going to kill me. I don't remember. But she had like a emergency pregnancy. Well, they had to do a emergency C section. And like, my wife couldn't have died. Like, she tells the story so much better than me. I'm, oh, she's going to kill me. I don't remember it. But she lost like so much blood. And then like, my wife, my daughter had to stay in the hospital. Like, the two weeks I was home from leave, it was crazy. All right. We'll be right back after this quick break. Whisper's in the dark. Phenomenon that slipped past the logic. Legends that refuse to die. When the unknown stirs, its trail leads to our podcast. So supernatural. I'm Yvette Gentile. And I'm her sister, Rachefekarero. Together, we explore all of the world's most bizarre mysteries. Listen to So Supernatural every Friday, wherever you get your podcasts. [MUSIC PLAYING] Did Korea came home? I got orders to Fort Hood, Texas, the great place. I hate Texas. I hate-- I will walk around Texas before I drop through Texas. But the only thing good about Texas is the HEB, which is the grocery store. I'm in Texas six months. I come on down to orders to Afghanistan, the Marble Fob Marble, which is an RC North. I go to Afghanistan. I'm killing an Afghanistan. It's hot, hot as hell. My first week in Afghanistan, you have to like, climateize the weather, because it's like a hundred feet. It's like doom, the movie, you know what I'm saying? Like, you're just desert and it's heat. And you're like, you're dying. You just won't water all the time. And the only water you have is hot, because there's no refrigerators, no AC. And you're just sitting in a tent dying. But they had a mile away from our tent city, where we'd sleep at. They had an MWR tent, like a mile so away, where you can get on the phone and try to call home, or you can try to get on the internet. But it would take you like 20 minutes to log on to my space. This is my space of the time, how far back it was. Like, right before Facebook hit. And I remember I was on the computer and I was trying to log on, because I remember my, I called my wife and she yelled at me. It's like, you need to get Facebook. And I was like, why do I need Facebook? I got my space, it's good enough. And I remember I had my chemical romance for my intro song, you know? And I didn't want to get rid of that. And I was sitting at the computer trying to like make a Facebook and Afghanistan internet. And my stomach said. - Blu, blah, blah, blah, blah. - And I was like, oh my God. And I didn't want to get up because when you go to the MWR tent, there was a mile long line just to get on the computer anyway. And you only have 15 minutes per turn. And if I got up to go shit, I would lose my spot. Like, I don't, I don't want to get up. But it reached the point where I had to get up to go. Because if I didn't, I was going to fuck you shit myself. So I get up, I grab my info, my weapon. And I'm running to like the portage on. Cause like, that's the only place they got to go to bathroom over. There's the portage on. And they're everywhere over there. And I'm like speed walking, like the run walking, how those people do. And I'm halfway to the portage on. And I'm talking water just flies out of me. Down my leg and every down my boot, it's in my boot. I'm trying to clean myself up and then end the portage on which is like 150 anyway. And I'm dying of sweat. So I finally clean myself up. And I'm like, I'm gonna have to like walk all the way back by myself, dried shit all over me, caked and just blazing hot. So what I do is I get back into the tent. I get lucky and nobody's in there really. And so I change my pants real quick. And I go throw it in the trash. And the next morning, they were like, oh my God, we're having a formation. Like, and you're not supposed to have formation is down range. Because there's a lot of people together. And when there's a lot of people together, like everyone can die at once. It's like income and comes and gets everybody one time. So you're not supposed to like gather in groups, you know? And I was like, damn, it's supposed to be serious. The battalion commander walks up. And he holds up ACUs with shit all over him. And they're my pants with shit all over him. And he's like, don't fucking throw away your pants in the trash. And it just, I thought it was funny. Because he was holding the shit in my pants about a month into normal. The commander says that we're splitting up the battalion and half of us are going to conduce. And the other half is staying here. And I get picked to go to conduce. Marmel was like easy peasy. There was, it was a German phob in, the Germans paid, they paid off the Taliban not to attack them. And so it was pretty easy at Marmel. But, but conduce was like, whether or like the action was at. And that was pretty happy at the time. Okay, this is like, okay, I'm gonna tell you this. But I don't know if you want to put this in a story. Do you know what a Jodi is? That's the guy that fucks your wife when you're down range. So I got fucking Jodi. So I'm down range. This is probably the second month. She's in hood with my daughter who's like, not even a year old. She starts vanishing. We don't know where she's at, which she's doing. My mother-in-law, she like goes to hood to like find out what's going on because I can't get a hold of her. No one knows where my wife's going. Like no one can get a hold of her. And like, this is stressing me out 'cause like I can't fix anything. I'm in fucking Afghanistan. Fucking just stressed out on my mind. No, I have to go to conduce, you know what I'm saying? We're like, shit's popping off. And I'm freaking out. I'm like, where's my wife? And I finally get to the phone one day and I remember my mother-in-law, she's like, I can tell like something's up, you know? And she's like, I'm not gonna tell you anything, but she tells me the name of this dude. And when she says this dude's name, to this man, I knew it. As soon as she said this dude's name, I knew what was up. And I'm just thinking this, like, like how could you do this to me, you know? 'Cause like, I'm not perfect. But I feel like I was a good dude, you know? Like I didn't wanna drink a little bit, but I didn't do drugs, I didn't cheat, you know? I work, I come home, I wanna be a family man. And he's fucking some dude, and like, I snap, I start volunteering for like every mission, every convoy, everything, I want it to die, you know what I mean? Like I want it to die, you know what I mean? Like that's the only thing I want to do, it's like die, and no matter what I did, I couldn't kill myself, I couldn't do it, I didn't have the balls to put the fucking gun in my head and shoot myself. But I wanted to fucking die. I remember the commander, we would do these missions where we go talk to the elders out in the village, and where we got the conduits, the commander's like, we're gonna go do a shura, and we're gonna go talk to this elder, and we're gonna try to get them to calm down, and not attack us so much, we're gonna take him some memories, go take him some water, whatever, some cots, whatever, we're just gonna talk to these people because they are people, you know what I mean? They're just trying to live, and if I think if people come to my town, my country, and just start killing people, and tell me what to do, damn right, I'm gonna fucking attack them too, you know what I mean? So I started volunteering for the turret gunner on a 50 cow, so because somebody would snipe me, somebody would shoot me, somebody would kill me, ID, you know, I wanted to die, like I'd have no reason to live, I wanted to hurt my wife, the way she was hurting me, you know, so we go to this village, I can remember the name of it, like it matters, I was in a humvee, in the humvee, there is a turret on top of it, and it has plates on each side, and there's a harness that holds you in place, as opposed to stop you from falling out on it with the humvee like tips over, and you kind of like sit down, and this harness has little seat, I was in a turret, and my commander, Captain Torres, his call sign was shadow 6, when I learned my commander's name was shadow 6, the story kind of came up to me, because I used to tell the story to people, you know, like when the shadow falls dug, and I was like, well if I ever see the commander fall, you know, I'm hitting dirt, you know what I'm saying? So we pull up into the village, there's a dirt road that leads up into the mountains, and there's pretty much huts, like no one's there, and like they're supposed to meet us in town, and people get out, they post security, the commander gets out, I was just scanning, the commander got out and he was walking around, like something happened, we're like, I wouldn't say things slow down, but my vision narrowed in on the commander, and like everything focused on him, it was like, I was having a moment, it was like, I was in the zone, and I was just looking at him, and I was just like, you know what I mean? And he trips, and he falls, and I hit the quick least on my harness in the turret, because when the shadow falls duck, and as soon as I hit it, I fall, when I drop, I hear a round go over my head, and I remember I hit my ass, and I remember seeing Sergeant kids face in my, right in my face, and he's going, what the fuck are you doing, return fire? Now if I had a drop, it would've took me out, which I wanted, that's the thing at the time I wanted to die, like I wanted to, I wanted to die, and I mean at the time, like if I had a choice, I wouldn't have ducked, I would have welcomed it, I wanted it, I wanted to die, I wanted it to happen, it just didn't happen, because what old dude told me, well when I hit my ass, and Sergeant kid was yelling at me, like I snapped right into it when he was yelling at me, I mean like training kicked in, this return fire, I mean there was a couple rounds, like RPG rounds, there was no ID, but it wasn't very long, you have probably a couple minutes, I think there's one to send a message that they were there, maybe I don't know, it didn't last very long, no one got really hurt, we had to cease fire, because no one was firing back, and then we returned back to the fog, there's more of like a journal in rush, during a gunfight, like you get pretty worked up, and like your mind at the time doesn't think things really, just doing your job, but afterwards, you know, of course I reflected about what happened in this story, but I was more upset that it didn't happen that I didn't die, and of course my ego kicked in, I was like well maybe I'm special, maybe I'm chosen, you know, and of course I'm not, I'm nobody, but I went talk to my battle Christopher, because he's the only one really that was understand what was going on, and I told him about the story, about way back in the day, and how like I picked up his hitchhiker, and like I met quote unquote life for somebody, he told me the story, and like how it kind of just saved me, he told me I was crazy, and then I was a drunk, stay off the dope, and he was atheist, so he didn't believe anything, he pretty much just made fun of me, but that's what you do in army, make fun of each other, that's how you get through it, he told everybody, of course about that, my story then, and it got back to the commander, and the commander had me on all convoys now, and had me pretty much watch him every now and then, if you ever win anywhere, because I was good luck, alright that happened, 2008, 2009, the other one didn't happen till God 10 years later, I get out of the army in 2018, I made stab sergeant, I had 10 years in the army, I thought I was hot shit, I was about to drop my recruiter packet, and I come home, I'm like just live a loving life, you know, I'm in the best state of my life, I'm fucking strongly shit, I just scored fucking 290 in my PT test, and nobody tell me nothing, you know what I'm saying, my wife goes I don't want to do this no more, I don't, I don't want to be in the army, if you don't get out, I'm leaving you, I'm taking your daughter and I'm going home, and I'm just like, well fuck, you know, that's because I was up for reenlistment, and I was like, I was about to sign over another four six years of my life, retiring, you know what I mean, and I was like, shit, like I don't want to lose my kid, like I can't lose my daughter, you know, because at this point, like even now me and my daughter are best friends, like we've always had a connection, like she has my personality, we like the same things, video games, anime, TV shows, music, whatever, you know, I couldn't live without my daughter, like I couldn't do it, like I couldn't imagine another man raising my daughter, like I would just no way, there's no way I couldn't do it, so I get out of the army, we come home to Carolina, because this is a home, she's from Carolina, I always claim Carolina, I get home, I don't know how I do it, but I land the best job, I land a six figure, super vibes job, I'm not qualified for, I'm not, but they think because of my military service that they're going to overlook a bachelor's degree, and that I can do this, and I don't, to this day, I don't know how I land this job, and I'm just like, holy shit, I'm just a lucky man in the world, we have this house, nice house, I'm making money, I'm living it, but I start drinking, I keep thinking about the army, how much of a failure I am, I gave it up, I like, I'm supposed to be in the army, I'm, that's the only thing I've done in my life that I felt like I was doing something, I started doing dope, I got addicted to heroin, I got addicted to meth, I was drinking, I was, I was in a bad place, bad place, they got to the point I overdosed, a couple times, I was having nightmares, my wife couldn't sleep in the bed with me, because I would freak out, have nightmares, start swinging or something, I don't know, she was sleeping on the couch, she had me in voluntary committed twice, which was, it broke me, like I couldn't handle it, like I'm not crazy, you know, I didn't, I didn't, at the time I didn't know what I was going through, I didn't not know what was happening to me, I mean, now I know, I mean, I went to doctors, I got diagnosed, I had PTSD, I like, manic depressive, all this crap, and I'm better now, I got help, that's time, I was, I was out of control, when I overdosed on some heroin, and I remember when I did it, the instant I did it, I knew it was too much, because I felt it, I said, oh, shit, and the next thing I remember, I woke up, there's at, there's cops, there's EMS, they're all around me, and they're strapping me in this gurney, and they said they had to hit me with like four norkans, and they're Thank you. the hospital because they said I tried to kill myself and I'm like why would I know I didn't try to kill myself and if I try to kill myself and I got to do it wasted on dope that's what I do to get high you know I mean fuck I get to the hospital like my wife has me sent away again I get arrested I list my job when I was in county I got served with 50b got fired for my job I had no money I wasted all my money I was living with my dad's count it was Christmas broke no job no wife couldn't see my daughter if I try to contact my wife or my daughter I'd 150 days in jail I was in a bad spot I was bad dude I felt like I was in Afghanistan again I want to die and this time I had fucking balls to do it so I took my dad's 38 bottles being 10 been got a bag of dope got a hotel room and I was gonna put that 38 in my heart and I was gonna fucking shoot my heart because I was trying to be all fucking cool about it like my heart's broke anyway I'm just gonna fucking get rid of it and I got fucked up man I got fucked up and I grabbed that edge of bed I grabbed that 38 and it was it was cold and that same feeling that when I was downrange came over me that that narrowing of vision and I put it against my heart I put my thumb on the trigger and I put the hammer back and check the pockets I checked my pocket and there was a fucking drawing my daughter dead it was a stick figure me and the army holding her hand and I didn't do it I threw everything away I got rid of everything all the dope liquor I went back to the house I just my dad I remember sitting on the couch he just cussed me yelling at me where are you what you doing you dope fiend with wrong you piece of shit keep taking her family I had to lose gun he called me a pussy I just kept thinking my wife my daughter my daughter my like I got clean I quit drinking I quit doing drugs I started going to the VA I started talking to like psychiatrist I had I talked to him every week on the on my phone like during a little video session they helped me out a lot man oh my god like I thought it was weak I didn't like talking no doctor they helped me out got me through stuff she dropped the 50b she cried and I cried I don't know she told me to come home and we can do it so we can work shoes how we home I haven't touched anything since that moment on the edge of the bed nothing I can't even think about drinking drugs that that's god nine years now yeah I'm happy now I got a great job making good money money in the bank my wife's got her home little like business where she does stuff I'm like a say what she does because you know I don't I don't want people know who she is I am I don't know man but she's got her own like little business like at a salon my daughter she's your junior she's going to prom next month like what the fuck yeah when I think back on that time I picked up that hitchhiker things were supposed to happen I was supposed to pick him up he was supposed to tell me that story I was supposed to go to Burger King and meet life I was supposed to go through trials and tribulations of my life that guy was supposed to tell me this dog not kill myself because if he did not I wouldn't be here and my daughter wouldn't have a father and if it wasn't for that him telling me those stupid little things I wouldn't be here I'd just be a stat another veteran commit suicide or another guy died down range nobody cares about I mean I was I'm still scared about the story and telling all because what if I was supposed to tell anybody maybe what if there's just information for me I don't know when you sent us the email you said that you think you met God at Burger King do you think that's who it was no no I really don't I really don't think it was God I don't think God came off his throne and came down to Burger King Hillsville Virginia to tell me not to do stupid shit I really don't think that he's got more important things to do I'd like to think he wouldn't have needed twenty dollars as well there you go there you go what do you think he was an angel time traveler sure so I wasn't a devil I'm on I really didn't grow up until I was like thirty eight I was a child man I was doing so many stupid things and like you would think the first instance of something like that happening in my life I would grow up but I didn't I haven't learned everything yet I'm still going through it I'm still trying I'm taking it one day at a time not appreciate the help that I do get and well I mean I still pick up his hikers this is day and the last time I did it my daughter in the car she yelled at me me and the daughter we were coming home from the mall and I was getting gas we were coming home um she likes little bubble heads what are they called fungal pops we bought some of them and I was getting gas and I saw this homeless girl but she was young you know what I mean and it didn't call my eye like God man she's way too young you know she's getting taken advantage of me I felt it man I felt bad for her and she kind of like locked eyes in me and I was like oh man please don't come over like I come a daughter in the car I can't say no I'm gonna try to help her you know what I mean she walked up to me she's like can you please give me right up the road and I was like yes like just don't get in the car yet because my daughter she's really like shy and stuff so I ran aside like I paid and I ran back out I got all the junk out of my pastor seat she sat down she's what did she say her name was Marie Maria and uh my daughter I remember looking a bit reveal mirror my daughter was just staring at you know how women look at you they give that look and I was just like oh God she's gonna yell at me later and I told her like I just turn your music up and I and uh we're going down the tree she told me she needed to go to the uh the hotel room behind the uh miskin restaurant and I was looking at her and she was shaking she was sweating it's like cold outside and I was like missions and withdrawals and I looked at her and I was like I know you don't you can't tell right now but I've been where you're at I know exactly what you're going through and she looked at me like shut up you know like you don't know like you're just saying that I was like no I've been there I've been in the addiction I know what it does to you I was like can I help you I give you some money or like she's like I have nowhere to go I need to I have no phone like I've already called my dad and I was like of course like Jesus you know like please stay in the car and call because you're not going to run away with my phone you know I mean and she called her dad and you know they had like a little conversation I tried to like stay out of it you know what I mean and he come and picked her up and I did that I helped her you know what I mean when Maria left the car my daughter she screamed at me like she could hurt you she could hurt me she could it took our funco pops she could rob the cars you know I was like there's no way and then she told like my wife her mom and oh my god She yelled at me and I'm scared of her and she's 55120 but I'm scared right now I'm gonna pick up hit talkers every time I see one Because it's something I've done since I was 16 I love it. I love the experience. I love this real of it look like just You never know who's gonna get in your car. You just don't know It could be anybody It could be the richest person in the world Or it could be the poorest person in the world Or it could be an angel that saves your life or Or you could help some woman who's on the street and needs her dad That's why I do it, you know Past along You know, I think that's old saying, you know Okay, thank you so much to Paul For sharing his story with me. You know What's really interesting about this one This episode starts out with Paul talking about Why he liked picking up hit chikers how you don't know who they're gonna be And you get to sit there listen to their story And see into their world for a little bit and in this episode Paul was doing exactly that with his hit chiker And by the end of the interview I found myself kind of feeling like I was driving my own car and listening to Paul's life story As if he was a hitchhiker that I picked up Like I mentioned before I had almost no information About this story before meeting Paul I was really starting this interview And meeting him Off of a one-line email that I didn't even fully understand but I am so glad That I ended up talking to him And hearing this story I think it's a really really great thing to be able to see into somebody's world for just a little bit To get a honest portrait of a person the good the bad the unexplainable All of it I am so thankful to Paul for sharing this story I wish him the best with everything I want to also give a special thank you to Paul's wife who he loves very much I know he was very nervous about her hearing this episode If she does hear it I hope she likes it as much as I did This episode was called I met God in a Burger King parking lot and you've been listening to other world Other world is executive produced and hosted by myself Jack Wagner our producers are theo shaffer theo crants Hailey person and nicky kate del gato our theme song is by cobra man The soundtrack of this episode is by North Americans and juice jackal Our artwork is by cold asac studios please show us your support by subscribing Leaving a five-star review and telling your friends about the show If you want to hear bonus episodes of other world you could become a patron at patreon.com slash other world our social media is at other world pod Thank you to the team at Odyssey Leah Reese Dennis more current Josephina Francis Eric Donnelly Kate Rose Colin Gainer and Hillary Schuff follow and listen to other world now for free On the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts and finally if you or somebody you know Has experienced something paranormal supernatural or unexplained you can send us your stories at stories at otherworld pod com What what final lessons do you think you learned from all this Man, that's just it's hard to say man, you know Have you put me on a spot again like earlier I freeze up when you put me on the spot I tell you one thing though The guy that my wife cheated on me with is on fucking sight It's on I know you're laughing I know his name and that's it But in when I know it's gonna happen money and I'm I'm gonna hand my keys and my phone to my wife and like you bail me the fuck out of jail But this fucking day is coming and it's been coming and I can't wait Oh that might that might have to be an alternate ending of this What do you do you think life would approve of this? I'll take that soon.