HEART OF A LION Major Ed Pulido

[00:00:00] Now on the AMPD UP211 Podcast, we are honored to introduce you to the remarkable Major Edward Polito. A retired U.S. Army Major, Major Ed is a man whose courage and dedication have made a significant impact on the lives of countless individuals.

[00:00:17] With a military career spanning 19 years, Major Ed's journey is one of extraordinary resilience, having faced and overcome immense challenges, including a life-altering injury from an IED explosion in Iraq. He co-founded the Heart of a Lion Foundation alongside PGA Major Champion John Daly,

[00:00:40] aiming to provide essential mental, physical, and wellness support to children, first responders, and veterans and their families. After his injury and subsequent amputation, he battled PTSD and depression, drawing strength from his faith, family, and community.

[00:01:00] Join us as we delve into the incredible life and work of Major Edward Polito, a true American hero. There he is, Major Ed Polito! How are you today, sir? Well, what a great day to be an American and what a great day to be on your show.

[00:01:23] Thank you for all that you do to make things happen and be a difference maker here in America. Oh, wow. That's really kind. I'm supposed to be thanking you for everything that you've done.

[00:01:35] I've been researching you, and I've spent the last week doing a deep dive on Major Ed Polito and the many endeavors that your path has taken you through, whether we're talking about your military service, your advocacy and charity work, all of your public speaking,

[00:01:58] everything that is, let's call it the philanthropic brand of Ed Polito, which I have to be honest, is inspiring and incredibly uplifting to have an opportunity to talk to you. I would say for me, it's sort of a surreal moment to meet a true American hero.

[00:02:23] I do, of course, thank you for your service. I wanted to start today because I am not a military person nor did I come from a military family. My fascination with someone like yourself starts with what was it that gravitated you to the military as a young man?

[00:02:45] Well, I got to start by saying that it was my father who once told me that when you take the oath of office to defend the greatest nation in the world, it was always about God,

[00:02:54] country, family and all of those that serve in the armed forces of the United States of America to protect you, the American people. And the way that I premised that is that that was the inspiration along with Ronald Reagan, I mean, 1981 inaugural address and seeing a stoic individual.

[00:03:11] You know what? They don't make them like that anymore. That was a great president, one that spoke to the people, to the heart and soul of the world. And that was the

[00:03:20] inspiration behind me going on and saying, you know what, I want to take that oath of office to defend this great nation at age 17. And I understood that I was a junior ROTC cadet and

[00:03:31] I remember thinking to myself, you know what, this uniform is a very powerful thing when you can serve and you can sacrifice. And you can see your father and others serving too. And I just wanted

[00:03:43] to follow in those footsteps. To me, that's kind of the American dream or the American spirit of who we are today. And I think sometimes, you know, I always talk about this and it's missing because those were the inspirational figures that take firemen, you take police

[00:03:59] officers and you take others like that. Historically, they've all been, you know, long-term advocates for the cause or the movement. And so that was part of my endeavor as well. And I'm honored and grateful that I get to talk about it and share that story and

[00:04:18] honor my late father who was just an inspirational figure in my life. Well, that's wonderful. It's a beautiful story and I know we're just getting started. And it certainly puts me in a place when you think about your parents and the impact that

[00:04:33] they have on our lives and the things we sort of take with us, you know, into our own adult lives. Fortunately, both of my parents are still here. I feel blessed in that regard.

[00:04:45] But at the same time as we get older, we start to manage those feelings of, well, there's going to come a time when they're not here. And I tend to go to that place of

[00:04:59] how can I sort of carry on that legacy? You know, what are the values? What are the things that I was taught that I can transcend, that I can bring to either my own children

[00:05:12] or at the same time sort of put out into the world? I do remember sort of those magical times when Reagan was president and there was so much hope in the country. There was so much

[00:05:27] that I believe people were proud of and sort of banded together to be part of. And, you know, the amputee community in many ways sort of reminds me of that. In some regards, people sort of huddling together and trying to be each other's light,

[00:05:48] each other's beacon of hope and, you know, pushing those boundaries. But very well said, very, very well said. It's hard for me to not transition immediately into what happened to you. You know, being in Iraq, experiencing an IED bomb. And I can only imagine that even to this

[00:06:17] day, although somewhat painful to talk about because it's something that no one really likes to think about could ever happen to them or going through such an ordeal. I mean, let's face it, becoming an amputee, myself included, it's hard enough, right? But when you are a product of

[00:06:41] tremendous trauma, which I was not, you know, I struggled with my limb for a year. By the time I was facing an amputation, I got to be honest, Ed, I was actually relieved. Like, let's just get this thing out of my life. It doesn't work anymore.

[00:07:03] But to go through the trauma that you did in that split second of something happening, and I know you had multiple surgeries, but to go through that event, you know, looking back now, where is that sort of on the shelf of your life? Where do you see that?

[00:07:22] Where do you place that in the back of your mind? Well, that's a great question. And I will tell you that I am in the same boat that you are. And I will tell you that I went through a process where I had to get my leg saved.

[00:07:37] And then, of course, then I had to go into what the amputation side of it. Didn't think that all of that was going to happen. But it happened because of the fact that I had infections in the

[00:07:49] leg. They tried to save whatever they could from a limb salvage perspective. But it was very traumatizing. The physical wounds of war is what I call those. And then you go into the silent wounds of war, which is the mental health aspect of it. And I wrote about

[00:08:06] that in my book, Warrior for Freedom, which was really a very helping type book for people that were dealing with trauma, were dealing with issues of loss, of grief, because it is an overwhelming process that you go through. You understand it very well. And the thing that I

[00:08:26] like to do these days is to give back, is being a part of the Amputee Coalition of America, being a part of so many other groups that really help these young amputees out and supporting them in their journey. Because to me, it's those critical three to six months

[00:08:45] of recovery that are the most powerful moments, just like a child and the brain stems and how those connect in the formative years of zero to three. It's the same concept

[00:08:59] here. It's like, how do you get through these three to six months or maybe that year or two to get to a new place in life? And to me, I always went back to a focus in my career

[00:09:12] and in the work that I did and the freedom that I provided the American people. And I will tell you, I'm one of those freedom fighters, brother. I am 110% love my country,

[00:09:23] love everything that it stands for. And that's what I live by. I mean, you can see with the flag behind me, red, white and blue. You know, my prosthetic is red, white and blue. But I had

[00:09:35] to find that identity. And that identity is that identity. It's the major ed brand. And I don't kind of hate to say it that way, but I think it's important because for us, we're in

[00:09:46] a place where you know what we have to balance, we have to make sure that we take care of ourselves and our mental and our physical health and wellness. And to me, that was

[00:09:54] a very powerful tool in recovery. And that to me was a building block of success. I'm here to be able to talk about it. And for anyone that listens to this, just know that you know

[00:10:04] what? You're not alone, but that you can't give up and that the most powerful word that we can all use is resilience. Yeah. I love the analogy you used about a child and their formulative years. You're so right because when you experience limb loss,

[00:10:27] we go through this sort of rebuilding, this redefinition, this recalibration of who we are. And there's so much that falls into that sort of bucket. And you're right to echo what you're saying. There is this physical part, there is the loss

[00:10:49] of something that you were born with, that you grew up with, that you used to do everything essentially. And then there's the mental piece, which is the other side of that and finding the balance between, okay, adaptation, mental health,

[00:11:10] how am I going to start again? And it really is kind of like I've heard amputees say, well, I had to learn to walk again. What do we do when we're very small children?

[00:11:24] We learn how to walk. And very much so the life of an amputee, no matter what what limb loss or limb difference you're experiencing, there's that period of just relearning things, figuring it out again and then redefining yourself. But really I think what makes

[00:11:45] your story so powerful is that driving force of love for your country. You're obviously very, very connected to your family, your faith. All of those things seem to be quite a bit of fuel

[00:12:03] for you. And I know you've been very transparent in my readings about you, about PTSD, going through bouts of depression. What would you say were the key components that, and we all go through that dark forest to some degree and level, right? But when someone is,

[00:12:26] whether they're having thoughts of suicide or they're having, let's say, substance abuse issues, I've talked to so many different amputees that experience devastating effects of this loss. How do you see it for your own path and the way your own life was?

[00:12:50] What kind of brought you out and got you to the other side? Well, it was that first initial peer visit. And the reason I'm on your show today is because of Thomas. And I will tell you, Thomas B was an inspirational figure. I saw him in a different

[00:13:05] light. I saw him, a Paralympian, a hero and an advocate for change and for how we deliver a service. Because when I got hit by this bomb, it was 2004. It was a very early infancy stage for the amputee community and the military. And no one understands that.

[00:13:31] Thomas understood it. That's why they were there providing service and providing peer visit hope. And to answer your question, it was an individual like him who showed me the way and the path of understanding that there could be depression, there could be crisis,

[00:13:49] there could be chaos, there could be uncertainty, there could be discipline issues. Meaning you've got to take care of your body in that way because now you have to be a caretaker of

[00:14:01] yourself first before anybody else can take care of you. And you have to rely on other people. Just a lot of those kind of things that you don't really think about, but then also,

[00:14:11] how am I going to do things adaptively? Every single thing that I do is going to be adaptive. How long is it going to take? The apprehension of the fact that the fear of the unknown,

[00:14:23] you've been through that. Am I going to have a phantom pain or phantom sensation? Phantom sensation is nothing compared to phantom pain when your sciatic nerve is firing. A lot of things like that. And then everyone's throwing different things and giving you advice

[00:14:40] and then there's a doctor that tells me, well you need to forget that you need to just let yourself know and your mind know that that leg is gone. And then someone else tells you, hey,

[00:14:49] use that leg as a way from where it was before because you did have one to utilizing it in a way that can help with your balance and your support and all of those things. So those are

[00:15:01] the infancy stages. And that's what I call, you start from that the mild to moderate to severe stages because you're in that severe stage and then you go to moderate stage and then mild stage

[00:15:14] and then finally you come out of this. Best thing that ever happened to me, but it was the best thing that ever happened to me because it actually gave me a different purpose and a

[00:15:23] different passion and a different drive for life. And that to me is really the building block of all of those things. And the people that come into your life and are focused in

[00:15:35] helping you are really those champions that we all need. And that to me is why it's important to pay it forward, to be a part of this movement, to give my time today to be able to educate

[00:15:48] and train and formulate and support with resources or whatever it may be. And then also just to tell our young amputees, you know what? There's hope and there's opportunity and don't give up and never quit because you know what? Life is precious.

[00:16:03] Yeah. And do you feel like a lot of the advocacy work that you do, do you feel that that is the thing that just sort of keeps chugging you along, that keeps sort of creating that positive

[00:16:18] energy? Because I tend to go to this place of the more I connect with fellow amputees, the more opportunities I have to meet people like yourself. I mean like real life heroes. I'm not talking about the Marvel universe and all the fantasy stuff. I mean people like yourself,

[00:16:40] people that have beaten the odds, that have redefined themselves, that have risen amongst the community and done just phenomenal things. You are the type of people, you and others, you're what keep me going. I mean wouldn't you say that's the case?

[00:16:59] Well then that's empowerment. We empower one another. We empower each other. To me, for me to see Paralympic sport at the early stages of my amputee life and to see those Paralympians working

[00:17:15] hard, that taught me a lot. I have to tell you that was the inspiration behind my movement. Going to the Endeavor Games here in Edmond, Oklahoma where I live, seeing those individuals participate, that's not for everybody. It's not my day these days but it was an empowering thing

[00:17:33] to see those individuals excel because what it did to me is it said well you know what? What can I excel in? What's my gift in life? And my gift is empowering and work. I have to

[00:17:46] tell you that the work that I do is not really work. It's really making a difference in changing lives and being a part of the greater good. The pledge that I heard in 1981

[00:18:00] from Ronald Reagan was a pledge to not only your country but above yourself. And that to me is what transcends my thought process and what I do every day is to say you know what? It's not

[00:18:12] about me, it's about a focus on all people and that human life is important and we have to make investments, we have to provide mentorship. Just like yesterday I went to spoke to

[00:18:25] eight young boys who have no families and boy did it hit my heart but I needed to see that because it provided me inspiration and motivation and drive in you the work that I'm doing on

[00:18:38] behalf of others. That's fantastic. I want to go back to something you said because I think it's really significant and I tend to revisit this in my mind as well. And that is that idea

[00:18:50] of a new amputee or let's say someone like myself who I'm certainly proud of my fitness level but I am not a Paralympic athlete. But I see so many amputees look at those types of

[00:19:06] high performers and say well I'm never going to do that. And I think but what is something you can draw from that? What these people possess an energy, they possess a vibration,

[00:19:20] a spirit, an influence that we can all draw from. I went to see the Chicago Bulls when Michael Jordan was at the top of his game and I mean I'm 5'9". I know I'm never going

[00:19:34] to be an NBA professional athlete. I'm never going to be able to jump from the free throw line and dunk a basketball like Michael Jordan did but I was able to draw a tremendous amount

[00:19:50] of inspiration from the beauty and the power that this guy possessed when I got to see him on television yes but when I especially saw him courtside I thought oh my gosh I am witnessing

[00:20:08] something that is truly magical and I've always carried that around with me. And it's not because I want to be in the NBA, it's simply because I think we all have to try to have a

[00:20:20] perspective to say okay how do I bring my best self? What is something I can do? It's all that whole power of one. How am I going to take responsibility for my life's path

[00:20:37] and do great things in my own little way? Where am I placing my grain of sand? And when I meet people like yourself and others I say gosh when we corral all these fantastic advocates and amputees and practitioners and fundraisers and charity people I mean

[00:21:03] that's a pretty powerful tidal wave of advocacy and I commend anyone like yourself that says hey I'm going to do everything I can because I love my country, I love helping people and all of those things keep me motivated in a positive space. Would you agree with that?

[00:21:30] Yeah I agree with that and I think that's the power of unity. It's not the unity that we hear in political circles of bringing people together it's the power of unity of likeness of things that are goal-driven and are things that bring us together because it's for the

[00:21:47] collective good. You brought up Michael Jordan one of the best athletes in the world. There are other athletes that will never make it to that level. The thing that I always

[00:21:58] am inspired by is that you know what we should all give everybody hope to be able to be at somewhat at that level and if that's not what you have in your arsenal then find

[00:22:09] the right gift that you have that you can contribute to the greater good on and that to me is what's missing sometimes. It's not missing in our space because I'll tell you that we kind of

[00:22:20] stick together no matter what the political spectrums that we come from or where economics lies and what we do we're all just amped up for the greater good and that to me is pretty

[00:22:33] powerful. It's a powerful message. I love the fact that that's your label but you know when you see individuals and you see the picture behind you and you see everyone collectively

[00:22:47] you know what doing what they might want to do that's best for them. That to me is the freedom that we have in this country and that's what I gravitate to and that's what inspires

[00:22:58] and you know the other thing that inspires me is to see an amputee and to see those eyes at the beginning and then to see those eyes later. You know what I'm talking about. You see those eyes

[00:23:10] and you see them in this like uncertain hope and then all of a sudden you see them in this positive hope and that's just transformation and I think to me it's a great word because

[00:23:23] it goes along with the transformation to the empowerment and the empowerment is that what are you going to do with what you have today and what can you do with that so you can change tomorrow.

[00:23:33] Now I know you do some work with veterans and I know that you know people tend to you know not focus enough I believe on the needs of veterans. That's just my personal opinion. These are like yourself I mean these are our warriors these are the people that

[00:23:57] dedicate their lives put their lives on the line for their love of country and so often you see and hear so many stories of veterans that struggle with things like PTSD and depression and where do you see yourself in that you know tapestry? I mean

[00:24:23] where do you find yourself and what places with veterans that are struggling in those regards? Well I have to tell you that I start my therapeutic process from a strength base point of view. I'm not here to coddle people. I'm not here to tell you what you

[00:24:40] want to hear. I'm here to tell you exactly how you need to think about things and how you operate basically in this life. The worst thing that we can do and I think you would agree is

[00:24:55] that we could just tell somebody what they want to hear and not really kind of get to hearing them and understanding where they're coming from and so I've always told people one of the

[00:25:05] most powerful things that I did and this worked for me it might not work for you or anybody else but it worked for me and let me tell you what it happened is I actually created a code of arms

[00:25:17] and a code of arms for me was what am I going to do today and then how do I take this mission to tomorrow and part of that was writing a book, part of that was doing public speaking,

[00:25:29] part of that was running foundations and doing things that were empowering and that to me is setting the example of what you just described of what I want to do for other veterans and others that are stressed or going through combat stress, hyper vigilance,

[00:25:50] all of those things that from war bring you back or from just general service and that to me is the building block for success when you can tell a veteran hey you know what I've been there,

[00:26:02] I've done it but what you're doing is as a game changer and you either can take that this road or that road and be very strength-based but strong behind it but also have compassion

[00:26:14] and empathy because we have to and that's important and that's part of the whole arsenal but I see early in the war when veterans that were or military personnel were coming back and eventually veterans they were giving them everything, they were giving them all the pills,

[00:26:30] they were giving them all of the things that they needed to just kind of survive and you know what you have to earn those things and that's one of the things that I tell our veterans today

[00:26:39] is like you know everything's earned there's nothing given now that somebody may decide that they want to do something philanthropy based for you and support you but at the end of the day say thank you, say you're appreciative and that you know what have conversation,

[00:26:53] have some social skill with it and that to me is what I teach. Not everybody's got all those skills, don't get me wrong but if you can at least try to develop those skills and get out

[00:27:03] of your comfort zone you're successful and believe me you know this too we had to get out of our comfort zone. Why do you have a podcast? I mean what's the purpose, what's the drive,

[00:27:15] what's the passion? Well the passion is to do something above ourselves and to do something that will be game-changing and then also be educational and supportive and those words are not just words they're just building blocks and pillars of success and that's what I know you're

[00:27:32] about, I'm about that and it's that same formula whether you're a civilian or a veteran you use those same principles to guide you and to be successful. Yeah no I appreciate you saying that because so much of what we're trying to do is yes educate above all.

[00:27:51] So often when people become amputees there's just a barrage, a blitz of questions that enters all of our minds and very often the immediate people around you whether that's family, your doctors, a lot of those very loving supportive people don't necessarily know what you're in for.

[00:28:18] They love you, they want to help you, they want to support you, they want to cheer you on and that's good because that's foundational kind of support but what happens is now that limb is

[00:28:29] gone, now what? And the thing I found pretty quickly is that you know my general doctors didn't really know a whole lot. They didn't really know a whole lot about prosthetics. They didn't really know what the quote-unquote next steps were and suddenly you pivot

[00:28:52] and there's a whole new group of people that sort of you know swoop into your life and like you were mentioning earlier now it's all kind of theory based because now I've got this

[00:29:04] residual limb. I don't know how it's going to reform, I don't know how it's going to take to a prosthesis, I don't know what challenges are ahead of me, phantom sensation,

[00:29:18] phantom pain, how much unknowns am I going to deal with and so much of it for me initially was so incredibly bizarre. Things I had never thought I would experience, I mean I laugh now

[00:29:35] because you know I would say to a new amputee you know how's your limb doing and they just sort of roll their eyes and I'm like you sweating a lot and they're just you know people just burst

[00:29:48] out laughing like is that normal? Like is it okay that I'm literally dumping out my socket like on the side of the road and I say it gets better, your limb gets used to it,

[00:30:02] it takes time, you'll start to learn the tricks of the trade, what socks to wear, what liners feel best, all of those things are coming but it's a process and I think you touched

[00:30:17] on a really really important point when you said I don't coddle, I don't sugarcoat because when new amputees call me the podcast has been around for a couple years now and you know how this goes Ed, suddenly you're like an expert right? Everyone starts asking

[00:30:35] your questions and I'm like I'm not a prostitutes but I don't sugarcoat either, so someone will call me, someone will DM me, I'm getting ready for surgery next week, you know below the knee on the left side this that and the other,

[00:30:54] what should I expect? And you know what I say Ed, I say it's gonna be hard. Prepare, it's gonna be rough, it's gonna be a rough ride. Get ready, get yourself psyched up, get your support system in place, start doing your homework, watch the YouTubes,

[00:31:19] hear the people, check out major Ed, check out this guy, check out that guy, check out major Ed, check out this guy, check out that guy. Start empowering yourself with information and start fueling okay all of those inspirational pieces because it's gonna be rough

[00:31:38] and you're gonna need something in your orbit that keeps you on track and it's okay to have bad days, it's okay to have dark days. I, you know me myself, I definitely have had moments

[00:31:53] of pity party, moments of how am I gonna get back to normal and if you keep getting those daily doses, weekly doses of people like yourself, maybe you listen to a podcast that answers some questions, fills in some gaps for you, maybe even gives you a chuckle,

[00:32:18] makes you laugh to say oh yeah it, let's face it, it can be pretty bizarre and funny to be an amputee sometimes. I mean I've definitely gotten my share of looks when I'm doing a quick

[00:32:34] liner adjustment or something in the airport and so it goes what on earth is going on over there right now you know. So it can be strange but how long have you been an amputee now?

[00:32:50] Well I lost my leg just to kind of put it in perspective if I hit a 250 pound roadside bomb that changed my life forever, October 1st of 2004 I became an amputee, I joined the club is

[00:33:04] what I call it you know and I say it that way because I joined a very unique club that never thought I would ever end up being a part of and the thing about it is you know I struggled

[00:33:17] for about a month with the infections and the limb being so damaged that they actually, the military to tell you the truth and Thomas would even tell you this, they were experimenting

[00:33:30] on us. I say that in good will that they were experimenting to find out what how far they could take a lot of these things there were a lot of research information that was coming out data

[00:33:44] it was early infancy stage in 04 at Brook Army Medical Center because that's where I was at and the thing is we didn't have the Intrepid Center yet and the great thing about all of

[00:33:55] that was people like me and BJ Jackson and others would be motivated to change the trajectory of how to deliver that service within the military space. The civilian space had already

[00:34:10] kind of mastered all of that but it was the somewhat but it was the military who was really kind of unknown to they didn't have a place where you could have a you know we made a

[00:34:21] recommendation to have like an apartment kind of place where people can go learn how to you know do things adaptively in their home when they went back home I mean just little things like

[00:34:33] that that you kind of take for granted and they began that process of refining everything and rebuilding and re-changing and I just thought that that was pretty inspirational to see that they were giving it attention and it wasn't just lip service that we're going to take care

[00:34:53] of you amputees that we're really going to do something about it and I think that to me was the game-changing conclusion and eventually that's what the Intrepid Center was created for was to to help these amputees recover get back on your feet quick and be productive citizens in

[00:35:11] our society. So how after the bomb and you're you know obviously developing all kinds of complications via the you know the the trauma that your residual limb had gone through what was the period of time between that incident and when you were actually had your

[00:35:35] leg amputated? It was so it's about a 45-day clip. Oh wow it was pretty yeah it was fast. It went from 195 to 118 pounds a lot of peer visitors coming in other amputees military amputees a lot of religious groups but once the leg was taken away man

[00:36:00] recovery was fast I was in a prosthetic in almost a month. I mean I'll tell you I was on the University of Oklahoma November 11th football game oh University of Oklahoma against Nebraska my leg gets amputated October 1st I'm in Oklahoma on November 11th I actually drove

[00:36:20] up for the game and had this new prosthetic device that I'm wearing with the string and you pull it in and all of that kind of stuff through you know those it wasn't even liners it

[00:36:32] was one of it was a bag you know and the bag you put in and you know the powder and all of that now I'm now I've got a great device I'm not I wasn't a powder guy I didn't like it.

[00:36:42] I tell you that um it got a lot it was dirty and you know you always had powder on you but you needed that baby powder and I tell people now you know there's a lot of things

[00:36:54] that still go on I tell people like my leg is like a snake during this time of the year I go through the spring and it feels like my skin comes off. Are you above are you above or

[00:37:06] below the knee? I'm above the knee. Okay so I think I understand what you're talking about this is a little bit of an education for me too because I've only been an amputee I'm only

[00:37:18] in my seventh year so I've always worn you know a gel liner um you're and this was back when they were using just almost like a like a fabric that went over your residual limb and then you would

[00:37:31] you would powder it up to kind of give it uh I guess you'd say where you wouldn't have develop as much issues in terms of skin breakdown kind of thing and um when you're when your uh

[00:37:45] residual limb above the knee would um I'm assuming would go into some form of of socket correct? Yeah and it was all plastic okay then you didn't uh you took out the liner thing and

[00:37:59] it was all plastic on on your limb and it caused a lot of irritation a lot of I didn't have a lot of I had chappin but I didn't have a lot of uh sores or anything like

[00:38:13] that I man I kept that thing as clean as I could with alcohol and with other things and lotion it up but it was a it was a difficult process because time management was important

[00:38:26] so for me I'm like working and doing things I don't have time to do all of that yeah but you I know what you mean and you know so everything changed that's what I told

[00:38:36] tell new amputees I'm like you need to be prepared really prepared for time because the days of taking a quick shower and doing these other things it just doesn't work that way sometimes

[00:38:47] you your legs not fit right and you got to just make it all work and it's just like and then putting on a shoe and people you know when they tell you hey well you could

[00:38:55] just change clothes here or no it doesn't work that way for me yeah yeah no I know I know what you mean it's it's it's this enormous exercise in adaptation and new time management

[00:39:07] because I was one of those people that you're describing someone could call me and I'd be like yeah I'll be out the door in like literally five minutes boom boom boom hit the shower

[00:39:19] literally jump into my shoes like don't don't even sit down to put them on I mean literally like foot at the front door run out the door and I laugh now because someone will call me

[00:39:30] and say hey can you meet up I'm like uh you're gonna need to give me at least an hour that's just how it is because I've got like you're saying it's like I got a shower

[00:39:41] I've got to moisturize I have to make sure I have clean liner socks I have to make sure that I've used my Ross to clean my gel liner I need time you know I gotta I gotta make sure

[00:39:55] you know I'm in a comfortable shoe everything needs to be right so yeah we operate at a different frequency when suddenly we're faced with all of those things and you know when I was

[00:40:09] a new amputee speaking of adaptation I used to really and just because I wasn't very comfortable yet I used to very much focus on where I was going what the accessibility situation

[00:40:26] was where I was going there was always that you know are there stairs is there an elevator is there what's the what's the access to the building like I mean I'm not kidding you and I would you know like google the restaurant and actually look at a picture

[00:40:46] like trying to figure out like how am I getting in there because I need to know that I'm not gonna you know call from the parking lot yeah I need someone to come out here and help

[00:40:56] me get in the building so one of the things that I feel so fortunate and blessed now is that a lot of that doesn't matter anymore you know whether there's stairs whether there's you know

[00:41:09] some kind of weird access or whatever because I've fully adapted and I'm an active guy um those things don't really matter anymore uh you know every once in a while there might be

[00:41:22] a bit of a curveball in a situation but for the most part let's say 98 percent of the time I'm completely comfortable doing an impromptu gathering or you know going somewhere that I've

[00:41:36] never been before because you know we adapt and we get better at it so I mean you've been an amputee uh for 20 years and um I mean that's a long time so you have probably seen yourself

[00:41:54] quite a evolution in terms of prosthetics and technology uh and and I mean what has that experience been like for you as an amputee well that's an excellent question that is one of my

[00:42:12] top five things is being a part of the evolutionary process of amputee movement and I've seen it all not all but meaning that I've seen from where we've come to where we are going today

[00:42:29] and I have to be extremely honest with you I was disappointed at the beginning with what technologies they had and and how um they just kind of dismissed that amputee movement and and the group of people and and just the the challenges of being a physically

[00:42:51] disabled individual at the beginning um and we've come a long way so I have to commend everyone on that because the movement changed and I think sometimes war does that yeah um I not a big

[00:43:05] proponent of war I'm just like anybody else but I feel like that's something that happened that has been an excellent um you know lesson learned from everything is that you know what we have to

[00:43:18] provide everyone or anyone the best technologies possible so they can thrive and be successful because at the end it saves us money it does this cost savings is so huge when you have someone

[00:43:32] that's working and it's productive and it's and it's paying taxes and and and being a community-based individual and the thing is that's kind of the learning block of this thing as I've evolved not only from the technology standpoint but from the wellness standpoint

[00:43:47] of technology I saw the the wooden legs and you know what it was so crazy and I know you do this too when you see somebody and they you can tell they're not right in what they've got

[00:43:58] in the technology yeah first thing to advocate for them and say hey listen why do you have that or or you give someone a spare knee like I had I mean I've got 10 legs in there why not give

[00:44:12] this individual who's a roofer who wants to continue to work a great prosthetic yeah and it was like a generation prosthetic so you know I've already had about six different prosthetics since that time frame from the infant one and all of them have evolved into something really powerful

[00:44:31] as they above the knee amputee below the knee those are there's some differences but all in all the technology the liners the the hardware the time that you spend getting fitted the

[00:44:47] you know everything that it takes to get that that the print that goes on the prosthetics now the paintings and the and the architect are you know artistic uh creative man that's all

[00:45:02] really powerful stuff and that's what I like to kind of hone in on is where we have where did we come from and where are we going and where do we continue to go because that to me is

[00:45:13] there's no stopping there are no limits and there's so many great great things happening around the world in this in this industry that we need to continue to cultivate them and um and I love looking at the edge magazine and seeing what's coming out yeah and and just

[00:45:29] people's stories because that to me is a very big building block as well yeah for sure as far as um you know engaging you uh your charity work and your advocacy uh endeavors uh where would you

[00:45:43] want to uh audience to be looking for you well they can go to I represent four organizations folds of honor is one that I've represented we get scholarships to military families that's a very powerful organization raised about 250 million dollars in that endeavor

[00:46:02] I read about two years ago and decided that I wanted to work with John Daly and Kid Rock and a bunch of other country music artists and I have a great team that puts together a lot

[00:46:12] of events for us and we do a lot with a lot of the country music artists Lee Bryce I mean I can just go on and on but I had a good friend of my name Enzo who I met who

[00:46:23] was in the industry and connected me to all these great great patriots and then you meet John Daly the professional golfer and we're in the golf industry as well so that's the

[00:46:32] heart of a lion foundation and then we have some other ones that another one called warriors for freedom which we do mental physical and wellness and then now I'm working on a group called empowering the veterans to get veterans employed and veterans housing but I also work

[00:46:48] with first american title because first american title has been a blessing a great organization and a great conduit to making sure that veterans have housing and that is an opportunity for me to be a part of something that's just game-changing but it's not even

[00:47:06] housing now because we're working on the commercial division of stuff to try to get our veterans first responders or whoever it may be businesses the opportunity to thrive and be successful and purchase commercial property and commercial land and in commercial buildings to

[00:47:26] be empowered to work and to thrive and to run a business and that to me is the essence of the work that we do anybody can get a hold of me at the heart of a lion foundation that's

[00:47:39] JDME1991.org and learn more about what we're doing and what I didn't talk about and I just want to just kind of give a big shout out I have an 18 year old graduating today. Oh congratulations! Yeah and then I have a 22 year old that graduated from the University

[00:47:57] of Oklahoma and been married at 32 years and my mom and my family is here and they're going to see her graduate and just so proud of my young daughter who is going to go to the

[00:48:08] University of Oklahoma as well and you know what it's that's what it's all about working hard making a difference and I'm just glad that I'm an amputee and I can thrive and be successful

[00:48:18] and like you be a difference maker here in this great country. Wow that's fantastic and what an inspirational story I so appreciate you coming on today. Ed Pulido, a true American hero,

[00:48:32] thank you so much from the bottom of my heart I hope that we can reconnect soon. My name is Rick Bonkowski this is the Amped Up to 11 podcast and I want to wish everyone health and happiness we'll see you next time.