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March 14th cont'd
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Friday, March 14, 2008
11:25:00 PM EDT
GRAPHIC: In order to become a Green Beret, you must complete the following: d) all of the above.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
G. STUBE: I had extensive shrapnel injuries from a one-pound piece of shrapnel entered my hip and thigh area, removed the greater part of my right buttock and parts of my hip and thigh and went up through my abdomen. And I lost a significant portion of my intestines from that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: Tonight, we are spending time with Sergeant First Class Greg Stube and his wife, Donna.
I`m sorry. I am -- you know, the producers had a real -- they had a bet upstairs. How long is it going to take for Glenn to cry tonight? I`ve heard these guys` story a million times. I cried the first time and the second time and the fourth time. It`s not going to affect me. I am so impressed by their strength and their honor that it just -- does crazy things to me.
We were talking before we went into the break that you are used to being somebody who -- you know, does it themselves. You`re a very active guy. I mean, you know. I just saw what you had to do to be in your squadron. I don`t think I could do five sit-ups, but that`s a different story.
You guys both were very active. You`re outdoors people, right?
D. STUBE: Yes.
G. STUBE: Yes.
BECK: Yes. I`m surprised me like each other. You guys were both outdoors. Now, so you`re both of your lives -- lives have changed. Because you can`t do any of that anymore.
But you were just telling me during the break that you`ve seen, even, your son change. How? Tell me about your son, first of all. How old?
D. STUBE: He`ll be 3 in June. He`s just like his daddy.
BECK: In what way?
D. STUBE: He`s -- got a good head on his shoulders.
BECK: You say you have seen changes in your son. In what way?
G. STUBE: I learned a big lesson through this, and that`s that our wives that stand behind us, particularly in the military. They don`t raise their right hand and swear in. They don`t take the oath to defend. They don`t get the sense of adventure to go on a mission and accomplish things in the defense of freedom. They stand by us and our decisions.
And in Donna`s case, she has served in a greater capacity than many in uniform have. I believe that. And the impact that these women have on our society, I think, is obvious in the World War II generation, to present.
And I saw changes in my own son. From the time I left to go into this combat mission until the time I was reacquainted with this little boy, he had changed in so many positive ways. And I was arrogant enough to think that my influence in his life would be the only thing that would make him strong and have him grow up right. I was wrong.
BECK: How long -- how long were you in the hospital? A year, right?
G. STUBE: I`ve been in and out of surgeries for over a year.
BECK: How many -- how many surgeries?
G. STUBE: I think 14 procedures.
BECK: So your son for much of his memory is you in a hospital. Is there -- as you go through, is there -- is there anything now that you are limited to? Is there anything that you can`t do with your son that you, growing up, always thought you would?
G. STUBE: I have to be careful about roughhousing with him. I still have some weak points and sensitive points. And I worry about the old gut because if it -- if it tears again, it`s a big problem.
BECK: Wow. And you -- is there anything now that has changed? Because you didn`t sign up.
And quite honestly, Greg, you know how much I respect you. And I respect the people who do what you do. But I have to tell you something. I think you`re right on the money. The ones that are staying home -- he prepared for 19 years. You didn`t. He knew what he was getting in to. First of all, did you?
D. STUBE: In a way, yes. But I wouldn`t change anything that I`ve been through.
BECK: I think that the women of our military, they`re the ones home. So they`re the ones watching the crap spilling out of the television all the time. They`re the ones hearing the anti-propaganda. They`re hearing the, you know, people like Code Pink who are saying, "I support our troops" but then just ripping them all apart. And parking spaces in front of the - - you know, the recruiter`s station out of Berkeley, California.
You`re hearing all of that. You`re only hearing the bad news on television. I think that the -- I think people like you are at least as brave as your husband.
G. STUBE: And Glenn, even -- even in a day where we get bipartisan support -- across the board, it`s popular to support the troops right now. And even in a time like that, our wives are still in the shadow. They don`t get the credit. The cameras get pointed at us. The thanks are given to us as the soldiers, the fighters. But we`re not the ones who are raising the children by ourselves back here at home, creating America`s tomorrow.
BECK: I know. Yes. When we come back, how Greg`s father relived his own Vietnam battle wounds through his son`s ordeal. We`ll be back in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m amazed, but knowing Greg like I do -- and everybody said, yes, that`s Greg. Greg`s not going to be lying down. He`s not going to sit on his rump and let someone tell him he can`t recover, because that`s not Greg`s style. Greg`s style is to be the fighter, to be back in action any way he can, be involved in what`s going on. That`s what he`s doing right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: We are back with Sergeant First Class Greg Stube and his brave wife, Donna. In case you just joined us, Greg was in Afghanistan. Unbelievable stuff happened to him. He lost about 70 percent of his intestines.
Can you -- when was the first time that you could eat solid food and real food again?
G. STUBE: I`ve gone months at a time without solid food.
BECK: OK. And the last time I saw you face to face, you still had all kinds of stuff underneath your shirt that you were -- is it still like that?
G. STUBE: No, sir.
BECK: No. OK. Your father was in Vietnam. And your father relived his battle wounds through you. What happened there?
G. STUBE: Well, my dad was in the United States Navy and was burned severely, third-degree burns over 50 percent of his body. And he was hospitalized for well over a year in the Philippines.
BECK: Jeez.
G. STUBE: Dad was tough growing up. And he had a high, high pain tolerance. And a strong sense of right and wrong. And really, excuses didn`t go very far with him.
BECK: Yes.
G. STUBE: And if I had a little discomfort, you know, he had compassion, but he kept his compassion behind a sense that I still have to function and be accountable for my actions and get things done when it`s required.
BECK: Did he soften at all when he saw you? Or was he still like, "Buck up, boy"?
G. STUBE: When I saw my dad, I think we bonded in a way we never had before. He knew that I was going through something that he understood. And I -- I don`t think Dad feels like he has to teach me about that now. And I think we`ve become better friends through our common experiences.
BECK: Nothing better than being your dad`s friend. My dad is...
G. STUBE: He`s my best friend.
BECK: Yes, mine, too. Mine, too.
Donna, there were times when you had to drive 24 hours -- because you couldn`t fly. And you had to drive 24 hours to the hospital for treatments. What was that like? And you had to stop all the time, as well, right?
D. STUBE: Yes. It was -- it was difficult but you -- you get through -- you just -- you push through stuff like that. You know? It just -- it`s something that you just -- I`m sorry.
BECK: That`s all right.
Was there ever a time that either one of you said, "I can`t do it"?
G. STUBE: We got -- we would get frustrated and angry with each other, and there was one particular time when that happened. I had open wounds on my leg where the amputation had happened. I had, you know, the steel rods and screws mounted in to my bones down there. I had four or five open wounds on my abdomen and hip.
BECK: Hold on. I`ve been told I have a hard break here in ten seconds. I want to hear this story. We`ll be back in just a second.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
G. STUBE: The Wounded Warrior programs that are active now I`m trying to help in every way possible because I can`t forget how well I was treated and what it did for my recovery and my reintegration back in to the army and back in to life the way I knew it before.
GLENN BECK, HOST: We`re back now with a couple of people that I consider true American heroes, Sergeant First Class Greg Stube along with his wife Donna.
SGT. 1ST CLASS, GREG STUBE, U.S. ARMY SPECIAL FORCES: You were saying when we left -- I asked you both, because your ordeal has been remarkable, remarkably tough. Everything in your life has changed and I asked you was a time that either one of you said, I can`t do it anymore. And was it you that couldn`t do it anymore?
STUBE: Well, there were painful things that I had to go through every day, dressing changes, burn dressings, wound dressings. I had vacuum lines on my body. Open -- several open places on my body that have to have daily dressing changes.
BECK: OK. And what they did is they put like a saran wrap around you and then they sucked all the air out and so --
STUBE: Pretty much.
BECK: You had that going for a while.
STUBE: Continued to suck fluid out and prevent infection and speed healing time.
BECK: This is -- this is new technology. This is new medical tech the no long that`s been invented because of this war.
STUBE: That`s -- well, no, I think it`s existed for a little while but the need for the technology has --
BECK: OK.
STUBE: Has increased.
BECK: All right. So anyway, you have this going on.
STUBE: So changing these dressings was just excruciating and because Donna really felt obligated as my wife, she really wanted to take care of me where she could. Whatever they would let her do, she was doing it.
And, you know, between two people that live together and have been together for a long time, you can get frustrated and if it`s a stranger causing me pain, sometimes I can accept, well, it`s just a necessary evil.
BECK: Sure.
STUBE: But when it`s someone that`s close to you every day causing you pain it`s easier to criticize them or get angrier at them. So our relationship was tested at times because she did have to do literally everything.
BECK: Donna, can I say something? If my wife had the ability to get her hands up to near my organs and squeeze, she probably would enjoy it a little bit. Maybe that`s just me.
When we first met, there was a moment that you actually had to walk out of the room. Because it was right around the time that one of these bogus liberal organizations called General Petraeus General Betray Us and you -- you got so worked up you left the room. And I went out and to where you were seated and the two of you seated at couch and you were quite distraught and crying. Why?
STUBE: I -- I don`t want to make anything political out of it but one thing that I`ve learned and for years in the military, and I`m guilty like anyone else of believing that there`s a rift, a lack of understanding between the soldiers on the ground and the upper level leadership.
What I`ve learned since I`ve been wounded is that some of that is truly ill conceived notions that they don`t understand what`s happening on the ground. Our leaders in the military are so strong and so compassionate, I was never in a position to see that compassion. Before I was doing my job and they were doing theirs. The part that I didn`t realize was how frustrating it is to make decisions, to send other men in to harmful situations. It`s their job. And when they make these decisions, they can`t fight physically themselves to defend their decision. They can`t be on the ground with you. And so, we become like their children.
And I`m not towing the line here. These men have responsibility that just is unfathomable. It`s -- to send people when you know some of them may get hurt or killed, and then have those wounds and deaths on your conscience wondering if you did the right thing .
BECK: I was in the -- I was in the oval office one day last summer. And the president was telling a story and he was talking -- actually telling a story about the rug that`s in the oval office. And he said, I can`t tell you how many times I`ve looked at this rug because I had to make so many decisions like this and you could see the -- the weariness on him when he talked about the decisions he had to make to send people like you in to harm`s way. And I -- I knew he felt it when he told me the names of the people that had been shot or killed or wounded the night before. He knew them. He said -- without prompting or anything, he said just last night, so and so and so and so and so and so. This happened over here and so and so was killed.
He knew them by name which told me that this guy -- you may disagree with what he`s doing but this guy cares. He is not sending somebody in, you know, whatever. They`re just -- they`re just pawns. He gets it.
You were in Afghanistan and I think, if I`m not mistaken, when you say you saw a mushroom cloud and a child, it`s the daisy cutter that looks like an atomic mushroom cloud. Is that what you saw?
STUBE: Well, any of the -- any of the larger ordinance being dropped is going to give that distinct impression.
BECK: So you saw that as a backdrop and you saw a child in front of it. And you said that really had an impact on you. In what way?
continued on in next entry....
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11:25:00 PM EDT
March 14th cont'd
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
G. STUBE: I had extensive shrapnel injuries from a one-pound piece of shrapnel entered my hip and thigh area, removed the greater part of my right buttock and parts of my hip and thigh and went up through my abdomen. And I lost a significant portion of my intestines from that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: Tonight, we are spending time with Sergeant First Class Greg Stube and his wife, Donna.
I`m sorry. I am -- you know, the producers had a real -- they had a bet upstairs. How long is it going to take for Glenn to cry tonight? I`ve heard these guys` story a million times. I cried the first time and the second time and the fourth time. It`s not going to affect me. I am so impressed by their strength and their honor that it just -- does crazy things to me.
We were talking before we went into the break that you are used to being somebody who -- you know, does it themselves. You`re a very active guy. I mean, you know. I just saw what you had to do to be in your squadron. I don`t think I could do five sit-ups, but that`s a different story.
You guys both were very active. You`re outdoors people, right?
D. STUBE: Yes.
G. STUBE: Yes.
BECK: Yes. I`m surprised me like each other. You guys were both outdoors. Now, so you`re both of your lives -- lives have changed. Because you can`t do any of that anymore.
But you were just telling me during the break that you`ve seen, even, your son change. How? Tell me about your son, first of all. How old?
D. STUBE: He`ll be 3 in June. He`s just like his daddy.
BECK: In what way?
D. STUBE: He`s -- got a good head on his shoulders.
BECK: You say you have seen changes in your son. In what way?
G. STUBE: I learned a big lesson through this, and that`s that our wives that stand behind us, particularly in the military. They don`t raise their right hand and swear in. They don`t take the oath to defend. They don`t get the sense of adventure to go on a mission and accomplish things in the defense of freedom. They stand by us and our decisions.
And in Donna`s case, she has served in a greater capacity than many in uniform have. I believe that. And the impact that these women have on our society, I think, is obvious in the World War II generation, to present.
And I saw changes in my own son. From the time I left to go into this combat mission until the time I was reacquainted with this little boy, he had changed in so many positive ways. And I was arrogant enough to think that my influence in his life would be the only thing that would make him strong and have him grow up right. I was wrong.
BECK: How long -- how long were you in the hospital? A year, right?
G. STUBE: I`ve been in and out of surgeries for over a year.
BECK: How many -- how many surgeries?
G. STUBE: I think 14 procedures.
BECK: So your son for much of his memory is you in a hospital. Is there -- as you go through, is there -- is there anything now that you are limited to? Is there anything that you can`t do with your son that you, growing up, always thought you would?
G. STUBE: I have to be careful about roughhousing with him. I still have some weak points and sensitive points. And I worry about the old gut because if it -- if it tears again, it`s a big problem.
BECK: Wow. And you -- is there anything now that has changed? Because you didn`t sign up.
And quite honestly, Greg, you know how much I respect you. And I respect the people who do what you do. But I have to tell you something. I think you`re right on the money. The ones that are staying home -- he prepared for 19 years. You didn`t. He knew what he was getting in to. First of all, did you?
D. STUBE: In a way, yes. But I wouldn`t change anything that I`ve been through.
BECK: I think that the women of our military, they`re the ones home. So they`re the ones watching the crap spilling out of the television all the time. They`re the ones hearing the anti-propaganda. They`re hearing the, you know, people like Code Pink who are saying, "I support our troops" but then just ripping them all apart. And parking spaces in front of the - - you know, the recruiter`s station out of Berkeley, California.
You`re hearing all of that. You`re only hearing the bad news on television. I think that the -- I think people like you are at least as brave as your husband.
G. STUBE: And Glenn, even -- even in a day where we get bipartisan support -- across the board, it`s popular to support the troops right now. And even in a time like that, our wives are still in the shadow. They don`t get the credit. The cameras get pointed at us. The thanks are given to us as the soldiers, the fighters. But we`re not the ones who are raising the children by ourselves back here at home, creating America`s tomorrow.
BECK: I know. Yes. When we come back, how Greg`s father relived his own Vietnam battle wounds through his son`s ordeal. We`ll be back in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m amazed, but knowing Greg like I do -- and everybody said, yes, that`s Greg. Greg`s not going to be lying down. He`s not going to sit on his rump and let someone tell him he can`t recover, because that`s not Greg`s style. Greg`s style is to be the fighter, to be back in action any way he can, be involved in what`s going on. That`s what he`s doing right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: We are back with Sergeant First Class Greg Stube and his brave wife, Donna. In case you just joined us, Greg was in Afghanistan. Unbelievable stuff happened to him. He lost about 70 percent of his intestines.
Can you -- when was the first time that you could eat solid food and real food again?
G. STUBE: I`ve gone months at a time without solid food.
BECK: OK. And the last time I saw you face to face, you still had all kinds of stuff underneath your shirt that you were -- is it still like that?
G. STUBE: No, sir.
BECK: No. OK. Your father was in Vietnam. And your father relived his battle wounds through you. What happened there?
G. STUBE: Well, my dad was in the United States Navy and was burned severely, third-degree burns over 50 percent of his body. And he was hospitalized for well over a year in the Philippines.
BECK: Jeez.
G. STUBE: Dad was tough growing up. And he had a high, high pain tolerance. And a strong sense of right and wrong. And really, excuses didn`t go very far with him.
BECK: Yes.
G. STUBE: And if I had a little discomfort, you know, he had compassion, but he kept his compassion behind a sense that I still have to function and be accountable for my actions and get things done when it`s required.
BECK: Did he soften at all when he saw you? Or was he still like, "Buck up, boy"?
G. STUBE: When I saw my dad, I think we bonded in a way we never had before. He knew that I was going through something that he understood. And I -- I don`t think Dad feels like he has to teach me about that now. And I think we`ve become better friends through our common experiences.
BECK: Nothing better than being your dad`s friend. My dad is...
G. STUBE: He`s my best friend.
BECK: Yes, mine, too. Mine, too.
Donna, there were times when you had to drive 24 hours -- because you couldn`t fly. And you had to drive 24 hours to the hospital for treatments. What was that like? And you had to stop all the time, as well, right?
D. STUBE: Yes. It was -- it was difficult but you -- you get through -- you just -- you push through stuff like that. You know? It just -- it`s something that you just -- I`m sorry.
BECK: That`s all right.
Was there ever a time that either one of you said, "I can`t do it"?
G. STUBE: We got -- we would get frustrated and angry with each other, and there was one particular time when that happened. I had open wounds on my leg where the amputation had happened. I had, you know, the steel rods and screws mounted in to my bones down there. I had four or five open wounds on my abdomen and hip.
BECK: Hold on. I`ve been told I have a hard break here in ten seconds. I want to hear this story. We`ll be back in just a second.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
G. STUBE: The Wounded Warrior programs that are active now I`m trying to help in every way possible because I can`t forget how well I was treated and what it did for my recovery and my reintegration back in to the army and back in to life the way I knew it before.
GLENN BECK, HOST: We`re back now with a couple of people that I consider true American heroes, Sergeant First Class Greg Stube along with his wife Donna.
SGT. 1ST CLASS, GREG STUBE, U.S. ARMY SPECIAL FORCES: You were saying when we left -- I asked you both, because your ordeal has been remarkable, remarkably tough. Everything in your life has changed and I asked you was a time that either one of you said, I can`t do it anymore. And was it you that couldn`t do it anymore?
STUBE: Well, there were painful things that I had to go through every day, dressing changes, burn dressings, wound dressings. I had vacuum lines on my body. Open -- several open places on my body that have to have daily dressing changes.
BECK: OK. And what they did is they put like a saran wrap around you and then they sucked all the air out and so --
STUBE: Pretty much.
BECK: You had that going for a while.
STUBE: Continued to suck fluid out and prevent infection and speed healing time.
BECK: This is -- this is new technology. This is new medical tech the no long that`s been invented because of this war.
STUBE: That`s -- well, no, I think it`s existed for a little while but the need for the technology has --
BECK: OK.
STUBE: Has increased.
BECK: All right. So anyway, you have this going on.
STUBE: So changing these dressings was just excruciating and because Donna really felt obligated as my wife, she really wanted to take care of me where she could. Whatever they would let her do, she was doing it.
And, you know, between two people that live together and have been together for a long time, you can get frustrated and if it`s a stranger causing me pain, sometimes I can accept, well, it`s just a necessary evil.
BECK: Sure.
STUBE: But when it`s someone that`s close to you every day causing you pain it`s easier to criticize them or get angrier at them. So our relationship was tested at times because she did have to do literally everything.
BECK: Donna, can I say something? If my wife had the ability to get her hands up to near my organs and squeeze, she probably would enjoy it a little bit. Maybe that`s just me.
When we first met, there was a moment that you actually had to walk out of the room. Because it was right around the time that one of these bogus liberal organizations called General Petraeus General Betray Us and you -- you got so worked up you left the room. And I went out and to where you were seated and the two of you seated at couch and you were quite distraught and crying. Why?
STUBE: I -- I don`t want to make anything political out of it but one thing that I`ve learned and for years in the military, and I`m guilty like anyone else of believing that there`s a rift, a lack of understanding between the soldiers on the ground and the upper level leadership.
What I`ve learned since I`ve been wounded is that some of that is truly ill conceived notions that they don`t understand what`s happening on the ground. Our leaders in the military are so strong and so compassionate, I was never in a position to see that compassion. Before I was doing my job and they were doing theirs. The part that I didn`t realize was how frustrating it is to make decisions, to send other men in to harmful situations. It`s their job. And when they make these decisions, they can`t fight physically themselves to defend their decision. They can`t be on the ground with you. And so, we become like their children.
And I`m not towing the line here. These men have responsibility that just is unfathomable. It`s -- to send people when you know some of them may get hurt or killed, and then have those wounds and deaths on your conscience wondering if you did the right thing .
BECK: I was in the -- I was in the oval office one day last summer. And the president was telling a story and he was talking -- actually telling a story about the rug that`s in the oval office. And he said, I can`t tell you how many times I`ve looked at this rug because I had to make so many decisions like this and you could see the -- the weariness on him when he talked about the decisions he had to make to send people like you in to harm`s way. And I -- I knew he felt it when he told me the names of the people that had been shot or killed or wounded the night before. He knew them. He said -- without prompting or anything, he said just last night, so and so and so and so and so and so. This happened over here and so and so was killed.
He knew them by name which told me that this guy -- you may disagree with what he`s doing but this guy cares. He is not sending somebody in, you know, whatever. They`re just -- they`re just pawns. He gets it.
You were in Afghanistan and I think, if I`m not mistaken, when you say you saw a mushroom cloud and a child, it`s the daisy cutter that looks like an atomic mushroom cloud. Is that what you saw?
STUBE: Well, any of the -- any of the larger ordinance being dropped is going to give that distinct impression.
BECK: So you saw that as a backdrop and you saw a child in front of it. And you said that really had an impact on you. In what way?
continued on in next entry....
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