A Gold Star Brother on Loss and Legacy

Chris Weir is a Gold Star brother, who lost his brother David in Iraq. I wanted to have Chris on the show to discuss what he experienced in losing his brother, and how he eventually made the decision to follow his brother’s path and join the 101st Airborne where his brother previously served. Chris talks about how his community pulled together during his family’s most difficult time. He describes the loss of his brother as a strange feeling of devastation and pride. Links and Resources Survivor Outreach Services (SOS) Military Casualty Assistance American Gold Star Mothers Gold Star Awareness Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (T.A.P.S.) Transcript Scott 00:00 Hey everybody. This is the Drive on Podcast where we talk about issues affecting veterans after they get out of the military. I’m your host, Scott DeLuzio. And now let’s get on with the show. Scott 00:14 Thanks for joining us on the drive on podcast today. We have friend Chris Weir uh, who actually we met through my wife who was on the show last week and she was Chris’s real estate agent when he moved out to Arizona and, uh, Chris served in the military and Chris and I both share a similar story, um, to some extent. Um, both of us lost our brothers, uh, in, combat. And I brought Chris on the show because I kind of wanted to hear his side of, of everything because at the time. Unlike me, he was not serving in the military and, uh, I wanted to see how his brothers, uh, what happened with his brother has affected his military career and, and other things throughout his life. So, so Chris, uh, you know, welcome to the show and, tell us a little bit about yourself, you know, where, where are you from and all that. Chris 01:14 Thanks for having me, Scott. Appreciate it. So I’m originally from a small little town called Chattanooga, Tennessee in southeast Tennessee, Georgia, Georgia border, um, born and raised there. And, um, when I, uh, grew up right and graduated high school, went on to a college in Nashville and then, uh, being around a few different places, lived in Ohio for a little bit. Um, but now we are here out in Arizona. Um, I’m married, have two daughters, therefore I’m bold. They are both, uh, teenagers. So my oldest is 16, my youngest is 14, and, and, uh, I have no hair to prove it. So, um, so yeah, that’s a, that’s basically, yeah, me in a nutshell. Scott 01:57 Sure. Yeah. So, so let’s, let’s jump right in. Let’s start talking about, you know, when, when you joined the military and Kinda the, the circumstances surrounding that, um, you know, everything that happened kind of with your brother, how that happened. And then, then what influenced your decision to join the military? Chris 02:16 Yeah. September of 2006 was when my brother was killed in Baghdad. And so I had always, I had always wanted to join the military. It was something that I always wanted to do pretty much every my father, his father, his father, his father, father, father, you know, all down the line. Um, everybody had served. And, and then of course my brother as well. So I was always struggling with the idea of when I got older, sitting on the front porch with my grandkids, not being able to tell them, you know, a story about being in the military and serving my country. So, um, it was something that had been on my mind for many years. I was getting older at that time, at least older, not compared to today, but at that time I was getting older for joining the military anyway. And I was, I was knocking on thirty’s door and so Se...