E13 Back from the Dead
In this interview, John Kriesel shares his experience of serving in the military, his challenges in returning to civilian life after enduring 35 surgeries, what it was like to have the United States President award him the Purple Heart, and the power of optimism. John also discusses his decision to run for a seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2010 and how he built the beautiful life he lives today.
John joined the military when he was just 17 years old. As a young man, he elected to serve a tour of duty in Iraq in 2006. Following his return to civilian life, John won a position as a representative in the Minnesota House of Representatives where he was one of few Republicans to oppose legislation that would have made same-sex marriage illegal. As an advocate for the veteran community, John now works as Veteran Services Director for Anoka County in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul area. John also regularly shares his story as a motivational speaker and has authored a book called Still Standing which details his time in Iraq and his amazing recovery.
John Kriesel:
Fast forward to 2006, that I was laying on the sands of Iraq, listening to the blood leave my body, and I was almost certain I was going to die. To now, I'm extremely happily married. I've got an awesome job, two jobs basically. Plus, the radio show that I get to be on, on Friday mornings, with a little girl on the way, I can't believe it. And it's why I never want to forget that day because it reminds me how fortunate I am to be alive. And it makes me appreciate all these little things in my life.
Don MacPherson:
If you've ever wondered what separates top performers from everyone else, you probably discovered it is just a couple differentiators that determine wild success from average results. My name is Don MacPherson, and for two decades, I've been working with executives to help them optimize performance at the individual, team, and organization levels. Now I interview exceptional people from all walks of life, so we can learn from them. Welcome to 12 Geniuses.
Returning to civilian life after serving in a war can be challenging for any veteran. They go back to their lives, but their communities have changed, events have occurred in their families without them, and they may carry baggage back from their deployment. Re-entry is especially difficult for post 9/11 veterans who experienced combat, a traumatic event, are seriously injured, or knows someone killed in action. Today's guest experienced all of those things during his deployment to Iraq in 2006. John Kriesel was serving as part of the Minnesota Army National Guard near Fallujah when a roadside bomb took both his legs, shattered his pelvis, and sent him into an eight day medically induced coma.
This is more than a war story. It's a story of a man who has risen from the darkest days any of us can imagine, to building a life that includes his dream job, his dream wife, and soon, his first child.
John, welcome to 12 Geniuses.
John Kriesel:
Thanks for having me.
Don MacPherson:
You're welcome. And let's just start out by talking about where you grew up.
John Kriesel:
I grew up in Vadnais Heights, Minnesota, which is just north of St. Paul, about 10 minutes north of St. Paul. Graduated from White Bear Lake High school in 2000.
Don MacPherson:
And what was life like Vadnais Heights and White Bear Lake during your childhood?
John Kriesel:
It was classic suburbia. We had a fun neighborhood. A lot of kids my age played sports all the time in the neighborhood. We'd capture the flag going, and going to ditch, just the classic suburban life.
Don MacPherson:
And when you were in high school, what did you have for aspirations after high school?
John Kriesel:
I wanted to be in the military from when I was around 10 years old, when I saw the first Gulf War on TV, I saw the news coverage of it, and I was just intrigued by it. And it was like nonstop. There hadn't been a televised war in my lifetime. So, I was like, “That is what I want to do when I grow up.” And I held on to that dream and I joined the second that I could.
Don MacPherson:
During your high school years, did you have a particular branch that you are leaning toward?
John Kriesel:
I think I always leaned army, but I gave each of them a shot. I went to every recruiter just to kind of hear what was out there for me as an option. Air Force sounded cool, but I always wanted that action, that boots on the ground kind of life. When I thought of the military and what I aspired to be in the military, I always kind of gravitated towards that. And that's what I ended up doing.
Don MacPherson:
You wanted to carry a rifle?
John Kriesel:
I did. I wanted to be in the infantry.
Don MacPherson:
Okay. So, is it true that on your 17th birthday, you signed up?
John Kriesel:
I did.
Don MacPherson:
I didn't even know you could sign up that early.
John Kriesel:
Yep. My mom had to sign the waiver. If I waited till I was 18, I could have signed up just on my own. So, I'd to convince her a little bit. She wasn't thrilled. She was worried. And my dad was like, “This will be good for him.” And I was a screw off growing up. Nothing egregious. It was more of just, I like to be the class clown, I like to get people in school laughing at whatever cost. I'd get kicked out of class sometimes, I'd get sent to the principal's office, in school suspension, the whole bit. My parents had such tough upbringings that they wanted my sister and I to have great upbringings. With that came some kind of lack of structure. They were just like, “Whatever, just live a happy life.” And the military gave me structure and I'm very thankful that I had that.
Don MacPherson:
Did you go to basic training between your junior and senior year of high school?
John Kriesel:
Yes, I did.
Don MacPherson:
What was that like?
John Kriesel:
They squared me away pretty quickly. It taught me respect. It taught me to pick my place that… Humor isn't good in every situation. Yeah, it was a very good experience. So, I came back for my senior year squared away. I put my head down, I got my work done. I was respectful to the teachers, and yeah.
Don MacPherson:
They can teach you respect in 10 or 12 weeks, huh?
John Kriesel:
Yeah, especially… Yeah. They're very magical about it. Early on in basic training, if you blink wrong, you get punished. And it's group punishment, so then you learn to look out for one another and correct each other before the drill started. They set the foundation for a successful military career. They break you down, destroy you, destroy your confidence, everything, and then they build you up. So, I went back, yeah, my senior year, I was a much different person, had a much different outlook, respect. My work ethic had improved. Not that I was this… I had a job since I was 15. But it was more of just, I think I learned how to focus and, instead of being all over the place, I learned how to dedicate my energy to something.
Don MacPherson:
And you were part of the Minnesota Army National Guard, is that right?
John Kriesel:
Yes.
Don MacPherson:
Okay. And the first deployment was Kosovo, is that correct?
John Kriesel:
Kosovo, yes.
Don MacPherson:
2004?
John Kriesel:
Yep. 2004 is when we went. We started our training in 2003 for it.
Don MacPherson:
And what was that like?
John Kriesel:
It was awesome.
Don MacPherson:
Was this part of the UN or?
John Kriesel:
NATO.
Don MacPherson:
NATO. Sorry. It was part of NATO. Okay.
John Kriesel:
Yes. It was an eyeopener for me at that age, really made me appreciate the life that I had back home. And a lot of the things I would complain about and my friends would complain about, I realized, like we got it made. And so, it changed me from that aspect of it. It was cool because it was our job to protect a group of people that couldn't protect themselves. We were essentially a police force there, and they needed us. But as far as jobs go, we kind of had it made. We weren't really in a dangerous situation. There was a couple uprisings. There was a riots that lasted like three days that we teargassed people. They threw rocks at us. Never really did I think I was gonna lose my life over there.
Don MacPherson:
And how long were you there?
John Kriesel:
Six months. We had a six-month train up and then six months in country, so it was a pretty quick turnaround.
Don MacPherson:
So, you're in and out in 2004. 2005, no deployments, you're back in the U.S.?
John Kriesel:
Yes. I came back at the end of 2004. My contract was ending, so I was going to get out of the Guard. I wanted to be a paramedic firefighter for St. Paul fire department.
Don MacPherson:
Why did you stay in?
John Kriesel:
My buddy called me and let me know that there was a deployment to Iraq coming up, where the train up would start the next fall, so the fall of 2005. And the entire time in Kosovo, we felt guilty. Every day on the news, we'd see what was going on over there in Iraq and Afghanistan. Just heartbreaking. As an infantry unit, we're the war fighters. We feel like that's where we should be. And especially low 20-year-olds, you're fearless. Let's go to the most dangerous place, if I feel like we can make a difference there, and we truly felt that way. And we talked about that every single day.
Don MacPherson:
If memory serves me, that seems like a very dangerous time in Iraq. A lot of roadside bombs, 2005, 2006.
John Kriesel:
Yes. That's when the insurgency started turning and there wasn't… We had up-armored Humvees in Kosovo for a while. And I remember them coming to pick them up with a bunch of trucks came to base. Because obviously, we didn't need them in Kosovo. In Iraq, there were people driving around in Humvees that were the soft sides. And you hit a roadside bomb in one of those, you don't have a chance.
Don MacPherson:
Wow.
John Kriesel:
Yeah, that time in the war was really getting dicey.
Don MacPherson:
So, your buddy suggests that you re-up, and you do, and that leads you to Iraq.
John Kriesel:
Yes.
Don MacPherson:
Where did you go in Iraq?
John Kriesel:
Fallujah.
Don MacPherson:
What was that like?
John Kriesel:
It was wild. We got there and they really eased us in. We were bored at first because they had us just in towers. But like anything, you can't just… Any job you get, they're not going to just throw you to the wolves. You got to work your way in. And so, we started going out on patrols further out and further out. And then we ended up… Our mission became pushing the enemy far enough out from, it was about an eight-mile radius of camp Fallujah, so they couldn't launch motors and rockets and hit the 19,000 people on camp. As we pushed them and they pushed U.S., so the danger increased a lot throughout the summer of 2006. I mean, at first, it felt like Kosovo.
We'd go out on patrols in the villages near camp Falluja where nothing's going to happen because it's within eyesight of the camp. So, the insurgents aren't going to go mess around there. Then the game changed throughout that summer of 2006.
Don MacPherson:
Can you talk about the events on December 2nd, 2006?
John Kriesel:
Yeah. Our lieutenant spotted suspicious activity when he was on the roof. So, he came and woke a bunch of us up and said he needed volunteers to go and check it out. Five of us volunteered to be in the Humvee because there were only five spots in there. Three in a Bradley fighting vehicle to our front, which is a armored personnel carrier. Went down there, checked it out, ended up being nothing. So, we were gonna head back to camp, but then we got a call. My gunner was the one who got the call because I was out of the vehicle.
He said that one of the drones flying above us spotted someone digging in the road at checkpoint three, four. We needed to check it out so we headed that direction. I was in the right front passenger seat. I was operating the radio. We ended up, I remember calling in the checkpoints as we got to that spot, and the last stretch of road before getting to checkpoint three, four, where that person had been digging, we had a round like a 90-degree turn, like an L-shaped turn. And as we rounded that corner, I heard a metallic clunk of whatever it was being detonated.
It was this clink, and then this loud whooshing sound. And then I woke up on the ground and heard rocks falling, rocks hitting the ground, rocks hitting metal, heard my buddy yelling. So, I knew we had hit an IED, and I knew that it was a big one.
Don MacPherson:
So, you're completely conscious at this moment.
John Kriesel:
Yes. I'd lost consciousness when the bomb went off and when I flew through the air. So, I woke up on the ground after having been ejected from the vehicle.
Don MacPherson:
But that must have only been a few seconds if you could still hear rocks coming down.
John Kriesel:
Absolutely. Yep.
Don MacPherson:
What is your first thought?
John Kriesel:
I was realizing what had happened and then I felt myself in a twisted position. So, I knew I had been hurt. I didn't know how severe it was. I saw my arm was broken all the way, so it was kind of flopped there. So, I held that against my chest. And I looked down and saw that my legs were… The left one, there was a compound fracture above the knee, so the femur was sticking on it, and basically the leg wasn't connected. And then my right leg below the knee was mangled, and I could hear the blood hitting the sand. So, I was pretty sure that I was not going to survive.
Don MacPherson:
For how long did you have that uncertainty?
John Kriesel:
Until my buddies got there. They were in the vehicle ahead of us. And the blast was so powerful they thought they had hit it. They came rushing back. It was 200 pounds of explosives in a two propane tanks that detonated underneath our vehicle. I mean, our vehicle was brand new, fully up-armored. Thing was mangled. I was looking right at it. It looked nothing like Humvee. So, my buddies came up from the vehicle ahead of me. And Adam was the first one, he put a tourniquet on my right leg, the one that was actually squirting essentially, for lack of a better word. And he told me I was going to be fine. He's like, “You just hang in there. You're going to be fine. I need to check on the others.”
I still had my doubts, but I was realizing, and everything had slowed down, so my mind was sharp and I was trying to stay positive about the whole situation because I knew that I really had very little control over it. But what control I did have was my mindset, and I needed to stay positive as much as possible.
Don MacPherson:
Yeah. Having this positive mindset is really critical in a situation like that. Have you always been an optimist? Because I see you as quite an optimist right now.
John Kriesel:
Yeah. To a fault. I would say, I've always, and I'm still very optimistic. I'm a little more of a realist now, but I think before, it was, everything's going to work out always. Everything's just going to be fine or whatever. That, I think, served me well in this situation.
Don MacPherson:
The roadside bomb explodes, you're thrown from the vehicle. There were four other people in the vehicle, what's happening with them?
John Kriesel:
The guys that were working on me had to go around and triage the others. And I knew my buddy to my left was not doing well. And I didn't know which person it was.
Don MacPherson:
This is the driver?
John Kriesel:
He had been the one behind the driver.
Don MacPherson:
Okay.
John Kriesel:
But I didn't look over at him, because I thought, if I'm going to survive, I need to stay calm. If I do survive, I don't want to remember that the rest of my life, or seeing that. Because the sounds that I heard that he was making are tough enough to relive. So, seeing that, and I needed to stay calm because I was losing a lot of blood. I needed to keep my heart right down. So, I just was like, all right, I'm just going to lay low. I'm going to close my eyes and relax, which ended up being a dumb idea because then I kept falling asleep. And my buddies had to keep running by and slapping me to keep me awake. And they ended up, like the last time, it was almost like a punch to the face, and it hurt so bad.
Don MacPherson:
You can feel this?
John Kriesel:
Oh yeah. So, I told them to knock it off.
Don MacPherson:
You're in complete shock and you can still feel him hitting your face.
John Kriesel:
Yeah.
Don MacPherson:
Wow.
John Kriesel:
Then they came and they had to move me away from the vehicle because they were going to try and save Corey. Corey was the one that was trapped underneath it. And so, they knew that the vehicle was unstable. It was on the side. And if it tipped, it would've landed right on me. So, they had to move me away from the vehicle. They flipped my legs up on my chest and moved me. And I felt a ton of pain at that time because my pelvis had been broken. And then the helicopters were arriving. I remember Adam coming over, and I was getting cold at that point, so I thought I was going to die.
So, I grabbed Adam with my good arm and I told him to tell my family I love them. And he said, “Shut up. You're going to tell them yourself.” And that's really the first time that day that I felt hope, that I felt like I had some actual control over it. I was like, “Stay awake, keep fighting. I need to keep fighting, keep fighting, keep fighting.” And then the helicopter, I heard the helicopter coming, and I thought, “I can do this. I have to do this.”
Don MacPherson:
You get airlifted out of there. When did you lose consciousness?
John Kriesel:
On the helicopter. They asked me my social security number, and I was so exhausted, I couldn't get the first digit of it out. But what I had learned since is that they had given me… They always give you medication on the helicopter, whether you're going to be awake or not, where you're kind of incapacitated, so you couldn't freak out and bring the helicopter down. But for me, I think they were probably starting the medically induced colon, but I remember her asking my name and me trying to… Or not my name. She said, “John, what is your social security number?” And I knew it. I couldn't say it. And that's it until I woke up at Walter Reed.
Don MacPherson:
And when did you wake up at Walter Reed?
John Kriesel:
It was eight days. Eight days after the blast.
Don MacPherson:
What happened in between?
John Kriesel:
I'd been to two field hospitals that Iraq. The first field hospital, they took what was left of my legs, and they had to shock me back to life three times, which I didn't know until the author of my book was interviewing my company commander, who was at the field hospital when we were brought in. And he had said something like he even, my leg was flopping around, he almost had to… I think he ended up having to put it back on me on the stretcher. Then he watched as they worked to save my life and they shocked me back to life three times. They didn't give up on me. And then they stabilized me at that point. They put me in, it's called a hot pocket. It's like a body bag, but with a tube sticking out of it to keep my body temperature regulated.
And they zipped that up. I mean, people walking by would've assumed I was dead probably, but they were able to stabilize me and fly me to Balad, which is north of Baghdad. Stabilized me further, then sent me to Landstuhl, which is where my situation deteriorated and they didn't think I was going to survive there.
Don MacPherson:
This is in Germany?
John Kriesel:
Yep.
Don MacPherson:
Okay.
John Kriesel:
So, my family flew over to basically say goodbye to me. And thankfully, I survived.
Don MacPherson:
How many days did it take you to get to Germany?
John Kriesel:
Oh, I think by day three, I was there, but I missed three flights back to the United States because I wasn't stable enough. And they said nobody misses four flights and survives.
Don MacPherson:
What went through your mind when you learned what had happened during the attack?
John Kriesel:
Well, I woke up and I saw I was alive. That feeling, I think, when I woke up and looked around and just thought, “Oh my God, I'm here. I actually lived. I'm not dreaming,” I felt so happy about that, that I thought… I didn't know the extent of the injuries yet. I was pretty sure of them, but at that point, I thought I'm going to be fine. This is going to be all right.
Don MacPherson:
What were the extent of your injuries? Obviously, you had the broken arm, and your arm looks great.
John Kriesel:
Thanks.
Don MacPherson:
Actually, it seems quite-
John Kriesel:
They did a good job with the scar too. So, they put two rods in my left arm. So, the ulna and the radius had both been broken. I lost left leg above the knee, right leg below the knee. My pelvis, both wings of the pelvis had, I think they're called the iliac wings, they had been broken forward. So, those were kind of floating. They had to put that back together. Probably the most painful surgery I've ever had. They had to put bolts through my pelvis, into my spine. And then they had to put… My sacrum had been shattered. Basically, your tailbone area, all of that sitting area was shattered.
I lost an inch of my colon because I took shrapnel to my intestines. Traumatic brain injury. Those doctors, my God, they're amazing. I mean, that pelvic surgery, they had said it had only been done, to that extent, twice ever in the world, I think. But they built a model of it, of the pelvis, 3D imaging, and then they made a model of it. And that's how they decided what angles they're going at and all of it. I mean, to go into the spinal column and not hit my spinal cord is amazing.
Don MacPherson:
Our guest today is Iraq war veteran and Purple Heart recipient, John Kriesel. We just heard about his service in Kosovo and the Middle East. When we return, we will discuss the life John has built since the traumatic explosion that nearly took his life.
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We are back with John Kriesel. In this segment, we are going to discuss how John managed through the recovery from his war injuries and has built a life that is better than he ever could have imagined.
So, you have all of these combat injuries, you're at Walter Reed, and there for three, four months, and then outpatient for a while. What did you imagine, particularly while you were at Walter Reed, what did you imagine life being like for the rest of your life?
John Kriesel:
You quickly learn… Walter Reed was kind of the easy part. Physically it wasn't, but at physical stuff, that's stuff I always thrive. If it's something that physically has to get done, I'll work my tail off and get through it and it'll be fine. But getting back to Minnesota, a ton of challenges. That's when then life settles in and you have to get back to normal. Not necessarily to the normal before. And feeling like you're going to get to that is discouraging because it's not. You have to learn to find a new normal. It took a long time. It creates tremendous strain on the family. It’s the adjustment and learning when you come back to Minnesota, whereas at Walter Reed, everyone's like you. There's other amputees, they understand. You come back to Minnesota, nobody's like you. It's extremely rare.
And you hope that everything can, like I said, get back to normal, but it's not. So, yeah, the family situation got real tough. You learn that the person that's by your side, that's supposed to be your rock, your support, when it turns out that they're not, it's heartbreaking and you. And then you start thinking, “Well, what's wrong with me?” Nobody wants a guy with no legs. My wife doesn't even. And so, then that's extremely tough and that complicates the recovery even more.
Don MacPherson:
Did you go through a bout of depression?
John Kriesel:
I wouldn't say depression. It was more of anger. It's complicated enough just returning from combat, but then you throw in the injuries, the fact that your life's different. And now you have to think about mobility stuff, parking, if you're going to this place, all of that. And then on top of it, the complications with… There's just so many things that it took a long time. It took a handful of years where I got enough confidence in myself. And I think when I decided to run for the legislature, that's when I really became a better person and looked at myself as having value.
Don MacPherson:
This is 2009? Roughly ‘09 going into being elected in 10.
John Kriesel:
Yes, ’09 going into ‘10.
Don MacPherson:
Okay.
John Kriesel:
Yep. And doing that and working my tail off and getting that, that was one of the greatest feelings of my life, because I knew I didn't have to rely on that other person. If you're told your whole time that you need them, you need them for everything, and they're not treating you well, then all of a sudden you do something on your own, it was so freeing. I can't even explain it.
Don MacPherson:
I would imagine it feels validating.
John Kriesel:
Absolutely validating.
Don MacPherson:
How did you cope with these massive changes?
John Kriesel:
When I got back home, everybody was like, “How are you doing? How are you doing?” And I was so busy telling everybody I was fine. I was trying to convince myself really, as it turned out, and it took time. I stayed busy enough for a long enough period of time that things became fine. I kind of found my groove when I got in the legislature. Like you said, it was validating. Then I was like, okay, I can do things. It was a skillset I had never… I was an infantryman and I was an ink manufacturer. I worked with my hands my whole life. So, then I found that I had… I was so far out of my comfort zone that once I started finding my way outside my comfort zone, that's when I think I really started to grow as a person. I wouldn't say I was unhappy before, so like the depression part.
Because I just stayed busy. And I don't allow myself to sit and really feel sorry for myself or sad. I focused on the things I can control. And when I got to that point, I truly became a new level of happy. That's when I grew as a person, I think, the most.
Don MacPherson:
Did you have a mentor or somebody who helped guide you through these changes?
John Kriesel:
I wouldn't say a mentor. I mean,, at Walter Reed, there's individuals that you get to know that have been through it, that come back and visit years after. There's Tom and Eleanor Porter, would come by and bring cookies, like, every Tuesday or Wednesday, I forget. Tom was a double amputee. And he met his wife, she was his nurse, and they've been married ever since. So, I kind of had him as a mentor, but I think the fact that I was national guard and all of us were from Minnesota and we came back to Minnesota together, and I knew that… I mean, Todd versus the guy that put the tourniquet on my left leg, he lives 10 minutes from me. My best friend, Tim Nelson, I work with him. Absolutely, we've all leaned on each other. We've all kind of mentored each other. We all have kind of different skill sets. And I think we just worked well together. So, we were never alone. I never felt alone. I don't think they ever did either.
Don MacPherson:
When did your optimism reappear? You said you've been the optimistic your whole life, but I'm sure there were really difficult times. Was it when you started to run for the House, Minnesota House?
John Kriesel:
Yes. Because I saw that I can do things. I had no chance of winning. At that point, I was the only Republican to ever win in that district without even getting into views and whatnot. But I was, essentially, asked to run to use up resources so the other side would have to spend money there. And all of a sudden, I won.
Don MacPherson:
You won.
John Kriesel:
I won.
Don MacPherson:
That's amazing.
John Kriesel:
I outdoor-knocked somebody who has two legs. But it was also all of my army buddies helped campaign and would be in parades. It was this big group, awesome effort. And yeah, the feeling of having that election night when I learned that I wanted it was a close race, so it was like four in the morning that I found out. I was like, ah, yeah, unforgettable moment.
Don MacPherson:
Well, congratulations. What is the Post-it note routine?
John Kriesel:
And I discuss this in my motivational speeches that I give. On those tough days, and I would kind of secretly do this, I didn't put it on the mirror in my previous life, but on those tough days, where you're like, you just want to hit the reset button and just, or the fast forward button and just start the next day, this day is done, it sucked, I need to move forward, get the next day started. Take a Post-it note, write three to five things in your life that bring you joy, that put a smile on your face, that you're truly thankful for, and put that on your mirror. And then that's the first thing you see when you wake up the next day. And that will change your entire day, that positive thought in the morning.
Don MacPherson:
How often do you do it?
John Kriesel:
Lately, I haven't had to. I haven't had to since I've been in my new marriage, but I think what that does, and I did it a lot before, but I would just would have it hidden. You're taking an inventory of the good things in your life and it kind of trains your mind to be more thankful rather than focused on how bad things went that day, or what you wish you had, or what you wish you were. Eventually, you don't need the Post-it notes, really. Every day I wake up, I'm thankful to be alive, I'm thankful for the people in my life, I'm thankful for this little girl that's going to be in my life here shortly. And yeah, it's mind-blowing. Things work out if you let them work out, if you choose to have a great day, which we can do. And, of course, things happen to us, but with that mindset, you'll get through anything.
Don MacPherson:
What advice do you have for somebody who's really going through a change where they might be quite scared?
John Kriesel:
Totally natural obviously. It's okay to be scared, and while you can't control the things that are happening to you, you can always control how you respond. And if you have a positive attitude… I would say that the most morbid advice I can give is to laugh about it. Make jokes about it. Even if it doesn't seem funny, you have to laugh about things in life or you're not going to get through those tough times. And then, when you get through the adversity, I've always used humor as a coping mechanism, whether it was what happened in Iraq, whether it was the marriage and divorce. And it has definitely allowed me to not look back and be bitter or sad about things like that. Because I can recognize that I grew from it, and if you're able to do that, then it wasn't for nothing.
Don MacPherson:
You did spend a couple of years in the Minnesota Legislature, is that correct?
John Kriesel:
Yes.
Don MacPherson:
2010, 2011 or ‘11, ’12?
John Kriesel:
So, ‘11 to ’12.
Don MacPherson:
‘11 and 12. Okay.
John Kriesel:
So, I was elected November of 2010.
Don MacPherson:
Okay. And so, you served two years, why did you leave?
John Kriesel:
Well, the ex-step kids didn't like me being in politics as I missed a lot of their sporting events. I would've done one more term had I not had the personal stuff going on, but I would say it was the right thing to do, because going to the sporting events with the kid… Actually, they wanted me to coach a couple of their sports teams, and I did. Those were some of the best times of my life doing that. But I think I had a lot more to offer in the legislature for sure. I still had more to give. And if I couldn't be entirely focused on my job at the legislature, then I shouldn't have been in there. And so, that was the thing is there was too much going on, too much pulling me in different directions that I wouldn't have been as good of a state representative as I think I could have been, as I should have been.
Don MacPherson:
I mean. you spent long enough to really determine if politics is for you or not. Would you ever do it again?
John Kriesel:
Perhaps. I've had opportunities I've been asked to run for U.S. House, U.S. Senate. One time I flew out to Washington, DC, and met with some people to potentially run for the United States Senate. It was flattering. It was intoxicating because you have some of these people, I mean, guys you see on TV, Senator Lindsey Graham, Senator James [inaudible 0:31:10]. “You should do this. You would be excellent at it.” And you're like, “My goodness, I think I would be.” But then you realize some of the sacrifice. People will rip on it, people will rip on politicians, but the sacrifice is tremendous.
Don MacPherson:
As I was researching you, I found a very courageous position that you took on May 21st, 2011. You gave an impassioned speech to the Minnesota House. Could you talk about the circumstances leading up to that speech?
John Kriesel:
Yeah. The Minnesota House was… There was a bill presented that would put a constitutional amendment on the ballot. So, voters could decide, should the Minnesota State constitution define marriage as being between a man and a woman? I mean, it was one of those where suddenly special interest had been involved, and I think promises had been made, from what I had heard, that this was going to end up on the House floor, whether we liked it or not. So, I, right off the bat, said my vote will be no for a number of reasons, but more importantly, it's not government's place. And I think in my speech, I had outlined that I would be devastated if I found someone I loved, well, currently, and the government's like, “You can't marry her.” That's nonsense.
And I thought it was mean-spirited. I thought the amendment was, or the legislation was. And I was very disappointed in my colleagues for forcing that, specifically some of the leadership that allowed it to get to the House floor, I think was… So, I was quite angry about the situation.
Don MacPherson:
You had an opportunity to meet a president…
John Kriesel:
Yes.
Don MacPherson:
George W. Bush?
John Kriesel:
George W. Bush. Yes.
Don MacPherson:
What was that like?
John Kriesel:
He pinned on my Purple Heart when I was at Walter Reed, which was amazing.
Don MacPherson:
This is 2007?
John Kriesel:
This was still 2006. It was like 20 days after the blast. And I had just had my back surgery, so I had to lay flat so I could just lift my head up to see him. And he just was the kindest guy and said the nicest things to me and what meant him. It wasn't like BS. He's definitely not polished, so you know that he means it. I met him two other times. He touched foreheads with me once and told me, “I was this guy.” It was super cool in the White House, was a special moment we got to go. We were just getting a tour of it. There was like 14 of us, wounded warriors, and all of a sudden, they're like, “You guys, if you would go into this room here.”
So, we go in there and all of a sudden the president comes in. he kicked out all the cameras and everything. And he told us how sorry he was that we had to go through the things that we were going through, but that it was necessary for national security. And I believed him. I would go back and I would do it again. But to see the human side of a president, getting to see the toll of his decisions was something I'll never forget.
Don MacPherson:
Can you talk about what you're doing for work right now?
John Kriesel:
Yes. So, I'm a director of veteran services for a county just north of Minneapolis. I help veterans get their VA benefits, help them cut through the red tape. Most rewarding job I've ever had. I get to help people every day. I get to work with an awesome team of people that have the same goals that I do every day. And we have fun at work. We have fun, we laugh, and we do good things. I do that on my free time because I'm fortunate that I have a lot of vacation time at this job. I use it to travel and give motivational speeches to businesses and organizations. And been blessed that I did over 40 of them last year from Texas to California, and all throughout the United States, getting to share my story. I can't believe my life right now. It's worked out.
Don MacPherson:
As a graduate of White Bear Lake High School in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, you're 18 years old, could you ever have imagined that, by the age of 37, that this would be life you're living?
John Kriesel:
No way, no way. And I run into a couple of my teachers here and there, and they can't believe it either. Not even just that I was a goofball and they didn't think I was going to turn out to anything. But I mean, to think that, fast forward to 2006, that I was laying on the sands of Iraq, listening to the blood leave my body, and I was almost certain I was going to die, to now I'm extremely happily married. I've got an awesome job, two jobs basically. Plus, the radio show that I get to be on, on Friday mornings, with a little girl on the way, I can't believe it. And it's why I never wanna forget that day because it reminds me how fortunate I am to be alive and it makes me appreciate all these little things in my life.
Don MacPherson:
It's a fantastic place to be. Where do you see your career going in the next 10 years?
John Kriesel:
I'm going to continue with the speeches until it… If it gets to a point where I don't have enough vacation time, then I will dial the speeches back. But I plan on retiring from the job that I have. I would like to work there until 57. That's my current plan. People ask, and especially about the politics question, because I've passed up some opportunities where I think I would've won, but I'm so happy right now that, why mess with it? Why change it? The grass isn't always greener on the other side. I would be devastated if the answer to your previous question was yes, I made a huge career mistake and got rid of a job that I love where I get to work with awesome people. I get to work with my best friend for something that, maybe pays more, but I don't love.
Don MacPherson:
Yeah. John, where can people learn more about you?
John Kriesel:
They can visit my website, johnmkriesel.com. And the last name's spelled K-R-I-E-S-E-l.com. My book’s still standing, which is the full version of what happened on December 2nd, and then my recovery after. They can see videos of my motivational speeches and book me for a motivational speech through there. I'm also on Twitter @kohnkriesel and also other social media platforms. So, yeah, I'm easy to track down.
Don MacPherson:
Okay. Fantastic, John. And we'll put these resources in the show page notes, as well as some resources for veterans who may be struggling with their injuries or returning back to the U.S. and civilian life as well. John, thank you for being a genius.
John Kriesel:
Well, I appreciate it. Thank you.
Don MacPherson:
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