hey you guys um freedom is an awesome
thing and um it comes at a great cost a
great price and today we're going to be
talking to Major Damon fredman the
United States Air Force he's got an
amazing career God has blessed this
brother he is commander of uh special
tactics and training for the United
States Air Force and with that
command uh he carries with that a
tremendous amount of experience though
he's a young man uh what God has allowed
him to be involved in is quite frankly
remarkable and uh his heart now is to
reach those that are going through
post-traumatic stress syndrome not only
in the military those who have come out
of the military but you'll see that his
concern reaches even the trauma in your
life and so I love this guy we stay in
close contact and I thank God you know I
can sleep better at night when uh men
like uh major Damon fredman are at the
helm of our uh nation's security so pay
close attention I hope he ministers to
you I trust that he
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will
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so Damon I want to just ask you um as we
stand here today it's kind of uh cool
awesome because of how God has used you
in a world that so many don't understand
frankly a lot of people don't want to
want to understand the world that you
traffic in because you're a
Believer but you in a sense uh the women
and the men that you work with keep us
safe at night so before we even get into
that I want to know how you came to know
the one who keeps you safe at night tell
us how you met up with the ultimate
Defender my story is very uh similar to
a lot of people where uh you accept
Jesus but then there's really never any
maturity yeah and uh and for me I
accepted the Lord back in my college
Years and uh just never grew uh and and
in some ways maybe Jesus was just a
means to an end um but uh I tried very
hard to um be the Christian but without
knowing who God really is uh or how or
better yet how he wants us to live
um I never lived the life that would be
pleasing to God and so I was so you knew
about the Lord you could tell people the
gospel yeah but you lack the what the
power the the commitment just really the
commitment the discipleship I mean
there's a lot of people who learn about
Jesus and they say yeah man I want to I
want to know more about Jesus yeah I
accept Jesus but then there's really no
follow through which is the failure
absolutely and and I'll be honest with
you it's really been a big failure in
the church today
is really empowering Christians with the
knowledge of you know what does it mean
to work out your salvation you know what
does it mean to uh Live Strong in the
faith what does it mean in Acts chap 2:
42 when it says hey these are the four
spiritual food groups right like we've
got to read the word we've got to we've
got to pray together we've got to uh
Fellowship together we need to break
bread and I mean even communion is a
lost art in the church today and so
those kinds of things that really keep
us connected and so those are the things
that were really missing throughout my
life but it was um I was going through
different chapters and I joined the
military and just like every other man
in this world I'm just looking for an
identity and and and like every other
man in the world we all want to be
superheroes in somebody's eyes so are
you saying though CU I've heard this
from a lot of guys that they joined the
military they later found out that they
were actually looking for a family they
were looking for a Brotherhood and they
didn't know it so would would you say
that in in some sense you did the same
thing absolutely looking for that some
form of identity to find who's who's
Damon who who am I yeah absolutely I
totally agree and and that's that's
exactly you know I joined the military
for a couple of reasons the first one is
I'm from downtown Los Angeles I was born
literally in you know in um uh uh in
poor communities I lived in the projects
I lived in 14 different places in the
first 12 years and you know what I was a
part I lived the American dream where
one day you know I I come from poverty
and then the next day I have an
education I have a job and so this
country really gave to me so as a
patriot I wanted to give back and that
was the single factor that was one of
the things that I really wanted to do
was to give back to my country by
signing on the bottom awesome but I'm
curious how did that look people just
don't roll out of bed and become a lover
of their country are you saying that
that because of the military it changed
your worldview I'm not talking about the
Jesus part yet right right but you began
to what appreciate Freedom appreciate
absolutely I would get up and I thought
to myself man you know my mother she
used to work 18-hour days just to put
rice and beans on the table and our
government set up programs back in the
day that helped us to get on our feet I
got an education in this great country
and I had advantages you know and uh
being a Hispanic I had advantages and
God really just blessed me and our
family and the fact of the matter is is
that um I was set up for success and so
I just came to the point where I would
get up and say and be grateful that I
was living the American dream and I
literally thought man what can I do to
give back and I was like you know what
I'm going to raise my right hand and I'm
going to take the oath and I'm going to
serve this great nation I didn't know
how long I was going to serve whether it
was four years or it was going to be 20
years and how old were you at that time
at that time I was
25 yeah 25 at the time I was a little
bit later on than some of the guys and
sign on the bottom line but but uh it
was it was a great decision and I and I
enjoy it and I've been serving for about
15 years now so uh we'll jump back into
the military side of it in a moment the
uh the Damon growing up in La who was he
what was he what was he like he was a
punk a punk I mean that's the only word
that I could come up with Punk a punk
was just a a kid who uh I always I often
uh kind of joke but uh about it because
I I see just the DraStic difference
between that kid and the man that I am
today I was the guy that would break in
your house take your wife's jewelry and
then take your car you were a punk I was
a punk and you know and and I'll tell
you that eventually I found myself in
jail and um I remember in that cell it
wasn't a good experience and uh so just
to go from there and and and just to
figure out hey I want to be a productive
member of society um I have to make some
changes and that's all just part of God
having his hand on me throughout my life
excellent so you're 25 you um you're
sworn in what branch was it the Marine
Corps at the time Air Force at the time
I I joined the the Marine Corps you know
the UR ra you know absolutely so you
didn't want you didn't mess around you
for the cor I you know you asked me
earlier on like uh you know why I joined
you know it's because I wanted to be a
patriot but like many other Americans we
want to be a part of something bigger
and we want to make an impact in in in
life
and I just thought what greater way can
I make an impact than to sign and become
a Marine sure and I'll tell you I mean
it was a lifechanging
experience yeah um I was never a marine
but I grew up in the home of a marine so
I feel like uh yeah I I heard a little
bit about that I saw a little bit about
that but so now um you're in the
military you have uh a a knowledge of
Jesus but let's be honest and I know
there's a lot of young people that are
watching this right now um that is a um
even though I can say with some
knowledge that the US Marine Corps still
is holding to some strong biblical
values and some of the things that they
uh instill within our Marines uh that's
quite a a World viw Experience change I
mean you saw the underbelly of people at
the same time you're supposed to be
excited about courage and integrity and
right faithfulness um
what what was what was that like you
knew who Jesus was but you saw a world
uh where his name was uh used
differently absolutely and you know to
be honest with you jack when I joined
the Marine Corps uh you go through an
experience where you kind of get a new
identity yeah and a part of that new
identity uh throughout that process I
and I'm just being honest with you is
that I uh I kind of just lost uh keeping
my eyes on God of course and uh what was
more important was being this war
machine yeah and I was being built for a
purpose I was being established as a
purpose I was being trained for a
purpose and that was to you know uh
close with and destroy the enemy yeah
that no matter what as a marine sure and
you're being trained to do that you're
being encouraged to do that that's what
they want you to do ab that's right and
and we become invincible Y and so that
was really the that was my purpose was
to be invincible and did regardless of
All Odds
we can overcome and be victorious isn't
it amazing a little insert here isn't it
amazing that um and and we need this
that here we are we have a military that
instills within its young people uh you
are invincible no one can stop you you
are the best of the best and and this is
this is true to a degree but the point
is is to get them to believe it and give
them everything they can to perform it
on the on the spiritual side of things
it's a such an amazing contradiction for
us because we're told in the Bible that
we can't save ourselves that we can't uh
really make anything of Our Lives by
human effort that's of spiritual value
but Jesus is the one that has done all
this for us and the
strange
almost irony is it we become invincible
I it might have been Whitfield that said
we are invincible until Christ calls us
home think of that where we've got the
government which I'm excited about
saying to our young people you are the
mighty warrior but then when you become
a Christian there's quite a worldview
change experience where the Lord says I
will make you Victorious even in death
you are victorious if a man dies
believing in me Jesus said yet shall he
live and so now here you are in your
career and let's just keep going through
walk us through uh issues situations
where Jesus uh is getting your attention
so I was in in the Marine Corps and
about 5 and A2 years I ended up uh
crossing over in a special tactics it's
the Air Force's uh elite special tactics
are uh the air to ground experts and
over in my last unit was Recon second
Force Recon I was a Pathfinder for those
guys and I was really just enamored with
the mission anything dealing with the
air to ground and in special tactics
we're the ones who bring the heat to the
enemy we control all the aircraft you're
bringing the uh the aircraft
absolutely any any um any munition in
the air but we also control Munitions
even from the ground artillery um ships
things like that and
we we are the best of what we do there's
there's nobody else like that and I was
really attractive uh attracted to the
mission set and the mission and the
people and the resources and so I
crossed over into special tactics and
I've been serving there for about 10
years yeah and throughout that process I
received pretty Advanced Training some
of the best training in the world sure
thank God and I was deployed several
times twice to Afghanistan twice to Iraq
throughout my career and that is where
God captured my attention how's that
tell tell me how how how is it that
Jesus is in Afghanistan in Iraq how did
that happen so just like multiple
relationships in the military guys are
just really focused on the mission uh
focus on the war in Afghanistan focused
on the war in Iraq focused on wherever
that they're sent and the fact of the
matter is is that there's a lot of bad
guys out there that hate America that
will do everything and anything that
they can to kill us to destroy our
nation and so we are committed to ending
that extreme terrorism and I just found
myself praying a lot even just for war
let me find these guys kind of like
seething to get the forgive me for
saying it this way but
to get the pus to come to the surface of
this wound so we can get healthy so that
the world can be healthy again right
that's right and I got obsessed with
just trying to find the bring the fight
to the enemy and I got in several uh
conflicts uh firefights and things like
that but it wasn't anything where I
could really just smash right and so
finally after much uh many opportunities
and several different missions I got the
mission of a lifetime and that mission
was to the cornal valley the Air Force
times published that where's that where
Coral Valley is in Afghanistan on the
east side it's on the outskirts of
jalalabad so towards Pakistan way yes
sir absolutely and it was a pretty big
mission it was to
extract army soldiers from the combat
Outpost there it was just such a deadly
situ uh deadly place and it was just a a
place that
strategically um the United States felt
that it was best if we weren't there any
longer so with that being said I
inserted with a couple Special Forces
teams um Afghani Commandos even General
mccristal the great General mccristal
was
there just to make a statement that we
were we were extracting by choice that
strategically it was just
not advantageous for the United States
to no longer be there so this is not a
surrender that's correct it was not I
wanted to ask that intention is not a
surrender this is a a reappointment of
resources for a better exactly it was
just more advantageous to be in other
places for the United States and so with
that being said going in there I had a
couple combat controllers I
had just the best warriors with me and
as soon as we landed on the ground it
was on like Donkey Kong I mean
literally
the Taliban were just waiting for us and
uh RPGs machine gun positions everything
when we were coming in they immediately
started attacking us but we were very
much prepared had multiple aircraft
overhead and we prosecuted all the
targets and as soon as we did that it
silenced the valley just for a moment
and then we landed on the ground we
positioned ourselves and we started
conducting the disruption operations and
just to keep the enemy at Bay as we were
slowly extracting our army soldiers out
who' just
been they were just fighting every day
for their lives so if you've ever seen
the film Restrepo those were the guys
that I came in that our team came in to
go ahead and extract out so with that
being said all of a sudden after General
mccristal
departed literally it took about 24
hours for the Taliban
to conduct a an assault that would
really make an impact against the corn
go Outpost and so that's when for 72
hours I was controlling aircraft without
not a moment M of sleep 72 hours we were
fighting we were dropping uh several
Munitions literally every aircraft that
flew over I would Winchester Winchester
simply means every munition on that
aircraft whether it was F15 ac130
gunships just anything that was out
there we were dropping everything and I
controlled the majority of all of the
aircraft and the Munitions just
Prosecuting multiple targets even to the
point where we were dropping uh within
basically danger close and D close was
basically around 100 me unbelievable and
um and so I was just really praying
throughout that whole time and so you
asked about God capturing my attention
like when exactly is it that I became
serious you know they say that there are
no atheists in Foxhole right well um I I
would say there's no uh weak Christians
in combat you know a lot of times we go
and we find ourselves in circumstances
beyond our control and here's the deal
it was just really heavy and it it was a
great burden on my heart and even to the
point where personally I didn't care if
I died you know we're all Warriors we're
we're all meant to live for a cause and
and many of us sign on the bottom line
to Die For A Cause yeah yeah if you have
the privilege to Die For A Cause
absolutely and as our boys and and as we
were just fighting and bullets were
whizzing past our heads and RPGs were
exploding all over the place and I'll
tell you the enemy had the advantage I
mean they were overhead they were just
shooting down on a lot of our guys I was
just thinking man how many casualties
are we going to actually take because at
that point in time over 44 Americans had
already their lives have already been
taken and we're talking about the elite
special operations operators and army
soldiers and at the end of the day I
just didn't want any of my men to go
down sure so it was just a chaotic
experience and I'll tell you so there
was that moment that I had with God
where basically I was thinking you know
what the probability of dying in this
Valley is high and the probability of my
guys dying in the valley is high and so
I just kind of made a deal with God not
that God makes deals with man right he
makes no deals he makes no deals but he
understands our weaknesses he
understands our finitude our minds you
know and you are now crying out to God
in whatever terms and I love this
because they're reality people need to
be reminded that today we see people
accepting Christ and going through
almost a program like it's uh something
like out of a mole but yet when we look
at the thief at the cross he he simply
said Jesus Remember me when you come
into your kingdom uh that's not good
enough for today's uh modern day
evangelism Crusades is it but you in in
like passion you call out to the Lord on
the battlefield absolutely absolutely
and he's there he is there and
throughout that whole process God has
always been there and throughout that
whole process in every conflict he was
there he was there when I made bad
decisions he was there when I was making
good decisions but I'll tell you this
much that he loved me so much that he
allowed to get in one of to find myself
in one of the deadliest places in all of
the world and I'll be honest with you
when I cried out to God it came from the
very depths of my soul down to the very
core the very essence of who I am and I
just simply said you know God I know as
a fact that if you were to preserve me
if nothing happened to me if if nothing
happened to my guys and I don't mean
like getting trap nled or or even even
shot or even you know torn up because as
I was moving from one fighting position
ition to another I I tore my IT band uh
Prosecuting targets I tore my ankle I
had to get surgery uh get a a tenant
removed I mean I was I was out there and
I was fighting hard and my guys were
fighting hard and they were putting
their lives on the line and I'll tell
you so I said God if you keep our boys
safe and if you bring them all home I
will know without a shout of a doubt
Jack listen to me when I say this and
I'm I I mean this with conviction I knew
without a shadow of a doubt that if we
all came home
it was by Divine Providence that it was
by God's Divine hand and I said if if if
I'm out of here and you bring my boys
home I will serve you the rest of my
life and I meant it and so since that
point that was the Turning Point the
deal that was the tur Point yeah and God
but God has and his grace heard that
absolutely very much and so from that
time now I'll tell you it wasn't like I
got home and all of a sudden I was a
super superch Christian you a lot of
people go man how is it that you're so
on fire for God why are you so
passionate with god what happened was
God started doing a work in me and it
took like literally like a whole year
for go for his for for his product to be
complete well and later we'll get to one
of the reasons why we're talking but you
uh even out even even with that said you
brought home like every everyone that's
serving for our freedom and liberty you
brought home a lot of baggage in your
heart and your mind absolutely
absolutely and what happened was I
didn't realize at the time and a lot of
our servicemen and women don't really
realize when they're going through pts
day they don't realize when the scars of
war the implications of combat they
don't realize it until until it gets bad
that's that's just my personal
experience and a lot of times they're in
denial and I came home with a lot of
violence in my heart of course I came
home with a lot of violence and I
brought it to my home you know and I was
very I was a terrible husband I'm gonna
be honest with you I tell everybody that
that's a part of my testimony I was a
terrible husband I was hanging out with
the boys and I was doing stuff that
literally grieved God's heart at the end
of the day I didn't realize those things
but God started re revealing certain
sins in my life and the fact of the
matter is I was doing a lot of bad stuff
that was dishonorable uh to my
relationship with God all the while
knowing who Jesus is absolutely
absolutely people need to hear that
absolutely and so people go well what am
I supposed to do I'll tell you what I
think you should do I'm going to tell
you what I did and I'm going to ask you
to bring that before the throne and what
I did simply was this is I went to the
Lord and I said man God I'm I'm I I have
these violent rages and I destroy stuff
and um I'm disrespectful and the things
that come out of my mouth is
unbelievable um I drink too much you
know I was drinking like I was drinking
every day Jack you know and uh I was
doing a lot of stuff that would get in a
lot of trouble so the fact of the matter
is is that I asked God and I was getting
a divorce in 2010 I was getting a
divorce my wife and I were going to
split up because I was a jerk and and
she deserved better and that's just a
fact okay and so I brought it before the
Lord I said you know I'm depressed I'm
an alcoholic you know I I got major
issues um I'm going on black rage here
where you BL black out and you just
start destroying everything I've got
major issues and I said what am I
supposed to do about my marriage what am
I supposed to do about um my career what
am I supposed to do and I just felt God
saying this Damon don't you worry about
your marriage don't worry about your
career don't you worry about anything
else that's going on what I want is what
I've always wanted I want you that's
right I want you to come to me that's
right and that's what happened and he
just pursue me know about me learn about
me connect with me and let me do the
healing let me do the work the world
tells us something completely different
go take these 12-step programs we'll
show you how to handle that and then you
have a five-step program to make you
happy and then when you're done with
that one then we've got a three-step
program to make you rich and the Bible
says in Matthew 6:33 seek ye first the
kingdom of God and all these other
things will be added to you but we know
that the answer is not wealth we know
that the answer is not a self-help
program because Hollywood is full of
that
they're not happy they're divorcing you
know constantly there's there's the
drugs there's the violence every day it
seems like we're reading about some
Hollywood uh hero or Starlet you know
drunk on Melrose Avenue they're unhappy
they're not content with what the world
offers and so when you said that you
strongly understood the Lord and
pressing upon your heart seek me first I
mean that's true maybe for our our
viewers right now they they would say
Damon that's exactly how Jesus got a
hold of my life is he said come to me
first he told Matthew he told those guys
come and follow me everything else fell
in place so your life continues and now
God's got your attention you're moving
on and uh he's still going to work in
you as he's working in you now working
in me but he's working so where are we
now so basically I just started pursuing
the Lord and just reading his his word I
felt God speaking to me me and saying uh
if you want to know me then read my word
if you want to know your what Your
causes what your purpose is read my word
and I told him I said I have no hope he
says I am your hope that's right I said
God I don't have a purpose he says I am
your purpose am am these things I didn't
understand initially but as I was
reading his word and as I was praying
and I was really connecting and I tell
you it was like hours in and hours out
just going Before the Throne going
Before the Throne just connecting with
God and God slowly started healing me he
was healing me and he was caring for me
and he was piecing me back together and
he like the Marine Corps was building me
up but this time not just for a warrior
for the battles that Uncle Sam calls me
to but a warrior for his kingdom and so
that was when I was starting to receive
that Armor of God and I'll tell you that
I was remembering I was in
Afghanistan and I just was starting to
think about all all of the sin in my
life again and just thinking cuz the
enemy likes to use that as a weapon
shame pain regret those kinds of things
but I clearly remember God saying to me
Damon don't
you focus on the irreparable past focus
on the Invincible future with my son
Jesus Christ that's and when I heard
that it just resonated with me over and
over and over
again well like I said in the intro
freedom is not free freedom is costly
and uh Damon's been talking about how
God intervened in his life and how God
has been using him and uh just keep that
in mind you know we just scratched the
surface obviously so we're going to hold
him over we're going to get into a
second program and I want to encourage
you to get a hold of uh someone that you
know in the military for example or
someone who's gone through trauma
because we're going to get more personal
in this next segment but um here's a man
and a man of God mind you who uh has
gone through a lot who has seen a lot
and of course you know for for good
reasons he's sparing you from uh a lot
of the graphics of what he's been
exposed to but how does someone go
through some of the most horrific things
that a human can observe and yet keep
their eyes on God where is God in the
midst of all these things well on our
next program that we'll hook up with
Damon about uh he's going to answer
those things and so uh we look forward
to seeing you in our next program right
here in real life life God bless you
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