CPT George Crouse

CPT George Crouse sat down with me for Heroes Live.

Air defender. 14 Alpha. Commissioned in 2012. ROTC at Southern Illinois Edwardsville. They taught land nav on campus. Farmers had donated the woods.

He wanted to enlist. His parents wanted college. Compromise was a scholarship so he would not pay. Youngest of four. He jokes he was the dumbest and turned out all right. Sister in Arizona. Brothers in insurance and IT. Dad was an Air Force officer. They moved a lot.

Born 1989. Basketball and track. Princeton offense in high school. He hated it. Decent hook shot. Terrible from three. Summers at his grandparents' blueberry farm. South Haven, Michigan. Beach. Ice cream at Sherman Dairy. That is the treat that stuck.

Fort Bliss. Hot. In and out of the field. Tired. He walked up and asked if someone was hot. Splashed a bunch of water on them. Lightened the mood for an hour. Then everybody was doing it. Sergeant Artist was his first platoon sergeant. Joe Benson was his best one. Joe was my soldier. Still is. We need to check on Joe.

He certified in the van. Table eights. Battery trainer. Top tactical control officer in the battalion. That is not a joke. He rolled training back when people wanted to skip from table one to table four. Build the foundation. Follow the program.

He has the kids every other weekend. He drops everything. Hiking. The pool. Since about 2020 the public pool has been their summer thing. He watches Sing 2 with them. He is in his thirties and that cartoon still gets him. Law school. Hoped to graduate fall of 2024. Sit the bar. Government attorney. He already started planting that seed with the boss.

He does not keep much liquor in the house. Single veteran. He knows the risk. Go out. Talk to people. Check on each other. We are one community. That is why we hit record. Get the story on tape before we are too old or too sick to tell it.