Blake Hall
AMERICAN HEARTS is a series of in-depth, candid conversations with United States military veterans, and the people who support them.
“There’s that commitment, and it carries forward. And it’s not just because I was a platoon leader. It’s because I had soldiers that I still consider my soldiers and they’ll be my soldiers for life. And I’ll do anything for them.
“And that makes it an easy ‘yes’ to do anything, any type of work that helps this community.”
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Take a glance at Steve Smith’s resume, his career and you’ll discover one of service, scholarship and accomplishment. It’s prolific, and its path has taken him from a small town in Florida, to its state university, to the United States Army as an officer and the front lines of Iraq, to graduate school, to Eastern Europe, and finally to his role today, as a key player in helping to launch the new, state-of-the-art Department of Veterans Affairs online portal known as Vets.gov — an effort to make it easier for millions of veterans across the country to receive proper healthcare.
To meet Steve, however, is not to encounter a man of hubris. Far, far from it. Rather it’s to meet a man — a veteran — with an everlasting olive branch at the ready. An authentic, genuine article “people person.” A disposition he claims was instilled by his family during a childhood in the Sunshine State’s Perry, a hamlet of less than 8,000 people, not far from the panhandle.
Smith on growing up, relationships, zucchini and opportunities to make a difference in other people’s lives:
Well you have family and friends but, growing up in a small town there wasn’t necessarily a lot of money floating around. We had a factory that was a paper plant which is lovely to smell when the wind’s blowing your way but in terms of employment a lot of people were in agriculture … or lumber. Which is another industry there. But for the most part people were helping each other out and it’s one of the things for me growing up it was a significant influence in terms of how personal relationships mattered throughout life. Your network matters. Your network, not in just a professional sense, in terms of where is the nearest opportunity to move forward but it was trust in that relationship and understanding how a network of those personal relationships is self-reinforcing and beneficial when you collectively are advancing in life and progressing at different stages from getting help in fixing a tire to someone stopping by with a new harvest and dropping off some zucchini …
I have vivid memories of when we ate zucchini for like three months straight because we got some zucchini from my dad’s friends who had some extra zucchini — things like that, and that for me, those relationships were rewarding in the sense that you had that broader network to be able to support you throughout life. But then also you had opportunities to make a difference in other people’s lives.
Smith on his grandfather’s military service, planting trees, his father teaching him a valuable lesson in hard work:
I still remember the day my dad was like, “do you want to make some money?” And I said “sure.” And he was like I cleared ten acres of land go plant trees and those trees can be yours someday. And I was like oh, that’s too easy. But then I realized he gave me a wedge and 10,000 seedlings and I went out with a few friends and we were like why are we doing this? This is crazy. So then 10,000 trees later and two days of work I made 30 bucks. Looking back on it now that was probably one of the worst deals I ever did, I probably should have had a contract prior to moving forward with it but it was something incredibly challenging but a task that I needed to complete. It was early on in my life, I was a kid, for my brother and myself it was something — not something normally you’d want to do as a kid but I look back on it and appreciate it, because it was a time to challenge us as kids in learning that at times you’re going to be going through really difficult tasks and you may not see that immediate reward but the reward can blossom over time and I think you can apply that to so many different opportunities in life. It’s the groundwork you do early and often times it’s incredibly hard work but you see it through.
On the decision to serve in the United States Army after enrolling at the University of Florida:
It’s partly discovery. And really, I kind of fell into it. It was before 9/11 and I had started at the University of Florida and my dad was like what programs are you thinking about? And I was like, you know, I didn’t really play football in high school but I think I can be like a walk-on on the football team. So I go by the football stadium one day and I see the football players walking out and I’m absolutely not going to do that. They’re going to murder me. They were three times my size — that’s not going to happen. So then I needed to figure out something else.
Most of my family had gone to the University of Florida so I was thinking fraternity, because a lot of them were SAEs, and my dad had actually been on the UF football team but so then I was like what are some other potential legacies that I can carry forward or just some other programs of interest and he was like have you thought of the ROTC program? And I was like no, I’ll go try it out. After a few weeks it was … one, the people were just fun. And two, the program seemed challenging. And of course in the backdrop all of the stories from my grandfather, that was certainly in my head: this is an opportunity to serve. This is a means of carrying forward a legacy of the family and tradition of the family of public service …
… and then when 9/11 happened, it was a lot different. It was a lot more serious, of course, but it was much more significant in the things I was doing daily and the preparation for that next step …
… after 9/11 it reinforced that decision. This was right for me at this time in what I believe I needed to do for the country after the events that had taken place …
On being a platoon leader in Iraq with the 3rd Stryker Brigade and why he considers himself “a very lucky individual”:
… Summer 2006, pre-surge … We were getting down there and it was a really steep learning curve because it was also an opportunity for local combatants who were part of terror cells or whatever the case may be, to see vulnerability because they see a new unit coming who were not necessarily accustomed to the methods and tactics that were employed in that specific environment in Mosul and so they tested us. And they tested us pretty frequently. And my platoon ended up being the target quite often and I have no idea why and I still — to this day — wrack my brain on what I could have done differently … changing routes. I mean I ran the whole gamut of things I could’ve done differently in trying to figure out. Changed times, changed routes, changed all kinds of tactics, but … it was to the point that a unit went through the area and five minutes later we go through and we get hit with an IED and I think we ended up … it was the first few weeks and it resulted in nine-plus IEDs. And the next unit had like one or two. It was just a significant difference.
So my nickname ended up being “Charger Lightning Rod” and every time I went out the battle commanders took to drinking coffee. They were getting ready for my time on patrol because they knew something was going to go down and I was like great [laughing] this is not the reputation you want to have …
On dealing with loss and remembrance:
… I lost a good friend before I deployed. I was actually deployed to the same area. They lost him to a sniper. And then shortly after I arrived, it was within six weeks, we lost our platoon sergeant. And that’s tough. You lose people who are very close to you. Like, a platoon sergeant, you work hand-in-hand — that’s your other part. It’s like your better half, pretty much. And it’s really tough because it’s not just you it’s the men and women who serve under you and those are the times you look at what is important to communicate at the time on how we get through this together. There’s no going back. It happened. And it’s recognizing that and not ignoring the fact but it’s also understand that this is our job and we need to learn from this.
Unfortunately the consequences are much greater than other professions. But we have to learn and continue to understand how to get better while also respecting the people that we lost and never forgetting who they were and what they did for us …
… regardless of what happened, regardless of how long ago it was, they never really have gone away. They’re always kinda with me.
On finding humor in the aftermath of being hit by an IED, and bubble gum:
So we’re still rolling out, the vehicle had been totaled, it gets sent back, but I roll with the other vehicles and we went light. Think we went with just two vehicles at the time … I clearly can’t quite remember but I’m in the back of the truck and I remember one of my NCOs calls over, think it was Sergeant Butler, and he’s like “hey how is White Six doing?” Because my call sign was White Six … and I demanded to get on the radio so they hooked me up and I’m like thinking I have to say something really sharp. It’s gotta be an awesome comeback. So I’m thinking “I’m here to kick ass and chew bubble gum and I’m all out of bubble gum” but it comes out “I’m on route Nissan I got my M14 and I’m all out of bubble gum.”
And they’re just like, what?
On the Battle of Zarqa and the story behind this photograph, taken at an Iraqi police station:
On combatting the Soldiers of Heaven, a heavily-armed Iraqi Shi’a messianic sect located just outside Najaf:
… I saw guys who were grabbing kids to save their lives. One squad leader, Sergeant Ross, took actions upon himself to shield noncombatants from an exploding ammunition depot that saved their own lives but also protected them from the dangers of those explosions and did things that were way above and beyond. And people did that throughout the day it was crazy.
And those experiences are just so unique … and it’s so difficult to even relay that experience. It’s that common understanding of the people that were there that saw the events that took place.
People did their job really well. We were very efficient in what we did and set out to do and we eliminated an enemy force that was intending to do harm on noncombatants throughout Iraq … and then we also treated them with humanity and respect in treating their wounds when they decided that they had enough. And that’s everything you would want in a sense of professionalism and teamwork, and a sense of duty in what you set out to do in the beginning. It’s just a representation of all the things that are right about people who serve and the characteristics they build in that time of service.
And just the people they are. And that’s why now with all the veteran-related stuff, it’s always in the back of my mind. Of all the impact that they had. Of all the stories that are untold. Of all the things that are done with humility and respect. And they don’t need praise and they don’t seek it either. And that’s the great thing about it.
On the story behind the following video (him getting tased):
But this time they move their legs aside and make it easy for me to get in and I was like something is not right here, and they’re a bunch more standing outside just staring at me and I’m like something’s … not right. But you know, I have no idea what it is. So I’m just going to go in. So I go into the back of the vehicle and just then all I feel is this “NEH-NEH-NEH-NEH-NEH-NEH” …
On the work and ideas that went into Vets.gov:
Many of the things that the military community is susceptible to, like identity theft, have such a great impact on quality of life …
The barriers that are currently challenging the veteran community and the broader military community, we need to ensure that we are actively eliminating those barriers and making it easier for people to access those services they think are right for them.
The key thing is what they think is right for them. We need to empower veterans, we need to empower their families. We don’t need to decide for them. They’ve been making decisions all their lives and they are mature and experienced and they know what’s best for them. We may need to help them along the way, in terms of providing the resources and services they need, we may need to offer opportunities so that they can gain access to mentors and advisers to help them make the right decision for themselves … but that’s the critical thing …
These people have already proved everything they need to prove in life. We need to treat them with the respect that they deserve and also provide what they need. Not what we think they need — but we need to ask them what they need …
It’s what I love about working with the Vets.gov program. Veterans are the focal point of this entire initiative. And being able to leverage their voice in terms of what they need, when they need it and how they need it is absolutely critical to making this platform effective in addressing these barriers.
Steve Smith is the Director of Strategic Partnerships at ID.me.