Derrell Odom was a Marine and Iraq vet who served two tours before returning home with a Purple Heart. Now he works at a KFC in Atlanta earning only $7.25 an hour, a wage too small to adequately support his family.

“I have leadership skills and led missions in Iraq,” Odom said in a New York Times article in September. “Right now, I’m trying to survive.”

Odom’s passionate testimony in front of the Atlanta Wage Board is spreading like wildfire across social media. On Facebook alone, a video of his speech decrying wage theft and the treatment of veterans has wracked up one million views and 24,000 shares.

“I worked 45 hours this week and my manager pulled me over to the side and told me that you can’t have these five hours of overtime at time-and-a-half,” Odom said. “She told me she was going to take my five hours and put them on next week’s check so she wouldn’t have to give me my time-and-a-half.”

For the record, moving an employee’s hours to another pay period in order to avoid paying overtime is illegal. However, the Iraq vet can’t protest the practice for fear of losing his job and his family’s only source of income.

“I don’t want my son to look at me like I’m something less because I have to work for $7.25. And I bust my butt every day, and I take pride in what I do, gentlemen,” Odom said to the wage board.

Odom’s speech is both resonating and polarizing. In the top comment on Facebook, one user writes that if Odom wanted to earn more money, he should work elsewhere.

I’m glad he fought for our country, but he doesn’t DESERVE $15 an hour at KFC. He has the experience and abilities to work somewhere else that can pay him more. Which is what he needs to do. He can cook at a higher paying restaurant if cooking is his passion. But I still respect him as a veteran, do not let that be forgotten.

Other commenters pointed out that for a military veteran, finding a job after leaving the service is more complicated than it seems.

My husband was 50 when he was sent to Afghanistan in 2010. He left a job where we were getting by on $16.00/hr. While he was deployed, his employer closed the warehouse and he returned to no job. He sought assistance from many of the “veteran friendly” employers, staffing, federal and state agencies; he went on many…so many interviews but no one would hire him.

An estimated one million military veterans would receive a raise if the minimum wage was raised to $10.10. However, employers tend to be less open to hiring veterans or giving them raises due to stigma related to PTSD and military service. Many veterans don’t even tell their employers they have served for fear of being judged.

You can view a version of Odom’s fiery speech below.