[00:00:00] Cameron Watson: All right. Kijuan, welcome to Connect and conquers friendly, but firm podcast. Thank you so much for joining me today. Yeah,
[00:00:14] Kijuan Amey: no, I appreciate you having me, especially to share my story because not too many people really enjoy it.
[00:00:22] Cameron Watson: And why would you think why is that, why wouldn’t people enjoy that?
First off
[00:00:29] Kijuan Amey: I’ve been told that it’s old. Secondly, I’ve been told it didn’t matter.
[00:00:36] Cameron Watson: Oh, wow. Interesting. Yes,
[00:00:38] Kijuan Amey: very.
[00:00:40] Cameron Watson: I listened to your audio book, a series of letters, and I found it. Very engaging and enjoyed it.
Do you mind if we just jump in and can you tell me a little bit about your where you grew up and what it was like where you resided and your family?
[00:00:57] Kijuan Amey: Absolutely. We can definitely jump in. And that would be Durham, North Carolina, also known as the bull city city of medicine. And the, list goes on. So Durham, North Carolina, where I was born where exactly I was born was really right there in the heart of Durham. It wasn’t quite downtown, but I’m gonna walk in distance from it, you know what I mean?
And the area where I was born was mostly where most of the blacks were when we first were pushed into that area. So it’s really, what do you call it? Culture base. That’s where North Carolina Central University, which is a historically black college and university. Is located, that was where all of our that was where our hospital was, Lincoln Memorial Hospital.
That’s where that hospital, it was right there in the same area as North Carolina Central. And we had a high school right there, hillside High School. We had CC Spalding the elementary school. We had James D. Shepherd, the middle school. What we did was in between two roads, we put all of our schools, our hospital, our where you go to like shop where your shopping centers your entertainment area. So we have the Haiti Heritage Center. Funny enough, they’re trying to take that now. Crazy. But that’s what happens when you have what they call gentrification. Because right now, Durham is when I tell you it is blowing up.
People from everywhere are moving to the East Coast, but also moving to Durham because it’s in that RTP, which is Research Triangle Park, is what we call it, area.
And so from California to Texas to New York, they’re moving to North Carolina.
[00:03:00] Cameron Watson: So you grew, you were born in Durham? Yes. Did you grow up in that area as well? I did.
[00:03:05] Kijuan Amey: I did. I’ve been, I’m still basically in that area. I’m only like 30 minutes away from it, but I’m back in Durham every week. I have Nice ties to it.
So I, like my church is there and I play the drums there too at my church. I’m, there every week and my grandmother still lives there. I got family who still live there, so it is not like I, I’m not there anymore.
[00:03:30] Cameron Watson: That’s great. So I am very similar. I grew up in Boise, Idaho. Okay. I wasn’t born here, but I moved here when I was very, young.
Nice. And now with my wife and family we still call it home. So it’s it’s what I’m most familiar with. Yeah.
[00:03:48] Kijuan Amey: I was actually interested in Boise State. They’re, oh yeah. Just because of the football team when they were going. It was a couple years ago. I say a couple actually. I’m getting older.
As I think about it, I just aged myself. I was like, geez, that was like oh 5, 0 6, somewhere early in that timeframe where they were doing really good in football and that’s when they had that blue field. When they first brought the blue field on, everybody’s what is this?
[00:04:16] Cameron Watson: Yeah. The, that blue field it’s been there for 40 some odd years.
Yeah. But it wasn’t until they got national recognition for their football team, and then everyone’s what is going on?
[00:04:28] Kijuan Amey: Yep.
[00:04:29] Cameron Watson: And we had geese and ducks and stuff trying to land on that blue field anyway. Yeah. Like it was
[00:04:35] Kijuan Amey: water or something.
[00:04:36] Cameron Watson: Exactly.
[00:04:38] Kijuan Amey: This is, Hey, somebody’s playing with me. Yeah.
[00:04:42] Cameron Watson: So great. Yeah.
[00:04:43] Kijuan Amey: Yeah. Did you have siblings? Absolutely. I have a show for mom and dad’s side. You have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5 siblings. So that would be two girls and three boys.
[00:04:58] Cameron Watson: Awesome. So you grew up, you were you excelled in thing okay, so I’m jumping ahead ’cause I know stuff ’cause I listened to the book, but yeah.
What was your high school experience like? What, and when You said you graduated in 2010, 2011, right? 2010. Okay. Yeah. 2010. Yep. So tell me how any challenges in high school, but was the world your oyster? Any issues during that time?
[00:05:30] Kijuan Amey: So, the only thing that would’ve made me like, be, I guess you could say challenged in high school was if I would’ve tried to stick to following my brother’s footsteps.
Granted, yes, I was because he played he played basketball and football at the school. But since he was just outside of that range of us going to school together. Like he was literally just outside of it. He graduated right before I came. He was gone leaving Uhhuh, so it was almost perfect. And it might’ve been nice to see my brother play and I’d be on the same team, but Right. Anyway, but so all you heard was, oh, it is Ronnie’s little brother I’m like, Hey, listen, my name is Kijuan. Okay. Yeah. And that’s who I am. And the other thing was he was way bigger than me.
Yeah. He was like, say my brother’s six three in high school. I think at most he weighed about 224 something odd pounds. 2,220 plus pounds. Me, I was five 11. I’m six one now, but I was five 11 in high school. And when like 1 60, 1 65 soaking wet. Oh, wow. Yeah. So,
that’s a complete
difference. 60 pound difference and what, five inches?
Four or five inches almost I’m like, dude this, is not the way this is supposed to look, so y’all need to stop calling me Ronnie’s little brother. I am little
[00:07:02] Cameron Watson: compared to him comparatively. Yeah.
[00:07:05] Kijuan Amey: So that was only the, only thing that kind of, I guess you say held me down as far as people who knew him.
Now, when I came into school, not too many people knew him that knew me.
Because I heed the shadows. Okay. It wasn’t that I was like quiet, it was just like I wasn’t loud either.
Sure. You know
what I mean? And so when I’m in high school, especially when I first got to there my freshman year, man, listen, I’m just trying to figure out what to do.
I was like,
yeah,
I don’t want to get in any fights. SI don’t want ’cause I’m not really a fighter. If you push me, yes. But I’m not really a fighter. Sure. So I’m not trying to get in any fights. I’m just trying to get to my class. I’m trying to do the right thing. I wanna make good grades.
I, I’ll always put a academics first, nice. Yes, I played sports, but academics to, me, I don’t know nothing about this NIL stuff. I know nothing about that. So the student athlete thing really was a thing. It was student first, athlete Second. Second.
[00:08:12] Cameron Watson: Yep.
[00:08:12] Kijuan Amey: Because if you didn’t have the grades, you weren’t playing that week.
[00:08:16] Cameron Watson: Thank goodness for that. ’cause I I also, similar, my brother, my older brother Brian, I have two older brothers. My oldest brother went to a different school.
[00:08:25] Kijuan Amey: Okay.
[00:08:26] Cameron Watson: But my, the brother just above me he was two years older than me. We could have been transplanted for one another.
I have dark hair. He has blonde hair, but we were literally the same size. Yeah. People would get us mixed up all the time. Still happens today. But he was a ball player and he was amazing. He was at a fantastic basketball player. Nice. I was mediocre. I was okay, but because my brother, I was given a lot of opportunities that I wouldn’t have gotten on my own.
Yeah. But they were like, he’s got he looks just like him. You gotta have something. Then we work a little harder with him. Yeah. There’s gotta be something there. But I, I did as well as I did in high school because whatever the minimum was so I could play is what I. It did. I was, I did not excel at all.
And I’m so grateful that they had the minimum.
[00:09:24] Kijuan Amey: Yeah.
[00:09:25] Cameron Watson: Because otherwise I would’ve just been like, eh I, didn’t care. In high school as an adult, totally different. I love excelling. I love trying to do, trying to improve in all areas of life, but growing up it wasn’t that big of a priority for me.
I was much more interested in being at peace. And if, I, if there was conflict, I’d back out i, was huge. I was 6, 6, 8 smoke 350, 375 pounds dear God. And they’re hopeful for you
[00:10:00] Kijuan Amey: to be an offensive lineman.
[00:10:02] Cameron Watson: Yeah. No goodness.
[00:10:04] Kijuan Amey: I didn’t know you were that big.
[00:10:06] Cameron Watson: Yeah. So here’s funny story. So I’m, like I said, I was ho not a, I was not a student first. I was but I, had gone through life. I had a very, thick, horrible speech impediment Oh, okay. Where it delayed my ability to read.
And thus delayed a lot of other things. All the teachers, I was so nice.
Teachers would be like, Hey you need to do this or you’re not gonna pass. And we’re, you’re gonna get held back. And I was like, okay. The first time I, they moved me on without me doing the work. I was like, oh, I see how this is maybe it was subconscious, but I just figured that I would, I could nice my way through school.
Yeah. And then I got into high school and my Mr. Weeks, he was teaching math. And he said, Hey, Watson, if you don’t. Turn in homework. Even if you do well on the tests, which is what I was doing, you’re not going to pass my class. And I was like, okay, I’ll nice my way through, do well on the tests and not have to do the homework.
He failed me. And I, was shocked. I was like, what? And it, it was such a reality. Nice reality. Yeah. Total reality check, right? Yeah. Went to this, the counselor ’cause then the next year so I failed Algebra one, two, and the next year I was like, I don’t wanna be back with a freshman class.
I, I’m a sophomore now. And so I talked to my counselor into letting me move forward and I took geometry without taking algebra. So I was with my class still. I passed geometry. Then I went into I wanted to take Algebra three, four, and they’re like you haven’t passed Algebra one two yet.
I niced my way into being able to take Algebra one two and Algebra three four at the same time. Holy smokes. And the my Algebra three four teacher, he was a, the football coach. He was one of the football coaches, and he, was like, Hey, Watson, why aren’t you playing football? And I was like, ah I, it’s just not my thing.
You gotta hit hard. And yeah. I told him the story about hurting another kid when I play Optimist football. I nailed, his name was Billy, and I just nailed him, like totally. It, was horrible hit and he just, I just plowed him. Yeah. I felt awful.
[00:12:36] Kijuan Amey: Yeah.
[00:12:36] Cameron Watson: Because, anyway, and so my Algebra three four teacher, he realized I knew the material, or sorry, my Algebra one, two.
The, class I hadn’t passed, he was the football coach, and he, recognized, I knew what was the, material. And he’s you’re in algebra 3, 4, 2. I was like, yeah. He’s okay, so tell you what, just take the test. Don’t worry about the homework. And when you can help out any students who are getting behind.
And he spoke my language, right? Hey, help somebody. Yes. Oh, that I’m totally gonna get behind. And by helping the, small group that was sitting around me, I learned, I actually learned the material. Because I was trying to help them. And in Algebra three, four, her name was Mrs. Graham. And she held me to strict standards.
And because Mr. Weeks had failed me, I knew for sure that I had to turn in my stuff or I was going to fail, and I started to believe the teachers. And so I am, I’m very grateful for my brother, but also I’m very grateful for Mr. Weeks for being the first teacher to not nice me through and to hold me back so that then I was like, oh, crud.
If I, fail another class, I don’t play basketball. And I love to play. I wasn’t very good. Not like my brother, but I sure did enjoy it.
[00:14:00] Kijuan Amey: Yeah.
[00:14:02] Cameron Watson: So now you did you join the Air Force right out of high school?
[00:14:07] Kijuan Amey: Yes. So I guess you could say interesting story, but I wanted to go to school. I, actually wanted to go to college.
Like I told you I, enjoyed academics. I wanted to study, study, either computer engineering or software engineering. So that lets you know that I really had a, have a brain on me.
Yeah, you do. It’s
not that, it’s not that I just say this. No I wanted to go to school and here in North Carolina, the two best engineering schools are North Carolina State University and North Carolina Agriculture and Technical State University, which we short met and say NCA and T.
Nice. And those are the top two schools? I didn’t, I, okay. Apparently I got accepted into a and TI, I don’t know if I applied or, what happened with, in with NC State. I can’t remember, but I did. I never received anything back from them. That’s what I do know. Gotcha. I did receive something back from a and t and the thing about that is when I went to call them you like got the freshman orientation and all that stuff.
I’m calling them to see where I need to go for that. Okay. Cool. I’m on the phone with this lady and it was probably a student, I don’t know what she was, but she’s from a and t and I was like, Hey, yeah, I’m just trying to get some information, blah, blah, blah. And she’s okay what’s your name?
And I told her my name and didn’t spell it. I just told her what it was. And so she’s I’m like, uhoh, what, what does mean? She’s I, don’t see you in the system. I said that can’t be possible because I’m holding a letter from you all. And I know I didn’t mail it to myself,
right?
Yeah. And she’s I said you know what? My name is unique. Let me spell it for you. And so I spelled it out K-K-I-J-U-A-N-A-M-E-Y. She’s yeah, no, I still don’t see you. I was like, you gotta be kidding me. I’m holding the letter in my hand.
You know what I mean?
I didn’t just print this off of an email. I didn’t go pick it up from the library. No. This is in my hand. You mailed it to me
[00:16:28] Cameron Watson: to your address. You out of your pistol box you got with your
[00:16:31] Kijuan Amey: letterhead.
[00:16:32] Cameron Watson: Yeah.
[00:16:34] Kijuan Amey: What, are we talking about here? And I said, oh, okay. No, no, worries. And I’m frustrated of, course, sure.
But I’m like, no worries. I’m not mad at her. I’m just mad at the system. What’s going on?
Yeah.
So I hang up the phone and I can remember, like it was yesterday, my mom was standing over my, my right shoulder in the doorway that like, literally it was a doorway. There was no door but the doorway.
And she’s what happened? I said yeah, they don’t know anything about me. And she was like, what? Now? Mothers are gonna go off the hinges. Yeah. And when, it comes to their child and they’re supposed to be doing something for their future and all this stuff,
[00:17:23] Speaker 5: what you telling me that mama and mama, we right here.
[00:17:28] Kijuan Amey: And I’m like, I know, mom. I was feeling the same way on the phone. I just didn’t react like you did. Yeah. You know what I mean? And so I said don’t worry about it. I’ll, take care of what I need to take care of Now. One thing I did know is that I didn’t wanna work fast food anymore. I have nothing against Bojangles.
They taste good. Yeah. But I didn’t wanna work there anymore. I had worked there for three years and I’m done.
Sure. Okay. Yeah.
And the next day, yeah. That next day, I’m pretty sure it was I went to the recruiter’s office in the military recruiter. I have a lot of Navy family. Oh, okay. So a lot of Navy, majority Navy one army.
I never met him. He was my great uncle. He passed away due to cancer. I had one, one Marine, and one who was Navy got out and then he went back in as Coast Guardsman.
[00:18:33] Cameron Watson: Oh,
[00:18:33] Kijuan Amey: cool. Yeah. My so
[00:18:35] Cameron Watson: You got pretty much all the branches, did you? Let’s see.
[00:18:39] Kijuan Amey: Yeah. It except for, wait, yeah, no, that is all of minute.
Yeah, that’s what I’m trying to, in my head. Oh,
[00:18:47] Cameron Watson: now that’s all of them military songs going through my head.
[00:18:50] Kijuan Amey: That’s all of, that’s all of them. Cool. ’cause then I come in with the Air Force, me and my youngest brother, he’s still serving. And so anywho,
[00:19:00] Cameron Watson: how much younger is your younger brother?
[00:19:03] Kijuan Amey: 12. Is it 12 years?
How old is he? He’s 21. I’m 33. 12. Yeah. 12 years.
[00:19:10] Cameron Watson: Oh, okay. And then your older brother is three or four years older than you? Maybe four or four. So
[00:19:16] Kijuan Amey: I’m 33. He is 38. He just turned 38 in February. Okay. Yeah. Super. All right. So if I can do math, that’s, I think that’s what it is. But anyway
[00:19:28] Cameron Watson: You’re, probably better at me.
I failed. I one too.
[00:19:32] Kijuan Amey: I did not fail any math classes. I do know that, that was my favorite ’cause I was an engineer mindset. That’s right. So anyway, nice stuff. I go to the recruit office. So go recruitment. Yep. And I go straight to the Navy guy. ’cause all I’ve been talking to is Navy. Family.
Yeah. And they’re like, yeah man, you should do it. You should do it. You should definitely go. Do the Navy. Go do the Navy. I said, okay. Personally, I had no passion for being on water. None. Okay. Not to say I can’t swim because I can, I just didn’t care to be out there that long. That’s what I’m saying.
I don’t wanna be out there that long at sea. You’re for deployments, they’re gone for six months at a time. You get that in any other branch too sometimes, depending on what your job is. Of course. But I want it to touch land where I’m supposed to be so Anyw, who I go in there anyway, just trying to stick to the family tradition.
And I go talk to this recruiter and never forget ’em. ’cause la last name was Brooks just like my mom and stepdad, so I’ll never forget him. And Brooks, all Brooks wanted to talk about was a job in the Navy. And I said, I’m sitting there saying to myself, I know you need a job in order to get in the military.
You not gonna sit me just to, or pay me just to sit on my thumbs. Like what? You know what I’m saying? Hey, I’m trying, what I’m trying to figure out is how I can get my schooling paid for it. That is all I cared about. I’m still worried about school and, ’cause I knew I didn’t have the money.
I didn’t come from the best. You know what I mean? So where I grew up, like I told you, it was not the best. Yeah. And so anyway I talk about the GI Bill.
And I say, sir how, does the GI bill work? I want to get my schooling paid for. And he’s oh yeah. So he grabs a pamphlet that’s on his desk and he opens it to that page the GI bill and he’s pointing.
Yeah. If you do read right there, that right there? Yeah. Man, they were sliding. He slid it over there to me. And I’m looking at this thing and I’m like, this is the same thing I read. On the internet before I walked in here.
[00:21:57] Cameron Watson: Yeah. Not, any more information than you already gathered yourself. How does it work? Does it work? Work? Yeah.
[00:22:05] Kijuan Amey: That’s what I need to know because I don’t see that on the internet. It’s the same thing right there on that piece of paper. And I’m trying to be nice because I’m only 18 at this time and I’m trying to get into his navy, yeah.
Yeah. So I’m trying to be nice. He continues talking about jobs. I am not interested at all. I have literally checked out everything. Because what my question is, has not been addressed.
[00:22:37] Cameron Watson: Yeah,
[00:22:37] Kijuan Amey: it’s been glossed. How
[00:22:39] Cameron Watson: can I utilize the benefit of the GI Bill so I can get the schooling that I desire to get?
Exactly. I’m willing to sacrifice, but don’t give me the paragraph of, Hey, you get the GI Bill. What is it? How do I, know what it is. How do I utilize it, and what’s the minimums? What’s the maximums? What can I do with it?
[00:22:57] Kijuan Amey: It’s more so what? Don’t give me the, Hey this, is what we need from you. No.
I need y’all to give me what I need. I know what I have to do for y’all. Yeah. I need you to gimme what I need because once I sign on that line, y’all own me. So what do I get in return for y’all owning me for four years, six years, whatever it is? What do I get right? There needs to be some trade off.
You know what I mean? I don’t want this to be a, a lopsided relationship. And so when I talked to all of my family members before ever stepping foot in his office, they all told me they don’t buy into no bs. Don’t they try to do you like, you make sure you go the other way. I said, oh, I got it.
Y’all, y’all know I’m not dumb, right? I’m smarter than the average bear. Anyw who, Brook Brooks wasn’t answering my question. Never once did he address he answered, he addressed it by pointing at a, pamphlet. That’s how he addressed it. Yeah. There you go. Okay. I got you. I’m, leaving. So I pull out my phone, I said, oh snap, I forgot I gotta go pick up my sister.
And he was like oh, that’s okay. So take that pamphlet with you. ’cause I know you wanted to know about the GI bill and, oh, here’s my card.
You think I wanna talk to you? Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah, Man. I’ll get back to you. I’ll get back with you. There is a trash can right beside their door.
That’s where that pamphlet and his number went. And and I don’t even care who saw it, I dropped that sucker right in there. Blo. Yep. Walked out of their office, made a quick left, made a quick Right. And I’m going into the Air Force recruiter’s office. Didn’t even leave the building. Huh? Did not even leave the building.
And as soon as I walked into their office on the wall, it said it was a penant on the wall that said Community College of the Air Force. Oh. Oh yeah. I said that might be a good clue, huh? Let’s go on in here and talk to somebody. ’cause I don’t see nobody sitting in here. I hope somebody’s in this office.
And so I go in and I make a, ’cause it’s like a wall there that you couldn’t see around. So I go in and make a right and. And there stood both of them. Like they weren’t in their office typing on their computer, nothing. They were standing at their, facing each other, talking to each other. And I was like, huh, this is a good, I think this is a good thing.
So then they look at me and I’m looking at them and they’re looking at me and I’m looking at them and they’re looking at me. I’m looking at them and they’re like, can we help you? And I’m like, oh yeah. I want, I think I wanna join the Air Force. And they were like, oh, we can help you with that.
Come on in. And even that moment right there was completely different from what the Navy recruiters guys did.
It was almost like so one was more welcoming, Hey, yeah, come on in. The other one was like. You wanna be in the Navy kidder, like
I go talk to Staff Sergeant Davis and sat down at his desk and he makes me take a practice test after he asked me a couple questions.
Of course. Hey, so what did you do in high school? How was your GPA, blah blah, blah. Did you play any sports? That’s awesome. So he could see, he’s yeah, I can see you fit. I figured you played sports. Yeah. That’s awesome, dude. Do you wanna be in special forces? No, I don’t want nothing to do with that.
I came to y’all for two reasons. I wanna know how to get my schooling paid for and I wanna fly. Oh, nice. That I listen. Ain’t no point in me joining the Air Force if I can’t fly. Yeah. And so anyway, he’s I need you to take this practice test. I said, okay. So I sit down in their office, take the practice test.
I scored 50. And I had never scored a 50 on a test before.
And so now I’m feeling bad. Sure. Because to me, I just failed.
[00:27:19] Cameron Watson: Yeah. 50.
[00:27:20] Kijuan Amey: Yeah. Yeah. Then he, I said, Hey that’s Sergeant Davis. I’m, done. He is okay. So he comes outta his office and he was looking, he’s whoa. And I was like, dang, is that bad?
Yeah.
He’s hold on. And so he goes in his office, grabs something outta his little file cabinet, whatever you wanna call it. And then he comes back in there, he says, here, and I take it, and I said, as Valve For Dummies, I’m not a dummy. I’m like down, I’m not a dummy. What is this?
Yeah. And he was like no. It just breaks everything down a little more in detail. That’s why they call it as Valve for Dummies. I said, oh. He’s you’re actually right At the minimum of what we accept. I said a 50. He was like, yeah. I was like so is that good? He was like, that’s amazing.
He’s you should see some of the guys that come in here, take this test. He’s they’re like 18 and 20 on the score. Ouch. Yeah. He is that’s why I said, whoa, and so any who he says, you take, I want you to study that for two weeks. And study it. Don’t play around because we’re gonna get you out there to take the real test.
I said, okay, nice. Get me to Raleigh to take the real test. I said, okay. I, so I go take the test. I don’t, you don’t, when you take the real one, you don’t get to see the score immediately. That goes back to your recruiter. It doesn’t go to you. Okay. And so I think maybe a couple days, maybe a week goes by and then I get a phone call from my recruiter and I look at my phone, say, huh, sta Sergeant Davis.
Huh? Hello? And he’s like, when can you come in? And I was like, what do you mean? He’s to see me. I was like tomorrow He was like, I’ll see you tomorrow. He just hung up the phone. When I to, when I get to his office, he’s sit down. And I said, okay, what happened? Did I do bad? He’s no, I’m sorry.
I don’t mean to frighten you. I was like, thank you. ’cause that’s all I know right now is you telling me to get here. And he’s dude. And he slaps these like eight pages front and back on his desk. And I’m like, what’s this? He’s these are all the jobs you qualified for. Sweet. And I was like, what?
He’s y’all got that many jobs in the Air Force? He was like, yeah, but not that many people qualify for ’em. And you did. And I was like’s Cool. And so he had already been highlighting that night. He went through, highlights all the jobs that he thinks I should do and so anyway, he, I, oh, go ahead.
So you ended up choosing Boom or so it’s the, go correct. Technical name for it is inflight refueling specialist.
[00:30:21] Cameron Watson: Okay. And we call in-flight refueling specialist. Yeah,
[00:30:25] Kijuan Amey: we call ourselves boom operators because that is what we’re controlling when we’re refueling the plane behind us. Ah, it’s, it is called a boom.
So we call ourselves boom operators.
[00:30:36] Cameron Watson: And for what reason did you end up, how’d you land there and why?
[00:30:40] Kijuan Amey: Because he showed me the video of it and I said, that can’t be real. Yeah. Listen, that is an amazing job and that’s the only place you can do it, is in the military. You can’t do it as a civilian. Gotcha.
And so when I saw that, I said, there’s no way that’s real. He’s oh, yeah, it is.
[00:31:02] Cameron Watson: So you have one plane flying? Yes. And then why don’t you describe it? ’cause from I’m not, in the military. I, but it’s so bizarre. Yeah. It’s like a dr the fact that it works boggles the mind.
Yeah. So you’re in the big plane, the other plane comes up underneath and somehow, some way you get fuel from the big plane into the other plane. And I say the big plane. Yeah. Why don’t you talk, us through what that’s really right?
[00:31:35] Kijuan Amey: Yeah. Yeah. ’cause you could say the big plane, but there are bigger airplanes that come to get gas from us.
Oh, really? Yes. That’s awesome. Like the cargo planes like C 17 and the C five are absolutely bigger than us.
[00:31:48] Cameron Watson: Oh man. That’s incredible. So the video I saw was just a, fighter. Yes. Obviously. So the fighters
[00:31:55] Kijuan Amey: are definitely smaller. Yeah so, the plane that I was on, we call it the KC one thirty five. It is a Boeing 7 0 7 body frame.
They did so many modifications on this thing to make it work. It ended up turning into a Boeing 7 1 7.
Oh, okay. Yeah. So
They, had to change the whole box. They’re like, this is no longer a 7 0 7.
[00:32:18] Cameron Watson: Yeah. We’ll change the name ’cause it’s not what it was. Yeah.
[00:32:22] Kijuan Amey: It’s just a type, it was basically what it is, a type rating.
And so anyway what it is simplistically
Yeah.
Is literally like pulling up to a flying gas station. All right. That’s the simplistic part of it. Yeah. And so that’s why all the magic happens in the air at about, I don’t know, from a average of 20,000 to 24,000 feet. Yeah. Up in the air so you, are not gonna see it with a naked eye from anywhere down here.
Gotcha. You’re gonna have to have some kind of the binoculars, telescope, something and actually know exactly where they are, because it’s hard to pinpoint that, sky unless you have some amazing system that can find planes and stuff like that.
[00:33:12] Cameron Watson: So you’re so what I saw was the, there were two different types.
One kind of had I’m gonna call it a drag hoop. We call that the drogue. The drogue. Okay. And did to, from my non, non no knowledge perspective. It looked like they just lowered that down. It started to f it stabilized itself, being pulled behind the refueling plane and the other plane, what we call it is,
[00:33:45] Kijuan Amey: it goes into the slipstream.
Oh, okay. So that’s how it gets that smoothness right into that angle of Yeah. Flowing down.
[00:33:54] Cameron Watson: Gotcha. And then the other plane moved up to it. Yep. And then somehow, what was weird is it, you could tell there were some kind of adjustments going on. I couldn’t tell from where, because I have no idea.
And then all of a sudden the, it just sucked into that, or pushed into that nozzle.
And then after a little bit it pulled itself out and left. Yeah. It was fascinating. Yeah. So what would your, what were you doing? What was your responsibility as a boom, a boomer? As a, my responsibility was the refueling.
Okay. So I controlled
[00:34:34] Kijuan Amey: everything in the back.
[00:34:36] Cameron Watson: Everything in the back. Did. It’s not like an automatic thing when it hooks up fuel doesn’t start to flow. Do you have to turn that on?
[00:34:47] Kijuan Amey: Yes. There are things we turn on. It’s you, it’s automated when our systems talk to each other so, Oh, okay.
There’s the boom system and then there is their depending on what kind of plane it is, it can be the URC system, which is universal, airy fueling, universal, airy fueling system indicator or something like that. I can’t remember as something like that. Sure. But anyway, there’s a toggle that it, that when the boom is inside of the receptacle, there’s a toggle that gets depressed to tell their system, alright, we’re ready to take fuel.
Gotcha. And then it sends a signal right back to us saying they’re ready, send it on. Gotcha. And sure enough. That’s when the magic happens. The GI could, if I didn’t have on headphones when I’m refueling and it was quiet enough in my, in the back where the boom is is actually laying where I’m laying, I would be able to hear the fuel going out the back of the plane.
Oh, interesting. There are two fuel lines going past my head. And they’re going underneath me to go out of the plane and you could see ’em like they’re labeled, on inside the plane and they’re like, metal fuel. Metal. There’s it probably about that big around. Okay. And there’s two of them now go, going past me.
Now hear me clearly. The, bigger planes they can take on about 7,000 pounds per minute.
Per minute. Per minute. Holy mo. Yes. That’s moving a ton. Exactly.
[00:36:34] Cameron Watson: Wow. I wonder what that does to the ballast.
[00:36:38] Kijuan Amey: Huh. Yeah, we, because we have to calculate all this stuff. The cg, which is center of Gravity. Sorry I’m so used to acronyms.
Yeah. So center of gravity what you’re take, you’re taking off. You can’t make sure you don’t offload more than you’re supposed to because you still gotta make it back home. Oh, interesting. All of that stuff. Yeah. And there’s also the, capability to reverse airy fueling what?
[00:37:05] Cameron Watson: I’m not lying.
What? Yeah. Holy cow. So that just, so that’d be like you pulling up to a gas station with a full tank and you’re like, I’m going to empty half of this out because the gas station needs it. Is that I’m gonna cipher gas.
[00:37:21] Kijuan Amey: Okay. That’s hilarious. Yeah. No. So what it is, whenever reverse ar is like a last minute that’s, the not last minute, last resort.
Oh, okay. That means our plane is about to go down and we need fuel. Ah, okay. To get somewhere. And so, it’s
[00:37:41] Cameron Watson: not like they need to lighten their load to land or something? No. They could just dump that if they need to. You can dump fuel.
[00:37:47] Kijuan Amey: Yeah. Our planes can dump fuel. Huh. But if we’re taking it on, it’s because we need gas to get either out of a hostile territory where we can’t land.
Or we’re not gonna make it somewhere literally literally not going to make it because we don’t have parachutes in my plate. There’s no what do you call it? Bailing out. That’s what we call it. Okay. There’s no bailing out of our plane. You go down with that sucker.
Yeah, they got rid of that back in the, I think it was either the eighties or the nineties.
You wanna know why, They said the parachutes wayed too much.
[00:38:29] Cameron Watson: Oh, so by getting rid of the 40 pound parachute or whatever, it weighs 20 pounds. They’re able to have what? For a parachute,
[00:38:39] Kijuan Amey: it was 20 pounds a piece, man. And it was only four on there.
[00:38:44] Cameron Watson: I guess that’s ticked off 80 more pounds of fuel. But yeah.
Tell me how much of a
[00:38:48] Kijuan Amey: difference that
[00:38:49] Cameron Watson: makes
[00:38:50] Kijuan Amey: that you, know what I’m saying? That’s what we were getting at. Tell me how much that
[00:38:53] Cameron Watson: 7,000 pounds per minute, and you don’t have 80 pounds. 80 pounds of, parachutes parachute.
[00:39:00] Kijuan Amey: Ah,
[00:39:02] Cameron Watson: I tell you. That’s, interesting.
[00:39:05] Kijuan Amey: Ah, but it’s okay. I didn’t have to go through parachute training because I don’t think I wanted to, I really didn’t wanna go through parachute training.
I barely wanted to go through water survival training,
[00:39:16] Cameron Watson: but yeah. Okay. So you’re, doing this you, did you like riding motorcycles? Was that a passion that you had, or did, were you just kinda casual about it?
[00:39:27] Kijuan Amey: So I used to ride dirt bikes when I was little. So part of my growing up before Durham was, so what it is now, like all these people and all these buildings and malls and literally skyline or sky rises, all this stuff that they’re building now.
It was, there was some country areas, you could go ride in the woods and we actually made trails. Oh. Fun. You know what I mean? Yeah. And so you had to watch out for snakes and all of that
Like that, that Yeah. That’s where you gotta be careful that and bears and all that stuff.
Yeah. So now where that area was is now a mall and car lot fully di or not Car lot. Yeah, Car Lots Mall. And car lots is what that is now. Gotcha. I’m like my childhood. Gone. Yeah. You know what I mean? Gone.
Because somebody had money.
[00:40:30] Cameron Watson: Yeah. Do you know what’s funny? What’s that? So I grew up on the outskirts of Boise.
[00:40:36] Kijuan Amey: Okay.
[00:40:37] Cameron Watson: And my, my buddy his name was Josh, and they had a farm. It was a dairy they had a dairy operation and all these acres. So I grew up and we would go there and sometimes we would cut across this field to get to his house. And it was just open fields. And anyway, I ended up moving back to that area.
And I lived in a subdivision that used to be his farm. Wow. And it was just so weird. To just be where knowing that this used to just be all be open and now it’s just suburban sprawl and very, unique to, to have that. Growing up things changed slowly as an adult man, do they seem to change fast?
[00:41:29] Kijuan Amey: Yeah. It’s it’s almost like childhood memories erased, it’s sad, first and foremost, but when you think about you ever seen like a a clip of a time lapse of how things changed over the years? That’s basically what you look at, and I’m like, gotcha. This would be crazy if I was able to look at that and see how things processed and developed.
Trees would cut down all the built up, it would be crazy to look at that stuff, but yeah, that’s what I, how I grew up. I grew up riding dirt bikes in the country, and then I took a, when I got older, of course, I saw motorcycles and
Some of my friends, they would ride motorcycles and I’m like, huh, that seems cool.
You know why I, was I ain’t, I’m not even gonna. Front, I was nervous at first. I was like, eh, do I want that much power at the flick of a wrist? You know what I mean? Because I can get knucklehead ish, do I want that much power at the flick of a wrist? I understanding that my foot but at the flick of wrist Yeah.
I don’t know if I wanna do that. So I made sure I took the riders course the, courses that they had. That’s good. And at, and I was stationed in North Carolina at Seymour Johnson. And at, near the base, they had a Harley Davidson, Shelton, Harley Davidson that taught the course. Oh, cool.
And so that’s where me and two other boom operators from my, my my squadron went and took it together. We all took it together. And yeah, we I was. Two of us got bikes. One of them didn’t even get a bike. What did you get the endorsement for? Ah, I can’t stay on.
People do stuff like that. That’s funny.
That’s so crazy. But yeah, I got a bike, of course. And I think the other dude, I don’t even think he didn’t get a crotch rocket. He got like a Yamaha or something. I can’t remember. Yeah. Y’all know how Road Star or something like that. I can’t remember.
But anyway I was three years into riding when I had my accident, so it wasn’t like I had been riding for years. Okay. You were even
[00:43:45] Cameron Watson: years. Yeah. So I was still but you also weren’t completely novice either
[00:43:51] Kijuan Amey: As far as mindset, no. Okay. But as far as being on the road, yes. Because when you’re riding dirt bikes, you’re in the, we were literally riding grass, dirt mount mountains like that.
We weren’t on the road. You know what I’m, so now I’m street, legal. With other cars, trucks, semi trucks, that’s nerve wracking if you can’t handle it.
[00:44:17] Cameron Watson: Sure. Yeah. And why don’t you describe the accident, what and I I recognize you might not have all the details firsthand, but they told you stuff Yeah.
Afterwards, what happened? Why don’t you just share what happened? And I, maybe we should have brought this up earlier. You’re still impacted by that accident. You’re visually impaired visually impaired person. A VIP.
[00:44:46] Kijuan Amey: Yeah. Yeah.
Yep. I’m a VIP for, life. We life. Yeah, man. May 5th, 2017.
What some might call Cinco de Mayo, I call my New Life’s Journey.
And so that’s where also, like I said I, was in the Air Force active duty for four years and then I palace chased, which basically means you didn’t complete your active duty commitment, but they’re gonna add it onto the back end of your reserve commitment.
And oh, okay. Yeah. That’s really all that means. And as I’m doing my reserve commitment, this would be where I also would be going to school full time
[00:45:31] Speaker 5: To get
[00:45:31] Kijuan Amey: my degree. ’cause I wanted to commission and become a pilot and you need a four year degree to do that. Nice. And so I was studying computer information systems with a specialization in systems analysis and integration.
Awesome. Which is basically a long way of saying, Hey, you know how to code. Yeah. And then I also created my own business. So Amy, motivation is not my first business. Okay. It’s actually my second. And, the first one I had was Kiwi Enterprise. Yeah. So remember we talked about Kiwi Enterprise before the call.
And anyway, that was where I would do website design and management, social media, marketing and photography. Awesome. And so the reason I bring that up is because on that day, that’s what I would be doing on my motorcycle. I was out getting ready to go and take some shots for a website that I managed.
That’s not a problem. I can do that. But the problem lies where, from my apartment to the place where I went to go take these photos was only a 10 minute ride. Okay. And for motorcyclists, that’s not long at all,
right? Yeah. You basically just
sat down.
Yeah.
And so I’m like, I gotta find somewhere to go.
And I’m thinking in my head, I’m like I could go to the lake. And so that’s what I do. I rode out to Jordan Lake here in North Carolina and there’s a nice little dock that I usually go sit at. And I it, wasn’t the first time I’ve been there. I always used to go there by the way. And little, basically like a routine visit.
So I never, nothing felt weird. Nothing felt out outta line or out of pocket, nothing. So I’m just thinking it’s a normal day and I go there. By the way, if you purchase my book, don’t focus on why me for motorcycle accident to Miracle. You’ll see, on the front cover that backdrop, Jordan Lake. Oh, okay.
That is exactly where I went to sit.
Oh, interesting.
Yes. And then that motorcycle on there is Nina. That was my bike. Ah, yeah. I named her Nina. And which is a Kawasaki Ninja ZX six R for those who are familiar with bikes. Anyway, I made it to the police to the, lake, and then I’m like I gotta go to work that night.
I had to actually work for the military that weekend. Okay. So I am sitting there and completely zoned out by the way to to say the least. I love meditating and all that stuff when I’m out there, so I’m zoned out and then a car goes flying by on the highway that, I was sitting right beside and, I’m like, oh, snap.
What time is it? Oh. Gotta go. I, got back on the bike, took off and headed down this highway 7 51, which is only a two lane highway. It’s the one in the back country road highways, basically. Sure. So it’s only two lanes, the lane on me and the lane coming past me. In North Carolina we have these really tall trees in those woods.
Yeah. And they’re alongside the road. And so only time is, like cut back where you could see and have a lot of visibility is where there’s an intersection driveway. There was a small, like really small BP gas station just in case you needed it. And a produce farm, which probably had like tomatoes and all that stuff out there.
Sure. And so as I’m riding listening to my music, ’cause I did have Bluetooth capability in my headset everything was going amazing until it wasn’t.
And that’s when this silver Honda Accord would pull out in front of me and that’s based off of the police report. And that’s, that, that’s what I would do.
I would end up hitting him. Because he pulls out in front of me. I’m running 55 miles an hour. And if you think motorcycles stop on a dime
You would be right. But it’s not, it is not a good reason that it stopped.
Yeah. Two reasons. That’s terrible. Yeah. Two
reasons. That’s terrible happened. It is.
Either you hit something or you laid that bike down. That’s why they stopped on a dime.
[00:50:03] Cameron Watson: Oh man.
[00:50:07] Kijuan Amey: Yeah. A after impact, honestly. Literally impact. I know nothing.
[00:50:14] Cameron Watson: Okay.
[00:50:14] Kijuan Amey: Until I wake up. So you’re out, you’re unconscious. Yeah. Yeah. Until I wake up June the sixth. And I told you my accident was May 5th.
[00:50:22] Cameron Watson: So a month and a day.
[00:50:25] Kijuan Amey: Medically induced coma.
[00:50:27] Cameron Watson: Oh man. You countless
[00:50:29] Kijuan Amey: surgeries.
[00:50:31] Cameron Watson: Yeah. And in fact in your, in the book that you referenced don’t focus On Why Me? Yeah. Which is a, it’s available on Audible. Everyone who knows me knows I, I read with my ears. But by the way, whoever you got to read it for you. Yeah. His voice, man.
Ah, that is so nice. I picked him. Did you? I did. That’s great. It, yeah. I have
[00:50:53] Kijuan Amey: four people audition and I picked him. He was actually the last guy too. I almost gave up. Huh. ’cause everybody else sounded nothing. Nowhere near as good as him. And I almost was like, I’m not listening to anybody else. I like, I was gonna pick the first guy and he sounded like he should have been narrating Star Wars.
Okay. In the dark galaxy far, away. That’s how he sounded. You know what I mean? No. And then the, last guy I listened to, I think he, he irritated me the most and that’s why I almost didn’t listen to the last guy is because when he was reading. He sounded like he had b drunk, a whole entire monster.
And three, three cups of coffee.
Oh, wow. Yeah. He
was like bouncing off the walls. Yeah. And then on the mountain I was like listen, Time out. Who chose that guy?
[00:51:44] Cameron Watson: Yeah.
[00:51:44] Kijuan Amey: Yeah. Thank you, by the way.
[00:51:47] Cameron Watson: You bet. And it is available audible and the in there you talked about how people who essentially you were having surgery while even while you, so what’d you call it?
Medically induced coma? Yes. Is that Yes. You were having surgery so often that it was not uncommon for people to be there to be there to support you and you wouldn’t be there because you were in surgery.
[00:52:17] Kijuan Amey: Yeah. Or they would be coming to get me for surgery. Somebody came to visit. Yep.
Somebody be coming to visit and they’d be like he’s gotta go. We got another surgery to do.
[00:52:27] Cameron Watson: So my son, he broke his femur. And you broke your femur. Yeah. Plus your tibia, fibia a bunch of vertebrae. Did you tell me, a little bit more. I’m
[00:52:42] Kijuan Amey: I am medically infused from L four to T two.
Oh wow. In my spine. So yeah, fi right femur, left tibia right. Fibia fractured. And I have a screw in my right foot.
[00:52:57] Cameron Watson: Okay.
[00:52:57] Kijuan Amey: But I also have two metal plates in my head
[00:53:00] Cameron Watson: now. I don’t think I caught that. I must have missed it when I was Yep. Listen
[00:53:05] Kijuan Amey: I got, two metal plates in my head and my jaw was broken, so they had the wire it shut.
And then as that I knew, you can see you see that scar right there?
Yeah.
That goes all the way across the top of my head to the other ear. Oh, interesting. Because they had to relieve the swelling on my brain.
[00:53:21] Cameron Watson: Gotcha.
[00:53:23] Kijuan Amey: So I got a lot of things going on.
[00:53:24] Cameron Watson: Yeah. So the a lot of the, so legs vertebrae head injury. And the head injury ended up causing blindness. And at a while. Go ahead.
[00:53:42] Kijuan Amey: Yes, And also I believe the the, face shield from my, motorcycle helmet,
Uhhuh
with his, with it fracturing. Oh. Literally my face was crushed in, so the, everything was pushed into my face.
So the helmet, the plexiglass, everything was pushed into my face.
[00:54:06] Cameron Watson: Gotcha. So if I’m picturing this, is so graphic to imagine Yeah. You’re riding 55 miles an hour. Relative to the car that pulled out in front of you, that is 55 to zero. That is, you stopped with your face basically because you’re on a bike, basically.
And so it’s almost
[00:54:24] Kijuan Amey: like a face plant.
[00:54:26] Cameron Watson: Yeah. And so you hit the, helmet. Thank goodness you’re wearing a helmet.
[00:54:31] Kijuan Amey: Yeah. ’cause I would not be here.
[00:54:33] Cameron Watson: Yeah. It crushes into your face, destroys your teeth, breaks your jaw.
Does damage to your eyes. Did So would your it caused, so they had to relieve pressure from the brain Swelling.
Yes. Interesting.
I, and they put you in a coma. They’re like, we just can’t have this guy waking up. We gotta knock him out so we can do stuff to
[00:55:02] Kijuan Amey: him. That plus the medically induced coma also calms. The human body ’cause your, body is in so much trauma. It’s just like the heart is Oh, is going crazy.
Yeah. So the medical, all the, auto stuff is like,
[00:55:20] Cameron Watson: something’s wrong. Yes. We gotta do something. And it just is now it’s in panic.
[00:55:25] Kijuan Amey: It’s in panic mode. So yeah, that also calms you down, okay. So it, it slows the heart rate and everything to allow them to do all these surgeries. First off, because you would also, if they started doing surgery on you bleed out.
[00:55:39] Cameron Watson: Oh yeah. ’cause everything’s pumping the pressure’s up. Now in, in the book. It mentioned that you were still responsive to stimuli even though you were un you weren’t consciously trying to be apparently responsive.
[00:55:56] Kijuan Amey: Apparently. And the only reason I found out about that is because I was with one of my fr my friends one day, and they said.
Hey they, we were just riding somewhere. I think we were going to get something to eat or whatever, and they were like, man, lemme tell you about this one time, and we came to see you at the hospital. I’m like, uhoh, what happened? And they were like, no, man. We were in the room talking to you and you, we couldn’t understand what you were saying and you kept asking for Tiffany’s phone and, you yanked it outta her hand.
And next thing we, you are texting on her phone. And we’re like, what is he doing? And you handed it back to her. He said, man, you might have missed like two words outta that whole text thread. Wow. I couldn’t see, I was unaware that I was even texting. But yeah, I’m doing this.
[00:56:45] Cameron Watson: Oh man.
[00:56:47] Kijuan Amey: Power of the subconscious.
Okay.
[00:56:48] Cameron Watson: Yeah, there’s an old, book. I think it’s from the. Seventies, eighties, somewhere in there. It’s called the Psycho-Cybernetics. Yeah. And the idea is, hey, just like you described in your book it at night, you don’t need to turn on the light to find your way to the bathroom. And if you’re reaching for something, you put your glasses off to the side of your bed, you don’t need to see it.
Yeah. Your subconscious knows where it’s at. Yeah. Muscle memory. Memory. Anyway, very interesting book. Yeah. So thank you. Yeah. Okay, so now here you are. You’re you, go through this accident. Yeah. You are coma. They induce a medical coma. Yep. They’re doing all the surgeries, replacing, getting you back to million dollar man type of scenario.
Mr. Potato, I love by the way, say that one more time.
[00:57:37] Kijuan Amey: I said Mr. Potato Head putting me back together the,
[00:57:41] Cameron Watson: yeah. Tell me a little bit more about your uncle and his role in your recovery.
[00:57:49] Kijuan Amey: So that was a, unique case, man, because at that moment I was at one of my darkest, darkest times, and that was like the depression suicidal thoughts.
And I just kept going back and forth in between the two, the depression and the suicidal thoughts. And once I started feeling that, I was like, that’s not Kiwi. It’s like something else is going on here now. My pa my my, my uncle, he’s a pastor and I didn’t think to call him at first, it was actually me trying to ask my grandma.
I’m like, grandma, I need some assistance. I need help. What can I do? She’s just pray. And I’m like, I’ve been praying like that’s not, it’s not helping right now. I need some something that has to change. And she was like I don’t know what else to do. Just pray.
And then she goes back in her room ’cause I was staying with her at the time. And she says. Why don’t you call your Uncle Verel? And I was like what can I lose? And that’s literally what I said what can I lose? I’m looking for an answer, searching for an answer, might as well try it. And so I did.
I called him, but it was like eight at night. I’m like he probably, he might not even answer the phone, yeah. So he answers the phone, he’s hello? And I’m like, Hey, uncle Boot. And I said he’s what’s going on key? I said right now a lot. He’s what you mean?
And I said, I’m not in a good space right now, and I really need some help.
He said, you know what, hold on. I’m on my way. And I thought he was going going to ask me some questions over the phone. No. At that moment, he got up, put some clothes on, left his house. His wife is everything.
And came straight to me. He, did not wait until the next day. It was the same exact day.
Yeah.
And I’m thinking he’s just gonna come over and talk to me, sit there in the room and chat with me I’m just chilling in some shorts and a T-shirt. Yeah. And he gets there and he comes in, he’s Hey, man, put on some clothes.
I said, huh? He’s yeah, we gonna go for a ride. I said, oh, okay.
[01:00:14] Cameron Watson: And so
[01:00:14] Kijuan Amey: my grandmother
[01:00:15] Cameron Watson: And were you, back walking at this point, or
[01:00:17] Kijuan Amey: yes, I was walking, but trying to get myself dressed was a task. Okay. So my grandmother came, that’s when my grandmother would come in and she would assist me in getting dressed.
Putting on socks and shoes was hard for me. I couldn’t bend over that far yet. Now I can, I have no problems with it. Nice. Except for sometimes when I’m leaning over too long, it hurts my back.
[01:00:40] Cameron Watson: Gotcha. Oh, so just so you’re aware I’ve had three of my kids have broken their backs.
[01:00:46] Kijuan Amey: Dear God, what are you guys doing?
[01:00:49] Cameron Watson: They were all different. They were all different things. One my son Hyatt, he was the last one to break his back. He did it at a trampoline park. Yeah. And landed on that bullet or something. He, did he was doing a, what’s called a wall walk.
[01:01:05] Kijuan Amey: Okay.
[01:01:06] Cameron Watson: And he tackled, so he, his feet ended up going above his head and he tackled and it burst his vertebrae.
Luckily it burst, it outward. Not towards his spine, not to the cord, but yeah. Away. And so he, that, that’s how he broke his and Jesus. Yeah. And then my oldest daughter she was driving home from college and was cut off by a truck, overcorrected and rolled her vehicle multiple times.
[01:01:35] Kijuan Amey: Yeah.
[01:01:36] Cameron Watson: And then my daughter, Mary, who is my second oldest, I watched her break her back.
It was the most graceful thing you’ve ever seen. Whoa. We were riding four wheelers in the back country over in Idaho City. Yeah. She missed a turn, so she went up the hill just a little bit and as, the four wheeler started to tip, she, instead of getting not, like she was expected for her to know how to roll off of the bike, but she went downhill instead of uphill.
And so she ended up falling about six feet onto her bum.
And then the four wheeler rolled on top of her. Oh. But she had broken her back when she hit her bum. Yeah. She it did a compression fracture. Yep. Anyway. Yeah. Geez, man. I’m very familiar with the no BLT bending, twisting, or lifting.
Oh
[01:02:29] Kijuan Amey: yeah.
[01:02:31] Cameron Watson: But tell you and the cool little grippers to help grab things and then the extraordinarily long shoehorn so that they could get their I never had neither one of
[01:02:42] Kijuan Amey: those. It is crazy.
[01:02:45] Cameron Watson: You might have been a little bit more severe, especially since the very much so you had your your surgeries on screws in your leg and all.
You Hey man, they just had broken, broken. I could barely move. Yeah, exactly. So anyway. Yeah. Okay. So back to your story. Your grandma helps you get dressed. Yes. Uncle, what was your uncle’s name again? Versel. Versel? Yeah. Okay. He just pops over just like Yeah. A pastor. Like the pastor from the movies.
Exactly. Gets a call, honey, gonna go leave. You go take care of the one. Yep, I’m off.
[01:03:20] Kijuan Amey: And so he comes over. We, I get dressed and it’s just it’s a little chilly outside. I had on a, I do remember having on sweatpants and a hoodie. It was definitely a little chilly out there. And anyway, we go for a ride and we’re just talking and he’s I’m telling him everything that is going on with me not, feeling good, depressed, blah, blah, blah.
And the one thing I’ll always remember from that conversation is him, first off, him listening. That’s the first thing. But secondly, him saying key, because that’s what he called, that’s what most of my family calls me. Key. Yeah. I’m surprised it took you this long. I was like, interesting.
I was like, what do you mean? He was like, I expected you to be like this a long time ago. The fact that it, how did that feel? It I was taken back. I was like, what do you mean?
[01:04:19] Speaker 5: Yeah.
[01:04:20] Kijuan Amey: And then he kept talking. He was like I, am, what I’m saying is you are a stronger than you actually know.
He was like, you are doing so much better with this thing than actually some of the family are.
[01:04:36] Speaker 5: And
[01:04:37] Kijuan Amey: he was like, we are not the ones living with it every day. You are. Yeah. He said, man, I sit back and I admire you, and every time I think about you and what you’ve come through, how you’re starting, you’re able to walk again, man.
He’s come on man. Yeah. Just the things that you’re doing. It’s so, inspiring. It’s so amazing. And he know, listen, when I tell you he’s not just a pastor, he knows how to pour into you. So that you can feel like you can do this. He knows how to do it. That’s it’s, a gift for real.
Yeah. And and his, words come across so gracefully and so
[01:05:22] Cameron Watson: that was just, what a lovely way to, to describe that.
[01:05:25] Kijuan Amey: Yeah.
[01:05:26] Cameron Watson: His words. Come off so gracefully. So you’re in turmoil, you’re suicidal, going from suicide to ideation to depression, back and forth. You, reach out to some family and they, have the answer that they have, which is keep praying.
Yeah. And then one of ’em mentions, Hey, why don’t you call your uncle? Yeah. He comes over and he says, Hey, I’m shocked that you didn’t have this before. You’ve, this, what you’ve gone through, you obviously are stronger than you even realized because you should be, you should have been experiencing this before.
[01:06:06] Kijuan Amey: Yeah.
[01:06:07] Cameron Watson: Now, and then he just starts pouring graceful words. Yeah. Into you and in such a way that it’s accepted by your can you, talk a little bit about how it felt to have someone express that type of faith? So how, do I put this, the confidence in you as your strength when you’re not feeling it.
Was there any, did you have to acknowledge it? Was there some denial where you’re like, I don’t think I’m as strong as he thinks I am?
[01:06:43] Kijuan Amey: No. So what it was it was it, took me out of those four walls that I was stuck in.
Oh, okay.
So the, mind tends to get it, it’ll put itself in a box if it feels like it needs to be, wants to be, shall I say.
Okay. When I got outside of that house, I felt I was like I’m, out. I’m free. Like my mind is actually working again. I’m having to think because I’m talking to him, yeah. Versus dwelling on the negative. I now have to figure something out about positivity. I’m riding with a positive person.
So I have to be able to co convey what I’m trying to say to him so that he understand like the things started opening up
Versus being closed in and this is the only thing I’m thinking about. So him saying those things actually broke through is what it did it just how you shadow a glass.
That’s basically what it did. It broke that glass. Hey, let’s get out of this.
[01:07:53] Cameron Watson: Gotcha. So he changed your environment, got you. Out of the house, which that’s a technique that so my son was suicidal for three years and had a couple attempts and it was. One of the nicest suicide notes you could possibly imagine was horrible.
Yeah. But I am so grateful that he’s still alive. Yes. And doing so well. He’s actually serving a service mission right now. Where he goes around and he helps choirs and different school things with sound, and he helps disabled kids study the gospel. Nice. He’s just doing a great work.
But at the time, I remember a lot of our conversations when he was in the lowest of the low, it was, Hey let’s, get out of the house. Yeah. And we would go for a ride and we’d just talk about things and we’d go get a adversity pie is what we called it. We’d go to the Sherry’s and I remember the first time we went there we ended up ordering every single type of pie, a single piece of every one on the menu.
Because he said, I don’t know what I like anymore. Wow. And it broke my heart because he couldn’t he couldn’t get out of those four walls that you were talking about.
[01:09:14] Kijuan Amey: Yeah. Yeah.
[01:09:15] Cameron Watson: Didn’t know what he liked. He wanted his life to end, and so we got every single piece and we tried ’em all and we rated them.
And so now we know which type of pie we actually really love at Sherry’s. But the listening to you talk about your uncle
Coming over, getting you outta the house, breaking through that glass. Did you, was it a straight course out of that or did you have some ups and downs afterwards too?
[01:09:48] Kijuan Amey: I still have moments.
And the reason I have the moments is because of how I was pulled out of the life that I was living.
I literally feel like I was yanked out of it. Yeah, because I go from living the life of being in the military going to school full time and having my own business of course my personal life, but all of that I, literally was pulled out of it due to one accident.
And the next thing I know, I’m waking up a month later.
[01:10:18] Cameron Watson: Shift shift. Just think about
[01:10:19] Kijuan Amey: that. You know what I mean? So no transition, none
[01:10:22] Cameron Watson: just gone.
[01:10:23] Kijuan Amey: There’s no transition period. There was no gradual loss of eyesight.
[01:10:29] Cameron Watson: By the
[01:10:30] Kijuan Amey: way I did wake up blind. Oh. So what I see now is the exact same thing I saw as soon as I woke up June 6th.
Wow.
You know what I mean? It it’s, one of those things where you’re just like, holy crap, how do I deal with this?
Yeah.
The at the, beginning when I was in the hospital, everything was okay. And what I mean by that is because people were coming to see me.
Yeah.
And I, will advocate for that forever.
If you ever have anybody who’s ever been or is in an accident, some kind of surgery in, a facility, whatever it might be, go see them because they want to see you.
Yeah. They really do. It actually brightens their day. And that’s what it was for me. It was uplifting, it was encouraging. It was also a moment for me to share with you what I did today.
Yeah. Oh man. Y’all don’t won’t believe how far I walked today. Oh man. Y’all won’t believe what we did in PT today. Oh man. Y’all won’t believe what I did in occupational therapy today and, that was what I enjoyed telling how far I’ve been, my progress, everything. Yeah. And so I always advocate for that.
Even now I advocate for people to. Come by see me. And it’s funny ’cause people be like, man, I be seeing you on social media and I feel like you just everywhere. You all over the place. I said, that’s when I come back. So whenever you see all these pictures, I’m back now. I’m not physically there.
I’m back.
Yep.
And, I said I never post something of where I am because of security reasons. Sure. And that’s, that military mindset.
Yep. I
don’t tell you where I am. Yeah. Until I come back from where I was.
There you go.
And so the other thing is, dude, just text me you if you, wanna know where I am, just text me.
It’s not hard. By the way, I’ve had the same phone number since I was in middle school. So don’t say you don’t have my number.
[01:12:50] Cameron Watson: You know what I’m saying? You know it. I wonder in our society it seems like we’ve almost been trained to not impose ourselves onto others. When I was growing up I’m, almost 50.
When I was growing up, if you wanted to see if a friend could play, you would go over and knock on the door Yeah. And ask and say, Hey, can you come out? Can we go?
Yeah. And then it, as I got older, it did shift to a phone call, Hey, are you available? Yep. Can we go play ball or whatever.
Now they don’t even, it’s not an invite to go do something. They just stay where they’re at.
[01:13:27] Kijuan Amey: Yep.
[01:13:28] Cameron Watson: And they interact. And I wonder if the hesitancy when someone has gone through something where a visit or a message would be beneficial. I wonder if there’s a, if that has caused the, fact that we’ve transitioned into not imposing ourselves onto others, if it’s actually.
Made it, we’ve gone too far that way. Because, yeah, it’s nice to be polite, but you know what, when someone’s hurting, when someone needs some ministering to it, you should show up. Yes. You should text.
[01:14:02] Kijuan Amey: Yeah.
Yeah. That I would rather you call me or come see me.
And texts are cool, but they’re not personal.
Like they’re, so impersonal nowadays. And also you can miss, I’m not gonna say miss you. There are so many ways that texts can be interpreted, and that’s the part that, disturbs people sometimes. They, like you said, what’d you go, what’d you say to me? I all I said was, wish you well you know, what I’m saying?
And it’s, almost like people think you’re blowing ’em off or and things can be misinterpreted. And I don’t want you to misinterpret. You call me if you think you, if I said something wrong Yeah. And I’ll correct everything.
[01:14:52] Cameron Watson: Yep. That’s, I don’t have any problem. There’s a com, there’s a comedian, his name’s Ryan Hamilton.
Okay. His special, I think is still on Netflix. It’s called Funny Face.
Anyway, he, oh, this is actually, I’m skipping ahead. But he actually was in a, it is almost like what would be a very funny accident for a comedian to be in. And he was in that accident. For real? He was on a bike, hit by a bus. Oh, geez.
Yeah. Terrible. And I haven’t seen him since performed, but I think he died. No, joking. Yeah. But in his in his Netflix special, he talks about the that texting and where the, person adds a period. And he’s you turned me down. He said, no, but. Why, add the, period that’s hurtful?
Kind of what you’re saying. It, the text isn’t transactional, it’s a broadcast and you have no idea how they’re gonna take it.
[01:15:53] Kijuan Amey: It’s almost like
saying a sentence and they can mean two different things. One could mean one thing with a period, and one can mean another thing with a question mark.
Yep.
You know what I mean? And I don’t know. I just, I try to tell people like, communi first and foremost, communication is key.
It always has been and always will be forever and ever. You know what I mean? And as long as we feel like we’re disconnecting, which the pandemic kind of, I think, sped that up.
Yep. I agree. I felt so. Disconnected from the world because everybody just went into their own little corner, man.
And I’m like, this sucks.
Yeah.
And so I, love being around people and traveling and when, so when I couldn’t do that
It was hurting me.
[01:17:00] Speaker 5: Yeah.
[01:17:02] Kijuan Amey: So yeah.
[01:17:03] Cameron Watson: So tell me a little bit more about so I know you’re a motivational speaker. And what are some of the favorite things that you like to talk about?
What are some, give us just a taste of some of the messages you enjoy sharing with different people in different circumstances. ’cause I know that you’ve done the one-on-one. Yeah. I also know that you’ve done thousands. So tell me a little bit about the what, messages are closest to your heart and which ones you like to share Most.
With people
[01:17:41] Kijuan Amey: I’ll always share about overcoming adversity.
I will forever and always share that because that’s what I’m doing. That’s what I, that’s what I did to initially start, and that’s what I’m still currently doing every single day. And so I came up with a, not just an acronym, but it actually became a title of a speaking engagement and it was called Will to Overcome, will stands for Winning in Life’s Lessons.
Oh, I love it. So how I twisted it was I teach people how to win in life’s lessons in order to overcome adversity.
Nice.
And I, tell you all about. My story, how I did it. Flip it to what you can do to add it to your life and it let it benefit and guide you. Yeah. And so that’s a huge one for me.
Another one, feel the champion within. And the reason I say feel the champion we all, can win at something and we all have some goal we’re striving for. And you can be the champion of it. And so feel that champion.
[01:19:03] Cameron Watson: And that’s FEEL, not FILL. It’s not it’s feel it. Fuel. Fuel, yeah. Oh, see, there you go.
Yep. Fuel. FUEL. FEEL. Yeah. The champion with them.
[01:19:15] Kijuan Amey: Go. Yep. Go. So I want you to fuel it because if you fuel it up, guess what? It’s ready to go. Yeah. And then that way you take it. I kinda like that idea.
[01:19:26] Cameron Watson: Because in the military, that’s what you were doing. Yeah. The, champion I do
[01:19:31] Kijuan Amey: a little play on words here.
Yeah. That’s cool. Yeah. So that’s part of what it, had to do with just different things like that. And there’s another one I can’t think of right now off the top of my head, but it’s in my notes on my phone. Yeah. But I have a, I have quite a few different topics that I, speak towards, but yeah. That’s cool.
[01:19:54] Cameron Watson: So my cousin he’s a few years younger than me. His name’s Ian and he’s been blind for a number of years. His was de degenerative. In other words, it took place over time.
[01:20:07] Kijuan Amey: Maculate degenerative
[01:20:10] Cameron Watson: I don’t know. So you’re now see. Here you’re, talking to the guy who doesn’t know, right?
Sorry. But essentially his vision closed into where he could only see things directly in front of him. Yep. And then eventually it got to be about the size of a pencil. Yeah. And now he, I don’t think he sees anything. But he you’ve been described as a comedian. He at a family reunion.
Yeah. I was like, Hey, Ian your name tag’s upside down. And he’s I know. Isn’t it great? No one will say, no one will tell me because they, he’s with his cane and he’s just fooling with people. Yeah. ’cause they didn’t know how to they don’t know ’em well enough to recognize hey dude, get your name tags upside down.
He was, did that on purpose. Dude, that’s, I thought that was so funny.
[01:21:04] Kijuan Amey: You know that. What’s funny is that’s what we do. Yeah. We do things to see if anybody will say anything.
[01:21:11] Cameron Watson: Oh, that’s great.
[01:21:12] Kijuan Amey: And I think it’s the most amazing thing ever. Yeah. Because we, wanna laugh too, like people take our, and I, and this is I’m, gonna give you a, sample of what I speak of people talk about our disability as if we’re like kids almost granted, yeah.
Kids are kids, but they like to have fun too, even as a as with having a disability. But when you grow up and become an adult, you are living an adult life. You have great time. Yeah. You have fun times. Listen, when they were babying me, coddling me when I first had this accident. Yeah. Okay.
That was okay for a little while. I’m not doing this in my whole life.
Yeah.
You know what I mean? I wanna get out, I wanna explore and I wanna live life because I’m not disabled. I am differently abled. There you go. And that’s what I say. I am differently abled. And
[01:22:07] Cameron Watson: that makes sense to my brain.
It it’s you’re able in other you’re not abled in the same way as everyone else. And in fact, you could say that everyone Yeah. Is abled in different ways. Exactly. I’m 6, 7, 6 8. I’ve shrunk over the years, so I’ve but I don’t fit well into some vehicles or onto certain, some beds.
Whoa. But you sure? Yeah. I’m pretty sure. But when it comes time to change a light bulb or two Yeah. Man, I don’t even need the foot stool. So you mean to tell me you’re not sleeping in the twin mattress? Oh my goodness. No. Can you imagine? Oh, that would just be torture.
[01:22:50] Kijuan Amey: Oh my gosh. I know
[01:22:54] Cameron Watson: me
[01:22:54] Kijuan Amey: hanging all off the bed.
[01:22:56] Cameron Watson: Yep. Actually. Okay, so growing up, oh man, I can’t believe I’m sharing this with you. We I went from size, 11 shoes to size, 15 shoes in three months. Old leash Nikes. Yeah. My feet hurt really, bad as they were just growing and I wasn’t getting bigger or taller. My feet were just growing like there was no tomorrow.
Yeah. They were trying to prepare
[01:23:22] Kijuan Amey: your body or prepare for what your body was about to do,
[01:23:26] Cameron Watson: which I didn’t have a girl spurt. I just grew and didn’t stop. Yeah. But it became, people would mock it because it was so ridiculous. I was this short, fat kid with these huge feet and I, would make things up.
I like I’m glad I have a short bed because now I can turn over, my feet hang off and I can rotate without ’em getting caught.
[01:23:50] Kijuan Amey: And it
[01:23:50] Cameron Watson: was just so ridiculous having that huge. Huge feet. I, so I, stopped, I’m now wearing a size 17 uhhuh shoe. But can you imagine being in like junior high, middle school depending on where you’re, you go to school.
Yeah. This kid has these huge, clown feet. I went to a McDonald’s Uhoh and they had the mc, Ronald McDonald’s. Yeah. Feet imprinted in the cement. Yep. And signed. I put my feet over the top and I covered his feet. Wow. The clown feet, my feet were bigger than his. Wow. Anyway it was a lot of fun, but I was mocked because of that.
It was so funny. Looking back, it was funny at the time, it was a little annoying,
[01:24:37] Kijuan Amey: but, oh, yeah. No, I get it.
[01:24:38] Cameron Watson: This is ridiculous. Oh my goodness. This has been, I can’t believe it. We’ve gone an hour and 25 minutes. Is there anything that you would like to tell our audience about per just give them some hope no matter what they’re going through.
Anything that, any message from those who may be associated with someone who’s going through depression or someone who might be going needing to overcome adversity themselves?
[01:25:08] Kijuan Amey: Yeah. No, Sure. Two quotes for you and one is mine, which is in the book. I may have lost my sight, but I did not lose my vision.
And the reason I say that is because my vision was always to help others.
Yeah.
Whether it was football track I’m participating in sports, whether it was in the military, I was participating as a, military member fighting for my country being a part of a crew, there were things I was doing to help somebody. Whether it was taking on a Medivac crew, that’s where they go and pick up patients that have been wounded and sick, whatever may, happen overseas, and we bring them somewhere safe to get them medical treatment. I’m always trying to help.
Am and my involvement is still the same with the job I do now. My, my business, Amy Motivation, I’m a motivational speaker, I’m a trusted mentor. I am also a resilience coach. I do ambassador work as well for the Air Force Winder Warriors program now. Nice. These are things that I do to give back.
[01:26:18] Speaker 5: And
[01:26:18] Kijuan Amey: so the reason I, elaborate on all this is because I wanna say the second quote. The second quote is, don’t let your situation define you.
You define who you are.
[01:26:32] Cameron Watson: Nice. I think that’s a great place to end. Thank you so much.
[01:26:37] Kijuan Amey: Oh yeah.