Overcoming War, Elective Amputation and PTSD - BT Urruela - #022

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
Hi, friends. I'm currently in Virginia, Norfolk, the northeast of the United States, and I'm at an authors' event. Two years ago, I came to the same event here, and I got to hear a speech from a guy called BT Urruela. Now, BT is a wounded army vet. He's an author, and he's the founder of VETSports, which is an organization for wounded veterans to play a variety of different sports and also a community and support for them. And I got to hear this speech that he gave about his life. When I was completely unprepared, I didn't know who he was, and I was blown away. That I still to this day, it moves me to think about what he said on that evening. And he only got 15 minutes of time at the beginning of this dinner. Anyway, I kept in touch with him over the next year, and then we got to see each other at an event the year after, and now two years hence, we are here again back in Virginia at the same hotel where we first met, actually. And I knew two years ago, I thought if I ever have the opportunity to broadcast something, I want to get this story out there. And lo and behold, two years later, I've got a podcast, and I now have the opportunity to have one of my best mates in the US with this insane compelling story come on and talk. So today, here we are, it's absolutely insane, BT's life, from a messed up childhood to being hit with five IEDs in the space of a year while he was on tour in Iraq, to coming back to the US, losing a limb, starting a sports league, dealing with PTSD, and now becoming an author and cover model that's very, very well regarded in the USA. This story sounds like something that he's written in one of his books, but it's not, it's his actual life. So sit back and enjoy, BT Urruela.
BT, man, thank you very much for coming on. I really appreciate it.

**BT Urruela** (2:27)
My pleasure, Chris, absolutely.

**Chris Williamson** (2:29)
It's probably been two years since I've wanted to get you to sit down and have a discussion. So.

**BT Urruela** (2:36)
And here we are.

**Chris Williamson** (2:37)
Here we are, in the same hotel, on the same week. I know, right? A bit of poetic justice there is. So yeah, I got to hear you. I turned up late, my luggage arrived a day late. I had to run upstairs and come downstairs to this black tie ball thing that we had two years ago here. And then kind of burst into the room and sat down as this guy got up and stood up. And it was you. And you were about to give this big speech. And I was like totally unprepared, like wholly unprepared. And I guess like because that was just after you'd done your TV thing as well. Right. And so your notoriety was probably riding moderately high. And then being in this community of authors, everyone would have had an idea of what was going to be said. And then you just unloaded this story. And I was like totally, you know, like someone racks a bar with weights that you don't know what it is. You step underneath it and you're like, oh my God, this is really fucking heavy. Yeah. No, no, no, too much, too much. And yeah, man, I got, I got blown away by that.

**BT Urruela** (3:38)
Well, and the weird part was that at that part two years ago, you know, I had told my story with VETSports. I co-founded in 2012 So telling my story had become a thing over the years. But by that point within the community, it hadn't been a thing yet. You know, people knew the basis of my story. They knew I was a combat wounded veteran and stuff like that. But they never knew the eccentricities of my entire life. And so that's what I wanted to do with that speech was just kind of lay it all out there and then kind of just give them the whole narrative.

**Chris Williamson** (4:07)
How different does it feel giving the speech to the industry that you're in now, which is authors versus the industry that you were in or that you're associated with, which is veterans?

**BT Urruela** (4:19)
Well, so that's actually different than what I usually do. I don't talk to a lot of veterans, unfortunately. I talk to veterans, but it's more conversationally. It's not giving them a speech or whatever.
So the differences where I'm at is that speech was for my peers in the romance community, right? And usually my other speeches are for businesses or clubs or groups or whatever. So for me, it meant a lot more because obviously being a creative type, you're used to and you make emotions your business. emotions are your business. You understand that. You understand pain and love and all these beautiful things. And so for me, being able to share my story in that room, the response I got back was so much better and greater than what I ever had before.