Jerald Lane and Beverly Everett

[00:07] GERALD LANE: My name is Gerald. I go by Gerald Last name Lane. I am 44 of age. Today's date is May 30, 2024. I'm located at University of Arizona, University Arizona, in Sierra Vista. Name of the interview partner? Beverly. Relationship to the interview partner friend.

[00:47] BEVERLY DIANE EVERETT: My name is Beverly Diane Everett. My age is 67 years old. Today's date is 530 24. My location is Arizona, University of Arizona. Name of my interview partner is Gerald Lane. Relationship is. He's one of my good friends that I volunteer with.

[01:28] GERALD LANE: First question, Bev, can you tell me about where you grew up and what it was like?

[01:36] BEVERLY DIANE EVERETT: I grew up in Brooklyn, New York. I won't go into a lot of detail. I had a fairly good childhood. I've always, always loved the military for some reason. I don't know why, but the army has always been, like, my passion when I was a little kid, and I always wanted to join, so that's what I did. Um.

[02:11] GERALD LANE: Do you know, you don't know why you love the military?

[02:14] BEVERLY DIANE EVERETT: Was there a movie you saw, or. I. I can't put my finger on it. I mean, the jeeps. I saw the jeeps, and I guess it was looking at military things on television. I did, like, the uniforms and things like that, and I just wanted to be a part of it, I thought. And it was either that or a policeman, so I chose the military.

[02:43] GERALD LANE: And did you have family in the military, or no?

[02:46] BEVERLY DIANE EVERETT: Yes. My aunt, who is 84 years old, Theresa Walker, she was a WAC, which stands for women's army corps, and she is still living, and she. I guess, yeah, she was in the army, and that was another reason why I wanted to join, because I used to travel around with her sometimes, so, yeah, that's another reason.

[03:13] GERALD LANE: Did you all ever have conversations about, you know, being women in the military, that she was a role model in that way or not too much?

[03:21] BEVERLY DIANE EVERETT: She didn't talk a lot about it, but she. I guess, like, inspections. My aunt was very military oriented, so, like, folding her clothes and the cleanliness of her house and everything. I lived with her for a while, so that's just how I was. So when I joined the military, you know, going through inspections was a breeze. Cause folding your underwear and stuff like that, I was like, oh, I know how to do that. You know, I know how to make a bed correctly, because my aunt, that's how she lived, you know, but. And that was when. After she got out of the military, because, you know, I'd go and see her for summers and stuff like that, but she wasn't in the military. Then, but she just still had military ways about her.

[04:11] GERALD LANE: Can you ask Gerald the same question about where he grew up and what.

[04:16] BEVERLY DIANE EVERETT: Was his childhood like? So, Gerald where did you grow up at, and how was your childhood?

[04:23] GERALD LANE: I grew up Atlantic Hollins, New Gerald hence the nickname. But, yeah, I grew up on the Gerald shore. Not from the tv show. The tv show is nothing like the Gerald Shore. It's just crap. But I grew up on the Gerald shore, went to a high school that was about maybe 300 people. My graduating class was 56 people. Well, no, 56. We started then some people got into drugs and got pregnant, so it went down to about 43. I'm curious now that you all have lived in Arizona for a while, does there. Are you. Do you still feel like there's, like, massive differences from here into, like, where y'all grew up? Like, could you talk about, like, especially for folks that are listening to this in Arizona who don't know, like, how. How is the east coast really different from here, either, weather wise, culturally, people wise, you know? Yeah, the. I see the weather I miss back there because it's. We have all four seasons. All four seasons. The people are nicer here. People are on the east coast. I love my people on the east coast, but they're kind of rude. And let's see, what else and the difference between here and there. There is lots and lots of water where here in Arizona, there's little lakes that they call or lakes that they call or ponds that they call lakes, small bodies of water. And it's just not the same when it comes to being outside barbecuing by the water or doing anything by the water here. It just isn't good. But I like Arizona. I just don't like. There's no water.

[06:36] BEVERLY DIANE EVERETT: What about you, Bev

[06:37] GERALD LANE: What comes to mind?

[06:38] BEVERLY DIANE EVERETT: Me, I've been in Arizona so long, but there are big differences. Number one, I miss the food in New York a lot, and this is a lot smaller place than what I grew up, because in New York, there were certain areas, if you were white, that you shouldn't be caught in, and if you were black, there were certain areas that you wouldn't be caught in because, I mean, you could get killed. That's just how bad it was here. I don't find anything. It's more of a combination of people, I guess, because of the military. But the food is the one thing I miss. Arizona is a lot slower and, like, music or anything that's new on the Internet. I mean, it just takes Arizona. At least here. This is a long time to get. Whereas in New York, you know, we're the first ones to get everything. You know, I'm curious, like, I don't.

[07:49] GERALD LANE: Know if folks always think of New York as a food place. I'm curious what you're missing specifically about the food there.

[07:56] BEVERLY DIANE EVERETT: Number one, pizza is the very, very closest dear to my heart, and I've only found maybe one place in Arizona that even compares chinese food. It's horrible here in Arizona. I don't know. It's just a big difference. Jamaican food, jamaican beef patties. I mean, those three things, you know, if they had people that came here to Arizona, I could die happy. What about you, Gerald

[08:39] GERALD LANE: Anything. Any food, memories or things that come to mind? There is. When I was growing up, there was a pizza place that served, like. I mean, on the east coast, they served from chicken parmesan, sausage parmesan, to eggplant parmesan. They have a vast quantity and variety of food. And there was this one place that, like, maybe a mile from where I lived that had the best cheesesteak that I've ever had. He would make. He would make his own bread, and the way that he cut and sauteed the cheesesteak and added the cheese. Best cheesesteak I've ever had in my life. It doesn't compare to any cheesesteaks from Philly, and I'm a cheesesteak snob and a pizza snob, but it was the best cheesesteak I've ever had. When I left for the army, I came back, the guy retired, and it kind of stunk. I was going to ask you where this place is.

[09:54] BEVERLY DIANE EVERETT: It sounds amazing.

[09:55] GERALD LANE: Yeah, the guy retired, but the closest cheesesteak I found here is up in Tucson called Frankie's. Frankie's Philly cheesesteak. And they make really good cheesesteaks. I mean, the best in Arizona, but there really isn't anything in Arizona when it comes to cheesesteaks. But this place, they fly in their own bread, their own vegetables, their own water, and, like, I mean, everything is from Philadelphia. Authentic. And they fly it in, and it's one of the best damn cheesesteaks that I. Best cheesesteaks I've ever had.

[10:41] BEVERLY DIANE EVERETT: I don't know. Do you all want to ask each.

[10:42] GERALD LANE: Other about deployment now or more stuff about childhood? Do you remember the day you. How what? How was it when you first came into military?

[11:01] BEVERLY DIANE EVERETT: When I first came into military, it was in basic training. It was good. Ait was interesting. I was stationed here on Fort Huachuca. It was my first permanent party station. Let me see. I. Unfortunately, I don't even know how to put it. I had a horrible accident being stationed here. But let me talk about when I first got here, the morning that I had open ranks inspection with my platoon. They walk in between the ranks and inspect your uniform and your boots. So the sergeant inspecting me, I was the only black female, the only female in my. In my platoon at the time.

[12:07] GERALD LANE: Were you the only black person and the only female?

[12:09] BEVERLY DIANE EVERETT: No, there were other black soldiers, but I was the only black female and the only female. And so he stopped in front of me. And usually they ask you questions about, you know, yourself or the military. So this one particular sergeant said, oh, how you doing, Private Everett? And I said, I'm fine. He says, well, do you know how to make coffee? And I said, yes, sergeant, I do know how to make coffee, but I'm not going to make coffee. Because to me, it was insulting being the only female. What? I'm not here to clean up. You're a mess. We're all soldiers. Treat me like a soldier. Clean up your own mess. Make your own coffee. It's how I felt. It was kind of rough after that, but then they got to know me and everything kind of fell in place.

[13:02] GERALD LANE: Do you remember what the response was to you saying that you won't make coffee?

[13:06] BEVERLY DIANE EVERETT: Oh, he just looked me up and down and went to the next person. He never said anything after that. So.

[13:18] GERALD LANE: What about you, Gerald What are your first memories of. Of wherever you were trained or 1st. 1st time I got here. Well, first time, let me. The easiest, the best way I can describe it is why I joined. Okay. The reason I joined, I was coming back from an all night party with a friend of mine. It was her birthday, and I call home, and my grandmother, or my grandmother calls me and was like, where are you? I told her I was entering the town. She said, okay, go to the highest point. I go to the highest point, and all I see is the north tower burning after it was September 11 and a plane flew into the tower. So I'm watching it in real life. So next thing I know, I see a second plane hit the other tower, and I'm like, oh, crap. So I rush down to my. Where I live. I live a block away from the beach. So I go down to the beach and I'm watching everything burn and I'm watching everything fall. And it was one of the scariest moments that I ever had in my life. And I rushed down to my marina because we have ferry boats that go from New Gerald to New York, constantly, all day long. I rushed down there. I said, okay, what can I do to help? They said, well, do you have any military experience? I said, no. Do you have any medical experience? I said, no. They said, do you have any fire, police? I said, no. He said, okay, I'm sorry. You can't help. It was one of the most devastating moments of my life because I felt vulnerable. So that's part of the reason why I joined the military. I couldn't take it. Like, I mean, I was. My life was good at the time, and I was going down a path of destruction for my life. So I end up going, telling my friends, hey, I'm joining the military. They're like, yeah, okay, okay, yeah, okay, whatever. So I end up go. I go to the. Going to the office of the Marine Corps first, and he's standing outside, and I said, how you doing? How you doing, sergeant? He said, okay, I'm good. He said, yeah, you don't want to join the army? I said, yeah, I came to join the marines. He said, yeah, you don't want to join the army. Like, I mean, they're fat, they're lazy. They do absolutely nothing, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Talking down to the army. And I said, oh, okay. I said, so you're calling my father, my great grandfather, my uncles, and all of both of my family members. You're calling them weak, poor, can't do anything, and you're saying all this crap about him, and he was like, oh. And I said, you know what? Go screw yourself. And I walked over to the recruiter for the army. He started laughing. I started laughing. I signed my papers to join. Wow. And then what happens from there? Like, do you leave the next day, or is it a whole summer? Like, I joined in December of 2002, joined in December of 2002, and I had to wait until the next class for my mos, which was a combat engineer. I ended up waiting till March 17 or March 18. So I left March 17, went to Fort Dix, New Gerald also, where I did my meps test in order to get into the military. So I went down there, flew from Philadelphia to Missouri, and next thing I know, I'm on a bus headed to Fort Leonard. I get there, drop all my stuff off. It's late at night. They house us in, and I'm like, okay, this ain't bad. So we get our clothing, we get our issues. We get, like, I mean, issued stuff. We get shots, vaccines, everything that you could think of. And it wasn't like, what they what they do now with the literal shots, these were shot guns where you pretty much. It's a conveyor line. You feel like you're in a conveyor belt and you're going down and it's just doom. Next. And it's multiple shots that they're giving you all at the same time. So we receive them. Then next, you know, it's a week later, like, all right, your company's gonna pick you up. Said, okay. So we grabbed our stuff. It was raining, and they come out. We get on the cattle bus. Cattle, cattle bus. Yeah. And we get to our destination and said, okay, hold on. So the person leaves the cattle bus, and all I hear is, get off the bus. Get off the bus now. And they're yelling in my face, yelling to get off the bus. Get off the bus. Get off the bus. We get off the bus. Where's your stuff? Where's your stuff? Go get your stuff. And it was just very chaotic situation. Very chaotic. So we finally. We finally. They finally get us in line, and then they're like, where's your stuff? I said, over there, sergeant. Well, oh, you can tell the ranks. Yes, sergeant. Go get your stuff. Yes, sergeant. Okay, plot your stuff, and I want an inventory. You want to enter rain? Yes, yes, I want to enter in. There was. That's language I could without cursing. That was language that I could use. He said a lot of curse words in that. But after that, we got to our unit or got to our basic training, which wasn't bad. Did ait events, individual training, which wasn't bad. Then next thing I know, I get sent home for ten days. I come back, they said, hey, you're deploying. So I was in the first initial push into Iraq, and it was. It was just. It was crazy. Only if you'd like to talk about it. Do you remember those feelings that you had when you knew that you were going to Iraq? It was kind of scary. But the first thing I thought of was whenever I deployed. And from that first time I fly, I go to New Gerald Like, they gave me a hint that I was deploying. So when I was on leave, every time I deployed, I told my grandmother in person, my grandmother raised me. I was supposed to join in 99 when I graduated high school, but she talked me out of it. And then she was upset when I joined again. But every time I deployed, I told her she'd cry, she'd get upset. I tell her, it's okay, then that would be it. But my most important thing was making sure that I told her in person. Yeah. What about you, Bev? I mean, do you remember if. I know you said you always wanted to go to the military, but do you remember that day where you decided to go, or do you remember any really foundational moments in the first couple years of being in the military?

[21:54] BEVERLY DIANE EVERETT: Yes. Well, one thing is I was. My mom moved to an area where it was a lot of gangs. And the school I went to, either you were in the gang or you got beat up every day. My mother didn't know that I was in the gang when I joined the gang. When I joined the military, I kind of did it behind my mom's back, behind everybody's back. My godparents knew because I actually, from Brooklyn, New York, I went up to the Bronx and kind of hid out until it was time for me to go in the military and just left and went in. And that's the way I wanted to do it because it was the easiest for me. I didn't want anybody talking me out of it. I knew what I wanted to do. So I was delayed for about six months, and I just went up to the Bronx and stayed with my godparents until it was time for me to go in.

[22:55] GERALD LANE: Do you want to talk about anything from the first couple years that were really foundational, either.

[23:02] BEVERLY DIANE EVERETT: Good memories?

[23:02] GERALD LANE: I heard you mention an accident, if you want to talk about that. Whatever you want to talk about.

[23:07] BEVERLY DIANE EVERETT: Well, the first. I'll say the first couple of years in the military, it. Like I said, it was kind of rough. When I was stationed here. This was my first permanent party station. And sorry to say, but it was no big deal for drugs in the barracks and people to smoke marijuana. It was no big deal. Here on Fort Huachuca, we used to call it the best kept secret in the military, and we used to call it fort. We got you. Because whenever you left, you always came back. But I just happened to have the keys to the supply room one morning, and I had to go over and get something, and I had some albums in my hand. I was carrying them. They're records that you play. This is how old I am. So. And I had the keys to the supply room, and I was gonna go get something, and two girls pulled up in the truck right in front of me, and I had the keys in one hand and albums in another hand, and they were smoking a marijuana joint, and they thought it was funny to try and, I guess, scare me. And with them smoking marijuana, I guess the one that was driving lost control. And I threw everything down because I tried to grab onto the bumper of the truck because it was going to hit me. So when it hit me, I grabbed the bumper and it drugged me down half of the parking lot, and it drug my clothes off of me, my bra, some of my pants and everything. And when it stopped, I sat up and everybody that came put their hand right on the spot wherever I had road rash, you know, so I kept jerking away and telling them not to touch me because, you know, they didn't see. And when they turned me over, they saw that all the skin and everything was road rash burned off of my body. So after that, you know, I had to go to the hospital every day to get the asphalt scrubbed out of my back. And I meand, I 30 days, I couldn't wear a uniform because I couldn't wear underwear. So they had me actually putting trucks together, the benches and trucks out in the hot Arizona sun in civilian clothes because they act like it was my fault that I got hit by a truck. And the two girls that were in the truck didn't get any trouble at all. So. And I. I didn't want to. I didn't pull a race car or anything like that. I just thought that's how the military was, you know, if you went and complained, because when I was in basic training, if you complain about your feet hurting or anything like that, they told me, you know, you complain one more time and we're going to put you out. So I just grin, bear it, you know, that's why I'm having a lot of problems now. So, actually, when I got out of the military, I claimed injuries against the government because it messed my back up, my hips, and it messed a lot of things up. And I had to fight like hell to get compensation for that. So I hope it's easier for the soldiers that are in the military now. People like me made it easier. I could say, were you able to get that compensation? Yes, I have 100% now that I've been fighting to get since 2016. But actually, if you, you know, they want you to stop fighting. And I refused, and I get compensated for it. Now, I've been through seven knee replacements, four different doctors, three different hospitals. I'm still suffering now. I still can't walk correctly on my own, and until this day, I'm still going to see doctors about fixing my knee. So I hope it's me making. I hope me going through what I been through makes it easier for somebody that's coming up now. And I know Gerald has 100% as well.

[27:29] GERALD LANE: Yeah, I have 100% permanent in total, because the injuries I sustained while I was deployed. My first deployment was. Wasn't bad, except for we lost a couple of people Christmas Eve. They were coming back from Baghdad, Iraq, to Taji, Iraq, and ended up getting ambushed and killed. My second deployment, we ended up. I took a lot of damage from ieds, improvised explosive devices. The roadside bombs took a lot of hits from them, and that was my job. It was either combat engineer, landmines, demolition, explosives, and our job was to find the ieds, the bombs, the roadside bombs, before it found us or anyone else. So that's a. I ended up getting blown up quite a bit of times, which messed up my back, my knee and the left side of my body. Can you talk more about what that's like? Do you have to just point out this explosive or do you have to do something to take it apart? Basically, yeah. I would be in a vehicle and most of the time I was. I could. Back then I could drive anything. There wasn't anything with four wheels that I couldn't drive. So I drove into Buffalo, which is one of the largest vehicles that the military has that way. You're talking into the microphone. No, sorry about that. No, you're good. Yeah. The Buffalo is one of the biggest vehicles that the military has. So I was the driver for it. And this one particular road I hated going down because we always found something or we always got blown up. So I went. We drove down that road and as they're looking, they see a piece of trash. And a buffalo has like a. It has a. It's like an arm connected to the top of the vehicle and. And you swivel the arm. The arm comes down, has forks, and you dig through trash that way. So they're digging through trash and I look over and I see a acetylene in propane bottles built up into a bomb. So I yell out, bomb. 10ft to the. And before I can say left, it goes boom. And the vehicle rocked. It went up, went down, and as it was going up and down, I smashed my head, my left shoulder and my knee, and, like, I mean, my hearing got bad. Got like. I mean, took significant hearing loss. Also, on that explosion on that road, that wasn't the first time that we got blown up on there. And was that the job you had throughout your whole military experience? Yes, from 2003 or. Yeah, 2003 to 2013, I was a combat engineer. Then the military changed to their kinder, softer army. It wasn't an army that I grew up in, so I didn't want to I didn't want to quit, but I knew I couldn't do my job, so I end up going to the reserves, and I went to the reserves as an 88 mike, which is a military truck driver, and I worked. Worked there for a good eight years, I believe. Seven or eight years. And, yeah, a good eight or nine years. Sorry about that. And then I finally retired from the military. And what was that like for you guys to leave the military? Was that a really celebratory time? Tough time? We have around ten minutes left.

[32:23] BEVERLY DIANE EVERETT: Okay.

[32:24] GERALD LANE: Okay.

[32:25] BEVERLY DIANE EVERETT: Well, for me, leaving the military, it was not good, because I got out of the military here, and it's like all my friends kind of disappeared and moved away. So I wind up taking antidepressant medications and, you know, feeling sorry for myself because of my knee injury. But one thing, I mean, one thing I'd like to say is joining the military was one of the better things in my life that happened to me. Not everybody has a good or bad experience. I just have all minds jumbled up in one. But it was one of the better decisions I've ever made. I did twelve and a half years in the army, twelve and a half years as a contractor, and I retired from the federal government with twelve years. So I made the best of my life that I could do. All I could say is, you gotta be your own person. How about you, Gerald

[33:32] GERALD LANE: When I got out, it was hard. It was real hard. I went to school on my terminal leave, which is leave, basically, you accumulate that you can take at the end of when you're about to get out. So I went to a wind turbine school, which it was fun. Then the day that I graduated, I lost one of my uncles, which was really bad for me, but I ended up graduating, going home for the funeral. Then I went to try to start working for wind turbine companies, but a lot of them were shady, and I pretty much bounced around trying to do whatever I can. Then next thing you know, I get an offer to work in the opposite of renewable energy. Opposite of renewable energy and working in the oil field as a roughneck, the lowest man on the totem pole. I did that for while, then got recruited to Fort Fort Bliss and was a contractor for two different companies. Then that comp, that contract ended and ended up going to. Going to Fort Bliss, or, excuse me, Fort Huachuca for another contract. So I've been making the best, the best of it. Like, I mean, currently I'm retired and going to school, and I've been just making the best of it. And do you guys want to talk more about warrior healing center? Like, what brought you guys to join that and what that's meant for y'all's life? Yeah.

[35:38] BEVERLY DIANE EVERETT: Well, I methadore Gerald at the warrior healing center as a volunteer. I don't know. We just kind of cling on to each other. You know, I treat him like he's my son, and we both just happen to have the same birthday, so. But the warrior healing center, it's for me, it's fun. I enjoy helping other vets that come there looking for services. If it wasn't for the warrior healing center, I think a lot of vets would have committed suicide by now. And they help vets. They help anybody. But it's just rewarding to me to go there four days a week and work. I enjoy it there. Kathy and Tim are the owners of it. Tim Kirk and.

[36:36] GERALD LANE: Kathy Goodman.

[36:36] BEVERLY DIANE EVERETT: Kathy Goodman should be. Whatever. So, yeah, I enjoy working there alongside Gerald How about you, Gerald

[36:47] GERALD LANE: The Warren Healing center changed my life. Honestly, I was sitting in my house, like, I mean, after I lost my job, I had some legal troubles going on, and I didn't know what to do. I sat in my house for hours at a time, from sunset to basically, dusk to sunrise to sunset, and I would sit there and just do absolutely nothing. Then my lizard brain, like, I mean, basically by the bad part of my brain, that will tell me, basically, it's telling me, oh, you're not worth it. You're not good. What are you doing? You're not worth. You're not working. You're not supporting your family. You're not doing this. You're not doing that. You're a piece of crap. That type of thing in my brain, and I just couldn't take enough of it or couldn't take it anymore. So I rented out a warning healing center, which I went to a year prior and two years prior, and got turned off by one of the front desk people. Not a nice person. Then I went in, seen Bev, talked to her and Pam, another volunteer, and we. They were very nice. Then I left, came back. That was on a Monday, came back on Tuesday, talked, had fun. Wednesday, the same Thursday, the same Friday. Bev was like, well, you're here. You might as well volunteer. So I've been volunteering ever since. It gave me. I'm volunteering. It gave me the change in my life that I needed to. It gave me the strength and the courage to go back to school. It gave me the strength and courage to. To come out my shell and work with others. And I went from a front desk person to now I'm a case manager for the Warren Healing center and I'm doing that job, I believe, quite well, as I'm being told, and just go from there. So we just have a minute or two left. I was curious if you guys wanted to say anything else either to each other or message to any family or friends. They all have. I don't know, something to yourself, something.

[39:27] BEVERLY DIANE EVERETT: You want to listen back to.

[39:29] GERALD LANE: Totally.

[39:30] BEVERLY DIANE EVERETT: Whatever y'all would like to say, please feel free.

[39:35] GERALD LANE: Well, Memorial Day is one of the hardest days. Like, I lost quite a bit of few people. And the one thing that I can't stand is people saying, happy, being happy and saying, oh, happy Memorial Day. Like, they don't understand that it's a day of. To me, it's a day of mourning. Like, I mean, I've lost. Like, I mean, I lost my. My company commander and one of my. One of my friends, one of my soldiers and he was a friend of mine to a 6000 pound ied blast. And they were in a tank. The tank went up, threw the turret and the gunner off to the side came down and crushed them both. Then, as I said before the firefight lost three people, a sergeant, a captain and a major, all in one night. And there's countless more people that I've known that I've lost to veteran suicide because of the military. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the military, but there's some people can't handle it. And I. That's one thing that bothers me. I want to say I love and respect corporal. Excuse me. Corporal Brendan Smitherman, who died October 31, 2007. Him and my company commander, they both will be cherished and loved forever. Don't you have anything you'd like to say?

[41:29] BEVERLY DIANE EVERETT: I don't know. If I started thanking people and things like that, the list would go on. I have a lot of people that I miss. One of my roommates here, Alan Rogers, he was blown up over in Iraq. I don't know the exact dates. I don't like to remember dates like that. But, you know, God bless Tim and Kathy for starting the warrior healing center because I'm kind of like behind the scenes with Gerald and we see some of the things that come in there and we see the improvement when they leave there because of Tim and Kathy starting that and giving them help. So. And of course, my Aunt Teresa. And my pleasure meeting you in Shapin Wonderful.

[42:28] GERALD LANE: All right, just give me 10 seconds and then I'll pause the recording there. Okay.