Paul Mott (PM): My earliest memory of these two gentlemen was in the fourth grade at Webster Elementary, in Miss Gridley’s class. 

I grew up with the Jewish faith. It was Yom Kippur. My grandmother’s rabbi gave me a yarmulke to wear. 

So one day we were in line, and there was this gentleman— He walked up behind me and he slapped the bejeebers outta me and knocked that yarmulke off my head. 

And I’ll never forget, these two gentlemen came up and they picked up the yarmulke, handed it to me. Got between me and the bully, and they told him, ‘you don’t do that.’ …And it left an indelible mark on my life.

Patrick Bryant: For me… it was the right thing to do. You my brother… and I don’t wanna see nothing happen to you. Same with Kevin! Something going on with Kevin, I’m stepping in.

PM: We were friends ever since.. And from that day forward, we played in Little League together. 

PB: Yes.

PM: Worked together—

Kevin Godfrey (KG): Partied together [laughs]. 

PM: —Partied together. 

PB:Yes, 

PM: That’s right. And joined the armed forces after high school. 

KG: Yeah.

PM:  Although we did go into different branches… 

PB: My dad gave me a choice. He said, go to the military. You go to college, or you get out my house. So I went to the Navy. 

I was supposed to go to San Diego. But they came back to me and said, oh, you going to Orlando.

50 miles up the road! I went to the Navy to go see the world—

KG: And you just went to the backyard? 

PB: Yeah, I went to the backyard. 

[KEVIN AND PAUL LAUGH]

KG: I was a patriot missile crew member, shooting scud missiles down. That was my job. I got to enjoy a few historical things, like the Berlin Wall coming down. That was one of the neatest things that— 

PB: Oh, you were there for that?

KG: Yeah. 

PB: Oh, wow.

KG: Actually got a piece of it. Mom still has it. I sent a piece to her.

…But man, when I went to war… oh my god.

PM: I got my first Purple Heart in Kuwait during the Gulf War, when I got shot. Yeah.

And I know Kevin, you’ve, you’ve experienced this probably as well— We’ve all lost friends on active duty. 

KG: Mm-hmm. 

PM: But I’ve noticed that I’ve lost more friends since I’ve been home… And the vast majority of these men succumbed to the invisible illness PTSD.

PB: Mm-hmm.

PM: And I suffer with it myself. Especially when I first got home from Afghanistan, there was some, some horribly, horribly, some dark low spots, dark times.

And I’ll be honest with you: I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for you gentlemen. it took people that knew me… to bring me out to the light. 

KG:  Yes, sir. 

PB: Yeah. 

PM:  I’m not going to kid you, ‘course  I still have dark times… but we can talk about it. 

 PB: That’s it. You know, even when you go into a dark place, we’ll call each other like  ‘Man, you let me know where you at. We coming.’

[Kevin and Paul]: That’s right. 

PB: No matter what I’m going through, I’m there for Paul, I’m there for Kevin, or anyone I call friend. 

PM: That’s right. 

PB: They are more than friends. They’re my brothers.