About this episode
This week’s Urban Valor episode features Marine Vietnam veteran, Ron Galasso. Ron grew up poor in Los Angeles, CA. He enlisted during the draft and said he chose the Marines because they were taking fewer casualties than the Army in Vietnam. Ron enlisted into the infantry as a rifleman, but quickly got selected to become a reconnaissance Marine. He says bouncing betty mines were a big problem for them in Vietnam and describes a time the mines killed 12 Marines and injured 16 more. Ron received two purple hearts for his time in Vietnam. He leaves us with how enduring so much trauma in the Marines affected his transition back into the civilian world. We are so honored to sit down with Ron Galasso, Marine Vietnam Veteran, because a lot of the previous generation of veterans (and still many today, of course) feel they need to hold in information and avoid talking about their mental traumas or acknowledge their PTSD symptoms. Ron steps up here not only as an example for all generations of Veterans to open up and share, but he's also an advocate for mental health in the military for combat veterans, and we're so fortunate to be able to share his story, advice, and support through our Urban Valor network and community!