Episode 1: Introduction to Travis Mills

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About Our Guests

Travis Mills

Travis is one of only five quadruple amputees from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to survive his injuries.  He was critically injured on his third tour of duty in Afghanistan by an IED (improvised explosive device) while on patrol, losing portions of both legs and both arms.  His story has been featured across multiple media channels including CNN, Fox News, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show. He and his wife founded the Travis Mills Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting recalibrated veterans and their families.

Travis lives by his motto: “Never give up. Never quit.”

Tim Eisenhart

A man of many talents; Tim was a High School math teacher for 17 years as well as a baseball, softball and basketball coach at school and privately during that time.  He met Travis because his wife, Amanda, and Travis’ mother in law are both American sign language interpreters in Maine.  Tim and Travis have been friends for years and have a tremendously fun rapport on and off air – at times reminiscent of Felix and Jack from The Odd Couple.

He and his wife have two boys who love to play sports all year round and Tim loves to play guitar and sing in pubs in between podcast projects and dreams of one day being the announcer at Fenway Park.

Learn more about Travis at TravisMills.org or follow him on Social Media

Episode transcript (generated by AI):

Voice over (male) (00:00):
The American Hero Show featuring Travis Mills from generals to grandparents, superheroes, to superintendents, heroes come in all shapes and sizes. This is the American Hero Show.

Travis Mills (00:24):
Ladies and gentlemen, Travis Mills here with my co-host, Tim Eisenhart. You’re going to find out all about Tim and I. Good friends. I am a quadruple amputee from the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Tim is a champion with the most soothing, yet vibrant, amazing voice you’ve ever heard, Tim. Well, thank you, Tim. Hit him with that voice.

Tim Eisenhart (00:43):
It feels good to be here. Travis, he’s

Travis Mills (00:45):
Married, ladies with you. He’s

Tim Eisenhart (00:46):
Married. Hands off ladies. But

Travis Mills (00:48):
I’ll tell you what. Yeah, and hands off for me too, Tim, because that’s my life. But more importantly, Tim and I were talking and we thought we should probably create a podcast. And we thought, what things do people want to hear about? And of course, they want things that are saucy and really crazy and something

Tim Eisenhart (01:07):
Wrong.

Travis Mills (01:08):
And then I thought, but people also, amazing stories. Stories of people that are just doing great things and they don’t have to do great things, but they do great things. And Tim, we just came up with why not American hero show?

Tim Eisenhart (01:24):
Why not so many heroes out there? Why wouldn’t we highlight those people doing wonderful things that are having positive effect on society?

Travis Mills (01:31):
And there’s different types of heroes. There’s not everybody out there wearing a cape flying around like Superman. Not everybody that’s in the military is a hero. I mean, I met some of the dumbest people you’ve ever met in the world, Tim, in the Army. You’re like, how did you even get here? And they’re like, I don’t even know. And I’m like, that’s impressive. But it’s not just first responders, stuff like that. It’s people that have really stepped up and we have a wonderful season ahead of us.

Tim Eisenhart (01:53):
Yeah, we’ve got everybody from a movie star and all the way to people who are just local and have made a massive impact on a small town in Maine. We get a whole range of people that are just doing great things

Travis Mills (02:05):
And we get to find out what makes them tick. We get to tell their story and hopefully inspire people to just do a little bit more, a

Tim Eisenhart (02:13):
Little bit more.

Travis Mills (02:14):
That’s what we want to do in my story, my background, if you’re listening for the first time, since this is episode number one, to my people of listening out there, my name is Travis Mills. You can find [email protected]. But more importantly, I was in Afghanistan on my third deployment and I was on a patrol and I came to a short halt. I put my backpack on the ground and underneath my backpack was actually a bomb. And when the bomb went off, it tore off my right arm and right leg instantly. Then I found those pieces of me, I actually got thrown on the left side of my face, and I rolled over and saw the aftermath, my left ankle bone on the outside of my ankle, and my foot was touching my left thigh. So if you can imagine muscle and tendon and skin holding it on.

(02:55):
And then my left wrist was blown out, but I still use my thumb. It XA middle finger. So here I was laying on the ground, not really sure what was going to happen, telling myself, just stay calm. And in my head, Tim, I just kept seeing the movie safe in Private Ryan, believe it or not, because in that movie, a medic gets shot in the stomach and he finds out he was going to die, right? You can see it in the movie that he’s like, oh, that’s my liver. I’m done. And he starts to cry out for his mom, and he begs not to die, and ultimately he dies. And I thought, my guys will never see me act like that. And nothing wrong with how that guy went out, but my guys will never see. I was always first in a firefight, last out a little bit crazy, never showed fear and exuded confidence at all times.

(03:33):
Here I am at four days before my birthday and I get blown up. I get taken to the hospital in Kandahar, and then nine doctors and seven nurses work on me for 14 hours straight. They go lose one tourniquet, and they, they went ahead and worked on me, Tim, and it’s just amazing. I got to meet six in the nine doctors. I don’t know if you knew that after the fact, after the fact, and they kept emailing my team, is he mad? Is he angry? Is he upset? They kept questioning, do I think this is a curse, not a blessing. And when I finally got to meet him, I broke down. I said, guys, thank you for believing that my life actually mattered. And those doctors and nurses, over 14 hours, two nurses pumped air in and out of my lungs for nine hours straight, taking turns, just like you can see on the TV shows.

(04:17):
They donated blood from their veins to me because the blood bank, they ran out of the universal, a positive blood. And they kept me medically sedated for four days. And after all the surgeries and things like that, on April 14th, my 25th birthday, they woke me up for the very first time. And I found out that day on my 25th birthday that I was a quadruple amputee. And the only person in the room was my brother-in-Law. Josh, he’s in the military, and he was in the room in case I died. He was supposed to escort my body home. And when I looked at Josh, the only thing I said to him was my soldiers, how are my soldiers? And he told me, Ryan’s here or Brandon, serious. I had two of the guys get hit with me. Then I said, am I paralyzed? After he told me about Ryan and Brandon, he’s like, no.

(05:00):
I looked at him and said, Josh, you don’t got to lie to me. Tell me the truth. Am I paralyzed? He said, man, you’re not paralyzed. You don’t have ’em anymore. Just told me straight up. And then for three hours I ignored everybody, the doctors and nurses, everybody, Josh, they all had questions and I didn’t want to talk to ’em, right? I had my own questions in my head just bouncing around, am I a bad person? Does God hate me? What did I do wrong? Life deserve this. The bigger questions that I had was how can I be a husband and a father? I’m a father and of two children now, at the time was only one. My daughter, Chloe was six months old, and my wife, we were going on our fourth year of marriage. And I’m like, how can I be a functioning adult like this and take care of my family and be that role model? And the other question I had was just like, why didn’t I just die? And I struggled with it.

(05:46):
How is this better? And I’m not saying it was right or wrong, just that’s what was going on in my head. And then I made it back home. On the 17th of April. Kelsey came running up to me before she got to me. The doctors gave her a clipboard and said, Mrs. Mills’ right leg ripped open. His sutures have split. We have to cut two inches off his right leg. So that’s why if people look at me, my right leg has a longer steel piece pylon coming out, because when I got back, they had to cut my leg up two inches higher. And here’s my 23-year-old wife with a six month old on her hip getting a clipboard. And then she’s told, you got to silence so we can cut your husband up or he’ll die. So to imagine to go through that now in charge of my medical care.

(06:23):
So she signs it and she had to sit down. She was having a panic attack, which I don’t blame her, but the next day she came in, and Tim, I’ll be honest, I told her, I said, you don’t have to do this. You’re 23, I’m 25. We have a six month old, so whatever money we have, house cars, savings account, everything, it’s all yours. But financially, whatever I have the rest of my life is yours too, so you can go. And I dismissed her. I didn’t think she wanted anything to do with me. And she looked at me and she’s like, that’s not at all how this is going to work. She wanted handicapped parking for one, and she thought that it sounded pretty neat, but there it is. Thank you. It took me long enough. Geez. But no, she was upset with me. She’s like, that’s how it works.

(07:02):
We’re going to do the schedule. Tim, I have spent ever since, basically that day on the 18th of April, eight days after getting blown up, basically just trying to figure life out and try and do my best to inspire people, to motivate them. Even in my darkest times, I suffered in silence. I don’t think I did it the right way. I’ve only recently been very vocal about that, about how I kind of struggled with looking at myself in the mirror for six months, how mental health came in. And I just ignored him and told ’em, don’t come back. And I didn’t talk to him. And then I had a social worker, Christie, wonderful lady, and she wanted to help me. And I was just like, no, I’m not doing this. And I go to her office and the first time I sat there and we talked football, and then she asked her personal question, I said, Nope, I’m not doing it.

(07:47):
And then should we talk more football with me and then food? And I said, yep. And then she’d say something else. I was like, legitimately, this ain’t going to happen. I said, this isn’t the movies. I said, so I’m just wasting your time and mine. I said, but the Army says I got to be here. I’ll be here. So she let me go. I spent 19 months at Walter Reed and I got out and at Walter Reed, I was somebody, I was the guy that everybody looked at for motivation. I was a guy that went to the room to room with Chloe, strap on a wheelchair at the end of the night to see what they had going on. What can I help with? I had one guy that was about to lose his leg. He was in my unit and he was to, no, I’m sorry.

(08:17):
He lost both legs. He was about to lose his knee. And it’s a very big thing to have a knee or don’t have a knee. He was a private first class, and I was a staff sergeant. They had squad leaders there, and they were staff sergeants. And this guy was yelling at him, you need to come take a urinalysis test. And he was in a very important meeting with a wound care specialist about losing his knee potentially. And he was just all spun up and kind of crying and frustrated because this guy’s yelling at him and it makes no sense why this guy’s yelling at him. And as he’s yelling at him and stuff like that on the phone, he’s so frustrated. His therapist comes over and gets me, Hey, Travis Stephen’s having a problem. So I went over and talked to him and he told me the situation and I was like, okay, call your squad leader quick.

(08:57):
And he did. And I took the phone and he said, Hey, where are you at? I said, no, hey, this is Staff Sergeant Mills. You need to be your first sergeant officer before I get there. It’ll be the worst day of your military career. And I beat him there. And he came in and started yelling at me, and I lit him up. He had no idea what was coming because here I am in a wheelchair with a beard and he has no idea. I’m a combat leader of soldiers, and I have a fire inside of me that a lot of people don’t know and they don’t see, and I don’t like to lose my temper. But I lit him up and down and up again. And by the end of he was apologizing to Stephan. And then I got out of the hospital, I was like, who am I?

(09:31):
And it’s refining myself. And then Kelsey and I started the foundation. I started speaking and just found my way to serve still. And that’s kind of my story. And I don’t think I’m a hero because of people tell me I’m a hero. And usually if you get called a hero, you’re like, no, I’m just regular everyday person. That’s what I say. But if people want to call me a hero, it’s not because of anything I did in the military. I mean, I have awards for things I did heroic on the battlefield or whatever. But honestly, after I got the military was when I really started a lot of great work that I’m very proud of. I run a few businesses now. My nonprofits doing very well. I employ over a hundred people during the summer and I’m able to put food on their tables. And the truth is, I’m glad that people lean on me because I want to make sure I can do everything I can for them. And that’s a little bit the gist about me. And then Tim, I mean your life story. You got the two wonderful children, you’re amazing wife who can give it back to you better than anybody I’ve ever seen. Oh, yes. And on top of that, I mean, you were a teacher 17 years and some of the harshest conditions that kids can live in.

Tim Eisenhart (10:33):
Yeah, I would say it’s the worst of humanity as parents and then the kids, the resulting kids. You’re dealing with a fallout of that. But I wouldn’t compare that to the troubles and struggles that you had getting to the point where you are now, but knowing you the way I do it doesn’t shock me at all. A, that you were a strong enough willed person to get through that, and B, that you went up and down that guy for not doing what he’s supposed to do. So I know both of those sides of you, thank God. I don’t know it personally yet, but I think you are spot on. And I don’t know what you did on the battlefield. You never have to tell me that, but I believe that you were probably an outstanding soldier, but what you’re doing outside of your recovery, beyond your recovery has had a massive impact, not just on my family, but families all across the country and maybe even the world because there are people in other countries who know who Travis Mills is because of the work that you’re doing with the

Travis Mills (11:35):
Foundation. I think book was translated into Croatian.

Tim Eisenhart (11:36):
Is it really? Yeah. Did you speak Croatian because you narrated your book, so

Travis Mills (11:41):
Not that one. I didn’t. Your

Tim Eisenhart (11:41):
Book is really good.

Travis Mills (11:42):
Thank you. I made most of it up. That’s a trick. But no, and I think as serious as I was right there in the intro of who I am, being lighthearted fun, able to pivot, have a good time, that’s really important to me. And I tell jokes, it helps people feel comfortable with how I look, but also I think it’s going to help people on the podcast of the show here be able to open up because they’re like, oh, I’m just talking about my buddies. Nothing to be nervous about, but we’re going to tell some really incredible stories of people just doing really amazing things in the community. Some stories are going to just blow you away, and other ones are just going to be like, wow, that’s incredible that they were able to persevere through that. And to get there, I’m looking forward to the first season. You and me were just hanging out with some friends at the foundation’s, investment advisors and talking about what we can do, the stories that we can tell the people that we know, and the people that we can find. I am looking forward to inspiring people to just do that little bit more, to just see what they can be in their community and things are able to get done.

Tim Eisenhart (12:41):
And I hope the stories that are told with us as the vessel, this podcast is really the purpose of it, is to give others a vessel, give us a vessel to kind of spread the good stuff that’s happening out there through individuals that maybe they’d never heard of before. Or maybe they know who they were and they didn’t realize the unbelievable struggles that they went through, that they overcame and maybe give a little inspiration for when those times get tough. And you need a soldier through pun intended. Yeah.

Travis Mills (13:06):
Nailed it. Nailed it. Thank you. Good dumbest thing ever. I forget how hard the 19 months of recovery was. It’s like, oh, yeah, I recovered 19 months and I was out. And it’s like there was some real hard days and I forget that how painful it was. And just within the last year and a half, I did a little bit of my last bit, I feel like, of self-healing. Not that we’re not always working on ourselves. I would have one or two nights a month, and it wasn’t often, and it didn’t last long of being there in the dark in my bed, not being able to sleep and thinking, how is this rest of my life? What the heck? Why do I have norms and legs? I can’t teach my kids how to do sports. I can’t do a lot of things. Why is this what was picked for me? And then I went to a depth training foundation, actually died out of Texas, and my buddy David runs it and I helped him with creating it. He’s a good friend of mine and wonderful guy. And he has these counselors and they do a little bit more of the Kumbaya stuff, and I don’t like that. That’s not me. That’s

Tim Eisenhart (14:05):
Not

Travis Mills (14:05):
Want to talk feelings. Lost those with arms and legs. And I went to this barbecue and I was eating a bratwurst in the back, drinking a beer or whatever, a beer real man. And they were talking about, they were just talking about stuff. And this one guy goes, I sit in my wheelchair and if I’m not moving, I’ll start crying. He’s a very business driven guy, and he’s always doing something. He goes, but if I’m not doing something, I’ll start to cry and I can’t stop. The one counselor’s like, you got to sit with that. I was sitting in the back, I’m like, don’t get involved. Remember, you’re not here for that. Then the guy’s like, well, I don’t really want to. Then the guy’s like, yeah, you got to sit with that so you can figure out what’s happening. I was like, all right, I’m done.

(14:43):
Done with this damn prowess. I was like, Hey, he doesn’t have to do that. I said, because he’s never going to get the answer he is looking for. And this counselor’s like, whatcha talking? I’m like, he sits there in that wheelchair and he cries because he wants to know why. He wants to know why this happened. And the truth is, no matter what answer he’s going to get, it’ll never be enough of an answer. And I said, no matter what answer I ever get told for why I got blown up, I’ll never accept it. And that was, it was kind of freeing for me because I haven’t thought about why this happened to me anymore. I learned to accept that it did happen. It did happen. It happened to me. I lost my arms and legs, but I don’t ask why it happened, because I realized I’ll never get an answer that’s going to be like, oh, that makes, now that I know I can move on. We’re always evolving as humans, and we’re always finding stuff out about ourselves or about other people or finding things that inspire us. And I’m hoping that the American Heroes Show will help people out there, maybe just find something that inspires them that they didn’t even know that they were looking for. The inspiration and our people listening are just going to crush it for

Tim Eisenhart (15:49):
Us. I agree. Our

Travis Mills (15:50):
Audience, Tam, our

Tim Eisenhart (15:51):
Audience, our people of listening is a great way of putting it. Travis, if you are living in 14th century England, which we are not, but here, people of listening,

Travis Mills (16:02):
People of listening, of all listening,

Tim Eisenhart (16:05):
I think that should become a thing

Travis Mills (16:06):
Through all the shires.

Tim Eisenhart (16:07):
Is it going to become a thing?

Travis Mills (16:09):
I hope so. I want t-shirts, people of listening, American hero show. I’m fired up. We’re going to have a good time. We’re going to have some amazing guests. And Tim, I think you and I just talking is enough, but let’s bring some people on too.

Tim Eisenhart (16:21):
What’s cool is that we talk often and this time we get to record it.

Travis Mills (16:25):
And the best part is you give me assignments all the time, and

Tim Eisenhart (16:28):
I don’t. And you don’t do it. I don’t. And then I yell at you and

Travis Mills (16:31):
I procrastinate. You know

Tim Eisenhart (16:32):
What? I found the best way to get things done with you.

Travis Mills (16:35):
Call Craig. Call Craig. Yeah, my father-in-Law or my wife. Yeah, call Craig. That’s just the thing. I care. I care. You

Tim Eisenhart (16:45):
Care about what?

Travis Mills (16:46):
I got to use my nose for my phone, so it’s such a pain. So it’s better to call Craig. He sets things up. But

Tim Eisenhart (16:52):
I’m lucky, to be honest to God, I crap on you all the time. Thank

Travis Mills (16:55):
You.

Tim Eisenhart (16:55):
Thank you. Just because I love you, but I feel really fortunate to be hanging out with you and maybe interviewing some people that will inspire me and maybe be part of something that’s going to be cool for the world.

Travis Mills (17:05):
Oh, absolutely. We’re going to change the world.

Tim Eisenhart (17:08):
How are people going to listen to this thing?

Travis Mills (17:10):
Well, people of listening are going to be able to find it on all the platforms in the world that they listen on as people and

Tim Eisenhart (17:18):
To, or cast of pod as you would put it.

Travis Mills (17:22):
No, I wouldn’t. That sounds stupid.

Tim Eisenhart (17:23):
No, that sounds weird. That’s like,

Travis Mills (17:24):
Sounds so dumb, Tim. But no. Hey guys, I appreciate everybody willing to take a chance on Tim and I to bring you guys fantastic content. And behind the scenes, I’m not supposed to say it, but Mike, Renee and Alex are over there,

Tim Eisenhart (17:40):
Dynamite

Travis Mills (17:40):
People. They give us thumbs up or thumbs down and we know if we’re doing good or bad. And the faces Renee makes

Tim Eisenhart (17:46):
You forgot about the sideways

Travis Mills (17:47):
Thumb. The sideways thumb. I just forget about thumbs all together cause I ain’t got ’em. But thanks a lot for rubbing in guys. Yeah, yeah. But

Tim Eisenhart (17:54):
What fingers are he holding up now? Anyway, moving on.

Travis Mills (17:57):
Either way, I hope you guys tune in.

Tim Eisenhart (17:58):
So we appreciate you guys being with us today. My name’s Tim Eisenhardt and this, here’s my buddy, Travis Mills, my American hero, and we hope you guys listen to the American Hero Show from here on out. And I hope you guys like and subscribe and we’ll see you on future episodes of the American Hero Show.

Travis Mills (18:15):
That’s right. But I won’t really see you. We’re just going to be there.

Tim Eisenhart (18:19):
Oh yeah. You’re not going to really see ’em because they’re people of listening.

Travis Mills (18:21):
People of listening. A big bunch of champions. Be part of the people listening crowd because that’s what we’re starting a new movement. See you then. People have listening.

Voice over (male) (18:33):
For more on how you can help our country’s heroes, go to American Hero show.com.