A Mushroom Cloud Over Small Town America | Adam B. | Ep. 441

About this episode

Adam B., an active-duty police officer and military veteran, shares his harrowing experiences from childhood through his service and the impact of a chemical exposure incident.

Adam B. is an active-duty police officer in Ohio, a 17-year military veteran, and a former M1 Abrams tanker who deployed to Iraq and Korea. He grew up in the foster care system after being removed from a violent home in Cleveland at age four, was adopted into a rural family that changed his trajectory, and went on to serve in the Army, the National Guard as an MP, work corrections at the Cuyahoga County jail, earn a spot on a SWAT team, and build a career in patrol. This conversation covers a lot of ground. Adam walks through what it was like growing up with 12 siblings in a house that got raided by the DEA. He talks about what drew him to the military, what it felt like to hold a dying child overseas, and why that moment still makes it hard to hold his own kids. He describes working the tenth floor of one of Ohio's roughest jails, responding to a domestic violence murder in front of three children, and why most patrol officers are dangerously undertrained compared to SWAT. Then the conversation turns to East Palestine. Adam was activated with the National Guard and sent to the site of the Norfolk Southern train derailment. He stood 200 yards from a controlled chemical detonation…

People in this episode

Host: Andy Stumpf

Guest: Adam B.

Topics covered

• military service
• police work
• foster care
• domestic violence
• chemical exposure
• mental health

Keywords

• military veteran
• police officer
• foster care
• chemical exposure
• East Palestine
• memory loss
• SWAT training

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Norfolk Southern, Cuyahoga County, SWAT, National Guard

Places: Ohio, Cleveland, East Palestine

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