About this episode

Wes Mathews shares his journey from military service to working at DMR Drones, discussing the challenges veterans face and the impact of American-made drones in agriculture.

Today's guest is Wes Mathews — a Louisiana native, former Army cavalry scout, Iraq veteran, former CrossFit coach, and now a veteran at DMR Drones, a company that's quietly becoming one of the leading drone manufacturing companies in America. Wes grew up in central Louisiana, surrounded by a multi-generational military family — his grandfather served Korea, stepfather in the National Guard, younger brother served in Iraq with Wes and would later become a Blackhawk pilot, and the list goes on. According to Wes, joining the Army wasn't a decision so much as a foregone conclusion. What wasn't planned was everything that came after: the years of mental health struggles between combat deployments, the near-miss in his personal life that only family and friends pulled him back from, and eventually, the unlikely path that led him to DMR Drones — an American-owned company building ag and defense drones out of Lafayette, Louisiana. Wes said it best, "[DMR] is more interested in what my skill sets can do for them rather than changing me to fit the company's needs." In this episode, I want you to listen for a few key threads: first — what it actually looked like to come home from a National…

People in this episode

Guest: Wes Mathews

Topics covered

• veteran experiences
• drone manufacturing
• mental health
• military family
• agriculture technology

Keywords

• veteran
• drone
• mental health
• agriculture
• military
• technology
• manufacturing

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: DMR Drones

Places: Louisiana, Lafayette, Louisiana

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