War Was the Easy Part | Eduardo Garduno

Eduardo Garduno, a combat veteran, shares his compelling life story, detailing his upbringing, military service, and the profound challenges he faced transitioning back to civilian life. From a childhood marked by neglect and a desire for attention to deployments in Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq, Garduno's narrative is a raw and honest account of resilience, struggle, and the search for purpose.

A Challenging Upbringing and the Search for Attention

Garduno describes his childhood as one where his parents, both working long hours, left him largely unsupervised. His father, an immigrant from Mexico, instilled a strong work ethic but also struggled with alcoholism, which deeply impacted young Eduardo. "My dad was an immigrant from Mexico... at five years old, he was working fields," Garduno recounts (2:11). This demanding work schedule meant his parents were "too busy working to actually take care of me," leaving him "left alone to my own devices" (2:42). This lack of attention at home led him to seek it elsewhere, often through disruptive behavior at school. "I wasn't getting the attention at home so I looked for it at school," he explains, admitting he'd be "louder than everyone else" to get noticed (4:55).

He shares a poignant early memory of his father's rare display of emotion when Eduardo, as a five-year-old, almost hanged himself trying to retrieve a toy from a tree. His father's reaction, a silent, tearful hug, was the first time he saw his father as an "actual father figure" (7:15). This moment stands in stark contrast to his father's usual demeanor, heavily influenced by alcohol. Garduno recalls his father's alcoholism as a coping mechanism, leading to financial struggles and difficult choices. "He has $20, what's he going to spend it on? Alcohol or buying us more food?" (4:02). This early exposure to the consequences of alcohol, coupled with a sense of guilt over an incident involving his uncle's DUI, fostered a deep-seated resentment towards authority figures, particularly the police. "I carried that guilt for way too long... and then just from there, that hatred towards police officers really grew" (9:21).