Achieng’s Trek Through Life

Soul Toucha

Welcome to my podcast another extension of my poetic journey. Here I will offer another bridge to my poetic pieces that I have been writing, publishing, performing and hoarding since 1997. Make sure you tune in on an regular basis as I will be dropping on a random basis. My poetry covers many subjects that I have experienced throughout my life so be ready to experience the good, bad and ugly of life. Not only my life but life in general. Don't forget to follow me on all social media platforms.

  1. Oct 24

    My Military Journey — Episode 7: From Alternate to Deployment | The Road to Iraq

    My Military Journey — Episode 7: The Road to Iraq What happens when you're told you're only an alternate for deployment, only to discover that you're now the one going? In Episode 7, Soul Toucha the Poet recalls the events leading up to his 2004 Iraq deployment with the Maryland Army National Guard. After being promoted to Sergeant (E-5), he initially believed he wouldn't be deploying. But when the originally assigned Soldier was unable to go, his circumstances changed almost overnight. From personal struggles and complicated relationships to deployment preparation at Fort Drum, traveling through Iceland, and arriving in Kuwait, this episode explores the uncertainty of preparing for war. He also recalls a violent storm that disrupted their living quarters and the unsettling reality of reinforcing military vehicles with improvised metal armor before entering Iraq. Sometimes the military journey takes you somewhere you never expected to go. This is the beginning of that chapter. Written, produced and hosted by: Soul Toucha the PoetSeries: My Military JourneyEpisode: 7Production: 360 King Media 00:00 — Welcome to My Military Journey: Episode 7 00:56 — Why I'm Recording This Episode Again 02:02 — Promotion to E-5 and Deployment Notification 03:20 — Personal Struggles and the Decision to Stay 04:26 — From Deployment Alternate to Primary 05:34 — Getting My Affairs in Order 06:51 — Transferring Units and Preparing for Deployment 09:05 — Range Training, CBRN and Rules of Engagement 09:52 — Leaving Maryland for Fort Drum 10:20 — Flying Through Iceland to Kuwait 11:11 — Deployment Changes People's Perspectives 11:34 — Jody, Relationships and Deployment Concerns 15:34 — Arriving in Kuwait and the Tent Storm 16:45 — Improvised Humvee Armor Before Iraq 17:47 — Entering Iraq and What's Next #MyMilitaryJourney #Episode7 #IraqWar #IraqDeployment #OperationIraqiFreedom #ArmyNationalGuard #MarylandNationalGuard #USArmy #MilitaryStories #VeteranStories #MilitaryPodcast #IraqVeteran #MilitaryHistory #FortDrum #Kuwait #SoulTouchaThePoet #360KingMedia

    My Military Journey — Episode 7: From Alternate to Deployment | The Road to Iraq

  2. Oct 6

    My Military Journey Ep. 6 — My Chemical Corps Equipment

    My Military Journey continues—but Episode 6 is a little different. I've talked about being a Chemical Soldier, training at Fort McClellan and serving in the smoke platoon at Fort Hood. This time, instead of just telling you about the equipment... I'm showing it to you We start with the M1059A3 Smoke Generator Carrier, the tracked vehicle tied directly to my days as a smoke-generator operator and later a driver. Then we look at the Humvee-mounted smoke system and several other pieces of Chemical Corps equipment, including the Coyote, M31 BIDS, Fox reconnaissance vehicle and Stryker. Some of these I trained on and operated. Others I never did—and I'll tell you which is which. It's a walk through some old-school Chemical Corps history before My Military Journey moves into a much more significant chapter: The deployment years. Chapter Markers 00:00 — My Military Journey: Episode 600:12 — Taking a Step Back Before the Deployment Years00:37 — THIS Is What I Was Talking About00:45 — The M1059A3 Smoke Generator Carrier01:12 — From Smoke Generator Operator to Driver01:35 — What All This Equipment Did02:02 — What “Buttoned Up” Means02:28 — The Smoke Generators02:57 — The Fog Oil Tank Was HUGE03:26 — How We Actually Made the Smoke03:51 — I Loved Driving It…Not Riding in Back 😂04:20 — Whatever You Do, DON'T Throw Track04:54 — Taking the Track Apart05:25 — Engine, Transmission & Drive Wheels06:05 — Maintaining This Thing Was WORK06:19 — My Fort Hood Smoke Platoon Days06:38 — The Humvee Smoke Generator System06:56 — NOW You Can See the Fog Oil Tank07:44 — Maintaining the Smoke Generator08:08 — We Didn't Have These at Fort Hood08:28 — THAT Was My Baby!08:43 — The Version I Remember Operating09:11 — The M56 Coyote10:40 — A Different Kind of Smoke System11:09 — Another Mechanized Smoke System11:37 — How This One Was Different12:13 — I Wish We Could Get Inside These12:54 — Two Chemical Jobs I Never Did13:27 — Biological Integrated Detection System (BIDS)14:02 — What Chemical Soldiers Could Do14:35 — The M31 BIDS Up Close15:09 — Biological Detection16:25 — Time to Check Out the Fox16:57 — The Fox Reconnaissance Vehicle17:29 — YES, This Thing Swims18:06 — What the Fox Was Designed to Do18:38 — The Stryker19:05 — My First Time Seeing One This Close20:02 — Old-School Chemical Corps Equipment20:40 — Those Smoke Systems Were My Babies21:00 — NEXT: The Deployment Years

    My Military Journey Ep. 6 — My Chemical Corps Equipment

  3. Oct 3

    My Military Journey Ep. 5 — Finding My Way Back Into Uniform

    My Military Journey continues. In Episode 4, I left active duty in 1995 convinced I was done with the Army. Then I came home to Maryland. At 22, I was trying to figure out civilian life, work, the VA—and honestly, I was making some pretty reckless decisions along the way. My first VA claim went nowhere, I bounced through jobs, got myself fired from one, and eventually met someone who convinced me to give the military another shot. In December 1997, I joined the Maryland Army National Guard. What followed were years of frustration, stalled promotions, missing guidance, a commander who changed the trajectory of my career, a second MOS, leadership school and finally making E-5 in 2003. And by the end of this episode... 00:00 — My Military Journey: Episode 501:13 — Questions From Episodes 1–4? Ask Me02:03 — Maybe This Is a Bonus Episode 😂02:50 — Back Home After Active Duty03:17 — I Wasn't Thinking About Going Back In03:36 — Trying to Figure Out the VA04:21 — Nobody Was Teaching Me How to File a Claim04:48 — My First VA Claim: NOTHING04:56 — Now I Needed a Job05:35 — 22 Years Old & HIGHLY Irresponsible 😂06:00 — Texas Tags, No Insurance & a Geo Prizm06:42 — Somebody Stole ALL My Clothes?!07:54 — Getting a Job at the GAP Warehouse09:01 — How I Got Myself FIRED 🤦🏾‍♂️10:08 — I Never Made THAT Mistake Again10:48 — Moving On to Procter & Gamble11:25 — Meeting the Guy Who Changed My Military Journey12:09 — He Talked Me Into the National Guard12:55 — Wait…What Happened to Horn & Horn?! 😂13:14 — December 1997: I'm BACK IN13:30 — Joining the 29th Infantry Division13:56 — And the Military Frustration Returns14:35 — No Chemical Slot for Me14:51 — Put Into the Ammo Section15:07 — But I Couldn't Get Sent to School16:14 — Years Go By…Still No Promotion17:00 — The “Good Old Boy” System & No Guidance18:05 — The Commander Who Changed Everything18:25 — I Was Thinking About Getting Out AGAIN18:52 — “I'm Going to Take Care of You.”19:05 — Why I Reenlisted19:50 — She Kept Her Word20:00 — My Second MOS: Transportation Management20:36 — Working AND Going to School Full Time21:18 — Leadership School & the Road to E-522:29 — Damn…I Went Through a LOT of Jobs 😂23:15 — Another Job, Another Frustration24:00 — Achilles Injuries & More Life Changes24:29 — Let's Fast Forward24:48 — 2003: I Finally Make E-525:11 — And Then Iraq Enters the Story…25:37 — We're Going to Stop Right Here25:55 — Episode 6 Is Going Into a New Era #MyMilitaryJourney #MilitaryJourney #USArmy #Army #ArmyNationalGuard #NationalGuard #MarylandNationalGuard #29thInfantryDivision #ArmyLife #MilitaryLife #ChemicalCorps #CBRN #ArmyStories #MilitaryStories #VeteranStories #MilitaryPodcast #ArmyPodcast #VeteranLife #MilitaryHistory #SoulToucha #360KingMedia

    My Military Journey Ep. 5 — Finding My Way Back Into Uniform

  4. Sep 30

    My Military Journey Ep. 4 — My Active Duty Years

    My Military Journey continues. I made it through training. Now it was time to actually be a soldier. In Episode 4, I pick up near the end of training and follow the journey to my first duty station at Fort Hood, Texas, where I joined the 68th Chemical Company and became a smoke generator operator—and eventually a driver. Part 4 But the story doesn't stop there. I eventually became fed up with Fort Hood and arranged a stateside swap to Fort Knox, Kentucky. Marriage, debt, rank problems, relationships and military life began piling up. An attempt to get out of training unexpectedly led to my first experience with therapy and the realization that I had things going on internally that I needed to address. Part 4 Part 4 By March 1995, I was headed back to Maryland. My active-duty chapter was over. But my military journey was far from finished. Chapter Markers 00:00 — My Military Journey: Episode 400:24 — Back at Fort McClellan00:30 — Let's Talk About Battle Buddies01:12 — “TOES ON LINE!”01:40 — They FLIPPED Our Bunks?! 😂02:10 — Putting Everything Back Together02:35 — My Other Battle Buddies03:05 — The Howard the Duck Joke 😂03:36 — Chemical Training Gets Serious03:48 — My First Helicopter Ride04:00 — Live Nerve Agent Chamber04:13 — Crawling Under LIVE FIRE04:40 — Road Marches & Those Damn Hills04:52 — I MADE IT THROUGH TRAINING!05:17 — Where Am I Going Next?05:40 — Germany? Korea? Johnston Island?06:00 — Please Don't Say Fort Hood…06:08 — Yep. FORT HOOD. 😂06:45 — Arriving at My First Duty Station07:13 — She Came to Texas…but I Never Saw Her07:26 — My First Older Woman Experience08:08 — She Acted Like She Didn't Know Me?! 😂08:17 — 68th Chemical Company08:36 — Welcome to the Smoke Platoon09:10 — How the Smoke Track Worked09:42 — I HATED Being Inside That Thing10:03 — Nobody Liked the Smoke Platoon 😂10:29 — “I Don't Like Getting My Hands Dirty”10:52 — Moving Up to Driver11:04 — Driving Around Fort Hood Was FUN11:21 — Fort Hood: 1992–199411:37 — I Was FED UP12:00 — What Was a Stateside Swap?12:18 — My Bright Idea: Fort Knox 🤦🏾‍♂️12:27 — Everything I Could Fit in a Geo Prizm12:54 — Arriving at Fort Knox13:05 — Wait…They're Sending Me to KOREA?!13:21 — I Didn't Want to Go13:49 — Signing the Statement14:00 — Becoming an NBC NCO14:23 — Then My Personal Life Got Complicated15:24 — Trouble, Debt & Getting Demoted16:17 — Running Into Someone From High School16:39 — The Trip to Mental Health That Changed Something17:36 — My First Time in Therapy18:09 — I Realized I Had Some Stuff Going On18:29 — Everything Was Compounding18:53 — “I'M DONE. I WANT OUT.”19:20 — Leaving With an Honorable Discharge19:45 — There's A LOT of Fort Knox I'm Skipping 😂20:14 — Want a Fort Knox Deep Dive?20:43 — Packing the Geo Prizm & Heading Home21:00 — My Active Duty Chapter Ends21:14 — The Military Journey Is NOT Over

    My Military Journey Ep. 4 — My Active Duty Years

  5. Sep 24

    My Military Journey Ep. 3 — Welcome to Basic Training

    My Military Journey continues. It's late November 1991. I'm 18 years old, headed from Maryland to Fort McClellan, Alabama, and I really don't know what to expect from Army basic training. Then the bus arrives. One minute the drill sergeant is talking normally. The next minute he's yelling for everybody to get off the bus—and all hell breaks loose. 😂 In Episode 3, I look back at those first days at Fort McClellan, in-processing, learning basic soldier skills, Christmas leave, an unexpected family revelation, relationships during training, and some memories that still stand out more than 30 years later. This is My Military Journey — Episode 3: Welcome to Basic Training.

    My Military Journey Ep. 3 — Welcome to Basic Training

  6. Sep 20

    My Military Journey Ep. 2 — How I Ended Up in the Army

    Before there were deployments, uniforms, awards, or 30+ years of military service, there was an 18-year-old walking around Miami trying to figure out what the hell he was going to do with his life. I had no car, no license, no job, no money, and no real transportation. Then one day, while walking miles looking for work, I saw a military recruiting station. The funny part? Then the Army recruiter came outside. Next thing I knew, I was choosing an MOS and preparing to leave for Fort McClellan, Alabama. This is My Military Journey — Episode 2: How It All Started. I was headed to the AIR FORCE recruiter. #MyMilitaryJourney #MilitaryJourney #USArmy #Army #ArmyLife #MilitaryLife #ArmyStories #MilitaryStories #ArmyRecruiter #AirForce #FortMcClellan #ArmyBasicTraining #ChemicalCorps #CBRN #MilitaryBrat #VeteranStories #MilitaryPodcast #ArmyPodcast #MilitaryHistory #SoulToucha #360KingMedia 🇺🇸 MY MILITARY JOURNEY — EPISODE 2 Here's the crazy part about a military journey that eventually lasted 30+ years: I was headed toward the Air Force recruiter when an Army recruiter saw me and basically said: “Nah…come over here.” That conversation changed the direction of my life. 👇🏾 Episode 3 takes us to Fort McClellan in 1991. What do you want to hear about from that part of the journey? I WAS GOING TO THE AIR FORCE. 😂

    My Military Journey Ep. 2 — How I Ended Up in the Army

  7. Sep 20

    My Military Journey Ep. 1 — After 30+ Years, Is It Time to Hang It Up?

    From joining the Army to active duty, the National Guard, deployment, the Air National Guard, and the road toward one final decision. After more than 30 years of military service, I'm reaching a point I knew would eventually come: Before I make that final decision, I want to document the journey that brought me here—from why I joined the Army, to active duty, the National Guard, deployment, a transition to the Air National Guard, back to the Army Guard, and everything that happened along the way. This is Episode 1 of My Military Journey—the beginning of the story, told as best as I remember it. Is it time to hang up the uniform? Before I make that final decision, I want to document the journey that brought me here—from why I joined the Army, to active duty, the National Guard, deployment, a transition to the Air National Guard, back to the Army Guard, and everything that happened along the way. This is Episode 1 of My Military Journey—the beginning of the story, told as best as I remember it. Chapter Markers 00:00 – Looking at This Uniform Differently00:25 – How Many Times Have I Actually Worn This?00:50 – 30 Years of Service…And My Uniform Isn't Updated 😂01:24 – This Uniform Is Reaching the End01:44 – I Think It's Time to Hang It Up02:27 – My Body Already Made Its Decision03:11 – I'm Taking You Through My Military Journey03:39 – What Made Me Join the Army?03:46 – Active Duty → National Guard04:00 – Deployment, Air National Guard & Back Again04:30 – Why I Want to Document This Story05:28 – I Originally Wanted to Write It06:08 – The Pictures & Footage I Wish I Had06:49 – Maryland Snowstorms, Humvees & First Responders07:40 – I Want to Take Y'all on This Journey07:59 – I Think It's Time08:06 – It's Been a Long, Good Ride08:23 – Turning It Over to the Next Generation08:44 – Going Out on a Good Note09:42 – Dress Blues: The End of an Era09:57 – Some Run Out. Some Hold On.10:29 – Some Gave the Ultimate Sacrifice10:59 – Sometimes You Have to Know When It's Time11:31 – Remember Shining Boots? 😂12:27 – Why This Decision Isn't Easy12:58 – When the Military Has Been Part of Your Life This Long13:29 – When Your Body Starts Talking, You Listen14:15 – We're Taking a Trip Through My Military Life14:53 – This Is Episode 115:01 – What Do YOU Want Me to Talk About Next? #MyMilitaryJourney #MilitaryJourney #Army #USArmy #ArmyNationalGuard #NationalGuard #AirNationalGuard #MilitaryLife #MilitaryCareer #MilitaryRetirement #ArmyLife #MilitaryStories #VeteranStories #MilitaryPodcast #VeteranPodcast #MilitaryHistory #MilitaryService #Deployment #PassingTheTorch #EndOfAnEra #SoulToucha #360KingMedia

    My Military Journey Ep. 1 — After 30+ Years, Is It Time to Hang It Up?

  8. Mar 17

    After 50: The Honest Conversation You Have With Yourself at 4AM

    Sometimes the most honest conversations we ever have… are the ones we have with ourselves at 4AM. In this late-night reflection, I found myself sitting at my computer thinking about life, age, purpose, and the reality of moving forward after decades of service and experience. After over 30 years connected to the military, finishing my bachelor’s degree at 52 years old, and spending 13 years at the same rank, I started asking myself some real questions: • When is it time to move on?• When do we accept reality versus chasing expectations?• How do you know when you’ve done your part? This isn’t a pity party.This isn’t a cry for help. This is just one of those honest 4AM conversations with yourself that happens when the world is quiet and your mind starts reflecting. If you've ever been awake in the middle of the night thinking about life, purpose, aging, and the next chapter… this conversation might resonate with you. Welcome to the real thoughts that come at 4AM.

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About

Welcome to my podcast another extension of my poetic journey. Here I will offer another bridge to my poetic pieces that I have been writing, publishing, performing and hoarding since 1997. Make sure you tune in on an regular basis as I will be dropping on a random basis. My poetry covers many subjects that I have experienced throughout my life so be ready to experience the good, bad and ugly of life. Not only my life but life in general. Don't forget to follow me on all social media platforms.

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