His views on our constitution and about his childhood in Central Florida. So i was actually born in winter haven, florida but i grew up in a really tiny town called auburndale which is not so small now. So a real small town, grew up with my grandparents. My mom and dad like many families in Central Florida had issues with substance and drug abuse so both of them were in and out of prison for a lot of my life. And so i was adopted by my grandparents and raised and you know group to appreciate that small town feel but also the nuclear family. Describe your childhood. My childhood in the very beginning was sometimes difficult. Bouncing house to house, not having your parents there at all times. Kind of being pawned off on friends or relatives. It was really my grandparents who stepped in and said, he need stability and a solid home. And thats when they chose to take me out and adopt me, they took me for a summer originally and really enjoyed it and grew up learning how to hunt and fish and live off the land. It was a very traditional kind of Central Florida southern family. How do you think that shaped you . When you experience these types of things, one, you have a choice to make, you can perpetuate the cycle or make a decision to try to break the cycle and fight for the people. Thats why i was so driven toward service. I think that is why helping others has always been something that was a really fundamental part of who i am. Its just about Public Service and continuing that leadership. Do you remember when you made the conscious decision . Was there someone or something that sparked it . When i was in high school playing sports was really a big part. Being part of a team really matter. Having that camaraderie. When i was six and years old, i had already made the decision i was going to go serve in our military. I didnt want my grandparents to shoulder the burden of the cost of college. And continuing to have to struggle through. My grandmother was a welder. My grandmother did here on the weekends. Was a stayathome mom. I felt i had been blessed and that was my time to pay it back and give back to the community and the nation. Tell us about your military service. Was honored to serve in the United States army. Ive got over seven years in iraq. Ive got almost three years in afghanistan. Somalia and the portland areas as well. Even in ukraine at certain times. Was blown up twice by roadside bombs in 2006 and am honored to be a bronze star recipient. Are those that dont know what is jsoc . Joint special operations come in. What does that mean . What were your response abilities . I was a combat team met and i was lucky enough to cross train and work directly with the teams. What is the impact of the explosive incidents . With the incidents obviously its one of those things that it takes you back for a moment. But it was really about the muscle memory and the fundamental training that you get. You react without even having to think at that stage. That is a credit to the tremendous training and preparation are United StatesArmed Forces Get to experience. It was a great experience even though it sounds like its terrible. It really shows you how prepared and how trained you really are. That was a good understanding of, i am ready and supposed to be here. We had three out of the five guys in one of our vehicles i got severely injured. Being able to prevent loss of life was an important thing. And a chance to be a part of that team. What was the training that kicked in and one of those incidents . Describe it. We do a lot of trainings, whether it is react to chaos drills or react to contact or how we actually incur on an ambush or our combat medical training. For the individual instrument its their cls or combat lifesaver skills. These are all things that immediately kick in. Also identifying and mitigating the threats. Making sure that we actually take control of the situation when you are in an ambush. Because fire superiority is really the ultimate thing that you have to gain. All these different trainings that culminate over years of service, when that comes into effect and you actually see how it saves lives, that is a credit to all those before us we developed these types of curriculums. How do you think thats prepared you for congress . I think im less prepared for congress that i was for combat but ive got a lot more comfortable i felt more comfortable overseas that i did for years. Why . Overseas you have an idea of who the enemy is. Who is trying to go after you. I joke around with people all the time and say i dont know if i shouldve of warm body armor more overseas. Its kind of a tongueincheek military type of banter back and forth with all my military brothers here. Congress is one of those areas that if you understand Public Service, if you understand what that also truly meant, for a lot of us, with the door formality where we swore our oath in office, but it never expires but the one we took in uniform never expires. America is a very unique country were even a child who was born into a central socioeconomic class that doesnt define them. We are equal opportunity not equal outcome. I think that is really key. If i could be even an example for one child who grew up in a very similar background to what i have and they see that hard work and opportunity is something they want to do, they can do it, you are not limited just by where you grew up. You had a campaign ad where you compared democrats to tell about al qaeda. Do you view democrats as the enemy . It was more of a reference of mandatory things. Its basically trying to say where you have tyrannical and overreach by federal governments or leadership. We are supposed to be a nation of freedoms and rights and liberties. That includes medical rights as well. For me it was really trying to explain the fact that theres far too much federal government overreach. We too often go into the state and individual rights and violations of of our 10th amendment. And i think that we if we truly believe in physical conservatism if we truly believe in our constitution and emitted federal government, we should be striving more for that than taking away the rights and liberties of americans. When did you visit ukraine . 2015. I went over there and helped with just advising and training. Not in a government or military, but trying to actually help the people. These are people who were selling their businesses, some of them were car salesman or farmers who believed in protecting their nation and families. Back then they were called red separatists even though they were the russian military. I think the government should have taken a bigger stands in explaining what this international violation was and we wouldnt have potentially been where we are at now. Can you explain the tie between you being a constitutionalist and your military service . I think that everything about her military service is based on the protection and defense against all enemies foreign and domestic. Its really about protecting our inalienable rights. Our Founding Fathers really created this so that our godgiven rights could not be trampled by tyrannical rule. We didnt want to see what we saw under the rule of england and the rule of the king. When i talk about my military service or what im doing right now, what im doing rows an extension of my original uniforan it is still continuing to serve our nation and serve our people. Democrat Seth Magaziner represents Rhode Islands cond Congressional District in the 118th congress, where hes one of nearly 80 new u. S house membs. A former Public School teacher before tt