THE BLOG

From a small South Carolina town to Clemson University, Lt. Col. Jason Pike shares how Dr. Loyd Blanton's innovative teaching methods helped him overcome learning disabilities and develop critical thinking skills that shaped his 31-year military career. This powerful story reveals why applied learning trumps rote memorization and how to focus on knowledge that truly matters in life.

My father called himself a 'bastard child,' but despite his harsh beginnings as a drifting orphan who stole food to survive, he became the best father I could ask for. His story of rising from extreme poverty to creating the loving family he never had shows how pain can fuel purpose. Through books and determination, he transformed his tragic circumstances into a father's legacy that shaped my entire life.

I Am a Soldier Against All Odds, and what follows is a genuine and frank account—the good, the very bad, and the very ugly—of my thirty-one years in uniform. Diagnosed at age seven with an acute learning disability and failing first grade, I was told that none of it would be possible. My story is one of perseverance, and a refusal to quit, no matter what—a characteristic gifted to me by my father.

My father, who climbed from poverty to provide for his family, taught my brother and me unconventional lessons through watermelon theft, midnight snacks, and mischievous adventures—always with the instruction 'Don't tell your mama!' These secret moments shaped our understanding of masculinity, survival, and family while creating a hidden world between fathers and sons that contrasted sharply with the structured environment my mother maintained.