---
id: 20261007_063500_arnie-360men-mugshots-and-coffee-jerry-carter-tape
title: "360MEN: MUGSHOTS and COFFEE: Jerry Carter"
category: Videos
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youtube_id: A0hIkAokJKs
youtube_url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0hIkAokJKs
youtube_title: "360MEN: MUGSHOTS and COFFEE: Jerry Carter"
youtube_channel: '@scotomaville'
youtube_channel_name: SCOTOMAVILLE
youtube_channel_url: https://www.youtube.com/@scotomaville
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youtube_description: >
  This episode of 360MEN Mugshots and Coffee features a chat with Jerry Carter in College Station Texas. Jerry talks about his loving parents and an absentee father and the death of his mom and how the military affected the direction of his life. He talks about how he met his bride Condi and how she challenges him to get out of his comfort thinking into uncomfortable action. Jerry's father-in-law became a strong role model for him to learn from and he sees that influence in his three grown kids and numerous grandchildren. Listen well and take notes. Jerry shares several deep thoughts between lifetime memories.
source_url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0hIkAokJKs
source_date: 2018-04-29
watch_stem: 360men-mugshots-and-coffee-jerry-carter-daniel-comp-scotomaville-college-station-interview-army-faith-family-legacy
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summary: "A 984-second video dated April 29, 2018, the second Mugshots and Coffee conversation. In College Station, Texas, Daniel Comp, now co-founder of Intelligent Netware with Angelina Musik-Comp and steward of Scotomaville, sits down with his old friend Jerry Carter. Jerry talks about an absent father, his mother's death when he was 16, what he witnessed in 1960s Birmingham, how the Army rebuilt his confidence, and how his wife Condi and her father reshaped his faith and family. Page written from the barn transcript and original description; Arnie did not watch the video."
keypoints:
- "Daniel opens the second Mugshots and Coffee episode with his old friend Jerry Carter in College Station, Texas."
- "Jerry's father traveled for weeks at a time, and his mother died of cancer when he was 16, so he learned self-reliance early."
- "He says God always had his back, and it takes only a little faith to say, God, I can't do it."
- "In 1960s Birmingham he saw Black children hosed and beaten, rejected the prejudice he was taught, and made lifelong friends across racial lines."
- "After flunking out of Auburn, he joined the Army at 19, learned electronics in Thailand, and discovered he could learn."
- "He met his wife Condi in 1968, married four months later, and was pushed by her faith into uncomfortable action."
- "Her father became his real role model; at 75 Jerry calls his three children his greatest joy."
- "Honesty: written from the cleaned barn transcript and original description; Arnie did not watch the video."
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- 360men
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- mugshots-and-coffee
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- army
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question: "Where can I watch Daniel Comp's 2018 \"360MEN: MUGSHOTS and COFFEE: Jerry Carter\", and what is it about?"
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transcript_note: "Cleaned transcript from the Asker barn (kb/Video/Transcripts/360MEN MUGSHOTS and COFFEE Jerry Carter.md, dated 2018-04-29). It is cleaned speech recognition and may differ from the spoken words; one word is marked unclear. Arnie did not watch the video."
description: "Over coffee in College Station, Jerry Carter tells Daniel Comp how loss, 1960s Birmingham, the Army, and his wife Condi and her father shaped his faith and family."
pipeline_filename: VIDEO_360men-mugshots-and-coffee-jerry-carter-daniel-comp-scotomaville-college-station-interview-army-faith-family-legacy.md
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# 360MEN: MUGSHOTS and COFFEE: Jerry Carter

In April 2018, in the second Mugshots and Coffee episode, Daniel Comp sits down with his old friend Jerry Carter in College Station, Texas. Jerry talks about a loving but absent father, losing his mother at 16, what he saw in 1960s Birmingham, how the Army showed him he could learn, and how his wife Condi and her father shaped his faith and his family.

## Key lessons

- Loneliness can teach self-reliance without closing you off; Jerry kept his faith and his love for his parents.
- Seeing injustice with your own eyes can undo what you were taught.
- Failing once doesn't mean you can't learn; one person saying "put your mind to it" can change everything.
- Choose people who challenge you into uncomfortable action.
- Look for a mentor who can cut to the chase without making you feel small.
- The legacy that matters is the one you can see in your children.

## Transcript

_Cleaned transcript from the Asker barn, dated April 29, 2018. It is cleaned speech recognition and may differ slightly from the spoken words. Arnie did not watch the video._

**Daniel:**  
Welcome to another episode of Mugshots and Coffee. I’m with an old friend Jerry Carter in College Station, Texas.

**Jerry Carter:**  
What’s that thought that you know… hey, trying to look back at my life. That’s what this — your question is — what exactly am I trying to say? Because I’ve had such a good life with not much… you know, my dad — the biggest thing that I missed about him was he traveled a lot. He was a traveling salesman for a large national company so he wasn’t home about usually gone four to five weeks at a time. Looks like then, you know, well five weeks later you see — you knew we didn’t have cell phones and you couldn’t talk. And this was a time when my mother was dying. She had had cancer and from about the time I was 14 to 16 — like I say he was gone a lot of the time anyway — but I had nobody to really talk to about what I was feeling. That’s tough. No. So but I learned that from an early age. You know, I enjoyed church. I enjoyed being around Christian people. I was a Christian at a young age, you know, and that’s usually a lot of our testimony but I really didn’t start getting into understanding that until I was 15-16 because I found out I decided that the Lord would really give me a place to sound off. Did I get direct answers? I don’t think so. But my life and my friends led me to — I felt comfortable with my father not being there and then having to live that. Also living with my mother dying in the house. I felt sorry — not sorry, it’s a bad word — but I felt sorry for folks who didn’t have good parents, a mother or father, you know, that they were gone, they didn’t care about their kids. Well they both cared deeply about me. They dedicated me when I was born to the Lord and that they wanted me to be one of their two boys that they poured their life into and they did. Okay, even with him being gone he was always involved in music. He loved to play the organ, loved to play the accordion, he played the piano, played the harmonica. He just was a really talented musical kind of person. Some of that rubbed off — not much but a little. I learned to play the accordion because of my dad and it gave me — that’s another thing that gave me peace during this time of him being gone, nobody to talk to, and my mother being able to listen and understand but she was in a lot of pain. So anyway I learned, like a lot of people do, that you have to get to a point depending on yourself rather than others because others for whatever reasons have a life and have to do the things they have to do. And as a young kid, you know, I understand that but it did — when my mother passed away when I was… it really got to be me ‘cause dad was gone a lot and he was a very loving person and he did not like not having a wife so he met my stepmother and that really put sort of a permanent wedge in our relationship. We were still close but that caused me to step away to some degree and say okay it’s up to you to take it on your own. Just what I did.  

Since that time I have literally been — I think to some great big deal you know in charge of them all in life — but I always loved the Lord. I’ve always been close to him. I always knew that he had my back and a lot of people don’t understand how simple that is. It’s just one little bit of faith that you turn yourself over. You say God I can’t do it.  

I grew up in Alabama, okay? I don’t think you knew that but I did. I grew up in the worst time to live in the South — being in Birmingham, Alabama — race riots, hate. That was the time I grew up in and part of that reached me after I left. I don’t know, maybe you remember seeing the pictures of Black kids coming out of the churches in Birmingham on this particular square in downtown Birmingham and being hosed down by the fire department, beat with clubs by the police department. I sat there on the building steps in the Southwestern Bell building and saw that. This is not right. This is wrong. And that had probably, as far as the world goes, my biggest impact because I grew up — I hated Black people. That’s what you did in the South, you know. They were just slaves and you’re taught that — very evil thinking. I even remember my church where we went to church one Sunday, right after this happened, they passed a church rule or ordinance that they wouldn’t allow Black people into the church. They would turn them away at the door and tell them to go somewhere else. From what I had learned about the Lord I said again that’s not right. That made a big, big impact in my long-term life because I’ve been involved with the Black community, Black friends, close friends that I’ve loved. I was in the military with Black… I had enough animosity I just felt bad they were struggling under what they had just suffered from.  

When I graduated from high school I managed to go to summer school two years during my high school because I didn’t think — I wasn’t at the time smart enough to figure out that… oh well I thought I was dumb okay. So anyway when I got out I managed to get accepted to Auburn so I survived there for about six-eight weeks until I flunked out. So I just up and left and my dad didn’t know where I was or anything but I had just gone back to Birmingham to my grandmother’s. So I decided about two-three years later — I had to work. I got a job working for the Army Air Force Exchange Service doing computers back in the day of cards and huge sorters and that kind of stuff. But anyway again I decided it’s not what I want to do for my life. My brother said well do you all join the military because if you don’t join you will be drafted, you will end up in Vietnam. And I thought well God changed my course, I might as well pick my own route. So I joined the Army. I was 19. Yeah 19. And I was in the Army for three years. Enjoyed the time. It’s what taught me really — they taught me that they owned course, mister, educate yourself, learn a trade. And I did that. Started taking classes in the military. I was in Thailand. Fortunately I did — since I joined up I ended up in electronics which I’ve loved most of my life. And I started taking courses and I started making use… I said wait a minute something’s not right here that’s not what I did but anyway I stayed with it. I was in for three years and enjoyed the time. I attribute that period of life to my success today more than anything else because I could see what was ahead. Alright so when I got out that’s when I went to college. You can do it now’s the time.  

What was it that shifted your belief about that you could be smart, that it could be… the [unclear: "surgeon," possibly "sergeant"] in this was in Thailand — older guy about 48-50, older. Yeah that’s really old when you’re 19 or 20. He says you have to make up your own mind. Get in the military — you make rank in two years that you don’t get until you’re five or six or seven years in the military. That was an E-5 sergeant in two years. And I said well I just could never do it in school. He says hey kid, put your mind to it. And so I put my mind to it. Like I said I started taking courses. Too good. When I got out I had to go to Auburn and apply for — not reinstatement but clearing my record. My having been in the army and talking to the Dean he says yeah we can take care of man. I changed everything from failure to withdrew faintly which removed it off of my grades and moved it out of my record. And so when I did start to school I started with a clean page. So that’s when from that point forward I started applying myself. It’s the beginning of the computer world as we begin to know it today. Still it was in cards and punch cards but I learned that I loved it and from that point forward I just continued to move forward with that. It’s always been part of my life ever since. I’ve been in business. I’ve already added computers, used them in all the… ‘cause of the time I spent in the military which says okay you can do this. Military’s harder to run people, situations. Yeah you didn’t — if you wanted to be nothing you just wanted to get through three years now you could just slide through it’s a private but I didn’t. So you know who are you talking about role models?  

Okay my dad was a good role model and I have a lot of role models through pastors from all of my churches. We became good friends. I was always involved in church after I got out of the military but the biggest change in my life was when I met my wife. I met her at Cameron. That was where I was going to school when I saw — who was that? A bit at the BSU. I was the director, assistant director of the facilities there and so my job — I lived there and my job was to meet people, greet people, all that kind of thing. And she walked up in September of 1968 and she said hi my name is Condi I’d like to meet you guys. There’s no anyway taking that into it. Four months later we got married. Yeah that was quick. And I was having more fun at that time in my life as far as being out of the military, being in school, doing what I liked and enjoying friends. That have — I was much different about because I was older. I was like four years older than everybody else because I’ve been in the military for the three years and two years before I went in. So anyway I met my wife and on our first date which was that weekend she said well what do you want to do? You want to go to the movie? Won’t go. She said well how about we go downtown and witness to the soldiers. I said uh-huh that sounds like something that I can do but do really impress me. And so there was the turning point as far as the rest of my life goes because through her — who I love and she loves the Lord like nobody I’ve ever known except her — her father became my real role model because he was a Christian man. He loved God. He preached. He taught. He never left God out of anything. No matter if he was driving down the road he’d pick up hitchhikers and witness to them. He had a strong belief in the basis of God and the Bible then how you build your life on that level. He was really my mentor like we talked about — someone who came into my life when I was 25 and I literally loved him and I loved him. My mother-in-law too — they were both wonderful people but his ability to cut to the chase without making me feel bad or you know able to witness — you taught me a lot about life and what I needed to do. It’s still hard for me because I’m not necessarily outgoing in person. As I said when Condi said let’s go witness I thought wow that’s not something I’m really comfortable with. I loved — I love the Lord but hey telling people about it that was difficult. But I got through it. I got over it and I continued on and I continued to stay close to the Lord. During this time with my wife, my family — I believe it carried over definitely to my children because I had three children, two boys and a girl and I was fortunate almost always with him all the time that they’re growing up until they literally went off to college. That was their house so as I go talk to him whether I gave him good advice — I have to think there sometimes I did sometimes I didn’t — I always told him that you have to rely on God and I love it. I love them. They’re the greatest. They’re the greatest single joy in my life at 75 of anything I’ve had before you.

[Watch 360MEN: MUGSHOTS and COFFEE: Jerry Carter on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0hIkAokJKs)

_Read the essay: [Mugshots and Coffee with Jerry Carter](/a/ARNIE_360men-mugshots-and-coffee-jerry-carter-daniel-comp-college-station-absent-father-mother-lost-birmingham-army-thailand-condi-faith-legacy.html)_