FEATURE
most during the height of the COVID-19 shutdown, when
they were trying to get a Paycheck Protection Loan for their
business or get through to the unemployment office and our
office was the only one answering the phone.”
He says there was no time for rest during those months.
“Like everyone else, we were working from home in shifts
and staff from my office would answer the phones at 3 a.m.
as quickly as we did at 3 p.m. When you couldn’t get anyone
on the line, you could get in touch with us.”
ALWAYS TRYING TO HELP
Though he loves the service to community and country,
Mast says one of the biggest honors comes, not when he is in
Washington with all its pomp and ceremony, but rather when
he is home and someone stops him to chat. People from Palm
Beach to Vero Beach will stop to say hello, and almost always,
they call him by his first name, not his title.
“I don’t take that disrespectfully,” he says. “I love the fact
that people feel like they know me as Brian and they feel that
level of comfort.”
He says the level of familiarity and the desire to help others
he sees in the community is indicative of our makeup as
American citizens.
“As Americans,” Mast says, “we try to help. It’s what we
do. We simply help through a church; when there is a natural
disaster, we pack up a trailer of goods; we just do that
and share our resources and time here and everywhere. That
defines us. I try to make sure it defines being around our community,
too.
“If I can help by being there at an event, even a small group
meeting, that is how we pay it forward.”
For Mast, that means working tirelessly in Washington and
Florida, both legislatively and by attending as many events
and activities with constituents as he is able. This often makes
life challenging for Mast and his wife as well as their four
young children, ages 11, 9, 6 and 2.
“We started homeschooling so we could travel with the
kids,” he says. “Sometimes I bring one with me to Washington
and when I can, that child gets a special education and
trips to the many memorials in D.C. Even the time flying is
educational for both me and the children.”
When he is not working for his constituents, Mast says his
biggest hobby is looking for the next adventure, whether it’s
the zoo, a shark dive or going to an event to help others.
“Who I am at work is who I am when I’m home,” he says
unapologetically.
UNDERSTANDING HIS PURPOSE
Helping to protect the water and the citizens of his district
may be a different kind of battlefield adventure and one that
Mast admits was the furthest from his mind when he enlisted
in the Army, but his intention is to do the best job he can with
every tool in the box.
“When I was injured, the most difficult thing is losing our
purpose,” he says. “If you lose that, it’s devastating. As I was
going through the recovery process, I understood that my
purpose was to protect my community. The best defense I
could give was not going to be the day I was injured but what
was in front of me.
“There is no doubt about it; the principles carry over in
the way that you fight. That’s one of the places I connect
most well with the people who give me the honor of representing
them. My commitment hasn’t changed; the battlefield
has. I nearly gave my life once before for my country
and I still would. I hope the people I meet feel the same way
about me.” E
While recovering
from catastrophic
service-related
injuries in 2010,
Mast's father advised
his son that the
greatest service he
could give to his
country and the best
example he could
set for his children
was yet to come.
16 Port St. Lucie Magazine