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Speaker 2: I am the one and only your host rad that's
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Speaker 2: in your brain. And with that said, today's guest has
Speaker 2: something special that's close to him, that's close to me,
Speaker 2: It's probably close to a lot of us, you know,
Speaker 2: talking about veterans. We have so many of these conversations
Speaker 2: on our software podcast. So Jim Whaley, former Colonel correct, Yes,
Speaker 2: I am welcome to the show.
Speaker 3: Thank you, ran, pleasure to be here.
Speaker 2: It's a pleasure to have you and your great smile
Speaker 2: lights up the screen. Mission roll call is something that
Speaker 2: you found and transition into after your military career. You've
Speaker 2: moved into Mission roll Call, but prior to that, I
Speaker 2: want to I always ask my guys, how old were
Speaker 2: you when you decided to enlist in the military.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I was a freshman in college and I was
Speaker 3: on the track team at lock Haven State College now
Speaker 3: lock Haven University. I ran into a couple guys that
Speaker 3: were in RTC and they suggested that I look at that,
Speaker 3: and so I think I was probably about eighteen nineteen
Speaker 3: years old freshman in college, joined our TC. Was fortunate
Speaker 3: enough for them to give me a scholarship and paid
Speaker 3: for the rest of my college, which was the only
Speaker 3: way I was going to make it through. And then
Speaker 3: went in the army, which I thought was going to
Speaker 3: be for four years, and get out right, I went
Speaker 3: to aviation. So I came out as an aviator at
Speaker 3: Fort Rutger now Fort and Oversell. Thought I was going
Speaker 3: to do that for four years, but ended up loving
Speaker 3: the mission, loving the people I worked with, and traveled
Speaker 3: all over the world and made a full.
Speaker 2: Career of it. So as an aviator, I believe your
Speaker 2: resume says master aviator. Could you elaborate a little bit
Speaker 2: on the master aspect? I mean I get that there's
Speaker 2: you know, people are flying, but how did it master?
Speaker 2: What is that? Yeah?
Speaker 3: So that just is given to you if you've gotten
Speaker 3: enough hours and enough years on active flight status and
Speaker 3: luckily for me, almost my entire career, I was an
Speaker 3: active flight status and flew constantly. I was an instructor pilot,
Speaker 3: taught night vision goggles, combat skills, advanced combat skills, so
Speaker 3: you know, I flew over twenty five twenty six hundred hours, wow,
Speaker 3: a lot of that under night vision goggles, and had
Speaker 3: a wonderful career. Met my wife who's a west Point
Speaker 3: graduate in a Chinook pilot.
Speaker 2: That's legit. I love west Point let alone, she's a
Speaker 2: Chinook pilot, you know.
Speaker 3: And in fact, we have three daughters in two of
Speaker 3: which you're in the active duty and one serving as
Speaker 3: in a non for profit helping military. So we're kind
Speaker 3: of committed to the cause here at the Waiy Clan.
Speaker 2: A very selfless oversight of yourself with your family there, sir.
Speaker 2: Just like giving up a lot of your puzzle pieces
Speaker 2: to build your family, right, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: If you saw that meme, I kind of like it.
Speaker 2: It's like the dad pulls his puzzle pieces from his
Speaker 2: back to build his son. Yeah, you know exactly right.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's so much of it is nurture, a
Speaker 3: lot of its nature, but you know, you you want
Speaker 3: to still that pride in your kids. And luckily for me,
Speaker 3: I had three wonderful daughters that decided to continue to
Speaker 3: serve their country. Right, and my youngest daughter graduated from
Speaker 3: West Point like her mom. And in fact he's I
Speaker 3: know he's up. And in fact, we're leaving later or
Speaker 3: early this tomorrow morning to go see her in Korea
Speaker 3: where she's stationed.
Speaker 2: Wow. Well, congratulations to her. Big props. Okay, and thanks
Speaker 2: for being a part of our leadership in the military.
Speaker 2: To your daughter, we don't mind the dog. My cat
Speaker 2: might just jump up here and want to be pet
Speaker 2: as well.
Speaker 3: I have a golden retriever who thinks he's much more
Speaker 3: than just a golden retrier.
Speaker 2: Because he is. Because he is. We know who runs
Speaker 2: that house. Oh yeah, I was told animals only talk
Speaker 2: to us when they want to eat. That's right. I
Speaker 2: think my cat's meowing at me, loving me. She's just like,
Speaker 2: I'm either going to eat you or feed me. That's right. Now.
Speaker 2: You say under night vision, I just think of like
Speaker 2: night stalkers, right, the guys that fly a lot of
Speaker 2: night vision style. I mean, all pilots should be trained
Speaker 2: with you know, night vision.
Speaker 3: They are, they are and It's an important aspect of
Speaker 3: how Army aviation takes the fight right and delivers our
Speaker 3: customer to the location they need to be. And it's
Speaker 3: an integral part of when you start as an early
Speaker 3: aviator right out of flight school. And of course you know,
Speaker 3: the United States Army owns the night, especially when it
Speaker 3: comes to be able to deploy operators all over the world.
Speaker 2: A hundred percent. I mean it's just those green eyes
Speaker 2: and you know, just dropping them down. It's way You're
Speaker 2: way cool. I'm trying to keep it inside. How cool
Speaker 2: you are? Right, this is me being like, you're so cool. Brok. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you're welcome. And what was your favorite thing to fly?
Speaker 3: You know, I loved every airframe I was for to fly.
Speaker 3: I started out in Hughey's and then when I went
Speaker 3: to Germany, I became a fifty eight pilot because I
Speaker 3: was in the Armored Division. They needed scout helicopter pilots
Speaker 3: to kind of get the cobra's back then to where
Speaker 3: they needed to be. And then came back as an
Speaker 3: instructor pilot in Hughey's and then went to Panama as
Speaker 3: a black Hawk guy, and then went back to Germany
Speaker 3: as a black Hawk maintenance guy. So I had a
Speaker 3: wonderful career to be fortunate enough to be in the
Speaker 3: seat flying whole time. My last assignment was at West
Speaker 3: Point to run communications public affairs for them during the
Speaker 3: bi centennial. But I was still on flight status because
Speaker 3: I had night vision goggle skills and I was able
Speaker 3: to still stay in flight status and fly. So that
Speaker 3: was fun.
Speaker 2: That's awesome, and you still fly today for.
Speaker 3: No you know, I don't. I just look at that
Speaker 3: as a great chapter in my life and I've moved
Speaker 3: on and I went into the corporate world for a
Speaker 3: number of years, about fifteen years in corporate America after
Speaker 3: I retired, and always focused on corporate communications, public affairs,
Speaker 3: public relations. Worked for two Rand Communications for two fortune
Speaker 3: five hundred companies, so had great teams around me and
Speaker 3: enjoyed that part of my life. And now in the
Speaker 3: nonprofit world, mission rules coming back to where my roots are.
Speaker 3: It's an important mission. I remember as a lieutenant passing
Speaker 3: the hat to my commander right of throwing in twenty
Speaker 3: bucks so we could make sure all the troops had
Speaker 3: a good Thanksgiving and that need is still there. Unfortunately,
Speaker 3: you know, we have almost twenty five percent of our
Speaker 3: active duty in a place where they're food insecure, and
Speaker 3: that means that they are not getting the nutrition that
Speaker 3: they need. They don't have the financial capabilities to do that.
Speaker 3: That's just one aspect, and I just feel our nation
Speaker 3: can do much better.
Speaker 2: You know, I have a friend who's in the military
Speaker 2: currently right now, young man probably pushing twenty five, okay,
Speaker 2: struggling for a home, struggling to stay off the street,
Speaker 2: not by choice, just by situations, okay, you know, to
Speaker 2: where I'm like, how can I help?
Speaker 3: What?
Speaker 2: What do I have as an asset for this guy?
Speaker 2: You know, our circle's like, how do we just He's like,
Speaker 2: can I just have your Can I just stay in
Speaker 2: a bathroom? You know, I'll just stay there and I
Speaker 2: won't be a problem. I'll just keep a small caught
Speaker 2: And I'm like, I know you will. I know you will,
Speaker 2: and I know you won't be a problem. I know
Speaker 2: you'll be that guy. Right. It's like, you know, is
Speaker 2: there and he's in and he has work and it's
Speaker 2: still and you know, I can only imagine somebody who's
Speaker 2: maybe transitioned out, only knew the life of you know,
Speaker 2: a regimented situation here's your three squares a day. You're
Speaker 2: gonna do pet in the morning. You got your clothes,
Speaker 2: you got your you got your shampoo from the PX.
Speaker 2: You know that you can afford. But then you're out,
Speaker 2: You get out, you transition out. You're like, I'm out
Speaker 2: of the military. But then where.
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, I think there's an enormous challenge for our
Speaker 3: society to address this. Right when you think about there's
Speaker 3: about eighteen and a half million veterans in our country.
Speaker 3: Half of those are not affiliated with any not for
Speaker 3: profit or organizations, so they've left the military and they're
Speaker 3: completely gone. So we're trying to harness that through our
Speaker 3: mission roll Call, because we want to be the voice
Speaker 3: of veterans and bring these issues to the right people,
Speaker 3: to share those stories with decision makers at the state, local,
Speaker 3: and federal level, but also to engage the American population.
Speaker 3: You know, there's only zero point four percent serve and
Speaker 3: only one percent of any kind of connection to the military,
Speaker 3: so there's a chasm between what the average American knows
Speaker 3: about the military. With that said, the majority of Americans
Speaker 3: eighty eight percent, eighty nine percent support the military. They
Speaker 3: and that's what's great about the United States. We've always
Speaker 3: honored and respected our military, with some brief interludes in
Speaker 3: their Vietnam and some other times, but we've always had
Speaker 3: a great respect for our military and honored them. And
Speaker 3: we all saw it as kids, and we see it
Speaker 3: today on Memorial Day and what have you?
Speaker 2: Just recently Veterans Day Right, we had day here.
Speaker 3: You know, it is clear we have a lot of
Speaker 3: work to do because out of that eighteen point five million,
Speaker 3: over a million are homeless.
Speaker 2: Right of veterans that's a law.
Speaker 3: Still have a high suicide rate, you know, twenty two plus,
Speaker 3: and there's numbers that indicate that that is much higher
Speaker 3: than that because in many cases the veteran is not
Speaker 3: identified as.
Speaker 2: A veteran right.
Speaker 3: So we have an enormous challenge our nation needs to face,
Speaker 3: and we need to hold our elected officials and others accountable,
Speaker 3: including the VA, on what they're doing and what they're
Speaker 3: going to do to address these issues. I think it's
Speaker 3: vitally important that we take care of our active duty
Speaker 3: and we take care of our veterans. It is the
Speaker 3: fabric of our nation, literally, right. If you pull that strain,
Speaker 3: it starts to unravel and you can only look at
Speaker 3: the newspaper, let's say, or the news or even any
Speaker 3: kind of feed that you get and understand that the
Speaker 3: world is not getting any safer. We have a lot
Speaker 3: of adversaries around the world. We are struggling right now
Speaker 3: to hit recruitment goals. The armies down fifteen thousand have
Speaker 3: had to adjust their folks on where they are stationed
Speaker 3: and have to rotate, and of course that up tempo
Speaker 3: now forces more people out because they can't handle it,
Speaker 3: and they're not addressing that issue. The senior leadership is
Speaker 3: not addressing that next.
Speaker 2: So they're not they're not giving like the olive branch
Speaker 2: to the kid who may fail the as fab getting
Speaker 2: in and it may need some help. And they're like,
Speaker 2: you know, I was talking to another guest, a former colonel,
Speaker 2: and he said, you know, rad, maybe what the military
Speaker 2: should do is offer like a first tier program for
Speaker 2: somebody who may be struggling trying to get a career
Speaker 2: in the military. They go meet a career counselor at
Speaker 2: the recruiting office. They talk to the recruiter and he's like, oh,
Speaker 2: you just don't pass you no good. You know what's
Speaker 2: not passing? Maybe I didn't do my mechanical enough, you know,
Speaker 2: can you educate me? Maybe I need to do a
Speaker 2: little more PT. I like what the Marines do. They
Speaker 2: have that Pulei program where you want to come into
Speaker 2: the Marine Corps, you're going to kind of start stepping
Speaker 2: into physical training. They want to make sure they're setting
Speaker 2: you up for success when you get to boot because
Speaker 2: they know the mental part is in your head. The
Speaker 2: physical part that just doesn't come overnight. You got to
Speaker 2: be able body. You got to be willing to run
Speaker 2: your two mile, you know, minimum qualification, your planks, your
Speaker 2: sit ups, your you know, your physical fitness test. That's
Speaker 2: probably like one of the biggest hindrance I think people
Speaker 2: sucking on soda pop these days, is you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I mean, I don't know what the I
Speaker 3: was looking at my notes here. I had it, but
Speaker 3: I don't have it on the top of my head,
Speaker 3: and I don't want to misquote, but I think, sure
Speaker 3: it's less than nine percent of our population can serve,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 2: So that's say to our metrics what we demand for
Speaker 2: a military person.
Speaker 3: And your point is is maybe we need to adjust
Speaker 3: those metrics, And I wholeheartedly agree. I mean, we have
Speaker 3: to think about that. And we also have to think
Speaker 3: about how do you go in the military for a
Speaker 3: few years, go to the civilian world, maybe get some
Speaker 3: more skills, and then come back to the military. You
Speaker 3: try to do that now as next to impossible. You may
Speaker 3: be able to go in the reserves and National Guard,
Speaker 3: but you won't be able to get back on active duty.
Speaker 3: So we need to rethink that. I mean, I look
Speaker 3: at my own career. When I retired, I was forty two.
Speaker 3: I had so young. I just made six below the
Speaker 3: zone and they let me go and I went into
Speaker 3: the business world, and then I was there for a
Speaker 3: few years, and I thought, boy, if I knew what
Speaker 3: I know now back as a as a young colonel,
Speaker 3: or I could really affect the way we communicate as
Speaker 3: an organization. But of course there's no way to do that,
Speaker 3: and I was and it was not even an option,
Speaker 3: so it was really no real thought for that. I
Speaker 3: just continued with my civilian career.
Speaker 2: What do you think about the sixty five mandate? You know,
Speaker 2: where if you're sixty five, you're done. You know what
Speaker 2: if your brain's sixty six and you're like.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you know, I know, darn well, I know
Speaker 3: sixty year olds. I'm close to sixty two now. I
Speaker 3: still stay physically fit. I still run, I still work out,
Speaker 3: and I know when I was on active duty there
Speaker 3: were some twenty year olds that were not physically fit.
Speaker 3: So I mean, we just have to adjust things. But
Speaker 3: I think more importantly, we have to think about how
Speaker 3: we are actually paying and taking care of the military.
Speaker 3: And I want to bring that up and spend a
Speaker 3: little time on it, right if you don't mind. And
Speaker 3: that is when I went to active duty, and I
Speaker 3: went to my first platoon that had, you know, eighty
Speaker 3: plus guys in it, and they were in the barracks.
Speaker 3: The majority of those eighty guys that were in the
Speaker 3: aviation unit lived in the barracks. They were single guys,
Speaker 3: always causing green, but all good guys. They would spend
Speaker 3: their salary on going downtown and having a drink. And
Speaker 3: I was in Germany at the time, so you know,
Speaker 3: many a couple of beers was maybe these guys and
Speaker 3: maybe a couple more. But they were all good fellows
Speaker 3: at their goals and I loved them. But they were
Speaker 3: in the barracks. So when it got to the end
Speaker 3: of the month, and maybe they didn't have a lot
Speaker 3: of money, they could still go to the chow hall
Speaker 3: and get food. They had a warm cot or bed
Speaker 3: to sleep in, they had you know, the little infrastructure
Speaker 3: that is, they got sick, somebody could take care of them. Well,
Speaker 3: now the majority of those people that are joining junior
Speaker 3: listed are coming in with families. They're coming in with
Speaker 3: a dependent who's a grandmom. They might be bringing their
Speaker 3: parents in hiss dependence. And now you're paying them thirty
Speaker 3: five thousand dollars a year and hoping that's going to
Speaker 3: work out and it's not. And then there's organizations that
Speaker 3: are not making it easy for them to be able
Speaker 3: to go to a food bank. Maybe they don't have
Speaker 3: a car, all those sort of things. Need to think
Speaker 3: about the salary because the salaries not where it should be.
Speaker 3: And you know, there has been some senators that have
Speaker 3: brought this to the military's attention. Senator Ernst from Iowa,
Speaker 3: for example, pushed for junior lists to get more pay.
Speaker 3: The generals responded, no, we don't want to do that
Speaker 3: because we'd have to raise everybody's pay. No, the focus
Speaker 3: there was on junior ualistic coming in the military. Let's
Speaker 3: let's solve one problem at a time. That's right, But
Speaker 3: they obviously didn't embrace that.
Speaker 2: They can't embrace anything right now. Over there, they're the
Speaker 2: Congress is just a complete shuttered situation. They're not even promoting.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Senator Tubberville's.
Speaker 2: Yeah, man, I don't even want to like get political
Speaker 2: on this, but I'm like, what are you doing? Man?
Speaker 2: I get over it?
Speaker 3: Yeah. You know, there's a lot of challenges, and I
Speaker 3: think the average American just doesn't see those challenges. And
Speaker 3: you know, and I get some great feedback from my
Speaker 3: daughters and people I still know on active duty and
Speaker 3: so and my team does.
Speaker 2: I for sure as hell. I'm never going to tell
Speaker 2: your daughters what they can or cannot do with themselves, sir.
Speaker 3: That's right.
Speaker 2: I want you to know that right now. And if
Speaker 2: they're listening to this, and if any of my listeners
Speaker 2: are impressionable right now, Yeah, women rule the world. Don't
Speaker 2: you ever forget that? And I promise you every single
Speaker 2: one of us came from a vagina. Okay, prove me wrong. Okay,
Speaker 2: And until you could prove me wrong in the comments
Speaker 2: down below, I don't want to hear it. Okay, Women
Speaker 2: rule the world, sir, and I'm just going to leave
Speaker 2: it at that.
Speaker 3: Well, certainly they certainly do in my household.
Speaker 2: And in my household, maybe we're just four.
Speaker 3: For women in the house, Sir. I knew what my
Speaker 3: role was, yes, and that was to protect and provide,
Speaker 3: and that's about it. It's maybe, but I feel, I
Speaker 3: feel we're at a crossroads as a country, as a nation,
Speaker 3: and because there's so many outside influences right now on
Speaker 3: the world stage. I mean, we see that, you know.
Speaker 3: I mean, China has one hundred and fifteen infantry divisions,
Speaker 3: thirty five artillery divisions, about twenty five armored divisions. The
Speaker 3: United States Army has ten divisions total. That's just one
Speaker 3: potential adversary. Let's look at Iran and then Russia. I mean,
Speaker 3: there's a lot of adversaries or potential adversaries out there
Speaker 3: on the world stage. And now we have a military
Speaker 3: that's not hitting the recruitment numbers, and we have twenty
Speaker 3: five percent of them that are food insecure. You don't
Speaker 3: have to be no stradamus to look into that situation
Speaker 3: and say, oh, this is probably leading to something that's bad.
Speaker 3: And I feel that where a mission roll call comes
Speaker 3: in is sharing those stories, sharing those challenges, amplifying the
Speaker 3: message that we're hearing from our veterans and their families.
Speaker 3: We're not just we just don't have military membership. We
Speaker 3: have family membership, spouse membership. As we were talking before
Speaker 3: in the green room, we shared, you know, spouses. Your
Speaker 3: mom was a military spouse, and my wife when she
Speaker 3: got out of the military, she was still in the military.
Speaker 3: She just wasn't getting paid for it, right she was.
Speaker 3: We were moving kids around all over the world. Out
Speaker 3: of twenty years in the military, we spent eleven overseas,
Speaker 3: so she wasn't get paid for that. But certainly she
Speaker 3: was involved with helping enlisted troops, of being in organizations
Speaker 3: that gave back to the organization, the Army organization. So
Speaker 3: there's a lot of things going on, and I think
Speaker 3: we just need to understand we're not in a great
Speaker 3: place as a military. We have great people that you know,
Speaker 3: what never changes is that the people that joined the military, you, myself,
Speaker 3: every one of your listeners that have or been involved,
Speaker 3: we join it because we want to serve our country
Speaker 3: and we want to be part of something bigger than ourselves.
Speaker 3: We all wrote a blank chat that said we're willing
Speaker 3: to dive in the defense of our country. That has
Speaker 3: never changed and hopefully never will change. Right, but the
Speaker 3: support of those people has changed. And I was speaking
Speaker 3: last night to the Daughters of the American Revolution here
Speaker 3: in South Carolina, and I thought I would talk to
Speaker 3: them a little bit about what the conditions were at
Speaker 3: the Revolutionary War and where we are now. And I
Speaker 3: pointed out to them that after the Revolutionary War, the
Speaker 3: government could not pay the troops. Many of them didn't
Speaker 3: receive anything, didn't receive back pay, didn't receive medical care.
Speaker 3: In some cases, states gave them land in lieu of cash,
Speaker 3: but of course that land was in territories that were
Speaker 3: already held by Native Americans. So it just wasn't to
Speaker 3: give me. You had to survive to get that land.
Speaker 3: And so we've had this history of relying on these
Speaker 3: important people to maintain our freedoms, to win our free
Speaker 3: but then we don't take care of it.
Speaker 2: Right. We expect them to be there and expect this.
Speaker 2: You know, body armor around America, right, everybody expects it.
Speaker 2: That we're America, we have it. But if you're right,
Speaker 2: you're one hundred percent we're right, you know, we got
Speaker 2: to take care of those that come out. And fortunately
Speaker 2: I've been to other I've been to England and seeing
Speaker 2: veterans over there talking about how they have a lack
Speaker 2: of care and a lack of the hospital like we
Speaker 2: have a VA administration. At least they have like charities
Speaker 2: over there that they have to get vetted through to
Speaker 2: get their benefits, to get help with, you know, through
Speaker 2: a charity, and that's if the person's passionate about their
Speaker 2: charity and can get them into their over Here, at
Speaker 2: least we do have the hospitals that we can complain
Speaker 2: about and that we can talk. It's a student hospital
Speaker 2: and you know a lot of these folks there, but
Speaker 2: at least we have it, okay. And joining the military,
Speaker 2: I knew that was existing, you know, as a military brat,
Speaker 2: I think I had a little bit more insight right
Speaker 2: to the military world. Like you mentioned, I never really
Speaker 2: thought about that. I think, oh, hey, doesn't everybody wear
Speaker 2: a green beret on base? Right? You know that's what
Speaker 2: that war? But no, no, it's it's crazy, man. I
Speaker 2: don't sometimes.
Speaker 3: And I also feel like one of the reasons why
Speaker 3: all the services are struggling with recruitment is because well,
Speaker 3: if you're a parent and your kid comes to see
Speaker 3: you about this, and then you hear about these horror
Speaker 3: stories of the VA not responding, not taking care of
Speaker 3: their own, you're probably less apt to tell your kid
Speaker 3: to go join an organization that's not going to take
Speaker 3: care of you if something goes bad. I mean that's
Speaker 3: what parents think, right, parents think and risk reward? Right,
Speaker 3: wasn't a risk associated with this for my loved one?
Speaker 3: And then, of course the other piece is when you
Speaker 3: hear stats of people on active duty not being able
Speaker 3: to make ends meet, not being able to provide for
Speaker 3: their family, that you can understand why some say, well
Speaker 3: maybe that's not a great career move for you, and
Speaker 3: we need to change that dialogue. We need to change
Speaker 3: that paradigm.
Speaker 2: You know. I remember my mom and dad having a
Speaker 2: conversation jokingly around the table in the eighties about his paycheck.
Speaker 2: He's like, you know, VICKI I think it's about two
Speaker 2: dollars and twenty seven cents an hour. Because he was like,
Speaker 2: I'm twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.
Speaker 2: What's my paycheck? He's like, so for someone who jumps
Speaker 2: out of an airplane, and it's right yeah, exactly two
Speaker 2: bucks an hour on active duty, you know, and that
Speaker 2: was in the eighties. But I'll tell you, we did
Speaker 2: have a house, you know, but we did have to use.
Speaker 2: My dad and momare Mormon, and I was raised in
Speaker 2: the Mormon faith the latter day saying, I'll call it
Speaker 2: what they wanted to be called. So and we had
Speaker 2: to use the bishop's warehouse because of y'all. I want
Speaker 2: to blame the tithing because they'd give the ten percent
Speaker 2: of the church, right, and then they would be looking
Speaker 2: for the ten percent to eat right, you know, because
Speaker 2: everything else has been depleted. But they're so faithful. But
Speaker 2: then we'd have to go and shop for the lettuce
Speaker 2: and the church cheese. And you know, I drank powdered
Speaker 2: milk bro you know. So my dad's like, oh, you
Speaker 2: don't know, kids eat cheerials with water. I was like no,
Speaker 2: He's like, watch, watch, watch, watch, And he put it
Speaker 2: in my bowl and he puts the water in it,
Speaker 2: and he's like, to eat it. I just sat at
Speaker 2: the table eating cereals with water. Yeah, He's like, your
Speaker 2: stomach's not going to know any difference, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's tough, dad, But a dad that did what
Speaker 3: he needed he.
Speaker 2: Had to do. Yeah, you had to give me, and yeah, I.
Speaker 3: Just feel that our country can do a lot better
Speaker 3: with that when you look at the federal budget and
Speaker 3: you look of where where money goes and what. Oh really,
Speaker 3: but I think the only way we do that is
Speaker 3: through organizations. The one that I'm fortunate enough to be
Speaker 3: part of a mission roll call, is to take all
Speaker 3: that what I mentioned earlier, out of that eighteen and
Speaker 3: a half million veterans right now, only half are affiliated
Speaker 3: with an American legion or via wor or what have you.
Speaker 2: Mostly out there right VFW and.
Speaker 3: You know, sometimes the VFW and the in the American
Speaker 3: legions and others, you know, they don't have the ability
Speaker 3: to take all those messages, all the things they're hearing
Speaker 3: and bring it to their constituents up at Capitol Hill.
Speaker 3: They have to synthesize that they have to take one
Speaker 3: hundred and eleven different points of contention and narrow it
Speaker 3: down to two or three that they think they can
Speaker 3: make a difference. And what we're trying to do is unfiltered,
Speaker 3: listen to the veteran through polls, through a number of
Speaker 3: other social media abilities to get those messages and then
Speaker 3: bring it straight to decision makers and be able to
Speaker 3: do that in a way that says, hey, Congressman Smith,
Speaker 3: you're in Colorado or Utah, this is what your constituents
Speaker 3: are saying, but you're doing. They want a but you're
Speaker 3: doing b Let's talk about that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And that's the.
Speaker 3: Way I think we change things in that. And by
Speaker 3: engaging and harnessing that voice, you can imagine if we
Speaker 3: can get eight million or half right of that eighteen man,
Speaker 3: let's say we get nine million to join the cost
Speaker 3: here more powerful block, then.
Speaker 2: A percent, a hundred percent. Is that dialogue.
Speaker 3: That's a much different conversation when you go into a
Speaker 3: senator's office or the VA in saying I'm representing nine
Speaker 3: million veterans the maybe want you to address.
Speaker 2: We got to either do this or it's conscription. Okay,
Speaker 2: it's either we sit here and help our fellow veterans
Speaker 2: who have voluntarily served, say Vietnam vets that are still here.
Speaker 2: I'm just saying that we're, you know, drafted into the war.
Speaker 2: If you want to avoid the draft and you want
Speaker 2: to avoid like the lottery and the number and your
Speaker 2: son little Billy's going off to war.
Speaker 3: Because you better get involved.
Speaker 2: You better get involved, you better work from grassroots ground,
Speaker 2: and you don't even have to start from the bottom.
Speaker 2: You can just go to Mission roll Call. And I'm
Speaker 2: sure Mission roll Call has avenues where they can reach
Speaker 2: out to you and say, hey, how can I help,
Speaker 2: How can I help? How can my philanthropy, you know
Speaker 2: help you. I don't. I can't take this with me
Speaker 2: to heaven because I'm such a good person. It's got
Speaker 2: to stay somewhere. So what does Mission roll Call need
Speaker 2: from me? You know, et cetera. You know, or maybe
Speaker 2: you are going to Hell and you don't want to
Speaker 2: take it with you. Maybe Mission roll Call can use
Speaker 2: your philanthropy. Okay, we're not going to Well, we all.
Speaker 3: Have invested we all have the invested interest in this,
Speaker 3: not just it's in the family of veterans. I mean,
Speaker 3: I mean, how many people are on the internet right
Speaker 3: now ordering something from Amazon?
Speaker 2: Seriously? Right?
Speaker 3: I mean how do you think that gets here? Through
Speaker 3: sea ways that are protected by the Navy, exact financial
Speaker 3: systems that are protected by the government, through roads and
Speaker 3: all those sort of things that are maintained because we
Speaker 3: have a military that are able to protect our way of.
Speaker 2: Life all of these assets for US. Yes, And I
Speaker 2: always say our number one export in America is our
Speaker 2: military because when I do war games here in Utah,
Speaker 2: which is one of my fortes here, and we dress
Speaker 2: up like as the fighters, Like there's everybody wants to
Speaker 2: be a Navy Seal or a Green Beret, you know,
Speaker 2: or a grunt like an infantry guy right like boots
Speaker 2: on the ground, you know. So when I talk to
Speaker 2: people overseas who are in the same you know, hobby
Speaker 2: as us, they're like, yeah, rad, can you get me
Speaker 2: like some Navy Seal pants or like, you know, some
Speaker 2: some authentic Green Brey uniform because it's like that's the best.
Speaker 2: We're the best. They want the best. They're not like, hey,
Speaker 2: give me the I want, like the Japanese Special Forces
Speaker 2: gear if it can fit me. But they're not wanting that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. Well, and that's why those numbers of how many,
Speaker 3: I mean, of any institution in our country, yeah, Supreme Court, Congress,
Speaker 3: religious institutions, far and away, the top institution is the
Speaker 3: military when it comes from admiration and respect from the
Speaker 3: American people. See that anytime these past veterans a day
Speaker 3: when you watch the NFL or TV, there was a
Speaker 3: lot of veteran acknowledgment where I'd like to see it
Speaker 3: moved to is an acknowledgment that we can do better
Speaker 3: in supporting our veterans. There's one thing to say, I
Speaker 3: respect them, I honor them. There's quite a difference to
Speaker 3: putting that to action and into support. And I don't
Speaker 3: think we've harnessed that energy and that need enough. And
Speaker 3: you know, if the VA was doing everything it was
Speaker 3: supposed to be, we would not have forty thousand non
Speaker 3: for profits in the veterans space.
Speaker 2: Trying to fill these patch up the holes of this tire. Right.
Speaker 3: Well, you can imagine if that is a federal agency, right,
Speaker 3: and it is right, it's a huge federal agency. You
Speaker 3: can imagine if that and people have lost confidence in it, right,
Speaker 3: And there's all these areas that it needs to improve in,
Speaker 3: all these areas where there's gaps. And that's why we
Speaker 3: have nonprofits that are doing that anything providing a dog
Speaker 3: to somebody who needs who needs it, to getting groceries
Speaker 3: and many of those forty thousand or so non for
Speaker 3: profits or small niche in a community, one or two people,
Speaker 3: they're doing God's work, right, but they're addressing something in
Speaker 3: Ohio or Nebraska or Montana. You know, they're just in
Speaker 3: that geographic area. There's only a few really big ones.
Speaker 3: But you can imagine if we get to the point
Speaker 3: where we have a military that can't do the things
Speaker 3: they're supposed to do, who's gonna fill that gap?
Speaker 2: Who's going to fill your Amazon cart and deliver it
Speaker 2: to you? Bro? Okay, Like, if we're not taking care
Speaker 2: of it, you really hit it on the head. You know,
Speaker 2: all of these passageways, all of these roadways, all of
Speaker 2: this waterways, everything that we just take such granted, I
Speaker 2: take for granted. Just now on this conversation, you have
Speaker 2: enlightened me, like I didn't even think about, you know, like,
Speaker 2: oh yeah, the waterways, Oh yeah, they're protected out there.
Speaker 2: The Coast Guards cruiser around, but you know what they
Speaker 2: can't be if they're not getting numbers.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and let's pause there for the Coast Guard. You know,
Speaker 3: the Coast Guard now falls under the Homeland Security Agency.
Speaker 3: You know, it wasn't that long ago I was working
Speaker 3: with USO UH and the budget you know, was not approved,
Speaker 3: and of course the federal government shut down. Well, the
Speaker 3: army and Navy, and all of them still get paid,
Speaker 3: right because it's part of the Pentagon, but not the
Speaker 3: Coast Guard. So we had to shift assets pretty quickly
Speaker 3: to open up food banks for.
Speaker 2: The Coast Guard.
Speaker 3: They don't get paid now, yet we still require them
Speaker 3: to do the things that they need to do.
Speaker 2: You know, that's not beggar. They're not begging. No, they're not.
Speaker 3: Like it happened, and the Coast Guard is probably it's
Speaker 3: just a wonderful organization that takes care of its people
Speaker 3: like no other. And I say that I'm an army guy, right,
Speaker 3: I believe lead Green.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I get you, but I have a I have
Speaker 2: a daughter.
Speaker 3: In the Coast Guard. I know what the Coast Guard
Speaker 3: does have a lot.
Speaker 2: Of They fly the Dolphin helicopter.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're very they and they do things that's the
Speaker 3: legit that you know, saving lives and that's their mission.
Speaker 3: But you know, really, our country, of our science can't
Speaker 3: figure out a way to make sure that they're getting
Speaker 3: paid when we can't figure out politically what to do.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think we expect more from our leaders
Speaker 3: than that.
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 3: I do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I do too actually kind of you know,
Speaker 2: it's like they went to Department of Homeland Security. They
Speaker 2: were under the military, you know umbrella, and you know,
Speaker 2: and everybody kind of doesn't realize that the Coast Guard
Speaker 2: is doing exactly that right.
Speaker 3: And you know, when you ask anyone who's been a
Speaker 3: on a situation where the Coastguard has come to save
Speaker 3: them and the rest of their life, they're indebted to
Speaker 3: the Coast Guard, and they and we take it for
Speaker 3: granted when you're on a cruise ship, or you're out
Speaker 3: on a fishing vessel, or or any number of things
Speaker 3: that the Coastguard does literally garding the United States coast
Speaker 3: which is quite large, and the Great Lakes correct and overseas,
Speaker 3: I mean, we forget that the Coastguard is over stations.
Speaker 2: They join up with the Navy, and you know, the
Speaker 2: Navy destroyer now becomes a Coast Guard vessel with three
Speaker 2: guys on board.
Speaker 3: And I think the reason was they wanted the law
Speaker 3: enforcement capability, which now right that the Coast Guard can
Speaker 3: do under the Homeland Security. So strategically understand that where
Speaker 3: I have a beef is the ability to make sure
Speaker 3: they continue to get paid. And I just feel like
Speaker 3: there needs to be some kind of an address of
Speaker 3: that issue so that they can continue to do that.
Speaker 2: Because right now they're actually talking about, you know, the
Speaker 2: funding for the for the for America.
Speaker 3: It's like it's every other month.
Speaker 2: We haven't. Yeah, and it wasn't though. You know, growing up,
Speaker 2: it was like Reagan and do Caucus or Bush and
Speaker 2: do Caucus and Clinton and you know Bush or you
Speaker 2: know al Gore and Bush. It was never like the
Speaker 2: budget never got met.
Speaker 3: So I, you know, we just we have to address
Speaker 3: these issues and we have to be vocal. And I
Speaker 3: feel like most veterans suffer in a quiet way, in
Speaker 3: an assuming way. I mean, we just we feel like
Speaker 3: we need we do our duty. We just need to
Speaker 3: suck it up and just try to take care of
Speaker 3: each other. And I think that's admirable and it's it's
Speaker 3: it's part of the ethos of the military, right you
Speaker 3: try not to complain, You take care of those around you,
Speaker 3: you do the mission. But I also feel that we
Speaker 3: need to band together and advocate for those that need
Speaker 3: help because elected officials are just not doing it.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: There are some that veterans themselves and are doing great
Speaker 3: work to support I mentioned Joni Earst, But you know,
Speaker 3: you can't clone Joony Ernst, right, and there's others as
Speaker 3: well that are doing that. But I mean, we need
Speaker 3: to do more of that support for the military and
Speaker 3: address these issues. And it's it really bothers me, and
Speaker 3: I think it probably bothers you read and your listeners
Speaker 3: that we still are struggling with so many suicides. It
Speaker 3: was still struggling with homelessness, right, We're still struggling with
Speaker 3: a food insecurity, I mean, and.
Speaker 2: That's where I'm like, they're not out there bagging, you know.
Speaker 2: I mean, like the Coast Guard when they're furloughed from pay,
Speaker 2: they're still showing up and they're still working and they're
Speaker 2: feeling that they're protected because they're Americans. Yeah, working for America.
Speaker 2: They're like, this can't really be really right. You've got
Speaker 2: coffee in there, Bob, is there coffee in there? There's
Speaker 2: not coffee in the real house, sir. Where's the coffee?
Speaker 2: You know? They just want there and to have to
Speaker 2: open up food bags. That was my question. So, I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm used to going to like the Bishop's Warehouse, which
Speaker 2: was like a religious place here in Utah that would
Speaker 2: get our food. But we never had like a base,
Speaker 2: I know, there's like an E three and below store
Speaker 2: on Hill Air Force Base back in the day where
Speaker 2: if you're there, I.
Speaker 3: Think they've gotten rid of all those and I think
Speaker 3: there was a lot of pressure on the Pentagon, from
Speaker 3: the Pentagon to nonprofits to not do that because they
Speaker 3: felt it was embarrassing that they had food banks and
Speaker 3: that they're not in the food distribution business.
Speaker 2: And the East three and below store, you know, if
Speaker 2: you were below, you can go in.
Speaker 3: And get if you're that embarrassed, fix the problem.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but that shop was actually functional. It was like
Speaker 2: actually eco friendly. Because here's my size fourteen's I'm getting
Speaker 2: out of. I don't need them, so what do I go?
Speaker 2: Give them? The East three and below store and that
Speaker 2: anybody East three and below could go in the store
Speaker 2: and just grab it off the shelf if they needed
Speaker 2: a new pair of boot that would fit them right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, We're just our commanders need to be more focused
Speaker 3: on these issues, less political and more focusing.
Speaker 2: You know, eye wow.
Speaker 3: I was always taught that you take care of the
Speaker 3: people you're responsible for. That was your job in your
Speaker 3: primary mission. Without that, you can't do anything else. So
Speaker 3: I feel there's a gap there. Commanders need to think
Speaker 3: about that. I'm not saying that commanders some commander aren't.
Speaker 3: I'm just saying there's a problem and it doesn't seem
Speaker 3: to be getting fixed, and our country needs to address
Speaker 3: those issues. Hopefully people will look to us a mission,
Speaker 3: roll call, be supportive of us. Join, no costs to joining.
Speaker 3: We just need to hear your voice. And I feel
Speaker 3: once we build up that membership, then we get to
Speaker 3: the place where we can be more effective. But we're
Speaker 3: going to use the power of this of social media,
Speaker 3: We'll use the power of podcasts. We're going to use
Speaker 3: the power of all these platforms from LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, whatever,
Speaker 3: whatever it takes to coalesce that voice in a powerful
Speaker 3: way and do it in a way that brings other
Speaker 3: nonprofit leaders. Because there's so many great nonprofits that are
Speaker 3: doing things out there, but they're usually niche right their niches.
Speaker 2: It's true, like adaptive skiing, you gotta have you know,
Speaker 2: you got to fit into this boot to go skiing
Speaker 2: down the mountain because you lost both your legs and
Speaker 2: you know you got to reach out to them. And
Speaker 2: why can't the VA give recreational therapy all the time
Speaker 2: to people like, oh, yeah, you want rector you know
Speaker 2: you want oh you want pharma or recreational therapy. I
Speaker 2: bet ninety percent of everybody would say I'll take recreational therapy.
Speaker 2: Do you mean like I can go kayaking and that
Speaker 2: would make me feel better? Really? You mean there's organizations
Speaker 2: that you guys, as a military or a federal organization,
Speaker 2: can pay vouchers to to cover me to go to
Speaker 2: and I have to beg you for this. Well, and
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 3: Think I don't think the VA, and this is really
Speaker 3: with any federal agencies. They just don't know how to
Speaker 3: partner with private industry, right. I mean, there is a
Speaker 3: lot of philanthropists out there that would love to address
Speaker 3: this issue that have the skill set to do so.
Speaker 3: I mean, let's face it, the federal government's not good
Speaker 3: at doing things. I mean, think about the Postal Service.
Speaker 3: I mean the Postal Service owned the ability to deliver mail, right,
Speaker 3: I mean not what they got paid to do it.
Speaker 2: That's it one job, right?
Speaker 3: And how many other organizations now are delivering your mail ups, FedEx,
Speaker 3: all these other organizations, right?
Speaker 2: Why?
Speaker 3: Well, because you weren't doing it right, you weren't doing
Speaker 3: it fast enough. You weren't addressing the customer. It's the
Speaker 3: same with the VA. It's the inability to be entrepreneurial,
Speaker 3: quick on your feet, being able to adapt to the customer.
Speaker 3: And they do not have a customer.
Speaker 2: First, it's like molasses. Yeah, they're like behind the curveball.
Speaker 2: They're they're not They're like, yeah, you're so correct, right.
Speaker 3: I mean there's a lot of money that goes there's
Speaker 3: a lot of people working for the VA, and it
Speaker 3: was easy to fix. I realized somebody would have been
Speaker 3: able to do it by now. But we really need
Speaker 3: new thoughts on how to address those issues in an
Speaker 3: entrepreneurial way.
Speaker 2: And I'm not coming at the main man, the current
Speaker 2: you know general over the VA administration of his three
Speaker 2: hundred thousand you know staff and you know everything that
Speaker 2: he has to work with. But you know, I have
Speaker 2: had his former I had I think it was three
Speaker 2: star general on Loot Douglas Lout. I'm not sure if
Speaker 2: he was the one that was the transition, but nonetheless,
Speaker 2: I had the VA director on here one time and
Speaker 2: we were talking about exactly what we're talking about, and
Speaker 2: he said, at one point I looked at the roster
Speaker 2: and I had like three hundred thousand people that I'm
Speaker 2: staring at that work for me underneath the whole Veterans administration,
Speaker 2: let alone in Yeah, we're talking about how he was
Speaker 2: losing folks during COVID and it was just like his
Speaker 2: staff was just getting vacuumed a way because you know,
Speaker 2: everybody's like not able to help. It's just what do
Speaker 2: we do? What do we do? What do we do?
Speaker 2: Do we do we continue to do charities? Do we
Speaker 2: elect officials who promised promises and we don't see that
Speaker 2: happen and then they sit on their keyster or what?
Speaker 3: Well? I think we have to do what we're doing,
Speaker 3: and that is start organizations that are going to be
Speaker 3: grassroots that can harness people's energy and be nimble and
Speaker 3: do it that way and make change. I mean, that's
Speaker 3: the only way we change the core that we're on
Speaker 3: is to bring attention to these issues. And quite frankly,
Speaker 3: if I mean maybe veterans need to fix our fellow
Speaker 3: veterans in a way that we harness those sixteen million
Speaker 3: that are out there to this organization to help address
Speaker 3: those issues. They all have contacts, they have friends, they
Speaker 3: have companies, they're working for that kind of support is
Speaker 3: enormous and that's how you change the world. And that's
Speaker 3: you know, that's why this is important. And I think
Speaker 3: that we can do that. I think we have the
Speaker 3: vision for it. We just need we just we just
Speaker 3: stand it up right now as a separate five O
Speaker 3: one C three Right now, we've been a program, so
Speaker 3: we have some work to do. But I have great
Speaker 3: people that I'm working with that have the same passion
Speaker 3: or more than I do. So we're going to get there.
Speaker 3: We're going to be successful.
Speaker 2: Already working on it, right, we are getting the message
Speaker 2: out there. I have a friend of mine who I had,
Speaker 2: and he runs the Jedbird podcast and he just ran
Speaker 2: twenty two marathons in twenty two days to try to
Speaker 2: raise awareness about the whole twenty two to twenty two. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: It's not so much that you can sit at home
Speaker 2: and do push ups to stop suicide. Right, Somebody of
Speaker 2: their own, their own mindset, is going to do with
Speaker 2: what they want to do. Okay. I can't stop you
Speaker 2: from freedom of choice. In fact, I empower you to
Speaker 2: be freedom of choice. I can only tell you that
Speaker 2: we care about you, and if you want to talk
Speaker 2: to me you can reach me on social media and
Speaker 2: I've talked to many people at three am. My wife's like,
Speaker 2: who are talking to you? I'm like, I'm not sure,
Speaker 2: but it seems like they need to talk to me.
Speaker 3: And so no prank you for doing that. I mean,
Speaker 3: it's it's having it's breaking that chain, right, I mean,
Speaker 3: there's sometimes a phone call reaching out all of those
Speaker 3: sort of things, and that's the whole idea behind the
Speaker 3: name of mission roll call. We're doing a roll call
Speaker 3: here are you check? Hey Smith Jones, Schmuckatelli, are you there?
Speaker 2: Exactly?
Speaker 3: That's what it is. So we're doing a roll call
Speaker 3: of our veterans saying we need help here, we need
Speaker 3: to address these issues. Let's band together and do that.
Speaker 3: We've done it before, we'll do it again. This is
Speaker 3: a new way of doing it because we're not filtering.
Speaker 3: We're apolitical. I don't have any preconceived political notions for people.
Speaker 3: What we want to do is let them speak for
Speaker 3: themselves and use that energy and use that mass of
Speaker 3: people to then affect change in a positive way. And
Speaker 3: that's I think is powerful. You know. I remember in
Speaker 3: the army we always said we defended democracy. We didn't.
Speaker 3: We didn't practice it. In this case, we are practicing democracy.
Speaker 3: We really do want our members to have different inviews.
Speaker 2: But the positions bring to us.
Speaker 3: These issues, and let's address it, and let's band together
Speaker 3: and figure out ways to change the course of history.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Really, it's true because we can do that, because
Speaker 2: we have done that. You know, a society has shown
Speaker 2: that we can move forward from you know, our transgressions
Speaker 2: and try to create a better future. And even though
Speaker 2: we can't fix the past, we can't change that, we
Speaker 2: can try not to let it happen by looking to
Speaker 2: the future and just not repeating. You know, you can
Speaker 2: give pay raises. When I hear it's like, oh, hey,
Speaker 2: the military is getting a one percent increase or two
Speaker 2: percent increase, I'm like, that's just like it's still not enough.
Speaker 2: Tell me you're giving them a twenty five percent increase.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we really, we really do relook that. And I
Speaker 3: don't understand why our senior leadership hasn't done that, from
Speaker 3: the Secretary of Defense.
Speaker 2: Down, correct.
Speaker 3: I mean I know that, you know, I don't pretend.
Speaker 2: To jump pay a month. I don't know if it's
Speaker 2: that much anymore. It's it's like a month.
Speaker 3: I get it. No one joins the military to become rich.
Speaker 3: But you shouldn't have to be going to a food
Speaker 3: pantry either.
Speaker 2: No, and you shouldn't have to, you know, even personal
Speaker 2: purchase as an officer, because you make an extra little
Speaker 2: bit more as an officer than your men do, because
Speaker 2: you're at this management level, because you went through college
Speaker 2: and to get this education so that you can bring
Speaker 2: a subject matter expert into the situation. So now you
Speaker 2: have to spend an extra thousand dollars on your combat
Speaker 2: gear because yeah, because that's that's not leading by example,
Speaker 2: because now you're showing that you guys have to go
Speaker 2: buy their combat gear. I know. I know your guys
Speaker 2: come to me and they're like, hey, rad, I need
Speaker 2: all the stuff that my guy has, but for less.
Speaker 2: And I'm like, deal, let's go. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, we have a lot of issues, we
Speaker 3: have a lot of issues we need to take on,
Speaker 3: but it's a noble cost that we're undertaking. And I
Speaker 3: feel I feel like we're going to make some headway
Speaker 3: with this. I feel like there's a lot of energy
Speaker 3: behind it. I feel like everyone I talked to say, yes,
Speaker 3: we need that. So we're bullied by that and we
Speaker 3: want to we want to expand and make a difference.
Speaker 2: I'm trying to find the general's name so I can
Speaker 2: shout him out. Who was in charge of the VA.
Speaker 2: I had him on the show, and I'm just kind
Speaker 2: of going through those real quick. But when I find
Speaker 2: it out, I'll be sure to put it in there.
Speaker 2: He was just making good sense, he said, rad we
Speaker 2: look at each other. Okay, So Douglas lut Okay, General Lout.
Speaker 2: He transitioned from George Bush to Obama in the administration,
Speaker 2: and he said, we got together because we said US Army,
Speaker 2: US Marines, US Coast Guard, and US Navy in front
Speaker 2: of us. You know, the politicalness was set aside, you know,
Speaker 2: because yeah, he came from a Republican president to a
Speaker 2: Democratic president, but he came prepared with sir, these are
Speaker 2: like the twenty five things that you need to recognize
Speaker 2: in the world today, and these are ready for you
Speaker 2: when you take office. And so he transitioned like that.
Speaker 2: He understood his transition of he can vote for whoever
Speaker 2: he wants. See, my dad told me one thing, he said,
Speaker 2: I said, Dad, who did you vote for in this election?
Speaker 2: This is when it was like du Caucus and Reagan
Speaker 2: and whatnot. Yeah, He's like, he's like, Aaron, I don't
Speaker 2: have to tell you that. And I was like, what,
Speaker 2: You're not going to tell me that. I go to
Speaker 2: the office with you, I hang out with you, You're
Speaker 2: not going to tell me. He's like, that's my right.
Speaker 2: I don't have to tell you who I vote for.
Speaker 2: As an American. I have that right and you have
Speaker 2: that right. And all the way up through taking them
Speaker 2: to the polling stations in his wheelchair when he wanted
Speaker 2: to vote before his passed away and tell you, I
Speaker 2: was like, what did you vote for? He's like, that
Speaker 2: is for me to know. And I was just like,
Speaker 2: you know, and I've always held on to that. And
Speaker 2: I'm saying, why people think I'm one way or another way?
Speaker 2: And they're always like calling me out or which way
Speaker 2: do you go? And I'm like, well, you'll just never know.
Speaker 3: Right, and you know, And that's that's why I think
Speaker 3: it's important for MRC to be a political on any
Speaker 3: given given day, on any given subject. Some people are
Speaker 3: going to think it's left or right, and we're so
Speaker 3: politicized now we understand that, but it's not going to
Speaker 3: hinder us from taking on these problems. I mean, food
Speaker 3: insecurity is not a Democrat or a Republican issue, It's
Speaker 3: an issue.
Speaker 2: It'sanitarian right.
Speaker 3: Twenty two plus veterans suicide today is not a Democrat
Speaker 3: problem or a Republican problem. It's a national problem. Yes,
Speaker 3: And that's the way we didn't need to go after it.
Speaker 3: And the great thing about Entrance is we love a challenge, right.
Speaker 3: We love two things. We love a hell top to take.
Speaker 3: We're different and we need we want to try to
Speaker 3: do it together and that's what we hope MRC will provide.
Speaker 2: I love that a Mission Roll Call is a very awesome,
Speaker 2: beautiful organization that you are working with and helping to help.
Speaker 2: And I know you're going into DC and I know
Speaker 2: you're trying to make a change, and I'm really proud
Speaker 2: of you, and I just want you to know that
Speaker 2: it's an honor to have you on the show to
Speaker 2: bring awareness to Mission roll Call. I have a lot
Speaker 2: of folks trying to hit me up all the time,
Speaker 2: say hey, can I bring my show up. Yeah, let's
Speaker 2: hear what you have to say. And I hear what
Speaker 2: they have to say, but I just want you to
Speaker 2: know you're really moving the needle in my heart. Okay,
Speaker 2: I just want you to know that.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Ed, And hopefully we'll do this on a
Speaker 3: frequent basis so I can report out to you on
Speaker 3: how we're doing.
Speaker 2: And I would be willing to give you a place
Speaker 2: on our website to have Mission roll call post up,
Speaker 2: like a weekly stats you can like, you know, it
Speaker 2: comes from you. You can have it on soft rep yep,
Speaker 2: and it would you be there, and so anybody that would, yeah,
Speaker 2: they can just click on the link. You could write
Speaker 2: like a five hundred word little something that's going on
Speaker 2: for that week for Mission roll Call. And I'm just
Speaker 2: saying that would be a total pleasure. And I can
Speaker 2: I can introduce you to Guy, our editor, who would
Speaker 2: love to talk to you about that.
Speaker 3: Oh that's cool, Thanks so much.
Speaker 2: Yes, Yes, it's been wonderful. And I know I've had
Speaker 2: you for about an hour and it just goes by
Speaker 2: so quickly, and I don't want to I don't want
Speaker 2: to lose the friendship or the conversation. But I'm very
Speaker 2: proud of you, and I think that your daughters and
Speaker 2: your wife and everybody are badass. And I just want
Speaker 2: to put that out there in the world. Uh, and
Speaker 2: thank you for they are badass. You know. First of all,
Speaker 2: she's west Point. Okay, that alone, that's my favorite football team, right.
Speaker 2: I live here in Utah and it was all you
Speaker 2: of View Utah or b Yu and I'm like, West Point.
Speaker 3: Have you ever gone through a game there?
Speaker 2: No, No, I have not. It would get you there,
Speaker 2: Oh my god. Okay, all right, well let's do it.
Speaker 2: I'll give you a little space on the website. I'll
Speaker 2: come to West Point and cheer on the army Bill Army. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I love that. Okay, Well, listen on behalf of Jim Wayley, myself,
Speaker 2: rad all of us here at softwap dot com and
Speaker 2: our merch store. Don't forget. I got to keep the
Speaker 2: gas on on the fireplace. I want to say thank you,
Speaker 2: Happy holidays to you, and you know, check on your
Speaker 2: buddies next door and just make sure everybody's doing okay.
Speaker 2: Make a post on your Facebook, buddy check who replies?
Speaker 2: Maybe some when you haven't talked to you in a while,
Speaker 2: buddy check. And with that, I want to say peace.
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Speaker 1: You've been listening to self rep Radia