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Speaker 1: That's s o f r EP dot com. Ah beat force.
Speaker 1: If it doesn't work, you're just not using enough. You're
Speaker 1: listening to software radio, special operations, military news and straight
Speaker 1: talk with the guys and the community. And welcome back
Speaker 1: to soft Rep Radio. I'm your host today, Steve Balstruri,
Speaker 1: not your normal host, because we have a special guest
Speaker 1: on the line with us today. Stephen what goes by
Speaker 1: the nickname of Butch Whitehead, is the National Commander of
Speaker 1: Disabled American Veterans. And the good folks over at SOFTWAREP
Speaker 1: no that Steve Balstrury here one of the writers when
Speaker 1: it comes to Disabled American Veterans and the Veterans administration,
Speaker 1: that's like a big topic of my writing all the time.
Speaker 1: So they are allowing me to do this, and we
Speaker 1: want to welcome Butch to the podcast is going Butch
Speaker 1: or this afternoon. Butch, Welcome to SOFTWAREP Radio. We really
Speaker 1: appreciate your time. Hey, thanks, thanks for me on and
Speaker 1: talking about some great, great topics of born to me
Speaker 1: as well. I really appreciate it. Yeah, And as you know,
Speaker 1: the commander of the National Commander of the same American Veterans.
Speaker 1: I mean, I believe if you can correct me, if
Speaker 1: i'm run, there's over a million members right now, absolutely
Speaker 1: a million plus in a continued girl, which is great.
Speaker 1: You know, obviously memberships are very important to our organization
Speaker 1: that keeps our voice being heard loud and clear when
Speaker 1: we're out there advocating on behalf of our veterans. So
Speaker 1: it's great to be part of such a strong organization.
Speaker 1: And isn't this here the hundredth anniversary for the it is?
Speaker 1: It is Actually we're getting ready to come up on
Speaker 1: a hundred a year which will be here the September
Speaker 1: will actually mark a hundred years of being existence. And
Speaker 1: it's been a great organization and we look forward to
Speaker 1: another decade of being around. Now. You're elected a national
Speaker 1: commander not too long ago. Now, are you the first
Speaker 1: Iraq veteran who's been the national commander? I am. I'm
Speaker 1: the first Iraq war Iraq Afghanistan veterans elected to our organization.
Speaker 1: We've had a couple of Global war or Gulf warships
Speaker 1: in Golf War that turns out, and I am our
Speaker 1: very first Iraq Afghanstan veteran. It's a great honor to
Speaker 1: be to be the first, and then especially going into
Speaker 1: a hundred year to really set the presence of continuing
Speaker 1: to fight for our veterans as we come out of
Speaker 1: this war as well. Well. Congratulations on that. I know
Speaker 1: that you'll do a great job with that. But before
Speaker 1: we get into a couple of things that the issues
Speaker 1: that you know D. A. V Is is working on
Speaker 1: this year, I wanted to give our readers a little
Speaker 1: background on your information. I know, I believe you started
Speaker 1: in with the Guard up in Minnesota. Are you still
Speaker 1: up there? I am. I actually CV. I joined the December,
Speaker 1: uh you know, obviously back then and joining with the
Speaker 1: family thing, but also more or less for the college
Speaker 1: benefits and everything, because you know, the Gulf War just ending,
Speaker 1: it was getting ready to the end when I first joined,
Speaker 1: and uh, it was a family tradition for me. My
Speaker 1: brothers are all in my parents, my grandpa Gamma. We
Speaker 1: had such a strong, strong president of military. So I
Speaker 1: joined and I joined the National Guard so I can
Speaker 1: use the college benefits and there you go. I was
Speaker 1: actually I'm dating myself that now was my last five
Speaker 1: years in around that time. But yeah, I was in
Speaker 1: at that time, so we might have bumped into each
Speaker 1: other somewhere along the line. Absolutely know what I'm so
Speaker 1: see I look back now and I'm still serving right
Speaker 1: now as well, and uh, you know, almost twenty years now.
Speaker 1: I took a little uh drill time off when I
Speaker 1: became national commander, and I just came back in, uh
Speaker 1: put the uniform back on here in November of two
Speaker 1: thousand nineteen. When I first joined, I'll tell you, I
Speaker 1: looked at I was going to do six years and
Speaker 1: you know, take advantage of college and you know, and
Speaker 1: be done. Here twenty seven almost twenty eight years later,
Speaker 1: I'm still through it and it uh so I'm real
Speaker 1: to really think about serving this long. Yeah, that's congratulations
Speaker 1: again on that. It shows the commitment and that's what
Speaker 1: we're all about when it comes to the military. Now,
Speaker 1: I know that you served in the Iraq War, which
Speaker 1: we just mentioned a minute ago. I believe you went
Speaker 1: over your unit went over in two thousand six. Can
Speaker 1: you tell us a little bit about that deployment of years. Yeah, Actually,
Speaker 1: we were actually it was a very very tough deployment.
Speaker 1: You know, we're part of first of all, where the
Speaker 1: deplointment was supposed to be only year long and ended
Speaker 1: up being twenty two months long because that was actually
Speaker 1: when at that time President Bush did the extending of
Speaker 1: soldiers over there. So my unit was affected by that.
Speaker 1: So we had sixteen months in combat during that deployment,
Speaker 1: and we lost several soldiers and it was a tough deployment.
Speaker 1: You know, we did several different texts emissions. It would
Speaker 1: be convoy s courts, base security court on searches to
Speaker 1: convoy escorts, EU d escorts, do name it. We're doing
Speaker 1: all kinds of things. So they said it was a
Speaker 1: top sixteen months, it really was. That's a long deployment,
Speaker 1: especially all combat time. Now what what part of Iraq
Speaker 1: were you guys mainly stationed at ould Station c SC
Speaker 1: Scania are combat support H of Scania, which was just
Speaker 1: sealth of Baghdad. You know, on the math wise is
Speaker 1: probably sixty eight miles sealth of Baghdad. You know, obviously
Speaker 1: the convoys took a lot longer to get up that far.
Speaker 1: But uh yeah, so basically halfway point between Baghdad and
Speaker 1: do when the yeah, big what we were a big
Speaker 1: truck stop. And I know that obviously you're a disabled
Speaker 1: American veteran yourself. You suffered a traumatic brain injury over there.
Speaker 1: Can you talk a little bit about that? Is that?
Speaker 1: You know, it's I get easy and easier Steve as
Speaker 1: I you know, share the story. It's always hard to
Speaker 1: really bring it up, but you know what I need
Speaker 1: to to can help me and myself continue to recover.
Speaker 1: But February twenty second, two thousand and seven, are a
Speaker 1: base came underneath and motor attack. Um and we actually
Speaker 1: the first volley was nine or ten rockets they fired
Speaker 1: at us, and we all made it out of that
Speaker 1: just fine. And as we were given to all clear
Speaker 1: where I was going out to check on my soldiers
Speaker 1: to make sure they're all countable and all that, and
Speaker 1: that's when they fired another six rocket that us and uh,
Speaker 1: three of the six rockets Tater Base, which was one
Speaker 1: of about forty fifty years right behind me, which knocked
Speaker 1: me over. So that was a tough night. We lost
Speaker 1: three soldiers at night and several rounded. Um and uh,
Speaker 1: there was something I'll remember for the rest of my life.
Speaker 1: It really be. Yeah. And did you suffered, like I mean,
Speaker 1: were you aware that you know, you had obviously taken
Speaker 1: a bad injury right off the battle. Is that something
Speaker 1: that came on later after you got later? Steve? It
Speaker 1: really did? Um? Just the general and alone, you know,
Speaker 1: I got up not even knowing what really truly happened.
Speaker 1: I got up and you know, I ran two covers,
Speaker 1: took went to the bunker. Then I rounded up my
Speaker 1: soldiers and then we are actually on tour refimation that night.
Speaker 1: So of course the first thing came I came to
Speaker 1: mind me was jumping out and getting the vehicles and
Speaker 1: you know, going out after him. So it wasn't until
Speaker 1: you know, when I came home and to realize what
Speaker 1: all happened and I went to the v A. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they explained everything that they died. You know, they determined
Speaker 1: that I had suffered a concussion during that time, and
Speaker 1: it was It's weird how our body reacts when you
Speaker 1: take you know, get into the adennaline and you don't
Speaker 1: realize that, you know, I didn't have any shrapnel in
Speaker 1: me and things like that, and that concussion how it
Speaker 1: actually can have a long term effect on you rest
Speaker 1: of your life. I absolutely And you know, we're just
Speaker 1: now scratching the surface on those type of you know,
Speaker 1: invisible injuries. I mean, you see it all the time
Speaker 1: now with NFL players. They take such a beating over
Speaker 1: a long period of time and they're not aware of
Speaker 1: it until long after their careers. Were we're finding that
Speaker 1: outward soldiers now because I mean I believe that the
Speaker 1: doctors are just kind of beginning to understand how deep
Speaker 1: this thing can go. And you know, it's something that's
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a long time before they actually figure
Speaker 1: out how you know, they can probably treat this as
Speaker 1: well as they probably can, but I don't think we're
Speaker 1: even close to that yet. I'm gonna see your your
Speaker 1: spot on. I mean, I truly think we're just scratching
Speaker 1: the surface when it comes into these invisible injuries. You know,
Speaker 1: for instance, obviously t B I being the topic of
Speaker 1: what we're talking about, but the research that's seemed do
Speaker 1: you know, the VA is definitely leading the charge. I'm
Speaker 1: very proud of researching the VIS done to really get
Speaker 1: after what the residual effects are from you know, concussion
Speaker 1: t B I. And you know, I'm part of our
Speaker 1: actual tv I study and I'll tell you they're doing
Speaker 1: a great job identifying things, but you're right, we're a
Speaker 1: long ways from the end to really seeing what all
Speaker 1: the effects will be. So you know, I don't want
Speaker 1: to dall too much on that. I know that's you know,
Speaker 1: a personal thing. But when you got home, now you're
Speaker 1: joined the obviously you joined the d A V. How
Speaker 1: long ago was that that you actually became a member
Speaker 1: and became active. Well, actually didn't become a member till
Speaker 1: two thousand twelve. I came home in two thousand seven,
Speaker 1: then joint to two thousand twelve. It's one of the
Speaker 1: things that the DV we're really trying to really focus on,
Speaker 1: and that's our outreach. But I got very active right
Speaker 1: away in two thousands twelve when I joined because it
Speaker 1: fell right in line with who I am, and that
Speaker 1: is as a leader, not only in the military, but
Speaker 1: as a person myself. I see them really trying to
Speaker 1: set the bar and get after helping disabled veterans and
Speaker 1: make sure they're the gatine and all the help that
Speaker 1: they need. And that's what told me. That's what excited
Speaker 1: me about joining and being active with the DV because
Speaker 1: they're so passionate and they're so focused on helping disabled veterans. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: And I forgot to mention, I believe that your command
Speaker 1: said your major are you not? I am? I'm a
Speaker 1: commands are major over the thirty fourth Infantry Division here
Speaker 1: at the Minnesota National Guard Division units up here in Minnesota. UM.
Speaker 1: I was just selected for that position here in November
Speaker 1: two thousand nineteen. So it's a great honor to, you know,
Speaker 1: to lead thousands of soldiers, but also to be that
Speaker 1: metric piece to really making sure that even when that
Speaker 1: soldier decides to take the uniform law, that they know
Speaker 1: that they have another family that there they can be
Speaker 1: part of to help them through their the rest of
Speaker 1: their life with any struggles that they may have, the
Speaker 1: challenges that they may have. Absolutely, and that's what good
Speaker 1: side your majors do. They look out after their troops.
Speaker 1: So absolutely, that's our that's our that's what we're there for.
Speaker 1: And that's exactly what you're still doing with the disabled
Speaker 1: American veterans. And let's talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 1: I know that as you've you worked your way up
Speaker 1: and now you're the national Commander, that has to be
Speaker 1: a lot of appearances, probably a lot of probably things
Speaker 1: you probably don't enjoy. I would imagine that there's you
Speaker 1: know that all takes involved, but at the same time
Speaker 1: you're on the cutting edge of making policy exactly, you know,
Speaker 1: the DV being the national commanders such an honor to
Speaker 1: represent the million plus members that we have by making
Speaker 1: sure that our voices are being heard in DC but
Speaker 1: also in our local areas as well. You're right, there
Speaker 1: was something that I really wasn't comfortable with going into.
Speaker 1: But I'll tell you, the more I do it, I'll
Speaker 1: definitely get more comfortable with speaking on behalf of our
Speaker 1: membership and all the disabled veterans out there about the
Speaker 1: importance of making sure that they are truly taken care of.
Speaker 1: You know, and I remember when our veterans servist members
Speaker 1: go off to fight and protect our country, raising that hand,
Speaker 1: and our lecture officials come back and say, we'll take here,
Speaker 1: we will take care of you. The dvs there to
Speaker 1: make sure that the elector officials don't forget what they promised,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's definitely a battle every day. But
Speaker 1: I'll tell you the DV and B a national commander,
Speaker 1: we are so focused on making sure that our our
Speaker 1: voices are being heard. I'm Brandon Webb, former Navy Seal
Speaker 1: and founder of the Craig Club. Tired of the same
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Speaker 1: for the guy in your life. Subscribe to Craig Club
Speaker 1: and will also include The Killing School, my best selling
Speaker 1: e book about America's elite snipers. That's Craig Club dot
Speaker 1: com c R A T Club dot com. Can I
Speaker 1: ask you a couple of questions about you know, I
Speaker 1: know some of the issues that as the National Commandity
Speaker 1: you've been bringing up to some of our lawmakers, and
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you about, how is the transition
Speaker 1: assistance program going or you know, troops that are because
Speaker 1: we've had I mean, we've had a couple of wars
Speaker 1: now that have lasted a very very long time. We
Speaker 1: have a lot of troops that are gonna need assistance
Speaker 1: when they get out, when they decide to finally either
Speaker 1: retire or transition out and get out before the retirement.
Speaker 1: Are we doing enough for that? Well, you know, are
Speaker 1: we doing enough? I would say we're going the right direction.
Speaker 1: Steve Um. I think between the d D and v A,
Speaker 1: they're really trying to focus on putting the resources where
Speaker 1: they have the biggest impact. And I think one of
Speaker 1: the biggest things that we're really trying to focus on
Speaker 1: is that transition piece. So when that active duty soldier
Speaker 1: takes that uniform off, there's a clear handoff with duty
Speaker 1: to v A. H The v A just rolled out
Speaker 1: a program that's within thirty days or sixty days, I
Speaker 1: can't remember exact date timeline that that soldier will get
Speaker 1: a phone call from the v A saying, hey, we
Speaker 1: see you no longer the military. You know, please make
Speaker 1: sure you stop buying meurgiture with the v so we
Speaker 1: can make sure you get all the systems that you need.
Speaker 1: So we're going to a director. I think the piece
Speaker 1: that we really got to focus on, though, is making
Speaker 1: sure that before that soldier leaves that base, he or
Speaker 1: she is truly sitting down with an actual service officer
Speaker 1: and understanding what benefits are out there, right, because it's
Speaker 1: so confusing, you know, those of our service members when
Speaker 1: they leave and now they're a veteran in the community
Speaker 1: in the general public, they don't even know what at
Speaker 1: what they have access to UM and they sometimes they'll
Speaker 1: learn the hard way, and so I think that's an
Speaker 1: area that we got to continue to improve. Just a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago, I testified before our Joint Lectures
Speaker 1: Affairs Committee at NDC, and I really stressed that hard
Speaker 1: that there has to be a better handoff with D
Speaker 1: O D to the vectorans community. And then we really
Speaker 1: got to continue to improve that. I know, I know
Speaker 1: the the d a V is also heavily involved with
Speaker 1: career fairs for soldiers who are either getting out shortly
Speaker 1: or have just gotten out. How are those going? See,
Speaker 1: that was a great program that we started here they're
Speaker 1: going really well. We're actually looking at making a few
Speaker 1: more tweaks changes to the our employment program. We're starting
Speaker 1: to see some great results. You know, in two thousand
Speaker 1: and eighteen alone, we had a hundred hut five either
Speaker 1: career fare or virtual career there's out there, and we
Speaker 1: had great results were the veterans and or veterans family
Speaker 1: members got some great opportunities to get hired on with
Speaker 1: great companies. But we want to take it to another level.
Speaker 1: So we're really doing some research to make sure we're
Speaker 1: expanding that program and maybe identifying the disabled veteran employment
Speaker 1: or an employment but the employer right make sure that
Speaker 1: these veterans maybe go out and you know, have opportunity
Speaker 1: to have their own company and things like that. So
Speaker 1: that's been a great program, and we're making a big
Speaker 1: impact on helping a lot of disabled veterans. That's excellent,
Speaker 1: and that was something I wish when I got out
Speaker 1: that was available to me. I won't date myself too much,
Speaker 1: but yeah, that wasn't there. I mean, you know, I
Speaker 1: was just kind of one day you're in uniform and
Speaker 1: the next day you're not, and it was it's it's
Speaker 1: a big wake up call after you've been in for
Speaker 1: so many years. It truly is. So I think that's
Speaker 1: a great thing I wanted to ask you about. I
Speaker 1: know this is something that you testified about because I
Speaker 1: saw a blurb of this on television, the Caregiver Act,
Speaker 1: and how how are we standing with that? You know,
Speaker 1: that was a great I'm glad we had it in there,
Speaker 1: and you know, we can have to actor are testified
Speaker 1: on the caregivers though. We actually got a message from
Speaker 1: the Secretary of the v A that they are in
Speaker 1: the process of changing that policy where they'll actually hopefully
Speaker 1: have the writing to where they're they're looking to add
Speaker 1: the word illness. So it's really been a big that's
Speaker 1: a big thing for us because we want to make
Speaker 1: sure those veterans that were you know they have injuries
Speaker 1: because of the illness. Maybe, like I run a reference
Speaker 1: in my testimony testimony our past national Commander Dave Radley
Speaker 1: where he lost all four limbs due to a blood bacteria.
Speaker 1: He isn't covered because it's actually not an actual injury,
Speaker 1: and that's just wrong. I mean, all that happened because
Speaker 1: of an actual his service, and we haven't surely take
Speaker 1: care of that. So his spouse can get the care
Speaker 1: because his boss literally left her job, all her retirement
Speaker 1: on the table to stay at home to take care
Speaker 1: of her husband. But she's not elder for it. So
Speaker 1: it's great to hear that the VS getting after that
Speaker 1: and then hopefully make that change and that when that
Speaker 1: role is all that's gonna be a big win for
Speaker 1: our disabled veterans. Now, when it comes to the Caregiver Act,
Speaker 1: the guys who experienced and you might have when you
Speaker 1: were in Iraq those burn pits, would that be covered
Speaker 1: under that act right now? Yeah, So so anybody's post
Speaker 1: nine eleven the caregivers is covering right now posts we're
Speaker 1: actually trying to go to actually the caregivers of pre
Speaker 1: nine eleven, so they're Vietnam era, create era. We have
Speaker 1: a few of World War Two yet camping with them,
Speaker 1: and then those who that's the big folks right now.
Speaker 1: But the birth at piece, anybody has a post on
Speaker 1: a level, they are a couple of the characters. Okay, great,
Speaker 1: and I know that Another issue I know that the
Speaker 1: d a v. Has been working on is the guys
Speaker 1: from Vietnam, the Agent Orange guys. And you know, if
Speaker 1: you could talk about that for a minute, we could
Speaker 1: uh app our readers in the loop of you know,
Speaker 1: we have are We've been been do a big push.
Speaker 1: You know, just last year they passed the Blue Water
Speaker 1: Navy Veterans Act, which are a huge win. We've been
Speaker 1: pushing for that, you know for a long long time.
Speaker 1: A big focus now on the agent origin is adding
Speaker 1: the four presumptive illnesses that have been proven by studies
Speaker 1: by the professional medical feel out there, and that is
Speaker 1: to adding you know, hyper hyper cyderism, ladder cancer, and
Speaker 1: uh things like that. But unfortunately, when we pushed that
Speaker 1: these are all provence of two dollars and sixteen, just
Speaker 1: a few months back, Secretary of the VA came out
Speaker 1: and said, uh, yeah, we're going to do our own
Speaker 1: research and we'll make a determination later on the year,
Speaker 1: and that's just unacceptable. So we really we sent a
Speaker 1: letter to UM the Presidents asking him to have the
Speaker 1: Secretary reevaluate that and make sure we're taking care of
Speaker 1: those veterans. Unfortunately, haven't heard anything back on it, but
Speaker 1: I do know that when I was out there in
Speaker 1: DC here a couple weeks go speaking to a couple
Speaker 1: of Senators and congressmen, that they too sent letters to
Speaker 1: the Secretary of saying okay, enough and enough. You know,
Speaker 1: we got to take care of all these veterans. We
Speaker 1: have thousands and thousands of these Vietnam veterans that him
Speaker 1: is suffering for years on hyperfighterism, bladder cancer, whatever. Maybe
Speaker 1: that still cannot get service connected for it, even though
Speaker 1: there is science proven science alter that those illnesses our
Speaker 1: results of agent Orange. So we got to keep pushing hard,
Speaker 1: and we're going to continue to push hard making sure
Speaker 1: that the VA helps those veterans as well. That's outstanding.
Speaker 1: Is there any other big issues that you know the
Speaker 1: d a v Is pushing this year they're trying to
Speaker 1: get attention in Congress that you want to talk about. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: I think the next big one is the new agent
Speaker 1: order of that is going to be the burn pits.
Speaker 1: You know Stevie reference a little earlier about how I
Speaker 1: talked about it. I think that's another hot topic, the
Speaker 1: new none of the big issue that we're going to
Speaker 1: really keep our some of the pulse and making sure
Speaker 1: that they are currently serving Iraq Afghanistan veterans. Oh if
Speaker 1: even back to the Gulf War. Uh, those veterans that
Speaker 1: were exposed to all these toxic don't have to wait
Speaker 1: like the Vietnam lecturers did for the agent Orange, waiting
Speaker 1: thirty forty years to get service connected for all these illnesses.
Speaker 1: When there's science and research being done. So that's a
Speaker 1: big push right now. We actually had to set up
Speaker 1: file the Center bill introduced this year and we're hearing
Speaker 1: that hopefully later within the next week or two, we'll
Speaker 1: have a House uh Silar companion bill introduced. Getting where
Speaker 1: the veterans that are that can be food even that
Speaker 1: they were station on basis at these burn burn pits
Speaker 1: were assume that these these veterans were exposed to it
Speaker 1: would make it which makes it easier to be it
Speaker 1: to be addressive sis connected versus an actual presumptive. You
Speaker 1: really going to keep pushing hard on that as well.
Speaker 1: We really are well. I have to tell you as
Speaker 1: a disabled veteran myself and somebody who goes to the
Speaker 1: VA hospitals all the time. I go two to three
Speaker 1: times a week for different appointments and whatnot. One of
Speaker 1: the things I think that the d a V Does
Speaker 1: that people don't understand, and what a great thing that
Speaker 1: it is. And I just wanted to mention this. I'm
Speaker 1: sure you know all about it. The volunteer drivers. I mean,
Speaker 1: I see the vans all the time, that shuttle of
Speaker 1: I'm fortunate enough where I can drive myself, you know,
Speaker 1: I can go there, drive my car and park there.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of our venturans who can you know,
Speaker 1: I see the vans all the time and the buses
Speaker 1: to pick up these guys, and there those volunteer drivers
Speaker 1: I think do a tremendous job. I can't imagine a
Speaker 1: more fulfilling role for some of those guys because they're
Speaker 1: helping fellow veterans out and they must save the government
Speaker 1: a ton of money. Oh, let steve that our Transportation
Speaker 1: network program, you know, like you said, the lifeline of
Speaker 1: that is our volunteers. And I gotta do a big
Speaker 1: Shottle and big thank you to all those volunteers out there,
Speaker 1: you know, the volunteering to drive or volunteering just to
Speaker 1: help a veteran and whole. But you know, like you're
Speaker 1: referencing these volunteer drivers, you know, just to put in
Speaker 1: estment on it. So in two thousand eighteen, the DV
Speaker 1: volunteer drivers gave over six hundred and twenty five thousand
Speaker 1: rides for vesterians, you know, traveling over seventeen million miles.
Speaker 1: I mean, just think about that number and how many
Speaker 1: veterans that's helping. UH Because some of these rides, I'm
Speaker 1: talking there's three, four or five veterans in that vehicle,
Speaker 1: you know, so that's not veterans. And we're helping millions
Speaker 1: and millions of veterans every year in this program. And
Speaker 1: it wasn't for the veterans the volunteers, it would be huge.
Speaker 1: You talk about the taxpayer dollars. You know, since we
Speaker 1: started this program in eight seven, Steve, we've actually driven
Speaker 1: over nineteen million, nineteen million veterans to UH appointments. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's just unreal. Eighty million dollars approximately do guys who
Speaker 1: volunteer their time and you know a lot of a
Speaker 1: lot of the older vets that you see riding the
Speaker 1: vans that they need help, and the guys will, you know,
Speaker 1: they'll help them off the bus and get inside the hospital.
Speaker 1: I just think they do a tremendous job. And I
Speaker 1: think all of you guys get a big tip of
Speaker 1: the hat for that, because that is that's one of
Speaker 1: those behind the scenes things that unless you go to
Speaker 1: a v a hospital you know all the time, you
Speaker 1: wouldn't see and you wouldn't even be aware of. And this,
Speaker 1: you know, for a great organization that you guys are.
Speaker 1: I just think that's just another feather in the up,
Speaker 1: you know. And see if tote back on that. Just
Speaker 1: to add, you know, another new program that the d
Speaker 1: you started just because help Portant, that Volunteer Chest Station
Speaker 1: network is we're expanding that and we really want to
Speaker 1: want to do a big shout out to, you know,
Speaker 1: our Volunteer for Vets program. UM. Anybody instident helping veterans
Speaker 1: or a veteran that needs help other than transportation, they
Speaker 1: can go to Volunteer for Vets dot org and they
Speaker 1: can sign up and either sign up needing help or
Speaker 1: if they want to help with veterans sign up and
Speaker 1: you know, we can put them in contact with a
Speaker 1: veteran that needs and help. Because we think that's also
Speaker 1: going to be our new uh that's our new transportation
Speaker 1: program there. I think it's gonna be bigger. I think
Speaker 1: about the impact that we can have helping those individual
Speaker 1: veterans with a small maybe as simple as baking in
Speaker 1: our veteran's lawn in the spring or fall clean orner
Speaker 1: gutter and things like that. When that veterans can't do
Speaker 1: it anymore, it's it's hard. You know, then the persons
Speaker 1: that the veterans both pays money and money there and
Speaker 1: fixt income. So finding that volunteer that's winged to maybe
Speaker 1: go put a little lael aokin, it's can be huge
Speaker 1: for us as well. That's outstanding, and I we encourage
Speaker 1: all of our listeners if they're out there that if
Speaker 1: they can help, please do. There's a lot of uh,
Speaker 1: a lot of very deserving veterans out there that can
Speaker 1: probably use some help. You know, I live in a
Speaker 1: very small town, so our veterans community here is kind
Speaker 1: of small. But at the same time, we're very self
Speaker 1: supporting and we're out there and we help each other.
Speaker 1: But there's some guys out there that don't have that,
Speaker 1: and we encourage all our listeners to do that. But
Speaker 1: I want to thank you very much for your time.
Speaker 1: I know you're a real busy man. I don't want
Speaker 1: to keep you all afternoon, but I really want to
Speaker 1: thank you in behalf of everyone here at software dot
Speaker 1: com uh, for all of our listeners, we want to
Speaker 1: thank you, know, thank you for your service, thank you
Speaker 1: for your national service that you're continuing, and thank you Stevens.
Speaker 1: Thank you for taking time. And it was an honor
Speaker 1: for me to be on your program. I'm gonna thank
Speaker 1: you for letting us fit oer our one author about
Speaker 1: the dav and all the good things are doing. And
Speaker 1: thank you again. Sure thing. So that will do it
Speaker 1: here at Software Radio. As we'd like to say around
Speaker 1: here on time on target software dot com Radio, we
Speaker 1: want to thank our guests today which White had the
Speaker 1: National Commander for the Disabled American Veterans. It was a pleasure.
Speaker 1: You've been listening to Self Rep Radio. New episodes up
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