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 Software Radio. I'm
Speaker 1: your host today, Steve Lstrurie. Long time here the afternoon,
Speaker 1: but we have a great guest on the line with us.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of our listeners will really uh
Speaker 1: enjoyed this conversation. We're getting ready to have John Waynae Walden.
Speaker 1: He's the first Ampute to realist as a Green Ray sniper,
Speaker 1: born on the fourth of July. Named after John Wayne.
Speaker 1: I mean, how American can you get after that, folks.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna be talking with John here in just
Speaker 1: a second, but before we do, we just want to
Speaker 1: remind everyone we know, with all the COVID nineteen coronavirus
Speaker 1: stuff that's going on out there, we hope everyone's staying safe.
Speaker 1: We hope everyone's taking care of each other. Check on
Speaker 1: your family members, especially some of your older ones who
Speaker 1: might not get out as much. A lot of those
Speaker 1: folks are, you know, they might be house found in
Speaker 1: there kind of lonely. So make sure you check on
Speaker 1: especially some of your older relatives and Americans, and especially
Speaker 1: those vets out there. So with that in mind, we're
Speaker 1: gonna get into the podcast. We want to welcome John
Speaker 1: to the UH soft Rep Radio. John, thanks for the
Speaker 1: time this afternoon. We really appreciate it. Stave, I really
Speaker 1: appreciate y'all having me. You know, my leg will never
Speaker 1: grow back, right, so I'll never get tired of people
Speaker 1: wanting to hear about this one leg of redneck from
Speaker 1: Growth Bank, So thanks for having me. You know, it's
Speaker 1: funny because you know nowadays with the UH well, we'll
Speaker 1: we'll get into all that. I mean, with your injury
Speaker 1: and all that, but the the the medical technology for
Speaker 1: the prosthetics has gotten so much better these days, so
Speaker 1: you know where you're unable to still go out and
Speaker 1: do the job as an s F guy. You know,
Speaker 1: because when I was in undating myself here back in
Speaker 1: the eighties and early nineties, um, you know, we we
Speaker 1: only had three guys on active duty that had lost
Speaker 1: the leg and stayed on active duty, and all three
Speaker 1: of them are STAF guys. We had a Sergeant Major
Speaker 1: named Carlos Parker and seventh Group lost his leg in
Speaker 1: Vietnami remained in and then my partner Dave Ortiz was
Speaker 1: SF medic used to run the medal lab over there
Speaker 1: for the eighteen Deltas. He lost his a motorcycle wreck
Speaker 1: in fee of film UM and then he stayed in.
Speaker 1: And then our old commander when him and I worked
Speaker 1: out of uh S F A S when they first
Speaker 1: started it up. Now we're really dating ourselves there, but uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: he lost the leg in Iraq and stayed in, and
Speaker 1: then nowadays it's it seems like there's, uh, the guys
Speaker 1: are you know, much more active and they're you know,
Speaker 1: staying I guess you could say, uh, you know, more
Speaker 1: actively involved than they probably would have been in my era. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's kind of twofold Steve. Obviously there's no
Speaker 1: debate that the technology advancements have have been there, but
Speaker 1: also the mindset you know before, as you could probably know,
Speaker 1: like if you got your leg shot off back in
Speaker 1: the day, you know, staying in really wasn't something that
Speaker 1: necessarily was considered to your point about you know a
Speaker 1: few guys, it wasn't you know, outlandish to have somebody stay.
Speaker 1: It just wasn't something that was neo normal thing. But
Speaker 1: since man, I can't tell you the prosthesis that that
Speaker 1: I've gotten that's allowed me to just do things that
Speaker 1: I never thought possible, right, And and uh, I think
Speaker 1: people have noticed that to see. Obviously I went through
Speaker 1: sodic and was uh I graduated that back in the day,
Speaker 1: and and people have done a lot cooler things that
Speaker 1: I have, for sure. But to your point, we really
Speaker 1: have been uh blessed with the technology out there, and
Speaker 1: I think because of that, our successes that we've had,
Speaker 1: you know, has really changed the mindset. Yeah, so let's
Speaker 1: we're gonna actually go backwards now let's talk about um. So,
Speaker 1: I take it your dad must have been a great
Speaker 1: fan of John Wayne's to name you after the Duke.
Speaker 1: Oh absolutely, you know. Not only was he a big
Speaker 1: fan of John Wayne, but he was also a hippie. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I never won't forget asking my dad, you know, when
Speaker 1: I was I don't know, fourteen fifteen, was like, hey, Dad,
Speaker 1: why did you name me John Wayne? You know, thinking
Speaker 1: I get this great story about how he's a great American.
Speaker 1: He wants me to embody all the manly things that
Speaker 1: John Wayne did. And he said, Wilson, you had a
Speaker 1: cool birthday, figured you needed a cool name. You thought
Speaker 1: about it a hole that that that's a good reason.
Speaker 1: So yeah, go ahead. I was just saying, so, you know,
Speaker 1: being born on the fourth of July, a guy by
Speaker 1: the name of John Wayne, to your point, going through
Speaker 1: Green Beret School. You know when John Wayne was in
Speaker 1: the movie The Green Berets. I've done a few push
Speaker 1: ups for that guy. Oh. I was just gonna say, uh,
Speaker 1: going through you know S F A S and then
Speaker 1: SF you know, QC with the name of John Wayne
Speaker 1: going on the fourth of July, you weren't the gray man.
Speaker 1: I'll just say that much. Yeah, well that you know,
Speaker 1: And like Ron White says, I had the right to
Speaker 1: remain silent, but not the ability when they say who
Speaker 1: do you think you are? John Wayne? And so that's
Speaker 1: when I have to open my mouth and then uh,
Speaker 1: I'll get a little stronger after that. Yeah. Yeah, just
Speaker 1: like Ron White said, I had the same problem. You know,
Speaker 1: you could take the boy out of Boston, but you
Speaker 1: can't take the smartass out of the boy from Boston.
Speaker 1: So that's right, you know, I I was. I pushed
Speaker 1: a lot of territory south. Yeah, I turn him in
Speaker 1: the que course, right, you know, my feet were elevated
Speaker 1: on that pine tree quite a bit, you know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I tell my kids my chest don't look like this
Speaker 1: because I kept my mouth shutting Army. So what year
Speaker 1: did you join the military? You know, it kind of
Speaker 1: true to my personality, you know, on July four I
Speaker 1: turned twenty July five, I went to the recruiter and said,
Speaker 1: you know, um, you know, I said, man, I need
Speaker 1: a real job, right and uh, so that was July five.
Speaker 1: Whenever I went to the recruiter. August sixteenth, I was
Speaker 1: in basic training, you know, so that that quickly is
Speaker 1: is when I when I commit, I commit. And uh
Speaker 1: that was two thousand and one, so you know what
Speaker 1: else happened there? So September eleven, I was still in
Speaker 1: basic training when the towers fell, and obviously things changed
Speaker 1: from there. Oh yeah, now were you uh eighteen X
Speaker 1: ray or we did you go in the regular army? First? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I went to the recruiter, got me man, He said, hey,
Speaker 1: you wanna shoot missiles? I said, hell, yeah, who don't?
Speaker 1: And so I joined the army to be a patriot
Speaker 1: missile operator. And uh, when the towers failed, you know,
Speaker 1: we were deploying everything. And that's whenever I learned about
Speaker 1: SF and and then two thousand and uh heck five,
Speaker 1: I think whenever I went through selection. Nice, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that was after my time. Unfortunately, I remember when we
Speaker 1: first started s f a S. You know, those of
Speaker 1: us who were gonna be working out there, we didn't
Speaker 1: have that. I mean, you know, s f A S
Speaker 1: was kind of rolled into the old phase one where
Speaker 1: you know, the the old harassment phase back then. And
Speaker 1: uh so then they said, oh, well, you guys are
Speaker 1: gonna be working out here, you have to go through
Speaker 1: the course. And I remember thinking, go through what you
Speaker 1: have to go through s F A S. And I
Speaker 1: was like, we're already qualified. So of course they would
Speaker 1: put a bunch of like gonna guys who are gonna
Speaker 1: be instructed together, and we had a kind of our
Speaker 1: own team. But we were getting some really weird looks
Speaker 1: from the candidates because they're wearing the white tag just
Speaker 1: like you guys had to do. I'm sure, you know.
Speaker 1: And then they're looking at guys who were already have
Speaker 1: tabs on, not wearing the white tags on their uniform,
Speaker 1: but you know, doing the same stuff they're doing. They
Speaker 1: probably thought it was part of the course, Like are
Speaker 1: they trying to mind this with me right now. Well, finally,
Speaker 1: you know, when we were going out to do the
Speaker 1: land of course, you know, they truck you out to
Speaker 1: the Hoffman Triangle and uh so We're sitting on the
Speaker 1: truck and I'm just kind of looking out the back
Speaker 1: wondering what did I do to piss off somebody that
Speaker 1: I ended up having to do this stuff all over again.
Speaker 1: And then next thing you know, uh, some kids asked me.
Speaker 1: He's like, why are you guys here with tabs? And
Speaker 1: then one of our guys he's passed away. Now, Brian,
Speaker 1: look what's the s F guy from tenth group? And
Speaker 1: he said, well, we're not supposed to tell anybody, but
Speaker 1: we're going up on the next shuttle mission. And uh
Speaker 1: the kid was like what and he's like, yeah, you
Speaker 1: have to pass election before you can go to NASA.
Speaker 1: So yeah, whoever does the best out of this is
Speaker 1: going on the next shuttle. That's I remember laughing my
Speaker 1: ass off because I'm like, okay, answer, yeah. So anyway, there,
Speaker 1: we we had a guy in our sear school that
Speaker 1: you remember back in the day you didn't have to
Speaker 1: go through and and then he was in the guard
Speaker 1: going to active duty, and like I believe he was
Speaker 1: a Master Stortan, you know. And and uh he was
Speaker 1: in our serious schools because he went to active. Dude like, oh,
Speaker 1: bo oh, you didn't go to sear school. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: gotta do that now. Yeah, they've they've changed so many
Speaker 1: the stupid rules they used to have. Because I went
Speaker 1: to see her as a you know six, and uh,
Speaker 1: after I had been in group for a while because
Speaker 1: they at that time it wasn't part of the que course.
Speaker 1: And then I went to the one and I went
Speaker 1: to the war of course, they were like, oh, serious
Speaker 1: school is part of this. I already been and they
Speaker 1: were like, oh, well great, now you get to do
Speaker 1: it again. And I knew all the guys who worked
Speaker 1: at SERE because I had worked at Camp McCall you
Speaker 1: know as a s F A S guys. So they
Speaker 1: were all looking at me like what are you doing here?
Speaker 1: You already why are you on this side of the fence. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it wasn't very pleasant the second time. So so after
Speaker 1: you graduated the course, what what group were you assigned to? Yeah?
Speaker 1: So I was signed a third group. Uh that's O
Speaker 1: D A three six. Um. In fact, right when I
Speaker 1: got there was the transition point from three nine six
Speaker 1: to three three three six. That's that was uh. I
Speaker 1: mean it was a great team. The guys there were
Speaker 1: all just you know, barrel chested freedom fighters that that
Speaker 1: loved to to do what we love to do. And
Speaker 1: and you know the deal like when you're on teams,
Speaker 1: you know, the teams that love to get it and
Speaker 1: load it that don't. And we were fortunate up to
Speaker 1: uh get a lot of good missions when we were
Speaker 1: deployed because of that. Now, at that time, obviously everything
Speaker 1: was heavily into the Gulf War, so you probably weren't
Speaker 1: doing the Africa stuff at that time. It was probably
Speaker 1: all Afghanistan Iraq. Yeah, that that's it. And in fact
Speaker 1: they were when I graduated. I believe it was somewhere
Speaker 1: in August. I knew it was hot Brag when I
Speaker 1: graduated and went to you know, my O d A.
Speaker 1: And the first experience in my oder was going through
Speaker 1: all the deployment stuff because they were we were deployment
Speaker 1: in October. That August is is a rough time in
Speaker 1: and for Bragg. Yeah, absolutely, and uh we were, like
Speaker 1: I said, that was my introduction was getting with them
Speaker 1: and said all right, well we're going in October, so
Speaker 1: we need this sis and this and I was like,
Speaker 1: all right, cool, and uh we went to uh oh
Speaker 1: Man where was a Kabul outside of Kabul Polish shark
Speaker 1: yet I think was the five that we were first
Speaker 1: at and then ended up doing the majority of our
Speaker 1: stuff out of jay Bad. And you know, we were
Speaker 1: lucky enough to have the first candac of the two
Speaker 1: oh first commandos um you know, the commando unit that
Speaker 1: that we had stood up before then had not had
Speaker 1: any people graduate the course yet at this time. This
Speaker 1: was two thousand and seven, I believe, And uh, you know,
Speaker 1: we were just lucky to have some great folks there
Speaker 1: that that that supported us and and we didn't have
Speaker 1: to sit it, you know, sit in our huts the
Speaker 1: whole time. We got to go out and do some work. Nice. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Now can you talk us through when you got hurt? Yeah? Absolutely,
Speaker 1: you know. So on April six of two thousand and eight,
Speaker 1: you know, we were on a kill capture mission to
Speaker 1: get the guy by the name of Haji four. He
Speaker 1: was a you know, in charge of the HIG at
Speaker 1: that point, and and you know what he was doing.
Speaker 1: People don't know that that Afghanistan really has a big
Speaker 1: export industry of of gems, right, star sapphires, rubies and
Speaker 1: such things of that nature. And you know what he
Speaker 1: would do is go into these minds and and take
Speaker 1: over and say, hey, I'm in charge now, and uh
Speaker 1: fund to higg from all of that, right, And uh,
Speaker 1: that's that's basically what we were gonna do, is go
Speaker 1: up there where he was, which was about a thirty
Speaker 1: minute ride north of Jalalabad, up in the mountains where
Speaker 1: ten thousand feet above sea level, you know, And it
Speaker 1: was in April, so you know when we landed, it
Speaker 1: was probably you know, low thirties, right, and still had
Speaker 1: snow on the ground, and and uh we did. The
Speaker 1: thing about him is there wasn't a lot of intel,
Speaker 1: whether you know, of the surrounding area for obvious reasons,
Speaker 1: right there in the you know, nobody had been in
Speaker 1: there since the Russians, So there was no you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of human intelligence that we could gather than
Speaker 1: what we got from the I SR footage. And and
Speaker 1: so we really didn't know how many people we were
Speaker 1: going up against. We thought maybe it was him and
Speaker 1: tend to sixteen you know man detachment, you know PSD,
Speaker 1: and and uh, some people in the area. You know, unfortunately,
Speaker 1: end up being around two hundreds two d fifty people fighting. So,
Speaker 1: you know, when we landed, I was the assault team
Speaker 1: one leader along with another SF guy, Dave Sanders, and
Speaker 1: we had about eight Afghani commandos that was on our
Speaker 1: team and behind us climbing these you know, we're basically
Speaker 1: climbing a mountain, right, you know what it is when
Speaker 1: you land in the waddy and you start going up
Speaker 1: these dope pass and you have to jump up pretty
Speaker 1: much of the next terrace and follow that tool as
Speaker 1: far as you can go. And it was about a
Speaker 1: twenty to thirty minute climb just going up this mountain.
Speaker 1: You know, we're ten thousand feet up, but on this
Speaker 1: mountain face itself, we were probably you know, one or
Speaker 1: two hundred feet up, and um, you know that's when
Speaker 1: we got opened up on with pretty much an avalanche gunfire.
Speaker 1: I don't say that to sound cool, you know, it's
Speaker 1: just what we were in, you know, in in perspective,
Speaker 1: you know, within the first ten minutes, you know, you know,
Speaker 1: I've been talking for longer than ten minutes, but within
Speaker 1: the first ten we had our lead interpreter, Ck got
Speaker 1: shot in the Throat died on impact. Dylan Bear was
Speaker 1: shot in the hip. The initial assessment on him was
Speaker 1: twenty minutes, and Louis Morales had gotten shot twice. You know,
Speaker 1: so we we really got punched in the face. You
Speaker 1: know what Mike Tyson eloquently say, everybody's got a plan
Speaker 1: to get punched the mouth. That's that's what happened to us.
Speaker 1: And and uh, you know, I came back down from
Speaker 1: my position because the commanding Control element that was following me,
Speaker 1: you know, so the whole idea was for me to
Speaker 1: be the first one in right, grab a building, lock
Speaker 1: it down, have commanding Control come up to me, and
Speaker 1: then have a salt team to leap frog to the
Speaker 1: next building. And we kind of just played that game
Speaker 1: untill we got to the target. And with two guys shot,
Speaker 1: we realized that, you know, there was only you know,
Speaker 1: basile ten of us with the commandos plus the commandos,
Speaker 1: you know, there's just wasn't enough of us to be
Speaker 1: combat effective to to keep you know, charging up this mountain.
Speaker 1: And so uh, me and Dave took our team and
Speaker 1: came back down to the Commanding Control element, and uh,
Speaker 1: pretty much initiative, you know, Operation human shield. We only
Speaker 1: had one medic ron Surer who excuse me, he ended
Speaker 1: up getting the Meddal of Honor for for what he
Speaker 1: did that day. Uh So we were to catch the
Speaker 1: bullets while Ron did his job, and he did a
Speaker 1: great job for about I don't know, two hours, so
Speaker 1: we're probably about, you know, three hours into this firefight.
Speaker 1: And I'll never forget moving for one position the next
Speaker 1: and and uh, you know, just feeling the worst pain
Speaker 1: ever felt in my life, felled forward and rolled over
Speaker 1: and my leg was just hanging at a forty five
Speaker 1: degree angle, you know, only by an inch of flesh.
Speaker 1: And uh, man, that's why I tell everybody, you know,
Speaker 1: I didn't do this John Wayne Green Beret thing and
Speaker 1: telling my start and I didn't have time to bleed
Speaker 1: or anything like that you had seen in the movies. Man,
Speaker 1: I cried, screen yelled, right, I did any human thing
Speaker 1: you would think to do um at that moment. And ultimately,
Speaker 1: you know, I lived by the creed that I'm done.
Speaker 1: But I know I'm dumb, so that almost makes me smart.
Speaker 1: I never will forget thinking. I'm like, hey, you're dumbass,
Speaker 1: just got shot and you might want to ask for help. Right,
Speaker 1: and uh, I asked for Dave Sanders. I'm like, hey, man,
Speaker 1: you gotta help with this turny kid, and and he
Speaker 1: did the best he could to get it on there.
Speaker 1: And uh. One of the things I remember was thinking,
Speaker 1: thinking while Dave was doing that, was like, I'll be
Speaker 1: damn Spielberg got it right, because my blood was squirting
Speaker 1: out just like the movies. I was like, man, I
Speaker 1: don't mean to laugh, man, but it's I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: getting visual here, so I mean, you get it right.
Speaker 1: And hey, look every joke I make about my leg
Speaker 1: being gone the middle fingers the guy that shot me,
Speaker 1: So yeah, if my life sucks because him, he wins,
Speaker 1: and my life thinking of suck, I got no problem
Speaker 1: making a joke about it, you know. But but yeah,
Speaker 1: to Dave helped me with the turn of kid, and
Speaker 1: obviously with the blood you know, squirting like it did,
Speaker 1: it was very easy for me to see, you know,
Speaker 1: how long or how much to to tighten it and everything.
Speaker 1: And and that's when we just continue to fight and
Speaker 1: and do the best we can. But I remember the
Speaker 1: next time, every time I would try to move my leg,
Speaker 1: it would just get you know, caught on something and
Speaker 1: just the most excruciating pain. So I grabbed my leg,
Speaker 1: I folded up into my you know, my crotch, and
Speaker 1: just held it between my thighs while I was on
Speaker 1: the objective. And you know, I might be along with
Speaker 1: I gotta say, I kicked my own asshole in the battlefield, right,
Speaker 1: But well, the only thing I could think of was,
Speaker 1: you know, you gotta splint it, right, And uh, that
Speaker 1: was the only thing I could. You know, I obviously
Speaker 1: didn't have a splinter or anything. So I'm like, well,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna you know, hold up tween my legs.
Speaker 1: But at that point, you know, we we were about
Speaker 1: four hours into the fight, maybe five, and and uh,
Speaker 1: I never want to forget seeing my team start and
Speaker 1: get shot, you know. And and I was a new
Speaker 1: SF guy, you know, by no means am I trying
Speaker 1: to act like I was, you know, Chuck Norris wore
Speaker 1: John Wayne Green you know underwear. I wasn't that cool.
Speaker 1: I looked at my team startn't for a lot of direction,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know I saw him get shot within
Speaker 1: ten feet of me, and uh, you know that was
Speaker 1: definitely a mental holy crap, this is getting real type
Speaker 1: of you know scenario and and unfortunately the powers that
Speaker 1: be above us thought the same thing, and they opened
Speaker 1: up and diverted every almost every air st and theater
Speaker 1: to our location and really started dropping ordinance that that was,
Speaker 1: you know, to be quite honest, that the biggest help
Speaker 1: for us to get off that cliff side and get
Speaker 1: down to the mountain, you know. And and uh, that's
Speaker 1: what we would do. We would drop a bomb, you know,
Speaker 1: scale the back inside of the cliffs and dropping their bombs,
Speaker 1: scaled the back side of the cliff and just wash
Speaker 1: rents repeat. You know. I got two funny stories, so
Speaker 1: I always remember whenever, you know, you got the morphine injectors.
Speaker 1: Right well, about ten minutes after getting shot, I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh crap, I got this morphine Jackson. It's gonna feel
Speaker 1: great right now, you know. But it also say, hey, man,
Speaker 1: you're kind of jacked up. You might want to ask
Speaker 1: the right way to do this. So I asked Ron,
Speaker 1: you know, I was like, hey, what side down? He's
Speaker 1: like purple, all right? Cool? So I put it down
Speaker 1: and the freaking uh needle went into my thumb and
Speaker 1: so I was just cussing and drown. I'm like, you
Speaker 1: got one job, Ron, one job, right, and uh, so
Speaker 1: I wanna beat you in my leg when I see you.
Speaker 1: I RN and and uh, everybody like we're laughing right
Speaker 1: now the team was laughing on the side of the mountain.
Speaker 1: Oh man, the rest his soul. That's that guy was absolute.
Speaker 1: He was He was a great guy. But uh, and
Speaker 1: then the since I'm on Ron, the last story is
Speaker 1: never well, freak it thinking after that. You know, Stephen
Speaker 1: had to have been thirty to forty five minutes and
Speaker 1: nobody's checked me and or keeping me alive other than me.
Speaker 1: And I'm not qualified for that, right. You know. Ron
Speaker 1: was working on Dylan and Louise that and he never
Speaker 1: made it over here to check me. So I was
Speaker 1: always like, I was like, run, Ron, come check me out.
Speaker 1: You know a b C S. You know, do the
Speaker 1: medic ship that I want to know about right now.
Speaker 1: And and I'll never will forget him sticking his little
Speaker 1: peanut head over Dylon and giving me a thumbs up
Speaker 1: and saying you're good, like I'm not good, Ron, Like
Speaker 1: I know being good Ron, this is not good. My
Speaker 1: my legs tucked up under me here, it's not good. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know. And uh, but obviously he knew what he
Speaker 1: was doing. Right, if I was well enough to yell
Speaker 1: at him, I wasn't dying, and and uh and he
Speaker 1: actually got cancer after this and and passed away a
Speaker 1: few weeks ago, and so uh, yeah, I saw that.
Speaker 1: That was very sad. And he had a couple of
Speaker 1: young kids, and it's just right, Yeah, American definitely gone
Speaker 1: too soon. And and uh, you know, cancer is a
Speaker 1: hell of a thing. And only saw this that we
Speaker 1: can get is I'm just glad he's no longer in pain. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but but yeah, you made it. You made it out
Speaker 1: of there on a on a helicopter. And we were
Speaker 1: talking about this before we started the recording, So tell
Speaker 1: our listeners what happened with the helicopters. Yeah, so the
Speaker 1: first helicopter that came in, you know, it was a
Speaker 1: proper metavac bird And so before I even got there,
Speaker 1: we had to you know, the h LZ was in
Speaker 1: the middle of the water, and what was between us
Speaker 1: and the and the base of the mountain that we
Speaker 1: had to get through was this river, melted ice and
Speaker 1: the snow. And you know, I never will forget getting
Speaker 1: drug through that and just being you know, again it's
Speaker 1: you know, the degree of water was thirty three degrees
Speaker 1: and and man, it was the coldest bath that I've
Speaker 1: ever gotten in my life. I was like, come on, baby, Jesus,
Speaker 1: I'm surviving a gunshot. Now you're gonna make me die hypothermia,
Speaker 1: you know. And and uh so the bird comes in
Speaker 1: and uh there's a picture that's ingrained in my memory
Speaker 1: of seeing Scott with his arm getting you know, the
Speaker 1: reaching up to to grab the bottom of this medevac
Speaker 1: bird and it actually flying away, and you know, we
Speaker 1: have audio of the pilot saying I'm hit, I'm hit.
Speaker 1: I'm going south and and he actually got shot and
Speaker 1: had to fly away. So we had to get drug
Speaker 1: back through the water again to the base of the mountain.
Speaker 1: Second bird comes in. It was just from the you know,
Speaker 1: our bird air reaction force and and it comes in.
Speaker 1: We had some you know, SF guys get off and
Speaker 1: we got on and we uh, you know, elevator up
Speaker 1: out of the objective and start flying away. And I
Speaker 1: never forget we had to do a emergency landing because
Speaker 1: all the damage we took getting out of there, we
Speaker 1: couldn't even make it to a bad And I was like, again,
Speaker 1: thanks baby, Jesus right, gunshot, hypothermia, out of plane crash,
Speaker 1: what are we gonna do? And uh we we we
Speaker 1: got crossloaded to the third aircraft and it got us
Speaker 1: in there and and uh that's that's uh that's the
Speaker 1: day at my office that day. M hmm. But that
Speaker 1: from from there? Did they send you on your way
Speaker 1: to Germany? Is that the normal route for somebody who's injury?
Speaker 1: So we went into u a bad and that's when I,
Speaker 1: um actually died a couple of times and and UH
Speaker 1: came back. I was always my joke, I'm like, I
Speaker 1: just you know, I was seeing if y'all are gonna cry? Right,
Speaker 1: And then I when I came back door, and uh,
Speaker 1: I woke up in Bogram the following day and Steve,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be honest with you, I'll there will you know,
Speaker 1: there aren't a word to truly you know, uh quantify
Speaker 1: with the feeling of me looking at those stealing tiles
Speaker 1: and being terrified to look down, right because I knew,
Speaker 1: you know why, I knew why I was there, right,
Speaker 1: I didn't have any memory loss and and uh so
Speaker 1: I knew that that the next moment I looked down
Speaker 1: would be the most profound moment of my life. I
Speaker 1: also kind of thought, you know, like the whole Ricky Bobby, Well,
Speaker 1: with my high income and advancement of modern science, right,
Speaker 1: there's no reason to think they can't save the leg. Right,
Speaker 1: this is special Forces. And uh but I looked down
Speaker 1: and I saw one leg sticking out, and you know
Speaker 1: that that's when I cried, and I knew that everything
Speaker 1: that I had worked for, you know, at this moment
Speaker 1: was over. Um. You know when when I really give
Speaker 1: a speech about it, I always say that's the meaning.
Speaker 1: That's the moment that I truly learned the meaning of
Speaker 1: the word can't right, you know, forever, I can't walk,
Speaker 1: not without the aid of a prosthetic device. And and uh,
Speaker 1: that was a just a debilitating gut punch that that
Speaker 1: I you know, I hope people never have to go through.
Speaker 1: But you're question. Yeah, I went to launch Duel and
Speaker 1: then from there we we uh ended up at Walter
Speaker 1: Read and the uh, the folks of Walter Read. The
Speaker 1: prosthetics people there do some tremendous work. As I mentioned
Speaker 1: to you offline. You know, my partner that I used
Speaker 1: to work with, we were on a two man mission
Speaker 1: down in South America, and you know he was uh
Speaker 1: missing a leg as well, and I'd go with him
Speaker 1: up to Walter Read and you know he'd get fitted
Speaker 1: for a new one. At that time, the state of
Speaker 1: the art stuff wasn't anything like what you guys have today.
Speaker 1: But you know, they did what they could for him,
Speaker 1: and they did some great work up there. Yeah, Walter
Speaker 1: Read is phenomenal. You know, it just was. It always
Speaker 1: say that if you wanted to get better, there was
Speaker 1: no better place than Walter Reid. You know, if you
Speaker 1: wanted to put the time in to get better, they
Speaker 1: were They had to staff and the and the capabilities
Speaker 1: to give you the best that you can in. And
Speaker 1: I've got nothing but good. Good. I know there was
Speaker 1: like a bad press about him a long time ago,
Speaker 1: but uh again there's there was nothing but good that
Speaker 1: happened whenever I was there. Yeah, that's uh, that's good
Speaker 1: to hear because you know, a lot of what we
Speaker 1: do here in the news about either veterans are you know,
Speaker 1: active duty, you know, soldiers getting medical treatment and a
Speaker 1: lot of it is very negative and it's good to
Speaker 1: hear about that. I mean, I had good luck when
Speaker 1: I was at Walter read that's where they ended up
Speaker 1: putting me out. Actually I went they medically medically. I
Speaker 1: can't even speak this afternoon. They medically put me out
Speaker 1: at that time. But yeah, um, yeah that was I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm glad to hear that. And so talk us through,
Speaker 1: you know. Okay, so, yeah, you lost your leg that
Speaker 1: fit you with a prosthetic device, and how did you
Speaker 1: end that back in SF because that is not a
Speaker 1: very common thing. Yeah, you know, So I was there
Speaker 1: for Walter Reid for maybe six to eight months, and
Speaker 1: quite frankly, I just couldn't deal with DC anymore. You know,
Speaker 1: it's a great place to visit, I just couldn't. I
Speaker 1: I couldn't live there. And I and I you know,
Speaker 1: went back to my chain of command. Uh, and I
Speaker 1: was like, hey, guys, I gotta get back, you know,
Speaker 1: I gotta get back to BRAG. You know, I just
Speaker 1: started to run at that point. And uh, you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: BRAG didn't have the facilities that that that Walter reed
Speaker 1: didn't have. But anyway, I just had to do it.
Speaker 1: And and so I went there and and honestly, quitting,
Speaker 1: quitting was never an option for me, you know, to
Speaker 1: your point earlier, how we started this. Right. My name
Speaker 1: is John Wayne. I was born on the fourth of July. Right,
Speaker 1: Like if God ever put it in black and white,
Speaker 1: you know what somebody is supposed to do. He sure
Speaker 1: did for me. And and uh, you know, to become
Speaker 1: SF you don't have to like it, you gotta love it.
Speaker 1: And so it was something I love even to this day.
Speaker 1: You know, I loved every minute of it. And and
Speaker 1: so Quentin wasn't an option. It was just a let's
Speaker 1: figure out how right. And I was fortunate enough that
Speaker 1: that my team start and actually went to work at
Speaker 1: the Sniper detachment over at Opsted and um so I
Speaker 1: transferred over to him over you know, and worked with
Speaker 1: him at the at the Sniper Debt. And man, I
Speaker 1: tell you what I just I had to I had
Speaker 1: to try. I try to. You know. Obviously to be
Speaker 1: a cooming an instructor there you had to be sold
Speaker 1: qualified and and uh, you know, my my rehabilitation had
Speaker 1: come to a certain point where I felt that I
Speaker 1: had the you know, the performance that could could do it,
Speaker 1: and uh they put me in there, and and I
Speaker 1: was fortunate enough to meet all the qualifications and and uh,
Speaker 1: you know graduate uh Special Forces sniper school, and you
Speaker 1: know it was funny they didn't even know I was
Speaker 1: one legged. A lot of them whenever we were doing
Speaker 1: what it was, uh stalks, right, so you're we went
Speaker 1: out to the stock lanes and changing in the gilly
Speaker 1: suits and that was the first time that you know,
Speaker 1: obviously had to drop trout in front of everybody, and
Speaker 1: guy was like, what the hell. I'm like, yep, I'm
Speaker 1: one leg and buddy games on and when they did
Speaker 1: all the you know, the scrambles and running guns were
Speaker 1: they they posted times and everything. You know, I made
Speaker 1: sure to go up to the board and say, hey,
Speaker 1: the one leg guy wasn't last. Yeah, but yeah, it
Speaker 1: was just it was a great experience. You know, it
Speaker 1: was tough. They didn't pull any punches. It was definitely
Speaker 1: the first time that I, uh, you know, got uh
Speaker 1: a realization of how tough it is to operate as
Speaker 1: an amputee, you know, and and quite honestly, it was
Speaker 1: a big come to Jesus moaning moments, you know that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I had this romantic sized thing about all right, you
Speaker 1: know I can do this, I can do that. I'm
Speaker 1: just as good and everything. But it really made me
Speaker 1: realize like, you know what, no matter how good I
Speaker 1: am one legged, I'll never be as good as a
Speaker 1: Green Beret too legged, right, And that was a very
Speaker 1: very tough conversation for me to have. No again, by
Speaker 1: all means I could stay in a in a non
Speaker 1: operational role, working at the school house, doing something like that.
Speaker 1: But I just in my heart, you know, I h
Speaker 1: I couldn't spend another you know, eight to eight years
Speaker 1: at least, because I had about eleven years in at
Speaker 1: this time. And that's just when I decided to get out,
Speaker 1: you know, and and said, you know, God's pointed me
Speaker 1: in a different direction. And and uh may I'll tell
Speaker 1: you what, moving back to Dallas or to Texas was
Speaker 1: one of the best, you know decisions I ever made.
Speaker 1: Dallas is a beautiful area. As I mentioned to you earlier.
Speaker 1: I mean we have some family members there, and um,
Speaker 1: you know, we went down there a couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: went to the Texas State Fair and taking the OYU
Speaker 1: Oklahoma game. I mean, we did the whole thing, and
Speaker 1: U that's just got to do it. That's a great place.
Speaker 1: I really like that area, and they love vets there,
Speaker 1: like you know, just like how Walter Reid is. If
Speaker 1: you wanted to get better, that's the place to do it.
Speaker 1: If you're a veteran and you want to have a
Speaker 1: job and work and have a family, this is a
Speaker 1: place to do it. They are you know, we we
Speaker 1: have a very very diverse economy, so you know, we're
Speaker 1: not hitting that hard with processions as other parts of
Speaker 1: the country, you know, big veteran lovers. You know, the
Speaker 1: support that I've gotten from people here in this community
Speaker 1: and this area has just been, you know, absolutely phenomenal. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know you you didn't mention, uh, and
Speaker 1: you weren't blowing your own horns, so I'll blow it
Speaker 1: for you. Not only did you receive the purple Heart
Speaker 1: for your you know, your injury there, but you also
Speaker 1: got a bronze star and a silver star. So uh,
Speaker 1: I think our listeners should know that a little bit
Speaker 1: too well. I appreciate that, you know our motto quiet
Speaker 1: professionals right now, but you know, it is a you
Speaker 1: know on that point though, it is a very humbling
Speaker 1: fact to know that, you know, the day I lost
Speaker 1: my leg, two medals of honor were awarded eight silver stars.
Speaker 1: The Air Force crossed a purple hearts you know, but
Speaker 1: zero American killed. How crazy is that to know that,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm I'm a part of that history and
Speaker 1: and uh, it really is a humbling figure. This wasn't
Speaker 1: my deal, this is my teams. There are a lot
Speaker 1: you know, cooler people on that day than than me.
Speaker 1: I'm just very lucky to to be a part of them.
Speaker 1: Well I think they were lucky to have you, so
Speaker 1: you know, and that again, you know, talking about run
Speaker 1: your medic I mean, you know when I when I
Speaker 1: read that story, uh it was amazing because I remember
Speaker 1: when that came all out in the news, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it's amazing that the work he did that
Speaker 1: and you know, as you said, he was so cool
Speaker 1: and come under fire and taking care of a couple
Speaker 1: of other guys, and you know, it's just it's it
Speaker 1: speaks volumes about SF in general, right right, It really
Speaker 1: does you know the fighting force that we as you know,
Speaker 1: you know, together man, we are an absolute juggernaut on
Speaker 1: the battlefield. It's it really is. I just keep saying
Speaker 1: the word humbling, because it is humbling to note that
Speaker 1: I'm a part of that history. And quite honest, and Steve,
Speaker 1: that's what keeps me motivated, you know, in my civilian life,
Speaker 1: you know now what I'm doing now, it's just I
Speaker 1: feel like I'm serving my country just as much, you
Speaker 1: know then when I was in you know, being an
Speaker 1: advocate for you know, it's Green Beret Foundation to Sentinals
Speaker 1: freedom and the the you know, the great benevolent agencies
Speaker 1: that are out there, you know, to the companies that
Speaker 1: I'm running now to where you know, Gallantry Global Logistics.
Speaker 1: I want to be the you know, the largest veteran
Speaker 1: hiring company in the state of Texas. And you know,
Speaker 1: my water company Lived to Give. You know, every bottle
Speaker 1: you buy, we're giving half the profits to veteran and
Speaker 1: first responder charities. You know, imagine you know the amount
Speaker 1: of good that we're gonna be able to do just
Speaker 1: by selling water. Man. I'm so excited, you know, at
Speaker 1: that the place God has put me in now and
Speaker 1: and it's just it's it's it's it's fun to come
Speaker 1: to work every day. Put it that way, right, Well,
Speaker 1: that that was what I was gonna ask you, John.
Speaker 1: I know that I read in your bio that you
Speaker 1: know the cofor Lived to Give, As you mentioned, it's
Speaker 1: a company built on the premise of giving back and
Speaker 1: they donate fifty of all the net profits the charity
Speaker 1: supporting the military first responders and their families. So how
Speaker 1: did you get into that? Because I know for a
Speaker 1: lot of us, I mean I'm speaking for myself here,
Speaker 1: I don't know anything about you know, charities and stuff
Speaker 1: like that. So how how did you come about with that? Well?
Speaker 1: I kind of just told you thirty minutes of how
Speaker 1: I became about it, right, losing my leg, I kind
Speaker 1: of just was forced into the world, right, h what's
Speaker 1: the rogue game? Guy? I'm not just a client, but
Speaker 1: I'm also what the owner or whatever? Yea, you know
Speaker 1: the same thing, right. So I've been on both sides,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, Steve, I know firsthand what it's
Speaker 1: like to you know, be in a hospital and have
Speaker 1: a benevolent agency help you. Right, whenever I showed up
Speaker 1: to Walter Reed Green Beret Foundation, had you know, two
Speaker 1: thousand dollar check in a in a go rug bag,
Speaker 1: and and you know there are others, uh, there are
Speaker 1: other agencies that was helping get my family up there,
Speaker 1: and and so it was it was life changing. And
Speaker 1: I will never forget that, and want to make sure
Speaker 1: you know that those that are still going. You know
Speaker 1: that just because we're talking about COVID doesn't mean the
Speaker 1: war stops, right. You know, we were always gonna need
Speaker 1: people to uh to support those that are keeping us safe.
Speaker 1: And and um, I had lunch with a friend of
Speaker 1: mine that that brought a guest and his name was
Speaker 1: Zack Smith. And and Zack Smith was a Mississippi State
Speaker 1: football guy. You know, civilian, had nothing to do with
Speaker 1: the army other than he just loves this country and
Speaker 1: those that serve it. And he brought me the idea.
Speaker 1: He's like, hey, you know I wanted to I was
Speaker 1: thinking about doing this thing. At the time. It was
Speaker 1: called gift back and and you know I want to
Speaker 1: you know, UM sell a product that every time you
Speaker 1: buy it, we we give half back. And uh, I said,
Speaker 1: you know what, I got a friend of mine that's
Speaker 1: in the beverage industry. Let's let's uh you know, because
Speaker 1: he offered me a part of the company and said, hey,
Speaker 1: let's let's let's think about doing this. And I said, well,
Speaker 1: I got a buddy that you know he may know
Speaker 1: a little bit. His name is Larry Young. He's the
Speaker 1: former CEO of Dr Pepper and so he might know
Speaker 1: a little bit about beverage. And uh, we had lunch
Speaker 1: with Larry and and uh, just like the the awesome
Speaker 1: guy that he is, he listened to what we were
Speaker 1: all saying and then when we shut up, he started
Speaker 1: talking right. He said, all right, guys, here's what we're
Speaker 1: gonna do. Let's do water. It's the cheapest to make.
Speaker 1: Everybody drinks it and won't kill nobody. And uh, there
Speaker 1: we go. And and uh we were fortunate enough to
Speaker 1: have him introduced us to some of the marketing people
Speaker 1: at at Dr Pepper and we are Alexander their agency
Speaker 1: they use, and they helped us design the logo, come
Speaker 1: up with the name. Actually you know and and um.
Speaker 1: During that time, I some of my very close friends
Speaker 1: here um in the in the Dallas area. We raised
Speaker 1: the money that was needed to really take a serious
Speaker 1: play at the beverage industry, because it does take a
Speaker 1: lot of money. This is not something that you get
Speaker 1: you don't get into Kroger and Tom Thumb lightly right.
Speaker 1: You have to have the firepower behind it too. You
Speaker 1: know that we're learning now, you know, to get through
Speaker 1: this and and uh, you know, fast forward here we are,
Speaker 1: you know, we started making water in in November. And
Speaker 1: and and true John Wayne fashion right with the whenever
Speaker 1: we got the help from Dr Pepper to find a
Speaker 1: bottler to make our water, because it's the reverse us
Speaker 1: most is purified water, but with the electrolytes and minerals
Speaker 1: added back for taste. Right, it's the the enhanced water,
Speaker 1: uh playing field that that we're in. And and the
Speaker 1: plant that they looked linked us up with was Sea Force,
Speaker 1: which is bottling plant down in Navasota that is owned
Speaker 1: and run by Chuck Norris and Gina Norris. So my
Speaker 1: wife's like, you mean to tell me you got Chuck
Speaker 1: Norris making your water. I'm like, well kind of, but
Speaker 1: you know. And so it was great to meet them,
Speaker 1: and they're a great partner to have. We're we're very
Speaker 1: very lucky to get to have them. And uh, once
Speaker 1: we got the water, you know, before then we were
Speaker 1: dealing with the different charities, right, who do we support?
Speaker 1: How does this work? And and that was a tough
Speaker 1: process in itself, you know, Man, it's tough to find
Speaker 1: charities out there that one is national. We gotta have
Speaker 1: a national branch, you know, because of selling water and
Speaker 1: and uh, obviously the cause has got to be the
Speaker 1: right They gotta be doing the right thing with the
Speaker 1: financials and the products and services is what they're doing.
Speaker 1: And UM, after a long, you know, hard thing, we
Speaker 1: we really settled on three, which was the um UM
Speaker 1: Task Force, Dagger Foundation, which they're the nine one one
Speaker 1: for special operations. Really UM Folds of Honor, right, Folds
Speaker 1: of Honor gives five thousand dollar scholarships to the children
Speaker 1: of the wounded and fallen, and then CHIPE charities. Uh
Speaker 1: they do three different falsets of their charitable donations, ones
Speaker 1: to kids with rare diseases, ones to veterans, and the
Speaker 1: others first responders. And so we were very fortunate to
Speaker 1: to find them in partner with them, you know, to
Speaker 1: really give our first responder and aspect and and uh,
Speaker 1: unbeknown to us, right as an entrepreneur, I'm just kind
Speaker 1: of learning as I go with a lot of this stuff.
Speaker 1: I don't have corporate law degree or know anything about
Speaker 1: corporate co venture agreements that I do now, you know.
Speaker 1: And and so because of that, the corporate covidure agreements
Speaker 1: that you have to have in every single state with
Speaker 1: every charity that a profilet a pro Uh, a profit
Speaker 1: company has with the nonprofit organization, we're starting to Live
Speaker 1: to Give Foundation. That essentially everything's gonna run the same,
Speaker 1: but instead of having to worry about all the legalities,
Speaker 1: we're just gonna you know, do out all the charitable
Speaker 1: stuff through to Live the Gift Foundation. That's awesome, that's uh,
Speaker 1: that that's fantastic. You know, that's you know, for somebody
Speaker 1: who's already given so much and still giving back. I mean,
Speaker 1: and now you have not only John Wayne, but you
Speaker 1: have Chuck Norris beyond you. I mean, how more American
Speaker 1: can you get? You know? And and more importantly, Steve.
Speaker 1: I'm just excited to the amount of good that we're
Speaker 1: gonna do just by selling water. Right to imagine at
Speaker 1: you know, let's put things into perspective here. I think
Speaker 1: SmartWater did about eight hundred million in revenue last year.
Speaker 1: Imagine if we gave half of that away, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's real talking. You know that we're just asking people,
Speaker 1: you know that the consumers not having to sacrifice anything.
Speaker 1: We are, you know, we're the same price, the same product.
Speaker 1: We're allowing everyday Americans to give back daily. Right, That's
Speaker 1: the That's why I think this is gonna be a
Speaker 1: big deal. Is whenever you move your hand three inches
Speaker 1: in that cooler, you know, from whatever products to Live
Speaker 1: to Give, you know that we are going to change lives.
Speaker 1: And man, I can't wait to tell those stories. That's awesome.
Speaker 1: And uh, yeah, is my next question is Lived to
Speaker 1: Give the water? Is that available everywhere? Or is that
Speaker 1: just in Texas right now in store? It's available in
Speaker 1: the DFW area where we're fortunate enough to get. You know,
Speaker 1: I started telling you in November of last year. Really
Speaker 1: is is is when we kind of launched and uh,
Speaker 1: the way that the sales process works that the groceries
Speaker 1: and and stores they really only meet about once maybe
Speaker 1: twice a year in the spring and the fall, right,
Speaker 1: and uh, we were gimming up hiring the right people,
Speaker 1: you know, rock stars in the industry to get this
Speaker 1: baby rolling. And then COVID happened in February for and
Speaker 1: when all of our meetings we're gonna happen in March
Speaker 1: and April, you know, and so we we really got
Speaker 1: punching the mouth with that. But during that time, we
Speaker 1: do have a great success story. We're in We've gotten
Speaker 1: over a hundred seven elevens. We were in you know,
Speaker 1: a bunch of third party channels here from Local Yoko,
Speaker 1: you know, Grocerer to Defender Outdoors and other places, you know,
Speaker 1: a good places like that. Um, we are obviously nationwide
Speaker 1: on Amazon. You can go get it. And you know
Speaker 1: we're on Amazon right now in one Leader and uh yeah,
Speaker 1: and so that's where we are in right now. That's
Speaker 1: that's awesome, man, and I wish it the very best
Speaker 1: with that. And uh, I'm gonna go on Amazon as
Speaker 1: soon as we're done, and I'm gonna order some water.
Speaker 1: So they got to give back a little bit where
Speaker 1: we can. We're not breeding pandas you know, we're just
Speaker 1: making water. You know. Hey, you know maybe some of
Speaker 1: that smart water will rub off on some of us
Speaker 1: down here. Yeah, absolutely, John. Uh, we want to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us this afternoon. I mean, this has
Speaker 1: been great. Uh, you have an awesome story to tell.
Speaker 1: You were amongst a group of green Berets. That's unbelievable.
Speaker 1: That the story of that team. And again I remember
Speaker 1: reading about it, you know, and it's uh everything that
Speaker 1: SF is supposed to be all about. And uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I think your your story is fantastic and I wish
Speaker 1: you all the best in all your future and others there, Steve,
Speaker 1: I really appreciate it. Thank you so much. And and
Speaker 1: um again I don't I don't take the invitation lightly.
Speaker 1: Like I told you earlier. You know, my leg will
Speaker 1: never grow back. And so every single day I'm going
Speaker 1: to have the memory of what the true sacrifices of
Speaker 1: our freedoms is. And and uh, the thank yous that
Speaker 1: I get from people like you that want to hear
Speaker 1: my story and for all of those that want to
Speaker 1: support those that are serving, it's just an absolute you know,
Speaker 1: validation for that sacrifice, right and and and when you say,
Speaker 1: you know, thank you, that's why I don't say you're welcome.
Speaker 1: I say you're worth it. You're worth that fight, You're
Speaker 1: worth the holidays and everything missed, and and uh God
Speaker 1: bless you all. And and uh look forward to hearing
Speaker 1: from you again. Yeah absolutely. Uh let's uh, let's uh
Speaker 1: link back up in the future when when this water
Speaker 1: company is going global. Yeah, well, well we'll do a
Speaker 1: you know, we'll reach John stuff when when that happens.
Speaker 1: But John, thanks once again. I mean that it was
Speaker 1: fantastic and you know uh, we really appreciate your time,
Speaker 1: We appreciate your service, and uh yeah you're a great American,
Speaker 1: my friend. Well god bletch you, Steve, Thank you sir
Speaker 1: all right and uh for myself Steve Blastoria. All of
Speaker 1: us here at Software Up Radio, we want to thank
Speaker 1: everyone for listening to this afternoon. We want to thank
Speaker 1: our guests John Wayne Walding and folks be sure to
Speaker 1: check that out. Um. You know, John is now the
Speaker 1: co founder of Live to Give and if you're looking
Speaker 1: for water to buy, they give half of it back
Speaker 1: of their net profits too support military first responders in
Speaker 1: their families. That doesn't get any better than that, So
Speaker 1: suffer up Radio here on time on target. We'll be
Speaker 1: back with another podcast real soon. But once again thanks
Speaker 1: to our guests on my wall and John once again
Speaker 1: thanks for joining us. Let's do it again soon. Yes,
Speaker 1: sir here will thank you've been listening to self Replydia M.