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 in the community. And were going everyone,
Speaker 1: welcome back to soft Rep Radio. I am your host today.
Speaker 1: Steve Balistrari joining us shortly. We're gonna welcome our two guests.
Speaker 1: We have Admiral Bob Basil coming us to us from Charleston,
Speaker 1: South Carolina. And we also have retired general Brigadier General
Speaker 1: Gary Pappas from Boston, Massachusetts, who was in the Massachusetts
Speaker 1: National Guards. And what we're talking about today, and I
Speaker 1: know a lot of our listeners, a lot of our
Speaker 1: readers have had, you know, questions, and we've had conversations
Speaker 1: and we've written about it. We talked about mission readiness,
Speaker 1: you know, in the military, and that's where we're going
Speaker 1: to delve into today. But as a lot of you know,
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen has impacted our country in a lot of
Speaker 1: different ways, and one of the most notable examples is
Speaker 1: the rise and food insecurity. Many children and our schools
Speaker 1: today rely on meals as the primary source of daily calories.
Speaker 1: And because of the COVID and because of the school shutting,
Speaker 1: down they were a lot of them were left without
Speaker 1: reliable healthy food, so school meals. Obviously, we're very important.
Speaker 1: Our military leaders that are joining us today are part
Speaker 1: of and I want to make sure I get it's
Speaker 1: the Councils for Strong America, but they're also did they
Speaker 1: deal with what's called mission readiness and Uh, one of
Speaker 1: the things about mission readiness is preparing our children for
Speaker 1: military service down the road. And our leaders that are
Speaker 1: with us today are gonna talk to us about that.
Speaker 1: And one of the most reading about this organization, one
Speaker 1: of the most interesting things that I saw and reading
Speaker 1: about them was when they first started this in two
Speaker 1: thousand nine of eligible I guess between seventeen and twenty
Speaker 1: four year olds. Uh, we're ineligible for the military due
Speaker 1: to their weight. And that hasn't gotten better, I believe
Speaker 1: in and they can correct me if I'm wrong. That
Speaker 1: number went up to So this is what mission readiness
Speaker 1: is all about. And with that, I want to welcome
Speaker 1: our two guests. First of all, Admiral Gary Basil from Charleston. Welcome, sir,
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us here on the Software Radio Podcast. Steve,
Speaker 1: thanks for the opportunity to be with you today. And
Speaker 1: to share a little bit about mission readies and especially
Speaker 1: the the latest venture in mission readiness, and that has
Speaker 1: to do with the summer lunch programs. UH. You may
Speaker 1: know that we we had we take a different perspective.
Speaker 1: We look at these issues facing children from from a
Speaker 1: national security perspective, UH, and that's primary. I had several
Speaker 1: squadron mates who wound up in recruiting and they would
Speaker 1: tell me just how tough it was to UH to
Speaker 1: get candidates for military service. Overall, nationwide, seventy one of
Speaker 1: young Americans between the age of seventeen and twenty four
Speaker 1: are not eligible to serve. That leaves you a little
Speaker 1: a small pot there of of fish in a small
Speaker 1: pond where everybody else is fishing too. And one of
Speaker 1: those big factors you mentioned is physical fitness. They're they're
Speaker 1: primarily obesity that physically disqualifies them. Many years ago, post
Speaker 1: World War Two, the the the chair of the Selective
Speaker 1: Service Commission, Lieutenant General Hershey UH, petition Congress to establish
Speaker 1: a lunch program as school food program. Pre World War
Speaker 1: two and during World War two recruits a recruit we're
Speaker 1: not eligible to recruit because of malnutrition. It was a
Speaker 1: whole different storming out of the depression. But we've got
Speaker 1: a similar problem facing us now with malnutrition, particularly you.
Speaker 1: Uh food insecure is the term we use. Mm hmm. Well,
Speaker 1: and with that, I want to welcome our other cats.
Speaker 1: Brigadier General Gary Pappas from my home state of Massachusetts. General,
Speaker 1: welcome to the podcast today, and I wanted to ask you,
Speaker 1: how did how did you get involved with mission readiness? Well,
Speaker 1: I've always been interested in this this subject. Fact. It's
Speaker 1: as a younger commander of different units we were charged
Speaker 1: with responsibility recruiting and retention. Recruiting was problematic when you
Speaker 1: see these these numbers of people that are ineligible. Uh,
Speaker 1: So I took it interesting when this uh an invitation
Speaker 1: to join mission rates came along, I jumped a chance,
Speaker 1: hope that makes some kind of an impact locally here
Speaker 1: in Massachusetts. Uh. My my job when I was a
Speaker 1: commanding general of the DAD between the two thousand and
Speaker 1: two thousand five didn't involve recruiting, made sing the strength
Speaker 1: of and so forth. And again this this was a
Speaker 1: very relevant, relevant point, relevant discussion with my supportive commanders
Speaker 1: about UH maintained the force and UH it's gave an
Speaker 1: interesting problem for that way. Yeah, and with that's being said,
Speaker 1: I mean, I know the Admiral just talked about, you know,
Speaker 1: the schools and you know the talking about nutrition. Is
Speaker 1: that an issue in Massachusetts because at one time it
Speaker 1: used to not be. But I would imagine especially in
Speaker 1: the inner cities up in Boston, is that a big
Speaker 1: issue now? It is an issue. UH, And it has
Speaker 1: been you know under the surrunder the radar alphab lot
Speaker 1: it years. UH, but it is definitely an issue. We've
Speaker 1: we've had leaders of the Statehouse UH to advocate additional
Speaker 1: funding for early childhood education and nutrition. UH. And you
Speaker 1: cite some of these statistics UH to the leaders in
Speaker 1: the Statehouse and you know, the drys drop they don't
Speaker 1: believe it. And UM, you stopped talking to some of
Speaker 1: the actual legislators themselves in the districts, especially those districts
Speaker 1: have UH in a city issues. Um, they confirm it.
Speaker 1: And I can tell you it's it exists UH a
Speaker 1: lot of different levels, not just UH school programs, but
Speaker 1: take for example, during COVID. Now there's an organization that
Speaker 1: I it's part of a lot of years, but among
Speaker 1: other things, runs a semi camp up in New Hampshire
Speaker 1: for inner city kids as a young kid, and that's
Speaker 1: where I grew up in the inner city and went
Speaker 1: to this place to continue on with to UH for
Speaker 1: a long long time. Right now that that programs cancels,
Speaker 1: happens those kids that were getting fit uh three times
Speaker 1: a day. But this is camp and being outside. There's
Speaker 1: got to be an alternative for that. And that's what
Speaker 1: you know, we we're talking about here. They what those
Speaker 1: are patives to meet that need? Right and you know,
Speaker 1: back to Admiral diesel Um, one of the questions I
Speaker 1: wanted to ask you. There was a report that Mission
Speaker 1: Readiness just put out about bridging the summer meals gap,
Speaker 1: and can you fill in our listeners on this report
Speaker 1: that just came out, Steve, the the summer meal program
Speaker 1: is only right now one in seven children who participate
Speaker 1: in the regular school lunch program has access to these
Speaker 1: meals in the summer. And it's uh, it's even become
Speaker 1: more complicated with the COVID, the COVID problem that we have. UH.
Speaker 1: Last year, almost thirty million students participated in some sort
Speaker 1: of a daily school lunch program and just over twenty
Speaker 1: million of those we're receiving free lunches at over a
Speaker 1: hundred thousand schools. Um Last summer the number was only
Speaker 1: about two point seven million kids were able to participate
Speaker 1: in the school lunch program and that was over almost
Speaker 1: almost forty eight thousand different sites or the necessary not
Speaker 1: necessarily the school, but remote sites. But the challenges that
Speaker 1: for many of these youngsters, they receive about fifty of
Speaker 1: their daily calories at this meal at this noon program
Speaker 1: that may not be getting the right type of nutrition
Speaker 1: at home. It's not only a physical fitness plus for
Speaker 1: them to get the right types of calories, but it
Speaker 1: also becomes kind of an educational plus and what the
Speaker 1: good aspects are of eating correctly. So, you know, we
Speaker 1: were wanted to to point this out that you know,
Speaker 1: long running research has shown that they eat the food
Speaker 1: that they eat right now, Uh, will you help address
Speaker 1: this in the food insecurity and the weight gain. We're
Speaker 1: going to provide them access to nutritious meals and hopefully
Speaker 1: access to some physical activity. There are other problems that
Speaker 1: come along with without eating healthy food or things like
Speaker 1: decreased memory, decreased problem solving and reasoning skills, and and
Speaker 1: decreased ability to understand concepts. So it's not only about
Speaker 1: from the national security perspective about recruiting, but in the
Speaker 1: long run, it's about options for these youngsters when they
Speaker 1: finished their secondary education, maybe go on to further education.
Speaker 1: It's uh, we'd love to be able to recruit, but
Speaker 1: you know what, we want to make them good citizens too.
Speaker 1: With that being said, UM, you know the Council for
Speaker 1: Strong America, which is part of Mission Readiness. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: not only is the organization trying to help obviously with
Speaker 1: the nutrition and and uh in physical fitness, but they're
Speaker 1: also looking to improve academic achievement as well. Can you
Speaker 1: fill us in a little bit on what some of
Speaker 1: the programs they're doing there. A big focus Steve has
Speaker 1: been on the early childhood education and it's quality early
Speaker 1: childhood education. The human brain grows tremendously between the age
Speaker 1: of birth and five years old, and so we think
Speaker 1: that three years and four years old is not too
Speaker 1: early to start building that cognitive skills. Uh. Synapses grow
Speaker 1: in the brain that like a million a second in
Speaker 1: these early early days, and uh, we we want these.
Speaker 1: You know, if you wait till the kindergarten age, it's
Speaker 1: it's almost too late to start, so long running research
Speaker 1: studies have shown that high quality early education will really
Speaker 1: give measurable results improving outcomes for kids. UH. There are
Speaker 1: studies that shown that children who participate in these programs
Speaker 1: early childhood education were more likely to graduate from a
Speaker 1: high school and students that didn't participate in programs like
Speaker 1: that UH. And there's other offsets that students who participate
Speaker 1: in the program were didn't participate had had a higher
Speaker 1: incidence of arrest for violent crime by the age of eighteen. UM.
Speaker 1: So between the the obesity challenge, nutrition and the education challenge, again,
Speaker 1: our goal is to have these students come out the
Speaker 1: other end of the of the school pipe their school
Speaker 1: career being citizen ready, that is, you know, meaningfully contribute
Speaker 1: to to the United States. Well. And with the so
Speaker 1: you know you talked about the fight crime UH program
Speaker 1: that you have here, I'll ask the general this, um,
Speaker 1: you know, how difficult is it to get you know,
Speaker 1: state and local governments involved and in helping your program
Speaker 1: get off the ground. Because I firmly agree with what
Speaker 1: the animald was just saying. I think you have to
Speaker 1: start young and if you get the kids on the right,
Speaker 1: you know, you get them on the right cycle early enough,
Speaker 1: everything kind of falls into place, and if you wait
Speaker 1: too long, I think it's too late by the time
Speaker 1: they were in elementary school. Yeah, I absolutely agree with that.
Speaker 1: It couldn't be more correct. It's gonna start earlier. You know,
Speaker 1: you talked to the UH legislative leaders and again they're
Speaker 1: unaware of some of these statistics, at least from our perspective.
Speaker 1: We think that I think those statistics to them and
Speaker 1: there their eyes kind of open up. Was that opportunity
Speaker 1: to UH presently mass Senate and the UH Speaker of
Speaker 1: the House of Representatives of Massachusetts and up work with
Speaker 1: on advocating for additional funding for early childhood education. One
Speaker 1: of the things that the structive was that UH early
Speaker 1: childhood education providers teachers UH a huge percentage of around
Speaker 1: public assistance there waits UM. So one of the things
Speaker 1: we're talking about is is some of this funding going
Speaker 1: towards UH enhancements are incentives for people to stick with
Speaker 1: our early childhood education. Sometimes you find that people go
Speaker 1: into those programs and are very good teachers, but they
Speaker 1: have to drop out for economic reasons and pursue other
Speaker 1: other avenues. UH profession to make a living, get off
Speaker 1: of little awful. So these are the kind of things
Speaker 1: we talked to our legislators about. Again a stuff A
Speaker 1: direct issue of providing the education is it's what how
Speaker 1: do we get that quality? How do we get teachers?
Speaker 1: How do we keep and retain them? Uh, we're finally
Speaker 1: legislatis where we got to our arguments. Well, this will
Speaker 1: be a question for both of you. Actually, Um, is
Speaker 1: there a way that we can get national attention drawn
Speaker 1: to this and get some national focus on this from Congress?
Speaker 1: Or you know, I understanding right now that the political
Speaker 1: situation of getting any anything bipartisanly put through UM Congress
Speaker 1: is kind of difficult these days. But is there a
Speaker 1: way or do you guys have a program that's attempting
Speaker 1: to do that. Steve from this is Bob. The the
Speaker 1: topic of national security and again that lens that we
Speaker 1: view this through is pretty bipartisan. Honestly, we we don't
Speaker 1: get much pushback. We're kind of unexpected messengers and we
Speaker 1: go in to talk to a legislator or policymaker and
Speaker 1: say we want to talk to you about a matter
Speaker 1: of urgent national security, and then we go into our
Speaker 1: our pitch about school lunch or early childhood education. You know,
Speaker 1: they go, wait a minute, So we we bring that
Speaker 1: concerned relevance of some of a couple of gray beards
Speaker 1: that Gary and I, you know, and when we talk
Speaker 1: to these leaders. One of the challenges we face is
Speaker 1: this is not a one and done type of the program.
Speaker 1: If you're talking about investing in three to five year
Speaker 1: olds or seven to you know, eighteen year olds, you've
Speaker 1: you've got you've got to wait for the result at
Speaker 1: the other end of the pipe. A lot of what
Speaker 1: I think happens in terms of funding and passages. Let's
Speaker 1: let's have it right now, We've got it. It's got
Speaker 1: to be a sustained effort. You know. Again, if you're three,
Speaker 1: you know, you're taking three or four year olds, you've
Speaker 1: got to wait another fifteen, sixteen years to validate what
Speaker 1: you did was good. Uh. That may be longer than
Speaker 1: some folks, uh, you know, and spending there in a
Speaker 1: political career or a career where they can affect things.
Speaker 1: So it's a chap. That is a challenge to to
Speaker 1: make you know, that bring that awareness that it's not
Speaker 1: going to fix it in one administration. It's not going
Speaker 1: to fix it in one term. Congressman. You know, we've
Speaker 1: got to be patient with this. It's got to be
Speaker 1: long lasting. Yeah, what you know, I wanted to get
Speaker 1: the general's take on that too, because that that's one
Speaker 1: of the issues I think that's always plagued America because
Speaker 1: we kind of look at things from a very narrow
Speaker 1: focus lens like a lot of right now, A lot
Speaker 1: of our talk is on, you know, potential conflict with
Speaker 1: the easy who tend to look at things from a
Speaker 1: lunch bigger perspective. They look at things much longer term.
Speaker 1: But what's your take on this, general, Pappus? Right? I mean,
Speaker 1: might might take more focuses on the local levels somewhat active.
Speaker 1: And we have had some success pardon me, obtaining additional
Speaker 1: funding for these programs, these early childhood education programs. I
Speaker 1: think it was last year, and someone correct me if
Speaker 1: I'm wrong. Uh, the mass legislature allocated I think it
Speaker 1: was twenty million dollars additional uh to these early childhood
Speaker 1: education programs. So we have had some success with that.
Speaker 1: Of that, I'm not sure how much of that is
Speaker 1: several money versus state money, but I know the legislature
Speaker 1: did to appropriate a failing substantial sum of money, uh
Speaker 1: at least again for this one year. The programs. So
Speaker 1: at the local level, I think we've had some success
Speaker 1: uh federally, I I really can't come it directly on,
Speaker 1: although I've had some off the director discussions for a
Speaker 1: couple of our legislatives are representative, yes, representatives who are
Speaker 1: interested in this, and I think that's supportive the appropriate
Speaker 1: that bills come before exactly. And you know, uh, something
Speaker 1: that the amierald said earlier about a lot of you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of these children are born today and single
Speaker 1: parent households UM. Does that kind of tie into UM
Speaker 1: as as well as this whole thing that we're talking about,
Speaker 1: you know, the nutrition, the schooling, the education. How is childcare?
Speaker 1: You know, when we're talking about so many young people
Speaker 1: that are perhaps under the age of six with single
Speaker 1: parent households's childcare working its way into this equation as well.
Speaker 1: Do you guys have a program geared towards this. I
Speaker 1: don't think we have a direct program uh for uh
Speaker 1: take care if you call it, uh, But again, what
Speaker 1: we do supports the concept if you could get a
Speaker 1: primary uh educator, someone who's interested in breaking into the
Speaker 1: educational system and is interested in early childhood education. I
Speaker 1: have a living wage for those people that might attract
Speaker 1: more of them into that and help the system. There's
Speaker 1: a massive shortage at least in Massachusetts of really childhood
Speaker 1: educators that stay on a program. Turned over RATS is premendous.
Speaker 1: So in that regard, yeah, we can have some effect
Speaker 1: on that when we allocate for the funding, UH to
Speaker 1: to get additional compensation for u UM the early childhood educated.
Speaker 1: It was and I can't remember the statistics on this,
Speaker 1: that there was a pilot program UH sponsored by the
Speaker 1: FEDS that in the same uh the Saint Organization right
Speaker 1: here in Boston. UH part of some of the teachers
Speaker 1: were receiving this additional stipend and UH the other thought
Speaker 1: was not. And the turnover rate in comparison was absolutely tremendous.
Speaker 1: It was like extraordinary. Uh. I couldn't believe it. We
Speaker 1: sat down and talk there, talked to him last year. UH.
Speaker 1: So that that that's how we get involved with it
Speaker 1: with that that that part of it. So, you know,
Speaker 1: Admiral Bizel, I'll ask you this. You know, with the
Speaker 1: current COVID nineteen pandemic that out there, is it harder
Speaker 1: right now. Obviously it has to be to a to
Speaker 1: a degree about getting your word out there. I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously you can't be doing as many face to face
Speaker 1: meetings with legislators and and you know, public leaders out there.
Speaker 1: But is it is it getting harder for you to
Speaker 1: get the word out with this current you know, pandemic
Speaker 1: that's out there, Steves. Has has been a challenge during
Speaker 1: the COVID time, just as it has been for our
Speaker 1: educators as well as UH as well as those who
Speaker 1: who who the policymakers. UH. For instance, there's there's not
Speaker 1: a lot of representatives, a lot of them in their
Speaker 1: home district. There's opportunities to meet with them. Then UH
Speaker 1: mission readiness has done UH some assaults if you will
Speaker 1: on the hill where we go in and mask UH
Speaker 1: like other organizations and meet with a key leaders and
Speaker 1: UH we will go with other members of the Council
Speaker 1: for Strong America, UH such as UH police officials from
Speaker 1: Fight Crime Investing kids or or athletes Champions for Strong
Speaker 1: America and UH we kind of tag team and meetings there.
Speaker 1: But yes, it has been a challenge right now with
Speaker 1: the folks on lockdown travel being what it is it's
Speaker 1: it's a real challenge. So what's next with the school
Speaker 1: year coming up? I mean a lot of you know,
Speaker 1: from what we read in a newspaper, what we see
Speaker 1: on the news at night, there's still a lot of
Speaker 1: questions on how schools are going to approach this upcoming
Speaker 1: school year. And you know, is the kids going to
Speaker 1: be actually in school? Are they going to be doing
Speaker 1: this you know, distance learning thing, and how does that
Speaker 1: all tie in with these nutritional programs? Okay, let me
Speaker 1: let me uh comment if I mike. Uh. The the
Speaker 1: whole issue of what happens in the fall at the
Speaker 1: local level, at the primary school, uh, in high school level. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's still the year. We don't know what's going to happen.
Speaker 1: There vision different ideas of some of them are very good,
Speaker 1: some of the unworkable. Once that settles in, UH, that's
Speaker 1: gonna have an impact on again the school lunch programs,
Speaker 1: school meal folk rams, if you've got uh kids attending school,
Speaker 1: say two days a week one site and three days
Speaker 1: a week distance training? UH? With with the bridge and
Speaker 1: there far as the patricianal aspects go, that's the question.
Speaker 1: I've had some of these folks who they're talking about
Speaker 1: their place. Are you considering this stuff again? If the
Speaker 1: number of kids that rely on uh school lun school
Speaker 1: breakfast programs for their basic nutrition, Uh, it's definitely gonna
Speaker 1: be impacted by how the schools reopened. Mhm. So again
Speaker 1: I don't know that yet. Yeah, I don't think anyone does.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's uh, we're we're kind of sailing and
Speaker 1: uncharted waders these days. But um, you know another question
Speaker 1: and again and there might not be a answer for it,
Speaker 1: but I'll ask the admiral. Um, you know, with so
Speaker 1: many states uh, you know struggling right now because you
Speaker 1: know the taxes aren't coming in from people from businesses,
Speaker 1: are we looking at funding shortages that were you know
Speaker 1: for states? Are we going to be looking at no
Speaker 1: states cutting back? Is that going to affect school lunch programs, education?
Speaker 1: I mean, this is something I know that we're going
Speaker 1: to have to face this sooner or later. Steve, I
Speaker 1: know that most states have got to run a balanced
Speaker 1: budget program and given the expenses that may be shifted
Speaker 1: to other priorities, whether it's medical care, uh provision, law enforcement,
Speaker 1: so forth, it's going to be it's gonna be a
Speaker 1: tough fight to protect some of these budgets at least
Speaker 1: in the future. I know that we a lot of
Speaker 1: people have turned to h private sector or let's say,
Speaker 1: UH nonprofit sector for some relief. Here in Charleston, we
Speaker 1: have an organization, UH, the Low Country Food Bank that
Speaker 1: serves ten counties along the coastal Carolina and UH seventeen
Speaker 1: different school districts. Through this summer. They have taken upon
Speaker 1: themselves to develop a lunch program and they distribute these
Speaker 1: lunches at at forty seven different sites where kids or
Speaker 1: family can anybody eighteen years under can come and grab
Speaker 1: and go. You know, they've got cold lunch. Is prepared
Speaker 1: to try and stay in these nutritional guidelines and and
Speaker 1: alleviate some of the food and security that a good
Speaker 1: sector piece of the population here goes through. So I
Speaker 1: think we may see turn to UH to other organizations, charitable, nonprofit,
Speaker 1: religious based, and so forth to try to help pick
Speaker 1: up the slack. Again. They rely on donations, whether they're
Speaker 1: corporate or private citizen donations. So there may be some
Speaker 1: relief there, but I think it's going to be a
Speaker 1: challenge from from the state budget levels. So you know,
Speaker 1: I know that there's a couple of hundred admirals in
Speaker 1: generals involved in you know, mission readiness. UM. For our
Speaker 1: listeners out there, how can they help? How can the
Speaker 1: average citizen out there help support what you people are
Speaker 1: doing out there, you know, and all the work that
Speaker 1: you're doing for the kids in our future. I think
Speaker 1: the first step is is awareness that these problems do exist,
Speaker 1: UH to the level that they exist. I think most
Speaker 1: people around here, UH from the Greater Boston area are
Speaker 1: aware that, you know, there is a there is an issue.
Speaker 1: There is a problem, the extent of which is just
Speaker 1: coming to a head as a news media now focuses
Speaker 1: on that. UH food and security UM. Greater Boston Food Bank, UH,
Speaker 1: which services the Greater Boston area. UH, I'd say most
Speaker 1: of Suffolk and part of Middlesex County and the part
Speaker 1: of Offa County UH is under extreme stress. UH. They're
Speaker 1: very successful in raising money UH from you know, the population. How,
Speaker 1: how and if that will continue on? UH there's something
Speaker 1: that remains to be seen, UH encouraging the population by
Speaker 1: awareness and encouragement to donate to organizations like the like
Speaker 1: the food Bank, both as described Charleston and up as
Speaker 1: I'm talking about the bit of Boston Food Bank. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's gonna go a long way. We also sorry, no,
Speaker 1: I was just going to ask you if you wanted
Speaker 1: to add into that the uh what Gary mentioned is correct,
Speaker 1: and that's awareness and and we uh. In addition to
Speaker 1: meeting with legislators and policymakers, UH, you will find mission
Speaker 1: readiness members who will write letters to the other or
Speaker 1: opinion pieces. I'm looking at one here that Major General
Speaker 1: Thomas Cutler was just published on the first of Joe
Speaker 1: lie in the Lansing UH State Journal, and he addresses
Speaker 1: this prolonged food and security and how it hurts children,
Speaker 1: a sort of a double whammy between the COVID nineteen
Speaker 1: as well as folks losing employment and not having the
Speaker 1: income that they do. So we uh, we use just
Speaker 1: about every medium, including thank you very much soft reap
Speaker 1: to get the word out and it's uh. Nothing helps
Speaker 1: like you making your legislator and your your your district,
Speaker 1: your congressman, your senators know how you feel about it
Speaker 1: and the long term effects of this uh uh and
Speaker 1: the overall population. Yeah. In fact, you know when you
Speaker 1: mentioned that, I clicked on the Lansing State Journal and
Speaker 1: I just read the letter from General Color as you're
Speaker 1: as you were speaking, and it's it's it's amazing. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, in his letter he mentions President Truman signing
Speaker 1: into the National School Lunch Law all the way back
Speaker 1: in right after World War Two. And it's hard to
Speaker 1: believe that in this country nutrition is such an issue.
Speaker 1: I mean, I you know, Um, I'll be honest, I
Speaker 1: didn't think it was that big of a deal because
Speaker 1: I I guess we're just kind of we're kind of
Speaker 1: brainwashed into thinking, you know, we have everything, but actually
Speaker 1: we're you know, we're hurting as much as a lot
Speaker 1: of other countries are when it comes to this, and
Speaker 1: you know, this is the kind of thing that we
Speaker 1: need to bring attention to. And you know, when when
Speaker 1: you have I believe I saw her on your website,
Speaker 1: twenty four out of the thirty four million seventeen to
Speaker 1: twenty four year olds in this country ineligible for military
Speaker 1: service due to obesity or other issues. That's that's a
Speaker 1: telling that's a very telling statistic that we have an
Speaker 1: issue in this country that needs to really get fixed.
Speaker 1: So with this, I'm going to turn it over to
Speaker 1: each of you and I'll let you guys. Um, you know, uh,
Speaker 1: tell our listeners about your organization, what you want to say,
Speaker 1: what's what's upcoming, and how you know we can help,
Speaker 1: how all of us can help do I know you
Speaker 1: you mentioned getting the word out, but if there's anything
Speaker 1: else we can do, um, let everyone know how to
Speaker 1: do that. So with with that, general, I'll start with you, right,
Speaker 1: the things that the organization, and that's individually. At first
Speaker 1: of all, they're about admirals and generals want to get asked,
Speaker 1: you know, why are you interesting this? Well, okay, from
Speaker 1: a selfish standpoint, yes, recruiting your retention. But as a citizen, uh,
Speaker 1: you look at those statistics, they're horrifying that many people
Speaker 1: can't be qualified basically entering into the military service. Um.
Speaker 1: And again, the the issue is not just nutritional. Uh.
Speaker 1: They deal with it dropping out of school, not getting
Speaker 1: a high school diploma, crying those things. And as you
Speaker 1: look at how the progression of of how this goes,
Speaker 1: the better the early childhood education nutrition system is, the
Speaker 1: less like it is for a young individual to fall
Speaker 1: into one of those categories. And that's that's the the
Speaker 1: prime direction uh that we need to go in attack
Speaker 1: that problem. And the source of it is, as we've
Speaker 1: been saying, early child education and nutrition, two fundamentalists, basic
Speaker 1: building blocks for the whole thing. Everything else falls and
Speaker 1: after that, Um, what else can we do? Okay, that's
Speaker 1: a that's a great question. Uh. Education of the public. Uh,
Speaker 1: I think to me that is a key because it
Speaker 1: said people don't know this, and when I know the
Speaker 1: legislators that we talked to heard these statistics that gods
Speaker 1: dropped to complete these numbers. Um. And again, some of
Speaker 1: the home districts of the state representatives are very much
Speaker 1: affected by the lack of a school lunch program right now,
Speaker 1: a lot of nutrition for their uh, their constituents. Uh.
Speaker 1: And some of the outlying cities of Boston, some of
Speaker 1: the neighborhoods. Uh, this is a real, real problem. Uh.
Speaker 1: So they are interested, and now how do we fund it?
Speaker 1: Reduced the income at the state and local level. Um,
Speaker 1: that that's beyond me. I got give an answer to
Speaker 1: that one. But that's government we're gonna all have to
Speaker 1: work with, that's for sure. Absolutely absolutely, the Admirald, did
Speaker 1: you want to add into this, Thanks very much. I
Speaker 1: totally agree with what the what the General said. You know,
Speaker 1: at this time, people are understandably concerned about the cost
Speaker 1: of childhood programs when budget cuts are sort of the norm.
Speaker 1: But if we fail to invest in children right now
Speaker 1: who are very young, it's it's almost always meant a
Speaker 1: higher cost to society down the road. A youngster who
Speaker 1: drops out of school, Uh, maybe it gets drawn into
Speaker 1: using drugs or becomes a career criminal. On the average,
Speaker 1: that costs our society two point five million dollars per
Speaker 1: person over the long haul. So we're we're into not
Speaker 1: only funding things, but we're in the cost avoidance. Research
Speaker 1: has shown that this quality preschool is an excellent investment
Speaker 1: for taxpayers. UH. Independent cost benefit analysis UH preschool program
Speaker 1: them show that really preschool can on average almost return
Speaker 1: twenty seven thousand dollars to society for each choke each
Speaker 1: child served. And that's largely from reductions in crime, special
Speaker 1: let in great retention. And it's also going to be
Speaker 1: in terms of costs we avoid for healthcare down to
Speaker 1: vote as complicating with obesity, there are other factors that
Speaker 1: come along, such as diabetes and so forth that puts
Speaker 1: a strain on a healthcare system. So again, general awareness,
Speaker 1: getting this out to the to the population at large,
Speaker 1: and making them understand it's it's not an immediate betterment
Speaker 1: right now, but the long term betterment. Again, we want
Speaker 1: to offer youngsters options when they come out that we'd
Speaker 1: love to have them in the military. But you know what,
Speaker 1: when when they've got an option to choose, uh, you're
Speaker 1: going to find a satisfied and contributing citizen. It's when
Speaker 1: people don't have options that they wind up pushed in
Speaker 1: the bad decisions. This is the only thing I've got left,
Speaker 1: and it might be you know, a whop being a
Speaker 1: ward of the state into in a prison or a
Speaker 1: jail or in a hospital. So those are the things
Speaker 1: that we want to push for. Excellent. And uh, I
Speaker 1: know I'm going to get some emails about this, so
Speaker 1: before I do, I'll nip this one in the butt.
Speaker 1: A lot of our listeners always like to know the
Speaker 1: background of our guests, so I'll fill this in for
Speaker 1: you guys. Uh, for our listeners out there. Admiral Rear
Speaker 1: Admiral retired Bob Beazel, who has been joining us from Charleston,
Speaker 1: was the final commanding officer of the supercarrier us AS America.
Speaker 1: And you can correct me if I'm wrong. Was the
Speaker 1: CV six s. That is correct. Yes, I think the
Speaker 1: Admiral knows what he's talking about. And our our other
Speaker 1: guests general uh bringing their General Gary Pappas again from
Speaker 1: my home state of Massachusetts, was the commander of the
Speaker 1: Massachusetts Army National Guard from June of two thousand, I
Speaker 1: believe till two thousand five. So I know our listeners
Speaker 1: will be asking us, you know about our guests background
Speaker 1: and so there that is. But gentlemen, I want to
Speaker 1: thank you. Um, I want to thank you all for
Speaker 1: what you're doing with mission readiness and uh, thanks for
Speaker 1: bringing this to our attention. Again. Until I had met
Speaker 1: Sarah and Megan online, I didn't realize a lot of
Speaker 1: this even existed. I'll admit I was one of those
Speaker 1: people in the dark. And uh, you know, thanks to
Speaker 1: you and the work they're doing as well. You're bringing
Speaker 1: this to our attention and hopefully, you know, we can
Speaker 1: kind of nimptus in the bud for future generations because
Speaker 1: our national security depends on it. So gentlemen, thank you
Speaker 1: once again for joining us. Uh. We really appreciate your time,
Speaker 1: your insight, and we wish you all the best of
Speaker 1: luck with this see. Thanks for having it again. Thank
Speaker 1: you Megan, Yeah yes, uh so. For myself Steve balistreri Admerald,
Speaker 1: Bob Basil, General, Gary Pappas, thanks for listening to the
Speaker 1: SOFTWAREP Radio Software Radio on Time, on Target. We'll be
Speaker 1: back with another podcast in the very near future. We
Speaker 1: have some great guests coming up, and be sure to
Speaker 1: check out all our articles online at softwarep dot com.
Speaker 1: For myself Steve Boost, thanks for listening. We'll be back.
Speaker 1: Use them listening to the self red Radio