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 on straight
Speaker 1: talk with the guys and the community in holding and everyone.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Software Radio, Software Radio on Time, on Target.
Speaker 1: We have a great podcast lined up for you folks
Speaker 1: this afternoon. We're talking with another politician who's running for
Speaker 1: state rep. A couple of months ago we we spoke
Speaker 1: with a gentleman of a retired Marine Corps colonel who
Speaker 1: was running for office in Kentucky. And now we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk to another Lieutenant Colonel, um Ingrid Centurion who's running
Speaker 1: for State Rep in the state of Massachusetts. We want
Speaker 1: to welcome her to the podcast. Mrs Santorium, Welcome to
Speaker 1: Software Up Radio. Thank you so much, Steve. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: it's a pleasure to have you here. And uh, I
Speaker 1: know that reading some of your bio, you're in Iraq,
Speaker 1: were veteran and as well as being a small business owner,
Speaker 1: but you are a pilot and share with our listeners
Speaker 1: a little bit about your military career. Yeah sure, Well
Speaker 1: I started flying when I was sixteen and became a
Speaker 1: private pilot at and so I share that story with everybody,
Speaker 1: because uh, I knew what I wanted to be at
Speaker 1: a at a young age. And I saved all my
Speaker 1: money and three thousand dollars and my mom drove me
Speaker 1: out to the airport and I became a private pilot
Speaker 1: four months later. And then I just I did, Okay,
Speaker 1: I love this. I want to be a commercial pilot.
Speaker 1: And by the time I was twenty one, I had
Speaker 1: my commercial license. I was actually a c if I
Speaker 1: double I multi engine instrument instructor. So my dream at
Speaker 1: that time was to go fly for the airline. I
Speaker 1: want to be that airline pilot, delta pilot. But I
Speaker 1: got an Army r otc UH scholarship, so after college,
Speaker 1: I had to go into the military and SERF and
Speaker 1: I got active duty and I was in flight school
Speaker 1: down at Fort Rucker uh females. Back then, you know,
Speaker 1: we got the Huey transition and then after that we
Speaker 1: would go to maintenance test pilot school. Most of the
Speaker 1: girls were logistics or maintenance. So I became a maintenance
Speaker 1: test pilot and my first assignment was in Korea, and
Speaker 1: back then we flew single pilot. I remember flying all
Speaker 1: by myself along the Korean border and I share that
Speaker 1: because today young kids at seventeen eighteen, they all need
Speaker 1: to take on more responsibility and and really grow and mature.
Speaker 1: And we need to UM put more responsibility in our
Speaker 1: kids and get them working as young as possible so
Speaker 1: they understand and have a strong work ethic. So then
Speaker 1: I went in. After after that, I went into you know,
Speaker 1: I was on active duty. From from there, I UM
Speaker 1: went to Korea, came back as far as my whole
Speaker 1: twenty years. I was stationed at Fort Belvoir. Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
Speaker 1: I flew the I P there. We had a Huey's
Speaker 1: and Blackhawks in that unit. I was there for a
Speaker 1: long time and then from there I was sent to
Speaker 1: Fort Rucker. So down at Fort Rucker I was I
Speaker 1: had a company command there, my second one I had
Speaker 1: one at Belvoir, and then I was in charge being
Speaker 1: a maintenance officer. I was in charge at one time
Speaker 1: of all the hell copters down at Fort Rucker, seven
Speaker 1: of them, all the different platforms, and every time an
Speaker 1: aircraft went down, safety of flight UM would come out.
Speaker 1: My job was to develop the get well planned because
Speaker 1: the Chinooks went down for parts, the black Hawk went
Speaker 1: down for some safety of flight the APACHE went down.
Speaker 1: I mean it was a very stressful job down there
Speaker 1: and down at Fort Rucker. Normally we have a contractor.
Speaker 1: Back then it was dine Core, and dine Core you know,
Speaker 1: was responsible for providing the maintenance services for our fleet.
Speaker 1: But that was really great. And then, um, do you
Speaker 1: want me to go over the whole career. You can
Speaker 1: talk about whatever you want. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So anyway,
Speaker 1: I love flying. You know, I did start flying early,
Speaker 1: and I really was, um, kind of like a little
Speaker 1: bit of a stick pig. I went from one flying
Speaker 1: job to another, a flying job to another flying job,
Speaker 1: so I was able to build my flight hours. Uh.
Speaker 1: Then I got transitioned into a black Hawk while I
Speaker 1: was at Fort Rucker, and I went to the instructor
Speaker 1: pilot course at Fort Rucker and actually, yeah, let me
Speaker 1: move to the second company command that I had, which
Speaker 1: was being the first female commander of the all male
Speaker 1: UM Hispanic flight training unit down at Fort Rucker called
Speaker 1: at that time it was UM the Helicopter School Battalion
Speaker 1: formerly known as the School of the Americas. And so
Speaker 1: all the guys, whether they were gs or warrant officers,
Speaker 1: they were all instructor pilots, and many of them were
Speaker 1: of Hispanic and Latino descent. Some of them were Americans
Speaker 1: who who knew how to speak Spanish, so that was great.
Speaker 1: So um, being the first female company commander there, that
Speaker 1: was a great experience because most of the Latino community,
Speaker 1: you know, they're not used to having female as their boss.
Speaker 1: And uh so I was the first one, and I
Speaker 1: was great. I had a great experience and they taught
Speaker 1: me a lot. You know, I learned to become an
Speaker 1: instructor pilot with you know, the old guys who flew
Speaker 1: in Vietnam and these pilots that have you know, five thousand,
Speaker 1: six thousand hours. So that was a great experience. And
Speaker 1: I love teaching and I love training, and that's actually
Speaker 1: kind of like what I'm doing now. So but then
Speaker 1: then after that, I was offered a fixed wing transition
Speaker 1: and and this career that I had is very strange.
Speaker 1: Like most people, most pilots that you meet in the Army,
Speaker 1: or most retired lieutenant colonels, they don't normally don't fly
Speaker 1: three different aircraft. So that's why I say, you know,
Speaker 1: it was a little bit of a stick pig. And
Speaker 1: then then I was then they offered me the fixed
Speaker 1: wing transition when I was a major, so I took
Speaker 1: that and I got my top secret clears and then
Speaker 1: I transitioned into the fifteen am I Battalion out of Courthood,
Speaker 1: and from there we deployed to Iraq. And what year
Speaker 1: was that? What year were you in Iraq? Oh Man?
Speaker 1: I was forget the years now? Yeah, I know, I
Speaker 1: known that feeling real well, right, what was it? The
Speaker 1: second go for? When we went into two thousands, I
Speaker 1: flew um, I flew uh and I deployed over there
Speaker 1: under the Originally it was the five O four am
Speaker 1: I Brigade out of Fourthood, and then we transitioned to
Speaker 1: the five D am I Brigade out of Hawaii. And
Speaker 1: I was actually when I first went to Forthood, I
Speaker 1: was in the U S three shop shop and I
Speaker 1: helped that whole brigade deploy to Iraq. So that was
Speaker 1: really was a really great experience. Very are demanding um
Speaker 1: for for me deploying all those units and transition them
Speaker 1: and getting you know, the load plan and loading the equipment.
Speaker 1: And I just remember all the stress on the on
Speaker 1: the company commanders and all the majors as they were
Speaker 1: coming in because it was you know, a long hours,
Speaker 1: long days deploying a whole unit, right, and we were
Speaker 1: so dependent on our aircraft over there. I mean it
Speaker 1: had to have been a very busy time at that point. Yes,
Speaker 1: it was very busy. So and you have a military family.
Speaker 1: I read in your bio that you've been married for
Speaker 1: over twenty years to your husband who's a retired infantryman,
Speaker 1: and your youngest son is in the army now at best.
Speaker 1: Yeah exactly, Yeah, yeah, So my husband's retired Army infantry.
Speaker 1: He was in the Old Guard and that's where we met.
Speaker 1: Um and my son, who is nineteen, just graduated from
Speaker 1: high school, wanted to go to college in Arizona. He
Speaker 1: goes out there and he joins the army. The recruiter,
Speaker 1: the recruiter apparently signed him up. He's in infantry training.
Speaker 1: I think he's graduating next week. We can't go to
Speaker 1: the graduation and um, then he will go back to Arizona.
Speaker 1: He's joined the Arizona National Guard and the Army will
Speaker 1: pay for his um you know, college, So that's good.
Speaker 1: So he's saving us some money there and he's studying.
Speaker 1: He's really following in my footsteps exactly. He's going to
Speaker 1: be getting a degree in aerospace engineering. He's going to
Speaker 1: join Army r OTC at a s U and then
Speaker 1: when he graduates, he wants to be an officer and
Speaker 1: go on active duty. So excellent. Yes, well, well good
Speaker 1: luck to him and we wish him all the best.
Speaker 1: Done that. And I saw as well that you're an
Speaker 1: advisor to the Veterans Entrepreneurial Training and Resource Network. Can
Speaker 1: you fill us our listeners in on what that's all about? Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 1: So you know, I've always wanted to be an entrepreneur.
Speaker 1: You know, I love the Army, but I always wanted
Speaker 1: to you know, when I retired, you know, I had
Speaker 1: plans to wanted to be a consultant, right, all those
Speaker 1: high paid consultants that you see. You know, I'll say,
Speaker 1: you know, all those old guys that are you You
Speaker 1: see them and they're still working, and you're like, you know,
Speaker 1: why aren't they playing with their grandkids? Right? But you
Speaker 1: know I get it now. You know. They want to
Speaker 1: stay relevant, they want to stay current. They love reading
Speaker 1: and learning. I think that's what it all comes down to.
Speaker 1: And you've got to keep your brain active. Um and
Speaker 1: and your body right. So when I UM, I moved
Speaker 1: up here. When I retired, Oh, let me talk about that.
Speaker 1: So my last assignment, without going through you know, every
Speaker 1: every assignment, my last assignment was working along the border
Speaker 1: at Joint Task Force North in El Paso. And there
Speaker 1: I was a mission planner and I would plan missions
Speaker 1: um in coordination with the Border Patrol to help surveil
Speaker 1: the border. And I flew an aircraft that I packaged
Speaker 1: with cameras and censors on them to look for the
Speaker 1: illegals coming across the border as well as the drug
Speaker 1: trafficking and the narcotics that come across the border. And
Speaker 1: it was really interesting to see what comes across that
Speaker 1: border every single night. And I caught, you know, hundreds
Speaker 1: of pounds of marijuana with the border patrol. And it's
Speaker 1: amazing how open the border is. I know that there's
Speaker 1: some border wall, but the border is so long, right,
Speaker 1: and we're talking about the ground side. Then you have
Speaker 1: the maritime side, and then you have the air So
Speaker 1: at the time we had this was like almost ten
Speaker 1: years ago. Now we had UM ultralight aircraft flying across
Speaker 1: the border dropping um four pounds of marijuana and I was.
Speaker 1: I wanted to figure out how can we stop this
Speaker 1: from occurring? So I reached out to a company here
Speaker 1: in Massachusetts, a really high tech technology company, and I
Speaker 1: met with them and I asked them, hey, give me
Speaker 1: some ways and some capabilities of how would you take
Speaker 1: down an ultra light? And they shared, they gave us
Speaker 1: a briefing and they shared some awesome ways we could
Speaker 1: do that. And that's how I met this company called
Speaker 1: Knnectic North America. And that's with a que q I
Speaker 1: n e t i q can neddic North America. And
Speaker 1: when those guys came out to El Paso to give
Speaker 1: us a briefing, UM, I will always remember it because
Speaker 1: they were so um motivated and they had all this
Speaker 1: cool technology and they were all special operations guys now
Speaker 1: that I look back at it, not all of them,
Speaker 1: but about four on the team. I remember there was
Speaker 1: one guy that was retired lieutenant colonel. I don't remember
Speaker 1: his name now, but um, they came out and I said, Wow,
Speaker 1: when I retire, I want to work for a company
Speaker 1: like that. I want to be part of a team
Speaker 1: that is uh continuing, continuing to support the war fighter.
Speaker 1: And that's a culture that I would easily adapt into.
Speaker 1: And so when I retired, I actually sent them my
Speaker 1: resume and they hired me to be the product manager
Speaker 1: of the Tactical Robotic Controller. Now that was really cool.
Speaker 1: It was called the Universal Tactical Robotic Controller, and this
Speaker 1: was a small handheld controller that was designed for the
Speaker 1: Marine Corps or fighting lab. And the Marines had developed
Speaker 1: this lightweight universal controller that would fly last one ua vs,
Speaker 1: drive ground robots, monitor unattended ground centers and even more,
Speaker 1: and drive unmanned maritime systems. So I love technology and
Speaker 1: I was like, oh my gosh, I gotta have this job.
Speaker 1: And that's what I did. I was helping UM get
Speaker 1: the Universal Tactical Robotic Controller into UM, the Marines, into
Speaker 1: the Navy, into all the different services. I saw that
Speaker 1: on your website. There's a picture. I take it. It's
Speaker 1: down on the border somewhere outside of Al Paso with
Speaker 1: with some looks like Marines and Army. Yeah. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that that photo actually was at Camp Pendleton. Yeah, because
Speaker 1: our ground robots at Kinnectic, we we had the Alan
Speaker 1: Are you familiar with it? Yeah, we had the talent,
Speaker 1: we had the Dragon Runner and the combat engineers. You know,
Speaker 1: use those for UM i e. D. Clearing and keeping
Speaker 1: the soldiers and a war fighter out of harm's way.
Speaker 1: And that's what you know I tell people. As a
Speaker 1: pilot and Army Aviation, my job is always to support
Speaker 1: the men and women on the ground with whether it
Speaker 1: was airlift, or it was bringing them logistics, or it
Speaker 1: was providing them UM aerial reconnaissance and sigging. That's what
Speaker 1: we do. We support the guys in girls on the ground,
Speaker 1: guys and gals UM, and we want to keep them
Speaker 1: out of harm's way. Support excellent. So you moved up
Speaker 1: to Massachusetts obviously, Yeah, I moved up here. I had
Speaker 1: never lived here ever in my life. UM, but I
Speaker 1: always wanted to come back east because you know, in
Speaker 1: the Army, you're signed in Alabama, you're signed in Texas,
Speaker 1: you're signed in Virginia. You know, you pick up their
Speaker 1: accent and you're you're you're not in uh New England.
Speaker 1: So I always wanted to get back to um the
Speaker 1: East coast because I'm originally from New Jersey. Okay, well
Speaker 1: you don't sound like you have a mass accent yet,
Speaker 1: but there's still time right right. Actually, most people are
Speaker 1: say you have kind of like a Twain. Yeah, you're
Speaker 1: almost you almost sound Virginia. So Virginia. Okay. I don't
Speaker 1: know what I sound like, but I think when I
Speaker 1: get upset or angry, my New Jersey attitude and accent
Speaker 1: comes back. That's it. You know, it always comes back
Speaker 1: to that, doesn't it. I mean, when people either get
Speaker 1: mad or they're counting to themselves, they go back to
Speaker 1: whatever accent they grew up with. Not that so uh,
Speaker 1: you know myself, I grew up in masks and then
Speaker 1: uh went into the military. But you can take the
Speaker 1: boy out of Massachusetts, but unfortunately, you can't take the
Speaker 1: Massachusetts out of the boy. In my accent. Everyone always
Speaker 1: asked me, oh, do you still live in Boston? Yeah? Okay,
Speaker 1: So where did you grow up here? I grew up
Speaker 1: in Wooburn, Yeah yeah. And when did you leave? I
Speaker 1: left in nineteen late nineteen seventy nine. I joined the
Speaker 1: military and yeah, yeah, And then after I retired, I
Speaker 1: lived down South for a while, and then I did
Speaker 1: the army contracting thing for a while because it was
Speaker 1: paying so well. And you know, it wasn't until about
Speaker 1: two thousand my family moved back up there and we
Speaker 1: lived right outside of Worcester, Massachusetts, and we lived there
Speaker 1: for quite a few years. And now that my son
Speaker 1: went to college and we we love the South, and
Speaker 1: we moved back down south and we're living in Florida now.
Speaker 1: So wow. Well, another reason why I wanted to move
Speaker 1: to Massachusetts is I wanted my boys to shovel snow.
Speaker 1: I also wanted them to break leaves, because that's how
Speaker 1: I grew up. When you have a when you have
Speaker 1: a strong work ethic, I think that's a good thing.
Speaker 1: It's a flip flops and you know, we're out in
Speaker 1: the desert. There's not much cleaning to do out there.
Speaker 1: I think it's just a different way of life, different culture. Well,
Speaker 1: there's plenty of snow to shovel up there, so that's right.
Speaker 1: That's My youngest son is like, I'm out of here.
Speaker 1: It's like I hate the snow. Yeah. Well this winter
Speaker 1: wasn't so bad. We only had a couple of storms
Speaker 1: and but but I mean that's not a normal winter.
Speaker 1: But just so, yeah, you moved that you obviously you
Speaker 1: you worked as an entrepreneur. What made you decide to
Speaker 1: get into politics? Oh so, oh, let me finish telling
Speaker 1: you that story. You know. So I got laid off
Speaker 1: at Kinnectic because of UM sequestration and the military cut
Speaker 1: back and the spending. You know, it was just like
Speaker 1: a lot of people lost their jobs under Obama and
Speaker 1: I was out of work and I'm here in Massachusetts now.
Speaker 1: And so then that's when I started my own business
Speaker 1: and I started helping other business owners grow their business.
Speaker 1: I was helping small companies get contracts with the Army.
Speaker 1: And you know, it's so hard having your own business.
Speaker 1: You you you one have to start a whole new network.
Speaker 1: Remember I moved to Massachusetts. I don't have any connections here.
Speaker 1: I've never been here in my life, and and it's
Speaker 1: really hard for small business owners. So I got a
Speaker 1: letter from Lee Goldberg, who's the founder of Veteran, the
Speaker 1: Veteran Entrepreneurial Training and Resource Network, and it said, hey,
Speaker 1: you can go to this thirteen week program will help
Speaker 1: you grow your business. We met and I went through
Speaker 1: that program. I was actually the first female to go
Speaker 1: through the program, and and it was great. I met
Speaker 1: Lee and I learned a lot and then I've changed
Speaker 1: my business model after that, and I started to do
Speaker 1: speaking and training and um, now that's what I do well.
Speaker 1: It's hard now with the pandemic, but I was getting
Speaker 1: paid to speak as a motivational speaker, and I'm working
Speaker 1: on a book right now that's going to come out.
Speaker 1: And then as a speaker, one you need to have
Speaker 1: a book, and then you need to have a program,
Speaker 1: training program. So I started to do team building sessions
Speaker 1: and soft skills training, communication training, and just teaching corporations
Speaker 1: how to how to build a a really strong team
Speaker 1: and work together. And I like that as a trainer,
Speaker 1: you know, I was an instructor pilot, did a lot
Speaker 1: of that also throughout my career, and I realized that
Speaker 1: I do really love training and coaching and pushing people
Speaker 1: to their maximum. Sounds like you could have had a
Speaker 1: career in special ops. I could have, but they didn't
Speaker 1: let women in UM that field when you know, when
Speaker 1: I started UM. And then then you get married and
Speaker 1: you have children, and it's tough, yeah, special ops when
Speaker 1: you're away from your family so much. That part of
Speaker 1: special ops was very tough on the families because back then,
Speaker 1: I mean back when I was in I mean you
Speaker 1: were basically you were a stranger in the home, you know,
Speaker 1: because you were gone all the time. Um, they've since tried,
Speaker 1: well now they tried to rein that in and then
Speaker 1: with the war the way it's been going, our guys
Speaker 1: have been tasked out and they're actually over tasked these days.
Speaker 1: But that's an issue for another time. And and and
Speaker 1: throughout this whole time, I have been taking care of
Speaker 1: my mother and I kind of always like kept that quiet,
Speaker 1: But taking care of a parent is a lot of
Speaker 1: stress as well. And that's another reason why, you know,
Speaker 1: sometimes your career may not allow you to do certain
Speaker 1: things because you don't have that freedom you have you
Speaker 1: have responsibilities, and and she's really been um my my responsibility. Um,
Speaker 1: even though I have you know, three other brothers and sisters.
Speaker 1: She lives with you live up in mass Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: she's with me up here in mass and between I'm
Speaker 1: the youngest and my oldest sister, we rotate her and
Speaker 1: so we take care of her. That's awesome. Yeah, where
Speaker 1: our family we're going through something some or to that
Speaker 1: down here as well, So I totally get where you're
Speaker 1: coming from there. Um, and you also have your own
Speaker 1: local cable access television show. Is that dealing with you know,
Speaker 1: the same kind of you know, issues you were just
Speaker 1: talking about well this is this is how that happened.
Speaker 1: I started speaking and I said, well, if I'm going
Speaker 1: to be a speaker, I need to have I need
Speaker 1: to be better on camera. I need to focus on
Speaker 1: uh what you know when when you see the people
Speaker 1: on TV, it's like do they have classes for that?
Speaker 1: How do they do that? You know, I'm pilot. I
Speaker 1: have never had any classes in speaking or communications, or
Speaker 1: or pronunciation or the tone of your voice. And these
Speaker 1: are all the things that I learned at the TV studio.
Speaker 1: And so I'm the producer, I lay out the story
Speaker 1: and really being a great speakers just story telling and
Speaker 1: sharing and connecting with your audience. And most people that
Speaker 1: strive to be a speaker, they may not realize that initially.
Speaker 1: And if you're not connecting with your audience, then you're
Speaker 1: you're not that good of a speaker. And and that's
Speaker 1: what I needed to do. And so through having this
Speaker 1: TV show, which I like, you know, motivating people, it's
Speaker 1: called inspiring Careers. And I learned how to angle the camera,
Speaker 1: I learned how to do lighting, I learned how to edit,
Speaker 1: and and it's really about building that story. So that
Speaker 1: has really helped me actually now that I'm going into politics,
Speaker 1: because in politics you have to speak to people. You
Speaker 1: have to have presence, and people need to trust you.
Speaker 1: And if they can see me on camera, that will
Speaker 1: really help. And and I've been able to do that.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm sharing my issues what I believe in on
Speaker 1: video and that's been really great during my race. So yeah,
Speaker 1: speaking of which, you know you decided to throw your
Speaker 1: hat in a ring for state rep. And uh, what
Speaker 1: what made you decide that? Was it just because of
Speaker 1: the situation that's out there or do you do you
Speaker 1: just see a need to serve? Well, I always say
Speaker 1: I am not a professional politician, and you said, I
Speaker 1: have this politician on the line. No, I am. I'm
Speaker 1: a mother first, I'm a veteran, I'm a small business owner,
Speaker 1: I'm a caregiver, I'm all those other things, and I'm
Speaker 1: a soldier. I choose now to serve because it's needed.
Speaker 1: And I am in a very democratic state and oh,
Speaker 1: yes you are, that's right, and this is your state.
Speaker 1: This is your state, and so I need you to
Speaker 1: help me take back Massachusetts and what I've been observing
Speaker 1: here because I've never really been involved in legisla nation is.
Speaker 1: I have a lot of friends that go to the
Speaker 1: representatives here and they ask for help on a certain
Speaker 1: issue and they're ignored. So I think that you know,
Speaker 1: here in Massachusetts Beacon Hill, they're not listening to the people.
Speaker 1: They're not listening to the small business owners. And that's
Speaker 1: the most important thing a legislator should do is listen
Speaker 1: to the people and help them resolve their issues, come
Speaker 1: up with a solution. And I want to bring responsive
Speaker 1: leadership to Beacon Hill, and if I win, people need
Speaker 1: to know that that's what representatives do. They don't push
Speaker 1: a certain ideology on people. They need to listen to
Speaker 1: all the people, whether they're Democrat, Republican or independent. We're
Speaker 1: all Americans first, and it just bothers me that people's
Speaker 1: stereotype and label me um just because of a political party.
Speaker 1: I'm trying. I'm running because I want to bring people together,
Speaker 1: not to buy us. And it's been really interesting. That's
Speaker 1: been the main reason of why I want to run,
Speaker 1: because I've always been a very productive, efficient, you know,
Speaker 1: idea solution person, developed solutions, solve problems. That's the kind
Speaker 1: of representation that they need here. And I want to
Speaker 1: help small business owners number one, and that is so
Speaker 1: refreshing to hear because I think that's something that not
Speaker 1: just speaking Hill, but I think that's that's a symptom
Speaker 1: that we're seeing everywhere in this country. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think that a lot of people forget that their first
Speaker 1: duty is to represent all the people that they're serving,
Speaker 1: and we get two wrapped up in party politics today
Speaker 1: and it's, oh, well, you know, no one's crossing the line.
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot of issues out there, and
Speaker 1: I'm sure you'll you'll tell us about some of those
Speaker 1: that it doesn't matter what side of the aisle you run,
Speaker 1: it's it's about serving the people. And I think that's
Speaker 1: you know, it's like I said, it's refreshing to hear that,
Speaker 1: because we don't hear enough of it today. No, and
Speaker 1: our founding fathers said political parties, it would be the
Speaker 1: destruction to good governance. We shouldn't be picking sides. We
Speaker 1: need to be working together. And you know, in the military,
Speaker 1: that's what we do. We don't look at the color
Speaker 1: of your skin, your religion. We all come together and
Speaker 1: you know, we're all green, and we work together. And
Speaker 1: that's what I'd like to bring to the State House
Speaker 1: if that's possible. But also to here in Massachusetts, you
Speaker 1: also need to realize that there is no balance when
Speaker 1: you have a hundred and twenty six Democrats and thirty
Speaker 1: one Republicans. Is that balance? Yeah? Not balance? Right. I
Speaker 1: didn't think there was that many Republicans. I know that, Uh,
Speaker 1: Paul Frost was my my state rep. But he was
Speaker 1: one of the few so and so. Yeah, so that
Speaker 1: you know, they really need to listen to their people.
Speaker 1: They need to get out there, and they shouldn't be
Speaker 1: um professional politicians. You know, it's a two year term, uh,
Speaker 1: and there should be term limits, and you know they
Speaker 1: need to be moving on and moving out and doing
Speaker 1: bigger and better things or you know, allow someone else
Speaker 1: an opportunity to to serve their community and serve their
Speaker 1: district because that's what they should be doing. And I'm
Speaker 1: also not happy with, uh, some of the current legislation
Speaker 1: that's being passed during a serious pandemic. That was another
Speaker 1: reason that caused me to run because I have been
Speaker 1: telling everyone, listen, when there's an emergency, when serious things
Speaker 1: going on, leaders act. And that's what we are in
Speaker 1: the military. We're leaders. We're all trained to work together
Speaker 1: as a team and lead and so I'm not going
Speaker 1: to sit back and watch Massachusetts fall apart. So that's
Speaker 1: why I'm running because I really believe in legislation that
Speaker 1: should be passed to protect the elderly, to protect our children,
Speaker 1: and safety and security is so important to me. Currently
Speaker 1: in a pandemic, they're pushing legislation that doesn't even focus on,
Speaker 1: you know, on the real street problems that are going on. Well,
Speaker 1: tell us some about the issues. Um, I've checked out
Speaker 1: your website, so obviously I know what some of the
Speaker 1: issues that are near and dear to you. But you know,
Speaker 1: I'm filling our listeners about some of the issues. Well,
Speaker 1: I think I think the number one issue and that
Speaker 1: people are really concerned about is they're worried about their jobs.
Speaker 1: They're worried about earning an income. Small business owners have
Speaker 1: not had a choice. So when all this happened, why
Speaker 1: was Walmart allowed to stay open but mom and pop
Speaker 1: shops had to close and they weren't even allowed to
Speaker 1: be open. That's not fair and they weren't even given
Speaker 1: an option. When you know, small business is the heart
Speaker 1: of America and that's why I helped small businesses h
Speaker 1: and so I mean that's the biggest problem. And if
Speaker 1: we don't have small businesses giving people jobs, what do
Speaker 1: these people do? Um, they can't rely on the government,
Speaker 1: you know, to give them a check that's even sustainable.
Speaker 1: And for for the rent, you know, rent is really
Speaker 1: expensive here, food were expensive and in some of these
Speaker 1: places in Massachusetts there is no transportation, so you have
Speaker 1: to have a car, and having a car is expensive
Speaker 1: and insurance is expensive. So this, this is what I'm
Speaker 1: saying right here, that is the real challenge for hard
Speaker 1: working Americans probably all around the country. But if you're
Speaker 1: wealthy and you're retired or these things don't concern you.
Speaker 1: These things don't get fixed. And and what's the current
Speaker 1: failing around Massachusetts? Are things getting anything simple close to
Speaker 1: back to normal yet or no? Well, I think every
Speaker 1: town is different. Um in uh, a lot of people
Speaker 1: depending upon what community in town you live in. Some
Speaker 1: people are really really scared of COVID. You know, they've
Speaker 1: been inside for three months, four months. They're all working
Speaker 1: from home. And I know as a caregiver, the adult
Speaker 1: daycare place that my mom would go to it's still closed.
Speaker 1: And that's really sad because there were so many people
Speaker 1: that went to this adult daycare. And at the daycare,
Speaker 1: they do activities, they interact, they keep their brain functioning,
Speaker 1: you know, they get up every day, they take a shower,
Speaker 1: they go to the location in the facility, and all
Speaker 1: of that's closed. So I could see all these individuals
Speaker 1: at home getting depressed, you know, who's taking care of them?
Speaker 1: And I think that's um a big problem, you know,
Speaker 1: and that that isolation from their peers has got to
Speaker 1: affect them as well. I mean, because that's something you know,
Speaker 1: um and and my town where I lived in Millbury,
Speaker 1: I mean, the Senior Centerm was really really busy all
Speaker 1: day long, every day of the week, and you know,
Speaker 1: that was an area where they would go and like
Speaker 1: you said, they'd get involved in activities, they'd stay active,
Speaker 1: you know. And right now I know a lot of
Speaker 1: people they were hurting because of it. And it's not
Speaker 1: just worrying about the COVID, it's it's the mental outlook
Speaker 1: on things as well. And that's something you know, I
Speaker 1: I believe in protecting our seniors and veterans, and I
Speaker 1: know obviously that's something that's near and dear to you
Speaker 1: as well. Right The other thing is I you know,
Speaker 1: being in the military, that physical fitness is essential to
Speaker 1: us being in shape, exercising to exercise our bodies. Uh.
Speaker 1: And when all this happened, the gyms are all closed,
Speaker 1: and even to this day, I think some of the
Speaker 1: gyms are closed. They may never open again. Owning a
Speaker 1: gym anyway, they've always, I think, always struggled. And and
Speaker 1: so the gyms are closed. And you know, these these
Speaker 1: gyms they could have they could have emplaced the proper
Speaker 1: safety protocol, cleanliness, all those kinds of things to stay
Speaker 1: running without having to shut them down for five months.
Speaker 1: And I think that that's another area where you know,
Speaker 1: exercise is essential for some people because that keeps them
Speaker 1: mentally sane and physically healthy as well as Let's say
Speaker 1: you're going to rehab. You need you need your physical therapy.
Speaker 1: And if you can't go to the gym and do
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff, you your body deteriorates, your mind deteriorates.
Speaker 1: And this all goes back into you know, how how
Speaker 1: do you deal um with a pandemic, And you know
Speaker 1: all this that happened. You have to place your small
Speaker 1: businesses um at the forefront so they don't lose everything.
Speaker 1: That they've worked for absolutely, and I wanted to ask
Speaker 1: you about you know, your your feelings on education as well,
Speaker 1: because I did read some of your stuff on your
Speaker 1: website and I think that's something that our listeners would
Speaker 1: like to know about. Well. I always i'm I'm a
Speaker 1: multi cultural person and the children always come first. The
Speaker 1: way I grew up, the children would eat first. Our
Speaker 1: children come first. We're responsible for the safety and the
Speaker 1: education of our children, and I think when you look
Speaker 1: at this whole pandemic, they also should have been a
Speaker 1: priority in Okay, how are we going to get these
Speaker 1: kids back into school? How how are we going to
Speaker 1: continue to teach them? And I know everybody's worked through
Speaker 1: it and they're doing online stuff, but kids can't be
Speaker 1: cooped up in a home. I've I've knocked on doors
Speaker 1: and gone into real small homes and when those kids
Speaker 1: come to the door, they're excited to see me. I
Speaker 1: don't think they've seen anybody in months. And you know,
Speaker 1: kids need to get out, they need to play, they
Speaker 1: need release all that energy. And I think it's been
Speaker 1: really hard on on working moms or single moms or
Speaker 1: mom and dads who both work and now one of
Speaker 1: them has to stay home and figure out how they're
Speaker 1: going to be the teacher and still work at the
Speaker 1: same time. So education is so important. On Okay, how
Speaker 1: are we going to move forward with these kids? When
Speaker 1: are they going to open back the schools and come
Speaker 1: up with the safety procedures and the cleanliness and cleaning
Speaker 1: your hands and whatever the social distancing or take their temperatures.
Speaker 1: I think we can be a little bit more proactive,
Speaker 1: proactive when it comes to getting the kids back into school.
Speaker 1: Because right here in Massachusetts, somebody was telling me that
Speaker 1: his kids they play lacrosse and they finally let them practice,
Speaker 1: but they have to stay six ft away from each other.
Speaker 1: Lacrosse is a like a contact sport. Yes it is.
Speaker 1: It's especially for the boys lacrosse team. I mean that's
Speaker 1: that's a very much of contact board and you know
Speaker 1: it's very physical one at that. So I don't know
Speaker 1: how you would practice keeping six ft distance. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is what this is what a parent told me
Speaker 1: actually today too. And then he said, well, inside, if
Speaker 1: they're going to go back to school, they're gonna do
Speaker 1: anything inside inside they could be three ft apart. And
Speaker 1: I was like, does that make any sense? Because inside,
Speaker 1: you know, if the German bacteria is in the air, um,
Speaker 1: you're more likely to get it. Outside you're not as
Speaker 1: likely and you're in the sun and things like that.
Speaker 1: So everyone is just very confused, right now, what do
Speaker 1: we do? And I think the biggest thing is you
Speaker 1: stay in good shape. You know, you lower your blood
Speaker 1: pressure if you have diabetes, you work on losing that weight,
Speaker 1: you do all those things. You do all these things
Speaker 1: to try to be in the best physical shape as possible. Um,
Speaker 1: and that is what's going to help you defeat the
Speaker 1: virus if you get the virus, because if you do
Speaker 1: get the virus, hopefully you survive. Right And um, you
Speaker 1: know what, what's the situation look like up in the state.
Speaker 1: Are they going to allow the schools to open in
Speaker 1: the fall or is it going to continue the way
Speaker 1: they finished this last school year. I heard some schools
Speaker 1: are opening in September. UM, but most of the parents
Speaker 1: that I talked to are really not sure that they
Speaker 1: I don't think they've been told all the details about that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it's it's it's a tough decision. I mean,
Speaker 1: I know a lot of people feel you know, depending
Speaker 1: on who you talk to. I mean, it's some people
Speaker 1: feel very differently, and I know some teachers are very
Speaker 1: nervous about, you know, teaching again in a crowded school,
Speaker 1: and I understand that. I mean, it's just something we're
Speaker 1: going to have to work through. But I don't know
Speaker 1: if there's uh an easy answer to any of it.
Speaker 1: That's why that's why we hire. We're going to hire
Speaker 1: people like you two, yeah, take over. I have all
Speaker 1: kinds of ideas and solutions on how to administure that,
Speaker 1: but it requires discipline and respect and and sometimes that
Speaker 1: can be hard for the teachers to instill in in
Speaker 1: the students when they all get together. But you know,
Speaker 1: if the kids follow the rules and if they have
Speaker 1: respect for each other and for their teacher, we can
Speaker 1: we can get them all back to school and learning again.
Speaker 1: And that that's a good lesson our Our young kids
Speaker 1: do need to learn respect for the elderly, respect for
Speaker 1: their parents, respect for property, respect for their teachers, and
Speaker 1: respect for themselves. I firmly in agreement with you there.
Speaker 1: So how can people how can they help out your
Speaker 1: your your campaign, and how can they get help out
Speaker 1: my campaign? All those Massachusetts uh you know, Massachusetts born
Speaker 1: people who have left this state. They can help me
Speaker 1: by going to my website at Ingrid the number four
Speaker 1: Rep dot com, Rep dot com, Ingrid for rep dot com,
Speaker 1: and they can donate to my campaign. Uh. They can
Speaker 1: connect with me on Twitter all the social media. I
Speaker 1: have Instagram, I have Twitter, I have a YouTube channel.
Speaker 1: They can subscribe to my channel and like my post,
Speaker 1: share my post. And this is where it all started,
Speaker 1: right here in Massachusetts. And that's another thing that's so interesting.
Speaker 1: I never thought I'd be running for politics, but here
Speaker 1: I am, and and I have been truly blessed by
Speaker 1: people coming and helping me who are veterans, you know,
Speaker 1: like Sal that induced us, and he's awesome, sounds a
Speaker 1: great guy. And uh yeah. In fact, if Sal was
Speaker 1: the one that you know, he had he had asked
Speaker 1: me if I had heard of you, and I said no,
Speaker 1: I actually you know, because your area was just east
Speaker 1: of where I lived, so I hadn't heard of your
Speaker 1: your campaign. But when Sal told me about it, he
Speaker 1: was very much he's very much a supporter of you.
Speaker 1: You know. He sent me the info and I immediately said, well,
Speaker 1: we're gonna reach out to her. We're gonna get him
Speaker 1: around the podcast that hopefully we can you know, drum
Speaker 1: up some some positive feedback and get some you know,
Speaker 1: momentum going for your election. Yeah. So you know, the
Speaker 1: biggest thing is you know, you know, the donations and
Speaker 1: the following on the social media. So so people support
Speaker 1: me and we build a strong grassroots organization and let
Speaker 1: people know. I mean, this is where it all started.
Speaker 1: So we got to take it back. We can't allow um,
Speaker 1: you know, a small group of people with a certain
Speaker 1: ideology to think that, um, you know, whatever they say
Speaker 1: is right. Uh. You we all need to respect everybody
Speaker 1: and respect each other's opinions. And I was telling someone today,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not going to push my religion on anyone.
Speaker 1: I respect everyone's different faith. I respect everyone's family and
Speaker 1: and and that's what representatives and politicians should do, is
Speaker 1: you know, do what's best for America and Americans. M hmm. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: And you know a lot of people talk about you know,
Speaker 1: immigration and immigrants, and your father and both of your
Speaker 1: parents came from Argentina, wasn't it. No, no, no, My
Speaker 1: my dad is from Argentina. My dad was a professional
Speaker 1: soccer player, So I didn't know my dad. My dad
Speaker 1: died when I was two years old. I was raised
Speaker 1: by a single mom, and my mom was born in
Speaker 1: Puerto Rico. And my mom came to New York when
Speaker 1: she was I think five years old. Uh, and she
Speaker 1: has seven brothers and sisters, and they moved to the Bronx,
Speaker 1: New York. And so my dad was playing soccer in
Speaker 1: New York. Back then it was just the Cosmos and
Speaker 1: fifties and stuff like that. Yeah, So he met my mom.
Speaker 1: She was working, she was a waitress, and they got married.
Speaker 1: They had four children, and my dad was was from
Speaker 1: the country in Argentina, Santa Fe. And then they moved
Speaker 1: to Buenos Aires. And so my dad really didn't like
Speaker 1: New York City and we lived in New Jersey. So
Speaker 1: that was like, you know, the country for New Yorkers.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's only four it's only like twenty minutes
Speaker 1: away across the George Washington Bridge. But all my cousins
Speaker 1: in New York were like, oh, you guys live in
Speaker 1: the boondocks. And my dad died though, uh, when he
Speaker 1: was thirty years old in a car accident with my
Speaker 1: mom was in the car. But my mom didn't die,
Speaker 1: you know, she was she was hurt badly, and that's
Speaker 1: one of the reasons why she has dementia today, because
Speaker 1: she had a lot of injury to her head. And
Speaker 1: I keep her very busy. I keep her very socially active,
Speaker 1: so she keeps that brain working. I make her do
Speaker 1: math problems. And that's what dementia is. Your brain is shrinking,
Speaker 1: You're you're forgetting. Your parts of your brain are shutting down,
Speaker 1: and you you want to keep that active. Well, that's great.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, so my dad was from Argentina. He
Speaker 1: came here legally, you know. So I'm first generation American.
Speaker 1: And actually my husband he is also immigrants, so he
Speaker 1: uh is originally from Mexico and his family as well
Speaker 1: came here and he became an American citizen by going
Speaker 1: into the army. And yeah, so I'm all about I mean,
Speaker 1: all my friends are immigrants from other countries who left
Speaker 1: those countries to escape communism, to escape um, and not
Speaker 1: not just escape, just you know, to have a better future.
Speaker 1: And they all came here legally. Uh. Some of them
Speaker 1: even were in refugee camps and then had the opportunity
Speaker 1: to come here. And I think that's I think that's
Speaker 1: the right way to do it, you know, to follow
Speaker 1: the laws, do it properly. And then if you're here,
Speaker 1: find a way to become an American citizen and and
Speaker 1: that and and that's and that's a good thing. Assimilate,
Speaker 1: You assimilate into the country, you learn the language, and
Speaker 1: then you work. But I think our our whole immigration
Speaker 1: system as well needs to be corrected and fixed and um.
Speaker 1: But we we just can't have you know, people crossing
Speaker 1: our borders um illegally. We I like to say, this
Speaker 1: is an identification problem. We need to know who's here,
Speaker 1: what their intentions are. Just like your own home, you
Speaker 1: don't let anybody come into your home, right if you
Speaker 1: know the party, you're gonna let strangers in. It's that simple.
Speaker 1: And once we know who's here, and you know, if
Speaker 1: they have good intentions, then that's great. You get to stay.
Speaker 1: But we have people here who are threats to America.
Speaker 1: And I don't think that the average person may understand that.
Speaker 1: You know, you and I we worked in the military,
Speaker 1: We had top secret clearance. We know that that you know,
Speaker 1: national security UM is an issue. But if you've never
Speaker 1: lived on a border town, you've never lived in an
Speaker 1: area where you see that you don't see. You know,
Speaker 1: you may think that that's not true or it doesn't
Speaker 1: happen right. Well, um, you know, it's a it's a
Speaker 1: complicated situation. And again it comes down a lot of
Speaker 1: it comes on the politics. And you know, we this
Speaker 1: is something where as a country, we all need to
Speaker 1: get together and you know, we have to agree on
Speaker 1: what's best for the entire country and not for any
Speaker 1: particular you know, political party. So hopefully that's one of
Speaker 1: the things you can change. And it has to start
Speaker 1: somewhere and no place better than where it all began
Speaker 1: in the state of Massachusetts. So but Ingrid, we we
Speaker 1: want to really thank you for your time. Uh, your
Speaker 1: patients are all of our questions and you know, for
Speaker 1: your insight and and we wish you the very best
Speaker 1: in the upcoming election and hopefully well we can do
Speaker 1: this again soon when we're talking about the newest state
Speaker 1: representative from the state of Massachusetts. Wow, that would be
Speaker 1: so awesome. I love it, and I tell everyone I
Speaker 1: will represent you well and I would do everything I can,
Speaker 1: just like I've done my whole career to help others
Speaker 1: and help families and help everyone. Well, thank you very
Speaker 1: much and all the best to you and to your
Speaker 1: family as well. And um, we'll be watching the polls
Speaker 1: and hopefully we're gonna hear some good news. Okay, good, great,
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, thank you for joining us. We've
Speaker 1: been on the air Software Radio with Ingrid Centurion. She's
Speaker 1: running for office in the state of Massachusetts, a retired
Speaker 1: lieutenant colonel, and we want to thank her for being
Speaker 1: here on the podcast this afternoon, Software Radio on time
Speaker 1: on target. Please join us again for another upcoming episode.
Speaker 1: We'll be back real soon. But for myself, Steve Blastaria,
Speaker 1: all of us here at soft Rap, and for our
Speaker 1: guest this afternoon, Ingrid Centurion, thanks for listening. You've them
Speaker 1: listening to self red Lydia