Inside the Red Cross’ Military Mission: Thom Geiser Tells SOFREP What Few Ever Hear

Thom Geiser is a retired U.S. Air Force veteran who now serves as an Armed Services Advisor for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Drawing on decades of experience—including flying C-130s, working in special operations, and serving in international advisory roles—he helps connect military practitioners with humanitarian law and principles. In his role at the ICRC, he engages with armed forces around the world to promote the protection of civilians, improve understanding of the laws of armed conflict, and support the integration of humanitarian considerations into military planning and operations.

 

Thank you to our sponsor NFCU, and a Happy Veterans Day to All!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Route for us.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
If it doesn't work, you're just not using enough. You're
listening to software, radio, special operations, military nails and straight
talk with the guys in the community.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
Every year here as soft Rep, we are always reminded
on Veterans Day about those who pay the ultimate sacrifice
and those that we love and care about who serve
our nation and our global allies. And with that said,
we'd like to give a shout out this veteran season,
which should be every to Ben Bernstein, United States Air

(01:04):
Force Security Police, served all through the eighties and nineties,
twenty three years of service. Big salute to you, sir.
Your service demands respect. Navy Federal Credit Union celebrates veterans
of all branches and their families on Veterans Day and

(01:25):
every day of the year. Their legacy is built on
commitment and understanding and they're proud to serve the military community.
For over ninety years, they serve over two million veterans.
If you want to be a part of a financial
institution that is dedicated to supporting veterans like you and
your family, you can become a member today at Navy

(01:46):
Federal dot org slash Veterans and to all Veterans. Happy
Veterans Day. Navy Federal Credit Union. Our members are the mission.
Navy Federal is insured by NCUA. Hey, what's going on?
This is rad with another awesome episode of soft Rep Radio.
This time I come to you with a very cool guest.

(02:06):
But before I introduce you to him, okay, which you
already know who it is because you clicked on the link.
But before I introduce you to him, I got to
tell you about the merch Store. So for the first
time listener out there, welcome to the show. Please check
out our merch store. Go ahead and support us, and
that's at soft rep dot com forward slash merch. So
go check out the merch store. And I think my guy, callum,
my producer, could put a little something right here where

(02:28):
my fingers are. Maybe you could click on it. I
don't know how that works, but maybe he does. Second,
we have a book club. So you hear me say,
you got to go to the gym. You got to
keep yourself in health, and that's your wealth. And so
your brain also is a muscle. And so if you
could read some books, that would be great, Okay, because
knowledge is power and your brain needs to read. I
went to math class one time, and I'm like, why

(02:49):
am I going to ever use this math in school?
She's like, oh, you may not ever use it, but
your brain is using it. And I'm like, oh the
brain works. Okay, So read a book at soft reap
dot com for slash Book hyphen Club. Now my next
guest is a former one thirty pilot. He can correct
me if I'm wrong. Okay, that's the one that can

(03:11):
bank and have all the guns that shoots down And
I don't know if he flew puff or not, but
we'll find out. I want to welcome Tom Geyser, armed
Forces Special Advisor for the International Committee of the Red Cross,
based in Washington, d C. Welcome to the show.

Speaker 3 (03:23):
Tom, Thank you, roan a pleasure to be here.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
Right, we're about to go down this roller coaster. Okay,
I'm gonna read your bio. Let me allow me to
introduce you to my listener. All right, Okay. Tom Geyser
serves as an Armed Forces Special Advisor to the International
Committee of the Red Cross ICRC. He transitioned from uniform
as an air US Air Force colonel after twenty five
years of military service. He then took a family sabbatical
in Europe while studying international humanitarian law prior to his

(03:50):
transition to the ICRC. He is a graduate of the
United States Air Force Academy, where he participated in a
program that allowed him to travel for one year throughout
South America just a Spanish and Portuguese while immersing in
the cultures of the many local communities he visited. Following
his commission, he began his career working for Congressman Like
Skelton on the House Armed Service Committee Very Cool as

(04:14):
a Truman Scholar Proact to attending Oxford University in the
United Kingdom as a Rhodes Scholar, he served at NATO
HQ supporting amb Richard Holbrook during Balkan conflict negotiations. He
has also worked as the Inter American Defense Board in
coordination with the Organization of American States. He is a
command pilot as well as a Latin, American and European

(04:35):
foreign affairs strategists who has served tours in the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan,
and Brazil. He is a graduate of Fulmanese Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
He is a graduate of the US National War College
and taught at the Eisenhower School of National Security and
Resource Strategy, where he also served as a guest lecturer
at the Inter American Defense College. He has deployed on

(04:58):
multiple continuency operations across the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and
Latin America. Most of his career has been spent leading
within the units of Special Operations Command, with a focus
on advising and leading partners hold on cell phones allies
during condigency operations. Is last military assignment before transitioning from
uniform was a deputy commander of the US Special Operations

(05:21):
Commandate in Africa. I think I got that all out, Okay,
acevent sure out here? Okay, okay, yeah, the hell of
a model American. Let's not forget that part. Okay, all right,
colonel sir dude, welcome to the show.

Speaker 3 (05:36):
Thank you, Ed.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
I appreciate that. Hey, So, I see that there's a
sign behind you, and it's the International Committee for the
Red Cross.

Speaker 3 (05:46):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
That's a very bold brand that you now work for.
Al Right. I know the US flag, I know the
German flag, and I also know like the Red Cross flag.
I've seen it my whole life. It's like, give blood,
good things, help other people, be there for the others
that are in need, or have you done any good
in the world today. That's what I think of when

(06:08):
I see that Red Cross.

Speaker 4 (06:12):
Yeah, and I think the Red Cross is a symbol
is very important as well as the other symbols like
the Red Crescent exactly. You know that you're able to
see around the world that represent a humanitarian movement that
includes everything from what people are most familiar with, probably
in the United States would be the American Red Cross,

(06:32):
where you find in your local communities volunteers and people
to support a lot of the efforts that you mentioned,
all the way up to those who are engaged in
armed conflict. The International Committee the Red Cross, which is
Geneva based, So I'm representing the Geneva pace part of
that movement in the International Committee the Red Cross. And

(06:54):
what I find particularly compelling and interesting about the organization,
especially coming from special operations, where there's this mindset that
you have in doing your mission of the importance of
access in placement and being networked around the world, and
with a very different mission with a humanitarian focus, you
see that same mindset that's very powerful within the Red

(07:17):
Cross movement, which includes everything from the National Society is
like I mentioned with the American Red Cross up to
the Geneva based International Committee of the Red Cross and
that division of labor, where we're focused on armed conflict
and they're focused a lot on humanitarian assistance, disaster relief.
Local community support is very powerful. So just to give

(07:39):
you a notion, there's about seventeen thousand of us in
the ICRC around the.

Speaker 3 (07:44):
World, distributed globally.

Speaker 4 (07:46):
And you can just imagine looking at a map of
armed conflict data around the world where we are present,
and then you have an additional four hundred and twenty
five thousand people within the broader movement that are working
for the Red Cross movement. And then what surprised me
is seventeen million volunteers around the world. So just like

(08:07):
you see imagine the American Red Cross where you can
go to any small town or community in the United
States and find American Red Cross members. Imagine that same
concept applied to any country around the world. So that's
one of the things that gives us as a movement
a head start if any armed conflict emerges, because you

(08:29):
have this backbone of people that know the language, they
know all the local community, they know the people, they
know the civilians there, they know the infrastructure, logistics.

Speaker 3 (08:37):
They live there.

Speaker 4 (08:39):
So it's incredibly powerful for us in supporting the humanitarian
mission that we're able to pull that together from local
nationals all the way up to the international colleagues that
are working for the ICRC.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
I love it. I just want to let you talk because, like,
you know, more of that needs to be going on
in the world world today of you know, again helping
and supporting one another and just realizing that we're all
of the same human makeup. You know, it's like we're
fighting over just resources, and then that causes the conflicts,

(09:17):
and then now you have people who are displaced and
not wanting to be involved in the conflicts and looking
for salvation and whether that's under the Red Crescent or
under the Red Cross, right, which is there to show
that it's not just like a Christianity based entity. It's
also here's the Red Crescent for anybody that believes in
you know, like Islam or anything I believe. Is that

(09:39):
what I'm understanding what the Red Crescent is to shows
like both sides, like hey, we're not just one thing.
Is that why there is the Red Crescent versus the Cross?

Speaker 4 (09:48):
Yeah, so you have in the movement there was misunderstanding
exactly as you describe that the cross is not a
religious symbol right in its use for the ICRC emblem,
it's actually the reverse of the Swiss flag. So you know,
it's one of those if you look at the geometry

(10:10):
of it, it's not it's not a religious geometry. Is
the cross is used in Christianity. So it was making
sure within the movement that those who had those concerns
that there would be alternate symbols that were available to them,
to include a gem type figure that's that's also available

(10:31):
for others to use should they choose to. But the
most commonly seen around the world would be the red
cross as well as the red crescent, which are the
most recognizable that most people would see and know exactly
what they're looking at and what it represents.

Speaker 1 (10:45):
I love that, and I know that like medic kits
on people's to their belts and stuff have that red
cross on like right here, it's like, oh, go get
his medic kit off his belt. It's the red cross
world right there, right, It's like medic The symbol of
medic has been used so much, and so why why
do well, I guess I know why. I guess I

(11:06):
could say, why is it that you guys are attacked
when you're trying to do humanitarian missions? You know, while
you have this and you obviously everybody kind of knows.
I know that some countries don't have, you know, infrastructure
like internet or cell phones or their whole community doesn't.
But when they see those symbols, they seem to know
what it means. Why are you guys attacked when you're
just trying to provide you know, this humanitarian relief to

(11:28):
just Yeah.

Speaker 4 (11:32):
So you bring up a really important point and for
me it's powerful and it was a huge adjustment coming
into the ICRC. That emblem is the protection R. Yeah,
so so you know what I was used to, being
all kitted out with weapons together with your team with
armed over watch, you know, everything that we would do

(11:54):
lay on in the Special Operations community for a military
operation to protect our own while conducting military missions. For
the ICRC, when conducting humanitarian missions, you don't have weapons,
you're not wearing body armor, you're not in up armored vehicles,

(12:14):
you're not having armed.

Speaker 3 (12:16):
Escorts or overwide.

Speaker 4 (12:17):
It's literally the emblem that protects you and it's such
a powerful thing, and it's part of the conventions that
all the nations have agreed to protect humanitarians and to
protect that emblem and to respect that protection. So sometimes,
quite frankly, when there are incidents when we've unfortunately had

(12:40):
ICRC or members of the movement, the Red Cross, the
Red Crescent who have been killed or have been injured
where that protection was not sufficiently respected, and it could
come from everything from the fog of war, where you
have mistakes that are made, maybe you have a lack
of fire discipline, you have a lack of professionalism that

(13:03):
could result in, you know, the emblem not being sufficiently guarded,
protected and respected, and then unfortunately you could have circumstances
or maybe someone is maliciously trying to go after the
Red Crescent or the Red Cross or other humanitarians. So

(13:28):
it's one of those things that we try and reinforce
the body of agreements internationally and our frequent engagements around
the world with nations as well as non state armed groups.
So this isn't just something we're talking with militaries or
talking with state governments. We're also talking with non state
armed groups and getting everyone to appreciate and understand the

(13:49):
importance of their obligations to respect the protection that this
emblem provides, as well as the need to protect humanitarians
and to protect civilians. And then and then also to
make sure that measures are taken so that you avoid miscalculations, mistakes,
unintended harm to humanitarians that you didn't mean, but because

(14:14):
of maybe something in your operational planning or the way
that you're operating, led to harm that had real consequences.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
And so the thing about the International Committee for the
Red Cross is that you guys aren't just Okay, so
conflict's going on right now around the world. Everybody's talking
about Israel and Gaza. Okay, there's a flotilla right now
that's trying to get into the you know, they're trying
to dunkirk their way in to get humanitarian efforts and
relief into Gaza right now, like on the coast, and

(14:44):
you know they're being harassed, and you know they're just
trying to do the same kind of thing. Is anything
is the Is the Red Cross involved in any of that?
Is there any flags on any of those boats that
are going in with that flotilla that's currently kind of acting.
I guess how are you guys trying to get supplies
into Gaza? And then I have a follow up question
about other countries as well.

Speaker 4 (15:06):
Yeah, So for us, anytime we have a humanitarian mission
anywhere in the world, our access and placement is dependent
on the acceptance of whoever the armed parties are that
are controlling that territory.

Speaker 3 (15:21):
So that will be a critical part for us.

Speaker 4 (15:24):
You can take any context, any continent in the world,
and what we will do is have multidisciplinary teams, will
have specialists, to include specialists like myself who are armed
forces advisors, to engage with those militaries, but then also
to engage with the governments to make sure that the
obligations of humanitarian access are respected and to make sure

(15:46):
that the mechanisms that are needed for us to get
humanitarian supplies in to conduct our mission are facilitated. And
that was something that we had been doing, you know,
with US forces when they were present. We continue to
engage with both the Israeli Defense forces as well as

(16:07):
the Israeli government to make sure that our humanitarian mission
is able to continue, and we will run in our
own dialogue, our own logistics and supply lines, while at
the same time we'll have bilateral confidential dialogue and this
is an important part of our work. When we talk
with states, we always do so bilaterally and confidential confidentiality, confidentially,

(16:31):
so we do not talk with other parties about what
we are discussing. So we have that trust and confidence
and we're able to be open with each other and
they're able to be open with us to get our
mission best supported. And that's hard sometimes for people to
understand and accept why we may not, as an institution,
a humanitarian organization, be speaking more publicly, But sometimes it's.

Speaker 1 (16:54):
Not that.

Speaker 3 (16:56):
We wouldn't want to. It's because of the way that
we operate.

Speaker 4 (17:00):
In order to be able to do our mission, we
need acceptance from the parties that we are working with,
and that acceptance comes from a trust that it results
from this bilateral confidential relationship that we have that gardner's
respect on both sides for each other's missions and understanding
what we're doing.

Speaker 1 (17:18):
Wow, it seems like you should take a bigger role
in the world. Okay, can I just chuckle at that?
I don't want to laugh at such an atrocities that
happen that you guys get called into but you know,
the Red Cross also shows up to her cater relief
and you know for blood donations on the fly. It's
like national disaster, who do we go to? We go

(17:39):
to the Red Cross. We're like, get the red give blood.
Go to the local Red Cross, give blood. You know
there's one here at Salt Lake City. There's a Red Cross.
I drive by almost every single day and I just
drive by. I'm so jade it to the Red Cross,
this building and the people in there working diligently to
try to make the best of whatever they can from
here at Salt Lake for the world as a whole.
You know, it's like you're able to talk to leaders

(18:01):
on one side of a conflict and the leaders on
the other side of a conflict and say, hey, you
guys all know who we are. You all know the
Red Cress and the Red Cross and the other symbols
that mean you know what this is. So you're gonna
let us chill. We're good, you trust us, like you know, like,
can you just tell them to stop being mad at

(18:21):
each other too? At the same time, I know that
I know the Red Cross is not a political situation.
It's a humanitarian you know, I believe cause right or
designation just for humanity.

Speaker 3 (18:36):
Right.

Speaker 4 (18:36):
So one of the things that's really important for us.
And as you mentioned, we're not political, and we are
a neutral organization, which again is you know, it doesn't
mean that each of us serving as individuals are neutral
in our hearts, but it professionally and in order to
perform our humanitarian mission. The only way we can accomplish

(18:59):
that mission is to be professionally neutral in order to
not pick sides in a conflict. And you know, there's
a couple of bodies of law that affect warfare. One
is juice ad below, which has to do with whether
wars are justified or legal, the prosecution of a war
who starts the war.

Speaker 3 (19:21):
And the ICRC does not get into that side of
the law.

Speaker 4 (19:24):
We don't come in judgmentally to say who's right or
wrong in terms of the parties to the conflict. What
we do is we understand that war is a very
unfortunate reality of humanity on earth.

Speaker 3 (19:43):
And if we accept that wars are.

Speaker 4 (19:45):
Going to happen, how can we come up with a
way of operating so that we can try and minimize
civilian harm. We can try and minimize unnecessary suffering, to
include by those who are fighting those uniform pers So now,
and the way that we do that is to be
a political it's to be neutral, to not pick sides.

(20:07):
So we talked in the beginning, you mentioned humanity. Humanity
is a north star principle for the ICRC, and that
guides everything that we do. But one other important principle is.

Speaker 1 (20:19):
Me too, me too, you know, me too, Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 4 (20:23):
And you know that neutrality is again, if we weren't
a neutral party, we would not have access, we would
not be able to have the acceptance that we need
to do our humanitarian mission with all of the different
civilian communities that may be on that battlefield. The only
way that opposing parties in an armed conflict are going

(20:44):
to give the same organization access to territory under their
control is by seeing us as a neutral actor that's
not picking sides, that truly only has humanitarian interests. And
then and in addition to that, we're we're an independent organization,
so we make our own decisions on where we go

(21:04):
and how we act, and nobody else is telling us
or making those decisions for us.

Speaker 3 (21:12):
And then the last and.

Speaker 4 (21:14):
I think one of the most important principles that guides
us as impartiality, and that means that we go wherever
the needs are greatest. So as we look around the world,
you can imagine we do not have unlimited resources. So
we have to unfortunately choose with the resources that we
have where is the greatest need, and that includes in

(21:35):
any given conflict, and apply our resources carefully to those
who have the greatest need.

Speaker 1 (21:42):
That's an amazing mission that you are a part of,
Colonel sir dude, and I just want you to know that.
And I just want to ask a question that I
usually ask everybody on my show, is you go from
a young man to military. Okay, in your life, you
transition into the military, you graduate, and you're a pilot

(22:06):
and you're flying C one thirties and you did that
for like twenty some odd years in the military, and
then you know the transition out. Okay. So a lot
of my listeners are former veterans, are currently in or
they're going around they're getting their D two fourteen all
squared away, and they're like getting all this stuff signed off,
and you know, they're running around to the base and
sign this. So when I get out, it won't make

(22:27):
any sense to anybody else but me. You you had to
do that as well, and you you achieved the rank
of colonel, all right, and that's that's that's that's admirable
one hundred percent. And so to climb that rank and
then to all of a sudden have to transition your
life again into a civilian life, because the Red Cross

(22:47):
is a civilian thing effort. How was that transition for
you to go from you know, learning how to fly
the C one thirty and dropping my dad over to
me territory as a green beret, those kind of guys,
you know, doing the mission. Green lights are go, you know,
the red light green light, the red straps on the

(23:09):
seat of the inside of a C one thirty, all
of the yeah, you know, the door opening, the tailgate
dropping down, you know, all of that. It's like, you know,
as a young man growing up, I've been all over
that thing. My dad would be like, hey, let's go
to this see one thirty and walk through it, and
I'm like, oh, red straps, you know, cargo netty. You
go from that, and I'm sure you probably have a

(23:30):
model of that somewhere in your office. A SEE one
thirty somewhere. There's probably a model maybe hanging or sitting
somewhere you go from that to this. Can you kind
of explain that transition for my listener who may be
contemplating maybe joining your mission that is in your realms.

Speaker 3 (23:45):
Yeah, yeah, sure.

Speaker 4 (23:46):
And and before I answer that question, the yeah, yes,
I have a Talon two model that most of us
who served in Okinawa, we used to have a place
in the Philippines that hand carved them for us and
they would tailor him.

Speaker 3 (23:59):
And that's fantastic.

Speaker 4 (24:01):
But yeah, I would tell you coming to the I
c r C that that part for me was not difficult.
But the first part of your question man alive. It's
no joke, hardest thing in my life that you know,
stepping out of uniform. And and I'll just tell you
very frankly, I had.

Speaker 3 (24:20):
I had personally.

Speaker 4 (24:22):
Gotten to that point and and it's tough. It's uh
some people this notion of you know, work life balance,
you know, having your family and your life while still
being able to do your your professional job, especially when
in uniform. But I wasn't very good at that, Like

(24:42):
you know, you you get sucked into it was very
mission oriented, always had been. You get sucked into that,
to the abandonment of those you love and care about
most dearly that you know your your your most proximate family.

Speaker 3 (24:57):
So it was one of those. It's one of those
tough choices that.

Speaker 4 (25:03):
I had to make, you know, as I thought about
my wife and daughter, and it was like it was
one of those.

Speaker 3 (25:10):
My daughter was thirteen.

Speaker 4 (25:12):
So with Daisy and I I was like, Okay, I
love what I'm doing, but I only have one life
and I don't get another swing at this, so I'm
gonna I'm gonna make the hard call. And you know,
I probably didn't do it the best way. It was
one of those I didn't I didn't talk to anybody
or tell anybody before I pushed the button because I

(25:33):
didn't want anybody to talk me out of it.

Speaker 1 (25:35):
Right.

Speaker 4 (25:37):
I had made a decision that I need to do
this for my family. I need to reconnect with them,
I need to spend time with them. And that's exactly
what we did.

Speaker 3 (25:46):
And you know.

Speaker 4 (25:47):
Full of full of tears, it's still it's hard for me.
I loved it, and yeah, so Daisy and Isabelle and
I we spent.

Speaker 3 (26:01):
A few years together, just us, just us traveling around
and it was fantastic.

Speaker 4 (26:07):
And you know, we did a homeschool program, the Potters
School that I put Isabelle in and I got to
be her her tutor and support her and her studies
for a couple of years, and it was fantastic. And
you know, after after after that, one of the challenges though, is,

(26:28):
and you'll talk with people who transition out of uniform,
it's it's it's never enough just to be dedicated to
your family. That that focus and dedication to your family
is important, but you need your own sense of purpose
and and and it seems like you found that, uh
in what you're doing. And congratulations for finding that.

Speaker 3 (26:51):
Purpose For me, that's what I was.

Speaker 4 (26:54):
I was I was seeking and and you know it
was one of those you kind of feel it, but
you're you know, my wife, especially Daisy, she was able
to see it and recognize that, you know, you just
can't keep hanging out.

Speaker 1 (27:10):
With us for.

Speaker 3 (27:12):
For years and years more. You need something for yourself.

Speaker 4 (27:15):
And I had always I had always wanted to transition
to the humanitarian side of the fence at some point.

Speaker 3 (27:22):
And you know what surprises me is.

Speaker 4 (27:25):
You look at as you look at veterans, how many
it's a sense of service that you have, and very
often you have it from when you're very young. Sometimes
it comes from your families, sometimes it comes from your community.
It definitely if you didn't have it before you join
the military, you will have it, you know, because of
your military service. So when people many people who leave

(27:50):
the uniformed ranks, they continue to serve in some way
serve their communities. It could be at the local state level,
it could be with with law enforcement, it could be
as a defense contractor it could be as a government
civilian and a federal agency. And I think especially if

(28:11):
we look back at the legacy of the GI Bill
after World War Two, and you know how we reintegrated
military veterans into society at all levels, and that redefine
the fabric of America. And I think you still see
versions of that today in the United States. And you
know that's everywhere from even as I c r C,

(28:32):
when I'm when I'm engaging on the hill with with
with congressional representatives, together with my colleagues to engage in
the Pentagon, or like you were mentioning with the American
Red Cross as we talked to our movement partners here
in the United States.

Speaker 3 (28:46):
It's it's it really.

Speaker 4 (28:49):
It's it's heartening to see how many people have a
more selfless sense of that they want to be giving
something with a sense of service. Uh and in many
cases very directly a sense of public service to America,
to US as a nation. And it's interesting because I
look at Armed Forces advisors like myself in the ICRC,

(29:14):
we have thirty different nationalities, so that as we engage
and we talk with different countries and different militaries and
different states, they have the same passion that I have
for America, for the countries that they come from, with
that North Star principle of humanity orienting them, so it
becomes a very powerful thing. But for any of the

(29:36):
veterans that may be listening or people who are getting
ready to transition, don't underestimate how hard it's going to be.
I mean, it is incredibly difficult. Don't underestimate all the
preparation that you need to do, not just for yourself,
but with your family. And then take that time to
reconnect with friends and family, because anybody who's been in

(29:59):
you would have been running hard. There would have been
a lot of time away from home. But but once
you've re said, make sure that you're thinking hard about
that sense of purpose, something that's going to give you
fulfillment you as an individual, because if you don't do that,
it's going to affect your relationships with others, to include

(30:19):
your family.

Speaker 1 (30:21):
Yeah, because they may be you know, used to you
being at your job and you know, like when my
dad would deploy as a Green Beret, my mom was
always home. We never really traveled around the country like
a lot of Army brats did in other jobs. Like
they're like, oh, hey, a year later you go into
a new base, or dad's move into a new base,
or mom in two years or transitioning TDY. My dad

(30:42):
was I was. I kind of was fortunate that Dad
would just go from his base and go for three
six months and we would just stay here. So we
got to grow roots here, you know, here in Utah.
And mom was also Dad and mom and okay, let's
say quick prayer to get the car started this morning
so we get to school on time. I'm like, do

(31:03):
I have to pray for that? You know, It's like,
let's go, let's go. And then Dad comes home from
you know, deployment, and then he's like trying to rub
shoulders with mom and trying to acclimate back into the
life of the family unit that we want Dad back at,
you know. But then all of a sudden, it's like, hey,
well there's a regiment going on here, and Mom's kind

(31:25):
of got things under control, and now Dad's got to
fall back into the regiment of that. And Dad sits
there and thinks, well, you know, I maybe deployments are
taking away from me or taking away from that family timeframe.
And I never realized Dad was gone. I mean I did,
but I just thought, oh, that's dad. You know, that's
what my dad does. And I would wear camouflage every
day to school, and I had my own little ribbons

(31:46):
that I earned around the house with a good conduct
and like all that kind of a thing. My Dad's like,
here's your airborne wings, because we would jump off picnic
tables before they jumped, they'd get ready to jump and
stuff before they got on the sea one through. Yeah.
So I would do all that as eight nine ten
year old little kid, Like you would have your kid
paling around with you everywhere, right exposed to that environment,

(32:07):
and so I just was I guess I'm just relating
with just like that kind of a situation of the
family unit and the dynamic. And then him transitioning from
Green Beret from a medical was to like believe in
me as a business owner at fourteen. So he saw
me slinging skateboards out of my garage and he's like, well,
let's get you a business license and get you a
little shop and start pushing that together. All behind the scenes,

(32:28):
he had a work a master's degree in business management
and communications. So this whole time, you know dad being
a Green Beret warfighter, he was also very savvy business guy.
And I think that's kind of where I get that from.
Like I can totally see where he like kind of
put me into this realm of where I'm at today

(32:49):
and including this show, because I got into public speaking
and communications because of my dad. After I learned that
he was all, you know, into business as well. So
it's like, thanks Dad, and so thanks to you, I'm
just saying, yeah, I've just share that with you, Okay,
I just want to let you know you know so,
And uh, I guess it's just a hard transition because

(33:09):
I try to watch in transition from SF to running
marathons every day to what's he going to do? Now?
You know, like, what what do you do? You know,
you're like kind of frozen. And so you guys at
the International Red Cross, you're always looking for able people
that can help join your your your programs and your cause,

(33:30):
even if it's not on an international level, it's on
a local level. They can just reach out through the
Red Crosses probably website right and examply for careers.

Speaker 4 (33:38):
Most definitely, most definitely, and you know both the American
Red Cross as was I c r C. You know
you can you can go via the websites to see
what kind of openings and for anybody who's interested in
those career opportunities. You know what's good is if you
do that before you're ready to transition, so you can
start looking what what are the qualifications, what are the

(34:00):
attributes that they're looking at. So if you if you
see a gap in your resume or something that you
might be able to do to try and make yourself
more competitive, then.

Speaker 1 (34:08):
You do that.

Speaker 4 (34:10):
I just I wanted to when you were when you
were talking about deployments and you know, when your father
would go away and then come back, it made me
think of one other really important mission that the ICRC
has when it comes to armed conflict, in whether it's
with US military, and this is when I'm speaking with

(34:31):
US government officials, whether it's on the Hill or Pentagon officials.
Something I emphasize is our obligation to US service members
and their families in the event that a big war
were to kick off, or in any of the current
conflicts that the US may be involved in around the world.
And it is those situations where somebody deploys or you

(34:56):
can take other nations militaries. How often you might have
somebody taken as a prisoner of war or somebody who
may be missing in action, and you have a family
that doesn't know where they killed, where they taken prisoner.
So one of the important roles that ICRC has in
armed conflict is being able to help to make those links,

(35:21):
to restore those links with families by being able to
visit POW's, being able to get a Red Cross message
out and communicate that with the families so that they
they know that their family members still alive if in
the most unfortunate of circumstances, someone has fallen, to be

(35:42):
able to make sure that those remains are able to
be returned in a dignified manner and that the family knows.
And we had a had a very on Powmi a
day we went as a delegation with their headed delegation,
Fabrito Carboni, with very I think one of the as
an American, one of the most powerful things you can

(36:04):
see to reflect on the nation is to go to
Arlington Cemetery and see the changing of the guard the
tomb of the unknown Soldier. And it's that concept of
you know, thinking back to those many Americans in World
War One or World War Two, during the Great Wars,
or then even in the Korean War where they might

(36:25):
have had a family member that deployed in these conflicts
that never came back and they don't know what happened.
And you know, the effort the US military, through pow
Mia efforts or the ICRC makes in countries where conflicts
occurred to try and provide some resolution, even if it

(36:47):
takes some time. What I find amazing is, you know,
we've got everything to include forensic specialists and that are
able to help engage bring their expertise not only with
countries around the world, but also with the United States
and again hopefully hopefully a lot of these efforts will
never be needed. But if there were big conflict to

(37:10):
emerge on the scales that we saw in the great.

Speaker 3 (37:13):
Wars of World War One and World War.

Speaker 4 (37:15):
Two, our history and those Americans and the voices, the writings,
the recordings of what they have to tell us are
important for us to remember. And the ICRC is very
attuned to that, and I think it's an important part
of our work from a preparedness perspective.

Speaker 1 (37:32):
I'm also in tune to that. I like that. That's
a good I like what you said right there. I
just want to let that be known. Okay, for the record,
that was awesome, well put. And I was just thinking, geez,
you know, I'm sitting here telling my daughter there's these
positions available. She speaks multiple languages, and I'm like, wow, well,
you know, I just okay, wats for a resume coming

(37:52):
through shorty Okay. I'm gonna be like, yo, Sydney, You'll
never believe another job opportunity because that might just that
it gives you a sense of purpose.

Speaker 3 (38:01):
It does. Yeah, that's that's one thing.

Speaker 4 (38:03):
And that's why when I mentioned transitioning out of the
military was hard, Transitioning into the ICRC was not.

Speaker 3 (38:11):
Yes, And it's because of that.

Speaker 4 (38:12):
As long as as long as you have that sense
of purpose that you know when you have a good
mission and it was the same thing when it was uniform.
As long as you have a good mission, then there's
nothing to worry about it. Even if life's hard, if
it's difficult, if there's challenges, as long as your mission
is good and you can stand behind it and you're
proud of that mission, then you're in a good place.

Speaker 1 (38:33):
Yeah, you like to probably be shoulder to shoulder with
those that are going to be shoulder to shoulder with you,
you know, That's what I mean. And so whether that's
on a C one thirty and you got your battle
buddies on there and every crew chief, everybody's shoulder to
shoulder kind of ranks out the window at that point.
You know, it's like Hey Tom, Hey Bill, Hey Dan. Okay,
but sir, on the flight line, I got you. You know,

(38:53):
like that shoulder shoulder camaraderie is something that I found
myself was awesome in the middle Terry on a baseball team.
You know, in boy scouts, you have a lot of
the same people doing the same type of shoulder shoulder activities,
and I'm sure with the ICRC it's the same exact thing.
There's camaraderie. You have people who a brotherhood and a

(39:15):
sisterhood who have you know, sworn to help, you know,
the humanitarian north Star effort. Sometimes we drift towards the
second start of the right though, Peter pan Okay, but
we got to always stay focused on that north star, right.
But you know, there might be a vacation to the
less star there. But nonetheless, I think what you guys

(39:36):
are doing as a whole right is just is honorable.

Speaker 4 (39:42):
So no, thank you, And you know, for me, it's
a you know, does it reflects One of the things
that makes Special Operations Team so versatile is you have
all of these different subject matter experts that are part
of your team. And that's very much how the ICRC operat.
So it's one of those concepts that's very familiar where

(40:03):
you know, whether it's an Armed Forces advisor, or it's
an engineer who's able to work essential water systems wastewater
and drinking water, or it's a or it's medical professionals
doctors and nurses, or it's the protection personnel that are
able to go do prison visits and check on you know,
how how the prisons are being run, or it's somebody

(40:25):
who's able to be on the hotlines that are restoring
family links. Right listening to the stories from the families,
it's it's it's really incredible when you see the diversity
of teams and the way that they're tailored by I
C r C leadership and heads of delegations in the field.

Speaker 1 (40:43):
I would say that, like in basic I remember a
gentleman getting red crossed out in basic training. We're like,
where do you go? Oh, he got red Cross? We're like,
what is that? How do what do we get Red Cross?
Like something serious happened in his life that the Red
Cross reached out through the Basic training and pulled him

(41:04):
out to go take care of whatever he had to
take care of. That's all I ever knew. He's just
we just heard he was Red Cross. So I mean,
you guys literally reach everybody that is needing to be that.
You try to help everybody in need, like you said,
whether they're a pow, whether it's an airman that's being
red crossed out for family medical or family emergencies, and

(41:26):
you know, the Red Cross can get involved in that
that's theral neutrality, nutrilit neutralness, neutralness, we'll go with neutral thiss. Okay,
that's the that you present to all sides of the
situation of the conflict. And I think what you would
like is just when you come into the situation and
you're talking to Side A, who thinks they're the good guys,

(41:49):
you're like, hey, cool, okay, you think you're the good guys,
but we were the Red Cross. We just want to
make sure that we can get in through these lanes. Okay,
from your side, that's the good guys, quote unquote. And
now someone has to go talk to Team B, who
thinks that they're the good guys, and now and you're
still the Red Cross or the Red Crescent, and you're like, hey, look, okay,

(42:10):
so you think you're the good guys. That's cool. I
can't tell you what they think, but I can tell
you that we just need to go down this road
without you guys shooting at us from this side, okay.
And so and really that's the that's where the Red
Cross comes in. It's like, hey, you know, let us
just take these supplies in this is the situation and
just leave us alone. And sometimes that doesn't always happen.

(42:31):
We've seen it time and time again, targeted attacks of
these vehicles that have the cross or the Credit Crescent
or a similar nature right trying to bring supplies. And
it's not just in Gaza, it's like Africa and in
other countries that a lot of people aren't even on
their radar. Like you guys are getting phone calls of
almost a nine to one one high. This is African

(42:55):
country needs you. Now. You're like, Okay, here's what's going
on over here. Here's a genocide happening over here. Here's
an earthquake of enormous proportions over here in Haiti, you know,
et cetera. It's like that's where you guys come in,
and that's where you flex, like Arnold right there.

Speaker 4 (43:14):
Yea, And I think you know what's important, And I
think it's interesting the evolution of a lot of our work.
And you know, if we go back to the origin
story of the ICRC, you know in eighteen fifty nine,
when we look at the Battle of Sulfarino where Rido Nan,
a businessman, is going to try and meet Napoleon. He
has no idea what's going on, and a battle breaks

(43:37):
out where twenty nine thousand people are killed in twelve
hours of fighting, and you know, you don't have any
of what we're talking about doesn't exist. And it's that
need in this case where you have somebody who's seeing
the after effects, is seeing the wounded and seeing the dead,

(43:58):
with no one to attend to them, no one to
carry them off.

Speaker 3 (44:02):
And you know, he writes about it, and he's.

Speaker 4 (44:05):
Able to share that story in a small pamphlet. He
writes memories of Sulfurino, and he's able to share that
with other European partners and get everyone to agree that
this is not okay. You know that these individuals who
are fighting on behalf of their.

Speaker 3 (44:22):
State in uniform.

Speaker 4 (44:24):
You know, once they're wounded, once they're sick, they're out
of the fight and they need to be respected as
individuals now and they need to be protected and someone
needs to attend to them. And I can remember he
writes about he writes about a sergeant major who had
been fighting for over thirty years, very experienced, who's you know,
on a church floor, who's about to die, who's about

(44:47):
to die from gang green five days after his injuries,
and he knows that he's going to die, and he's asking, here,
do not can you please let my family know? And
he writes a letter so that Andre Denana is able
to get that letter to the family to know where
he died and that he died honorably. But the greatest
tragedy was that Sergeant Major. He knew that had he

(45:11):
had his wounds been attended to right away, he would
have survived. He might have suffered an amputation, but he
would have survived. And you know, so this movement to
amongst these powers to come up with a way to
protect those in uniform when they're wounded, and to and
to and to honor the dignity of those who are fallen,

(45:32):
it was it was really important.

Speaker 1 (45:33):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (45:34):
And and you see these gaps come up and even
today where I think everybody, independent of whether there's treaties
or legal obligations or not, and any human should be
able to appreciate intuitively that moral sense of obligation to
respect the humanity of everyone. And then we see that

(45:54):
as we go into World War One, you know, prisoners
of war became a big issue, and the miss treatment
of prisoners of war, so then they became another group
of uniform personnel that needed to be protected. And in
World War Two then you have you know a lot
of civilians that are harmed unnecessarily in World War Two.
So then you get the protection of civilians and you

(46:17):
bring that body of law, whether on land or at sea,
if you're sick, if you're wounded, if you are if
you are a civilian, that you deserve to be protected.

Speaker 1 (46:30):
Yeah, And I would imagine that if there was someone
wounded on the battlefield, you're not really taking sides of
who that wounded is. You're just like, hey, you.

Speaker 4 (46:38):
Know exactly, And that's what impartiality comes up. It needs
based whoever needs the support.

Speaker 1 (46:44):
That's correct, you know, because there's veterans on both sides,
a Team A and tm B who are being shell shocked,
wounded with PTSD wounded physically traumatic brain injuries on both sides,
all fighting in the name of their cause, right, And
like I said, Team athinks they're the good guy. Team
B things they're the good guy and they're fighting each other.

(47:05):
They just need to like someone needs to like just
talk the same language to one another. And which is
what I find. I'm going to go out on a
limb here. I think that like presidents should speak a
different language, at least one like fluently. It should be like, okay,
I speak Mandarin or I speak Spanish. Huh okay, well
we have two candidates. One speaks matter and one speaks Spanish.

(47:27):
That's a good thing. That's a good thing. They could talk,
you know. I mean, you know, I think that if
we could have people learn or have like you said,
you have multiple nationalities from all around the world blended
into your organization, who can do just that and have
those conversations with that passion, whereas over here it's like, oh,
you're talking bad about me, but they're really trying to say, hey,

(47:48):
can I get a couple of water? Right? That's like
communication is the breakdown. I think that's just me. I'm
just saying that. But I know that you guys are
very uh you know, is it a political is that
the right word, like you're not? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (48:07):
Or a neutral political organization?

Speaker 4 (48:08):
And you know it's it's it's one of those you
try to understand where people are coming from, right. So,
and one of the challenges is, you know, war is
about uh using you've gotten to the point.

Speaker 3 (48:22):
As a state or as a as.

Speaker 4 (48:24):
An organization if it's a non state armed group where
you've you've decided that you're going to use violence to
try and achieve some political objectives. And it's one of
those you know, trying to get everybody acknowledged that even
even wars have rules, right, and and and how you

(48:44):
decide to fight those wars, how you lead those wars
is going to determine how the wars end. So trying
to get everybody to imagine beyond the rage that they
may feel internally and and have the professionalism to be
able to conduct themselves in a way that's able to
think about the post conflict environment and set the stage

(49:07):
so that, you know, you minimize the grievances so that
there's the greatest chance of reconciliation. I mean, you think
about a lot of the foundations of law of armed
conflict as the US military understands it today, is you know,
founded all the way back from Abraham Lincoln and the
Civil War and what he asked to be generated the

(49:29):
libor code for Union Forces. A lot of these same
concepts that are born in this era are the same
ideas that you know, we continue to teach to our
armed forces and in the United States, the laws of
armed conflict that all uniform personnel receive.

Speaker 1 (49:47):
Yeah, and so hopefully everybody you know, the Geneva Convention
does exist. And so where in the Geneva Convention does
the International Red Cross fall? Is that a part of
Geneva Conventions, are you guys? Hey, Geneva recognizes the crescent
and the cross as yes.

Speaker 4 (50:06):
And the Geneva Conventions are also that they provide the
mandate for the International Committee the Red Cross. So when
there's an armed conflict, this is what the Geneva Conventions
that all states have agreed to. So it means that
when there's an armed conflict, everyone has this common agreement

(50:28):
and understanding of what the legal obligations are under the
laws of armed conflict, and that includes a mandate to
allow the ICRC to do our humanitarian work.

Speaker 3 (50:38):
So there's that aspect.

Speaker 4 (50:40):
But then also the ICRC is you know, the nickname
would be the Guardians of IHL. So one of one
of the most impressive groups of specialists that we have
in the ICRC is international Humanitarian law specialists.

Speaker 3 (50:57):
So they focus.

Speaker 4 (51:00):
On international humanitarian law. All the treaties at Geneva Conventions
as we watch and observe how wars are being conducted
as we think about future warfare as well and contemplate
new technologies. How adequate do states recognize and do we
as ICRC recognize the current body of law? And how

(51:24):
much might there need to be discussions about additional conversations
to keep everyone safe and respect humanity and future warfare?

Speaker 1 (51:34):
Yeah, a hundred percent. I don't even know what if
we should even keep this conversation going any longer. Just
end it right there, okay, because that's exactly the point
that we're I love to hear that, you know, and
you know that's like what's his wife's name, Amaal Clooney.
She George Clooney's wife. She is a huge, like, you know,

(51:57):
humanitarian lawyer, I think, and she, Uh, that's what you're
talking about, is these lawyers that just focus straight on
humanitarian law to help Like just how do you how
do you have somebody who, like herself, such a educated individual,

(52:18):
so smart and powerful, so right about a lot of things,
try to explain to somebody who's just stuck on like bloodlust,
you know, like a I don't know what I'm trying
to get, you know, like there's somebody just dead set
on war.

Speaker 4 (52:32):
Yeah, and it's one of one of those one of
those things that how you frame the conversation, who you
talk with, who you engage, when you choose to engage,
obviously is very carefully considered, and you need you need
We as the ICRC, work very hard when we engage
with different parties to an armed conflict to get them

(52:53):
to accept the meeting if we ask for the meeting,
to accept it. And one of the reasons that someone
should feel confident accepting the meeting is what we started
with in the beginning, that bilateral confidential dialogue.

Speaker 3 (53:07):
You can trust that if you're.

Speaker 4 (53:08):
Going to talk with me, or you're going to talk
with my colleagues, that we're not going to go yapp
into some other party. We're not going to be judgmental
and publish some public report on social media. We're going
to have a conversation with you based on our humanitarian
interests and hope that we're able to get the other
side to appreciate why it's also in their national interests,

(53:32):
in their interests.

Speaker 3 (53:33):
And there is very often overlap.

Speaker 4 (53:36):
You just have to be able to articulate it in
a way that's convincing, that's able to get the other
side to appreciate it. Often, in the heat of conflict
and war, there's a lot of emotions, there's a lot
of rage.

Speaker 3 (53:46):
So how do you get through that?

Speaker 4 (53:48):
Again, not to imagine just the current fight, but to
try and imagine a future where the conflict ends, and
what does that post conflict environment look like?

Speaker 3 (54:00):
And that's what we're trying to shape.

Speaker 4 (54:02):
And you know it doesn't The legal foundations are important,
but you know it's one of those. I found it interesting,
if you allow me real quick to read. It was
in nineteen fifty five, is when the United States ratified
the Geneva Conventions, and we waited until after the Korean

(54:22):
War because we didn't want the Korean War to affect
the dialogue.

Speaker 3 (54:25):
But I found it interesting. Here you have.

Speaker 4 (54:27):
Warriors from World War One world War Two that are
serving in the Senate that are arguing why this is
so important, And they argue, our nation has everything to
gain and nothing to lose by being a party to
the conventions now before the Senate, and by encouraging their
most widespread adoption. The requirements of the four Conventions to
a very great degree reflect the actual policies of the

(54:50):
United States and World War Two. The practices which they
bind nations to follow, impose no burden upon us that
we would not voluntarily assume in a future conflict without
the injunctions of formal treaty obligations. And I bring that
up because it's you know what, you hear this veteran
saying and ratifying the conventions. Is there something in the

(55:12):
American spirit about this that even if this body of
law didn't exist, we will conduct ourselves honorably in warfare?

Speaker 3 (55:20):
And and it's it's it's.

Speaker 4 (55:23):
It's one of those things I think it's important for
us to remember today, especially as I hear sometimes that
of the Geneva Conventions, maybe that works for counterinsurgency or
counter terrorism, but it's it's going to be really difficult
if there's a large scale conflict. Well, here's the men
that came out of the horrors of one of the
greatest wars on earth, and they're telling us exactly that

(55:47):
this is how they conducted themselves, and that they agree
that these conventions are important. And I think it's important
for all of us to remember that as we talk
about any potential future wars that the United States may
be engaged, and that framing within American spirits.

Speaker 1 (56:04):
I love that, and I think that we should, you know,
move our best foot forward as the stewards of what
we have around us, as you know, as a father,
as a business owner, as people around me. I can
just be whatever best conduit of that I can be,
and then hopefully that will rub off on those around me,

(56:26):
which will then domino effect their circle of influence and
then their circle of influence to try to keep it honorable.
And you know, conflict has been around since the dawna time.
Man has fought with sticks and stones. Okay, let alone
air power, right, so you can only imagine twenty nine

(56:50):
thousand lost lives. We're not from air power when you
know you're referencing take this note or the the founding
of the Napoleon, you know, of the yeah, yeah, yeah, right,
you know that's twenty nine thousand lives of bayonets and
one shots.

Speaker 3 (57:10):
Yeah, under brutality fist fights.

Speaker 1 (57:13):
There was no tanks. So twelve hours and twenty nine
thousand people like, we're so jaded to you know, to
conflicts happening. That's like, oh, another four dead in Kiev,
another twelve dead in Africa, another thirty seven dead at
a local Texas school. Okay, so it's like we're just

(57:34):
so we need to stop. Dude, it's just a total
hippie song. Okay, look around, what's that sound? Everybody? Look
what's going down? You know, and just be aware, I think,
and just know that I don't know. We just all
red blood.

Speaker 3 (57:53):
It should never be callous. That's the loss of human life,
you know. It's one of those things.

Speaker 4 (57:58):
It's and and when we're talking armed conflict, we know
the horrors of war are very real and as you described,
it's it's an unfortunate part of humanity that we will
probably continue to fight wars for the indefinite future.

Speaker 1 (58:13):
So if flies, it's the lord of the flies who
hold the conch shell. It's like.

Speaker 4 (58:20):
Whether it's in warfare other context you described there, some
suffering will happen. But how can we identify as ways
to avoid and mitigate unnecessary suffering?

Speaker 3 (58:33):
And that is the focus of the ICRC.

Speaker 4 (58:35):
We we have folks like myself as Armed Forces advisors
who had to make the difficult decisions in armed conflict,
and and the way it is in the Geneva Conventions,
it balances military necessity and appreciation that the military has
a mission, so you balance military necessity with those humanitarian
concerns and interests. Right, So, how can we both for

(58:59):
the uniform personnel as well as for the civilians mitigate
and eliminate unnecessary suffering because it's pointless, it achieves no end.

Speaker 1 (59:10):
No, no, it just makes everybody mad. That is nowadays,
it's just right in our face. We get dosed with
the reality of it from our supercomputer in our hand.
Everybody's just dosed with this is what's going on. This
is what's going on, and it's like, how do we
I don't know. I think everybody is jaded. I'm scratching

(59:30):
my beard with my David Letterman pencil right here that
I hold.

Speaker 3 (59:34):
So while you have that feeling of being jaded, yeah,
and as do many.

Speaker 4 (59:41):
Or that feeling that we become desensitized to that. That's
where I think you can feel confident that the ICRC
and the ICRC around the world does not get desensitized ever.
Like the mission is humanity, and the mission is to
think about exactly that which other people don't want to

(01:00:02):
think about, and focus all of our energy on that
to try and reduce human suffering in warfare.

Speaker 1 (01:00:10):
Thank you for that. I appreciate you. I want you
to know that I know I've captured an hour of
your time today and I know that you're very busy
and there's so much more that I could talk with you.
And you're always welcome back to be on the show,
to bring the message and the mission of the International
Red Cross to my platform. Whatever I can do with it,

(01:00:30):
whatever conduit I have here here at soft Rep you know, Radio,
soft Reap, Radio, merch Storm. But look, whatever I have,
whatever I can help with, please use me. This this
opportunity if it's available, you know, if you have something
you want to say, if you're great, Liaison Dominique wants
to you know, reach out to me and say, hey,

(01:00:52):
rad can we get so and so on. Yes, anybody
that comes from your lane is a welcome guest on
my show. I just want to let you know.

Speaker 4 (01:00:58):
That, thank you, and uh and I love your I
love your your mantle of honor there, that's a that's
a good one. And like I said before, I'm jealous.
I love the Rocky Mountains ever since I went to
the Academia in Colorado.

Speaker 1 (01:01:14):
Oh yeah you did.

Speaker 3 (01:01:15):
There's something I love.

Speaker 4 (01:01:16):
The outdoors and yeah, I need to come out to you.

Speaker 1 (01:01:20):
I got my snowboards right here. So they're just waiting
in that fireplace. It is October, it is we are
feeling the fall. Colors change here in Utah, home to
snowboard Ski Resort, Brighton Ski Resort. You know Brighton Snowboard Resort.
What's up? I should say that Powder Mountain? You know,
little Nordic valley up in the north. Uh. We have

(01:01:44):
a big belief here at soft Rep. And it's thrills
before pills. So before you go to the VA, when
you go to the v A, if you go to
the VA, you're talking to your doctor or to your
VA representative, ask them about you know, is there recreational
therapy first for me to get involved with. If I'm
gonna go outside, can I get a swimming pool pass

(01:02:04):
to get in the water? Can I go get a
custom snowboard made for my one leg? You know, ask
your Veterans Administration professional for recreational therapy. Okay, just ask
for it. Say where's recreational therapy? I know those are
I know that's motrin. Where's my recreational therapy?

Speaker 3 (01:02:24):
Give me the good time?

Speaker 1 (01:02:26):
Yes exactly, Okay, So I just want to I just
want to encourage that you know, and you know, thank
you so much for being on the show. And again
you're you're supported by your family, You're supported by us
here a Soft Reap on your mission. You know, I
respect the red cross, the red crescent, and any other
emblem that's going to fall underneath your guys's lane. I

(01:02:48):
I will respect that.

Speaker 3 (01:02:49):
I just want you to know, thank you having fun conversation.
I really appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:02:53):
Yeah right, well, thank you And to my to my
guests that just joined us or to the first time listener,
I hope a great time and you'll be coming back.
And to those of you that have listened to the
show and that you constantly listen to us, you know,
you know who you are. You guys send me emails general.
This is right out to you. Thank you so much
for always, you know, critiquing my shows. I appreciate that.
And again to Brandon Webb who runs Soft Reap and

(01:03:16):
the team behind him allowing me to have this opportunity
to become a better person by talking to people like
Tom Geyser. Okay, I grew today from this conversation, and
I hope that you did too. When you listen to
our show, so thank you so much for being a
part of it. Tom and Dominique, thank you for making
this happen. And again sorry about being laser. It won't

(01:03:37):
happen again. I'll always be on time and that was
my fault. I'm not gonna blame you Dominique. I'll take
full responsibility and go check out the merch store, Go
check out the book club, softwap dot com, Forward slash
Book hyphen Club, And my name is Rad saying peace.

Speaker 3 (01:03:53):
Thank you Rad, and to all your listeners

Speaker 2 (01:04:10):
You've been listening to self red Ladia