September 26, 2023 • 45 mins
Vietnam Veteran Al Lipphardt shares with Jacob & Ashley the story of the people and organization that helped him grow through his decade-old memories & started him on a path to healing.
Follow Al Lipphardt on:
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LinkedIn: @AlLipphardt
Twitter: @LipphardtCiC
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to the Good Stuff. I'm Jacob Schick and I'm
joined by my co host and wife, Ashley Shick.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Jake is a third generation combat Marine and I'm a
gold Star granddaughter, and we work together to serve military veterans,
first responders, frontline healthcare workers, and their families with mental
and emotional wellness through traditional and non traditional therapy.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
At One Tribe Foundation.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
We believe everyone has a story to tell, not only
about the peaks, but also the valleys they've been through
to get them to where they are today.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Each week, we invite a guest to tell us their story,
to share with us the lessons they've learned that shape
who they are and what they're doing to pay it
forward and give back.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Our mission with this show is to dig deep into
our guest's journey so that we can celebrate the hope
and inspiration their story has to offer.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
We're thrilled you're joining us again.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Welcome to the Good Stuff.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
You know, we both have such a deep appreciation of
our nation's veterans, and not only did Jacob serve, but
a lot of men and women in both of our
families served and sacrificed for.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Our freedoms, freedoms that we all take for granted, myself
completely included every single day. Yes, our guest today is
the Al Lpparte. He served in the United States Army
for fourteen years during a time in our nation when
it wasn't very popular to serve. In fact, it was
quite the opposite. While in the Army, he served in Vietnam.
(01:31):
Today he is a huge part of the Veterans of
Foreign Wars and he's here to tell us his story
of joining the army, serving in combat, and how he
continues to serve today and fight for the greater good.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I'm so excited to share Al Laparte with the world.
We absolutely love him and he is one of the
most energetic seventy six year olds we know.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
I forget he's seventy six often I'll Lippart, Welcome to
the good stuff.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
Thank you. I'm honored to be here.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
We're very humbled and privileged to have you and to
be open to doing this. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
And we were originally connected through your work with the
Veterans of Foreign Wars. And what is your current standing
in the BFW.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Actually in August of this year, I was elected as
the Junior Vice Commander in Chief, and what follows is
at next year's convention, I anticipate being elected as the
Senior Vice Commander in Chief. That would be the number
two man. And the following year, which would be in
August of twenty four, I would serve as the Commander
(02:39):
in Chief. That's a one year term. I would go
out of office in August of twenty twenty five. So
that's the role that I'm in right now and anticipating
the next several years.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
And it's been really fascinating for Jake and I to
get more involved with the VFW and find out how
much really goes into the leadership and the planning and
the execution of all that you want to accomplish for
veterans worldwide and every age and every conflict that we've
been involved in. It's been really fascinating because I know
(03:13):
Jake and I both have personal stories with the VFW.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
The VFW was very important to my grandmother and my grandfather,
my grandfather being the first generation United States Marine and
our family serving World War Two and a Regima, and
my grandmother ultimately becoming the president of the Auxiliary in
the State of Louisiana after my Pat Paul's passing. As
you all know, that's my bested interest or at least
(03:39):
the tip of the spear of my best at interest
to help the VFW in any way I can, which
you know a lot more in detail about that, but
it's definitely close to my heart and soul because it's
ingrained in my DNA by default.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
And mine too.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
My great grandfather, Ward Albro the second was a Bronze
Star recipient World War Two, served in the army, and.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
He also in San Angelo, West Texas.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
He was involved with the VFW, and so it's something
that we've known about our entire lives and really to
be able through you a'l dig in and find out
more about this organization and what it's done over decades
now over a century has been really exciting.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
You're continuing the lead. You epitomize what it means to
be an effective leader.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
I think so for all three of us being part
of those that were the favorite of the nation to
defend it, and then following our time in uniform, we
continue to use that service to give back. You know,
when we talk about VFW. Unfortunately, we as military types
(04:48):
tend to talk in acronyms, and people will ask what
the heck is the VFW, and we know that's the
Veterans of Foreign Wars. And there's one thing to be veterans,
because everyone that uniform takes the oath and serves is
a veteran. But we're different. We're are veterans of Foreign Wars,
meaning that not only did we raise our hand, we
(05:10):
all took the same oath, but when it came time
to deploy, when we were told we were going to war,
we went. So when I find someone that's in the
Veterans of Foreign Wars, I have absolutely no doubt of
their courage because they accepted the challenge, they went to war.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
And we'll get into a little later how important THEFW
has been to your story.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
But your story started when you were quite young.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
I was born in nineteen forty six, and as a
high school student, I will tell you that during those
four years I was not what one would consider a
stellar student. I had other things that I enjoyed doing
versus studying. I guess it's to say that I did
not let my education interfere with my fun, because I
(06:03):
continued to have fun at the expense of my grades.
I found leadership in high school when I played football
up through my junior year. And one of the things
that my coach did, and he was a championship coach,
I told him I wanted to go to college and
what were my chances of getting a football scholarship, and
he said, I'll just be very frank with you, they're
(06:25):
probably zip. I was a starter my junior year, but
I was just another football player. But when the coach
told me, al, you probably should go find a job,
it was very hurtful. Now I also found that I
wasn't really college material. That was really not on my radar.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Were you the first one in your family to serve No.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
I had three uncles that were in World War Two,
one in the Navy and two in the Army. Uncle
Joe was in the Navy. I think he was in
the Pacific during World War II too. Uncle Bob was
in the Army, was in France and Germany. I had
Uncle Eddie. Both Bob and Joe served their time and
then got out. Uncle Eddie was a career soldier, landed
(07:12):
D Day. He landed in Anzio and then from Ansio
he went up went to the Battle of the bulge
that was involved in Mark Gardner, so he was an
infantry guy. He had a field commission. He got out
of the military as a colonel. I was very young.
(07:32):
I probably was six or seven years old the last
time I saw him in uniform. He also was a
Korean War veteran. I'll tell you he was the epitome
to me of strength, of conviction, of courage. A three
or four Silver Star recipient. I think he had the
Distinguished Service Cross. He was what we would refer to
(07:56):
as a badass. So when the war came about, I
decided that fortunately we had my family knew people that
were in the Selective Service offices, and the word got
back to my parents that my number was coming up.
I didn't want to be drafted. I wanted to enlist
(08:16):
so that I could get when I wanted. And that
was the first time in life that I realized be
careful what you asked for, because it might come true.
Because of what I asked for, I absolutely hated when
I got into the service. I thought, I'm going to
I'm going to go into the service, so I want
to learn skill that I can transition into business when
(08:38):
I get out. Because I had no intention of making
a career of the military. I was assigned as a
clerk typist, and so I sat at the desk and
I did with clink click because they drove me crazy.
I don't want to do this. While I was in
basic training, I really enjoyed that. Again, I'm a football player,
I'd like contact. So as I was going across the bars,
(09:00):
as you swing to go to chow, and if you fall,
you go back and get in the back of the
line and start all over again. And after about the
third time of that, I went, I got to get
this master. It was building up strength. It certainly was
building up character. Because my hands were blistered, they were bleeding.
I was still punching through my drill. Sergeants had been
(09:21):
watching this and they came up and they said, loopart,
your determination, your commitment to see this through to excel.
We think you're a leader. You may not know this,
but people in your platoon are watching you and they're
following your lead, and so we think it would be
good for you to go to Officer Candidate school. And
(09:43):
so in June of sixty six, I went to Fort Benning, Georgia,
to the home of the Infantry. The Infantry School. The
Infantry school motto was follow me, and I felt right
at home going through tactics, learning all those things that
it needed to learn to be a leader of warriors,
(10:06):
and I took right to that. Was very proud to
do that. There were a lot of good things that
came out of that. I learned much about myself. We
also had to have a social aspect, because, as Jake knows,
when your commission the President declares you to be a gentleman,
you're an officer and a gentleman. That's what that commission represents.
(10:29):
So we had to learn some social skills rather than
just beat each other up. We did have to learn
those social skills, so we had a social a quarter,
and of course we were restricted to base, so we
had to have a date, so you couldn't go downtown
and get a rented date if you catch my draft.
Fortunately one of the nursing schools in Columbus, those students
(10:53):
would come and serve as our dates, so it was
blind dates. The very first one, I was sitting next
to a fellow candidate. This girl starts walking down the steps.
I looked at her, and I looked to the guy,
and I said that's my future wife. He went your
kid now, I'm telling you she's it. That turned out
(11:15):
to be my date. That date happened to turn out
to be my wife, Carol. She was my date at
the three other socials. That was from about August, right
as we graduated in December, in the car at a light,
(11:38):
I proposed marriage to Carol and she accepted well. I
graduated from OCS on the sixteenth of December of nineteen
sixty six. We were married February the twenty fourth of
nineteen sixty seven. We remain married today, so we're pretty
sure it's going to work. So left Ohio to go
(12:03):
to Vietnam in June of nineteen sixty seven. Young Infantry
Officer Green as Green could be. I'm in Vietnam now,
and there's a couple of movies that I've seen that
are very good examples of at least my experiences in combat.
I think there's probably three movies that mean the most
(12:25):
to me. The first movie that comes to mind is
Saving Private Ryan. It's those scenes in Normandy where they're
coming off of the LSTs and getting into the water
to take the beach. Everything in combat moves in slow motion.
All hell is breaking loose, but when you're in there,
(12:45):
time is just moves slowly. The second one that I
related to was the movie Platoon. When the movie starts,
you see this soldier in very clean pressed fatigues. His
boots are shined, and he's, hey, I'm here. I'm not
(13:10):
mad at anybody. I know. I'm here. It's all okay.
I have a mission. And then we're going to do
the mission. But I'm not angry. So we're out. We're
clearing a road. Now. I'm a platoon leader. So we're
clearing this road of mines. This is up in i
Coourt in the northernmost part Vietnam of South Vietnam. We're
clearing this road and this shot rings out, and so
(13:33):
I'm looking around where'd the shot come from? Because I
want to return fire. This guy laying on the ground,
it's pulling my passlots. He keeps yelling at me to
get down, Get down, get down. What he said to
me was when somebody's firing, when you hear shot, you're
supposed to get on the ground first. Then you can
look around, but get down. Because you're a target. You
(13:55):
make the rest of us a target. Lesson learned got
up after we had eliminated the sniper, and I realized
at that point that somebody's now shooting it. They've started
to fight with me. So now I'm angry. When I
got there at the beginning, I'm this nice, pleasant individual.
(14:18):
I'm just here. But at that point, now I realized
somebody's trying to kill us, and that's not acceptable, and
so I became hardened very quickly because we're going through.
We were air assaulted up to further north in Icres,
(14:38):
which is that area that's the northernmost part of the
combat zone, and there's a way that you deploy. Early
movies showed helicopters landing and you're getting off. That's not
how you do it. You're going to get off that
helicopter when you air assault. You can get off on
the way down, or you can get off on the
way up. But either way you're going to get off.
(15:00):
The key is get off when it gets as close
to the ground as it's going to get, which is
about six feet. We were about twenty five clicks southwest
of d Nag. Now I'm in a warzone. We're not
looking for guerrillas anymore. We're looking for regular North Vietnamese Army,
and so it came to November nineteen sixty seven. At
(15:20):
this particular time, intelligence came in that intercepted a radio
signal that was very unusual because only units of regimental
size or division size had radios. So there was a
large element near us. And so we were being deployed
and a search and destroyer mission for the enemy. So
(15:43):
I was part of a delta company. I was a
second platin leader. We got online, we started to move
up this small hill. It had a hedgerow up at
the top, and so as we were movie first PLATOWO
was on the left and I think the fourth platoon
(16:03):
was in the middle and I was the second platoon.
I had the right flank. As we were moving up,
there was a shot and it was to my left.
The company commander said, all right, everybody start shifting left
and continue to sweep. So we did. Then more shots
rang out, and more urgently he said, okay, move left.
So we did well. When we got about fifteen yards
(16:26):
from the hedgerow, the hedgerow opened fire. I didn't realize
at the time, but on the initial volley ten of
my men went down. They were wounded. Four of them
were killed immediately, one was killed later. The one that
was killed later was standing next to me. But as
(16:47):
Jake does, when you get into an ambush, there's only
one way out of an ambush, and that's to not
stay there. You have to fight your way through it.
And that's what we did. We just charged. We broke
the ambush that battle that started on Thanksgiving Day, And
I've got a picture that I've posted a couple of
times that shows the time before. I'm sitting with my
(17:09):
squad leaders and my platoon sergeant, my radio operator, and
my medic and we're going over my plan for the
way we're going to conduct this suite. We are a unit,
and yes I'm the platoon leader, but they've got more
time than I do in this so I'm going to
run my plan by them and for them to pick
(17:31):
at it, and if there's something wrong, let me know.
My mission was not to win a war. I was
responsible for the lives of these men, so that was
my goal was to protect them as much as I
possibly could. I did not know their names. If I
did know their names, it was only their first name.
(17:52):
I knew probably only a handful by name because I
did not want to know them because I knew what
I was going to have to do, going to have
to send them in harm's way. I did not want
that to be an obstruction to either one of us.
That battle started November the twenty third, nineteen sixty seven.
It it ended November the twenty seventh, nineteen sixty seven. For
(18:13):
four days we engaged the second MBA Division of the
third Regiment of the North Vietnamese Art. It truly was
a shit show because it is so chaotic in battle,
with the gunfire, with explosions, with all that is going on,
It truly is chaos. And you rely on your training.
(18:36):
This is not a time where a true thought process
takes place. You simply react to the training that you
had and you hope that you were trained to be
the best that you could be, and we were. As
we took the heel, there was a bunker on top,
and we were approaching that bunker, and as we did,
(18:58):
shots came out. I'd seen the bunker, We were all
aware that the bunker was there, and I had just
said to this individual, whose name was Rodney Lowman, I
told him to move. At that moment, he went to
the ground. They were shot in the head. We returned fire.
We got support because there was an NBA soldier in
(19:22):
there who would not give up, and so we were
able to outflank him, get around him and throw a
hangernad in and kill him. Fast forward. Now there were
a number of other battles. The Tet Offensive of nineteen
sixty eight took place in January, beginning in January, and
again it was Hellasia's fighting. It was it was war.
(19:45):
There was nothing gorilla about it. It was large units
fighting large units. I will tell you that we never
lost a battle. Some of the battles were very costly.
My recollection is I began Thanksgiving with twenty four men.
On the twenty seventh of November, I had six men.
Now I was wounded superficially, but I didn't have to
(20:07):
be evacuated. The last movie that reminded me of Vietnam
was We were Soldiers Once in Young the Battle of
the Idragon Valley, which happened to be several years earlier,
in sixty five, because what I saw on that screen
was what I went through on Thanksgiving Day of nineteen
(20:30):
sixty seven. When people ask me about my experience of Vietnam,
it's hard for me to explain, because if you weren't there,
you don't understand it. I can describe it, but it's
not the same. There's a couple things missing. If we
were soldiers once in young could have recreated the smells
(20:53):
of death, the smells of blood, the smells of flesh
that are burning, that would have been real. That's what
people don't get. They also don't get the adrenaline. There
is no greater feeling than being alive at the end
of a firefight. When you talk about collisions and you
(21:16):
talk about combat, there is only one winner, and that's
the person that's alive. That has stuck with me forever,
and it will stick with me. I didn't realize that
I had PTSD when I got back from Vietnam the
(21:37):
second time, which was seventy one. I was stationed in Washington,
d C. I had a reserve commission and I got
the word that I was going to be released from
active duty or there was a reduction in force. So
ended the reserves for three years, and after the third year,
I went up to the colonel. I was a company commander.
I told the colonel I needed to see him, and
(21:58):
he said, this is on I drew a weekend. He said,
what do you need and I said, well, sir, I'm
here to tell you that I quit. He quit, Captain,
you can't quit and I said, oh, Sir, I can't.
He said, you've got an obligation. I said, no, sir,
I've been here three years. I have fulfilled my obligation.
And he said, clipart, that's fourteen years. Why would you
(22:20):
throw fourteen years away? And I was in suiting clothes
and I said, sir, you see this purple heart. I
always wore my purple heart. And I said, I wear
this for me. It reminds me how short life is.
Life changes in the blink of an eye. And I said, sir,
I have to tell you every month when I come
(22:40):
here and drill, we do the same thing. I've been
doing the same thing for three years. I am not
benefiting the unit, and Sir, the unit's not benefiting me.
So I think it's best if we just part as
friends right now. He said, Okay, wasn't the best financial
decision I ever made, but mentally it was a good decision.
(23:03):
So I'm home after the two tours and I leave
the reserves, and I'm floundering looking for myself, and I
learned that I work well with others, I just don't
work well for others. I need to be independent. I
have principles, I have ethics, and I make demands of myself.
(23:25):
So I became an entrepreneur. And one of the things
I did was I opened a frame shop and I
opened it at Fort McPherson, and I found myself back
with troops again because that's what I had been looking
for in the eighties. I joined Rotary, and Rotary is
the world's finest as far as I'm concerned, and I
still am a Rotarian, the finest service organization. It's an
(23:48):
international organization. People who are members of Rotary have high
ethical standards. I was looking for camaraderie and what I
joined Rotor was all men, so I had that camaraderie.
It was a placement for the military. Still didn't have
the discipline, but that's okay. I was self disciplined. But
it got me to Fort Mack and it got me
back to troops again. Not only troops, but it got
(24:10):
me back to leadership because I interfaced with the commanding
general from Forces Command four stars. There were like twenty
six stars at Fort McPherson. I got to know them all,
and as they rotated and got to meet new ones.
I opened a store in two thousand and then two
thousand and one came, Yeah, I want to enlist. So
(24:33):
I'm talking to the garrison commander. He said, so did
you enlist? And I said no, I already tried. And
he laughed and I said, where are you laughing? He said,
you tried. I said, yeah, I did. I could still shoot.
I wanted to get back in. I wanted to contribute
to the war. And the way I got into VFW
was they hooked me in by telling me they were
going to form a new post and they were looking
(24:54):
for members. And I was a framer and my friend
member Bilia, So why don't you bring some of your
and maybe you get some business. And again I'm a businessman,
so I said, okay. Well I got to this meeting
and Holy Toledo, it was like I've known these people
all my life. We're speaking the same language, we have
the same mentality, we have the same feelings. So I thought,
(25:19):
you know what, I think I want to be part
of this. In two thousand and two, I became a
member of the Veterans of foreign wars, without a doubt,
my medics saved my life, and Vietnam, the veterans of
foreign wars saved my life. Here, it did not realize
(25:41):
that I had post traumatic stress. But I became a workaholic.
I didn't do drugs, I did not do alcohol. I
worked all the time. I mean from sunrise to sunset
and beyond, I would work. I didn't realize that was
my coping mechanism. Well, when you get a little old,
you get time on your hands. When you get time
(26:03):
on your hands, you start with zig ziggler. A motivator
is fond of calling just thinking thinking. He calls to
do a check up from the neck up. And when
I did that, I realized I have issues. The VA
tells me that I had anger issues, and so I
(26:24):
went to therapy and part of the therapy was immersion
therapy where I had to relive the moment. Hardest thing
I've ever done, I think in my life, was to
take me back to November the twenty third, nineteen sixty seven,
and when I was when we were taping it and
(26:45):
he had me, my psychologist had me in the moment.
He suddenly said, what did you just say? And I said,
I have no clue. I'm just doing what you asked
me to do. And he said, no, what did you
just say. I said, I don't know. He said, let's
play the tape back. So he played the tape back,
and what I said was I started Thanksgiving Day with
(27:09):
twenty four men. At the end of the battle, I
had six men left. I had one man killed. Rodney
is who I remember in the records. Later I saw
the names of the other men that were killed that day.
He said, you think you had that man killed? And
I said no, I don't. He said, why'd you say it?
(27:30):
I said, it's just the way I said it. I
just said I had one man kunt and he said, no,
you think that's your fault.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Oh.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
He was standing next to me. I just told him
to move. He said, do you think that the NBA
soldier looked down range and saw you and the other
guy and said, oh, I think I'll shoot this guy
because he looks like he's a winner, and this guy
I'm going to leavehim alone. He said, of course not.
He said, did you ever shoot anybody? Said? Yeah, said
you think about it. I said, now, of course not.
(27:57):
You All we do is react he said the same
for the NBA soldier. This was not your fault and
Rodney was just a casualty of the war. After some
more sessions with that, I realized for over forty years
I carried Rodney Lieutman with me when Carol and I
would go to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, d C.
(28:21):
I would go to Rodney's panel, Banel thirty three West
and I would find his name and I would talk
to Rodney. Later in the therapy. I asked a psychologist.
I said, I said, Okay, if i go to the
wall and tell Rodney I'm not carrying him anymore, he
can rest at peace. And he said it would be
(28:42):
good if you could do that. And I've done that.
I still go to the wall every opportunity that I get,
because the names of all five men that were in
my unit that were killed are all on that same panel,
So I go visit each one of them when i'm there.
But I do it out of respect, out of honor,
(29:05):
because that's what I do with the veterans of foreign wars.
The veterans of foreign wars is my therapy. It's the
way I give back for those that have given the
ultimate sacrifice, but everyone that has done the uniform and
been to battle. VFW was formed over one hundred years
ago for two purposes. One was to care for the veteran,
(29:29):
their surviving spouse and orphaned children. And the second thing
is to advocate on their behalf in the halls of Congress.
We still take care of the veterans. That is our
primary function. By taking care of the veteran includes camaraderie,
It includes that fellowship, that bond that we all share.
(29:49):
Doesn't matter where you were, who you were, what branch
you were, if you've experienced combat, we are one and
the same, and we understand each other, know that we
can depend upon each other and that advocating Congress. When
we were formed in eighteen ninety nine, we were formed
by veterans of the Spanish American War. And why because
(30:12):
Congress did not keep their promises to those veterans, and
they haven't been doing it ever since. The only way
they do it is when we make demands, not requests.
The first GI Bill, the Montgomery Bill, that was passed
because of the veterans' foreign wars. There are other vs. Yes,
(30:34):
there are. We're combat veterans, we're warriors. As I like
to say, as an infantry, I know how to break things,
and if you want something broken, you can call me.
I'll help you break it. Our relationship with Congress needs
to be one of respect, that needs to be one
of mutual benefit. But they have a responsibility to care
(30:55):
for us, because it's just like workmen's comp in the
civilian world. If you get heard on the job, you
got workmen's cop In the military, if your service connected
with your injury, the government has an obligation to take
care of as long as you live, not for a week,
or not for a month, or not for a couple
of years. Our injuries belonged to them and they must
(31:18):
provide that care. And so that's what we do, and
we do a very good job of it.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
If it weren't for your era, for the Korean War veterans,
for the World War II veterans, the way specifically the
Vietnam veterans got treated when you all came home, it
was tragic. It was one of the darkest days in
American history. If it weren't for your generation, we truly
believe and feel that the guys coming back from Operation
Iraqi Freedom and Operation enduring freedom, and O and D
(31:48):
would not have gotten the reception and the treatment that
they've gotten. Fact, it is one hundred percent and your
generation's dedication to making sure that the American people understand
the price of freedom and really stepping up to support
Jake's era and those to come.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
It's such a beautiful thing.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Oh, how has seeking therapy for your PTS impacted you
and your family life?
Speaker 4 (32:19):
Monumental in a word. I didn't realize that I had
an issue. And when I went in for an agent
Orange intake to get on the registry, the young lady
that was taking the information asked me if I suffered
from PTSD and I said, in typical for no, I'm fine,
(32:40):
And she said, but I asked you some questions and
I said, of course. She said, I'm going to ask
you like four questions. She started and then she stopped.
She said, you know, sir, I'm not able to prescribe
medication for you. So what are you talking about? She said, Oh,
(33:01):
you have issues? I said really, She said yeah, So
come to find out those issues were anger issues, which
I never knew I had. Carol could tell you that
I had them, and that's the biggest thing that's come
out of this. If my shirt wasn't tucked in exactly right,
I could fly off the hand. I'd be unbearable for
(33:23):
three days. And it just to realize where my anger
was coming from, and that anger was from survivor's guilt.
I didn't know I had it. I didn't realize that
I carried Rodney's death with me. But the way I
said it indicated that I felt it. And when when
(33:45):
that was said and when that was cleared, when I
was able to understand it, I got it, and it
was it was the monkey was off of my back.
I've continued with therapy. I'll talk to my prapist maybe
every six months. As you and I know, there is
a monster in here, and I want to make sure
(34:07):
that the monster remains contained and I don't see I
don't see anything happening to let the monster out. But
just in knowing that I've got somebody to talk to,
somebody who understands where I'm coming from is I don't
consider it therapy. It's just talking to somebody else who understands.
(34:28):
And so that's why I do that. And I appreciate
the VA allowing me to continue that relationship.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Absolutely brother, there's nothing wrong with oil in the chain
every now and again, just making sure everything is operational,
even if it's for preventative maintenance.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
So exactly exactly, I appreciate.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
You finding strength in your vulnerability and refusing to be
a host to your pride.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
Brother, What does it mean to you, Ol and Carol?
Because you are a unit, you are a team. What
does it mean to you to have donned the off
of our nation.
Speaker 4 (35:02):
I don't think there's a greater honor that could be
given than to serve in uniform. We're the United States
of America. Be proud to be an American. Americans have
overcome every single obstacle. That's that pride, it's that uniform.
It's loyalty, it's duty, it's respect, it's selfless service, it's honor,
(35:28):
it's integrity, and it's personal courage. Life is no game.
There's no timeouts, there's no substitutions. You got to play
every play. Sometimes you got to play hurt, but it
must be done.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
I'm curious to know because you go into the military
one person. When you come out of the military, you're
a different person, absolutely, and I would be curious to
know what did you learn about yourself while you were
serving your nation, not only income, but in garrison here
at home.
Speaker 4 (36:03):
Carol and I we've been married for fifty six years,
but I am not the same man Carol married. Nora.
Is Carol the same girl that I married. We both
have changed, and we both have changed because of war,
because of the experience that we both had in the military.
(36:24):
I served in uniform, she served at home. I admire,
I respect, and I appreciate so much Carol's service because
while I was fighting, she was raising my children and
keeping that love alive. Perhaps the most key character attribute
that I've found in myself is my demand for integrity.
(36:49):
Integrity is the foundation of everything else that we do.
When I shake your hand, that's an agreement that can't
be broken by me, and if the other party breaks it,
shame on him. Because we're done. There are no do overs.
There are second chances, but probably not with me. I
(37:11):
like to say, there's no quit in me when I'm
done serving, and it'll be when I take my last breath,
then you could close the box. But until then, long
as I can take a breath, I have something to contribute,
no doubt.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
I don't think we know many other seventy six year
old's kicking button taking names like you, I'll la.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
Part, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Thinking back over the course of your life, is there
a particular person or organization that's made a huge impact on.
Speaker 4 (37:37):
You, I would have to say it was my parents,
mom and dad, my family. My name is Lippart and
I say that with pride. My heritage is German and French.
My father's parents came from Germany, my mother from France.
And I've been blessed and I have an obligation to
(37:59):
you use that to bless other people with it, which
Carol and I try to do every day in every
aspect of our life. We try to be a blessing
to others because again I know that by being a
blessing to others, we are also blessed. So I'm very
proud to be.
Speaker 3 (38:18):
A Leipart outstanding.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
I know that's something that Ashoul and I both relate to,
is the pride and who we are because of who
we are and our last names and what that represents.
Like I tell the boys in sports, you know that
number on the back of your jerseys, and that's important,
but it pells in comparison to the name above it.
Speaker 4 (38:40):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
What do you do to recharge or to unwind?
Speaker 4 (38:48):
Do it again?
Speaker 2 (38:49):
I was waiting to hear what he would say to that, because.
Speaker 4 (38:52):
Yeah, I don't as a combat soldier even today, if
you said out you don't have anything going for an hour,
what are you gonna do, I'm gonna close my eyes. Yeah,
I'll take a break. When I was going through therapy,
like I said, VFW veterans are foreign wars in my
service to others, that's my therapy. And I referred to
(39:14):
it to my therapist as I have not only a responsibility,
but I have an obligation to pay back because I'm
still here and others aren't. And he said, you got
to let that go. That's going to drive you crazy.
What are you talking about. There's no way that you're
ever going to repay that. I said, of that crazy,
(39:38):
I'm not stupid. I get it, but that doesn't stop
me from trying. And that's all I want to do
is try. I want to be able to look in
the mirror. I used to do this on a daily
basis back in my younger days, when I'd wake up
in the morning and I'd go to the mirror after
I said, Lord, thank you for your blessings. I'm here
(40:01):
again today. May everything I do bring glory an honor
to your name. And then I would look in the
mirror and I'd say, all, be the best that you
can be today. And at night before I went to bed,
I would ask al, were you the best that you
could be today? And if I wasn't, I had to
(40:25):
tell myself you're a little short here. You need to
step that up. It kept me grounded.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
Last question, what feeds your soul?
Speaker 4 (40:34):
My my love of Jesus, my love of God. He's
in my daily life. He's in everything that I do.
We are very faithful church goers. When we can't go
to church. Now with modern technology, we don't have to
be in a physical building. Sometimes an when we first
(40:54):
started doing it was a little funny, okay, because it's
not in the church. But I tell Carol, this is okay.
Sometimes God's got to come to our house. We can't
go to his house, so it just comes to our house,
so it's okay.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
All Laparte, thank you so much, so many incredible stories.
You're such a great storyteller and all of your words
of wisdom, and thank you for opening up and being
vulnerable with us today, telling us your story and what
you've been through and how you've come out on the
other side. That is truly the good stuff. You and
Carol such a power couple and doing such amazing things.
(41:29):
We're again grateful for your friendship, thankful that you would
come and open up with us here on the good
stuff Again.
Speaker 4 (41:35):
I am truly humbled in honor to call you friend,
to call you comrades, and to see what you're doing
and to be able to be a supporter of it
because you're doing great things.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
I think that we've really, we've really turned a page
with the warrior ethos. When I can sit on a
public platform and tell you I love you, and you
can tell me you love me back, and it's without
fear of ridicler judgment. I feel like we've grown leaps
and bounds as gladiators modern day and past and present.
(42:08):
And to say that I'm honored and privilege and humbled
to call you and Carol family. And I'll speak for
Ashley and myself when I say this would be a
drastic understatement. It's an absolute honor.
Speaker 2 (42:20):
Brother, truly, Al Laparte, thank you so much for joining
us on the good stuff.
Speaker 4 (42:25):
Oh, you're very welcome. I wish honored to be here.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (42:36):
Such a gem. Are Al Laparte and Carol, they're just
such a great couple.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
And it's just so fun to sit down with him
and hear him tell his stories.
Speaker 3 (42:45):
He's such a great storyteller.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
But to be able to really sit down and hear
the stories from the perspective of a Vietnam veteran.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean relationship goals deftly, Absolutely, those two
and both living, breathing national treasures.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
But they've been through it. You know, it hasn't been easy.
In fact, as Al mentioned, it's been quite the opposite.
Speaker 1 (43:06):
And Carol won't hesitate to tell you that either.
Speaker 3 (43:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
The fact that he so much later in life, was
able to go and get help for his PTSD, to recognize, hey,
you know what, Yeah, maybe I am too quick to anger.
Maybe there is something a little off with me to
be able to establish Hey, I've been carrying Rodney all
these years, and.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
It shows me that that's why the old saying you
can't teach an old dog new tricks does not ring true.
Speaker 4 (43:32):
Right.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
He took it upon himself because he wanted to have
a better quality of life and a better family atmosphere.
And he's done it because he's not only has he
done the work, he continues to do the work to
hold forward. And I just think that that is such
a beautiful thing, especially for someone who epitomizes the word warrior.
It's a monumental effort that has generational impacts.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
Most definitely, and he's just such an inspiration to us
and again one of the most energetic seventy six year
olds we know, and he is just truly paying it forward.
And it says if he is still in uniform with
his battle armor on and he is out there fighting
every day to improve the lives of others, and just
(44:18):
goes to show you age is just a number. It's
all about what's in between the ears and how much
energy you're willing to put forward.
Speaker 1 (44:25):
As Al has taught to us and has said before,
perfection is the goal. Excellence will be.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
Tolerated absolutely, never stop, never give up.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
Bow the part.
Speaker 3 (44:38):
Thank you so much for listening.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
If this episode touched you today, please share it and
be part of making someone else's day better.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
Put on your bad ass capes and go be great
today and remember you can't do epic stuff without epic people.
Thank you for listening to the good Stuff. The good
stuf off his executive produced by Ashley Shick, Jacob Shick,
Leah Pictures and q Code Media. Hosted by Ashley Shick
(45:07):
and Jacob Shick. Music by Will haywood Smith, post production
Supervisor Will Tindi. Music editing by Will haywood Smith, Edited
by Mike Robinson,
Welcome to the Good Stuff. I'm Jacob Schick and I'm
joined by my co host and wife, Ashley Shick.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Jake is a third generation combat Marine and I'm a
gold Star granddaughter, and we work together to serve military veterans,
first responders, frontline healthcare workers, and their families with mental
and emotional wellness through traditional and non traditional therapy.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
At One Tribe Foundation.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
We believe everyone has a story to tell, not only
about the peaks, but also the valleys they've been through
to get them to where they are today.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Each week, we invite a guest to tell us their story,
to share with us the lessons they've learned that shape
who they are and what they're doing to pay it
forward and give back.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Our mission with this show is to dig deep into
our guest's journey so that we can celebrate the hope
and inspiration their story has to offer.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
We're thrilled you're joining us again.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Welcome to the Good Stuff.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
You know, we both have such a deep appreciation of
our nation's veterans, and not only did Jacob serve, but
a lot of men and women in both of our
families served and sacrificed for.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Our freedoms, freedoms that we all take for granted, myself
completely included every single day. Yes, our guest today is
the Al Lpparte. He served in the United States Army
for fourteen years during a time in our nation when
it wasn't very popular to serve. In fact, it was
quite the opposite. While in the Army, he served in Vietnam.
(01:31):
Today he is a huge part of the Veterans of
Foreign Wars and he's here to tell us his story
of joining the army, serving in combat, and how he
continues to serve today and fight for the greater good.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I'm so excited to share Al Laparte with the world.
We absolutely love him and he is one of the
most energetic seventy six year olds we know.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
I forget he's seventy six often I'll Lippart, Welcome to
the good stuff.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
Thank you. I'm honored to be here.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
We're very humbled and privileged to have you and to
be open to doing this. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
And we were originally connected through your work with the
Veterans of Foreign Wars. And what is your current standing
in the BFW.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Actually in August of this year, I was elected as
the Junior Vice Commander in Chief, and what follows is
at next year's convention, I anticipate being elected as the
Senior Vice Commander in Chief. That would be the number
two man. And the following year, which would be in
August of twenty four, I would serve as the Commander
(02:39):
in Chief. That's a one year term. I would go
out of office in August of twenty twenty five. So
that's the role that I'm in right now and anticipating
the next several years.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
And it's been really fascinating for Jake and I to
get more involved with the VFW and find out how
much really goes into the leadership and the planning and
the execution of all that you want to accomplish for
veterans worldwide and every age and every conflict that we've
been involved in. It's been really fascinating because I know
(03:13):
Jake and I both have personal stories with the VFW.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
The VFW was very important to my grandmother and my grandfather,
my grandfather being the first generation United States Marine and
our family serving World War Two and a Regima, and
my grandmother ultimately becoming the president of the Auxiliary in
the State of Louisiana after my Pat Paul's passing. As
you all know, that's my bested interest or at least
(03:39):
the tip of the spear of my best at interest
to help the VFW in any way I can, which
you know a lot more in detail about that, but
it's definitely close to my heart and soul because it's
ingrained in my DNA by default.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
And mine too.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
My great grandfather, Ward Albro the second was a Bronze
Star recipient World War Two, served in the army, and.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
He also in San Angelo, West Texas.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
He was involved with the VFW, and so it's something
that we've known about our entire lives and really to
be able through you a'l dig in and find out
more about this organization and what it's done over decades
now over a century has been really exciting.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
You're continuing the lead. You epitomize what it means to
be an effective leader.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
I think so for all three of us being part
of those that were the favorite of the nation to
defend it, and then following our time in uniform, we
continue to use that service to give back. You know,
when we talk about VFW. Unfortunately, we as military types
(04:48):
tend to talk in acronyms, and people will ask what
the heck is the VFW, and we know that's the
Veterans of Foreign Wars. And there's one thing to be veterans,
because everyone that uniform takes the oath and serves is
a veteran. But we're different. We're are veterans of Foreign Wars,
meaning that not only did we raise our hand, we
(05:10):
all took the same oath, but when it came time
to deploy, when we were told we were going to war,
we went. So when I find someone that's in the
Veterans of Foreign Wars, I have absolutely no doubt of
their courage because they accepted the challenge, they went to war.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
And we'll get into a little later how important THEFW
has been to your story.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
But your story started when you were quite young.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
I was born in nineteen forty six, and as a
high school student, I will tell you that during those
four years I was not what one would consider a
stellar student. I had other things that I enjoyed doing
versus studying. I guess it's to say that I did
not let my education interfere with my fun, because I
(06:03):
continued to have fun at the expense of my grades.
I found leadership in high school when I played football
up through my junior year. And one of the things
that my coach did, and he was a championship coach,
I told him I wanted to go to college and
what were my chances of getting a football scholarship, and
he said, I'll just be very frank with you, they're
(06:25):
probably zip. I was a starter my junior year, but
I was just another football player. But when the coach
told me, al, you probably should go find a job,
it was very hurtful. Now I also found that I
wasn't really college material. That was really not on my radar.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Were you the first one in your family to serve No.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
I had three uncles that were in World War Two,
one in the Navy and two in the Army. Uncle
Joe was in the Navy. I think he was in
the Pacific during World War II too. Uncle Bob was
in the Army, was in France and Germany. I had
Uncle Eddie. Both Bob and Joe served their time and
then got out. Uncle Eddie was a career soldier, landed
(07:12):
D Day. He landed in Anzio and then from Ansio
he went up went to the Battle of the bulge
that was involved in Mark Gardner, so he was an
infantry guy. He had a field commission. He got out
of the military as a colonel. I was very young.
(07:32):
I probably was six or seven years old the last
time I saw him in uniform. He also was a
Korean War veteran. I'll tell you he was the epitome
to me of strength, of conviction, of courage. A three
or four Silver Star recipient. I think he had the
Distinguished Service Cross. He was what we would refer to
(07:56):
as a badass. So when the war came about, I
decided that fortunately we had my family knew people that
were in the Selective Service offices, and the word got
back to my parents that my number was coming up.
I didn't want to be drafted. I wanted to enlist
(08:16):
so that I could get when I wanted. And that
was the first time in life that I realized be
careful what you asked for, because it might come true.
Because of what I asked for, I absolutely hated when
I got into the service. I thought, I'm going to
I'm going to go into the service, so I want
to learn skill that I can transition into business when
(08:38):
I get out. Because I had no intention of making
a career of the military. I was assigned as a
clerk typist, and so I sat at the desk and
I did with clink click because they drove me crazy.
I don't want to do this. While I was in
basic training, I really enjoyed that. Again, I'm a football player,
I'd like contact. So as I was going across the bars,
(09:00):
as you swing to go to chow, and if you fall,
you go back and get in the back of the
line and start all over again. And after about the
third time of that, I went, I got to get
this master. It was building up strength. It certainly was
building up character. Because my hands were blistered, they were bleeding.
I was still punching through my drill. Sergeants had been
(09:21):
watching this and they came up and they said, loopart,
your determination, your commitment to see this through to excel.
We think you're a leader. You may not know this,
but people in your platoon are watching you and they're
following your lead, and so we think it would be
good for you to go to Officer Candidate school. And
(09:43):
so in June of sixty six, I went to Fort Benning, Georgia,
to the home of the Infantry. The Infantry School. The
Infantry school motto was follow me, and I felt right
at home going through tactics, learning all those things that
it needed to learn to be a leader of warriors,
(10:06):
and I took right to that. Was very proud to
do that. There were a lot of good things that
came out of that. I learned much about myself. We
also had to have a social aspect, because, as Jake knows,
when your commission the President declares you to be a gentleman,
you're an officer and a gentleman. That's what that commission represents.
(10:29):
So we had to learn some social skills rather than
just beat each other up. We did have to learn
those social skills, so we had a social a quarter,
and of course we were restricted to base, so we
had to have a date, so you couldn't go downtown
and get a rented date if you catch my draft.
Fortunately one of the nursing schools in Columbus, those students
(10:53):
would come and serve as our dates, so it was
blind dates. The very first one, I was sitting next
to a fellow candidate. This girl starts walking down the steps.
I looked at her, and I looked to the guy,
and I said that's my future wife. He went your
kid now, I'm telling you she's it. That turned out
(11:15):
to be my date. That date happened to turn out
to be my wife, Carol. She was my date at
the three other socials. That was from about August, right
as we graduated in December, in the car at a light,
(11:38):
I proposed marriage to Carol and she accepted well. I
graduated from OCS on the sixteenth of December of nineteen
sixty six. We were married February the twenty fourth of
nineteen sixty seven. We remain married today, so we're pretty
sure it's going to work. So left Ohio to go
(12:03):
to Vietnam in June of nineteen sixty seven. Young Infantry
Officer Green as Green could be. I'm in Vietnam now,
and there's a couple of movies that I've seen that
are very good examples of at least my experiences in combat.
I think there's probably three movies that mean the most
(12:25):
to me. The first movie that comes to mind is
Saving Private Ryan. It's those scenes in Normandy where they're
coming off of the LSTs and getting into the water
to take the beach. Everything in combat moves in slow motion.
All hell is breaking loose, but when you're in there,
(12:45):
time is just moves slowly. The second one that I
related to was the movie Platoon. When the movie starts,
you see this soldier in very clean pressed fatigues. His
boots are shined, and he's, hey, I'm here. I'm not
(13:10):
mad at anybody. I know. I'm here. It's all okay.
I have a mission. And then we're going to do
the mission. But I'm not angry. So we're out. We're
clearing a road. Now. I'm a platoon leader. So we're
clearing this road of mines. This is up in i
Coourt in the northernmost part Vietnam of South Vietnam. We're
clearing this road and this shot rings out, and so
(13:33):
I'm looking around where'd the shot come from? Because I
want to return fire. This guy laying on the ground,
it's pulling my passlots. He keeps yelling at me to
get down, Get down, get down. What he said to
me was when somebody's firing, when you hear shot, you're
supposed to get on the ground first. Then you can
look around, but get down. Because you're a target. You
(13:55):
make the rest of us a target. Lesson learned got
up after we had eliminated the sniper, and I realized
at that point that somebody's now shooting it. They've started
to fight with me. So now I'm angry. When I
got there at the beginning, I'm this nice, pleasant individual.
(14:18):
I'm just here. But at that point, now I realized
somebody's trying to kill us, and that's not acceptable, and
so I became hardened very quickly because we're going through.
We were air assaulted up to further north in Icres,
(14:38):
which is that area that's the northernmost part of the
combat zone, and there's a way that you deploy. Early
movies showed helicopters landing and you're getting off. That's not
how you do it. You're going to get off that
helicopter when you air assault. You can get off on
the way down, or you can get off on the
way up. But either way you're going to get off.
(15:00):
The key is get off when it gets as close
to the ground as it's going to get, which is
about six feet. We were about twenty five clicks southwest
of d Nag. Now I'm in a warzone. We're not
looking for guerrillas anymore. We're looking for regular North Vietnamese Army,
and so it came to November nineteen sixty seven. At
(15:20):
this particular time, intelligence came in that intercepted a radio
signal that was very unusual because only units of regimental
size or division size had radios. So there was a
large element near us. And so we were being deployed
and a search and destroyer mission for the enemy. So
(15:43):
I was part of a delta company. I was a
second platin leader. We got online, we started to move
up this small hill. It had a hedgerow up at
the top, and so as we were movie first PLATOWO
was on the left and I think the fourth platoon
(16:03):
was in the middle and I was the second platoon.
I had the right flank. As we were moving up,
there was a shot and it was to my left.
The company commander said, all right, everybody start shifting left
and continue to sweep. So we did. Then more shots
rang out, and more urgently he said, okay, move left.
So we did well. When we got about fifteen yards
(16:26):
from the hedgerow, the hedgerow opened fire. I didn't realize
at the time, but on the initial volley ten of
my men went down. They were wounded. Four of them
were killed immediately, one was killed later. The one that
was killed later was standing next to me. But as
(16:47):
Jake does, when you get into an ambush, there's only
one way out of an ambush, and that's to not
stay there. You have to fight your way through it.
And that's what we did. We just charged. We broke
the ambush that battle that started on Thanksgiving Day, And
I've got a picture that I've posted a couple of
times that shows the time before. I'm sitting with my
(17:09):
squad leaders and my platoon sergeant, my radio operator, and
my medic and we're going over my plan for the
way we're going to conduct this suite. We are a unit,
and yes I'm the platoon leader, but they've got more
time than I do in this so I'm going to
run my plan by them and for them to pick
(17:31):
at it, and if there's something wrong, let me know.
My mission was not to win a war. I was
responsible for the lives of these men, so that was
my goal was to protect them as much as I
possibly could. I did not know their names. If I
did know their names, it was only their first name.
(17:52):
I knew probably only a handful by name because I
did not want to know them because I knew what
I was going to have to do, going to have
to send them in harm's way. I did not want
that to be an obstruction to either one of us.
That battle started November the twenty third, nineteen sixty seven.
It it ended November the twenty seventh, nineteen sixty seven. For
(18:13):
four days we engaged the second MBA Division of the
third Regiment of the North Vietnamese Art. It truly was
a shit show because it is so chaotic in battle,
with the gunfire, with explosions, with all that is going on,
It truly is chaos. And you rely on your training.
(18:36):
This is not a time where a true thought process
takes place. You simply react to the training that you
had and you hope that you were trained to be
the best that you could be, and we were. As
we took the heel, there was a bunker on top,
and we were approaching that bunker, and as we did,
(18:58):
shots came out. I'd seen the bunker, We were all
aware that the bunker was there, and I had just
said to this individual, whose name was Rodney Lowman, I
told him to move. At that moment, he went to
the ground. They were shot in the head. We returned fire.
We got support because there was an NBA soldier in
(19:22):
there who would not give up, and so we were
able to outflank him, get around him and throw a
hangernad in and kill him. Fast forward. Now there were
a number of other battles. The Tet Offensive of nineteen
sixty eight took place in January, beginning in January, and
again it was Hellasia's fighting. It was it was war.
(19:45):
There was nothing gorilla about it. It was large units
fighting large units. I will tell you that we never
lost a battle. Some of the battles were very costly.
My recollection is I began Thanksgiving with twenty four men.
On the twenty seventh of November, I had six men.
Now I was wounded superficially, but I didn't have to
(20:07):
be evacuated. The last movie that reminded me of Vietnam
was We were Soldiers Once in Young the Battle of
the Idragon Valley, which happened to be several years earlier,
in sixty five, because what I saw on that screen
was what I went through on Thanksgiving Day of nineteen
(20:30):
sixty seven. When people ask me about my experience of Vietnam,
it's hard for me to explain, because if you weren't there,
you don't understand it. I can describe it, but it's
not the same. There's a couple things missing. If we
were soldiers once in young could have recreated the smells
(20:53):
of death, the smells of blood, the smells of flesh
that are burning, that would have been real. That's what
people don't get. They also don't get the adrenaline. There
is no greater feeling than being alive at the end
of a firefight. When you talk about collisions and you
(21:16):
talk about combat, there is only one winner, and that's
the person that's alive. That has stuck with me forever,
and it will stick with me. I didn't realize that
I had PTSD when I got back from Vietnam the
(21:37):
second time, which was seventy one. I was stationed in Washington,
d C. I had a reserve commission and I got
the word that I was going to be released from
active duty or there was a reduction in force. So
ended the reserves for three years, and after the third year,
I went up to the colonel. I was a company commander.
I told the colonel I needed to see him, and
(21:58):
he said, this is on I drew a weekend. He said,
what do you need and I said, well, sir, I'm
here to tell you that I quit. He quit, Captain,
you can't quit and I said, oh, Sir, I can't.
He said, you've got an obligation. I said, no, sir,
I've been here three years. I have fulfilled my obligation.
And he said, clipart, that's fourteen years. Why would you
(22:20):
throw fourteen years away? And I was in suiting clothes
and I said, sir, you see this purple heart. I
always wore my purple heart. And I said, I wear
this for me. It reminds me how short life is.
Life changes in the blink of an eye. And I said, sir,
I have to tell you every month when I come
(22:40):
here and drill, we do the same thing. I've been
doing the same thing for three years. I am not
benefiting the unit, and Sir, the unit's not benefiting me.
So I think it's best if we just part as
friends right now. He said, Okay, wasn't the best financial
decision I ever made, but mentally it was a good decision.
(23:03):
So I'm home after the two tours and I leave
the reserves, and I'm floundering looking for myself, and I
learned that I work well with others, I just don't
work well for others. I need to be independent. I
have principles, I have ethics, and I make demands of myself.
(23:25):
So I became an entrepreneur. And one of the things
I did was I opened a frame shop and I
opened it at Fort McPherson, and I found myself back
with troops again because that's what I had been looking
for in the eighties. I joined Rotary, and Rotary is
the world's finest as far as I'm concerned, and I
still am a Rotarian, the finest service organization. It's an
(23:48):
international organization. People who are members of Rotary have high
ethical standards. I was looking for camaraderie and what I
joined Rotor was all men, so I had that camaraderie.
It was a placement for the military. Still didn't have
the discipline, but that's okay. I was self disciplined. But
it got me to Fort Mack and it got me
back to troops again. Not only troops, but it got
(24:10):
me back to leadership because I interfaced with the commanding
general from Forces Command four stars. There were like twenty
six stars at Fort McPherson. I got to know them all,
and as they rotated and got to meet new ones.
I opened a store in two thousand and then two
thousand and one came, Yeah, I want to enlist. So
(24:33):
I'm talking to the garrison commander. He said, so did
you enlist? And I said no, I already tried. And
he laughed and I said, where are you laughing? He said,
you tried. I said, yeah, I did. I could still shoot.
I wanted to get back in. I wanted to contribute
to the war. And the way I got into VFW
was they hooked me in by telling me they were
going to form a new post and they were looking
(24:54):
for members. And I was a framer and my friend
member Bilia, So why don't you bring some of your
and maybe you get some business. And again I'm a businessman,
so I said, okay. Well I got to this meeting
and Holy Toledo, it was like I've known these people
all my life. We're speaking the same language, we have
the same mentality, we have the same feelings. So I thought,
(25:19):
you know what, I think I want to be part
of this. In two thousand and two, I became a
member of the Veterans of foreign wars, without a doubt,
my medics saved my life, and Vietnam, the veterans of
foreign wars saved my life. Here, it did not realize
(25:41):
that I had post traumatic stress. But I became a workaholic.
I didn't do drugs, I did not do alcohol. I
worked all the time. I mean from sunrise to sunset
and beyond, I would work. I didn't realize that was
my coping mechanism. Well, when you get a little old,
you get time on your hands. When you get time
(26:03):
on your hands, you start with zig ziggler. A motivator
is fond of calling just thinking thinking. He calls to
do a check up from the neck up. And when
I did that, I realized I have issues. The VA
tells me that I had anger issues, and so I
(26:24):
went to therapy and part of the therapy was immersion
therapy where I had to relive the moment. Hardest thing
I've ever done, I think in my life, was to
take me back to November the twenty third, nineteen sixty seven,
and when I was when we were taping it and
(26:45):
he had me, my psychologist had me in the moment.
He suddenly said, what did you just say? And I said,
I have no clue. I'm just doing what you asked
me to do. And he said, no, what did you
just say. I said, I don't know. He said, let's
play the tape back. So he played the tape back,
and what I said was I started Thanksgiving Day with
(27:09):
twenty four men. At the end of the battle, I
had six men left. I had one man killed. Rodney
is who I remember in the records. Later I saw
the names of the other men that were killed that day.
He said, you think you had that man killed? And
I said no, I don't. He said, why'd you say it?
(27:30):
I said, it's just the way I said it. I
just said I had one man kunt and he said, no,
you think that's your fault.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Oh.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
He was standing next to me. I just told him
to move. He said, do you think that the NBA
soldier looked down range and saw you and the other
guy and said, oh, I think I'll shoot this guy
because he looks like he's a winner, and this guy
I'm going to leavehim alone. He said, of course not.
He said, did you ever shoot anybody? Said? Yeah, said
you think about it. I said, now, of course not.
(27:57):
You All we do is react he said the same
for the NBA soldier. This was not your fault and
Rodney was just a casualty of the war. After some
more sessions with that, I realized for over forty years
I carried Rodney Lieutman with me when Carol and I
would go to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, d C.
(28:21):
I would go to Rodney's panel, Banel thirty three West
and I would find his name and I would talk
to Rodney. Later in the therapy. I asked a psychologist.
I said, I said, Okay, if i go to the
wall and tell Rodney I'm not carrying him anymore, he
can rest at peace. And he said it would be
(28:42):
good if you could do that. And I've done that.
I still go to the wall every opportunity that I get,
because the names of all five men that were in
my unit that were killed are all on that same panel,
So I go visit each one of them when i'm there.
But I do it out of respect, out of honor,
(29:05):
because that's what I do with the veterans of foreign wars.
The veterans of foreign wars is my therapy. It's the
way I give back for those that have given the
ultimate sacrifice, but everyone that has done the uniform and
been to battle. VFW was formed over one hundred years
ago for two purposes. One was to care for the veteran,
(29:29):
their surviving spouse and orphaned children. And the second thing
is to advocate on their behalf in the halls of Congress.
We still take care of the veterans. That is our
primary function. By taking care of the veteran includes camaraderie,
It includes that fellowship, that bond that we all share.
(29:49):
Doesn't matter where you were, who you were, what branch
you were, if you've experienced combat, we are one and
the same, and we understand each other, know that we
can depend upon each other and that advocating Congress. When
we were formed in eighteen ninety nine, we were formed
by veterans of the Spanish American War. And why because
(30:12):
Congress did not keep their promises to those veterans, and
they haven't been doing it ever since. The only way
they do it is when we make demands, not requests.
The first GI Bill, the Montgomery Bill, that was passed
because of the veterans' foreign wars. There are other vs. Yes,
(30:34):
there are. We're combat veterans, we're warriors. As I like
to say, as an infantry, I know how to break things,
and if you want something broken, you can call me.
I'll help you break it. Our relationship with Congress needs
to be one of respect, that needs to be one
of mutual benefit. But they have a responsibility to care
(30:55):
for us, because it's just like workmen's comp in the
civilian world. If you get heard on the job, you
got workmen's cop In the military, if your service connected
with your injury, the government has an obligation to take
care of as long as you live, not for a week,
or not for a month, or not for a couple
of years. Our injuries belonged to them and they must
(31:18):
provide that care. And so that's what we do, and
we do a very good job of it.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
If it weren't for your era, for the Korean War veterans,
for the World War II veterans, the way specifically the
Vietnam veterans got treated when you all came home, it
was tragic. It was one of the darkest days in
American history. If it weren't for your generation, we truly
believe and feel that the guys coming back from Operation
Iraqi Freedom and Operation enduring freedom, and O and D
(31:48):
would not have gotten the reception and the treatment that
they've gotten. Fact, it is one hundred percent and your
generation's dedication to making sure that the American people understand
the price of freedom and really stepping up to support
Jake's era and those to come.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
It's such a beautiful thing.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
Oh, how has seeking therapy for your PTS impacted you
and your family life?
Speaker 4 (32:19):
Monumental in a word. I didn't realize that I had
an issue. And when I went in for an agent
Orange intake to get on the registry, the young lady
that was taking the information asked me if I suffered
from PTSD and I said, in typical for no, I'm fine,
(32:40):
And she said, but I asked you some questions and
I said, of course. She said, I'm going to ask
you like four questions. She started and then she stopped.
She said, you know, sir, I'm not able to prescribe
medication for you. So what are you talking about? She said, Oh,
(33:01):
you have issues? I said really, She said yeah, So
come to find out those issues were anger issues, which
I never knew I had. Carol could tell you that
I had them, and that's the biggest thing that's come
out of this. If my shirt wasn't tucked in exactly right,
I could fly off the hand. I'd be unbearable for
(33:23):
three days. And it just to realize where my anger
was coming from, and that anger was from survivor's guilt.
I didn't know I had it. I didn't realize that
I carried Rodney's death with me. But the way I
said it indicated that I felt it. And when when
(33:45):
that was said and when that was cleared, when I
was able to understand it, I got it, and it
was it was the monkey was off of my back.
I've continued with therapy. I'll talk to my prapist maybe
every six months. As you and I know, there is
a monster in here, and I want to make sure
(34:07):
that the monster remains contained and I don't see I
don't see anything happening to let the monster out. But
just in knowing that I've got somebody to talk to,
somebody who understands where I'm coming from is I don't
consider it therapy. It's just talking to somebody else who understands.
(34:28):
And so that's why I do that. And I appreciate
the VA allowing me to continue that relationship.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Absolutely brother, there's nothing wrong with oil in the chain
every now and again, just making sure everything is operational,
even if it's for preventative maintenance.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
So exactly exactly, I appreciate.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
You finding strength in your vulnerability and refusing to be
a host to your pride.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
Brother, What does it mean to you, Ol and Carol?
Because you are a unit, you are a team. What
does it mean to you to have donned the off
of our nation.
Speaker 4 (35:02):
I don't think there's a greater honor that could be
given than to serve in uniform. We're the United States
of America. Be proud to be an American. Americans have
overcome every single obstacle. That's that pride, it's that uniform.
It's loyalty, it's duty, it's respect, it's selfless service, it's honor,
(35:28):
it's integrity, and it's personal courage. Life is no game.
There's no timeouts, there's no substitutions. You got to play
every play. Sometimes you got to play hurt, but it
must be done.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
I'm curious to know because you go into the military
one person. When you come out of the military, you're
a different person, absolutely, and I would be curious to
know what did you learn about yourself while you were
serving your nation, not only income, but in garrison here
at home.
Speaker 4 (36:03):
Carol and I we've been married for fifty six years,
but I am not the same man Carol married. Nora.
Is Carol the same girl that I married. We both
have changed, and we both have changed because of war,
because of the experience that we both had in the military.
(36:24):
I served in uniform, she served at home. I admire,
I respect, and I appreciate so much Carol's service because
while I was fighting, she was raising my children and
keeping that love alive. Perhaps the most key character attribute
that I've found in myself is my demand for integrity.
(36:49):
Integrity is the foundation of everything else that we do.
When I shake your hand, that's an agreement that can't
be broken by me, and if the other party breaks it,
shame on him. Because we're done. There are no do overs.
There are second chances, but probably not with me. I
(37:11):
like to say, there's no quit in me when I'm
done serving, and it'll be when I take my last breath,
then you could close the box. But until then, long
as I can take a breath, I have something to contribute,
no doubt.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
I don't think we know many other seventy six year
old's kicking button taking names like you, I'll la.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
Part, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Thinking back over the course of your life, is there
a particular person or organization that's made a huge impact on.
Speaker 4 (37:37):
You, I would have to say it was my parents,
mom and dad, my family. My name is Lippart and
I say that with pride. My heritage is German and French.
My father's parents came from Germany, my mother from France.
And I've been blessed and I have an obligation to
(37:59):
you use that to bless other people with it, which
Carol and I try to do every day in every
aspect of our life. We try to be a blessing
to others because again I know that by being a
blessing to others, we are also blessed. So I'm very
proud to be.
Speaker 3 (38:18):
A Leipart outstanding.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
I know that's something that Ashoul and I both relate to,
is the pride and who we are because of who
we are and our last names and what that represents.
Like I tell the boys in sports, you know that
number on the back of your jerseys, and that's important,
but it pells in comparison to the name above it.
Speaker 4 (38:40):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
What do you do to recharge or to unwind?
Speaker 4 (38:48):
Do it again?
Speaker 2 (38:49):
I was waiting to hear what he would say to that, because.
Speaker 4 (38:52):
Yeah, I don't as a combat soldier even today, if
you said out you don't have anything going for an hour,
what are you gonna do, I'm gonna close my eyes. Yeah,
I'll take a break. When I was going through therapy,
like I said, VFW veterans are foreign wars in my
service to others, that's my therapy. And I referred to
(39:14):
it to my therapist as I have not only a responsibility,
but I have an obligation to pay back because I'm
still here and others aren't. And he said, you got
to let that go. That's going to drive you crazy.
What are you talking about. There's no way that you're
ever going to repay that. I said, of that crazy,
(39:38):
I'm not stupid. I get it, but that doesn't stop
me from trying. And that's all I want to do
is try. I want to be able to look in
the mirror. I used to do this on a daily
basis back in my younger days, when I'd wake up
in the morning and I'd go to the mirror after
I said, Lord, thank you for your blessings. I'm here
(40:01):
again today. May everything I do bring glory an honor
to your name. And then I would look in the
mirror and I'd say, all, be the best that you
can be today. And at night before I went to bed,
I would ask al, were you the best that you
could be today? And if I wasn't, I had to
(40:25):
tell myself you're a little short here. You need to
step that up. It kept me grounded.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
Last question, what feeds your soul?
Speaker 4 (40:34):
My my love of Jesus, my love of God. He's
in my daily life. He's in everything that I do.
We are very faithful church goers. When we can't go
to church. Now with modern technology, we don't have to
be in a physical building. Sometimes an when we first
(40:54):
started doing it was a little funny, okay, because it's
not in the church. But I tell Carol, this is okay.
Sometimes God's got to come to our house. We can't
go to his house, so it just comes to our house,
so it's okay.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
All Laparte, thank you so much, so many incredible stories.
You're such a great storyteller and all of your words
of wisdom, and thank you for opening up and being
vulnerable with us today, telling us your story and what
you've been through and how you've come out on the
other side. That is truly the good stuff. You and
Carol such a power couple and doing such amazing things.
(41:29):
We're again grateful for your friendship, thankful that you would
come and open up with us here on the good
stuff Again.
Speaker 4 (41:35):
I am truly humbled in honor to call you friend,
to call you comrades, and to see what you're doing
and to be able to be a supporter of it
because you're doing great things.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
I think that we've really, we've really turned a page
with the warrior ethos. When I can sit on a
public platform and tell you I love you, and you
can tell me you love me back, and it's without
fear of ridicler judgment. I feel like we've grown leaps
and bounds as gladiators modern day and past and present.
(42:08):
And to say that I'm honored and privilege and humbled
to call you and Carol family. And I'll speak for
Ashley and myself when I say this would be a
drastic understatement. It's an absolute honor.
Speaker 2 (42:20):
Brother, truly, Al Laparte, thank you so much for joining
us on the good stuff.
Speaker 4 (42:25):
Oh, you're very welcome. I wish honored to be here.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (42:36):
Such a gem. Are Al Laparte and Carol, they're just
such a great couple.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
And it's just so fun to sit down with him
and hear him tell his stories.
Speaker 3 (42:45):
He's such a great storyteller.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
But to be able to really sit down and hear
the stories from the perspective of a Vietnam veteran.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean relationship goals deftly, Absolutely, those two
and both living, breathing national treasures.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
But they've been through it. You know, it hasn't been easy.
In fact, as Al mentioned, it's been quite the opposite.
Speaker 1 (43:06):
And Carol won't hesitate to tell you that either.
Speaker 3 (43:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
The fact that he so much later in life, was
able to go and get help for his PTSD, to recognize, hey,
you know what, Yeah, maybe I am too quick to anger.
Maybe there is something a little off with me to
be able to establish Hey, I've been carrying Rodney all
these years, and.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
It shows me that that's why the old saying you
can't teach an old dog new tricks does not ring true.
Speaker 4 (43:32):
Right.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
He took it upon himself because he wanted to have
a better quality of life and a better family atmosphere.
And he's done it because he's not only has he
done the work, he continues to do the work to
hold forward. And I just think that that is such
a beautiful thing, especially for someone who epitomizes the word warrior.
It's a monumental effort that has generational impacts.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
Most definitely, and he's just such an inspiration to us
and again one of the most energetic seventy six year
olds we know, and he is just truly paying it forward.
And it says if he is still in uniform with
his battle armor on and he is out there fighting
every day to improve the lives of others, and just
(44:18):
goes to show you age is just a number. It's
all about what's in between the ears and how much
energy you're willing to put forward.
Speaker 1 (44:25):
As Al has taught to us and has said before,
perfection is the goal. Excellence will be.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
Tolerated absolutely, never stop, never give up.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
Bow the part.
Speaker 3 (44:38):
Thank you so much for listening.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
If this episode touched you today, please share it and
be part of making someone else's day better.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
Put on your bad ass capes and go be great
today and remember you can't do epic stuff without epic people.
Thank you for listening to the good Stuff. The good
stuf off his executive produced by Ashley Shick, Jacob Shick,
Leah Pictures and q Code Media. Hosted by Ashley Shick
(45:07):
and Jacob Shick. Music by Will haywood Smith, post production
Supervisor Will Tindi. Music editing by Will haywood Smith, Edited
by Mike Robinson,
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