Episode Transcript
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(00:09):
Again, folks, is that timeagain the Rally Point with your host James
the Sarge Hemingway sponsored by ETNA MedicareSolutions. Our man Derek Anderson will be
here a little bit later in theshow, but right now we're here with
you with our co host Amanda.Amanda mccanu say hello, here you go,
(00:30):
and basically, folks, we havea good show for you today.
We have a special guest from theFifty Mile March, Jay Morales from Nebraska,
Flon and endels. Today we alsohave two special guests that are going
to kind of bring us home today. One is Jay Rapley from the Disabled
American Veterans and his commander David Grant, commander of Chapter eighty two and Port
(00:54):
Sure. How are you doing today, gentlemen, Good morning, Good morning,
Welcome to the show Man again.Our guest today tell us a little
background on fifty Mile March. So, the Fifty Mile March is an organization
that exists to help empower veterans.Like we said, they're based out in
Nebraska. But what they do outthere as they empower veterans facing mental health
(01:15):
challenges and homelessness. And they basicallydo that by fostering a community of hope
and relentless support, which basically meansthey're going to walk alongside them every step
of the way and help these folkswith a hand up, not a handout,
give them a renewed sense of purpose, and help them feel more like
they're you know, getting back ontheir feet again. So it's a wonderful,
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wonderful organization with an incredible mission,one that will hopefully spread across this
country because, as we all know, veteran homelessness isn't just confined to one
state. Sadly, unfortunately, it'severywhere. So we really want to help
put some light on that and definitelyget some good traction going about what this
program is and how it works intheir community so that others can see how
(02:00):
it could work in our community orother communities outstanding. And it kind of
fits home with our purpose here,folks. At the rally point, I
made a promise to you guys outthere in America Land that the one purpose
of our show is to provide yourresources and subject matter experts to help us
get through transitioning into civilian life.And folks, that's it doesn't just stop
(02:24):
one day. You're acclimated. Everyday is a different challenge, and fortunately,
with our expertise and our different backgrounds, we have the a plethra of
resources. The only problem is thatthey're scattered everywhere. And what we're trying
to do is take the angst andthe drama at a getting exposed to those
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resources and bringing them one, bringingthem to a rally at one specific point,
hence the rally point. And Ican't overstate that we're thankful to have
these gentlemen here from the dav Andagain, can Mandarick grant you've been here
before? Tell America about yourself again? Okay, So I spent twenty two
(03:07):
years in the Navy and then wentto industry for quite a few years,
retired in nineteen ninety eight, thenspent the yeah retired in the DC area,
and then eventually moved down to NorthCarolina. Then I needed to get
(03:28):
to warmer climates and move down hereto Florida. Thank god. Now unfortunately
the cold weather, I may haveto move further south. Anyways, So
dav we are located in the PortCharlotte Town Center Mall. We are located
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in between You can find us goingbetween J. C. Pennies and Dillart's
Park there there's plenty of parking inbetween. Jcpenny and Dylarz. Come up
the atrium heading towards DSW Shoes andbefore you get to DSW Shoes, make
(04:10):
an immediate right and we are rightthere on your right hand side. If
you get to DSW Shoes you've gonetoo far. You can call us at
nine four one six two nine twoeight three three, or you can send
me an email at da V rLC at yahoo dot com. That's Delta
(04:38):
Alpha Victor Romeo, Lima Charlie atyahoo dot com. We're also on the
web at da V Chapter eighty twodot com or dot org or dot uh.
Yeah, there was a couple ofothers that we claimed as well.
(05:00):
There is probably something they can google. Anyways. You can also, and
I'll talk about this a little later, you can also join us on Commander's
Action Network and that's at DAV dotorg. Forward Slash, Get Dash Involved,
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Forward Slash Advocate Dash on Dash Legislation, and that's one of those organizations
where you help us in reaching outto our legislative officials, in joining your
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fellow veterans in promoting veteran friendly legislation. That is important to us all.
Now I'll let Joe talk more aboutthe benefits, Okay, and before folks,
I can't combined two parts of oursegment our show today. Number one,
we're doing the Voice of the Veteransegment and in service for our country
(06:13):
spotlight. Today's veteran I was inthe spotlight. Is Joseph Rapidly, Sir,
introduce yourself to America. Hello.Yes, I'm Joe Rapiley, twenty
year Air Force veteran. I wasa C one thirty flight engineer. Then
I went to a WAX. Idid two years on the a WAX.
Once I retired from the military,which was different because you're trained so often
(06:36):
all those years to perform a job, and then once you retire, it's
like almost jumping off of a speedingbus. There's no way for you to
catch up. So I did acouple of things after I got out,
and then finally I decided to applyfor some veteran benefits. Went under a
program that's called vocational rehab where Iwent back to school college and during that
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time I was working in a VAand I worked in that VA office assisting
the service officers for two years,and then a job opening came up as
a Veteran service officer, and theyimmediately hired me because of the work ethic
and they knew exactly what type ofwork I did. And I worked in
a county service office for six yearsas a county Service officer, and then
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I was found another position with thestate for another twelve years as a Veterans
Service officer. Retired from that positionabout two years ago, moved from North
Carolina to Florida, and I wantedsomething to do, not full time,
but with all this stuff floating aroundin my head, I wanted to continue
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to help veterans. So I foundthis DAV chapter and they don't operate a
bar, they don't operate a lotof other things to raise money. What
they do is assist veterans and doclaims to assists veterans, and it was
a perfect fit for me. Sothat's where I'm at now, AV Chapter
twenty eighty two. God bless youin your in your in your works.
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One of the things that I onthe show, that we've talked about many
a time is that we have ourlisteners have to understand that when you're transitioning
from being in being deployed or beingin service to becoming a veteran or veteran
status. It's a transition. Andif you need physical or any type of
medical care from the VA, thatin itself is a task because basically the
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onus is on the soldier or inthe individual to get your medical records collected.
Then they set the appointment and thensit there, sit down. It's
it can be anxiety provoking. Andone of the things I'm thankful for,
and I hope you guys can elaborateon this, is that getting your benefits
isn't guaranteed nor a simple process.There are a lot of hoops, tracks,
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pitfalls. It's it's a lot ofa journey. Explain some of that
for us. Well, I'm gonnago one step further because what I do
is I look at veterans almost asbeing generational, because even though we've lost
most of our World War Two veterans, when you think of World War Two
veterans, you think about them justbeing glad to come home. They wanted
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a white picket fence, they didn'task for anything, they didn't want anything
from the country. Then you haveour Vietnam veterans that right now their age
group, when they came back home, they was spit on, they were
kicked to the curb, they weren'tgiven anything. And then you move to
another generation of veterans that now weuse the internet, we sell phones,
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and there's a lot of information available. So when we see our veterans,
we have to understand where they're comingfrom, where they're at it where you
know, where they're at in life. So that's one of the ways that
we approached them. But then again, once you get into understanding that there
are those benefits available to you,now it was a matter of navigating that
gauntlet of benefits and how do Iget them? And it's never too late.
(10:05):
That's what we try and explain topeople. And often we hear the
story of well, I wanted mybuddy to get and I thought somebody was
taking something away from me, orI really didn't need it, or I
was making enough money at that pointin time. Well, as time goes
along, time goes along, andwe don't get any younger, we get
older and those things change. Sowe just encourage everybody to apply as soon
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as you're able. But you're alwaysable to apply for those benefits. The
eligibility never ends. Oh I agree. Now I'll ask between the two of
you from the GAV is this justan accurate shaving for me to make.
I find that one of the thingsI hear a lot is the excuse,
Oh, I don't need it,Like you said before, I don't want
to use it before my battle behindme. I think the inverse is the
(10:50):
truth. If you do not useit, you are doing your Battlebudy behind
you a disk service. Because mygovernment tends to reappropriate funds aren't used,
and folks, very simply put,the cost of living goes up, and
what you made ten fifteen, fiveyears ago is not going to buy the
same things today. And one ofthe things I'm hard is steadfast for.
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And I've said this in the beginning. You served, and you deserve.
Stop right there, don't go anyfurther at no adjective verbs. You served
and you deserve what you deserve fromyour country. When you gave one hundred
percent of yourself, your time,your family, their birthdays and anniversaries,
you sacrifice. Not only the oneasset is time that you cannot get back.
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And I'm thankful where moment of lifeyou are right now, But remember
time changes and events. You cango from being on top to mid mid
staff in a heartbeat, given economicchanges, or social changes, or cultural
changes, or a combination of thethree. Do you feel that are if
our veterans are not saving money forour veterans behind them, but they should
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actually show Conger that the mighty theyput aside for our veterans is being maximized
and ooh, we might want toadd more money to that. Pop or
your thoughts on that. Definitely,there's no no, because we hear that
every every day. I mean,it's an entitlement. These are military entitlements
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and the VA is not giving anythingaway. If you applied for something,
you're applying for something a benefit thatyou're entitled to that you've served your country
for. At this current time inthe United States, we probably have more
millionaires. I think millionaires about eighteenpercent. Veterans are about eight percent.
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So we're a small family, soit's important for us to take advantage of
anything. I know, when Igo out even to the supermarket, if
I go through a McDonald's line,I'm asking, am I eliable? Do
you have a military benefit? Doyou do a veterans discounts entitlement? So
we accept that entitlement for the servicethat we provided, and we always have
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the flag that we say, youknow, freedom is not free. You
know, I've lost the friend justyesterday. He was fifty four years old.
The service that he gave to hiscountry is invaluable. So often,
so often we walk around and wehear people say they appreciate the military.
We want Congress in the Senate toappreciate the military at those funds that's needed
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to take care of us. Absolutely. Now I have a question for you.
So I'm multi generational. I'm thirdgeneration military as far as I know,
and my father is a Vietnam veteran. So what is your advice to
those those folks out there who areso afraid to poke the bear? Like
maybe they're not getting their full benefits. Maybe there are certain things the conditions
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they have that are service connected,but the VA didn't initially award them,
and they're just so terrified that ifthey go back and ask for it again
that they're poking the bear or they'regoing to have their rating reduced. What
would you say to those folks,come in and talk to your disabled American
Veterans service officer. I don't knowhow many times I tell veterans it doesn't
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hurt to come in and talk tous. You may receive advice from us,
don't challenge what you already have.There are times when we have somebody
come in and say I want myhundred percent and they're at eighty percent,
and we'll look at what they haverating of eighty percent for and we'll say,
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you know, based on what wesee in your evaluation, we don't
think you should poke that bear rightnow, or if you have a strong
case for having it, we'll tellyou what we need as evidence to raise
your evaluation with the Veteran VA.But come in and talk to a d
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a V. Service officer. Iknow in our chapter I have some very
good service officers that will provide somesound advice on how to help veterans raise
their their rating if it's warranted.But they're not going to help you cheat
the VA. That's not in ourway of doing things. We're here to
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help our veterans in in any waywe can, but and will provide you
advice and guidance on the right wayto do what you need to do in
filing a claim. And we dohave certain ways that you know we know
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that the claim needs to be filedand uh, you know whether it's from
the initial claim all the way throughthe appeals process. So just definitely come
in and talk to a service officer. It reminds me of not long ago,
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a veteran came in right after thePact Act was signed and he brought
in his d D two fourteen.He had a purple heart, received ten
percent disability, and he'd come backfrom Vietnam back in I want to say
sixty seven, but he was gettingten percent disability and he was of that
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Vietnam era where you know, hereceived ten percent disability, went and got
a civilian job and continued on withhis life. He was happy, you
know, he had done his dutyfor his country. Never considered filing another
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claim. But now he's gotten older, the ghost of the past are catching
up with him. And there area lot of veterans out there that for
whom the ghost of the past arenow catching up because they're sitting at home,
and that's a real challenge for him. And you know, come in
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and talk to us and we'll helpyou address those things. They if I
could add one of the things whendealing with the VA is they'll give you
a decision letter, and so oftenwe get so happy that we see an
amount that's attached to a monthly checkthat we've really don't read that letter.
But in that letter it often statesexactly what's needed for an increase. It
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tells you exactly what you got.So when you talk about poking the bear,
it's a matter of doing some planningand addressing the issues that you have.
If there's something that's gotten worse,they'll tell you exactly what you need
when you go in for that nextappointment or when you follow that next claim.
A lot Dave and I differ withthis at some points in times because
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a lot of people that work atthe VA there exvets themselves. Now they
have done a whole lot of newhires that that aren't as sympathetic. But
for most part they're bound by Congressand the rules to go ahead and improve
claims based on the conditions that youhave. Oh, definitely, definitely,
And before we wrap the show up, I want to put asterisk is a
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situation I'm going folks, These serviceofficers are here to assist veterans get claims.
They are not fraud facilitators and ifyou want to look that up.
I asked you to do one thing, google VA fraud. They will find
you, they will get you,and you will probably go to jail for
(19:10):
it. And yes, if youlook online, is one specifically one guy
got caught going to a gym claimedone hundred percent with a broken back and
he's powerlifting. That's all I sayabout that. Okay, folks, for
now at that point in the showthat we're going forces of Valor and here
today we have Jay Morales from theFifty Mile March program. How I do
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today, Jay, I'm doing great. Thank you for having me today.
I really appreciate you letting ushare story. Oh, no problem, You're you're
doing the thing that we're here forto spread some resources and knowledge to our
fellow listeners and veterans, just folksout there in America. Before we get
into that, Jay Tel America.About yourself. So, I'm a ten
year Air Force veteran. I gotout over twenty nine years ago. Fifty
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three years old, now I was. I had a hard transition out of
the mill Perry, got divorced andfound myself homeless for a while, and
then I told God when I gotback on my feet, I'd help veterans,
and it took me a while tomake that promise good. So at
the end of the day, createda foundation five years ago called the Fifty
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Mile Marks And with that being said, that's what brings us here today and
the Fifty Mile March Foundation empowered veteransfacing mental health challenges and homelessness, My
foster bringers, community of Pope,our mission is very clear again, first
of all, for the borrow ofmy heart and people here in this room,
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thank you for all you've done.Your ability to be resilient and then
bounce back to the point where you'rehelping out other veterans and communities is astounding.
I have a little I took alittle time to redo a little research
on and so I know kind ofprime the pump of America here. Apparently
now you have several fifty Mile Marchprograms available, each having their unique characteristics.
(21:02):
I guess to match a demographic,you provide information that's relevant to the
people in that particular area. Asidefrom that, why don't you tell America
what you do? So the FiftyMile Marks Foundation, it was simple.
It started five years ago outside ofCOVID six of us started walking just to
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raise awareness and to show people thathey, there are veterans you know who
are on the street. They're oneday away from disaster, taking their life,
getting injured themselves, or just digressingfrom society. That movement of six
people walking fifty miles turned into fiveyears later, which is our fifthness in
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this year is one hundred and fiftywalkers raising over a million and a half
dollars this year. So with thatbeing said, our job is to work
with small local nonprofits to provide grants. So about a tenth of our money
out there, but the other ninetypercent is we're building a community of hope.
We're building a tiny village that willconsist of twenty two twenty homes that
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will take people who were like myselfoff the street. We didn't need a
hand out, We just needed ahand up. We needed structure, We
needed purpose, we needed dignity.And as I knew it, I knew
what the VA was, I knewwhere there was help, but I was
too stubborn when it came to admittingI needed help. So a buddy of
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mine said, hey, I'm goingto take you by the caller and I'm
going to walk you through the systemand I'm going to help you. And
ultimately that's what saved my life.And that's what the Fifty Mile Marks Foundation
is doing. We're taking veterans bythe hand, by the caller and saying
come with us, and retraining,job training, rehousing, getting them their
benefits that they need, providing transportation, counseling, all those things, all
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in this community of hope. Wow, that's a mouthful. And also and
also I will apologize that we haveour co host here, Amena Macanu,
and folks have been practicing. Yes, I did you got any questions for
our man here today? Yeah?I mean the fifty Mile March obviously is
a matter of I mean, forus as fellow Air Force veterans, the
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wingmanship idea never dies, whether it'sa battle buddy or whatever your branch of
service called it. I love thefact that with the fifty Mile March you
never have to walk alone. Andit was exciting hearing you kind of talk
about it. But can you expanda little bit more on the vision for
the future of the fifty Mile March, since their mission is to empower veterans
facing mental health challenges and homelessness byfostering a community of hope and relentless support.
(23:48):
What is the future of that reallylooking like if you can go into
a little more detail. Absolutely,So we're sitting on a phase one right
now, which we will take overa building here Sport, twenty thousand square
feet. We will integrate service.Thank you, thank you. We're excited,
we're this is just a little premature, but you know what, if
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you don't speak into an existence,that will never happen. So we're going
to a partner with several veteran organizationslike Moving Veterans Forward, Guitars for Vets,
all other nonprofits too. We're allpiecemealing this right now. We're all
unfordinated battle buddies. Right somebody's youknow in this location, someone's in that
(24:30):
location. We're going to spenilize alot of services. So that's phase one.
In this building. We're going toprovide job retraining. Warner Enterprises is
going to create truck drivers or dispatchers. The labor unions are going to take
somebody from a twenty thousand dollars jobto a fifty sixty seventy thousand dollars trade.
People like me didn't need any morecharity work. We just needed purpose.
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We needed to know that somebody onthe other end of the line was
therefore us, they've been through whatwe've been through. And so that's phase
one. Phase two is we're goingto purchase five to eight acres of land
so that we can create a fruitcommunity would look like a base almost,
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but a twenty two tiny home communitythat where we take veterans in who go
through an eighteen month program. Andit's not about like just putting people into
an apartment and hoping for the best. It's truly putting them in the place
of retraining, you know, onthe job training, moving them forward to
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life skills from roadery counseling. Soas you know, when most people go
into bad situations, they pull awayfrom society, they recluse, they get
depressed, you know, and whenyou're by yourself, the PTSD really sets
in into the community of champions ofprior battle buddies, right, and people
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who need help. It's a winningformula because it's what we're used to.
Absolutely, yeah, And that's thecool thing about it is, like you
said, it restores that sense ofpurpose. It gives that hope and that
hand up to people I'm just curious, like, are there stories or experiences
from your work on the fifty mileMarch that have like truly powerfully impacted you,
(26:26):
And if so, would you mindsharing some of those? Yeah,
I would like to share a powerfulstory. I'll make it confide. So
second year into it, we hada gentleman call and say, hey,
wow, you guys are doing someamazing things. I'd love to donate.
I'd love to be a sponsor.And we thought, Okay, here we
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go. This is somebody who's jumpingonto the bandwagon. He said, Oh,
I had my best year ever,my business had its best year ever,
and I just want to really makea difference. And we hear that
a lot, right, and sowork practice And anyway, the march happened.
We saw his donation online and hisdonation read in memory of and uh
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uh Adam Lormer. AJ Lormer,who fought the ultimate battle but lost the
battle within. His son had justtaken his life in the summer that we
were preparing for our second mission.And I will tell you this, we
did not listen well enough. Wedid not give the time enough to listen
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to our own fellow person. AndI said, Rich what do you mean
your son or what do you meanyou had the best year ever? He
said, my home. My sonwent home to Jesus Christ and he's no
longer in pain. That pained myattitude and my demeanor of listening to everyone.
Everyone has a story. When someonetells you something, they want you
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to ask more questions. They hey, hey, I'm not having a great
day, tell me more about that. We failed to listen. So that
changed my life. I get storiesevery day of people telling me, day,
if it weren't for this, Idon't know what I'd be doing.
And oh, day I got anew job because my mind is better.
Ohjay, you know, or I'mjust using my name. But there's just
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a lot of examples of people comingto us and telling them how this has
affected their life. People who youthink, oh my gosh, this person's
a CFO in this company, andthey're quietly coming to you and saying,
hey, I just want to letyou know I have a renewed purpose.
So the fifty mile mark is notjust about one thing. It's not just
about the mark. It's about creatinga movement of hope and allowing people to
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move forward and join at the rankthat they want to join that right.
Some people are just like, Hey, I just want to dip my toe
in. I just want to helpyou. I want to pass out downwich
this. Some people are like,hey, I want to volunteer eighty hours
this month to help you do whatyou need to do to help these veterans,
you know, get to the nextapp Absolutely, yeah, I know.
I'm actually in the process of trainingto qualify for the fifty Mile March
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this year, which is definitely whenI heard your story and I attended that
briefing, It's a powerful, powerfulmission. Can you describe for our listeners
real quick? Just I mean,so people are clear. The fifty Mile
March is based in Nebraska, andit is a fifty mile march that takes
place over about approximately twenty two hourperiod. There is no sleep, There
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are rest stops along the way hospitality, so there is the safety aspect there.
But can you describe kind of whatthe route is like that the marchers
will take as they rock across Nebraska. Yeah, it's kind of symbolic.
So we will lay on the Capitolstep for twenty two minutes and we will
be silent, and we will layon our back with no backpack, no
(30:02):
pillows, nothing, it's you againstthe pavement. If all of you in
that studio right now just laid onthe floor for twenty two minutes, imagine
trying to get back up after that. Well, there are veterans that slip
under the Bob Terry bridge. Thereare people who are homeless right now with
no place to stay. That's thesymbolicness. So we immerse ourselves in who
we're serving, and then it isrun like a military operation. There will
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be one hundred and fifty of usopen roads, police escort, fire engines,
military vehicles with platoon leaders, squadleaders, right, whatever you want
to call them, and we havea whole operations orders. So I want
to talk about the fifty mile markjust symbolically. People are either interested or
(30:48):
committed. That's two people in life, right, You're either interested or committed.
And what I mean by what Imean by that is people tell me,
oh wow, I would love towalk that fifty miles. I'm like,
okay, great, And then there'sa qualifier April thirteenth here, so
two hundred and fifty four people haveapplied. I'd say twenty of them have
(31:08):
already said, oh you have tobe a qualifier. Yeah, I don't
want to do that. And thenevery participant raises a minimum of twenty five
hundred dollars and if you can imagine, some people raise ten twenty thirty thousand
dollars. Organizations contribute, but allof our money we are very fiduciary responsible.
(31:33):
We have a facilionndation that oversees us. We have eight board members,
we have an executive director, wehave an attorney, a CPA. What
the biggest fear of the public isanytime you're given to a nonprofit or organization,
they want to know where their moneyis going. And I can tell
(31:55):
you when people say, oh,you know, what do you do here?
What do you do there? Iask people what is one life worth?
What is one veteran's life worth?And you know it's priceless. Absolutely,
So we're purposeful and we're intentional whatwe do and this fifty mile mark
you find out quickly and it unitespeople. Who are these people? What
(32:20):
is their purpose? And I'm tellingyou, a seventy three year old retired
lieutenant colonel was the oldest last year. We have a retired sergeant from the
Marines this year who's seventy five yearsold who's training as we seek. And
then we have someone as young aseight years old with the doctor's release right
now training to see if he canmake it with us with her father.
(32:43):
Wow. And for our listeners,is that known as Operation Nobel Watchman.
Yes, Operation Nobel Watchman is thename of this mission. So every mission
has had a name, and NobelWatsman means basically, you're Nobel Watsman.
You're watching over your brothers and sisters, You're you're you're you're listening, you
(33:04):
are in tune, and you're vigilantwhen it comes to helping veterans. So
Noble Watchman is symbolic for that.And it was also named after a surgeon
who passed away just recently. Hewas not military, but he was a
historic buss and he performed the Watchmenart surgeries, a thousand of them in
(33:24):
his lifetime. And he's a worldrenowned surgeon and just a family friend of
ours, and I thought quo toprostitute to honor his name as well.
Outstanding. First of all, AJay, I can't say enough on the
work that you're doing for US veteransand the community that you're helping to create
(33:45):
just want to reach out here.Part of our program, we have something
called the Benefit Beat, and we'reblessed today to have two representatives from the
Disabled American Veterans, our local chapterhere in Port Show Dave Grant and mister
Joe rapidly, rapidly representing our area. And the only reason I'm bringing them
(34:07):
into this kind of a conversation isthat the DAV is national and it's it's
beyond the your mission that you're doingright now to find purpose, repurpose for
our veterans and your walking and thento help them go beyond that point.
I will say without a second,well second delay that the da V.
(34:30):
I will hope that can somehow marriageyou two together to help those veterans get
the things that they need. Resourcesand second to none, the da V,
that's what they do, that's theirsole mission is to take care of
us, take care of one another. So, guys, you want to
say a couple of words to them. I just wanted to thank him for
the services that he's providing. Iworked in several programs before some homeless veterans,
(34:52):
jail diversion programs and getting veterans thatassistance those wrap around services also very
important. So I just want tocommit you in the job that you're doing
well. I want to recognize yourorganization because we need people like the DAV
and I will tell you the responsibilityultimately is up to the people who will
(35:15):
help care for the veterans, veteransby themselves. You know, sometimes you
hear, oh, the VA this, or the DAV this, or you
know, I never can get anything. Part of it is educating the veterans
so that they can move forward inthe step. We have to put the
earnest on them wanting help as well. But I can tell you that your
organization has been instrumental just in myjust just from from my experience and the
(35:38):
and how how I've been able tolean on you guys for a resource.
I'm I'm a disabled bet myself,and I can just tell you that I
want more people to get involved withyour organization. I'm fifty three years old.
I'm younger than the average person atthe VFW or at the you know,
but we need now to get involve, get the younger generation involved,
(36:01):
and highlight programs like yours so thatwe can coordinate here exactly. And our
intent is always to reach out assistveterans. Usually whenever we reach or whenever
we meet veterans, you know,one of our first questions is do you
(36:23):
have all your benefits from the VAAnd then we take that and start delving
into the benefits that the veteran hasand the care that the veteran is receiving
and try to assist the veterans andachieving the ultimate benefits they can achieve and
(36:45):
reach. Helping homeless veterans is oneof the hallmarks of the help that we
try to help with in our chapter. It's so critical for our veteran community
most definitely. I agree. Iagree, and I'm hoping that somehow or
(37:09):
another that we can help you coordinateand make your mission a little bit easier.
And again, the sole purpose ofour show, the rally point is
to remind our veteran families and communitythat if you don't the one thing I've
always complained about the military, andthat's very few things that when you leave
the military, it's just a watch, a flag, how you doing here,
some paperwork, you're out the door. The road to getting services and
(37:34):
help is infinitely more complicated, andas I tell people, we're not attorneys.
We're not service officers. Go tothe subject matter experts because if we
don't get our benefits now and I'mnot saying anything bad about my lovely government
of the United States, they werereappropriate that money to something else. And
I will say that we as veteransare the hidden asset of of America.
(38:00):
We are mentors, we are expertsin what average field that we do,
and our sense of purpose is secondto none. And I feel that when
we leave service, we'll lose thatsense of urgency and usefulness and we kind
of fade out. And that's whatgets us, the fading out part,
because our being to the core ismeant to be purposeful. And I think
(38:22):
that your program to bring awareness inthat is instrumental. And I will say
this. I did a little researchthe other day, and I believe that
disabled American veterans, despite their categorization, actually may be part of the smallest
population minority group in the United States. And you take that I'm partially a
Cherokee and we're at twelve million perpopulace. I believe the disabled veterans fall
(38:46):
below twelve million. So my questionis everyone else gets a piece of the
pie in Congress, and we whohave been trained to protect our shores after
our missions accomplished with that, where'sour help? Love a billion dollars going
to Ukraine? But if he giveus a billion dollar challenge and give it
for us our vets, you couldprobably eliminate homelessness or veterans permanently. Well,
(39:07):
let me let me kind of segueoff of that. The disabled American
veterans does have a legislative voice inCongress, and if you would like to
help with that voice, you canhop over to what we call the Commander's
Action Network. And that we're alwayslooking for help supporting veterans, whether that's
(39:35):
helping a veteran claim his or herbenefits or by supporting our state representative passing
new legislation to help veterans. Andwe do this by actively being involved in
the Commander's Action Network. You canjoin us by going over on the internet
to dav dot org forward slash,Get Dash Involved, forward slash, advocate,
(40:05):
forward slash or excuse me, dashon Dash Legislation and then scrolled down
to Commander's Action Network And then bysigning up, you can support your local
DAV help by speaking to your localstate representatives and be in the know.
(40:27):
And earlier I spoke about the legislationthat just came out on dental care,
and that was Hr twenty four thirteen, the Dental Care for Veterans Act,
which requires the Secretary of the Departmentof Veteran Affairs to furnish dental care in
the same manner as any other medicalservice. And you know that is so
(40:54):
critical for veterans. And it startsout with the Priority Group one and two
service connected disabilities rated at thirty percentor more in year one outstanding. I
was going to say, yeah,I presume that Jay, you guys are
(41:15):
probably pretty well linked in out inNebraska with all your different veteran service organizations
and getting that access for those veteransthat need that hand up, which is
super helpful because I would imagine asa homeless veteran, they're probably very far
outside the loop of information. Inyour mission with fifty Mile March and helping
give them a solid footing to startup again with you're also helping open that
(41:37):
door to make sure that they're gettingtheir benefits reviewed and getting information on what's
available to them by virtue of theirservice. Absolutely, and if I could
just comment on that the obligation andthe responsibility and the accountability to every nonprofit
organization. And I want to makea point of it. If you are
(41:59):
a nonprofit and you are working inthe veteran space, it is your it
is your mission to become a forcemultiplier by coordinating and playing nice with every
other nonprofit, which means with meansand I dare say this, which means
that if you are in this spaceand your intent is to play in your
(42:20):
own lane, you're not going togo very far. Right. You might
go fast, but you're not goingto go far. The intent of the
Fifty Mile March Foundation is to coordinateservices so that we can maximize our voice,
so that we can so that wecan are the legislative bodies can hear
if we're not political, but ifwe unite enough people together, we coordinate
(42:40):
enough resources, people will notice whatwe're doing anyway. So that's my that's
my advice to all nonprofits in theveteran space or any space. Your your
job is to force multiply. Becauselisten, there's a VA, there's dav
there's all these there's strike there,there's all all these things that are piece
(43:01):
meals, all over the place,which are all great individual services, but
if you are in this space,you better know how to take someone from
the initial phone calls all the wayto the right system, right, because
too often we are untrained and wedon't know what to do when we get
that phone call. Hey, I'min trouble, I need help. I
(43:22):
need this, you know? Isit drug port? Is it the VA,
is it reabuilt it? Where isit? You know? So I
think it's our responsibility to clearly definethat path and be a beacon and a
shining example for everyone trying to helpthe veteran community. And I take that
very seriously, Jake. We usedto consider it like having a toolbox almost
(43:44):
in a sense that you have differenttools for the different jobs, especially with
our veterans. I mean some mightneed housing, some might need job training,
some might need healthcare, some mightneed benefits. So in order to
have a fully equipped toolbox, youhave to be able to reach out as
a nonprofit and touch those different areas. So it's important for us to broad
(44:06):
in exactly who we deal with andhow we can assist those veterans. Yes,
and can you understand that for aveteran who wants to just have a
mental health appointment. How long doesit take to just go through a normal
system without coordination, without education,without who to call. Some people are
(44:27):
waiting three, eight to four months. And I'm not blaming the system.
I'm saying we need to educate ourveterans on how to navigate that system.
We need to hold their hand,We need to they're are battle buddy.
We need to drag them by thecaller sometimes walk alongside them in their season
of need. Absolutely, yes,yes, yes. And Jay's so interesting
(44:50):
that you said that. This isJoe and I was a service officer for
eighteen years with my county and state. And when I first got into that
business, one of the things thatI used to do with veterans all the
time was give them like a checklist. You need to complete this, you
need to complete that, you needto do this, you need to do
that, and then I'd see thema month later and we've done. And
(45:12):
what I had to learn is alot of our veterans, even though they
really wanted to, they weren't ableto. Yes. So that's why it's
so important for us to stay incontact, Like you said, have battle
buddies consistently talk and make you know, have those conversations with the veterans and
make sure that they get the sistancethat's needed. Jill, the cool thing
is the fifty mile March. Theytalk about that being able. I'm sorry,
(45:34):
Jay, I don't want to liketake any of your thunder, but
I loved how you said this.During one of our meetings, they talked
about how the point of the fiftymile March is for us to do what
some can't do for themselves, whetherthat's marching fifty miles, whether that's putting
them in touch with resources. Youknow, the fifty mile March covers so
many different aspects of it that theyare doing for these veterans what they might
(45:58):
not be able to do for themselvesright now, so that in the future,
once they're on the other side ofit, they might see somebody else
that needs them to come alongside themand walk alongside of them, and they
can help lead them through that processand lead them to the fifty mile March
and let them get the help theyneed. Oh. Absolutely, And if
I can share one more example ofwhat we're battling, sixty eight year old
(46:21):
Vietnam veteran called me from the parkinglot of the VA and said I can't
bring myself to come in. Isaid, why don't you just walk in?
And he goes, I've been herefor an hour, just in the
parking lot. I can't go in. I called inside of the VA.
I said, hey, there's agentleman outside. I physically drove to him
an hour later, So he hadprobably been in his car for two and
(46:43):
a half hours. He just hadanxiety to not want to walk in.
It had been eleven years since hestepped foot in a VA eleven years.
And guess what. We got himhousing, We got him had vash vouchers,
We got him a counselor now.And that's the kind of work this
(47:04):
takes. I mean he had henot contacted us, he would have probably
not walked in. So for somepeople, it's not just the ability physically,
it's the mental capacity to say,wait a minute, if I walk
in here, what kind of personam I? And I'm telling you asking
help is one of the bravest,most courageous things to do for any person
(47:29):
on this earth, right because itputs all of your pride, in all
of your ego side to say Ican't walk fifty miles would you drag me?
Hey, I can't walk into thesedoors? Would you walk with me?
Hey? I can't. I feellike I can't be myself right now?
Would you get me help? Likethat is so undervalued these days or
it's brushed under the rug where peopledon't want to ask for help. If
(47:52):
you're a veteran, you have everyright to ask for help. This nation
called us for help. Our areour people of the United States called us
for help. Ask for help.It's it's normal, it's beyond normal.
It's courageous most definitely in one ofthe things. And I guess I'm the
(48:14):
only army person in the room here. That's okay though. Wow. Yeah.
One of the things that were wasbeaten to our dome in the in
boot camp was a simple phrase,and I think it's kind of transcended through
me throughout the years. Batter buddy, I got you covered. And you
(48:34):
can say that on the battlefield,and it also transcends real life and it
takes up that stigma for weakness thatyou may have in any situation you may
have because it is the expectation ofmy brother to have me covered. And
that's the thing that we need totranscend just outside of the army, but
as a veteran population to say,look, folks, we all have bad
(48:57):
days, some worse than others.But the fact that I'm is no one
has a perfect life or a perfectexistence. I want people to know.
And the point of the rally pointis battle buddy, I got you covered
without you having to ask. Youalready know that it's going to be the
case, and that's our hope.We get past that point if I feel
that we can end, so wecan put a huge debt in suicide.
(49:19):
Anxiety and depression all come from havinga fear of the unknown or a sense
of overwhelmed whelming failure, and whichwe've all been taught failure is not an
option. It's an option, right, I agree with you. And can
I just comment on suicide, theword suicide itself. Yes, we need
to not be afraid to say that, and then we need to not all
(49:39):
this politically correct terms that they've listened. Suicide is a real word. It
is something that happens every day,right, and twenty two a day,
right, and it's climbing. Buthe's here. Here's what I say is
when you call, you know,when you tell someone I'm here, for
you and there and they get angry. I would rather my friend be angry
(50:02):
at me checking in on him andalive for another day. See, too
often the able don't approach the peoplewho need help because they don't want to.
They don't want to impose. Theydon't want to make them mad,
make them mad, impose, letthem feel some kind of emotion, and
then get them to the next step. You don't have to be the counselor
you don't have to be the lawyeror attorney or the doctor. You just
(50:25):
need to get them to the nextstep. That's all you need to do.
And sometimes it means bothering them.It means rustling their feathers and saying
I can help you, brother orsister. And and you know the most
powerful thing is I've been there before. I know what lead oil or I
know what gun oil tastes like,and and I never want to taste that
(50:47):
ever again. And that reminds mehow human I am, and to be
human to others as well. Absolutely, And we're so thankful for the opportunity
to talk with you about the fiftymile March, to be able to share
this on the airwaves with other people, because I know, for me,
before January sixth, I had noidea what the fifty mile March really was
(51:08):
about. I had seen some ofit on social media, but you know,
to understand that this is definitely amessage worth sharing with everyone, and
we look forward absolutely to check andback in with you periodically if you don't
mind on the show, just tokind of see what's new with the fifty
Mile March and continue to remind peoplebecause for those of you that are listening,
if you want to know how youcan get involved from your side of
(51:30):
the radio, A good way todo that is you can contribute and there
will be an option for you todonate and we'll share that with you in
the future. So if you'd liketo contribute to that cause, even though
it's not here in Southwest Florida,you can make a difference for veterans elsewhere
a program something like the fifty MileMarch. It might end up in Florida
someday, we don't know, butit's got to start somewhere, and it's
(51:51):
got to start somehow. And Jay, what you're doing is a fantastic way
to start that, and you aremaking a difference. One person needs to
hear this show today and just herethat there is help and it's okay to
ask for help and people like youare not interested. You are committed and
I'm grateful for that absolutely well.Thanks for coming on the show. Jay.
(52:14):
We appreciate it and we will belooking forward to having you on shows
in the future as well. RogerJay out, thank you all. Take
care Jay hearing God bless thank you, thank you all. Thank you all
so much for all the work thatyou do. Thank you, thank you
for what you do. Have agood one, all right, that being
said, gentlemen, thank you verymuch for coming on the show. Thank
(52:35):
you for living the contact information orfor the America to come find you guys
here in Portshout, Florida at themall and I will see you very soon
myselves and ladies and gentlemen want tosay you want to send us off today.
Just have a great day, guys, make it a good day on
purpose. Remember your purpose, andif you don't have one, remember we're
here for you. Amen to that. And one last shout out to Bud
(52:59):
Borier, my mentor and friend lastweek, had a heart attack. He's
a district Eric. You know,he's an Eric commander for the American Legion
and uh he is. He's alsoa fellow law enforcement officer. Dear friend
of my mentor, I am gladyou came home from the hospital the other
(53:20):
day. Besides a veteran organizations,he's a better friend that I've had since
I've been down here in Florida,and he's kept me from losing my cool.
And trust me, that's what abattle buddy does. He's there for
the good and bad times. He'salways been there for me, and I
hope him and Joeann I understand thatwe're always in spirit with them. Anything
you need or a phone call away. That being said, Folks America,
(53:45):
have another time at another place,and I'll see you again next week at
the rally point
Again, folks, is that timeagain the Rally Point with your host James
the Sarge Hemingway sponsored by ETNA MedicareSolutions. Our man Derek Anderson will be
here a little bit later in theshow, but right now we're here with
you with our co host Amanda.Amanda mccanu say hello, here you go,
(00:30):
and basically, folks, we havea good show for you today.
We have a special guest from theFifty Mile March, Jay Morales from Nebraska,
Flon and endels. Today we alsohave two special guests that are going
to kind of bring us home today. One is Jay Rapley from the Disabled
American Veterans and his commander David Grant, commander of Chapter eighty two and Port
(00:54):
Sure. How are you doing today, gentlemen, Good morning, Good morning,
Welcome to the show Man again.Our guest today tell us a little
background on fifty Mile March. So, the Fifty Mile March is an organization
that exists to help empower veterans.Like we said, they're based out in
Nebraska. But what they do outthere as they empower veterans facing mental health
(01:15):
challenges and homelessness. And they basicallydo that by fostering a community of hope
and relentless support, which basically meansthey're going to walk alongside them every step
of the way and help these folkswith a hand up, not a handout,
give them a renewed sense of purpose, and help them feel more like
they're you know, getting back ontheir feet again. So it's a wonderful,
(01:38):
wonderful organization with an incredible mission,one that will hopefully spread across this
country because, as we all know, veteran homelessness isn't just confined to one
state. Sadly, unfortunately, it'severywhere. So we really want to help
put some light on that and definitelyget some good traction going about what this
program is and how it works intheir community so that others can see how
(02:00):
it could work in our community orother communities outstanding. And it kind of
fits home with our purpose here,folks. At the rally point, I
made a promise to you guys outthere in America Land that the one purpose
of our show is to provide yourresources and subject matter experts to help us
get through transitioning into civilian life.And folks, that's it doesn't just stop
(02:24):
one day. You're acclimated. Everyday is a different challenge, and fortunately,
with our expertise and our different backgrounds, we have the a plethra of
resources. The only problem is thatthey're scattered everywhere. And what we're trying
to do is take the angst andthe drama at a getting exposed to those
(02:44):
resources and bringing them one, bringingthem to a rally at one specific point,
hence the rally point. And Ican't overstate that we're thankful to have
these gentlemen here from the dav Andagain, can Mandarick grant you've been here
before? Tell America about yourself again? Okay, So I spent twenty two
(03:07):
years in the Navy and then wentto industry for quite a few years,
retired in nineteen ninety eight, thenspent the yeah retired in the DC area,
and then eventually moved down to NorthCarolina. Then I needed to get
(03:28):
to warmer climates and move down hereto Florida. Thank god. Now unfortunately
the cold weather, I may haveto move further south. Anyways, So
dav we are located in the PortCharlotte Town Center Mall. We are located
(03:49):
in between You can find us goingbetween J. C. Pennies and Dillart's
Park there there's plenty of parking inbetween. Jcpenny and Dylarz. Come up
the atrium heading towards DSW Shoes andbefore you get to DSW Shoes, make
(04:10):
an immediate right and we are rightthere on your right hand side. If
you get to DSW Shoes you've gonetoo far. You can call us at
nine four one six two nine twoeight three three, or you can send
me an email at da V rLC at yahoo dot com. That's Delta
(04:38):
Alpha Victor Romeo, Lima Charlie atyahoo dot com. We're also on the
web at da V Chapter eighty twodot com or dot org or dot uh.
Yeah, there was a couple ofothers that we claimed as well.
(05:00):
There is probably something they can google. Anyways. You can also, and
I'll talk about this a little later, you can also join us on Commander's
Action Network and that's at DAV dotorg. Forward Slash, Get Dash Involved,
(05:27):
Forward Slash Advocate Dash on Dash Legislation, and that's one of those organizations
where you help us in reaching outto our legislative officials, in joining your
(05:50):
fellow veterans in promoting veteran friendly legislation. That is important to us all.
Now I'll let Joe talk more aboutthe benefits, Okay, and before folks,
I can't combined two parts of oursegment our show today. Number one,
we're doing the Voice of the Veteransegment and in service for our country
(06:13):
spotlight. Today's veteran I was inthe spotlight. Is Joseph Rapidly, Sir,
introduce yourself to America. Hello.Yes, I'm Joe Rapiley, twenty
year Air Force veteran. I wasa C one thirty flight engineer. Then
I went to a WAX. Idid two years on the a WAX.
Once I retired from the military,which was different because you're trained so often
(06:36):
all those years to perform a job, and then once you retire, it's
like almost jumping off of a speedingbus. There's no way for you to
catch up. So I did acouple of things after I got out,
and then finally I decided to applyfor some veteran benefits. Went under a
program that's called vocational rehab where Iwent back to school college and during that
(06:58):
time I was working in a VAand I worked in that VA office assisting
the service officers for two years,and then a job opening came up as
a Veteran service officer, and theyimmediately hired me because of the work ethic
and they knew exactly what type ofwork I did. And I worked in
a county service office for six yearsas a county Service officer, and then
(07:20):
I was found another position with thestate for another twelve years as a Veterans
Service officer. Retired from that positionabout two years ago, moved from North
Carolina to Florida, and I wantedsomething to do, not full time,
but with all this stuff floating aroundin my head, I wanted to continue
(07:41):
to help veterans. So I foundthis DAV chapter and they don't operate a
bar, they don't operate a lotof other things to raise money. What
they do is assist veterans and doclaims to assists veterans, and it was
a perfect fit for me. Sothat's where I'm at now, AV Chapter
twenty eighty two. God bless youin your in your in your works.
(08:05):
One of the things that I onthe show, that we've talked about many
a time is that we have ourlisteners have to understand that when you're transitioning
from being in being deployed or beingin service to becoming a veteran or veteran
status. It's a transition. Andif you need physical or any type of
medical care from the VA, thatin itself is a task because basically the
(08:31):
onus is on the soldier or inthe individual to get your medical records collected.
Then they set the appointment and thensit there, sit down. It's
it can be anxiety provoking. Andone of the things I'm thankful for,
and I hope you guys can elaborateon this, is that getting your benefits
isn't guaranteed nor a simple process.There are a lot of hoops, tracks,
(08:56):
pitfalls. It's it's a lot ofa journey. Explain some of that
for us. Well, I'm gonnago one step further because what I do
is I look at veterans almost asbeing generational, because even though we've lost
most of our World War Two veterans, when you think of World War Two
veterans, you think about them justbeing glad to come home. They wanted
(09:18):
a white picket fence, they didn'task for anything, they didn't want anything
from the country. Then you haveour Vietnam veterans that right now their age
group, when they came back home, they was spit on, they were
kicked to the curb, they weren'tgiven anything. And then you move to
another generation of veterans that now weuse the internet, we sell phones,
(09:41):
and there's a lot of information available. So when we see our veterans,
we have to understand where they're comingfrom, where they're at it where you
know, where they're at in life. So that's one of the ways that
we approached them. But then again, once you get into understanding that there
are those benefits available to you,now it was a matter of navigating that
gauntlet of benefits and how do Iget them? And it's never too late.
(10:05):
That's what we try and explain topeople. And often we hear the
story of well, I wanted mybuddy to get and I thought somebody was
taking something away from me, orI really didn't need it, or I
was making enough money at that pointin time. Well, as time goes
along, time goes along, andwe don't get any younger, we get
older and those things change. Sowe just encourage everybody to apply as soon
(10:28):
as you're able. But you're alwaysable to apply for those benefits. The
eligibility never ends. Oh I agree. Now I'll ask between the two of
you from the GAV is this justan accurate shaving for me to make.
I find that one of the thingsI hear a lot is the excuse,
Oh, I don't need it,Like you said before, I don't want
to use it before my battle behindme. I think the inverse is the
(10:50):
truth. If you do not useit, you are doing your Battlebudy behind
you a disk service. Because mygovernment tends to reappropriate funds aren't used,
and folks, very simply put,the cost of living goes up, and
what you made ten fifteen, fiveyears ago is not going to buy the
same things today. And one ofthe things I'm hard is steadfast for.
(11:13):
And I've said this in the beginning. You served, and you deserve.
Stop right there, don't go anyfurther at no adjective verbs. You served
and you deserve what you deserve fromyour country. When you gave one hundred
percent of yourself, your time,your family, their birthdays and anniversaries,
you sacrifice. Not only the oneasset is time that you cannot get back.
(11:33):
And I'm thankful where moment of lifeyou are right now, But remember
time changes and events. You cango from being on top to mid mid
staff in a heartbeat, given economicchanges, or social changes, or cultural
changes, or a combination of thethree. Do you feel that are if
our veterans are not saving money forour veterans behind them, but they should
(11:58):
actually show Conger that the mighty theyput aside for our veterans is being maximized
and ooh, we might want toadd more money to that. Pop or
your thoughts on that. Definitely,there's no no, because we hear that
every every day. I mean,it's an entitlement. These are military entitlements
(12:22):
and the VA is not giving anythingaway. If you applied for something,
you're applying for something a benefit thatyou're entitled to that you've served your country
for. At this current time inthe United States, we probably have more
millionaires. I think millionaires about eighteenpercent. Veterans are about eight percent.
(12:43):
So we're a small family, soit's important for us to take advantage of
anything. I know, when Igo out even to the supermarket, if
I go through a McDonald's line,I'm asking, am I eliable? Do
you have a military benefit? Doyou do a veterans discounts entitlement? So
we accept that entitlement for the servicethat we provided, and we always have
(13:07):
the flag that we say, youknow, freedom is not free. You
know, I've lost the friend justyesterday. He was fifty four years old.
The service that he gave to hiscountry is invaluable. So often,
so often we walk around and wehear people say they appreciate the military.
We want Congress in the Senate toappreciate the military at those funds that's needed
(13:31):
to take care of us. Absolutely. Now I have a question for you.
So I'm multi generational. I'm thirdgeneration military as far as I know,
and my father is a Vietnam veteran. So what is your advice to
those those folks out there who areso afraid to poke the bear? Like
maybe they're not getting their full benefits. Maybe there are certain things the conditions
(13:54):
they have that are service connected,but the VA didn't initially award them,
and they're just so terrified that ifthey go back and ask for it again
that they're poking the bear or they'regoing to have their rating reduced. What
would you say to those folks,come in and talk to your disabled American
Veterans service officer. I don't knowhow many times I tell veterans it doesn't
(14:20):
hurt to come in and talk tous. You may receive advice from us,
don't challenge what you already have.There are times when we have somebody
come in and say I want myhundred percent and they're at eighty percent,
and we'll look at what they haverating of eighty percent for and we'll say,
(14:45):
you know, based on what wesee in your evaluation, we don't
think you should poke that bear rightnow, or if you have a strong
case for having it, we'll tellyou what we need as evidence to raise
your evaluation with the Veteran VA.But come in and talk to a d
(15:13):
a V. Service officer. Iknow in our chapter I have some very
good service officers that will provide somesound advice on how to help veterans raise
their their rating if it's warranted.But they're not going to help you cheat
the VA. That's not in ourway of doing things. We're here to
(15:41):
help our veterans in in any waywe can, but and will provide you
advice and guidance on the right wayto do what you need to do in
filing a claim. And we dohave certain ways that you know we know
(16:03):
that the claim needs to be filedand uh, you know whether it's from
the initial claim all the way throughthe appeals process. So just definitely come
in and talk to a service officer. It reminds me of not long ago,
(16:25):
a veteran came in right after thePact Act was signed and he brought
in his d D two fourteen.He had a purple heart, received ten
percent disability, and he'd come backfrom Vietnam back in I want to say
sixty seven, but he was gettingten percent disability and he was of that
(16:53):
Vietnam era where you know, hereceived ten percent disability, went and got
a civilian job and continued on withhis life. He was happy, you
know, he had done his dutyfor his country. Never considered filing another
(17:15):
claim. But now he's gotten older, the ghost of the past are catching
up with him. And there area lot of veterans out there that for
whom the ghost of the past arenow catching up because they're sitting at home,
and that's a real challenge for him. And you know, come in
(17:41):
and talk to us and we'll helpyou address those things. They if I
could add one of the things whendealing with the VA is they'll give you
a decision letter, and so oftenwe get so happy that we see an
amount that's attached to a monthly checkthat we've really don't read that letter.
But in that letter it often statesexactly what's needed for an increase. It
(18:04):
tells you exactly what you got.So when you talk about poking the bear,
it's a matter of doing some planningand addressing the issues that you have.
If there's something that's gotten worse,they'll tell you exactly what you need
when you go in for that nextappointment or when you follow that next claim.
A lot Dave and I differ withthis at some points in times because
(18:27):
a lot of people that work atthe VA there exvets themselves. Now they
have done a whole lot of newhires that that aren't as sympathetic. But
for most part they're bound by Congressand the rules to go ahead and improve
claims based on the conditions that youhave. Oh, definitely, definitely,
And before we wrap the show up, I want to put asterisk is a
(18:49):
situation I'm going folks, These serviceofficers are here to assist veterans get claims.
They are not fraud facilitators and ifyou want to look that up.
I asked you to do one thing, google VA fraud. They will find
you, they will get you,and you will probably go to jail for
(19:10):
it. And yes, if youlook online, is one specifically one guy
got caught going to a gym claimedone hundred percent with a broken back and
he's powerlifting. That's all I sayabout that. Okay, folks, for
now at that point in the showthat we're going forces of Valor and here
today we have Jay Morales from theFifty Mile March program. How I do
(19:32):
today, Jay, I'm doing great. Thank you for having me today.
I really appreciate you letting ushare story. Oh, no problem, You're you're
doing the thing that we're here forto spread some resources and knowledge to our
fellow listeners and veterans, just folksout there in America. Before we get
into that, Jay Tel America.About yourself. So, I'm a ten
year Air Force veteran. I gotout over twenty nine years ago. Fifty
(19:55):
three years old, now I was. I had a hard transition out of
the mill Perry, got divorced andfound myself homeless for a while, and
then I told God when I gotback on my feet, I'd help veterans,
and it took me a while tomake that promise good. So at
the end of the day, createda foundation five years ago called the Fifty
(20:18):
Mile Marks And with that being said, that's what brings us here today and
the Fifty Mile March Foundation empowered veteransfacing mental health challenges and homelessness, My
foster bringers, community of Pope,our mission is very clear again, first
of all, for the borrow ofmy heart and people here in this room,
(20:38):
thank you for all you've done.Your ability to be resilient and then
bounce back to the point where you'rehelping out other veterans and communities is astounding.
I have a little I took alittle time to redo a little research
on and so I know kind ofprime the pump of America here. Apparently
now you have several fifty Mile Marchprograms available, each having their unique characteristics.
(21:02):
I guess to match a demographic,you provide information that's relevant to the
people in that particular area. Asidefrom that, why don't you tell America
what you do? So the FiftyMile Marks Foundation, it was simple.
It started five years ago outside ofCOVID six of us started walking just to
(21:22):
raise awareness and to show people thathey, there are veterans you know who
are on the street. They're oneday away from disaster, taking their life,
getting injured themselves, or just digressingfrom society. That movement of six
people walking fifty miles turned into fiveyears later, which is our fifthness in
(21:44):
this year is one hundred and fiftywalkers raising over a million and a half
dollars this year. So with thatbeing said, our job is to work
with small local nonprofits to provide grants. So about a tenth of our money
out there, but the other ninetypercent is we're building a community of hope.
We're building a tiny village that willconsist of twenty two twenty homes that
(22:11):
will take people who were like myselfoff the street. We didn't need a
hand out, We just needed ahand up. We needed structure, We
needed purpose, we needed dignity.And as I knew it, I knew
what the VA was, I knewwhere there was help, but I was
too stubborn when it came to admittingI needed help. So a buddy of
(22:33):
mine said, hey, I'm goingto take you by the caller and I'm
going to walk you through the systemand I'm going to help you. And
ultimately that's what saved my life.And that's what the Fifty Mile Marks Foundation
is doing. We're taking veterans bythe hand, by the caller and saying
come with us, and retraining,job training, rehousing, getting them their
benefits that they need, providing transportation, counseling, all those things, all
(23:00):
in this community of hope. Wow, that's a mouthful. And also and
also I will apologize that we haveour co host here, Amena Macanu,
and folks have been practicing. Yes, I did you got any questions for
our man here today? Yeah?I mean the fifty Mile March obviously is
a matter of I mean, forus as fellow Air Force veterans, the
(23:23):
wingmanship idea never dies, whether it'sa battle buddy or whatever your branch of
service called it. I love thefact that with the fifty Mile March you
never have to walk alone. Andit was exciting hearing you kind of talk
about it. But can you expanda little bit more on the vision for
the future of the fifty Mile March, since their mission is to empower veterans
facing mental health challenges and homelessness byfostering a community of hope and relentless support.
(23:48):
What is the future of that reallylooking like if you can go into
a little more detail. Absolutely,So we're sitting on a phase one right
now, which we will take overa building here Sport, twenty thousand square
feet. We will integrate service.Thank you, thank you. We're excited,
we're this is just a little premature, but you know what, if
(24:08):
you don't speak into an existence,that will never happen. So we're going
to a partner with several veteran organizationslike Moving Veterans Forward, Guitars for Vets,
all other nonprofits too. We're allpiecemealing this right now. We're all
unfordinated battle buddies. Right somebody's youknow in this location, someone's in that
(24:30):
location. We're going to spenilize alot of services. So that's phase one.
In this building. We're going toprovide job retraining. Warner Enterprises is
going to create truck drivers or dispatchers. The labor unions are going to take
somebody from a twenty thousand dollars jobto a fifty sixty seventy thousand dollars trade.
People like me didn't need any morecharity work. We just needed purpose.
(24:55):
We needed to know that somebody onthe other end of the line was
therefore us, they've been through whatwe've been through. And so that's phase
one. Phase two is we're goingto purchase five to eight acres of land
so that we can create a fruitcommunity would look like a base almost,
(25:18):
but a twenty two tiny home communitythat where we take veterans in who go
through an eighteen month program. Andit's not about like just putting people into
an apartment and hoping for the best. It's truly putting them in the place
of retraining, you know, onthe job training, moving them forward to
(25:40):
life skills from roadery counseling. Soas you know, when most people go
into bad situations, they pull awayfrom society, they recluse, they get
depressed, you know, and whenyou're by yourself, the PTSD really sets
in into the community of champions ofprior battle buddies, right, and people
(26:04):
who need help. It's a winningformula because it's what we're used to.
Absolutely, yeah, And that's thecool thing about it is, like you
said, it restores that sense ofpurpose. It gives that hope and that
hand up to people I'm just curious, like, are there stories or experiences
from your work on the fifty mileMarch that have like truly powerfully impacted you,
(26:26):
And if so, would you mindsharing some of those? Yeah,
I would like to share a powerfulstory. I'll make it confide. So
second year into it, we hada gentleman call and say, hey,
wow, you guys are doing someamazing things. I'd love to donate.
I'd love to be a sponsor.And we thought, Okay, here we
(26:47):
go. This is somebody who's jumpingonto the bandwagon. He said, Oh,
I had my best year ever,my business had its best year ever,
and I just want to really makea difference. And we hear that
a lot, right, and sowork practice And anyway, the march happened.
We saw his donation online and hisdonation read in memory of and uh
(27:15):
uh Adam Lormer. AJ Lormer,who fought the ultimate battle but lost the
battle within. His son had justtaken his life in the summer that we
were preparing for our second mission.And I will tell you this, we
did not listen well enough. Wedid not give the time enough to listen
(27:41):
to our own fellow person. AndI said, Rich what do you mean
your son or what do you meanyou had the best year ever? He
said, my home. My sonwent home to Jesus Christ and he's no
longer in pain. That pained myattitude and my demeanor of listening to everyone.
Everyone has a story. When someonetells you something, they want you
(28:06):
to ask more questions. They hey, hey, I'm not having a great
day, tell me more about that. We failed to listen. So that
changed my life. I get storiesevery day of people telling me, day,
if it weren't for this, Idon't know what I'd be doing.
And oh, day I got anew job because my mind is better.
Ohjay, you know, or I'mjust using my name. But there's just
(28:30):
a lot of examples of people comingto us and telling them how this has
affected their life. People who youthink, oh my gosh, this person's
a CFO in this company, andthey're quietly coming to you and saying,
hey, I just want to letyou know I have a renewed purpose.
So the fifty mile mark is notjust about one thing. It's not just
about the mark. It's about creatinga movement of hope and allowing people to
(28:52):
move forward and join at the rankthat they want to join that right.
Some people are just like, Hey, I just want to dip my toe
in. I just want to helpyou. I want to pass out downwich
this. Some people are like,hey, I want to volunteer eighty hours
this month to help you do whatyou need to do to help these veterans,
you know, get to the nextapp Absolutely, yeah, I know.
I'm actually in the process of trainingto qualify for the fifty Mile March
(29:17):
this year, which is definitely whenI heard your story and I attended that
briefing, It's a powerful, powerfulmission. Can you describe for our listeners
real quick? Just I mean,so people are clear. The fifty Mile
March is based in Nebraska, andit is a fifty mile march that takes
place over about approximately twenty two hourperiod. There is no sleep, There
(29:40):
are rest stops along the way hospitality, so there is the safety aspect there.
But can you describe kind of whatthe route is like that the marchers
will take as they rock across Nebraska. Yeah, it's kind of symbolic.
So we will lay on the Capitolstep for twenty two minutes and we will
be silent, and we will layon our back with no backpack, no
(30:02):
pillows, nothing, it's you againstthe pavement. If all of you in
that studio right now just laid onthe floor for twenty two minutes, imagine
trying to get back up after that. Well, there are veterans that slip
under the Bob Terry bridge. Thereare people who are homeless right now with
no place to stay. That's thesymbolicness. So we immerse ourselves in who
we're serving, and then it isrun like a military operation. There will
(30:26):
be one hundred and fifty of usopen roads, police escort, fire engines,
military vehicles with platoon leaders, squadleaders, right, whatever you want
to call them, and we havea whole operations orders. So I want
to talk about the fifty mile markjust symbolically. People are either interested or
(30:48):
committed. That's two people in life, right, You're either interested or committed.
And what I mean by what Imean by that is people tell me,
oh wow, I would love towalk that fifty miles. I'm like,
okay, great, And then there'sa qualifier April thirteenth here, so
two hundred and fifty four people haveapplied. I'd say twenty of them have
(31:08):
already said, oh you have tobe a qualifier. Yeah, I don't
want to do that. And thenevery participant raises a minimum of twenty five
hundred dollars and if you can imagine, some people raise ten twenty thirty thousand
dollars. Organizations contribute, but allof our money we are very fiduciary responsible.
(31:33):
We have a facilionndation that oversees us. We have eight board members,
we have an executive director, wehave an attorney, a CPA. What
the biggest fear of the public isanytime you're given to a nonprofit or organization,
they want to know where their moneyis going. And I can tell
(31:55):
you when people say, oh,you know, what do you do here?
What do you do there? Iask people what is one life worth?
What is one veteran's life worth?And you know it's priceless. Absolutely,
So we're purposeful and we're intentional whatwe do and this fifty mile mark
you find out quickly and it unitespeople. Who are these people? What
(32:20):
is their purpose? And I'm tellingyou, a seventy three year old retired
lieutenant colonel was the oldest last year. We have a retired sergeant from the
Marines this year who's seventy five yearsold who's training as we seek. And
then we have someone as young aseight years old with the doctor's release right
now training to see if he canmake it with us with her father.
(32:43):
Wow. And for our listeners,is that known as Operation Nobel Watchman.
Yes, Operation Nobel Watchman is thename of this mission. So every mission
has had a name, and NobelWatsman means basically, you're Nobel Watsman.
You're watching over your brothers and sisters, You're you're you're you're listening, you
(33:04):
are in tune, and you're vigilantwhen it comes to helping veterans. So
Noble Watchman is symbolic for that.And it was also named after a surgeon
who passed away just recently. Hewas not military, but he was a
historic buss and he performed the Watchmenart surgeries, a thousand of them in
(33:24):
his lifetime. And he's a worldrenowned surgeon and just a family friend of
ours, and I thought quo toprostitute to honor his name as well.
Outstanding. First of all, AJay, I can't say enough on the
work that you're doing for US veteransand the community that you're helping to create
(33:45):
just want to reach out here.Part of our program, we have something
called the Benefit Beat, and we'reblessed today to have two representatives from the
Disabled American Veterans, our local chapterhere in Port Show Dave Grant and mister
Joe rapidly, rapidly representing our area. And the only reason I'm bringing them
(34:07):
into this kind of a conversation isthat the DAV is national and it's it's
beyond the your mission that you're doingright now to find purpose, repurpose for
our veterans and your walking and thento help them go beyond that point.
I will say without a second,well second delay that the da V.
(34:30):
I will hope that can somehow marriageyou two together to help those veterans get
the things that they need. Resourcesand second to none, the da V,
that's what they do, that's theirsole mission is to take care of
us, take care of one another. So, guys, you want to
say a couple of words to them. I just wanted to thank him for
the services that he's providing. Iworked in several programs before some homeless veterans,
(34:52):
jail diversion programs and getting veterans thatassistance those wrap around services also very
important. So I just want tocommit you in the job that you're doing
well. I want to recognize yourorganization because we need people like the DAV
and I will tell you the responsibilityultimately is up to the people who will
(35:15):
help care for the veterans, veteransby themselves. You know, sometimes you
hear, oh, the VA this, or the DAV this, or you
know, I never can get anything. Part of it is educating the veterans
so that they can move forward inthe step. We have to put the
earnest on them wanting help as well. But I can tell you that your
organization has been instrumental just in myjust just from from my experience and the
(35:38):
and how how I've been able tolean on you guys for a resource.
I'm I'm a disabled bet myself,and I can just tell you that I
want more people to get involved withyour organization. I'm fifty three years old.
I'm younger than the average person atthe VFW or at the you know,
but we need now to get involve, get the younger generation involved,
(36:01):
and highlight programs like yours so thatwe can coordinate here exactly. And our
intent is always to reach out assistveterans. Usually whenever we reach or whenever
we meet veterans, you know,one of our first questions is do you
(36:23):
have all your benefits from the VAAnd then we take that and start delving
into the benefits that the veteran hasand the care that the veteran is receiving
and try to assist the veterans andachieving the ultimate benefits they can achieve and
(36:45):
reach. Helping homeless veterans is oneof the hallmarks of the help that we
try to help with in our chapter. It's so critical for our veteran community
most definitely. I agree. Iagree, and I'm hoping that somehow or
(37:09):
another that we can help you coordinateand make your mission a little bit easier.
And again, the sole purpose ofour show, the rally point is
to remind our veteran families and communitythat if you don't the one thing I've
always complained about the military, andthat's very few things that when you leave
the military, it's just a watch, a flag, how you doing here,
some paperwork, you're out the door. The road to getting services and
(37:34):
help is infinitely more complicated, andas I tell people, we're not attorneys.
We're not service officers. Go tothe subject matter experts because if we
don't get our benefits now and I'mnot saying anything bad about my lovely government
of the United States, they werereappropriate that money to something else. And
I will say that we as veteransare the hidden asset of of America.
(38:00):
We are mentors, we are expertsin what average field that we do,
and our sense of purpose is secondto none. And I feel that when
we leave service, we'll lose thatsense of urgency and usefulness and we kind
of fade out. And that's whatgets us, the fading out part,
because our being to the core ismeant to be purposeful. And I think
(38:22):
that your program to bring awareness inthat is instrumental. And I will say
this. I did a little researchthe other day, and I believe that
disabled American veterans, despite their categorization, actually may be part of the smallest
population minority group in the United States. And you take that I'm partially a
Cherokee and we're at twelve million perpopulace. I believe the disabled veterans fall
(38:46):
below twelve million. So my questionis everyone else gets a piece of the
pie in Congress, and we whohave been trained to protect our shores after
our missions accomplished with that, where'sour help? Love a billion dollars going
to Ukraine? But if he giveus a billion dollar challenge and give it
for us our vets, you couldprobably eliminate homelessness or veterans permanently. Well,
(39:07):
let me let me kind of segueoff of that. The disabled American
veterans does have a legislative voice inCongress, and if you would like to
help with that voice, you canhop over to what we call the Commander's
Action Network. And that we're alwayslooking for help supporting veterans, whether that's
(39:35):
helping a veteran claim his or herbenefits or by supporting our state representative passing
new legislation to help veterans. Andwe do this by actively being involved in
the Commander's Action Network. You canjoin us by going over on the internet
to dav dot org forward slash,Get Dash Involved, forward slash, advocate,
(40:05):
forward slash or excuse me, dashon Dash Legislation and then scrolled down
to Commander's Action Network And then bysigning up, you can support your local
DAV help by speaking to your localstate representatives and be in the know.
(40:27):
And earlier I spoke about the legislationthat just came out on dental care,
and that was Hr twenty four thirteen, the Dental Care for Veterans Act,
which requires the Secretary of the Departmentof Veteran Affairs to furnish dental care in
the same manner as any other medicalservice. And you know that is so
(40:54):
critical for veterans. And it startsout with the Priority Group one and two
service connected disabilities rated at thirty percentor more in year one outstanding. I
was going to say, yeah,I presume that Jay, you guys are
(41:15):
probably pretty well linked in out inNebraska with all your different veteran service organizations
and getting that access for those veteransthat need that hand up, which is
super helpful because I would imagine asa homeless veteran, they're probably very far
outside the loop of information. Inyour mission with fifty Mile March and helping
give them a solid footing to startup again with you're also helping open that
(41:37):
door to make sure that they're gettingtheir benefits reviewed and getting information on what's
available to them by virtue of theirservice. Absolutely, and if I could
just comment on that the obligation andthe responsibility and the accountability to every nonprofit
organization. And I want to makea point of it. If you are
(41:59):
a nonprofit and you are working inthe veteran space, it is your it
is your mission to become a forcemultiplier by coordinating and playing nice with every
other nonprofit, which means with meansand I dare say this, which means
that if you are in this spaceand your intent is to play in your
(42:20):
own lane, you're not going togo very far. Right. You might
go fast, but you're not goingto go far. The intent of the
Fifty Mile March Foundation is to coordinateservices so that we can maximize our voice,
so that we can so that wecan are the legislative bodies can hear
if we're not political, but ifwe unite enough people together, we coordinate
(42:40):
enough resources, people will notice whatwe're doing anyway. So that's my that's
my advice to all nonprofits in theveteran space or any space. Your your
job is to force multiply. Becauselisten, there's a VA, there's dav
there's all these there's strike there,there's all all these things that are piece
(43:01):
meals, all over the place,which are all great individual services, but
if you are in this space,you better know how to take someone from
the initial phone calls all the wayto the right system, right, because
too often we are untrained and wedon't know what to do when we get
that phone call. Hey, I'min trouble, I need help. I
(43:22):
need this, you know? Isit drug port? Is it the VA,
is it reabuilt it? Where isit? You know? So I
think it's our responsibility to clearly definethat path and be a beacon and a
shining example for everyone trying to helpthe veteran community. And I take that
very seriously, Jake. We usedto consider it like having a toolbox almost
(43:44):
in a sense that you have differenttools for the different jobs, especially with
our veterans. I mean some mightneed housing, some might need job training,
some might need healthcare, some mightneed benefits. So in order to
have a fully equipped toolbox, youhave to be able to reach out as
a nonprofit and touch those different areas. So it's important for us to broad
(44:06):
in exactly who we deal with andhow we can assist those veterans. Yes,
and can you understand that for aveteran who wants to just have a
mental health appointment. How long doesit take to just go through a normal
system without coordination, without education,without who to call. Some people are
(44:27):
waiting three, eight to four months. And I'm not blaming the system.
I'm saying we need to educate ourveterans on how to navigate that system.
We need to hold their hand,We need to they're are battle buddy.
We need to drag them by thecaller sometimes walk alongside them in their season
of need. Absolutely, yes,yes, yes. And Jay's so interesting
(44:50):
that you said that. This isJoe and I was a service officer for
eighteen years with my county and state. And when I first got into that
business, one of the things thatI used to do with veterans all the
time was give them like a checklist. You need to complete this, you
need to complete that, you needto do this, you need to do
that, and then I'd see thema month later and we've done. And
(45:12):
what I had to learn is alot of our veterans, even though they
really wanted to, they weren't ableto. Yes. So that's why it's
so important for us to stay incontact, Like you said, have battle
buddies consistently talk and make you know, have those conversations with the veterans and
make sure that they get the sistancethat's needed. Jill, the cool thing
is the fifty mile March. Theytalk about that being able. I'm sorry,
(45:34):
Jay, I don't want to liketake any of your thunder, but
I loved how you said this.During one of our meetings, they talked
about how the point of the fiftymile March is for us to do what
some can't do for themselves, whetherthat's marching fifty miles, whether that's putting
them in touch with resources. Youknow, the fifty mile March covers so
many different aspects of it that theyare doing for these veterans what they might
(45:58):
not be able to do for themselvesright now, so that in the future,
once they're on the other side ofit, they might see somebody else
that needs them to come alongside themand walk alongside of them, and they
can help lead them through that processand lead them to the fifty mile March
and let them get the help theyneed. Oh. Absolutely, And if
I can share one more example ofwhat we're battling, sixty eight year old
(46:21):
Vietnam veteran called me from the parkinglot of the VA and said I can't
bring myself to come in. Isaid, why don't you just walk in?
And he goes, I've been herefor an hour, just in the
parking lot. I can't go in. I called inside of the VA.
I said, hey, there's agentleman outside. I physically drove to him
an hour later, So he hadprobably been in his car for two and
(46:43):
a half hours. He just hadanxiety to not want to walk in.
It had been eleven years since hestepped foot in a VA eleven years.
And guess what. We got himhousing, We got him had vash vouchers,
We got him a counselor now.And that's the kind of work this
(47:04):
takes. I mean he had henot contacted us, he would have probably
not walked in. So for somepeople, it's not just the ability physically,
it's the mental capacity to say,wait a minute, if I walk
in here, what kind of personam I? And I'm telling you asking
help is one of the bravest,most courageous things to do for any person
(47:29):
on this earth, right because itputs all of your pride, in all
of your ego side to say Ican't walk fifty miles would you drag me?
Hey, I can't walk into thesedoors? Would you walk with me?
Hey? I can't. I feellike I can't be myself right now?
Would you get me help? Likethat is so undervalued these days or
it's brushed under the rug where peopledon't want to ask for help. If
(47:52):
you're a veteran, you have everyright to ask for help. This nation
called us for help. Our areour people of the United States called us
for help. Ask for help.It's it's normal, it's beyond normal.
It's courageous most definitely in one ofthe things. And I guess I'm the
(48:14):
only army person in the room here. That's okay though. Wow. Yeah.
One of the things that were wasbeaten to our dome in the in
boot camp was a simple phrase,and I think it's kind of transcended through
me throughout the years. Batter buddy, I got you covered. And you
(48:34):
can say that on the battlefield,and it also transcends real life and it
takes up that stigma for weakness thatyou may have in any situation you may
have because it is the expectation ofmy brother to have me covered. And
that's the thing that we need totranscend just outside of the army, but
as a veteran population to say,look, folks, we all have bad
(48:57):
days, some worse than others.But the fact that I'm is no one
has a perfect life or a perfectexistence. I want people to know.
And the point of the rally pointis battle buddy, I got you covered
without you having to ask. Youalready know that it's going to be the
case, and that's our hope.We get past that point if I feel
that we can end, so wecan put a huge debt in suicide.
(49:19):
Anxiety and depression all come from havinga fear of the unknown or a sense
of overwhelmed whelming failure, and whichwe've all been taught failure is not an
option. It's an option, right, I agree with you. And can
I just comment on suicide, theword suicide itself. Yes, we need
to not be afraid to say that, and then we need to not all
(49:39):
this politically correct terms that they've listened. Suicide is a real word. It
is something that happens every day,right, and twenty two a day,
right, and it's climbing. Buthe's here. Here's what I say is
when you call, you know,when you tell someone I'm here, for
you and there and they get angry. I would rather my friend be angry
(50:02):
at me checking in on him andalive for another day. See, too
often the able don't approach the peoplewho need help because they don't want to.
They don't want to impose. Theydon't want to make them mad,
make them mad, impose, letthem feel some kind of emotion, and
then get them to the next step. You don't have to be the counselor
you don't have to be the lawyeror attorney or the doctor. You just
(50:25):
need to get them to the nextstep. That's all you need to do.
And sometimes it means bothering them.It means rustling their feathers and saying
I can help you, brother orsister. And and you know the most
powerful thing is I've been there before. I know what lead oil or I
know what gun oil tastes like,and and I never want to taste that
(50:47):
ever again. And that reminds mehow human I am, and to be
human to others as well. Absolutely, And we're so thankful for the opportunity
to talk with you about the fiftymile March, to be able to share
this on the airwaves with other people, because I know, for me,
before January sixth, I had noidea what the fifty mile March really was
(51:08):
about. I had seen some ofit on social media, but you know,
to understand that this is definitely amessage worth sharing with everyone, and
we look forward absolutely to check andback in with you periodically if you don't
mind on the show, just tokind of see what's new with the fifty
Mile March and continue to remind peoplebecause for those of you that are listening,
if you want to know how youcan get involved from your side of
(51:30):
the radio, A good way todo that is you can contribute and there
will be an option for you todonate and we'll share that with you in
the future. So if you'd liketo contribute to that cause, even though
it's not here in Southwest Florida,you can make a difference for veterans elsewhere
a program something like the fifty MileMarch. It might end up in Florida
someday, we don't know, butit's got to start somewhere, and it's
(51:51):
got to start somehow. And Jay, what you're doing is a fantastic way
to start that, and you aremaking a difference. One person needs to
hear this show today and just herethat there is help and it's okay to
ask for help and people like youare not interested. You are committed and
I'm grateful for that absolutely well.Thanks for coming on the show. Jay.
(52:14):
We appreciate it and we will belooking forward to having you on shows
in the future as well. RogerJay out, thank you all. Take
care Jay hearing God bless thank you, thank you all. Thank you all
so much for all the work thatyou do. Thank you, thank you
for what you do. Have agood one, all right, that being
said, gentlemen, thank you verymuch for coming on the show. Thank
(52:35):
you for living the contact information orfor the America to come find you guys
here in Portshout, Florida at themall and I will see you very soon
myselves and ladies and gentlemen want tosay you want to send us off today.
Just have a great day, guys, make it a good day on
purpose. Remember your purpose, andif you don't have one, remember we're
here for you. Amen to that. And one last shout out to Bud
(52:59):
Borier, my mentor and friend lastweek, had a heart attack. He's
a district Eric. You know,he's an Eric commander for the American Legion
and uh he is. He's alsoa fellow law enforcement officer. Dear friend
of my mentor, I am gladyou came home from the hospital the other
(53:20):
day. Besides a veteran organizations,he's a better friend that I've had since
I've been down here in Florida,and he's kept me from losing my cool.
And trust me, that's what abattle buddy does. He's there for
the good and bad times. He'salways been there for me, and I
hope him and Joeann I understand thatwe're always in spirit with them. Anything
you need or a phone call away. That being said, Folks America,
(53:45):
have another time at another place,and I'll see you again next week at
the rally point
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