Rally Point 37

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Rally Pointers fun in once again.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Lady and gentlemen, Welcome to the Rally Point Show with
your host James Denway and his co host with the
Most a Man of Mycanu and the man to mix
it all happened behind the switchboard saying the brain. How
are you doing, folks?

Speaker 3 (00:18):
Good morning?

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Uh so, uh that was your weekend there, Zane?

Speaker 4 (00:24):
Oh it was good. I'm healing up. I had a
little problem with my knee, had an mc al tear
and I want everybody to know. I ended up in
the er and Sarge came to try to see me
while I was there. So he is a true friend
and thank you Sarge.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
Really he walks the walk.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah, man, it is what it is. No one's left
behind zero And I hope everyone out there and Radio
Lands have a wonderful weekend. We're going through these summer
months and it's been interesting folks. The Olympics is now
about the end and great things are going on. So
what do we have for show on our show today, Amanda?

Speaker 1 (00:58):
So today we have a really great sho We're going
to have Aaron burretta with Greater Pine Island Alliance, so
he'll be coming and talking to us about that program
and what they do and also what they're up to now,
which is pretty interesting. It's just going to be a
really great story about veterans helping veterans, which is what
it's all about.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Most definitely, And folks, if we haven't picked up the
theme here with the Rally Point show is we're putting
together a very exclusive and wide network of resources for
our veterans and our communities to have access to. We
set up multiple times before, and I'll say it again,
everything's tried on to military and the veterans first and
then it goes down to the billion effort passes the grade.

(01:38):
So don't you forget head our website at one Rallypoint
dot org and check out that network page and find
what you need to have and make some new connections.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
And before we get started, we want to give a
huge shout out to our sponsors as usual, definitely AETNA
Medicare Solutions, Derek Get It Done Anderson with Etna GLA
I met you. And then we also have wreaths across America.
Thank you so much for your support. If you haven't
already heard, we are also doing fundraising for wreaths to

(02:10):
be placed at our local cemetery here in Sarasota. So
if you're interested, please again, like the starch said, go
on one rallypoint dot org. So that's the number one
rallypoint dot org and you can find the link to
click so that you can contribute to a wreath for
us to place in December on the grave of a

(02:31):
deserving veteran. And on today's show, we'll move on to
our segment where we have our founder and co chair
of the Greater Pine Island Alliance, Aaron Burretta, and his
executive director Aaron Lawler here in the studio to a
tale of two errands today on the show. If you will, so,
welcome to the show. Thank you for coming, and we're

(02:52):
just excited to be able to tell our listeners about
what Greater Pine Island Alliance is, how you guys kind
of can came to form it. But I guess first
of all, we should probably back up and just tell
us about yourselves, Like how did y'all end up coming
to the Pine Island area.

Speaker 5 (03:09):
Well, that's a great question, and really to my military service.
So when I retired, I retired out of Central Command
in Tampa and from there I started driving north and
south east and west, doing the map search, doing the
vehicle search to find where I actually wanted to retire.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
That sounds like how my husband and I did it too.

Speaker 5 (03:29):
And one day I found Pine Island and just fell
in love with it. It's a rural island, a lot of it,
a lot of agrarians still on the island, and it
makes it a very unique kind of old Florida feel
to Pine Island. So the other thing was somewhat affordable
to find a home I could actually afford to buy,
and just a great community when I went down there.

(03:50):
I also I always go to the American Legion the VFW,
you know, you go to local moves, You go check
out some of the local organizations, and it gives you
a really good idea of the kind of the vibe
and the commun unity. And I really I just fell
in love with the people. And so that's why I
went to Pine Island.

Speaker 6 (04:04):
I grew up fishing in Pine Island. My father lives
actually about seven minutes away from me on the island
Nice and so I was working in Chicago, and when
I've discovered that I was going to have a baby,
I wanted to move home and raise him in the
way that I was raised.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
Very cool, outstanding, and I'm going to quickly interject here
America once again, we have another veteran on our show,
and if you could, sir, give a little more background
on your background, your career in the military and America
meet Aaron BURRETTA fully loaded thank you.

Speaker 5 (04:39):
Thank you for that introduction. Going into the military, just
growing up. It was it happened sort of by chance,
I want to say, and by the grace of God.
So at one point in my life I wanted to
go to college, but did not financially have the means,
and very fortunate at the time I was attending it's
called the Rearden scholars program that helps inner city youth

(05:01):
in California. And from there. At a career day, I
met brook hor YouTube wizard name, and she said, what
are you going to do? And I said, well, I've
you know, tested going to the Marine Corps. I'd taken
the written exam, done everything, but signed on the dotted
line and college wasn't you know, I didn't see it
as a financial option. She said the words that ultimately
changed my life. But my dad is the West Point

(05:21):
lays onto the West coast, and I said, what's west point?

Speaker 1 (05:26):
And so, but he made good on it. He joined
the Army. Those of you out there probably like having
a corner not cringe.

Speaker 5 (05:35):
Yes, So the short version of that story is he
helped me and guided me through the process. I ended
up attending the United States Military Academy, graduating there in
nineteen ninety nine. So from there I commissioned into the artillery. Normally,
like all great artillery offices, we all go to Fort Sill,
the home of artillery for the Army. So I spent
a little bit of time there and then quickly moved

(05:58):
on to Colorado Springs, where I was with the third
ACR out of Colorado Springs. During that time, we deployed
to Egypt, and that was right before we entered in
the ground war or the air war in Afghanistan. So
September eleventh happened, and September twenty ninth I was boots

(06:19):
on the ground in Egypt. Because at the time we
did not know as a nation what effect that air
campaign would do.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
And so very quickly, very fast nine to eleven, for sure,
I think all of us can vouch for that that
were in at the time.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
It was things moved.

Speaker 5 (06:36):
They did. They moved very quickly. So we ended up
staying in Egypt for a little bit of time. Then
we came back from there. I was back a few
months and that fall and summer I then went down
to Sodokano, Honduras JTF Bravo. I was the J three
current ops chief in Sodo Kano and so that was
a new experience for me, a different type of deployment

(06:58):
in that and different mission during the time that I
was there. Immediately following that, I went back to Fort
Corson in time to roll with Third Days or into OIF.
So jumped right from that deployment right back into another one.
And that was a year. And you know, at the time,
I think a lot of US veterans we all thought, oh,
it's going to be like the Gulf War done in

(07:19):
three days. It was not. So you know, in a
strange way, you know, excited to go, didn't know what
you're getting into, but you knew that's what you had
trained for your whole career to that point. So like
a lot of people as young and eager. And then
my second tour was of three, So came back for
a year, then went right you know, right back to
Iraq again. That time I was with third Infant Green Division,

(07:41):
so I'd moved over to Fort Stewart, Georgia, and I
deployed initially as part of the division, then moved down
into three sixty nine Armor as their battalion fire support officer,
great speeding power unit down there. I love those guys,
and from there, at that point in my career, I
was tired. I've been to Egypt, I'd been down in Honduras.

(08:01):
I had pretty much back to back deployments with that
year off, and so the Army saw fit and they
moved me to Fort Riley, Kansas, where it would spend
the next seven years. As it turns out, he trained
the MIT teams. Because at the time we were standing
up the military transition teams, I already had two deployments,
if three, I had two deployments onder my belt. So
they sent me to run a company and we spent

(08:23):
our time, you know, about every sixty days, we're turning
out these military transition teams and they're to pulling down range.
So I did that for a number of years on
that mission, and then I got my second battery Delta,
first of the fifth Hamilton's own the longest continuing serving
unit in the regular Army. So when the Continental Army

(08:44):
Little side Back was disbanded, George Washington did leave Alexander
Hamilton's battery there to guard West Point, and so that's
why it can boast be the longest continuing serving unit.
From there, your career is often made of, you know,
actions and relationships and everything seemed to take over that point.

(09:05):
For some reason, they asked an artillery officer to become
a brigade adjuntant for an infantry brigade. I don't know why.
Must have seen something anyway, So that was a great job,
great experience. From there, then the division commanding General, Division
General Brooks, then some Brooks ended up retiring as four star.
He was a two star back then. He brought me

(09:27):
on to be as executive officer. So I ended up
serving over two years with him as an executive officer.
During that time, we deployed that time to Basra, Iraq,
so one on another deployment, and that was quite a
different experience working at that level, working the division level,
being the executive officer to a brilliant military mind. And

(09:48):
following that, I then became a Battalion S three and
a Battalion XO, and as a Battalion Executive officer, deployed
again artillery, this time going to Afghanistan, and so we
were a hybrid unit. We had the triple sevens and
the smaller one on nines and so we were Xirak
Boris Oe Tilman Pactika Province out there. We actually closed

(10:11):
down FOB Tilman, part of that piece that was later on.
And then from there, some of the folks that had
served with in First ID, one of them happened to
be back at West Point and asked me if I
wanted to come and work in the Department of Military Instruction.
So then I went back to West Point where I
became Chief of Military Training for the academy, running all

(10:31):
the summer training and in charge of part of the
curriculum for the actual academics on the military side. And
that was very rewarding experience during that multiple years training
those cadets, and it was a very tough time at
West Point. Training was rigorous. It had to be because
they were graduating second lieutenants and going right into theater,
and so it was a very important time and had

(10:53):
a lot of latitude and we trained hard and it
was really a rewarding experience to see these young come
in at such a young age, right after high school
and then four years later transitioned becoming second lieutenants and
from that job. At the time I had had some
back surgeries and some other great things that the Army
does give you. Your body breaks down.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
A little bit.

Speaker 1 (11:15):
I would say, if you don't leave after a twenty
year career with some serious like brokenness and jacked up
and this going on, it's like, did you really do
it right?

Speaker 3 (11:24):
I don't know.

Speaker 5 (11:25):
I don't know. Yeah, So foot surgery, back surgery, the normal,
you know, your body starts to break down. And so
at that time I realized it was it was time to,
you know, move on, do something else. The body was
no longer allowed me to fight as I would like to.
So I was able to get assigned to Central Caban
in Tampa, which I really appreciate it because I want

(11:46):
to love Florida. I've been in Florida before. I thought
it was an amazing place in.

Speaker 3 (11:49):
The Air Force.

Speaker 1 (11:50):
Mcdill's a dream base. The McDill and Patrick Egglin Hurlbert,
all those bases in Florida are dream bases. So yeah,
for you to go to McDill was probably especially from
an army standpoint. No offense to the army, but most
times you guys are geographically kind of isolated.

Speaker 3 (12:07):
Yes, I'm just saying. I remember one time.

Speaker 5 (12:10):
I I was right there in the middle of Wait.

Speaker 1 (12:12):
Yes, I had got that highway somewhere one time, I
think I was in I think it was Colorado, but anyways,
it said there was some base out there somewhere for something,
and I was just like, you gotta be kidding me.
Like I was driving twenty five miles down this little
dirt road. There's like tumble weeds blowing. So yeah, for
you to get Tampa must have been a dream coming true.

Speaker 5 (12:31):
It really was. It was awesome, and I actually commuted
all the way from the beach. I went rented a
house on the beach each way. Nothing wrong with that,
something an army guy never gets to do, so right, Anyway,
I ended up I was initially in a staff position,
and then as the Army turns, I ended up being
the acting chief of Joint Fires for a period of
time there towards the end of my career, and that's

(12:53):
where I ended up retiring out of so very rewarding career.
A lot of different things I was able to do,
and that's you know, they say, join the army stroy
of the world.

Speaker 4 (13:00):
I did.

Speaker 5 (13:00):
I mean, I'm saying just the countries that you go through,
you know. I mean that's small to small trip over
to Jordan for a little while as well. I mean,
it's just it's amazing where you get to go and
see exactly.

Speaker 3 (13:12):
And plus you got to wear a lot of hats.

Speaker 1 (13:14):
I mean you went from being like artillery and exact
to the chief of a department in central Command. That's
that's pretty cool. I mean it's a very diverse career.

Speaker 5 (13:23):
So it was, it was, it was very diverse.

Speaker 2 (13:26):
And the skill set that you're left with after the career,
I mean applying that in civilian terms, Oh good grief,
I've lost track. Project manager, executive of a major corporation.
You're you're shoeing everywhere. And a little background, folks, I
know Aaron from a veteran organization. We're both commanders at
want separate locations. And his no nonsense approach. Let's say

(13:50):
things got done, people didn't like it and know it.
That's the army. Way, we'll apologize after it's all said
and done. And if you got a problem with well,
i'll see you later anyway. So a tect is by far,
what you're hearing is the real Dale, folks, And in
real life some people can't handle it because they want
to fluff it. And the one thing I appreciate about
my army and his army and your army is that

(14:11):
there's no fluff of what we do. We just do
it and know when people get mad, and it gets
done exceptional, not to standard above the standard.

Speaker 1 (14:18):
Well and like you said, though, I think his skill
set kind of it was really actually preparing you for
what you're doing now on a lot of levels. So
so you ended up retiring in the Pine Island area.
And I think I remember hearing that Pine Island is
comprised of four different communities, correct, three Buchilia, Saint James City,

(14:39):
and matt Lache.

Speaker 3 (14:41):
Yeah, okay, perfect, I got.

Speaker 1 (14:43):
It, Yes, correctly, exactly right. I'll see, I've been around
Florida for a little while. This is like technically my
second time living here. So but yeah, that's so, with
the Greater Pine Island Alliance, we know that that was
born out of the tragedy and difficulty that is Hurricane Ian.

(15:03):
And for those of you listening that aren't in the
local area, one thing you'll definitely hear today, I'm sure,
is that this is an ongoing process of with Ian rebuilding, healing.
Like say, prayers for us because we are still down here,
praying that this hurricane season stays relatively mild because we
need it to. We're all still trying to rebuild, We're

(15:25):
all still trying to move forward from that. And from
what I understand, that's what Greater Pine Island Alliance exists
to do. So please tell us how GPIA as you
call it, had come to be.

Speaker 5 (15:40):
So how it came to be is exactly what you're
talking about. After Hurricane I in obviously devastated this region
of Florida, ESS and the island took a heavy toll
and took quite a hit from that Cap five storm.
And from there, immediately following a lot of relief organizations
come down and I was at the American Legion commanding
local American Legion down there, and we were at local relief.

(16:03):
At times we're feeding six hundred and seven hundred people
a day, and we did this for multiple months, given
away a lot of supplies. But once you get past
the initial after so many months, some of those relief
organizations go away, fade out.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
Yeap, and so kind of have a short memory when
it comes to that. That's one thing I tried to
educate people on is it doesn't end down here.

Speaker 2 (16:23):
And if I could interject, ladies and gentlemen, what you needed.
I want you to put this mental picture in your
mind of what happened in our area. Cat five storm hit.
For you guys who have seen down been down ranging
and seeing place places bombed out. Matt Leche I had
triggers going through it before it got shut down. It
was stripped to like it got bombed. I mean complete

(16:45):
and other devastation. Santa Bell was cut off from the mainland,
I believe, so it's Pine Island and Pine Ale was
caught off I'm talking about by water. Boats and houses
were destroyed. Imagine your three bedroom house cracked open like
an egg and the inside you can see from the
sky and as you can as you can imagine, like

(17:07):
they just said, the troops came down immediately, but month,
one month, two month, six one year, they start to
fade away and the jobs still not done two years later,
and this is why we need GPIA. They're still there.

Speaker 5 (17:21):
So we're absolutely still there. So as part of this process,
what I learned is that there's formation of a long
term recovery group. So the Greater Ponta Alliance is a
long term recovery group and that's actually a recognized entity
within disaster relief. So as a long term recovery group,
that gives us better access to county, state, and federal resources.

(17:43):
So from the creation of the Greater panton Alliance, that
has enabled us to partner with a lot of amazing
agencies out there, American Red Cross, the United Way, Habitat
for Humanity, on the Volunteer Florida Florida VOAD. We are
also associate members board members with Florida vo ED, which
is volunteer organizations active in disaster and so that's the

(18:05):
network across Florida where we all come together and kind
and combine our resources. So, if I'll back up a
little bit at the founding and the Greater pint On
Alliance is when you see all these great relief efforts
going on, part of what you want to do is
reduce the duplication of services, so that we're all not
trying to do the same thing. Each agency, nonprofit. They

(18:28):
all have certain gifts and skills and we need them
all to rebuild a community, but we all don't want
to do the same exact thing we need to. We
might need some aid that one agency can give, whereas
this other agency maybe they have skilled labor and we
need that. And so it's from that existence that the
greater point on Alliance that's kind of the idea of
when it was formed, is how do we better coordinate

(18:50):
within our local community. So we are in unincorporated Lee
County out there in the Greater Pine Island, which which
is important to understand, so there isn't a city in
This is grassroots, grassroots people trying to help and serve
their community. Do you want to add something to that or.

Speaker 7 (19:07):
I think I think you hit it.

Speaker 6 (19:09):
One of the key things, as the Colonel said, when
you see all these gray organizations coming down, not just
the duplication of efforts, but having a staging point so
that when they come to the island, they know where
to go, so we can put people where they're needed
the most and with what services are needed the most.

(19:30):
And that's you know, physical, emotional, and then as well
obviously as construction and rebuilding and having the island feel
like they're a part of the process I think is
huge as well.

Speaker 1 (19:42):
Absolutely, it sounds like logistics and ownership is a big
piece of what kind of brought Gpia together and made
you guys successful.

Speaker 7 (19:51):
Well, and that's that's kind of a joke we talk about.

Speaker 6 (19:53):
And Aaron's mother actually has said that he went to
West Point just as much for this storm and for
Gpia exactly. Yes, you did for the military.

Speaker 1 (20:01):
Isn't it amazing to think that, like things that happen
in your life that far back are for a purpose
that you can't even see coming.

Speaker 5 (20:08):
They really do. And one of the I did gloss
over one point in my career that really helped me
in this regard is I was an inter Agency Fellow
for a year and I worked with the United States
Marshall Service and it was during that time that they
sent me to the FEMA courses Incident Command Systems ICs
and I got ICs certified.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
I used to do part of that as part of
my job in the Air Force.

Speaker 3 (20:32):
So, okay speak in my language.

Speaker 5 (20:34):
Well, once again, you go to things in your life
that you don't know how that's going to play in. Yes,
but what a gift that gave me to understand, because,
like you said, it's really about logistics. Relief is a
lot about the Army wins on logistics.

Speaker 2 (20:46):
We say it all the time, yes sir, Yes, sir,
and folks remember this when we joined the army. We
don't know what we're going to do. You find a
career and you make it, you make it blossom, and
you grow from that. And then all of a sudden
in twenty five years, thirty years past, and then all
of a sudden, you're sitting on that, you're sitting in
the couch, and then there's a storm, and all of
a sudden, your skills become reflex like, Okay, we need

(21:09):
to get this to get the supplies over here. The
proper utilization of resources is critical to any situation. And
the commander here is they spent the whole lifetime doing that.
Time's over and I'll speak for everybody here and i'll
say it for people out there any audience. God bless
you for what you did for those people during the storm,

(21:30):
and that job is still not done.

Speaker 5 (21:34):
No, I really appreciate that, and thank you everybody for
their service. Everybody listening, thank you for your service. And
the skill sets you get. Like you were just saying,
you don't really know how they're going to be utilized.
I like to say it's a lifetime of service to
the nation, and we can serve in a lot of
different ways. Sometimes we wear our uniform for a couple
of years, sometimes we work for twenty. But what's instilled
in each one of us, all the warriors out there,

(21:55):
is that it's a lifetime of service. And that's one
of the things that I think our armed forces really
bring to any community in anywhere they are, but with
great upon on alliance. One of the things I'll highlight
is really, so we're talking we stood up this organization,
but we look at preparedness, response, and recovery. So right
now we are in multiple phases of that. So two
years later, we're still doing recovery. We currently have over

(22:18):
active have over one hundred and thirty personnel that we're
currently assisting. Since storm, we've had over forty two veterans
who have these If they want to volunteer, we ask
them check the box so we know that you know,
we're helping some veterans two veterans directly in labor and
actual donations. We've done over two hundred thousand dollars two
veterans alone within this organization. But as we get each

(22:42):
one of these individuals and cases still come in. There
is such a need out there still in the recovery
and as you mentioned, we're hoping for, you know, a
hurricane season that's relatively event free for us. But at
the same time we're also getting prepared and preparedness is
another key is how to you as a community better
prefer yourself than the last time. Yes, and just taking

(23:03):
a look to see what we can do. And as
Aaron mentioned, she mentioned part of it is the logistics
and how do you coordinate resources better this time knowing
what you know from it. Yeah, And so we do
spend time looking at that preparedness and we've donated starlinks
across the island to some key locations so that communication
will be available depending on where you're at. Wonderfuse. That

(23:25):
was one of the key things that we learned after
the storm. We couldn't communicate.

Speaker 1 (23:29):
I thieve that was imperative in the whole region. I
mean the fact that like all of our cell towers
went down probably about I don't know, four thirty five
o'clock in the afternoon that day. At least for where
I live, we had no signal whatsoever after about four
to forty five. And so that's that's just concerning on
a multitude of levels, not just because you can't get

(23:51):
your message out, but nobody can get a message into you,
nobody can verify that you're okay. So that's wonderful that
you've been able to put those out. Our county, Charlotte County,
has also taken steps, to my understanding, to put more
of those out there as well, repeaters and the like.
I'm probably not using the proper language, but whatever, but
making sure that our communication can be better the next

(24:12):
time that this happens, hopefully on a much lesser scale
than what we saw with ian No.

Speaker 5 (24:18):
I think absolutely that is key. Another part of our
organization within the recovery is we utilize what they're called
disaster case managers. So let's say you click get help
on our website, which is Greater Pine Island, our GPI
Alliance dot org, so it's GPI Alliance dot org. And
if you click get help, then the disaster case manager

(24:38):
gets with you and helps you through that process. And
having a long term recover group in place should there
be another event tragically at any level, then we have
those personnel in place to assist survivors earlier. And that's
one of the things is if we knew now what
we knew back then, we could have helped ourselves a
lot better. And I want to thank compass Adi two

(24:59):
who generally mostly funds are disaster case managers through a
reciprocal grant process and just a great partner and making
sure that we can help more people. So I think
going forward, and that's why we say preparedness, response, and recovery.
It's really three things, and it's cyclical, and you're always
kind of in one of the realms right now. We

(25:19):
call it blue skuys. When there's not a disaster, they
call it grace guys in a disaster. But all the
work you do in blue skys is just as critical
leading up to operation preparation, Always.

Speaker 6 (25:29):
Prepare And I think with that, with the with the
get help tab, I think so many people think, oh, well,
you know I don't have holes in my roof. You
know I can I can deal with the the web.

Speaker 1 (25:39):
Veterans are the worst offenders of that mindset. They'll be like,
someone else probably needs more hard than I do.

Speaker 7 (25:45):
And we hear that all the time.

Speaker 6 (25:46):
But the great thing about the disaster case managers is
they have a wonderful way of kind of getting out
of you what the actual needing. That's what I was
going to and we can better help and serve. Yeah,
because we can't help if you don't ask, if you
don't know what you need. And so many people say, oh, no, no, no,
I just need my roof repaired, and then we walk
in and your house is full of mold.

Speaker 3 (26:06):
No exactly, m Yeah.

Speaker 1 (26:08):
If they can assess and diagnose, then that also helps.
Like what I took from that is that it helps
the person figure out, Okay, where am I right now
and what are my next steps? Because honestly, when you
have something overwhelming like that, like my house, you know,
we lost ninety five percent of our home, it's so
overwhelming in the beginning to be like where do we

(26:28):
even begin to sort through this? Like where do we
even start to fix this? Will it ever get fixed?
You go through that whole brach of emotions, and of
course you think nobody's going to see that we need
this help the way that we think we do. You know,
they're probably just going to be like, oh, stick a
band aid on it, you're good. When that's not the case,
Like you have to kind of I know it sounds

(26:49):
corny and cliche and we've heard a million times, but
you do kind of have to have faith in the system,
and so through the get help. I would think that's
a good way to like assess and diagnose the need
from what information they're able to get through asking certain questions,
and then helping that person figure out here are your
next steps. Here's what you can do. Here's the process
as it looks right now, until somebody probably gets to you,

(27:11):
boots on ground to look at what you've got and
figure out what really needs to happen.

Speaker 6 (27:15):
Well, and then it's even moving on from there. Once
we do get the house repaired and we go through
we say safe, secure, and sanitary.

Speaker 7 (27:23):
That's what our goal is.

Speaker 6 (27:24):
You know, it doesn't beautiful painted walls are not safe,
secure and sanitary. I want your kitchen, it, I want
your restroom facilities. But if we had to gut your
entire house, you probably also are going to need something
to sleep on and eat out of then we go
through our other programs. Somebody Cares as an amazing organization
that allows us to provide appliances for people who are

(27:44):
at the United Way Warehouse to get other additional furnishing
furnishings for the home.

Speaker 7 (27:49):
So we really want.

Speaker 6 (27:51):
To get people back into because we learned actually and
there have been studies that it's about eighteen months after
a disaster of this magnitude that people emotionally start to
break down, just get tired, do not have the wherewithal
to really kind of go on. So we were able
to bring in international Orthodox charities to provide emotional first

(28:12):
aid to the island for eight weeks sponsored that. So
we really try to help all encompassing, like you said,
prepare it does response recovery, you know with our disaster sites.
But the other big thing is that, you know, we
have a permanent office there at the center of the
island and people will come in and just talk to
us if they just need to come and kind of
here's what's going on, here's what my process is. You know,

(28:35):
is there anything that can be done. We have a
great team with Samaritan Health and Wellness out of Cape
Coral that provides affordable or free mental health to the
island as well. So we really are trying to help
the entire recovery process and then prepare for next time
and reminding everyone please save your receipts.

Speaker 3 (28:55):
You know, all of those little things exactly.

Speaker 6 (28:57):
Kind of a nightmare storm when it comes to getting resources.

Speaker 5 (29:02):
And I think you really hit on the key is
the emotional well being. I think out of any disaster
and when you when you see somebody and like you mentioned,
nine percent of your belongings are gone. At that point,
you're just blank. You don't know what.

Speaker 1 (29:18):
There's videos on my phone, there's photos on my phone
that I can't look at talk about without something coming
out of that.

Speaker 5 (29:25):
Absolutely, and so it's it's amazing. And shout out once
again to Red Cross. They helped us sponsor Camp Noah
during spring break for the children. And what Camp Noah
does is they take the story of Noah before the storm,
getting on the arc, during the storm, and after the storm,
and it's for the elementary age kids. And they drew

(29:46):
pictures and oh my gosh, to see pictures of climbing
into attics, yes, you know, to see these kids and
it gave them an opportunity to talk about through different
means people brief yes, yeah, for the kids, and you know,
it's just it's amazing what a toll it takes on
everybody in the community. And it's really how can you

(30:07):
replace those airlums? You can't. I can get you new furniture,
but what you lost, there's a certain amount that you
did lose. So it takes a community and what erin
and I we try and described as a hub and spoke,
so GPI, we don't have all the resources, but my
goal is if I can connect you to the resource
you need, and that can take a lot of different
shapes and forms. And that's other organizations out there that

(30:29):
do a lot of this great work.

Speaker 2 (30:31):
Oh fantastic. And one of the things I want to
say on two fronts, both nationally and here at home
in Florida, I want to speak to my vets right now. Folks,
we are born and we're designed to be proficient individuals
and soldiers or a seamen or marines. But in a
mill crisis, we're going one hundred miles an hour. At
some point in time, we reassess ourselves in our situation

(30:53):
and doing that, we are not subject matter experts. This
is where we have people like Aaron and Aaron here.
They are experts in this particular area. If you need help,
reach out for help. There's no shame in the game
to reach out and say I need any to hand
up my battle, buddy, There's no shame in that. But
please do not say I don't need this help, because

(31:14):
that is what will cost you down the road. And
I will speak on a situation in Charlotte County. The
person side tracked the help, s step the help. They
then said I'll help somebody else, and they did that.
When they went back to their house, it was completely
consumed by black mold. And the insurance company said why

(31:36):
do you wait so long? And they said, we're not
going to cover that. Another and a whole bunch of
a mess. The whole point of us is us folks.
We all need help sometime or another. And in any company,
any unit, in any squadron I've ever been in, I
couldn't do the whole job help with my battles getting
our mission done. So you guys are phenomenal and veterans.
The organization Greater Pine Island Alliance is ran by one

(32:00):
of us. They understand what we need and how we talk,
so I know some of that shame. We won't get frustrated.
Find them.

Speaker 3 (32:07):
They're going to help you out absolutely.

Speaker 1 (32:09):
And then I think you guys have also been expanding
your operations outside of the area with recent developments with
Hurricane Debbie as well.

Speaker 5 (32:17):
Right with Hurricane Debbie, so a lot of people came
down upon on to help us. So although we focus
on Greater Pont Island, we realize that there is a
need up here, in particular Sarasota. And received a call
from some of that works with the Governor's office and
they knew I was a vet doing this work and
they asked us if we could go up and help

(32:39):
Operation Warrior Resolution. So about a month ago in Sarasota,
they had just established the Veterans House and this Warrior
I'll call it a Warrior House, but Operation war Resolution,
I'll call it a Warrior House because it's designed to
help veterans with PTSD and they do retreats for couples,
they help individuals with their PTSD. And that particular house

(33:01):
took on about three feet of water a little bit
more so Aaron and I we deployed up there. We've
took tools that we knew we would need having done
a lot of mucking guts on Pine Island, and so
we're able to plug in with them and over the
last couple of days got the property completely mucked and gutted.
Thank you to Local Serve Pro. They donated some equipment

(33:24):
to dehumidify the home. The American Legion, We're meeting with
them on Tuesday. Local American Legion is going to do
some donations that way as well. We've talked to the VFW,
you know, connecting veterans groups with veterans groups. I'm also
a member of the Combat Motorcycle Associations name of the game,
and so I talked to chapter where I'm at. They

(33:45):
called up to the chapter up in Sarasota to assist.
So there's a lot of ways that veterans can help out.
But Operation Warrior Resolution, like I said, this is one
of our current projects that we are working on to
get this house back up so that veterans can use it.
Are still we still do need money and donations for
that project. So if you go to our website GPI

(34:06):
Alliance dot org, there is a donate tab and if
you want to donate to this particular cause. Please just
put that in the comment part and we will see
it as a restricted fund. Or if you want to
donate to any of other veterans we help, and you
want to go SPECIFICOD veterans, just in the comments put
four veterans and we will restrict those funds accordingly.

Speaker 6 (34:24):
But yeah, so we're also want to just give a
shout out to the United Way Warehouse.

Speaker 7 (34:27):
We also before we deployed, I've reached out.

Speaker 6 (34:30):
To some of our local resources because there were the
folks I know frankly, and even though the United Way
Warehouse is for Lee County, I called up and explain
the situation and they basically immediately said, STORMS don't know
county linesfure you need for this veterans house we've got.
So we're actually driving back down to Fort Myers today.
They're donating for ear scrubbers for this project, so we're

(34:53):
going to go pick them up today take them back
up there, because this organization already had retreats scheduled for
these veterans and we do not want to push that
off any further because they raised their hand and said
we need I need help.

Speaker 7 (35:06):
So we want to make sure that we get it
as rapidly.

Speaker 6 (35:08):
So our goal is to have this completely put back
together within two weeks.

Speaker 3 (35:11):
Wonderful.

Speaker 1 (35:12):
Wow, that's ambitious for sure. We could do with a
good time, right, I would say you could do it.

Speaker 3 (35:18):
I believe it.

Speaker 5 (35:19):
So just to you know, though, if there are any
veterans or anybody out there in the Sarasota area, there
is still a lot of need in the Sarasota area.
It necessarily hasn't hit as big on the media as
some other storms, but we just there's a mobile home
park we just got notified of through our that has
eighty seven homes that need help buck.

Speaker 7 (35:36):
And gutted, primarily seniors.

Speaker 5 (35:38):
Yes, and so if you want to volunteer, go plug
in with your local organizations there, whether it be the
Salvation Army or you're not a way, they'll point in
the right direction where you can volunteer locally.

Speaker 2 (35:48):
As it is can.

Speaker 6 (35:48):
Also on the website under the give Give helps We've
got get help tab give help tab. If you would
like to be dialed into any of these projects, whether
it be Lee County, Sarasota or anywhere in the state,
go ahead and click the get give help tab and
someone from GPI will reach out to you and plug
you into your local area and make sure that we
can we can make sure that we're reaching out and

(36:09):
assisting anyone who needs it.

Speaker 1 (36:11):
Wonderful, because I think that's some of it. I mean
a big part of recovering from something like this is,
like you said, asking for help, accepting help, but then
also knowing how to get plugged in to give that
assistance if you want to give your time and effort.

Speaker 6 (36:25):
So yeah, and you know, not everyone can write a
thousand dollars check, but you know, if you can swing
a hammer, then I can use you. If you can
sit and help pack books, I can use you. If
you can only sit and listen to someone tell their story,
that's wildly beneficial as well.

Speaker 7 (36:41):
Some people just need to talk.

Speaker 2 (36:45):
And I'll say this folks, like I said on our show,
we have the honor to meet people like Aaron and
Aaron and with their primary focus is to serve their
community and their fellow veteran and man. One of the
things I've grown up with is that when you have
a career in the military, you acquire ribbons and awards

(37:05):
and all that good stuff, but sooner or later you
got take that uniform off. But the best thing I
have found is that when you leave that uniform in
the closet, you still you become the medal and you
earn how you earn those ribbons remains becomes a part
of you as a human being. And I swear to
you that's why we at the rally point made this
show is because we're not heard. If we didn't exist,

(37:29):
we wouldn't be here telling America about what they do
and how you can help them help us. And God
bless you all. I mean, like I said, I'm in
awe with the ability to shine who you are at
the core per ribbon. You've received your career, multiple deployments,
and everything that you've done in your past is being

(37:50):
applicably used to its maximum here today and in service
to what your country. Thank you, I will say, for
your service, Thank you for yourself.

Speaker 5 (38:01):
Thank you and thank you guys for what you do too,
giving voice to veterans and getting these stories out therapiause.
It's that's one of the hardest things sometimes is being
heard and what you are doing for veterans and veterans
talking about veterans and putting in the forefront some of
the things we need to talk about. I think that
helps quite a bit, because, like you said, we all
we like to be our own nice rocks and not
pretend we don't need help. And so I think just

(38:23):
having voices and getting out and talking and sharing different
veterans stories and what's going on, I think that helps
a lot of people.

Speaker 2 (38:29):
Oh, there's no question, and Sarah, I will tell you
giving your career and is a blessing for us to
have you here for those listening to your story and
as a man that can attest to this when they
hear our radio shows, encourages them to get on the
show to tell their story, and that goes beyond Vietnam Korea.

(38:53):
And we have our correspondent.

Speaker 3 (38:58):
Paul Yes, our book agent.

Speaker 1 (39:02):
He belonged to a unit in the army during Vietnam
and so he's been able to help bring several of
his unit members on the show to tell their stories,
which is so incredible and so therapeutic and cathartic for them,
especially given the time that they served in and kind
of what the national I guess atmosphere was at the

(39:22):
time and how now it's it's shifted so much. It's
just a blessing for them to be able to come
and share their story and understand that there are people
who want to hear it, you know, like you touched
on earlier with Greater Pineland Alliance, or so many people
out there, especially veterans who are like, nobody cares about
my problems, nobody, nobody cares about my house. It's not
going to get taken care of. You know, somebody will

(39:44):
find a way to say no. It's so sad that
we you know, sometimes people find themselves in that mindset,
and it's just wonderful that, you know, through the power
of the fraternity that we've gained through serving in the military,
or through the leadership skills that we've you know, learned
from the corporate world world, as the case may be,
it's wonderful to see that, you know, hope is a

(40:06):
contagious thing in a good way that you can help
spread through your mission. But to just restore people to
being able to go back in their home is incredible.
I mean, I can't tell you how happy we were.
As soon as we had one functioning toilet and one
functioning shower in our house, we moved back in. Our
house was still a total construction zone, and sometimes it
kind of sucked, but at the same time, it's like,

(40:26):
you know what, we're in our house. Like I always
tell my children, like, we get to live here, We
get to live in this beautiful place. And so when
we got back in our house, we're like, we get
to be back in our house.

Speaker 6 (40:37):
And that's one of the most you know, we talk
about that this is probably one of the most difficult
jobs I've ever had in my life, but hands down,
it is the most rewarding thing I have ever done.
And my team is so amazing, Like we get excited
to go to work because even though we might leave exhausted,
at the end of the day, we've accomplished something. We
are we were able to bring that joy to the

(40:58):
people that maybe had lost home absolutely how they were
going to rebuild their home.

Speaker 7 (41:03):
And when you get that survivor home we've had.

Speaker 6 (41:08):
Sorry, I get a little emotional about it that people
bring their children and grandchildren in and you know, with
cards and just talk about their first night of being
able to sleep in their house.

Speaker 7 (41:17):
For some of them, like this is still happening in
two years.

Speaker 6 (41:19):
Two years, Yeah, since we have a family of four
that are finally back in their house.

Speaker 7 (41:24):
They've been living in a camper for the past two years.

Speaker 3 (41:27):
Wow.

Speaker 7 (41:27):
And so it's just it's so amazing.

Speaker 6 (41:32):
My amazing assistant Janine, who is probably one of the
most positive people ever, even she sometimes will kind of
well up because it's just it's so overwhelming the need.
But when we're able to do these things, it's just
I don't really know what it's.

Speaker 7 (41:48):
To say about it.

Speaker 5 (41:49):
No, I think you said it very very well, and
we're just we're very blessed to be able to do this.
But it does rely on grants and donations that we
are completely grant and donation funded. The full time staff
positions are grant funded and donations. So, like I said,
if you have it in your heart GPI alliance dot org,
there's a donate tab there. Since I do have the

(42:11):
MIC on a platform, I do want to thank some
great veterans in El Paso. Recently, my grandfather passed away
one hundred and one World War two VET.

Speaker 3 (42:20):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (42:21):
Really awesome and my family, my dad's from El Paso
and so he was laid to rest at the National
Cemetery there. But I want to thank from Olpasso the
Combat VET motorcycle Association, the Patriot Guard, the Legion Riders,
and the Marine Corps League. They all turned out and
it was absolutely amazing. Marine Corps League they did the

(42:43):
fire in detail, full escort, but it just goes to
show from World War Two all the way to present
that bond of veterans and they took the time. They
didn't know my grandfather, but they knew it was a
veteran and they knew that was a flag rape casket.
Just I want to thank all those veterans out there,
and I'll pass it who helped out, because that was
just truly amazing to see.

Speaker 1 (43:06):
As veterans, that's what we do, you know, we come
together when it matters, and we take care of each
other when it matters, you know. I mean I wish
we did a better job take care of each other
day to day, but we're getting there. You know. Some
of that is like we talked about, asking for and
accepting help from others and folks.

Speaker 2 (43:24):
Like the man said, it's not a It is a
thankful job, but it's not a free job. Donations are
definitely needed and our cause to support ourselves veterans and
then our country. And I think there's a synonymous connection.
With that, I'll guarantee you take care of veteran our
community will get a lot better. Please come out and
support and I'll tell you I think a man I

(43:45):
can agree with this. Whatever the Valley Point Network can
provide you, guys, we want to add you to it.
We want we want you to grow with us and
your mission. Your mission is never going to stop. There's
going to be more hurricanes, it's going to be more
loss and I'll guarantee we can find more volunteers and
veterans support to cause.

Speaker 3 (44:03):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (44:03):
You said it earlier when I spoke to you before
the show, Aaron, you said, it's veterans taking care of veterans,
and that's what it's all about. Even in the case
of your grandfather, where complete total strangers showed up to
pay tribute to his service and to honor his life,
Like that's what we do as veterans. Once the uniform
comes off, it's not over, it's just it takes on

(44:24):
a different form, and that's really kind of what that becomes.
But I'm so glad that people were able to look
out for your grandfather, just like you are looking out
for other people. And the two of you are making
a huge difference in the lives of people in your
community and even beyond, like up in Sarasota, that's huge.

Speaker 2 (44:41):
Definitely.

Speaker 6 (44:42):
I want to give a shout out to to the
all the volunteers that, most of whom had not served,
turned out the last few days. It's for a property
of the size that we were dealing with to get
completely mugged and gutted in two days is extraordinary.

Speaker 3 (44:55):
Oh wow.

Speaker 6 (44:56):
There were between thirty about thirty volunteers. Wow, and most
of whom had not served but heard the story and
just showed up.

Speaker 3 (45:04):
And that's awesome.

Speaker 6 (45:05):
You know, in the grime and the dirt, the dust,
the wet insulation, and were there until the job was done.

Speaker 1 (45:12):
I like to think some of that's the American spirit
at work, is that, you know, even just as Americans.
I mean, we talk about veterans because obviously we're a
veteran centric show, but as Americans, I think that's that's
what we do. I mean, if you think about September twelve,
two thousand and one, people who weren't in the military,
what were they doing. They were lining up to give blood.
They were trying to figure out what they could possibly

(45:32):
do to help in the aftermath of one of the
most atrocious things that's ever happened in our country. And
so I think that's wonderful and it gives me hope
to know that the American spirit is still alive and
that people will still show up for their neighbors and
come out to help their community. I mean, that's something
that I mean, we just all need to do more
to kind of talk about that happening, because I think

(45:54):
it happens more than we hear about.

Speaker 2 (45:56):
And if we have more veterans serving in our congressional
and Senate, they'll help convey to our country what we
go through, and the sense of unity and dedication goes
beyond branch. It's just a duty to our country. And
for your grandfather, I'll say that he helped build the
road that we.

Speaker 3 (46:16):
Walk on every day, absolutely, and.

Speaker 2 (46:18):
That is something that he doesn't know me and I
don't know him, but I say thank him for your sacrifice, sir, And.

Speaker 5 (46:24):
Now I know it's a continual road, and it really
is amazing what everybody does for each other. And I
think you hit the nail on the head. It's the
community and there is a lot of grassroots that we
don't hear about and some of those stories do need
to get out there with neighbors helping neighbors. But the
military and service, like I said, it was ingrained in me.
And my daughter did graduate West Point last year, so.

Speaker 2 (46:46):
She congrading so is Point.

Speaker 5 (46:51):
Yeah, my daughter Brooke is a cycle lieutenant Medical Services Corp.
And have another great daughter, Katie, who also graduated college.
She's in would be kind of direction of Florida Fish
and Wildlife, very nice, so she did that that type
of study. So two great doctors.

Speaker 6 (47:06):
Funny anecdote about Brook, her commanding officer at Fort Riley.

Speaker 5 (47:10):
Well, I used to work with them as lieutenant.

Speaker 2 (47:13):
Of course, small the army is a small place for
a big globe. Small army not a very.

Speaker 7 (47:18):
Common names exactly.

Speaker 3 (47:21):
It's funny how that happens, isn't it?

Speaker 2 (47:23):
Yes, yes, it is. Well, thank you for being on
our show. And again you give the the audience the
all the phone numbers and websites that can contact you
for donations, uh asap, because again, folks, the mission's not done.
If that can be complete until I guess until the
cows come home.

Speaker 6 (47:43):
Yeah, so the phone number to our office she'll get again.
Jennine Harbinski, my executive assistant two three nine five five
eight four nine oh one. That's two three nine five
five eight four nine zero one. Or you can go
to GPI Alliance dot org and donate directly via credit

(48:06):
card there as well. And we just really thank all
of you so much for considering helping continue the mission.
We're a couple of years out just from recovery from
this particular incursion, and again the preparedness and the preparedness sites.

Speaker 7 (48:21):
Will need to keep rolling for quite some time.

Speaker 6 (48:23):
So any again, whether it be monetary or swinging hammers
or just having a listening air, we would appreciate any
help that you can give us.

Speaker 3 (48:31):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (48:31):
There's a statistic that says in a storm like even
I think Hurricane Michael, which is what hit around the
Panama City beach area and I think twenty eighteen, if
I'm the mistaken, they said that recovery period would be
about five years, and that was pretty bad, and Ian
was even worse. So for those of you listening out there,
if you're kind of doing the math, I mean, it's

(48:53):
going to take every bit of probably five to seven
years if we're being honest, especially since we were also
on this side of where we had shortfalls and you know,
supply chain issues or what have you. It's going to
be a long time before everybody is put back together.
I mean, my house still isn't one hundred percent back together,
and it's a process and we're trying to be patient

(49:14):
with that process. But it's just something to keep in
mind when these things happen. It's not overnight. It's fixed
as soon as you stop hearing about it on the news. Okay,
everybody's great like that was probably the hardest thing to
explain to people was folks would check on us and
be like, well, it's like six months past the storm,
aren't you all back together? No, nay, nay, Bunny Rabbit, No, no,
we are not.

Speaker 5 (49:33):
Yeah, you're absolutely right. My house isn't completely done. Aaron's
house isn't completely done. Everybody that works on our team,
not one of them has a completely fixed house from
the storm yet, and you know they're in different states.
Like you said, it's part of its relative do I
have working, current clients and things, so not to say
they're you know, not all unlivable, but happy. There are stages.

Speaker 6 (49:53):
One of the happiest days of my life was the
day that my roof finally got put back on. Yeah,
months and months of yes, And so I could lay
in my bed the next thunderstorm and not see water rolling.

Speaker 3 (50:03):
I was going to say, isn't it wonderful?

Speaker 6 (50:05):
And it's just it's amazing that it's the little things. Yeah,
I couldn't care less that the outside of my house
isn't painted yet.

Speaker 7 (50:13):
I mean, I want it to be.

Speaker 1 (50:14):
Right, but mine looks like for a solid year. Some change,
it's okay.

Speaker 6 (50:19):
But it's all of those little those little victories and
those little winds that we want to acknowledge and celebrate.
And it's funny that you say, people, you know, six
months later, there's a joke in our office for those
of you who've been around here, very iconic bar called
Birds and Matt Lache literally floated away in the storm.
And so when people ask us are things getting back

(50:39):
to normal, and say, yeah, I had a beer at
Birts just the other day, I know things are not
normally yet, but one step at a time. And we
always say the road to recovery is long, but together
we are stronger than the search, and so you know,
we will keep doing this as long as we can.

Speaker 7 (50:56):
We will absolutely continue to support.

Speaker 5 (50:58):
And the estimate is at least five years, so you're
absolutely spot on. I think that's just good to remind
people five years plus and that is for the size storm.

Speaker 2 (51:05):
And that is just considering we don't see another hurricane.

Speaker 1 (51:08):
For another Yes, continue those prayers that we have very
I don't even want to say the word like just
that we have calm seas. How about that, We'll just say,
let's have some fair winds following seas well.

Speaker 2 (51:25):
Folks, thank you for having me being here. We'll be
in contact. You're now part of the Right Point Network.
We're putting up a network page of our past guests
and if you have any access to have communications with
these people go on. Hopefully in about a month. They'll
hold me to it and working on it, folks, the
network will be up. Welcome the Greater Piano Alliance to
our family and America. Aaron, Aaron Thinker beyond our show again,

(51:50):
thank you, and folks, do you have another wonderful story
on our show? Our guest we had today Aaron and
Aaron fantastic. The contact information will put make sure we
put on the internet and on our website so that
you have access to it on the upcoming network page.
We're going to be our guests that's been on the

(52:12):
on the show will be on their listen so you
have any questions or want access to them, they'll be
available to you up and coming and anything else.

Speaker 1 (52:20):
I forget out I think so. Just thanks to our
sponsors at no Medicare Solutions, Derek Get It Done, Anderson.
Thanks to one hundred point nine WCCFFM for putting us
on the air on Friday morning so you guys can
hear us. Thank you to reach the Cross America Radio
as well for having us on their radio broadcasts as well.

(52:41):
We just appreciate all the opportunities to put visibility on
organizations that are veteran centric. You don't have to be
a veteran to listen to this show or to be
on this show. If you support us, if you love us,
we're here too. So it's a wonderful partnership when you
think about it, and we're just so grateful for this opportunity.

(53:02):
Thank you for those of you that listen regularly, we
appreciate your support and the kind words that we've received.
We've gotten a lot of texts and email traffic about it,
so just thanks, and please continue telling people about our
show and how they can listen, whether it's locally in
Southwest Florida on one hundred point nine FM or on

(53:22):
the free iHeartRadio app. If they pull that up and
they search WCCF on Fridays at nine am, they can
find our show. And then also we are aired on
RETS Across America Radio on Fridays at three pm, so
you can find both Rees Across America Radio and WCCF

(53:43):
via the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 2 (53:45):
Outstanding and folks, remember we're here for you, veterans and
our communities alike. These connections we're making a broad and
locally our resources to be utilized by our communities and
our veterans. That's what they're there for. That's where we're
bringing them to you. And you give us the strength
and energy to bring them that bring them to you
through us.

Speaker 1 (54:05):
And with that being said, Rally Pointers fall out