Rally Point 49_Dane Boyle and Paul Paleschi

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Rally pointers fun in, good afternoon and morning wherever you're
going to be in the world today across the world.
This is James Lasartima with Amena Laciato Locano Bam folks
here with you at the rally point, and of course
we have the man behind the microphone, Zayna Brain.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
How are we doing today, folks?

Speaker 3 (00:21):
I'm good, loving life.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Outstanding, outstanding.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
First of all, I want to say thank you to
our man Derek get It Done Anderson. He's been on
the road, killer on it thanks to you, folks, and
I say thank you very much supporting his cause being
with Etna Medicare Solutions. We're glad we met you and folks,
we have an outstanding show today.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
And now it's time for our regularly scheduled programming of
a new segment we've installed called Positively Caffeinated, featuring the
ever so wonderful super energetic trainer Dane Boyle. Good morning, Dane,
How are you?

Speaker 4 (00:58):
Good morning? Beautiful? People want fund Chattick?

Speaker 2 (01:01):
How are you not too bad yourself? Sir? How's your weekend? Ben?

Speaker 4 (01:07):
It was good? What did we do? We had company
coming to town, so we entertained them. So that's always well,
I don't know if it's always fun anyone, but it
was good and so, I mean, all is good, and
it's it's Monday and it's time to rock and roll.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
And go outstanding.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
I had a question for you, with the current atmosphere
that we're currently in in the last month or months
of this election debacle, if you've kind of provide some
inspiration for our listeners to kind of get them over
the anxiety component of the whole every ten seconds on
TV being barraged by commercials of any party, and it's

(01:48):
kind of kind of burning people out, especially myself.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
How about you, Amanda?

Speaker 3 (01:53):
Yeah, I think I think the ads in the commentary
are getting overwhelming for a lot of people. I think
people are just ready to vote and see what the
outcome is.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
So, so what's your outlook on that.

Speaker 4 (02:06):
Don't want TV? I do, maybe it's harder for some
I literally yeah. So I have had YouTube TV the
last several years, just during football seasons. Literally it starts
in September. I get rid of it on the Tuesday
after the Super Bowl, and this political season, I just
I turned it off. I just continue my subscription because

(02:28):
I couldn't watch the commercials in between each snap, I
just couldn't do it anymore because it just put me
in a mindset of anger, dismay, upset where are we going?
And I just decided that I could take that potential
three hours and do something far more productive than just
fuss and complain about the world. I just really feel like,
like Amanda said, number one, go vote. Let your voice

(02:51):
be heard. People have fought and died for that right.
Go vote. Whether you agree with your neighbor or not.
Go vote, but turn off the TV and hopefully it'll
end soon and we're still going to continue to live
and thrive, and ultimately each day we still have to
raise our family. We have to do the best we can.
But I had said on one of our earlier episodes
at one of Mark Twain's quotes was that if you

(03:12):
want the world to be a better place, quit reading
the newspaper on the today's world, get off social media.
And I make my living a lot on social media,
so I'm saying that too great, or limit your amount
of time and then move on.

Speaker 3 (03:24):
I'm in the middle of a one hundred and fifty
day Facebook fast. It's actually I think I'm over the
hump now, So At some point back in July, I
was like, you know, I think I'm going to pull
the plug on Facebook for a little while because it
was just getting so negative and so nasty, and like,
you know, people, here's the thing. At the end of
the day, we are blessed to live in a country

(03:46):
where we have free speech, where we have the freedom
to vote for who we think is best to lead
our country. We are truly blessed in that regard. The
sad part is is when people can't be to each
other because they don't vote like them. And I will
I will remind people of us saying that I know

(04:07):
I'm a gen X millennial CUSP kind of kid over here,
but I specifically remember as a child being told, can
you imagine how boring the world would be if everybody
was the same? So why do we now want everybody
to be the same? So why you know what I mean, Like,
let's let's be positive with this. And it's like, yeah,

(04:30):
you know, your friends might not see eye to eye
politically with you. However, you can take comfort in knowing
that you don't have to think the same in that regard.
In order to be good to one another, in order
to be kind in order to maintain a friendship. So
it's just it all to me comes back to that
root cause of just if you can't if there's if

(04:51):
you can be anything, be kind.

Speaker 4 (04:54):
So some some taught us that in Bambie, if you
can't say anything nice, don't say anything at.

Speaker 3 (04:59):
All, exactly bactly. So I think I think that's an
important lesson for folks to remember. And I mean, I
know it probably sounds like we're not being quite so
positive right now, but we really are, because the point
of the matter here is be kind, be patient, you know,
be be understanding of other people, just as you would
want people to be understanding of you.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
One hundred percent. I just go back to adage don't
believe everything to see on TV. I will say that
in my limited experience of politics is that there is
a lot of theatrics that we see on a TV
when a TV turns off and one's back at the
Joneses bar have their martinis on both sides of the aisles,
being friendly. But when the TV turns and the cameras

(05:43):
turn on, it's a whole different. It's a drama. And
don't believe everything. Like I said, don't believe everything see
on TV because these people are as civil to one
another when the cameras are not rolling, whether you're the
donkey or the elephant in the room. But it's a
matter of being intelligent enough and making your own decisions
based on you know, facts available. Remember, facts change. People

(06:04):
thought the earth was flat, Is it flat?

Speaker 2 (06:06):
Is it round? Who knows?

Speaker 1 (06:08):
But as technology gets better, more facts, more information, better decisions.
And that's why I leave it on the table.

Speaker 4 (06:15):
Absolutely. Maybe Blockbuster got it right and be kind relined, right.

Speaker 1 (06:21):
I love that one hundred percent. But again, in in
in your travels, have you ever felt that this has.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
Been a little bit more of a highly more.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
Time of anxiety in our society overall as a collective
and and for veterans. For me, I can't I going
to take any spoonfuls of stuff at a time because
it gets overwhelming after a while. Am I going I
need Nintendo?

Speaker 2 (06:52):
Nintendo? Man, Hey, I got.

Speaker 3 (06:54):
A fourteen year old that can hook you. Blacket has
every system, he has, any super as he's got. He
just got a Sega Genesis for his birthday, like the
OG not the Reboots. This kid is nostalgic all the way,
so he only uses the OG systems. He doesn't use
any of the reboots that come out, But yeah, he's

(07:15):
he's got you covered. Man, He's got all the games,
all the goodness, all the fun. I hear you. Sometimes
you do you just have to unplug and go do
something else that you know is enjoyable, whether it's a
video game or like my husband and I have been
talking about like taking more walks and you know, riding
bikes more often and such. Because we have beautiful weather here,

(07:36):
especially this time of year. Summer gets a little bit
a little hot. I think in your part of Texas
it does too, right, Dane, we're kind of we're starting
to get that.

Speaker 4 (07:48):
Earlier, yeah, you know, or you're gonna you're gonna melt
at two o'clock in the afternoon, for.

Speaker 3 (07:52):
Sure, exactly Like we're starting to get that interesting. I
guess you can call it fall. Like the way we
know it's fall as the pumpkin spice Lotte stuff starts
coming out in droves. That's how we know it's fall.
But I'm starting to get temperatures that are a little
bit cooler so we can do a little more outside.

Speaker 4 (08:12):
I went and I wrecked on the beach the other
day in a sleeveless shirt, and I said, instead of
no shade November, it should be no sleeve November until
we actually find cool temperature. Right, go back to Sarge's
question band anxiety. I think that there's good and bad
with the world. I mean there's always been good and bad.

Speaker 2 (08:29):
Right.

Speaker 4 (08:29):
We used the fight with our fists, and then we
got sticks, and then we threw rocks. I mean, we
just figured out ways to hurt each other more and more.
But I think with it's so easy to sit behind
the computer screen and see all of the hate and
unjust in the world, and we just we ingest it
and we forget that getting out of nature like you said, Amanda,

(08:50):
or connecting again over that Martini, Sarge, I can actually
having a real conversation and ultimately agreeing to disagree. So
I do believe that the stress levels and anxiety or
higher than ever I find you when I talk to kids,
whatever kid age is, that they just are super super
stressed out. They just believe that the world isn't going

(09:12):
to be a better place. And I believe our parents
and grandparents wanted to make the world a better place.
That's why they fought for their belief system. So, yes,
there's more anxiety, But how do you get rid of that?
Number One, You have to see it that you have it,
and you have to make ways to get over it,
whether it's meditation, prayer, walking, communication, therapy, community. I mean,

(09:36):
there's a lot of different ways to do it, and
I think you've got to experiment with them to find
out which one or ones work with you. But again,
you have to first. It's kind of like if you're
an alcoholic, you've got to identify as an alcoholic first
before you can go get help. So if you have
high stress and anxiety, you have to realize that that's
what's going on in your life. Hard to be healthy

(09:57):
that way. By the way, just the hormone system, you
go crazy because of the synapses fire all the time,
which I think we have that overload and that dopamine
hit because I mean, you can be laying in bed,
you can get up through the restaurant the middle the night,
and if you don't fall asleep in twenty two seconds,
you reach over, grab your phone and screw around. So
how do you get off of that? So again to
your answer is yes, I think there's a lot of anxiety. Yes,

(10:19):
I think there's a lot of stress, and yes, I
think there's also a lot of ways to reduce that,
but you've got to take.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
Action first, one hundred percent.

Speaker 1 (10:26):
And for let's say, like a novice like myself and
our listeners out there, what would be the first couple
of steps for us to do to kind of get
in that direction. And while you're while you're at it,
reintroduce yourself to America with our new listeners to our
Getting Caffeinated segment. Explain to them how you got that

(10:47):
persona and how you do you do what you do?

Speaker 4 (10:51):
Absolutely so I'll introduced myself first. So again, I'm coach
Dan Dame Boyle, veteran Air Force veteran desert storm vet,
and I've been people ask me all the time, how
do you have so much energy? And we can talk
about nature versus nurture. I think a lot of that
was born into me and I was voted you know,

(11:12):
most highly spirited in my senior class, no, most likely
to succeed. But then I worked on it and I
decided to capture it in the sense that I believe
every day is an opportunity to grow, not every day
is perfect, not every moment is perfect. Hell this morning
talk about highly caffeinated. So I haven't espresso machine beating
the dogs, put my cup under there, pushed the button,
turn around, and apparently I hadn't put my cup completely

(11:33):
under the spout and freaking coffee everywhere. But I could
have gone on here today and been pissed off or
angry about the whole thing, or I'm blessed to have
poor coffee and a rag to clean it up? Right, right, right?
I mean? And then the coffee machine didn't work right anyway,
I have half asleep, but I said we had company.
We stayed up later than normal. All of that being
said from who I am, from the education, from life experiences,

(11:57):
and knowing that the most valuable realists. You talked about
stress and anxiety, that we own the six inches between
our ears. So when we begin to own that and
create space to create growth, which again here's where you
talked about your first steps, You've got to create space
to create growth. Let's say it one more time. You've
got to create space to create growth. We all only
have twenty four hours a day, everybody from Socrates to Lincoln,

(12:20):
we've had twenty four hours, and we can say we're
too busy. We can say we don't have time, so
you're going to have to give up a little to
get a lot. But what sacrifice can you make? Do
you have to get up a little bit earlier, you
have to stay it a little bit later. You have
to say no to your buddy, your girlfriend, or your
boss to say, hey, I can come in or meet
you at X time so that I can read, I
can sit in silence, I can go for a walk,

(12:41):
I can make a healthy breakfast, I can have a conversation.
I can call Amanda, I can call sergeant, have a
conversation and literally tell them I'm thinking of you today
and expect absolutely nothing in return to put goodness and
kindness out into the world in the Trailblazer Nation, and
that's the community that I manage and I'm blessed to.
On every single morning, three hundred and sixty five and

(13:03):
this year, three hundred and sixty six days, I challenge
each trailblazer literally to grab their phone and snap a selfie,
but a high five. That's it. Number One, It puts
you in a better mood because you've got a smile
on your face. Two, it shows the Trailblazers they're going
to blaze the trail and age with awesoeness that we're
together in this mission of life, and life is often
a four letter word, right, It is always a four

(13:24):
letter word. Actually, it's how we embrace that. So I
think the whole first thing that you asked, sorry, was
how do we how do we start? Choose to start,
get to the starting line, and unfortunately the finish line
is death. But what do you do in between? What
do you do to bring joy, happiness and fulfillment into
your life. I sat yesterday at a local event with

(13:44):
this woman, her name was Jimmy, actually eighty three years old,
and she talked about going through life and having to
reinvent herself throughout life in a positive way, getting married,
having children, losing her husband, and what she did every day.
And she says, now at eighty three, as a widow,
she recently went on a European cruise to find herself

(14:04):
again and figure out what the last part of her
life it's going to be like. But again she's creating
space to create growth again, from courting to marriage to kids. Unfortunately,
fifty years later, you know, losing her husband, each and
every day you have to create that space to create growth.
My first challenge for you would be to set aside
one to ten minutes for yourself and be comfortable in

(14:26):
the silence. And that might be the hardest part.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
Wow, if I didn't have tonight, I said, wish I could
enjoy that, the enjoyment of silence.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
But I can.

Speaker 4 (14:36):
Definite because it's ringing in your ears as constant, right.

Speaker 3 (14:39):
Oh yeah, it's it's as far it's like, right, as
you find some kind of quiet.

Speaker 1 (14:45):
Yes, in your ear, you need to counter sound to
kind of neutralize that sound, and it could be very maddening.
But for the average person, I can definitely appreciate that
moment to disconnect and us have you owe you moment
in that sense?

Speaker 4 (15:01):
Right?

Speaker 2 (15:02):
Do you feel that with the.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
Upcoming holidays this can add additional pressure to our to
some of our listeners, And if so, how how can
we or how can they kind of self manage that situation.

Speaker 4 (15:15):
It's interesting because I always talk about that too. Absolutely,
there can be stressed, whether it's a loneliness, whether it's
too much family time, right, and expectation that sometimes doesn't
come true. I think we go back to what Amanda
said about getting outside and making time, I think exercises medicine.
One of the tattoos I have on the inside of
my right arm actually is a conducers, which is a

(15:36):
medical symbol and it's an ancient Greek discus player from
the Olympics combined. Because it's exercises medicine, right, An exercise
does doesn't right. It doesn't have to burpies and bear crawls,
which are fine. It doesn't have to be your pet test,
which I never really enjoyed, but I do. But we

(15:57):
are mammals that were made to move, and there there's
something magical about moving your body and the endorphins that
you get. So, for example, at our local hometown of
many pounds across the country, there'll be a turkey trot.
So maybe it's a five k three point one miles
and you can walk, you can run, you can ruck,

(16:17):
and you can get out and then you can use
some of that energy and then hopefully go and have
an enjoyable visit with Grandma or your kids or whatever.
Maybe and if you don't want to spend the money
or you don't want to get up that early, then
go out your front door. And you guys live in Florida,
I live in Texas. First three hundred and some days
a year, we can literally get outside, and so I
think a lot of it starts there. Again, it sounds

(16:39):
so simple, but here's another truth, Serge. Everything that's easy
to do is also easy enough to do.

Speaker 3 (16:46):
Correct. I was going to say, grounding is one of
those things you can walk outside barefoot and just stand
on the grass.

Speaker 5 (16:53):
You know that.

Speaker 3 (16:54):
My kids make a joke all the time about like
these kids have never touched grass. I guess that's a
way of saying like they don't get outside. But you
can go outside and touch grass with your bare feet
for like thirty seconds to a minute, and supposedly that
does wonders for reducing anxiety. Just I've done it, and
it for me, it just helps me kind of take

(17:15):
a moment. It's like helping my whole body just take
a breath. I used to have a boss and I
would get so worked out and he'd be like, breathe, Amanda,
take a breath. And I'd be like, no, but oh
my gosh, that's not in the third and he'd be like, breathe.
And so I think grounding is kind of one of
those things, for sure, And like you said, it's so
simple to do, but it's also so simple not to do,

(17:38):
because you can easily make the excuse of I have
too much stuff I have to do, I don't have
time for that.

Speaker 4 (17:44):
Right, So ultimately it's also it's a compound effect. Right,
So at first, magic and rainbows and butterflies don't find
your head because you went out and touch the piece
of graph. Well, what if you did it today, tomorrow,
the next day, and maybe Bruce will let's got to
write and diehard because I remember and he got off
the airplane at first, before the towers fell it, et cetera,
et cetera, he told them to grab the carpet in

(18:06):
the hotel room. So that wasn't in the eighties airtelling.
So we've known it for a long time. But it
is to compound. It's like like financial wealth, right, putting
a few dollars away at eighteen doesn't seem like much.
You put a few dollars away every day, week, month,
year for thirty years, and all of a sudden you've
got money. So what if you did that and invested
in your own health? Can out drind yourself? Did in silence?

(18:30):
Or and sarge, I'd love to talk to you about ways,
but that tonight is to do it and by walking
or singing or doing there's other ways to do that.
But the idea is what do you do today that
you can do tomorrow that you could do next week.
It works just in reverse with your health. You know,
if you miss the workout today, it's probably really no
big deal. But if that day it becomes the week,
a week becomes the month. If you've got gray hair

(18:51):
like I do, that that month year can become a decade.
And that's when we go and there's the client, and
that's a client. So are you willing to literally take
your first step today get outside?

Speaker 2 (19:05):
That's phenomenal.

Speaker 1 (19:06):
And I was just thinking, you know it, just the
fact and like you said earlier, about recognizing that there's
an issue and then taking action is on itself. That's
one mischion can knock out, knock out real quickly, but
the then the follow through is ginormous. And I was
just thinking about when I go to the gym, if
I miss a day, I am not in a good

(19:26):
place the next day at the next two days out
fathom me skipping a whole week. I'm completely a wreck.
I'm definitely an endorphin junkie, and I've been that way
since being in the military, and I have found that's
made me.

Speaker 2 (19:39):
Feel a lot better.

Speaker 1 (19:40):
And I am almost certain that some of us who
are still out of who are are are fellow veterans,
and ourselves who are out of service feel that way.
We're in a better mindset if we're more active than
non but that's not the case for everybody. With that
being said, what advice would you give our listeners to
to kind of to navigate this holiday, the holiday gate

(20:02):
we're getting to and kind to and to avoid the
holiday blues in that process.

Speaker 4 (20:09):
Yeah, So find somebody. I think that we've talked about
physical fitness, like getting out, whether it's it's the gym
or not the gym, or just mooting right, but find
somebody that you can connect with and have a conversation with.
I think that the connection piece community and typically when
I write community in an email or a social post,
I capitalize the letter's unity. So find that connection, and

(20:32):
that's I think. So whether you're a veteran, maybe a
police officer, maybe a fireman, maybe you're a former athlete,
we thrive on that connection. We thrive on the idea
that we're doing. I think something bigger and better than
just ourselves, right for a better community and better world.
So when you can find a veterans group, when you
can find a fitness community, and you can find a

(20:55):
network of people that are are gamers like we talked about,
or something that you have in common, then you could
connect to know that we know who you are, we
know your name. When I ran a hospital based wellness
center fitness center and the average age with seventy plus, well,
many of them have lost their children, spounces and they

(21:17):
would come to the gym and sit at the coffee
shop in the gym so that they could connect with
people because oftentimes for by themselves. So if you find
yourself lonely, sad, connect with somebody, call somebody, and literally
text somebody so that I think you can overcome those
holiday blues. Right, maybe you miss your mom or your dad.

(21:39):
I lost my dad about ten years ago. You know,
any one of us wishes we had that five more
minutes to have that conversation, to tell them you love
them or that you're thinking of them. But I think
the more that we can build a unified community where
you can find that community that you can overcome the
blues in our life. Together, you can overcome just about
any problem you have. And I think it was Churchill said,

(22:00):
if you're going through health, keep going.

Speaker 2 (22:02):
Amen to that.

Speaker 1 (22:03):
And for our listeners to make sure if they any
questions for you, specifically, where can they find you and
how can they contact you?

Speaker 4 (22:09):
Absolutely so, our website is up, I said a few
weeks ago, was in the processing up so at Dane
Boil dot com, d An E Boil dot com. You
can get on our email list. You can literally same
thing Dane at Dane boiled dot com. You can email
me directly, but you can go to the website and
see about the mindset and community and new things are

(22:30):
coming that you can potentially download or purchase so that
again you can overcome loneliness. You can get in better health.
And I call it head, hearts and health. So figure
out what you need to do to thrive, not just survive,
into mind space that's your head, the six inches beat
in your ears, how you deal with your emotions each
and every day and they're going to eb and flow
and all emotions are good, they just don't feel good.

(22:51):
And how you can ultimately get up out and get moving.
So head parts and help so again, Dane Boil dot com.
It's probably the easiest way to contact me.

Speaker 3 (22:59):
Awesome. Well, thank you. Thank you for having this time
with us to be positively caffeinated and to remind people
of the importance of connection and community. I totally agree.
I think a lot of the frustration, unease, and anxiety
that's out there in the world can really be dispelled
by having, like you said, some good heartfelt conversations if possible,

(23:21):
you know, eye contact, hearing that voice tone can be everything.
I think a lot gets lost in translation on social media,
so I think you're absolutely right, and we just appreciate
you taking the time to come and talk with us
and give some encouragement to our listeners.

Speaker 4 (23:37):
It's one it's my pleasure. I actually look forward to it,
and I hope that the listener gets fired up and
ultimately takes action because as a reminder, everything's easy to do,
it's also easy not to do.

Speaker 3 (23:50):
Absolutely well, thanks again for that little pop of positivity.
We always appreciate having you on the show, and we'll
have you on again real soon. Ladies and gentlemen. Dan
Boyle and like you said, you can find him on
his website, Daneboyle dot com. Thanks again for being on
the show, Dane. We appreciate you.

Speaker 4 (24:07):
Thank y'all.

Speaker 3 (24:08):
And now, ladies and gentlemen, we have with us in
the studio one of our regular guests, mister Paul Puleshi.

Speaker 6 (24:14):
Hi, Paul, oh, Hi, how are you. I'm glad to
be here.

Speaker 3 (24:18):
Good, We're glad to have you. So, for those of
you listening, Paul recently participated in the Library of Congress
Veterans History project here through our local congressman's office, and
so we've asked him to come on the show to
talk about his experience and also just give some tips
and pointers and hopes that more of you veterans that
are listening out there or family members of veterans will

(24:40):
try to encourage more support for this program, if not participation.
So Paul, tell us about your experience with the whole process.

Speaker 5 (24:48):
Well, before I start there, I want to thank both
of you and James to give me a little nudge.
I had made contact with him and then it kind
of went on a back burner. This is an election season,
so it really didn't get lost, but it wasn't a priority.
And the nudge I got from you. Guys made me
give them a nudge that I was still out here,
and then they made contact.

Speaker 6 (25:09):
So I thank you for that.

Speaker 2 (25:11):
Oh, thank you for being here.

Speaker 6 (25:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (25:13):
Absolutely, that's awesome that you did it. We're just glad
you did. We wanted to make sure that your story
was told because after having you on the show so
many times and with other members of your unit, it
became abundantly clear to us on the Rally Point show
that your story is definitely one that needs to be told.

Speaker 5 (25:30):
Thank you. The way it kind of comes about is
you have to make contact with them or somebody will
recommend you.

Speaker 6 (25:40):
So you really have to do the reach out.

Speaker 5 (25:42):
And I urge all of the veterans out there that
as we get older, our stories are going to be
lost forever. We are getting thinner and ranks, so we
need you to take this opportunity to go ahead and
make contact with them. The process is very simple. I
made contact via email and then phone call. They called

(26:04):
me and we talked about what I did, what they
were interested in, what they were looking for, and basically
they're looking for our story and that's not only what
we did in Vietnam, it's our life story. How we
were raised, where we were raised, to give some background
as to who we were as individuals, because every Vietnam

(26:27):
VET has a slightly different story, no tour the same.
So they do a background first, where you came from,
your educational background, your work background. I happened to be drafted,
but that that's just a piece of it. And then
from there they'll talk about they start to do your training,

(26:52):
what you did in the service, how you got your
what we call MOS, your military occupation, and they'll talk
about the training, the events that took place during training,
your evaluation of it. I thought that was interesting is
that I never really evaluated my training, So that was

(27:13):
an interesting question that they asked. And what I needed more,
what I thought we needed more, that type of stuff.
So it's more than just Vietnam. It's everything that leads
up to it that makes you a soldier in the
United States Military. Then we got into how I got overseas,

(27:36):
the trip that I made. We went over as a battalion,
so mine was a little bit different than people who
went over as replacements. So those are all important stories
that need to come to surface, and they need to
be documented and they need to be preserved in the
Library of Congress so that they're always researchable and ready

(27:59):
to be available. From there, we went into some actual events.
In my particular case, we talked about an incident that
happened in a Special Forces camp. We talked about that
in a little detail. We even got into which is
kind of unique, I thought from an interview standpoint. We

(28:19):
even talked about SA rations, wow, which I thought was
a great approach to see how we lived, because it's
not only that we fought, it's how we lived. We
talked a little bit about mail. We even talked a
little bit about what the messholes did, so you know,
when you think about it, you have it. In our

(28:39):
particular unit, we were severely understaffed at the time, but
we had about eight hundred men that we had messholes
that had to get meals out into the field to us.
So it was kind of interesting that we even went
in that direction.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
Oh.

Speaker 1 (28:58):
First of all, Paul, I want to again thank you
for what you've done by going to the Library of Congress.
Thank you for your sacrifice to this country. And again
I'll say thank you for your sacrifice for doing that,
because well, I did some research about the Library of
Congress and what the what the purpose of it of
them doing that and preserving our stories. There's actually a

(29:21):
functioning and quantitative purpose for that. Imagine that, folks, I
say quantitative, I can't and I can't say machiato.

Speaker 2 (29:28):
That was my problem anyways, folks.

Speaker 3 (29:31):
It just means the coffee is just now kicking and
there you go.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
There you go, thank you for that, alibi.

Speaker 1 (29:38):
What they're doing is and for my for my research,
is that they're taking the stories of our former soldiers, marines,
uh service people and what they're they're compiling data and
basically combat conditions from the mess hall to how food's
brought to the to the troops in the field, and

(29:59):
that's actually being use as measurable data in the VA.
And it sounds crazy how you can take stories in
the past and then project them into the future. But
basically you're seeing these individuals who sacrifice their lives, whether
they volunteer or they are drafted. What the process of
the militarization of us ourselves has happened over our lifetime

(30:21):
and for that creates results and results are measurable and
that actually makes our benefits as a as a country definitive.
For our benefits to be easily more awarded. There's proof
that there's PTSD or battle fatigue if you're in these
particular areas.

Speaker 3 (30:41):
So or maybe that you are malnourished field or anything
like that. But I also kind of think some of
that too, is so that you know, to the person
who's not a veteran, or to the person who didn't
serve in Vietnam, you know, for the generations that came after,
it really helps give us more of an introspective look
at what life was really like, what that experience was

(31:03):
really like, down to the smallest detail, which I think
is really cool. The Library of Congress is taking the
time to kind of really peel that onion back and
find out through all those different layers what life was
really like at each point in time, you know, for
every veteran that they interview, down to the smallest detail.
I think that's that's pretty interesting that they're being that

(31:24):
specific and for that to.

Speaker 1 (31:27):
Describe and experience an emotional experience or traumatic experience, and
then putting that into quantitative data for a politician to
understand in words and in numbers, what happened to a
bunch of people who sacrificed their careers and lives for
our country, for their job or for their for the

(31:48):
orders that they have for that particular mission. And hopefully
these will clear some of the provide clarity to our
very wise politicians that run our country that our veterans
when they come home, have served or have paid the price,
and they're home and they need to be taken care of.
So there should be no second chances or no second

(32:09):
guessing when benefits are needed. They're real. It's the real thing,
the real need. So again, I hope that when people
hear this message, Paul, that they do the same thing
like you did, and thank you a thousand times to
have the courage to do it, to help us younger
and future soldiers and veterans to get some of the
things that you guys didn't have the experiences that you

(32:30):
had to go through.

Speaker 5 (32:32):
The message I think we really have to get out
is not only to the Vietnam veterans, but we also
need to talk about our current veterans. Yes, we need
to make sure that they see I didn't register with
the VA until I was almost sixty, so there was
a forty year period there that I could have gotten

(32:55):
help that I needed, but I just didn't do it.
Nobody sat me down and said you've got to go there.
And I think that's that has to stop. Now.

Speaker 3 (33:07):
It's biting your generation in the behind. And I'll tell
you why, because my father is also a Vietnam veteran
and he is going through the process with the VA
of trying to obtain his benefits based off his experience
in Vietnam and the you know, I guess the physiological
fallout of that because he was exposed to agent orange

(33:30):
and unfortunately he continues to hit this wall where they
tell him because you didn't report it within a year.
And my thought on that is, I'm like within a
year of separating. So my thought on that is, you know,
you all were coming home to people who were spitting
on you, who were mistreating you, who were not appreciating
your service or your sacrifice. So my thought is at

(33:53):
that time, why on earth would a Vietnam veteran want
to walk into a VA after everything they had to
go through through for signing up or for being drafted
and showing up and serving their country. I don't see
where I feel like there should be some kind of
an exception for the Vietnam era veterans because it was

(34:13):
such a tumultuous situation and what was happening at home
was so just very tense that I can see why
so many veterans of the Vietnam Era didn't immediately seek
help through the VA. But I also believe, and tell
me if I'm wrong, I don't think the word was
really out about the VA at the time, like it

(34:34):
wasn't talked about so widely like it is now.

Speaker 5 (34:37):
Let me sum it up this way. When we were
being discharged in Fort Lewis, Washington and we had to
come back to wherever we lived, we were told to
get out of our uniform as quickly as possible to
stop the abuse. So that was the message, go and hide.
So that's what we did. So now it's so hard

(34:58):
to go back and get those.

Speaker 3 (35:01):
My father was told not to file a VA claim
because he was told that it would hurt his chances
of employment after the military. They told him, don't do it.
They were like, if you do that, you won't be
able to get a job because if they think you're disabled,
nobody's going to hire you. And that was the message
that was given to him coming out of the Navy.

Speaker 5 (35:20):
That's not an uncommon story. It's not so much that
we were afraid. It was more that it was just
common knowledge not to and we were done fighting. We
didn't want to fight at home.

Speaker 1 (35:36):
And for that, that's an apology that's been overdue, and
I'll apologize for that, or we will and I don't
have to. But unfortunately, during that time, things are different
in the perspective of the veteran was exceptionally one eighty
than what it is today. And now we're finding that
our veterans are one of our country's greatest resources. And

(35:59):
right now we're backpedaling, go oh, how can we fix this? Well, folks,
when you're short on the dollar in time, you got
to go. You got to go big quickly. Right now,
there's got to be a perception change of that time
the shame's guy get taken out of it, which we're
working on that presently. And right now I personally feel
that our military is getting it's called karma. We didn't

(36:21):
take care of those who took care of us, and
now we're in a point of our country where all
the experts, all the trained individuals that had the experience
and knowledge, they're nowhere to be found because they went
and start in their lives and had to leave their
uniform behind, and now we're asking them to pick that
uniform back up. You're sending two different messages.

Speaker 3 (36:40):
Well, and hopefully the VA will start to see that
when they receive a claim from a Vietnam era veteran
that giving them the denial under the auspices of you
did not report this within a year of separating, that
that mindset needs to shift a little for that generation
of veterans, given a unique situation that we had happening

(37:02):
in this country at that time. It's not like now
where people will fall all over themselves to thank people
for their service. Back then, it wasn't like Paul mentioned,
it was something you just kind of tucked under your
hat and you just kept it moving forward. And like
my father told me, they told him not to seek
a VA claim because it would impact his ability for
employment after the military. And he was a young man

(37:22):
in his twenties, so he didn't want to risk not
being able to get hired or have meaningful employment that
could provide him a pension or anything like that, simply
because he walked into the VA and said, Hey, I
have some issues that I need to address, which would
have helped him today. However, back then they were advised
not to. So I'm hoping the VA will we'll start
to kind of look at that and not put just

(37:44):
a blanket denial on people for this, especially from the
Vietnam era, because it just sounds like from your story
and from my dad's story, like that is not the
case at all, of kind of how that it shouldn't
have to be you should have done this within one year,
because that was not popular, That was not easy. That
was not even recommended by people who were in the

(38:06):
military at the time for veterans to seek out assistance
through the VA unless there was a very obvious issue,
like if they had lost a limb, if they had
lost eyesight or something obviously, but for the ones who
were kind of the walking wounded for lack of a
better term, those folks were basically told suck it up
and pressed, don't go near the VA.

Speaker 1 (38:27):
Yes, And to add relevance to some degree, my uncle
eight years old, he passed away last Friday. I just
found out not too long he was in a military
to what Dagred did not know other than I didn't
know what branch because to the point I'm trying to
make here is he buried his uniform, He buried his career,

(38:47):
he worked with the government, He never ever spoke about
his time in service. He never went to the VA
and as he got sick, it turns out something he
acquired during the war ended up festering over time. Was
it diagnosed and then caused issues. He was eighty eight.
He had a great life. But the fact of the
matter is he you triggered something. I mean, we said,

(39:10):
they took the uniforms off and they buried it. He
literally never spoke on it, and he literally put his
entire military cachet in a box in the back of
the corner. And now it's coming out because he passed.
I'm going why didn't talk about it before? Didn't want to?

Speaker 5 (39:25):
Two things you just said that I identify with. One
is that he never talked about it. That's the Vietnam veteran.
We never talked to our families about it. And my
wife was the one that finally made me aware of
it out of reunion, and she said two things. One
is I'm glad I didn't know about it then while

(39:46):
it was going on, But I never knew about it period.
So there's an understanding between you and your family that
you need to have that conversation. They don't know what
you went through, and you don't have to get into
minute details, but you should have that conversation with them

(40:08):
so they know a little bit more about you. There's
a large segment of your life that's hidden, yes, and
that shouldn't be. That's not fair to them. The other
thing with the VA I was rejected three or four
times and I was at the final where you had
to get it a lawyer. It made me mad and

(40:32):
I took it on as a personal mission that I
was going to fix this. It ended up that I
was lucky. I met with a congressman to an event
and he took the task on. He was the one
that got me a lawyer. He was the one that
got me in front of the right people. The problem
is is that we sometimes give up, and we have

(40:55):
to think of it as a mission that we're going
to complete that mission and we're not going to give up.
I understand that there are there are stolen valor out
there that tried to use our VA system, but that's
not you. You need to take it on as a
personal challenge and if you need help, by all means,

(41:16):
call your congressman. Yes, they have immense power with the VA.
Mine did he knew the right resources? Now, when I
say he did, he turned his staff loose on my case.
Oh that's what got me my benefits. That's what got
me taken care of. But I did a lot of
research on my own also so that when I went,

(41:36):
I was prepared. You must be prepared if you're getting rejected. Yes,
so there are other organizations that will help you, the
VFW and so with the American Legion. They all have
people that will help you. But you have to be
determined that you're not going to stop. It's a mission
you're going to complete one way or the other, and
you owe it to yourself, you owe it to another veteran,

(41:58):
and you owe it to your family.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
Differently, for me, I feel that the VA is kind
of a component of that honor of what you deserve,
you serving to deserve and that medical benefit, whatever you
may need. Add that VA may be minute or great,
is something that you is bought and paid for with
your time and service. Now, folks, let me tell you something.
It's not about being there for five years or twenty
five years of a grand career.

Speaker 2 (42:21):
The Vietnam Era.

Speaker 1 (42:22):
You could have been there three weeks and seeing combat
that a man has been thirty five years, not seeing
a day of. And I had the honor to have
many of them mentor myself my time here in Florida,
and I can actually have the honor. I call them
my friends. And some of them are here with us
and some are not. And for those who are not,
the reason why we're here on this show doing this
is to honor their name and make sure that they

(42:44):
don't go through or the future doesn't go through what
they had to. We must learn from that. And the
Library of Congress is the way to tell that story
of what they went through. And go look at Congress
in the eye. Tell me I don't deserve my benefits
because what I went through and serve. You're welcome for
the freedoms that you sit there and have and enjoy,
and then nice healthcare that you have. But for me,

(43:04):
I made a sacrifice to my command, to my country
so that you could have that.

Speaker 2 (43:08):
And I'm that kind. I'm a bodacious sergeant.

Speaker 3 (43:10):
So well, and especially since most of our Congress representatives
and senators for that matter, have never served in the
military a day in their life. Yes, I've believe the
last statistic I think I heard, and this was years ago,
was that like something like sixteen percent of the over
five hundred members of Congress have ever served in the military.

(43:32):
So most of them honestly don't have a clue. And
this Veteran's History Project, hopefully is that vehicle to help
illustrate for them what life in the military is like,
because I do believe that many of them are appreciative
and supportive, but still without having that understanding of our
experiences from every era. With them not knowing that and

(43:54):
really not having any clue about it, they can't really
make fully informed decisions about how to take care of
us on the you know, House Armed Forces Committee, or
you know, any of these committees they have when they
have these hearings. They don't know how to take care
of us.

Speaker 1 (44:09):
Subcommittees at handle the National Veteran Affairs. Please tell me, folks,
and I apologize Amanda for cutting you off, no worries.
How can they have people on a subcommittee to determine
the budget funding for VA and not understand the process,
the experience.

Speaker 2 (44:25):
Of going through the VA.

Speaker 1 (44:27):
How can you have, somebody has no idea what that
feels like. Oh, it is to be a veteran determine
if we're going to get funding or not, or to
be able to cut it off. To me, if you
took this in the reality world, that's like me going
to IBM saying I'm going to make a decision about
the the budget for the multi billion dollar corporation with
no idea about it or computers. It's ridiculous. But so

(44:48):
why is it ridiculous when it comes to the veterans
on a subcommittee? A lot of those people are even
remotely connected to military service. Why don't we have more
people on those subcommittees? Why do why, folks, we out
to happen. We put people in office. We put them
from the mayor's office, to the councilman's office, to the
state office, to Congress, the Senate. We put them in office,

(45:11):
and that affords us tremendous, tremendous power and authority. Only
if one we're organized, two we know where we came
from and what we've been through. In three, we give
marching orders to those people in Congress to do our bidding.
Or unfortunately, as my favorite man would say, you're fired,
and we'll find somebody else who can do that. I'm

(45:31):
sorry about that, ramp folks. But when it comes to
veterans and passionate I've seen too many people on the street.
I've seen people suffer and they are bronze star purple
Heart recipients struggling to get just today today. That by
far is unacceptable in this country of ours. Sorry about that,
ramp votes again.

Speaker 3 (45:49):
So as we digress back to your interview process, Paul,
how did that work as far as like from getting
in contact and making the date, What was the actual
filming varience like, because they do sit you down and
film you right.

Speaker 6 (46:03):
Yes, it's it.

Speaker 5 (46:04):
They actually I was at Congressman's Stuvie's office. They actually
have a studio. One of their conference rooms is converted
into a studio, so they have lighting. It It's just
like you would expect if you're going to make a video.

Speaker 6 (46:27):
They mike you up. It's very casual, it's not there's
no high pressure.

Speaker 5 (46:34):
Of course, the young lady that I was dealing with,
named Rihanna Uh, explains to you how it's going to happen.
Lets you go wherever you're going to go. You don't
have to worry about making mistakes because they have the
ability like you do here to remove certain things that
don't go well and and edit it. But uh, it's

(46:56):
it's just a painless very It's just another conversation like
we have right here.

Speaker 3 (47:01):
Was there any prep time involved, like did they kind
of send you questions to kind of prime you ahead
of time?

Speaker 6 (47:06):
Or well, there's a release involved.

Speaker 5 (47:08):
They asked if I had photographs, They asked if I
had any kind of and of course, you know, I
have quite the extensive collection exactly. They may or may
not use parts of that. One is a movie of
us moving a howitzer for the very first time.

Speaker 6 (47:25):
By alnicopter, So they may include that, they may not.

Speaker 5 (47:28):
It really depends on how it develops. But they do
ask for a release of anything you give them. They
need to have that, and they'll ask you're kind of
prepped prior to going. They'll tell you what questions they're
going to ask. And what I did was as I
went on to the Library of Congress and saw a

(47:49):
couple of interviews. Each interview is different because each person
is different, so yours would be different than mine, even
though there will be some similarities. So it's it's just
a regular sit down session where you're talking about events
of the past and how you got there.

Speaker 3 (48:09):
Awesome, and this is a program for our listeners. This
is a program that's all across the United States. It's
done through your Congressman's office. So for our friends listening
here in Southwest Florida locally, Paul, I think you have
some contact information to relay for those that are interested
in getting more information and hopefully filming an interview.

Speaker 5 (48:30):
There's a young lady who is really in charge of
it for Senator for Congressman Stuvie. Her name is Rihanna.
You can get a hold of her via phone. It's
area code nine four one four nine three two one four,

(48:50):
or you can email the congressman through her email. It's
Rihanna McDonald. I'll spell it. It's Romeo in alpha November
November alpha period the dot McDonald and she's and it's
at mail Mike Alpha India, Lima dot House dot gov

(49:19):
and they they will get back to you. You have
to be a little patient right now because it is
an election season, so that office is extremely busy, but
they will get back to you fairly quickly, and if
even just to acknowledge your contact and then they will
further get a hold of you and make arrangements to

(49:40):
do that.

Speaker 3 (49:42):
And just to be clear, Rihanna's last name, McDonald is
mc mike, Charlie Donald Delta, Oscar, November Alpha, Lima, Delta.
Just for our listeners, so they don't think it might
be m ac, it's mc McDonald Ona McDonald. So for
those of you that are outside of our local listening area,

(50:04):
if you're interested in getting a hold of you know
how to get part of the Veteran's History project. You
can contact your congressman's office, preferably their local one that's
in your home state. But if you just aren't sure
where to start and you want more information, you can
actually contact the national office and their phone number is

(50:25):
area code two O two seven zero seven four nine
one six, or they have a toll free option which
is eight eight eight three seven one five eight four eight.
You can also email them at VAS in Victor, oh
as an Oscar hs in Hotel ps and Papa at

(50:48):
Ellis and Lima, oh as an Oscar c as in
Charlie dot gov. You can also go online to theloc
dot gov as in Library of Congress dot gov website
to get more information on the Veterans' History Project. Paul,
we just want to thank you so much for your
time today. Thank you for coming and telling us about

(51:10):
the process. Are there any other comments or sentiments that
you wish to pass along?

Speaker 5 (51:17):
Just don't let our stories fade into sunset, never anything else.

Speaker 3 (51:23):
If again, I don't think so. Just thanks to our sponsors,
Thanks to one hundred point nine WCCFFM. Thank you to
Reach Across America Radio as well for having us on
their radio broadcasts. Appreciate all the opportunities to put visibility
on organizations that are veteran centric. You don't have to
be a veteran to listen to the show or to

(51:44):
be on this show. If you support us, if you
love us, 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 the free iHeartRadio app up. If they pull
that up and they search WCCF on Fridays at nine am,

(52:05):
they can find our show. And then also we are
aired on Rites Across America Radio on Fridays at three pm,
so you can find both USA Cross America Radio and
WCCF VIAVIR Radio. App Rally Pointers fall out