Rally Point 55 ver 2

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Rally Pointers full, good.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Afternoon and morning wherever you're going to be in the
world today across the world. This is James the Sartim
Marin with Amena Laciadolcano. Bam, folks here with you at
the rally point and folks, we have an outstanding show today.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
So we're here for this segment with Ron Horington, who
is a Coastguard veteran who recently went on an honor
flight trip out of Southwest Florida honor flight, as well
as his guardian Kyle Chamberlain. So we have them here
today to talk about their recent experience, but also first
of all, to talk about your service. So Ron, thank
you for being on the show. Can you tell us

(00:39):
about your service in the Coastguard? What years did you
serve and what was your job?

Speaker 3 (00:45):
Well, actually, I was in the Coast Guard for four years.
I joined in nineteen fifty six. I was there for
four years. I was an electronics technician. I was stationed
in of course, my boot game was in Cape Maine,
New Jersey. I went to school in Groton, Connecticut, then
to Loran station in Kodiak, Alaska, and then on a

(01:06):
weather ship out of Boston and did weather stations for
a year and a half. That was the coast Guard.
I was also in the Air Force for four years.
The six years.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
I heard that. But yet, but you claim the coast
Guard because you're wearing a hat as well.

Speaker 3 (01:22):
I am because I also belonged to the Coast Guard
Auxiliary and I've been in there for sixteen years.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
So if I had my coast Guard times a little longer.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
Got about twenty years total coast Guard down.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Awesome. What did you do in the Air Force?

Speaker 3 (01:35):
I was actually a computer maintenance technician. I went in there.
That's why I joined the Air Force was to be
trained on computers. I worked in the Siege systems AGE.
You may not be familiar with it because it's been
gone for quite a few years now. But you've ever
watched the movie The Battle of Britain. If you've see

(02:00):
that movie, uh, you'll see manually what we did electronically. Uh. Basically,
if you watch The Battle of Britain has to do
with uh, the the the British, how they held off
the Germans when they were trying to come in and
bomb them and whatnot.

Speaker 4 (02:17):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
If you watch closely, you watch, uh the the women
down on the working on the board in a pit
and then the the Air Force officers were on top
up there. Well basically it actually was pretty good for
those times. Then what they would do is they would
they would call out to the interceptors and then they

(02:37):
would send up the interceptors to catch the Germans. And
that's how they followed it well. After the Second World War,
the US was very impressed with what they were doing.
So what they did was that they took and they
they took and they uh automated that system. Uh so uh.
The computer that they built and during the Second World

(03:01):
War was a design that were used. After that. The
design actually was put together in nineteen forty seven, the
Air Force started implementing it. The Air Force started using
it and putting these what they called intercepted the groups

(03:21):
within the country. There were twenty of them and basically
it was called Air Defense Command at that time. I
spent six years in Air Defense. My job was to
maintain the computers. Without the computers running, there was no
Air defense appear in simple but you had to see
it because it was the most beautiful thing working you
would ever want to see that. It's what a computer

(03:44):
really looked like. It wouldn't fit in what it wouldn't
fit in this building. We had two computers. They built
special buildings for them. They were all bost theoretically bomb proof,
but basically they were about three or four stories high
and one story was nothing but the computer itself. Second
story was air conditioning and the power supplies. Then the

(04:05):
third story was the the control center where the actually
you'd find Air Force people sitting at the what i'd
call or what you'd call a large TV, and they'd
be sitting there and they were called the weapons directors,
and what they controlled was everything from missile directions, uh
you know, firing up a missile to stop them or

(04:27):
mostly putting up jets to intercept them and what have you.
I had to make sure they all ran pure and simple.
Not I alone place no pressure, not at all. Only
one time did I get the pressure. And that's when
the system was down and I was They were waiting
to play war game, and of course when we played
war games, that was as serious as anytime. And it

(04:51):
went down, and sure enough it took me. I finally
did did it up because they were just about to
scrub the game, which was really a no no. But
I just it was that ly and all of a
sudden I found that what the problem was, and they
when they were they was hitting in there waiting the
weapons controllers were Then all of a sudden, I heard

(05:13):
a big cheer coming. Oh, it's up, it's up, Now
we can go ahead. Well, I also heard then they
came out. I was in another room. They came out
and gave me a large round of applause for having
I say, I guess I saved the day or something
like that. That was my crowning moment in between you

(05:33):
and I.

Speaker 1 (05:34):
Ah.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
Then I spent six years in the Air Force. Got out.
I had had ten years total active duty. I went
to work for Digital Equipment Corporation because that's what I
learned how to do computers and so in the Air Force.
So I went to work for Digital. I worked there
for thirty two years. I retired after thirty two years

(05:56):
with them. Came to Florida in two thousand and they
I get interested in doing the Coast Guard again, so
I joined the Coast Guard Auxiliary. And Coast Guard Auxiliary
does everything if you're not familiar with it, uh what
they the auxiliary can do everything that the Coast Guard
does with the proper training accept anything that is quote

(06:17):
military or put you in harm's way. Okay, I'm sorry,
Yeah I could. I could call them in and I
was there isoneers and basically uh and I've done that
several times, and you were you were there to be ioneers.
You could put up a perimeter around what was going on.

(06:38):
But it does keep other boaters away. And we waited
for the Coast Guard regulars to get there. You'd be
surprised how quickly they could get there, depending what the
problem was. Uh. But we did more search and rescue.
I worked up at Sector Sectors in Saint Petersburg. Sector
is the west coast of Florida. Uh, and we had

(06:58):
five all Zilly divisions something in the US Coast Guard
long West Coast Florida. And basically my job at Sector
was to sit on the staff of the captain there
and basically make sure that we had to write people
to back up the Coast Guard when they needed us.
I guess to crown my crowning moment there that I

(07:19):
felt as proud of as you go back a few
years ago, and you remember Hurricane Irma that was coming
up to state and it covered the whole state Monna,
and my job was to make sure that we could
cover as much as possible. Once some storm had passed.
We weren't doing things until it was over. It kind
of stopped over South Florida here and kind of woor

(07:39):
itself out well. But anyway, after that we were able
to do. Our goal was that we had to find
everybody and make sure we were operational within seventy two hours.
Either if we weren't, then the Coast Guard had to
get in blind us. I'm talking about auxilious now. What
made me sobrids We did it within forty eight else
we had found everybody and we had about I'd say

(08:00):
we had about five hundred people.

Speaker 1 (08:01):
Had to fuck that was a rough storm. So I
was actually stationed at Patrick Air Force Base when I
came through. And so even though I was on the
east coast of the state aout our two weeks, and
it did a number on that area too, And I
do remember it ended up covering practically the entire state.
So it was no joke at all.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
No, there was no joke, and there was a lot
of resource out there to take care of it, you know,
to recovery. It still exists. I mean get me, I
was involved. I'm still in the auxiliary, but I can't
do so much anymore. I'm getting to old.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
Well, you're still there in a support posture, which is
just as I can.

Speaker 3 (08:35):
I can teach. I can teach sure, I can teach voting,
I can teach their their issues that they have they need.
So that's that's where I am now.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
Well, I wanted to thank you for your satirist and
service to your country and any in all capacities that
you had cause, basically, as our audience knows, coast guards
or to watches, order borders, and believe it or not,
it's more active than you know.

Speaker 3 (08:55):
Well, not only that, I'll just add to a little
bit of that. You may think that it's just the
borders of this country. Coast guards also stationed in Iran,
out Bahrain. There's a big contingent out there guarding the
UH oil rings out there. That's coast Guard that covers that.

Speaker 1 (09:10):
UH.

Speaker 3 (09:10):
The coast Guard is also responsible for anything to protect
the Navy base from the outside of the base itself. Okay,
anything that's out there on water other than a Navy
ship would be a coast guard shop. Also, what few
people seem to or know about, and I don't I understand. Uh.
The Coast Guard is the only only military unit we
have in this country that has the ability to intercept

(09:32):
ships out at sea. Because if the Navy did it,
then the Navy we declared declaring war. Uh. If the
Coast Guard does it, we have international Uh excuse me,
we have international approval. The only service that we have,
only one that's in that I know of, has international
approval to intercept anybody on the high seas. And you

(09:54):
for you'll find is the Navy will have a ship
out there sometimes and uh, all of a sudden, the
navies starts to intervene, especially with pirates and things like that,
and what what you'll find it's in the background. And
probably very few people know this, uh when they when
they do the interception. What happens that there's a generally
a four to five man group on the on that

(10:16):
ship from the Coast Guard, and once a Navy starts
to intervene intervene, the Navy ensign comes down and Coast
Guard insn's up. So at that point in time, it's
that ship is on the command of coach Guard.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
Interesting, very a lot of intricacies that I think a
lot of people don't know about the Coast Guard, and
there's a lot of I guess misconceptions about how they operate.

Speaker 2 (10:38):
And that basically means, folks, if you're listening, the Coast
Guard con that is correct. And now I'm more enlightened
that way. I have fire veteran meetings. Coast Guards are
not just state bound that they can be broad as well,
to watch navy bases in foreign countries, in foreign models.
Very interesting. Thank you very much for that.

Speaker 1 (10:54):
Awesome and so recently when.

Speaker 3 (10:56):
I had I had the honor to go on the
Honor fly. That was quite a trip.

Speaker 1 (11:01):
Yes, tell us about it, Talus, about your experience.

Speaker 3 (11:03):
Well, other than the fact that we left at four
am in the morning, we went out upon the coard
at four am. It was a little bit dirty, But
I will say one thing, I've never seen something organized
of that size, organized so well done as they did.
And you felt you felt as a as a veteran,
you felt like, oh my gosh, they're looking after me. Left.

(11:25):
Kyle was my sponsor there and he looked at me
and it just it was great to have that and
he's outstanding job. But when we got there. We left
at four o'clock. Now, as we were leaving, kind of interestingly,
as we're going along, as we're back in lean Out
and we beg in the taxi, here come the fire
trucks and the question of what are they doing. Well,

(11:46):
all of a sudden they're firing the water cannons over
the ship, over the over the plane itself, and they
did it from sides. What it was an honor thing,
that's what that was. So then we went from there
to Baltimore. There we got to Balder. Guess what our
trucks were there again, I could leave it. As we
were taxing up to the state to the gate up there,

(12:07):
they had the same things that we could see them.
Now it was it was daylight and we could see
what was going on. And I must say, and Kyle
was sitting there says, you got to see this because
I put him at the at the out the windows
so that he could see. So anyway, we.

Speaker 5 (12:20):
Got in there.

Speaker 3 (12:21):
We came in UH, and then we took us down
to there were three buses waitings right there, and we
ordered the buses. And as we were leaving UH, there
was a contingent of marines standing right outside and as
busts went by, this salute and that was our first
Really there, I can't say anything other than just you
you begin to not begin, you really feel good when

(12:42):
you see all of these things, honor that these people showing.
Then we got to UH in the Washington d c.
Itself and the idea was to go around to as
many of the memorials as possible, and we did everyone.
The only one that's not there, by the way, is
the coach card here is not one and three nine.
But anyway, we went around, we saw all the various ones.

(13:03):
Now and then interesting thing we had on our trip.
We had UH. We had people from the World War two.
We had one man he was one hundred years old.

Speaker 2 (13:11):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (13:11):
And they did a special flag ceremony and what not.
And as they were doing the ceremony they parked. They
part rangers for the the from the park at the
National Park came over the helicopter and they dipped the
helicop and souted that incredible. It was incredible, and believe
it or not, he could get up and he could walk.
He it was hard to keep him in the wheelchair
and all honestly.

Speaker 1 (13:32):
So do they want you to be in the wheelchair
at all times when you're on your not.

Speaker 3 (13:37):
All not at all times, Kyle China now kind of
talk about because I was also in a wheelchair.

Speaker 5 (13:43):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (13:43):
But as I was trying to say to him, I
have to get up and walk, Kyle, I'll push the
wheelchairs and I did and he but he kept a
close IONI we will let me go too far, uh
and whatnot. But yes, So anyway, we finished that day
and probably the most interssing thing was the changing of
the guard at tomb of the Young Soldier. And Kyle

(14:04):
got me right up front. I have to give him credit. Boy,
he kept he took care of me the whole He
got me right up front. You couldn't get any closer
because it was a big g so I was able
to see everything went on both He also took pictures
for me. I have pictures a day. Then when we
came back, it was a tiring day. I'll tell you now,
well World coordinated him wrong. They did an outstanding job there,

(14:25):
but the flight back seemed like it's awful. So when
do we leave about six o'clock or something or seven
o'clock something. It was only a couple hour flight and
we were almost three hours in the years what's going on?
But something must be wrong. So we landed. The plane
landed and they said, all right, try everybody into the waiting
room here. We're gonna do this. Won't everybody to get

(14:46):
off the plane first, and then we will take a
picture a whole group. So we went in there. They
served us ice cream and things like that, and they
had a couple of the I don't remember, but then
they finally said, okay, well, oh we can't. This is
not the right room. Rest go out into the lobby
and we were we will take the picture out there. Well,
about halfway down this down the hall, heading out to
the lobby, we heard this big scream and keep a

(15:07):
cacophony of noise like you would leave. So we walked
out there and it was just pep the They were
lined up on both sides and it was there was
not just one line, it was a line that we
were one into the thing and came around. It's just
like a maze going out around the three times and
then we got We thought, okay, well now we're to
the front of the to the building. They're gonna let
us out. As we're walking out the door. There was
another line and it went the hole.

Speaker 1 (15:28):
You were bigger than the Beatles that.

Speaker 2 (15:30):
Let me do.

Speaker 3 (15:31):
I don't know, Kyle says. I estimated three to four
hundred people. Kyle said he thought was more than that.
I don't honestly know how many. It makes no difference
the feeling that we got, I'll speak for all vets
felt saying the the out the the outline of U
outflowing of well wishes and everything. It was not just okaying.

(15:52):
People were screaming and pole, can I shake your hand
and kind of at you back?

Speaker 5 (15:56):
And there was one thing.

Speaker 3 (15:56):
The thing was we had we had teenagers there, we
had the Earl Scouts and Scout name it. Then we
had people from of all ages there. If you were
there at ten o'clock at night in the middle of
the week and I couldn't, that was just blown away.
We got outside and there was a policeman's band down
the street from us, and they were I think they
were bag Byes if I remember, And that was I mean,

(16:17):
you can't walk out with just feel like, oh my gosh.
All I can say is I can't rave about it enough.
Such a such a feeling that you had.

Speaker 1 (16:25):
It sounds like it was a wonderfully memorable.

Speaker 3 (16:27):
Absolutely, However, many years I've got left in my life, right,
you can't you can't forget something left. And these people
were genuine, There was not just an achoil on that.
They were absolutely. My head's off to the to the
people that put it together.

Speaker 1 (16:40):
Data are superbsolutely only Copland of Southwest Florida, Honor Flight
and her team, they definitely have it down with science.
They certainly make sure that they off every second that day,
show up for three finally telling you.

Speaker 3 (16:54):
When finally, when you finally.

Speaker 1 (16:56):
Absolutely, and Kyle, so you became involved with Honor Flight
shortly before this journey, correct, So all our listeners from
a guardian's perspective, what that was like signing up, getting
authorized and cleared to be a guardian on how paired together? Like,
just help us understand that process. So I was.

Speaker 6 (17:14):
Actually very fortunate to I'm part of Veteran Error. It's
a company that does a lot of sponsoring for the light.
So they actually volunteered me to go to this event.
And I think it was a two weekends before a
weekend before I.

Speaker 3 (17:29):
Got a call on a Thursday they said, I said,
would you like to go on this flight. I said absolutely,
I've been trying to get on one of these for
two years. They said, well, okay, we've got a spot
for you if you can make it. So I said,
I'll make it somehow. Or there were three of us
that and where I live that we're all so we
went down together and anyway, the first thing was, well,

(17:49):
this was a Thursday. Said well, we've got a meeting
on Saturday. You've got to attend so you find out
what's going on. That's where I met Kyle. So we
drove down that Saturday morning and then we found out
And I can't Katy explaining to you the reception we
just received that Saturday. But basically that's when I met Kyle.
I think I don't know if he had had my
name or just I was sitting at the table by

(18:10):
myself and he showed up. We started talking. Then the
next thing and he said, well, I'm your I'm your companion. Okay,
go right ahead.

Speaker 2 (18:16):
So uh so, Kyle, can I tell us how you
tell about Veteran Air and how you ended up to
be a part of Yeah.

Speaker 6 (18:24):
So wonderful. Lady Sarah, she's our kind of event coordinator
at veteran air. She's the one that hand in hand
handles all this stuff with Naomi in flight. So when
they had a spot opened, I'm on Sarah's nice list,
so she she called me and said, hey, do you
want to go on the unter flight? Of course, I said,
that sounds like an amazing opportunity, you know, let me

(18:44):
let me jump right on it. So, like Ron said,
Saturday morning, we walked in there and there was like
a whole assembly line. You get your packet, you get
your name bag, your name badge, the color of the
bus that you're supposed to ride on. You go sit
down at this table. And that's where I met Ron,
and me and him just struck it up right away.
And I told him when they were saying, you know,
at the table, you're sitting with your vet, I tapped

(19:04):
him on the shoulder. I said, I don't care who
who is my vet.

Speaker 5 (19:06):
You're my guy.

Speaker 6 (19:07):
You're who I'm going to be with for this flight.
And funny enough, we actually were the ones that were
paired together. So when it came time for the flight,
it was when you.

Speaker 1 (19:14):
Know, you know, and it all worked out that way.
That's wonderful. Yeah, So tell us about your as a
guardian get around in DC and your secen oreoles like
what is what is your role in the capacity as
a guard.

Speaker 6 (19:25):
So it starts well before we even get to the seat,
it's all help it up, get on the plane. It
just the whole role for us is to make their
days enjoyable. You know, it's it's not for us at all,
it's hunderd percent for veterans. So just you know, making
them comfortable, making sure they got enough water, snacks, whatever
that they're you know, like he said he wanted to
get up and walk a bunch. They made him, you know,

(19:46):
made me give him a wheelchair. So I was I
was pushing them around it and he's like, I'm tired
of this thing, let me walk. So, you know, whatever,
it was to make them comfortable and have as you know,
great of a day as they could. But from my perspective,
it was just I get emotional thinking about it. It
was just an amazing day to see all the faces
of veterans just light up when they would go to

(20:06):
their respective oriole and have the flag ceremonies they're like
fully saves done in them.

Speaker 5 (20:10):
It was just truly incredible.

Speaker 6 (20:12):
It was a once in a lifetime kind of trip
that I hope I get to go on more of.
You know, I'm trying to get more involved the Honor Flight,
but family, tie kids, it's kind of hard to find that.

Speaker 1 (20:19):
Absolutely it can be. But that's wonderful that you were
given that opportunity because you yourself veteran. However, you work
for a veteran friendly company. Members of your family who
are serving currently in the military. So that's a one
way to be able to give back on the rally
by show wow, how our show is for veterans and
supportive of us. So this is kind of a beautiful
little marriage here of pairing all together as veteran and

(20:42):
somebody who greatly supports us in.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
A support of that A man would always say it
takes a village stories and as I like to say,
being a part of our military, military and veteran family,
don't be direct to send to support us in your
family and the fact that we have a veteran debt,
I think it's the honor of to Hey, I'm to
your support and service. I'm thankful to have your on
our show because you are a legacy of our military history,

(21:06):
and I truly believe that we have a person outside
of thinking about during the coast Guard and that mentorship.
This you being here is that mentorship assuring the kind
of continuity of military life and that life thereafter, and
us celebrating that that career is what the honor flight
is here in southwest Florida.

Speaker 1 (21:23):
Absolutely, and Ron, what would you say two veterans who
might be listening, who have not been on an honor
flight might be considering it, what would you say to
help vince them really should appla?

Speaker 3 (21:33):
Well, I have talked to a lot of ones who
have not been ever since I've been back, and I
called quite a few of my old friends or buddies
and who had been in the military, and I said
my first question, have you been on run? And most
of them that no, not really have you heard about it?
Well I kind of heard a little bit, but I
didn't pay an attention. I said, stop, go get investigated.
Go it is well worth you getting involved. And not

(21:55):
only just here in Southwest Florida, but all over because
I was talking to Pep in Georgia, up in Connecticut,
over and over in all over and everybody I run
into down here Florida. If you tell you what if
you get the chance to go, please go. You can't
help injeel so well done and I can't think, I
can't think Southwest for enough to just for the honor,

(22:16):
I felt honored. I felt the honor that when I
write in it's just second note. And if you haven't
done it, you can't explain.

Speaker 1 (22:22):
That's all is to absolutely, And so for those listening,
if you're interested in getting involved, c go online and
look up Southwest Florida Honor Flight. They do have a
website and there is a way t Why were you
to be a guardian or a veteran traveling or to
go to DC for the day. See, these monuments have
that appreciation lavish on you for your service. So with that,
I just want to say thank you to Allington and

(22:44):
Kyle Chamberlain. Thank you for being on the show guys
and sharing your experiences what they really appreciate it.

Speaker 5 (22:50):
Of course, thank you for having us.

Speaker 3 (22:52):
Yes, absolutely, it's it's been a pleasure.

Speaker 1 (22:55):
And in today's segment we have with us on the
show Chad McCollum. He is an Air Force veteran. He
was a firefighter with the Air Force and he is
now a Charlotte County Fire Department firefighter, and he's going
to talk to us today about his involvement with Big Brothers,
Big Sisters Beyond School Walls program. So welcome to the show, Chad.
Thank you, absolutely, we're happy you're here. So give us

(23:16):
a little bit more information about your time in the
Air Force. So as a veteran, where you serve, you know,
obviously you were a firefighter. You know, any particularly memorable
moments surrounding your career, we'd love to hear about that
and let our listeners hear it too.

Speaker 4 (23:33):
Yeah, sure, so join them military out of high school.
I was recommended by my father, who's also a VET retired.

Speaker 1 (23:41):
He's retired Army, but he pointed you in the right.

Speaker 4 (23:44):
Direction Hereaw, I was really into firefighting even as a teenager.
I was a volunteer where I grew up in Pennsylvania,
and he saw that I was interested in it, said,
he doesn't need to go to college. Let's kind of
put him somewhere where he can get some guidance. And
he was well aware of the firefighting program in the
United States Air Force, so he kind of really encouraged
me to do that. So, yeah, I joined the United

(24:07):
States Air Force in nineteen ninety three, went to fire school,
very difficult fires Fire Academy down in good Fellow Air
Force Base, and then from there I started My first
duty assignment was at RIF Alconbury in England. It was
a three base. There was like a tribase area in England.
It was ri IF Alconberry, RIF Upwood and RIF Molesworth

(24:30):
and each one had its own one had a flight line,
the other two were more service.

Speaker 1 (24:35):
Bases gecomatically separate units GSUS.

Speaker 4 (24:38):
Yeah, and I would work at all of them on
the fire department and that was incredible. I mean, I
was nineteen twenty years old in a foreign country, but
it's not wasn't too foreign because we still spoke a
common language, did a ton of traveling, had some great
experiences there, did some cool training and TD wise, I
was able to work on a Space Shuttle mission as

(25:02):
a rescue specialist for the Space Shuttle, so I got
a little TV wide of Spain for a couple of weeks.

Speaker 5 (25:09):
That was a neat experience. Yeah, it was really neat.

Speaker 4 (25:12):
And so just loved my time in Europe in England,
and then I spent the next two years we're at
Travis Air Force Base in California. Same thing. Was a
completely different environment from when I was grew up. Grew
up on the East Coast, loved northern California, lots of
outdoor activities to do, had a wonderful.

Speaker 1 (25:32):
Time there Wine Country. Were you old enough to at
that point?

Speaker 5 (25:37):
At that point, it was, I say.

Speaker 1 (25:38):
I know, in Europe it's kind of a different ballgame.
Typically they let you drink it like eighteen years old
or whatever the local municipality says. But yeah, in the States,
I was wondering.

Speaker 4 (25:47):
Yeah, no, California, I was by that point I turned
twenty one, So I did did go to the Wine Country,
did a lot of time skiing up in this year
in Nevada's and then a couple of TV wise, I
had an opportunity to go to Honduras for six months.
That was really cool too, and then another small TDI

(26:07):
over to Spain for a couple of months. So yeah,
I did a lot of traveling and that was the
best part of my I thought my experience in the
military was I got to go a lot of cool
different places and experience a lot of different cultures and people, and.

Speaker 1 (26:21):
It was wonderful, very cool. And now you're with the
Charlotte County Fire Department. So your job skills and the
Air Force directly translated into what you do now as
a civilian.

Speaker 5 (26:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (26:30):
Yeah, there was a little challenge at first. Actually, when
I separated from the military, I moved to Florida, and
Florida didn't accept my firefighter certifications from the United States
Air Force. Yeah, so I had to go back to
the fire academy here in Florida. Luckily, that Air Force
fire Academy was what was a great prep I was

(26:52):
well prepared for it, and the Air Force's fire Academy
was much more difficult, I would say, than my civilian
fire academy that I had to go to in Florida.

Speaker 5 (27:01):
But yeah, so I had to.

Speaker 4 (27:03):
Go through the whole fire academy again. That's has since.

Speaker 5 (27:05):
Changed, Yes, reciprocated.

Speaker 4 (27:08):
Yes, through the legislation in Tallahassee, they've been able to
get some reciprocation for for my firefighter certifications in the
Air Force now say they have to go to like
the state Fire College for I don't know, two weeks
to learn Florida stuff correct, and then and then they
all their shirts get Yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:25):
Can you do to operational that the field testing, the running,
run up the tower, come back down.

Speaker 4 (27:31):
Throw the ladder, do the things you have to do
to show that you can still be.

Speaker 1 (27:34):
You're still capable. Got it? Very cool?

Speaker 4 (27:37):
And then I got hired here in Florida, Charlotte County
in nineteen ninety nine. Oh yeah, I've been here about
twenty five years.

Speaker 1 (27:44):
Well, that's good that it didn't seem to take too
too long for you to get everything hashed out so
that you could be a firefighter in Charlotte County.

Speaker 4 (27:51):
Yeah, it took me a year and a half to
get my my EMT and my firefighter certification.

Speaker 1 (27:57):
Very cool. And so tell us about how you can
to be involved with Big Brothers, Big Sisters and ultimately
the Beyond School Walls program.

Speaker 4 (28:04):
Yeah, so three years ago I was I guess I
was in a point of my career as kind of
in a funk. I'm gotn't know what I wanted to do.
I was kind of too far in my career. I
felt to promote up. So I was trying to find
something to to to get active with, to get involved with,
and an email just happened to pop up. I guess

(28:25):
the timing was right through work and there was a
beyond School Walls program for in Charlotte County government. So
I responded to the email. That was that simple as
it was the timing it. I was trying to find
something to engage with and the email showed up right
at the same time.

Speaker 1 (28:42):
And sometimes sometimes you.

Speaker 4 (28:46):
Just got to say yes when it's right there in
front of you, just say okay, let's give it a shot.
So more I thought about it, I'm like, it might
be an opportunity to try to get some young kids.

Speaker 5 (28:54):
It's interested in the fire service.

Speaker 4 (28:56):
We're having a struggle in the fire Service getting people
to want to do our work work and fill the
positions that we have. I thought this might be an
opportunity to do something like that. So I, through my
name and a hat, went through the UH the process
of getting background checks and that sort of stuff, and
then UH I got hooked up with Christina and a

(29:19):
big brothers, big sisters here in Charlotte count or in
the region, and.

Speaker 5 (29:23):
Came up became a big very.

Speaker 2 (29:26):
Cool well Chad. First of all, I want to say
welcome to the show, and I would say thank you
for your sacrificing, your continued service to our community. One
of the things we've talked about on a show multiple
times with our guests is that our service in the
military transcends our service in like in civilian life, and
how we can mentor our community. And you're like the

(29:49):
perfect poster poster soldier in regards to or airman in
this case. Sorry I get myself corrected there, And how
you can transit from your career into a new career
and actually give that back to the youth that we
have here in our county and show them there are
other options and that are available to you if you
so choose to look for that, And I say thank

(30:12):
you that wholeheartedly. My question for you will be is
what are some of the best moments during your beyond
school walls and experiences as a mentor that you've experienced?

Speaker 5 (30:22):
All right? So, uh, it was.

Speaker 4 (30:25):
It was challenging initially. So when you meet this young person,
generally their their high school age, so there's that trying
to connect with them. My particular, I don't know how
detail I can get on my little but my little
was immigrated from a foreign country. English was definitely their

(30:45):
second language, and they were trying to work through that,
and it.

Speaker 5 (30:51):
Was nice for me.

Speaker 4 (30:52):
I got to be with my little for two years.
They were a junior in high school, so I was
there big in junior year and their senior year. And
one of the most wonderful thing is was spending that
time with this this young person in their junior year.
As you know, it's all awkward being a teenager already,
let alone emigrating from another country and speaking a second

(31:13):
language to.

Speaker 5 (31:14):
Their senior year.

Speaker 4 (31:15):
I didn't see them over the summer, but then when
I saw them, when we first saw each other again
after the summer, it was like, Wow, this this young
person who was nervous, a little scared, maybe a little awkward,
was growing into this wonderful, wonderful young man, and that
to me was awesome. I don't know that I had
anything to do with it, but I certainly got to

(31:36):
watch it and to see that was that was awesome.

Speaker 2 (31:40):
That was incredible for me most definitely. And I always
found that mentors in programs like this are like the
guardrails for kids to give them on the path that
they need to be on, because sometimes being a child,
and uh and I say child, being in high school
got raiging hormones and social pressures, peer pressure, the pressure
to succeed in the classroom, and to have somebody kind

(32:02):
of to kind of guide him through those that array
of chaos is kind of is beneficial. And from what
you're telling us here, you've actually seen the fruits of
your labor, so to speak.

Speaker 4 (32:14):
Again, I don't know if it was my labor or not,
but I know I watched this young man young man
now become a young man just over that short period
of time, and that was awesome.

Speaker 5 (32:24):
They weren't.

Speaker 4 (32:25):
He wasn't sure what he wanted to do or how
he wanted to do it. By the end of the program,
he's like, this is what I'm going to go do.
I'm going to got my stuff lined up. I'm going
to go to school. I don't know exactly what I
want to do, but I got something that I'm moving towards.
Like rock one, that's it. You might not know what
you want to do, but you got to do something.
So let's find something to do in the forties.

Speaker 1 (32:43):
And I still don't know what I want to be
when I grow up. That probably almost every episode of
the show, but it's true. I think everybody's wired a
little bit differently, And so you know, some folks they
know what they want to be when they're like seven, eight, eight, nine,
ten years old. Like my husband knew when he was
eleven years old that he was going to join the military.

(33:04):
He tells me that he's like, I knew when I
was eleven that I was joining the military. I'm like,
that's fantastic. I never in a million years ever planned
on joining the military, but desperate times call for desperate measures,
and it ended up being the greatest snap decision I
ever made. So I think it's wonderful that you can
bring as a big You are living proof that it
doesn't always have to be college immediately after high school,

(33:27):
which is wonderful because I think a lot of jobs that,
like you said, the fire Service desperately needs people to
fill you guys's boots after you. It's important for our
kids to know it doesn't have to be college. So
if college isn't really your jam, or if you don't
really know what you'd want to do at college, you
can save yourself the money and go into a vocation

(33:48):
directly out of high school while you kind of figure
it out, and if you like the vocation, great, If
it works for you, wonderful. If it doesn't, it at
least gives you time, gives you some income while you
kind of try to figure out what it is that
you want to do next. And so I think your
role in Beyond School walls. Like, we've talked about this
program so many times on the show, but it's it's

(34:10):
such a wonderful program in the sense that it's so
imperative for our kids. And I don't know if you
have kids or not. I do, Okay, I would say
I have two teenagers, you too, Okay, so we all
know they don't really and Jay has teenagers too, he
has two two daughters. Yeah, So it's like they don't
always want to hear it from us. So I think

(34:30):
the Big Brother's Big Sisters program is so imperative too,
because not only is it a wonderful message, but it's
through a channel they might be open to receive, where
us as parents, we can tell them stuff till we're
blue in the face and they're just like, yeah, no,
you're wrong, you're dumb, you don't know anything, you know
what I mean? And so, but then thank God for
people like you who show up in the Beyond School

(34:51):
Walls program. We're probably telling that student the same thing
their parents are, except they're more open to receive and
to listen to what you are saying because you're not
their parents.

Speaker 5 (35:04):
But they can tell.

Speaker 1 (35:07):
Yeah, they can tell you're somebody that cares and they
you know, you, like you said, you connect with them,
so they think you're pretty cool at some point or another,
you know, on some level, so they'll listen. And that's
the wonderful, beautiful part of this program. It's just making
sure that these kids know, through some form of adult guidance,
that it doesn't have to be college. I mean, college

(35:30):
is cool. There are certain jobs absolutely warn't like you
must have a college degree in order to be in
those circles, but not every single job out there in
the adult life requires that. And so it's so wonderful
that you can show these students, you know, I guess,
snapshots in time of different career options that they may
want to have. Were you ever able to take your

(35:52):
little to the fire station and kind of show them around.

Speaker 4 (35:54):
It was kind of funny because two years I did
this and that with the Beyond School Walls. Each each
month we would go to a different location in the
County and see a different job opportunity within local government.
And it's every time they were in the firehouse to
go do the fire department.

Speaker 5 (36:15):
End of it.

Speaker 4 (36:16):
I was always on duty and I couldn't get my
time off to make sure that I was every time.
So so my little never got to see me in
action with the fires.

Speaker 5 (36:25):
But they all know they got to experience it. But
it was just it just didn't work out quite that way,
you know. And I don't know.

Speaker 4 (36:32):
That he was really interested in the fire service per se,
but but at least they got to experience other things
within the local government, these other jobs and careers. I mean,
just in Charlotte County, that the between the.

Speaker 5 (36:47):
Stuff like this, the audio visual, the.

Speaker 4 (36:51):
Public works, fire and ems, public safety, there's so many
different areas for them to see that well, maybe there's
a whole lot out there, and if it just sparks
a little interest in one of them to seek out
something in that area of interest, I thought that's it was.
It was a wonderful experience. It was a cool program,

(37:13):
but unfortunately I didn't I didn't get to be there
for my little to see the firing em aside of it.

Speaker 2 (37:18):
But for all those prospective littles out there, and I'm
not going to give a promo for the military buy
I am anyway, the military is one of the only
few careers you can do at a very early age.
Retire early, find your patch. I mean, when you find
your patch, you find your passion what you want to
do with your life. If you don't like it, you
can go train and do something else. Get federally accredited,

(37:39):
licensed or certified to do that. Leave go civilian side,
be retired from the military. Sorry, another career or two
other careers after that, and successful without college debt. Now
I own the college route and I'm regretting it. But
the point of the matter is we all have our
own passions in our own directions and with our guests here,

(38:02):
what better life to have to retire early, to have
a second career, and to experience life and enjoy and
visit the world. In your career and your duty, you
will travel the world in some cases and see places
people see on.

Speaker 1 (38:16):
A postcard absolutely or the news or the news. I
mean we have an oath that, Yeah, sometimes you end
up in places that people see on the news, but
I mean even still even deploying like that's pretty cool. Like,
you deployed Honduras and I've deployed as well, So I
mean it is kind of neat that you get to
go into these cultures that people would not vacation to

(38:38):
necessarily from the United States. However, it's pretty cool to
be able to immerse yourself in those cultures, even for
a little while, and be an ambassador to help them
see that, you know, despite what the world kind of
sometimes tries to say about Americans were really not, for
the most part, as bad as people seem to think. So,
I mean, it's kind of that that's an opportunity to
to be an ambassador. But did you ever get a

(39:01):
chance to talk to you a little about the military?

Speaker 5 (39:04):
Yeah, Actually his father was.

Speaker 4 (39:07):
His father is retired military, and so he was actually
when I first met him, was leaning towards that. It's like, yeah,
I think I'm going to follow my dad's footsteps and
I'm going to join the military. I'm like, rock on,
go for it. So I don't regret a single moment
of my time in the in the Air Force. And
then it was that transition over the summer, he's you know,
he got into school, got into the books a little bit, more.

(39:31):
He got stoked on learning, and that's awesome. I think
that's what he's like. You know what, I think I
want to go learn more. Now I'm not think this
is what I want to do. I'm like, that's it.

Speaker 5 (39:41):
That's good too. Go for it, you know, do what
you gotta do. And as long as you're doing something.

Speaker 1 (39:48):
Something, Yeah, hopefully his father has a mechanism for him
to use some type of veteran benefit for him to
go to school, because that can be a true blessing
too when you can, you know, kind of bequeath some
of that off to your kids and let them use
some of the benefit or whatever the case might be.
So that's hopefully an option form too. So with beyond

(40:10):
school walls, like what kind of advice would you give
to people or even just insight, what what would you
say to somebody who might be listening that might be
considering doing this program but maybe they're not exactly sure.

Speaker 4 (40:25):
I would say, if you're on the fence, hop over
the fence and just do it.

Speaker 5 (40:32):
It's uh.

Speaker 4 (40:35):
A wonderful experience, that is. It's it's nice because I
don't know, there's maybe there's just less a pressure because
it's through my workplace. It was through my workplace, there
was a little less of a time commitment. Once once
a month was when you met with your little The
littles were already pretty well grown or were already grown

(40:57):
up in high school high schoolers. Yeah, so there was
a little There was less of awkwardness I think, I mean,
there always is going to be an awkwardness when you're
meeting complete strangers.

Speaker 5 (41:08):
But I would say go for it because it's first
of all.

Speaker 4 (41:12):
I seeing these young people grow like that was just
a wonderful experience. And again, the time commitment isn't as
much as you might think it is, and the value
you get for that time is just exponential.

Speaker 5 (41:28):
It was wonderful.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
What do you what did you receive from that experience?

Speaker 4 (41:35):
I received a lot of what you talked about about
the the idea of my kids aren't going to necessarily
always hear what I have to say. And now I
experienced a young person who was taking in some of
what I was saying and and and what I believe

(41:57):
was being internalized and figured out and brought into their
own perspective in doing something with.

Speaker 5 (42:04):
To me, that was that was really that was wonderful.
That's something I took.

Speaker 2 (42:09):
Away from it, definitely. And I don't say thank you
for allowing yourself to share your knowledge life knowledge or
life skill knowledge for a better use of terms, to
that and that to that level, because at some point,
and here's my opinion, the sunshines and different directions, and
every little little piece of like that that little plant

(42:30):
get or that little gets, helps them grow, and every
experience helps that little grow to whoever a person that's
going to become. And the fact you just bestowed your experience,
your knowledge and your person persona, I fully believe that's
how our country is supposed to pass on knowledge. Sometimes
we have life coaches, we have coaches, we have people

(42:51):
of influence in our in our communities, and you're one
of those. And I'll say thank you for being a
veteran doing that, because is one of the things that
by being a veteran doing these things that you've done
with your life, with your career and with the little
is that we start chipping away that stigma about what
veterans are and who we are. And that's a debt

(43:11):
that we all say thank you for and thank you.
We wish that you can spread that spur of inspiration
to other veterans so that we can teach our littles
a little bit better nowadays and hopefully to ask for ourselves.
We find our second purpose in our second lifetime.

Speaker 1 (43:29):
Absolutely, and there's a backlog of I think somewhere between
one hundred and one hundred and fifty kids here in
Charlotte County alone, yes, that are waiting for a mentor
they're waiting for someone to answer the call, to step up,
to just go for it. Like you said, Chad, just.

Speaker 5 (43:46):
Answer the email, make your phone call. You can't.

Speaker 4 (43:48):
What's the worst they can have and is is you
spend a year, a couple of days of your life
with this.

Speaker 5 (43:53):
Young person and if it's not for you, it's not
for you.

Speaker 1 (43:57):
And the time commitments of school year, right, so it's August.

Speaker 4 (44:00):
It's from August to May, and there's a break at
Christmas time. I don't think we met in.

Speaker 1 (44:05):
December, Okay, got it, Just so that people can kind
of gauge that that timeframe. And there might be people
listening who are outside of the area. But Big Brothers
Big Sisters is a nationwide program. So anyone that's listening,
if you're not in Southwest Florida. They can absolutely look
up Big Brothers Big Sisters and put your area or
near me in your Google search engine or whatever search

(44:29):
engine you choose to use, and it should be able
to populate some information about the local Big Brothers Big
Sisters programs if you're not in Southwest Florida. However, if
you are in Southwest Florida, the representative that takes care
of beyond school walls is mentor manager Christa Holland Beck
and her email is ce Haullan Beck. Her last name

(44:53):
is spelled h as in hotel o l l e
n as in November, b as in Bravo, ec is
in Charlie Ka at BBB S s U N dot
O RG so Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Suncoast.
Their website is BBB S s U N dot O

(45:16):
RG and you can also reach Krista by phone at
nine four one seven six four five eight one two
and Krista Hollenbeck again is the mentor manager for Big
Brothers Big Sisters of the Suncoast. So she helps partner
mentors with kids who are waiting for a mentor of

(45:39):
their own, and she's very passionate about it. She could
be with us this morning on the show. But she
h yeah, She's absolutely a fantastic ambassador for this program.
So if you know people, if you live in southwest
Florida and you want to get involved, you will absolutely
love working with Krista. She's amazing, So please reach out

(46:00):
to her again. Her number is nine four one seven
six four five eight one two and her email address
is C. Holland Beck. That's C. H O L L
E N B E C K AT b b B
S s U N dot org. And hopefully we'll have

(46:24):
you on the show again if you do another round
of Beyond School Walls and have another.

Speaker 4 (46:29):
Yeah, definitely, I had to take this this this uh
this year. I'm not I don't have a big right now.
So that's when christ To hit me up. She's like, hey,
got this radio show you want to kay, I'm.

Speaker 1 (46:39):
Definitely absolutely, And so I was going to say for
our listeners too, if there are veterans out there who
want to be on the show, we would love to
have you. What would you say about your experience of
being on the show. No pressure, It's cool, very cool.
So if if any of you listening do want to
be on our show, if you're a veteran, you have
a story to tell about your service, or you're involved

(47:00):
with a group that you want to give some visibility to.
We would love to do that, so for sure, reach
out to us. My email address is Machiato m a
cc hiato at the number one Rallypoint dot org. You
can reach out to me via email and we can
schedule you to be on the show to come tell

(47:20):
your story. So just like Chad did, so thanks again
for being on the show. Chad, We appreciate you.

Speaker 5 (47:24):
Thanks for having Thank you very much, Thank you, sir.

Speaker 1 (47:27):
It was the night before Christmas, and there Santa stood
alone in a quiet dorm room far from his home.
He didn't come by chimney, but walked through the door
to honor an airman who'd served evermore. The room was immaculate,
clean and precise. No wreath on the window, no garland,
no light. A shadowed uniform folded hung proud by the

(47:48):
wall beside tactical boots awaiting tomorrow's call. On shelves were
past reminders of home and great times, made of letters
and photos, filled with kisses and goodbye coins display like
trophies earned far and near. Small testament shared of excellence
and no fear. The erminley resting, had bowed in repose,

(48:08):
her combat helmet hung, and her weapon met her toes.
Her face bore the years, though quiet and young, with
weight from the journeys of missions unsung, the roar of
the engines, the veil of the night, far above nations,
well out of sight. Santa thought of the skies, so
vast and unknown, where warriors fly high to insure peace

(48:31):
at home. How many had spent this holiday deployed in cockpits, towers,
or on flight lines, ready and poised. The thought stirred
Santa's heart, and he knelt by her side, shed a
tear for her sacrifice that his heart could not hide.
The Ermin woke gently, her voice calm yet firm. No
need for tears, Santa, this is why I've served. I

(48:53):
serve for my sisters, for brothers, for peace, to defend
what we love so that freedom can ring. She stretched
for a moment, then whispered with grace. Your mission's not done.
There's no time to waste. The skies are my duty,
my charge, my domain to safeguard your travel, and I'll
do it again. The night drifted softly, as dawn's light

(49:13):
drew near the hum of jet engines was all Santa
could hear. He rose, heart inspired as his reindeer took flight.
He bellowed, Merry Christmas, all airman, and to all a
good night.

Speaker 2 (49:26):
Okay America, and that's our show for today.

Speaker 1 (49:29):
Thanks for joining us. Rally Pointers fall out dismissed