Rally Point 70

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Rally pointers full in.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Good afternoon and morning wherever you're going to be in
the world today across the world. This is James the
sarchim Ring with Amena Lachiatolecano here with you at the
rally point. And of course we have the man behind
the microphone saying the brain how are we doing.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Today, folks, I'm good, loving life.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
And folks, we have an outstaying show today.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
And it's that time of the month of our Southwest
Florida Honor Flight segment with Naomi Copeland. She is the
president of Southwest Florida Honor Flight. Good morning, Naomi, how
are you?

Speaker 3 (00:34):
Good morning? I am doing well. Thank you, how are you?

Speaker 1 (00:38):
We are fantastic. So we understand that you recently had
an honor flight go out from Puntagorda for Southwest Florida
Honor Flight.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
We forgd last Tuesday, April eighth, we had one hundred
and eighty of our new best friend veterans and guardians
and staff take off on a venture to honor our
veterans that's their memorials in Washington, DC and give them
the welcome home they deserve.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Awesome, and so you said one hundred and eighty total
went right. How many veterans were on that flight?

Speaker 3 (01:13):
I believe the number was seventy eight final count of veterrends.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
Oh wow, very cool. Yeah, that's that's a full bud is.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
So I actually aircraft was full. There's one emptc Very cool.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
I had the privilege of being one of those veterans,
So thank you for that. That was an amazing experience
taking the veterans around and even just interacting with some
of the staff that you have at Southwest Florida Honor Flight.
They're incredible. You've got so for those of you listening
that don't know, Southwest Florida Honor Flight doesn't take these

(01:48):
flights on Willie Elliot. It's not like hey, let's all
go to DC. It is a very coordinated, constructed, orchestrated
organized process.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
So there were medics from our local firefighters were the
medics on the flight, which was fantastic. We had a doctor,
if I'm not mistaken, who was on the flight. And
then also just volunteers who have undergone a lot of
training on everything from how to use a wheelchair to
you know, how to be a bus captain, making sure

(02:19):
they take roll call, to make sure everybody who should
be on the bus is on the bus. You guys
have it down to what I would consider like it's
like a sewing machine, like it was just a very
very smooth day good.

Speaker 3 (02:34):
And sometimes it doesn't feel like that in the background,
because we know all of the little hiccups possibly that
are going on, but we never try to let that
interfere with our veterans being honored. And I'll tell you,
Tuesday was my twenty fourth flight personally, and you know,
I think back to the original day in twenty ten

(02:57):
and then the flights after that when I was a
bus kept in and so forth that you know, I
didn't even know the names of the people on my bus.
And we never want to leave anyone behind. We've never
ever left anyone behind, and you know, accident accidentally and
so excuse me. And so we work really really hard

(03:18):
on making sure that everybody knows who's where, what's what,
you know, who's in what seat where, who's missing, what time,
food's being delivered, when our next stop is, and it's
it's all coordinated effort. We spend hundreds and hundreds of
hours on each and every flight, just you know, I

(03:39):
personally spend over five hundred hours on each flight, making
phone calls and you know, doing manifests and that adds up.
It's more than five hundred hours, I'm sure.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
Absolutely, and coordinating the itinerary. I mean it's a full day.
So yeah, if you're listening and you're considering applying for
an honor flight, I would highly, highly highly encourage you
to do so. Southwest Florida on our flight covers seven
different counties in Florida, and if you go to SWFL
honorflight dot org you can apply to be on a flight.

(04:12):
It is a wonderful experience, but it is also it's
a very full day. So my husband went with me
and he'll be on a later show to kind of
talk about his experience. But we were up at two
am to make sure that we were at the airport
by about four am, and you fly up to DC
and back all in the same day. But it is
just a wonderful experience. There's not a lot of like

(04:36):
downtime if you will, I mean, you're it doesn't feel
necessarily rushed. You have time at certain stops, but but
there's never downtime where if you sit still too long
you'll fall asleep. Y'all make sure of that. So that
was good, and there are just there are a lot
of wonderful surprises, like on my honor flight, we were

(04:56):
able to go to the women Veterans Memorial. I'm probably
saying that wrong. It might be the Veteran Women's Memorial.
I bought a.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
Shirt Military Women's Memorial.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
Thank you Military Women's Memorial, and it was wonderful. My
husband actually noticed like their logo almost looks like the
word mom. I know, I know that until I bought
the shirt and my husband's like, it looks like your
shirt says mom on it, but it's the logo of
the monument or the memorial. So but that was really
awesome just being there as a as a female veteran.

(05:29):
Sometimes we get overlooked. I'm not gonna lie, Like when
we arrived at the airport, we flew into a lot
of people leaned over to thank my husband for his service,
Like they completely reached across me to thankful husband for
his service. And it happens. It's just we're getting there.
We're getting there as a society, we are getting there.
And I would be lying if I said I had

(05:50):
never committed the same faux pas where I mistakenly thought
a woman was a dependent and not a veteran, so
all of us are susceptible to it. So at first
I was I was kind of a little bummed about that. However,
as the day went on, there were so many things
that I realized, you know, charge it to the head
and not the heart. How many times have I done
that too? But then when we went to that memorial,

(06:11):
it was like, wow, we're seeing, We're heard, you know,
and we have an entire memorial just for us as women,
and there are photos and stories, and there was a
room that we were in where they did a flag
folding ceremony and they presented it to one of the
ladies who was with us, and she's a reservist, but

(06:32):
she was on the flight as a guardian, helping another
veteran around the memorials, and they presented her with a flag,
and then they presented each of us with a really
nice it was like a I don't know, in the
Air Force, we used to call a blue puffy folder,
but this was like leather looking. It was not the puffy,
foamy folder that some of y'all might be thinking of.

(06:53):
It was very nicely done. It was like a patent
leather kind of thing. It was embossed and when you
opened it up on the inn side, the memorial was
on the left, a nice photo of it on the
right was basically like this is your life military edition.
It had my official photo when I served, you know, so,
and I looked at that for days. I still like

(07:14):
I put that in a place of prominence because I
was like, this is so cool. Like So that was
one of the really neat surprises that you know, that
was done for us, which was it was wonderful and
you could tell that, like especially the women who came
in because I came in in two thousand and one,
the women who came in before me, those are the
real trailblazers, Like those are the women who literally paved

(07:36):
the way, had to overcome horrible discrimination, maltreatment, you know,
on some level, they just were never viewed as you know,
equally capable of serving in the military, which could be
further from the truth. And so it was so wonderful
for those women to be recognized and seen, especially since

(07:59):
the entire audience was pretty much male veterans and guardians.
So it was like finally their peers saw them, Yeah,
celebrated them. That was just that was wonderful. That was
my favorite part of that ceremony was that my sisters
who went before me finally got the recognition, love and
acceptance that they deserved.

Speaker 3 (08:19):
Yeah, and you know, I will tell you, Amanda and
Jay that that is really one of the core things
that at my heart is, you know, we need to
honor our women veterans who have served. Their conditions were not,
like you said, were not favorable. I know some of
the I've heard the first hand stories of some of
the things that have occurred to them, and you know,

(08:41):
it's not okay to not take any women veterans on
an honor flight. It's just not okay. We have to
honor those women. And that has truly been a priority
of mine since I've you know, become president of Southwest
Florida Honor Flight two and a half years ago, and
we went from having no women on a flight to

(09:03):
thirty seven women, to forty four women, to sixteen women,
and now this flight, I think we had eleven female
veterans and I'm you know, I want every male veteran
that has served to be in that room to see
these women as we honor them, and so we need
our female veterans in southwest Florida. You are worthy. You

(09:24):
wore the flag of our nation. You whatever you did.
You may have been a combat nurse, you may have
been a yeoman, you may have been a reservist waiting
for that call. We need you to go to our
website apply because we will get you. You are a
top priority of ours, just like the World War Two
and the Korean veterans are. You have a whole memorial

(09:46):
waiting to honor you. And then if any of you
out there in our listening area knows of a woman veteran,
please please please make sure she goes to the Militarywomen's
Memorial dot org and registers her service. Amanda, I know
that was one of the things I when I called
you to confirm you as one of our honored veterans.

(10:08):
Our women are not registering their service record with the
memorial and that is why you received that beautiful print
out with your military history. You registered.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
You gave me homework, Naomi. Did I gave you homework
to fair when I applied? Yeah? I believe it was
you that sent me the link. It was before you
go on this flight. I need you to go to
this website and fill in your information, and I did,
and thank you so much for telling me to do that,
because now I have a wonderful, beautiful treasure in my

(10:42):
house that you know, some days my kids, some day
my kids will look at it and be like, oh, wow,
that's what.

Speaker 3 (10:48):
Your grandchildren and your great you know, it's going to
be passed on for generation to generation. And these you, you,
you and all of the other women have forged a
way for our freedom. But ever, however big or small,
whatever it was, I always say that whatever it was,
big or small, you served. And I know I know

(11:09):
some of your story and it's really really a cool one,
and we got to tell those stories too, I agree.

Speaker 1 (11:15):
The one thing that hurts my heart so much is
when I talk to people about on our flight, no
matter where they are, and they say, well, I didn't
really do anything, or or when I invite people to
even come on this show and share their story and
they're like, I didn't really do anything. And I'm like,
did you or did you not raise your right hand?
Did you or did you not swear an oath to
uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States and

(11:37):
write a blank check up to an including your life,
because you pretty much did so at that point, Like,
it just it hurts to know that there are people
out there who have served. There are veterans out there
who have served. As Jay would say, if you serve,
you deserve street. Yeah, it's like it's hard to hear
people say, well, I don't feel like I deserve to
go on and on her flight or even like I

(12:00):
kind of got some odd looks from people when I
told them I was going on an Honor flight, really
kind of like, aren't I a little too young? And
I was like, I'm a veteran, so I didn't know
there was an age limit. But I think the misnomer
about that came about because Honor flight only began about
twenty five, twenty years ago. Yeah, so it only began

(12:22):
twenty years ago. And by the time they began Honor flight, correct,
but by the time they started on a flight, there
were so many veterans who had served decades prior that. Yes,
a lot of the first Honor flights were much older
veterans because they were racing the clock to get them
up to DC while they were still capable so that
they could see these memorials and feel that love that

(12:43):
maybe they didn't feel in uniform or when they came home.
So I think nowadays seeing younger, younger veterans, like a
lot of people, when I posted on social media, a
lot of people thought I was a guardian and I
was like, naynay, bunny rabbit, I'm flying as a veteran.

Speaker 3 (13:00):
And that is and I think, you know, I go
to our we have a national we're part of a
national network on our flight network, and we go to
our summit, which is a three day networking learning experience,
best practices, sharing of information. And I'm hoping that I
am trailblazing the way for our network as a whole,

(13:22):
because I think a lot of hubs have forgotten about
our women serving and there is a whole, entire memorial
built just for them. And whether whatever your age is,
you should go and be a part and be honored.
And so I hope I'm a trailblazer for that. I
have a niece who is serving in the United States Navy,

(13:43):
and then you know, my two sons also served in
the Navy. There now veterans. My nieces going into her
fourteenth year, she's up for chief right now, yeah, and
I think of that, and I just hope that I'm
trying to give them a voice to be honored. And
one of the most important things Amanda is going to

(14:04):
that flag room at the Military Women's Memorial. And I
don't want to say making all of those women because
it's not comfortable for them. You are so used to
being in the shadows of those male veterans. And this
is nothing you know, sexist or chauvinistic, but I want
all of those female faces shown up there because whatever

(14:26):
you did, you served, some of you writing combat right
beside your brother in arms, and some of you. I know,
one woman that we took on a flight two flights ago,
actually was one of the persons that in Vietnam that
received the bodies and worked in the morgue and helped,

(14:50):
you know, put pieces together in names of bodies to
help the folks go, you know, share the sad, sad
news with their family members. And that's she's you know,
got you know, PTSD from just being in that.

Speaker 1 (15:05):
Absolutely in the service.

Speaker 3 (15:08):
And so some of these jobs that these women veterans
did were not easy. They were as difficult as what
you know, the front lines combat was for the men,
and so I just want to honor them. I want
to say thank you. I want you to feel and
I'm so glad you felt honored and respected and deserving
of the recognition you received.

Speaker 1 (15:30):
Absolutely, And I noticed during that ceremony it was hard
to look out in the crowd for me, Like I
think I looked at the woman who presented our award
almost the whole time, and then I noticed a lot
of the other ladies down the line they looked down
or you know, we kind of didn't know what to do.
You know, it's like that kind of recognition, and I
think that speaks to to the kind of women that

(15:53):
we are, is that, you know, Yeah, we didn't do
it for the recognition. We didn't know for the applause,
if you will. It was you know, it was an
honor to serve, absolutely, and I know for me it
was a matter of I came to a point in
my career where I was like, you know what, I
have the opportunity to do something for myself, but no

(16:14):
one and nothing can take away from me. And that was,
you know, that was my defining moment where I decided, like, yeah,
I'm going to do a career in the military, because
I was like, this is this is an opportunity to
do something that I can look back on and say,
you know, God, God gave me the ability to do that,
I was able to do that, right, So it was
kind of neat, but yeah, the memorial presentation was absolutely

(16:39):
wonderful and so fitting. And I do believe you are
a trailblazer in that regard, just like this show aims
to recognize and put a spotlight on our women veterans.

Speaker 2 (16:50):
And I've been sitting here a little quiet, and I
only say I'll apologize, but I'm taking all this in
and I wanted to say that you what you're what
you are doing in your network as well also has
a quantitative effect. I'll be a little congressional about this.
You're providing definitive proof in recording of the service of

(17:14):
all veterans, including women, for our country. And we're at
a time in our situation in our country that we
need to identify by a quantitive number those who have
served the country and the sacrifice they have done in
doing that service. We don't come back to the same
person that went in, so to speak, and that requires

(17:36):
documentation and acknowledgment. And I want to say that's what
it's all about.

Speaker 3 (17:40):
Yeah, yeah, And I know that firsthand. You know, I
didn't think about it so much when my first son
left for boot camp, but when my second son left
for boot camp, it took me about a week to
go into his bedroom. And I went into his bedroom
and it was just this overwhelming feeling of he's never

(18:02):
going to come back as this person that he left
when he left this bedroom. And you know, I have
one son that served in the Navy on US on submarines,
many many, many deployments. And then my youngest son was
an ordnance on aircraft, you know, the Roosevelt aircraft carrier,

(18:24):
who spent a lot of time in the Middle East
and is not the same person. Both of them are
not the same people as they left, one a little
more than the other. And I think about that when
I get to spend a day with these veterans and
I get to hear their stories. As a mom, I
know that their parents sent them off to do what

(18:48):
needed to be done at the time and serve our country,
to help protect and keep our freedom of what we have.
And I am such a grateful, you know, patriotic American
for those that have served. But I also have that
little mom heart too, and so when i'm you know,
usually speaking or talking to folks, I recognize it's not

(19:09):
just the veteran that served it. When one served, their
whole family serves. And somebody said that to me recently,
because there's times where I don't feel worthy enough to
even be honoring our veterans and and people have to
like check me and say, you know, what you're doing
is making a massive difference in families, and your family served.

(19:34):
You know, I'm the daughter of an Army Korean veteran,
and Amanda, I don't know if you were on the
white bus, know you were on my bus, the.

Speaker 1 (19:41):
Red bus, the bus.

Speaker 3 (19:44):
The bus. But one of the special things that occurred
was when we were at our summit in February, the
Korean Embassy was there and the Korean Embassy now offers
a war Bards Peace Ambassador awards to those that actually

(20:04):
served on the ground in Korea during the Korean conflict.
And as involved as I was in honor flight and
have been involved in honor flight, I could never convince
my father, a Korean combat veteran, to go on his
honor flight. He I will just say he lived the
curiously honor flight through me. And if I volunteer for anything,

(20:29):
I always it always includes my parents. So they were
a part of anything I was involved in. And my
father passed away five years ago never getting to go
on his honor flight, and we have a Flag of
our Heroes program, so we made sure after my father
passed away, the first flight we took my father's flag.

(20:49):
I had the privilege of being on many, many family
vacations to Washington, d C. So my favorite thought is
the Korean Memorial. I've done there numerous times with my dad,
not on and on or fly. There was one time
where it was just really, really misty, and he told
me that was what the rice fields of Korea looked

(21:11):
like and felt like. And so when this award came around,
I submitted with all of the Korean Veterans DD two
fourteens that we had my father's and we had only
three Korean veterans on our flight. Although we had I
think nine or eleven Korean Veteran era veterans, only three

(21:34):
actually served on the ground in Korea. My dad was
one of them. And we got to the Korean Memorial
a little later than we had planned on Tuesday and
the compete, Korean ambassador had to embassy ambassador had to
go to another appointment, but he came aboard the white
bus and presented me my father's peace and Massador Ambassador

(22:01):
for Peter medal and another veteran Korean veteran that was
on that same bus his medal, and there's video. I
ugly cried, I'm not gonna lie. It was. It was
such a moving moment for me to be able to
have my father's award. I'm gonna my father is interred

(22:23):
out here at Sarasota National Cemetery, so I'm going to
get out there this week and make sure he gets
his award on his niche. So it was a very
moving day for me as well.

Speaker 1 (22:36):
Absolutely, And we did several of those on our honor
flight that we just had in April, where there were
presentations at There was one at Arlington, there was one
in the Vietnam Memorial Wall, and there was another one
I think I'm trying to remember where it was, but
where we did these presentations, it was deeply emotional and

(22:57):
there was a deep respect for that following veteran and
their family. Yeah, because their family if I'm not mistaken.
Their family members got to fly on the honor flight
for the presentation. Is am I correct?

Speaker 3 (23:09):
Actually, yes, actually it was. It was a Korean combat
veteran that was supposed to go with us. I'm calling
it our number. So we were supposed to go in October,
and we ended up going in November on our flight,
and he passed away right after our flight and his

(23:30):
wife when we called her to ask her if we
could take his flag as part of our flag of
our heroes, she asked, could I go? I would love
to be a guardian and I'm capable and able, And
we were able to take both of them. Both of
the wives their their veteran husbands had passed away and

(23:52):
we got to they got to see it firsthand as
we folded their husband's flags and honor them at their
memorial reels. And so it was just a really it
was a moving day all around.

Speaker 4 (24:05):
You know.

Speaker 3 (24:05):
We did a lot of new first this flight. We
flew into Dulles, which is a whole new airport for
us to try to avoid some of the Baltimore to
DC Parkway traffic. We had rearranged our stops and a
little bit different of an order than we're used to.
You know, we'd get to be creatures of habit, so

(24:26):
to speak. And but most importantly, this flight was also
sponsored by Anheiser Busch. We were so honored and you know,
privileged and blessedemed to be chosen as Anheuser Busch's twenty
twenty five sponsored flight. And so we've got to do
some extra little things. And Heiser Busch also flew out

(24:49):
their creative Studios group and so we had three camera
men and when when you think of their commercials, think
of the Clydesdale. Those are the folks that create those
commercials were with us filming all day long and doing
little interviews with some of our veterans and myself and so,

(25:12):
and then they flew back with us as well, and
then we had They call it a b VETS, So
it's Anheuser Busch VETS. It's a program within their organization.
And so they also sent for veteran guardians from here
in Southwest Florida to fly with us as guardians to
help us honor our veterans. So the whole organization from

(25:34):
the top down was so involved with the with this
fly and honoring the veterans that came along with us,
so I can't wait to see what comes out. We
were also very privileged to have ABC seven reporters to
reporters came came with us through the day and so

(25:56):
it's just it's it blows me away the community that
comes together for us every single time we have a flight.

Speaker 1 (26:04):
Absolutely well, we really appreciate you coming on and taking
the time out of your day for our monthly segments.
We're running out of time, so we will see you
next month for our next segment for Southwest on Florida
Honor Flight. And it's always a pleasure and we appreciate
everything that you do.

Speaker 3 (26:22):
Naomi, thank you, thank you so.

Speaker 2 (26:25):
Much, Thank you.

Speaker 1 (26:27):
The Southwest Florida Honor Flight invites you to join them
on their poker run Saturday, May third, twenty twenty five.
Registration starts at nine am and they begin honoring their
veterans at ten am. They will be at Adrenaline Harley
Davidson at three three zero Cattleman Road in Sarasota. There
are several stops and there will be a lot of fun,

(26:48):
including a fifty to fifty raffle silent auction and much more.
So please come out and join Southwest Florida Honor Flight,
helping them raise funds to send our veterans to see
their memorials at their poker run on Saturday, May third,
twenty twenty five, starting at nine am at Adrenaline Harley
Davidson three three zero Cattleman Road in Sarasota. See you

(27:09):
there and now in this segment of our show, we
have with us in the studio Stephanie Mattlock. She's a
Navy veteran and the administrator of the YouTube and Facebook
groups VA Claims Veterans Helping Veterans. Welcome to the show, Stephanie.

Speaker 4 (27:24):
Thank you, I'm happy to be here.

Speaker 1 (27:25):
Well, we're thrilled to have you. So Stephanie is on
the show for a very special reason. Not only is
she a Navy veteran, but her story of service is
it's bittersweet, I think is a good way to put it.
Thank you for serving, Thank you for your sacrifice. And
we just I don't want to take away from you
telling your story. So I guess let's jump right in.

(27:48):
Tell us the story of your service in the Navy.

Speaker 4 (27:51):
So I was actually failing out of college. It's funny story, right, I.

Speaker 1 (27:57):
Dropped out of college too, that's hilarious.

Speaker 4 (28:00):
So I was given Yeah, I was given two choices
by my dad, get out or get out basically find
a job or do something. So I told him, I'll
show you and I went down to the Navy recruiter's
office a little did I know? Three weeks later, I
was on a plane to boot camp. And because back
back in the nineties, that's when I joined May of

(28:20):
nineteen ninety you went to boot camp as a female
in Orlando, Florida.

Speaker 1 (28:24):
Wow, I did not know that. I've only ever heard
of Great Lakes, So I learned something new. Yea, there, So.

Speaker 4 (28:29):
That's that's where kind of my journey started. Unfortunately, it
wasn't a great journey in boot camp. I was actually
overweight when I joined the military, so I was considered obese.
So what did the recruiter tell me to do?

Speaker 1 (28:45):
Stop eating?

Speaker 4 (28:46):
Take laxatives so I could get under that weight right
get into boot camp. Boot camp, I was belittled myself
and two others like I was called fat girl. I
was asked, you know, are you going to eat that
on your tray? So that kind of morphed into so
it started my eating disorder in the military. I'm diagnosed
with bolimia nervosa. So a lot of military have eating

(29:08):
disorders right because they're trying to be within their weight
restrictions the time I was in So when I got
out of boot camp, that's kind of where that kind
of morphed in. I continued on that cycle of trying
to stay skinny.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
Because you knew you were going to weigh in every
so often. I went to the Navy Senior Enlisted Academy
and they had us way in when we got there.
And when I first joined the Air Force, it was
a similar situation where you weigh or you did body
taping or whatever. And the Navy still does that, I
guess I think as of twenty sixteen they did. But yeah,
it's nerve wracking and you're so scared about what you

(29:44):
put in your mouth. What do you eat? Like I'm
getting way tomorrow, you know. I totally can see that
becoming a full blown eating disorder for a lot of people.

Speaker 4 (29:53):
And it kind of also morphed into my physical disabilities
that I suffer with to this day because of the
thing team, the breaking of bones, the malnutrition of my bones.
So there wasn't a lot of education back then about
diet and eating. You know, it was just, hey, you
need to be within rags.

Speaker 1 (30:13):
Make sure the weight management program is what they called it.
They didn't do anything about the restrition or diet right.

Speaker 4 (30:18):
So unfortunately for me, I suffered a lot and I
still do because of the eating disorder, you know. So
it's been it's been a struggle every day with it.
But I am in remission for my eating disorder. I've
been in remission for now, I think seven years.

Speaker 1 (30:39):
You look very healthy, I'll put it to you that way.

Speaker 4 (30:43):
Well, a lot suffer with which called BDD body dysmorphic disorder.
So I look in the mirror and I see a
fat person. Correct, So it's it's a struggle, and I'm
sure it is till this day. In the military, it
can be a struggle with a lot of military and
but there are a lot of programs now, like there's
the MOVE program there, there's other you know, avenues for
programs in the military to help military and veterans try

(31:06):
to lose the weight in a in a proper.

Speaker 1 (31:08):
Way, absolutely and help change our mindset. Because I'm actually
in the MOVE program right now, are you? And so
it very much focuses on mindset alternatives to things. Yeah,
so you know, helping people understand like getting in shape
or you know, being healthier doesn't mean you have to
stop eating anything that you like. You just have to
find healthier ways to make it, or you know, just

(31:28):
trying to help people shift their mindset so they understand
like this isn't you can't eat anymore, or you know,
God forbid, you have to purge whatever you do eat
because you don't want to hold on to weight. This
is where they're kind of trying to teach you how
to go in and make healthier habits or learn healthier
mes rights so that they don't feel like they're missing
out on anything. They're still able to live a life

(31:49):
to the full right, just on a healthier level.

Speaker 4 (31:51):
And so I went from boot camp too Great Lakes.
I went in as an Ejamin. I just took whatever
I could as a career pathway got their desert storm
broke That's when desert storm broke out. So they came
in and said, look, if anybody wants to go undesignated
right now, you know, put your hand up. So here
I am. I put my hand up. I don't want
to be an NJE man. I don't want to work

(32:12):
around there, right, So where did I go? Right back
where I'm from, San Diego, California. Yeah, I was expecting
to tour the world, right, see all these great places.

Speaker 1 (32:24):
To join the military, to go home.

Speaker 4 (32:25):
Right back to San Diego. So I was undesignated in
San Diego. And then unfortunately that's what brings me to
where I am today, which is an MST survivor military
sexual trauma. So the assault occurred in San Diego back
in nineteen ninety two. So if you can imagine, I'm

(32:46):
more already suffering with an eating disorder, right, I've got
the insecurities I'm being I guess the my boss I
what do you call them nowadays? Back then, my commander
was very authoritative, very demanding. The harassment started, which led
up to eventually the assault. And unfortunately, back then, you

(33:14):
didn't tell anybody, you didn't report it, You felt ashamed,
you felt it was your fault.

Speaker 1 (33:20):
Well, and you were in a heavily male dominated The
military is still a heavily male dominated arena, so you
were probably out number three or four to one, correct.

Speaker 4 (33:30):
And so then I got pregnant and then I lost
the child.

Speaker 1 (33:36):
I'm so sorry.

Speaker 4 (33:37):
So it was it was a struggle and I wanted
to get away. Then those are those are a lot
of things that happened, like wod people have been assaulted
in the military. There are what we call nowadays when
you're filing a claim called clear markers, because there's a
lot of people that never report it. So what a
clear marker is something where you act out, get into trouble,

(33:59):
such as getting demoted, getting into a car accident, or
you go to sit hall for an STD test or
a pregnancy test. So I wanted to get away. And
what did I do? I continued to strive to become
an IS which is Intel specialist. So in ninety three,

(34:22):
the beginning of ninety three, I was granted Intel School,
a school, so that kind of got me out of
that situation and I thought, okay, well here's the path
I'm going to go this way. So I got to
go to Intel School in Damn Neck, Virginia.

Speaker 1 (34:36):
That's right around the corner from where I went to
high school. That's awesome.

Speaker 4 (34:40):
So it's a twelve week school. It's crueling, and I
was actually proud of myself for actually completing it because
most don't, yeah, because there's eight weeks, as they call,
on the first floor, and then there's four weeks once
you get your clearance. Got it on the top floor.
So for me to make through that school and graduate,
that was that was probably my biggest accompliment accomplishment in

(35:03):
school and in my Navy career, I agree, And then
that eventually led me to the Pentagon and the Office
of Naval Intelligence also.

Speaker 1 (35:14):
Known as own I, which is another huge accomplishment because
at that point you were probably what like an E three,
E four Yes, Yes.

Speaker 4 (35:22):
So I got to do maritime registry. I felt, I
felt that it was rewarding and it was exciting, and
I enjoyed it. And that's actually where I wound up
in de my career because at that time I was
married and my then husband now ex husband wanted us
to both we were both military, get out, relocate, got it.

(35:45):
I actually wanted to stay in, but I unfortunately listened
to him and got out. And back then when I
got out, there weren't resources for veterans like there are now,
like the BDD PRO the Benefits Delivery Discharge Program right yep.
So they basically said bye, have a nice life. I

(36:07):
had no exit physical Wow, I had no help with
any I didn't even know I deserve benefits till I
was out for sixteen years.

Speaker 1 (36:16):
Wow.

Speaker 4 (36:17):
Until I met Chris, my husband now, and they were like,
we're standing at the kitchen count They're like, because my
feet were hurting, and they're like, why don't you just
go to the VA. And I'm like, what the heck's
of VA? What are you talking about?

Speaker 1 (36:28):
Yeah, like I can use that. I met so many
veterans who don't either don't know that that's an option
for them because they're like, oh, I only did four years,
I only did six years. Or I've met veterans who
are like they've been out. They're like, I've just been
out for so long and I never used the VA.
I didn't think I needed that, you know, I didn't
think I had disabilities that were that bad. But now

(36:50):
you can't feel your hands, now you can't feel your feet.
Sometimes it's like, right, it's it is amazing how much.
And we were kind of talking about before we went
on there, how there's almost more dis information out there
than there is good, relevant, valid information about the VA.

Speaker 4 (37:06):
Well, and then there's also a lot of misinformation out
there as well regarding the VA and what what do
you qualify for and you know, and having good representation. So,
like I mean, when when I was when I got out,
Like I said, fast forward sixteen years, I struggled with
my MST. I struggled with my eating disorder. I suppressed it.

(37:30):
I tried to go on with life. I had to live.
I had to have a job. So I suppressed a
lot of things. And it wasn't Yeah, compressed it down,
impressed it that box, yeah right. And it wasn't until,
like I said, I met Chris and we started talking
about the VA and how I could utilize it. I
walked into the Walking Clinic for Mental Health because veterans

(37:50):
have to understand that mental health care is free, regardless
if you are service connected or not. There is mental
health care provided for every veteran out there that's struggling
with mental health. All they have to do is walk
in to any VA. And there is a Compact Act
of twenty twenty. I don't know if you are aware

(38:12):
of that, but back in twenty twenty they passed the
bill and it is a it's called the Compact Act
of twenty twenty. I have that video as well regarding
you can go to any hospital, you can anywhere. If
you're struggling with mental health and you're a veteran, you
can check in to any hospital and they will get
with the VA and make sure that you're taken care of.
There's inpatient, there's outpatient, there's a lot of things. I

(38:34):
didn't know all this stuff. So as I took my
journey to get my health care and to get my
mental health on board, I then realized, oh, there's a
benefit side, like, there's a compensation side to it.

Speaker 1 (38:47):
So there's healthcare VHA and compensation. And they do not
speak to each other.

Speaker 4 (38:51):
Correct, they do not at all.

Speaker 1 (38:53):
Sorry, I'm not trying to be the ray of sunshine there,
but I learned that early on in my VA journey too,
that they don't speak to each other. They can't see
the same things. It's just it's surprising, it's ridiculous and surprising,
but it's not. It's beer crazy.

Speaker 2 (39:08):
It is.

Speaker 1 (39:09):
That's what we call it.

Speaker 4 (39:09):
It is why they both don't communicate with each other.
So that ultimately started my journey for both my healthcare
and my benefits side. And by doing that, I wanted
to engage some resources right, And what was the one
thing I did. I joined this Facebook group it's called
VA Claims Veterans Helping Veterans. I was a member back

(39:29):
in like twenty seventeen, and that's how I navigated learning.
I learned through the group. I learned by understanding the
thirty eight CFR, which is the Code of Federal Regulation,
knowing what the disability is, what the percentages it is
for it. I also learned the M twenty one DASH one,
which is the manual that the raiders use so.

Speaker 1 (39:52):
Critical keeople, We've done a lot of Yeah, you've done
a lot of research for sure.

Speaker 4 (39:57):
Yeah. So that research helped me navigate my claims. And
then eventually I did hire an accredited agent through the
website OGC website, and it is a great tool for
veterans because you can find a vso you can find
an accredited agent or even an accredited attorney, and I

(40:19):
need one to help me navigate through the appeals process.

Speaker 1 (40:22):
Right.

Speaker 4 (40:23):
So that kind of started my final journey with doing
my benefits side, and then I continued my care with
the VA. I think one key thing about my eating disorder,
I'm rated for Bolimia novosa now right now, under the
thirty eight CFR, you can be rated for an eating

(40:43):
disorder separately from another mental health it's the only one
they're trying to change that rule. They proposed it since
twenty twenty two. I'm kind of okay with that change
because the changes looked to me good for mental health.
But at that time, for me, I was rated for
my eating well.

Speaker 1 (41:00):
And there are certain conditions that affect you, not just
physically like I mean, you know, yeah, things that might
affect your bones, might affect your digestive system, whatever the
case might be. But then the mental health piece is
a totally separate aspect of it, right, So I would
agree that there needs to be two levels of reading
because there's two levels of impact on the quality of
life well.

Speaker 4 (41:20):
And I think there was a coming to moment, so
to speak. For me, was twenty fourteen when I was
out to eat with my husband and his daughter and
I face planted on the concrete Buffalo wil Wings just
fell woke up and crawling to the bathroom because I
literally had to go to the bathroom because I was

(41:41):
taking so many laxatives. I was taking between one hundred
and one hundred and fifty laxatives a day.

Speaker 2 (41:46):
Oo.

Speaker 4 (41:47):
Yes. So when my husband got me to the hospital
at the VA Hospital, the dodger came in and he
basically said, you know, do you want to go to
the bathroom in a bag for the rest of your life?
So that kind of woke me up to like, yeah,
I've really got a problem with the zading disorder. So
that's where I really took the handles on it. And

(42:07):
like I said, I've been in remission now for six years,
almost seven years now, So that started that process for that,
and I have a wonderful mental health doctor. Now nowadays
it's TeleVideo right m hm. Well, back then you used
to have to go in. I couldn't stand walking into
four white walls and trying to sit there about how

(42:28):
I feel? Right, So when I was able to do
a more TeleVideo type setting to me, that made me
feel comfortable.

Speaker 1 (42:38):
Absolutely, you're at home or you're in a place that
you feel comfortable, right, you're at home or somewhere else.

Speaker 4 (42:43):
And so I've had this is unheard of. I've had
the same psychologist from my VA for over ten years.

Speaker 1 (42:51):
That's a miracle, right, that is a miracle. I've been
in the VA Healthcare system four years and I think
I'm about to lose my second or third provider, so
and I think that's a terrible move, or life happens
or what have you. So, I mean, yeah, it's it's
hard because then you worry is the next one? Am

(43:12):
I going to drive with the next one the way
I did with the previous? Like I've I've shed tears
when I've been told by my providers that they're leaving,
because I'm like, I have told you some of the deepest,
darkest things about myself, like how can.

Speaker 4 (43:25):
You leave me?

Speaker 1 (43:26):
But it's and throughout all of our move wonderful that
you've had the same one for ten years and throughout
all our moves because we've got a lot because we
like to move, because you know, military likes to move. Right,
you're gonna say, we don't sit still, Well, we don't
talk to about that.

Speaker 4 (43:41):
She's always been there for me, She will not give
me up. She makes sure I stay in in her
in her care.

Speaker 1 (43:47):
Wonderful.

Speaker 4 (43:48):
And it's you know, normally you don't talk to a psychologist.
You talk to I'm sorry, a psyche as psychiatrist because
they give medication. Right, you normally talk to a psychologist.
I've never matched with any of the psychologists they've tried
to put me together with, so she always talks to me.
She's my medication provider everything, so it's worked well. So

(44:09):
that can be also an issue for veterans right when
they're struggling with their mental health having the same provider.
The same goes for any other providers that leave.

Speaker 1 (44:19):
True or even when you get a new provider, having
to retell your whole entire story over again. Like I
cannot imagine how difficult that is, especially for people who
have had highly traumatic things happen to them like that.
My sister has. She's a veteran as well, and she

(44:39):
has PTSD. I'm pretty sure she's comfortable with me saying that,
but I mean that. She said, that's the worst part
of the healthcare system is having to relive it every
time you get a new person, and having to tell
over and over and over again what you've been through.

Speaker 4 (44:54):
Right, and going back to how I started all my
resources as I was explaining the Facebook group I joined, well,
eventually about a year later, the gentleman that was running
the entire Facebook group said, you know, he messaged me,
he's like, hey, Steph, can you take this over because
I just can't deal with it right now. I've got
other things I need to do. And I was like, sure,
I'll take it over. I'll do it. So at that time,

(45:17):
I think we had like twenty thousand members. We've grown
it to fifty five thousand members.

Speaker 1 (45:22):
Wow.

Speaker 4 (45:23):
I'm very strict on who gets in the group. You
have to answer questions. I make it so bots can't
get in, but they still tect it. Protect it absolutely right.
And the YouTube channel has grown too. We now almost
eleven thousand subscribers.

Speaker 1 (45:39):
Nice.

Speaker 4 (45:40):
The YouTube name is the same as the Facebook group.
It's VA claims Veterans Helping Veterans. In addition to the
videos we do, which are informative videos, we like to
put out information that can help a veteran or a family. Now,
don't get me wrong, there's probably a lot of videos
we could be doing, but the time it's like, it's
very I don't understand the process it takes.

Speaker 1 (46:01):
Yes, the creative process is a lot longer, Like you'll
film for four hours for a five minute, seven minute thing.
I mean that's I've been on the other side of
the camera with people who do other types of media
and that is absolutely incredible, Like, yeah, four hours and
it ends up being like five minutes, like most of
it's on the cutting room floor, if you will.

Speaker 4 (46:21):
Right, So the videos are informative, we do those. In addition,
we do live Q and as. We try to do
twice a month, but right now we're about once a month.
Jackie's in Germany right now, that's where she's at, so
with the time difference and having to do it, we
typically do it around seven pm Eastern time. We do

(46:41):
live Q and as we all come on. We help
each other by answering questions that people come on with
to the panel. So basically it's myself, Blake and Jackie
and we're there to help answer questions. And the other
thing we do is call sultations a more one on
one consultation, more like a video setting.

Speaker 1 (47:05):
Got it.

Speaker 4 (47:06):
So if somebody needs more time to talk and more
you know, ability to answer more questions than what we
could do on a live.

Speaker 1 (47:16):
When answering the questions is based off of your experience.
Correct Like, none of you are claims representatives or anything.
This is sheer information sharing, discussing what you understand having
read all of the very heavy reading, right, Well, it's
I think that's that's nice to have in addition to,

(47:36):
like you mentioned, go into the Office of General Counsel
to find accredited people. I think you're a wonderful addition
to that resource because sometimes some of us, I know
myself for sure, sometimes you have to speak to think.
You have to kind of talk it through out loud
to process the thought in your head to figure out
what you need to do, how you need to do it,
or how a process actually works. And when the VAS

(47:59):
you know inform is written somewhat like military regulations, but regardless,
very doctor Seusicle, right as I call it, where it
can be difficult to kind of sort out what is
this really saying. It's nice that you offer that for
people to come and talk to you, to be able
to help them understand what is that regulation really saying
and what does that really mean for them as a veteran.

Speaker 4 (48:21):
Right And as you mentioned, we're not accredited with the
VA anyway in any shape or form. We just simply
help with our own knowledge and our own experience, and
typically what we'll do is we'll have people email us.
Wonderful the email is a way to kind of get
that introduction and then find out more in depth what
they need, and then if they need the consultation, we

(48:41):
go from there. Now we don't charge anybody can't stand
predatory companies. We simply take donations. It goes to support
our YouTube channel at the end of the day. So
that's a way, or guess, another avenue for veterans that
need help. In addition, like I said, the Facebook.

Speaker 1 (48:59):
Grabs and can you go through really quickly, what is
that email address, website, your social media handle so that
if people want to come and find you, sure they
can get plugged in with your program.

Speaker 4 (49:10):
So it's pretty simple. The Facebook group and the YouTube
channel are the same name. It's VA claims Veterans Helping Veterans.
The email address is VA c VHV at gmail dot com,
so it's the acronymsk vac VHV at gmail dot com.

(49:32):
So we don't have Instagram or anything like that. We're
kind of just old school Facebook.

Speaker 1 (49:36):
Tootube that works. I say, I think most veterans are
on those platforms and are familiar with them so well.
And we just we appreciate you coming out today sharing
your story. We'd like to extend the invitation to have
you guys on here as a standing segment monthly, So
hopefully we can figure out a way to do that,
to have you on to more fully discuss some of

(49:59):
the topics that you're you know, getting questions about, so
that you know, maybe some of your Q and A
can kind of come over to here and discuss it
in this forum as well.

Speaker 4 (50:08):
And I think that would be wonderful. And you know,
just one final note, April is MST awareness month, So
if you are struggling with MST, I know the concept.
They always think it's women. Men also suffer with MST. Absolutely.
I find that a men tend to not want to
come forward a lot, but hopefully they understand that they're

(50:32):
not alone either, because all our voices need to be
heard at the end of the day. Absolutely, And as
somebody that has advocated for it and has gone through
what I've gone through and persevered, you know, I'm there
to help. And at the end of the day, my
my motto is veterans do better when veterans know better.

Speaker 1 (50:51):
That's awesome. I like that. It's a good one to
add to the toolbox. Well, thank you again, Stephanie Mattlock
for being on the show. We truly appreciate your time.
Thank you for your service.

Speaker 4 (51:00):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (51:01):
I hate that you have to be a survivor of MST,
but if you had to go through that, I'm thankful
that you're using your experience to give advocacy and a
voice to those who might be suffering in silence. Yeah,
and I hope that they won't hope that they'll get those
resources like you're encouraged.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
Yes, Yes, And Stephanie and Chris, my usual speech would
be thank you for your service and sacrifice, but thank
you for your resilience in your cause and both your
causes actually, because you're the reason why we exist, to
provide our listeners access to resources they don't win to
have normally and desperately need like everyone else. So thank

(51:43):
you for your resilience and thank you for sharing that
with everyone on your YouTube show and with us here
on the rally board.

Speaker 1 (51:50):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (51:50):
We appreciate it. Coming on anytime, everyone, It's Stephanie matt Locke.
I am a Navy veteran and administrator of a YouTube
and Facebook group VA Claims Veterans Helping Veterans. Please come
join us for our next live Q and A at
seven pm Eastern on May six, twenty twenty five. Bring
your questions so we can give you your answers, and remember,

(52:11):
veterans do better when veterans know better. Talk to you
all soon, and.

Speaker 2 (52:15):
Anything else I forget, I do think so.

Speaker 1 (52:18):
Just thanks to our sponsors, thanks to one hundred point
nine WCCFFM, thank you to reach Across America Radio as well.
We're having us on their radio broadcasts. Appreciate all the
opportunities to put visibility on organizations that are veterans centric.
You don't have to be a veteran to listen to
the show or to be on this show. If you

(52:39):
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.
If they pull that up and they search WCCF on
Fridays at nine am, they can find our show. And

(53:00):
then also we are aired on rets Across America Radio
on Fridays at three pm, so you can find both
Retes Across America Radio and WCCF via the iHeartRadio app.
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