Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Rally Pointers Fun.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Once again, folks, it's us at the Rally Point Show.
Your host, Sergeant James Heavaway, and my co host Amina.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Makanu and our guest host we have with us today.
Introduce yourself.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
I'm Justin Leadford from Warrior Wellness Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Very cool and j Justin is going to be joining
us from time to time as a guest host here
on the Rally Point Show. So, now that we've introduced
the gang, everybody doing good, feeling good?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Hey man, living, breathing.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Oh yeah, right on, Well, let's jump right into the show.
And in this segment of our show, we have with
us Shila Gallo. She's the co founder and director of
operations for Lotus Shadows. She is also a retired staff
sergeant in the Air Force. Woop, whoops, I got a
fellow Air Force veteran's sister in the house this morning.
Welcome to the show, Shila, Thank you for having me. Yeah,
(00:59):
thanks for being here. So, so there's we were talking
before being on the air now and so I know
that there's a lot to unpack and we definitely plan
on having you on future shows. So, but do tell
us about your military history in the sense of how
your family history played a role into you also serving,
(01:23):
and then tell us about your service in the military.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Well, I am retired stef Serge in Shila Gallo and
when I first, I guess, began my journey in the military,
it was pretty much sprung from nine to eleve Actually,
I had wanted to serve. My father had passed and
he would have never really wanted me to serve enlisted,
(01:48):
and I would have, you know, might not have moved
in that direction, but I always wanted to. And I
thought I would be an army linguist. And they could
only take one person at the time, and there was
a gentleman and myself, and he could be in combat
and I couldn't. They gave me an option of intelligence analysts,
(02:10):
and I said no, I declined to take that offer,
and you know, went to school, did a few things.
Nine to eleven happened, and the only combat rear field
that women could truly serve in with Air Force Security Forces,
and that's what I decided to do. And I ended
it up in Mine, not North Dakota as my first assignment.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Only the best go north, That's what I've heard. I
didn't serve there, but I hear that a lot. Why not?
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Why not?
Speaker 1 (02:39):
The reason it's freezing? It was freezing, So.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
You know, protection of vice ebm's intercontinental ballistic missiles was
really where I started. They were going to bring est back,
which is like swat here you know, QRRF CRF, And
there was no man or woman standard. You either made
it or you didn't. And I was like, I'm jumping
(03:07):
out a helicopters. This is awesome. So I started in
Huee's and spinning out to the missile field. And you know,
you can talk about what you did if it's in
your performance report, but I wouldn't be that good of
a strategic operational manager if I even said some of
those things, I don't find it to be appropriate. So
thinking of that type of protection as how I started,
(03:31):
and then I went overseas from there for four and
a half years and ended up retiring under Title ten
Presidential Orders. I was appointed by President upon.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Okay, wow, so it sounds like you have a lot
of probably have a lot of adventurous stories. Oh yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
I mean my recruiter didn't want me to be security forces.
He was just like, do anything air traffic controller, You've
got depth perception, you can do anything. I said, listen,
I'm going in and I'm in a serving combat and
if I'm not, you know the dumbbell. Then I get
to fly, and I get I guess i'd be flying
in U He's become an airborne fire team, and then
(04:11):
I became an electronic security system specialist in a major
accident investigator. So imagine jumping out of a helicopter, setting
up the corner one investigating in the incident.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yeah, that's a case. That's a particular set of skills,
I would say, So I would say it's definitely not
for the faint of heart. So that's awesome. So then
tell us how you were able to translate the skills
that you got in the air force into what you
are doing now with loadus Shadows. And I guess before
(04:43):
we do that, if I may provided us with some
wonderful information, I'll just read a little bit about Load
of Shadows so that our listeners can understand. It says,
in a world where innocence is stolen, a child's journey
begins with a whisper, a false hope. Taken from the
safety of home, they are thrust into a nightmare cloaked
(05:04):
in darkness, where every day is a battle for survival.
They navigate through shadows, their voices muted, their dreams shattered.
Each step is dictated by those who see them not
as children but as commodity. But within this bleak existence,
a flicker of resilience persists, a silent promise of escape.
(05:25):
Will they find the light, Will the light find them?
Or will the darkness consume them? We are coming and
we will never stop fighting for the recovery of hidden children.
And that is the overview of Lotus Shadows. Their mission
is to spearhead the battle against human trafficking, with a
focus on saving American children who are victims of sexual exploitation,
(05:48):
labor abuse, or have been kidnapped or trafficked, both within
the United States and abroad. They are committed to rescuing
these children and bringing them to safety, facilitating their recovery,
and supporting law enforce meant in prosecuting those responsible for
their abuse. Their efforts are fueled by an unyielding commitment,
profound empathy, and a firm resolve to protect and restore
(06:09):
the lives impacted by this grave injustice. Wow, Like that's
that's heavy, but it really does sound like all those
years ago you were basically being prepared for this role
with Lotus Shadows.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Tell us that's exactly how it is, and I mean
the poll to have to do this, I mean I
wasn't aware of the problem. I mean, I wasn't aware
of the gravity of this situation. And to realize that
people aren't truly rescuing the kids. I mean they're saying
they're doing it, doing it it's coming from perhaps. I mean,
(06:47):
my husband and I had the unfortunate happening of going
and working for someone who said they were going to
do they were doing this, then he wasn't doing it.
We offered to build it out for him, never having
any intention of doing it, and we couldn't believe in
So I went to the source of what I believe
to be the best at recovering specifically American children, and
(07:09):
that is what we did. We are an anti human
trafficking rescue organ it so we recovered the child and
we bring them to a vetted aftercare. So we have
a sub group, you know, we have a mission support
and one of these individuals, her specific job is to
(07:30):
vet facilities because some of them are actually part of
the problem. We need to make sure what their capabilities are,
long term, short term, everything. So we recovered the child,
we get them to that appropriate aftercare. Now, well, of
course we would like to assist law enforcement if possible.
(07:52):
That is not the direct mission. It is to recover
the child and bring them to safety. The reason you
might not know about people like me is because the
pride came from within. This is coming from pure purpose.
If you want fame, if you're looking to get rich,
you know that those are the kind of people that
can get you killed. So we're coming from a place
(08:14):
where it's it's we're in the shadows. We fill in
the gap, not to get into law enforcement's way, but
to ensure that if the opportunity and capability exists to
securely recover a child that is suffering, we will be there.
And we are. We respond nationally as well as abroad.
(08:34):
And you know, there are relationships that are built to
ensure success.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
So here in Southwest Florida, is there a big demand
for this?
Speaker 5 (08:45):
Is there?
Speaker 4 (08:46):
It's horrific And you know, even in this beautiful town,
it's everywhere. And you know in the United the United
States is the number one consumer. You know, sound of freedom.
We need more sound of freedom than movies. We need
more education, exposure, how to how to protect your own children,
your own community. When we say it takes a village,
(09:06):
we need those granny's looking you know. We are absolutely
and because it is real and it is here. So
being that we're the number one consumer Florida is kind
of lean in the way. We're number three, uh, in
the state of Florida, our account the entire state, but.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
They so we're number three in the nation.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
In the nation, yes, excuse me, and it is everywhere.
Some people, you know, might say that it's not happening,
and I feel that it's orderlying criminal to not prepared
that your public.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
I was going to say, because if you think about
all the different attractions that Disney that we have in Florida,
Disney Universal. You know, we have a lot of child
friendly attractions in the state. And I remember so for
many many years, my family and I we had annual
passes to Disney, especially when I was at Patrick, and
(10:02):
people would tell us they were like, yeah, like Florida
or Disney itself is like one of the highest places
for you know, trafficking, you know, people basically abusing and
harming minor children like that was, which is horrible because
it's supposed to be the happiest place on earth, right,
(10:24):
And so it's just I can believe that we're third
in the nation, but it's that's not a good statistic
to have. I mean, we love where we live, we
see the beauty of it. But at the same time,
it's like, I'm grateful for the people who are able
to fight against the darkness that's there that some of
(10:45):
us might not fully be privy to, you might not
be aware of. I can tell you one time we
were on Thanksgiving. We were driving out to my husband's
grandmother's house and she lived in Fort Myers, And on
the way there, we stopped at Aghasty and there was
a teeny each girl walking around in that gas station,
and it was like something in me, like your your spiders,
(11:06):
and I'd go off, and especially being a mom, I
think that's some of it. But I could tell this
girl was like looking around very aimlessly, but she was
kind of like looking over her shoulder, and I so
wanted to say something. Because we had that computer based
training in the military for combating trafficking in persons, right,
So I think the Army probably called it the same thing,
(11:27):
but something about her demeanor and the setting because it
was kind of a like a S station. I was like,
something doesn't and I walked out to the car and
I got in the car and I looked at my husband,
and anybody who knows my husband knows that he's somebody
that most people would not want to cross. And I
looked at him and I was like, there's a girl
(11:48):
in there, and I briefly described her and I was like,
something's not right. I think something's wrong, and he was
my husband's like, what do you want me to do?
I was like, you just walk in there and kind
of like feel it out for you because he has
special Forces experience himself, and I was like, can you
just kind of feel that out and tell me, like
if I'm wrong, And like, I don't know what, but
(12:09):
I felt powerless. I felt like I didn't know what
to do. When you touched on the fact that there
needs to be education, I absolutely agreed, because it's like
I had no idea what to do in that situation.
To this day, I still don't know if that poor
girl was being trafficked or if she was in harm's
way of some kind and it was like I didn't
know how to help. I felt like something was wrong,
but I didn't rightly know what to do. And sometimes
(12:32):
when you call the police, if there's not an actual
crime taking place, what are they really gonna do? Or
they might not even respond. And this was Thanksgiving Day,
it was a holiday, and so I was just like,
you know what I mean, I would imagine your organization
kind of helps address it.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
And that's the thing, And that's where I'm here in
this capacity. I mean, there's a certain level of exposure
that's kind of needed to let people know that we're here,
you know, but as far as out in the field,
you'd never you know, keeping very low profile, absolutely, but
getting involved with our local community were the people are
(13:12):
begging and pleading for the educator. And we've come across
and we can only focus on so much, and I say,
you know, in this situation, I want to touch base
on what you just talked about. People don't know what
to do. People are apprehensive about calling law enforcement. They
think that they're overworked or lazy, or they're mean, or
oh I just you know, somebody, a normal person, Oh,
(13:35):
I probably smell like marijuana, or I had a drink
at lunch. I don't want to be talking at the
cops right now. There could be a lot.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Well, or some people think maybe I'm overreacting. Maybe I'm
thinking I'm seeing something that I'm not, and maybe I
would be wasting resources calling for something that I think
is a problem that maybe isn't.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
But that's where we have the ability to engage with
people like you know, where we can and go and
talk to the homeless. They might be in a state
you know, we can offer them help, but we're not
going to you know, and engage in anything other than
the conversation and hey, maybe you know, how can I
help you?
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Have you seen this person? You know?
Speaker 4 (14:17):
So if someone is apprehensive about calling Allie through regular channels,
they can contact somebody like us. We have a relationship.
I want you to understand, it's a network of people.
Even in places where you might have somebody crumbing at
the top, there's wonderful officers, veterans in those departments that
are willing to do anything to help the child, but
(14:39):
funding might not be their resources might be not be there.
We get to fill in the gap and then and
say like, yes we do human traffic, but recently, we
did a runaway situation. We found the child, we got
we called the sheriff, the deputy. So the deputy actually
came out when I out in the field, dismounted his vehicle, boom,
(15:03):
found him in a couple seconds and and he's safe now,
you know. So a situation like that where it's already public, sure,
but you know, when we're out in the field and
someone might like claim no, our miracle ahead and do it.
You know, but that's really dangerous stuff. And I don't
even really want you to do it because you can
get your team killed.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
I'm sorry, it was no you were you were absolutely
responding to it. I was just saying, I think there's
there is a need for education, like you were saying,
because so many people find themselves in a situation where
something doesn't look great, it doesn't feel right. They're not
sure how to responsibly proceed yes, and then it leaves
people wondering, did I do the right thing, did I
(15:43):
do the wrong thing? Whatever happened to that person that
I saw that things seemed wrong?
Speaker 4 (15:47):
You know, so you can you can contact us at
info at Lotus Shadows dot org. I know that might
be a mouthful. But Lotus dash shadows dot org if
go to dot com and I'll bring it to us too.
So lotusdashshadows dot org. You can reach out to us
(16:07):
via email. We can take a look at you know
what you might have. I mean, people feel like they're
wasting your time. Five seconds for me to take a
look at an email might save a life and we
can start surveilling and taking a look in that particular area.
And when we work together, we save lives. And mass
(16:28):
education we're talking about, you know a lot of people
are providing education, but bridging that gap with mom enforcement
and students, like with their DARE program. Then implementing a
little bit more of the DARE program make it a
little more intensive. Include specifics in human trafficking, what to
(16:48):
look for, What would you do if you were captured?
Do everything you can, don't go with them, kick the
tail lights out the car, wave your arms out of
the tail lights, all the little things you can do.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
We've got to tell if you're being groomed, because a
lot of children nowadays go online and they don't even
realize that they're being groomed until they come and tell
their parents. Something that the parents like that does not
sound right. Do not engage with people like that. Like
we started early telling our children, don't ever tell somebody
where you live. You can tell them what state you
(17:22):
live in, maybe, but don't ever get more specific than that.
Don't tell them information like how old you are. Don't
give your address out, don't talk about where you go
to school. Don't give the name of your school, because
that lets people narrow it down to where you live.
Like you know, you have to tell your kids this
kind of stuff because they'll be online and you're not
there to interfere referee.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
It the people they play Fortnite with or the people
that play Minecraft. Yeah, so have you noticed that that's
like a big start point for for a lot of
the stuff is people like kids online, strangers online.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
It couldn't be more grateful that you mention this. They
are coming at them through the phones, through the video games,
and the parents have no idea, and the kids are smart,
they know how to swap out this and they're told
how to do it. So say you're a ten year
old girl and you're playing and a game and it's
got little stuffed animals, and someone listens their message, Hey,
(18:22):
I see you like that do you want some help
so that you can get the crown for that stuffed animal?
And the little girl's like, oh, yes, thank you, Sarah,
I'm so glad we're friends. And they start developing the
relationship there and they say, hey, you know that plushy
from the game. I have it, and why don't you
come out one house away, you know, right where the
(18:44):
stop sign is where you said your bus stop is,
and I'll give you the plushy and you can run
right home. Oh no, my mom and dad said, I
can't leave the house. Well that's why I'm saying, go
right around the corner from the house where they can't
see you, and I'll throw it out the window and
then I'll see another time and we'll talk later. The
little girl runs out of the house and she's gone,
(19:04):
never to be seen again.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
This is.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
Very real. This is your most innocent baby. She has
no idea. I mean, this is how they're coming at them.
They're coming through the games. They're giving them gifts through
the games. It comes in the form of gifts. They're
giving something they want. Oh well, my friends have one
hundred friends. Oh guess what this person says, Hey, hundred
(19:29):
friends of creeps. Why don't you follow her too? And
now she feels like she's popular or he and there
is an increase for her wants and little boys. I mean,
and we're not just talking human trafficking. Sextortion is a thing.
These beautiful, beautiful children and they think they're talking to
someone their age, some really cute woman, you know, girl,
(19:53):
not woman, sixteen year old girl, sixteen year old boy.
And they're in an entirely different country sorting them for money,
and they need to be able to talk to their parents.
They need to have someone that they can talk to
that this is happening like that. This can happen to anyone.
The phones, the phones and the social media, and the
(20:16):
girls really self esteem confidence. I've seen it happen to
my own baby. I said, what the heck, But you
know the younger one, she's thirteen, and I said, no way,
we're not doing that. So you learn sometimes as a parent,
and you can't get mad at yourself, but you can
grow from it. You can learn from it. But you
watch what they're doing.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Yeah, I have four daughters, so I'm constantly worried about
things like that.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Yeah, I have sons, and I used to always tell them.
I'm like, don't think you're immune to this stuff, like
we talked to her. I think as veterans, we talk
to our kids more openly about topics that some parents
might not because we're exposed to it through maybe training
or through an experience on a deployment or a TDY.
So we're willing to talk to our kids about this stuff.
(21:07):
But I told my sons, I was like, please, don't
think that girls are the only ones that get traffic.
They traffic little boys too, And I hate having to
say that to them, but I need them to understand,
like you are not immune to this, like no child
is children, like your pamphlets said, like, there are people
who view our children as commodities. That's why people make
(21:30):
comments like children are not for sale. And that's horrible
that you have to make that statement, but it's necessary
because it happens that way.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Well, first, I want to apologize folks for coming late
into the game here I'm sending back catching all of this.
First of all routine for me, thank you for your
service and sacrifice. Listen to your background in the air Force.
I had a whole trigger moment. The MP inside me said, ooh,
that's an investing in the army have MPs MPIs. I'm
(22:02):
a combination of mp MPI and the skill set you're
given over a period of time in the career. It's
permanent and it becomes a part who you are. It's
not a skill set, it's this and moving forward. How
you apply that in the load of shadows shadow excuse me,
I will say this. I love the name. Uh. It
(22:23):
has a whole different two different levels of meaning for me,
good things and hope in the shadows because you have
to work in the shadows and show them hope. One
of the reasons why I converted to health apartment rather
than long for it, because I will say that being
in a health department, I'm a mandatory reporter and I
(22:43):
get actually first line interaction with the community, and there
are triggers that again we have when the situation is
not right. I will say that in my time doing
helmets and car seat installs and training all that, I'll
say in my eight years and nine years have done that.
There have been many a day I've had to get
(23:05):
child protective services and ball because I'm not going if
I don't trust it, I'm gonna trust my gut and
to your common man, you said it earlier. If something
don't feel right, it probably isn't right. You just don't
know if you're some conscious telling you there's something that's off.
I don't know what it is. But say something to nothing.
If you see something, say something. I'll say that today
(23:26):
it falls all in my mouth. My teeth brought. See
you see something, say something for People don't like getting
involved because they don't want to be marginalized, judged or
made fun of. And sometimes my brethren tend to be
impatient or have other things to do. They're human, and
sometimes people will feel that what they have to say
(23:48):
don't count. I'd rather you make a report and say
KI reported this, just in case it may not happen
for a hundred times. Is that one time that you
say something, they make a report. You've now started. You
give them more time to respond. We have a report
of this from somebody, so without that report, it just
slows down. Response, slows up the investigation. And I forgot
(24:11):
what the timeframe was. There's a window you have to
find these children or get a case going, or it
gets harder and harder for them to come home. And
the probability than being found lessons Also with the Health Department,
we are involved in trafficking and apparently one of the
airmoks at Florida is port cities or port states. Correct,
(24:32):
the more ports would have, the higher probability of trafficking.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
We had a recent story here where there were two
girls that went missing from Port Charlotte, and I saw
how they handled the investigation, and obviously everybody's there's always
going to be a critic, But anyways, they went missing
from Port Charlotte, they got investigators involved, they got you know,
law enforcement involved, they kept it very quiet in the media,
(24:57):
and for obvious reasons, they ended up finding these girls
across the state import Saint Lucy, which is about almost
three hours east of where we are, and they they
waited to report it in the news until after the
girls had been recovered. And at first people were like,
(25:17):
why didn't anybody say and you know, why didn't they
put in the news so that we could look for
them or you know, whatever the case might be. But
at the same time, it was like there were people
who stepped in who said, if visibility had been put
on this in the media, it would alert those people
who had trafficked those girls, and they might have changed
(25:40):
a tactic or they might have done something different that
would have made it even harder to find these girls.
So they're like, you have to understand that, you know,
radio silence, if you will, was maintained until it was
safe to report what had happened and that those girls
had been recovered, because once they kind of had their
sights on them or they had a lead on them,
(26:01):
they didn't want to lose it, and so they waited
to report it to the public until later, which I mean,
I fully saw why they did that, But at the
same time, I agree with your earlier statement, Sheila that
it takes a village and we have to teach people,
because I think the problem with why they didn't release
(26:22):
it to the public is because as a public right now,
we are uneducated in the ways of how to effectively
assist a human trafficking situation, and so because of our
own ignorance, we might, in our ignorance do or say
something that could compromise that whole situation and make it
to where those girls didn't come home. So I think
(26:42):
the education need is so crucial because we have people
who have the desire and the will that want to help,
but we don't know how, and there's a fear to
of being targeted. If you step into that line of
fire to try to help that child and you don't
know what you're doing, you might be targeted. You might
have a real problem. Like Sheila said earlier, you could
(27:05):
be killed. That would be horrible, but it's something that
you know. That's why the education piece, I think is
the critical key.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
And I want to get back onto that education piece
because you know, people might not understand that. You know,
this is a need to know and the way that
they're operating is absolutely in order to save lines correct
and they're lucky to eat. They even do a press
release on it because you get some these girls that
have a bad situation. Depending on how large of an
(27:33):
organization it is, you're just bringing that to the surface
and now they might start scattering. You might have other
cases that are all intertwined. And as far as the
education piece, the police department, I was talking about the
DARE and implementing you know, the human trafficking and what
to do and to no matter what, you never go,
(27:58):
you never go, You fight, you fight like it, you know,
and let these kids know you know, with an officer
such they're also fixing you know, relationships here. You know
you're getting a relationship again with that DARE program, with
those those individual officers that are you know, they're kind
(28:20):
of hand picked because they're wonderful with kids.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Still, remember my DARE officer from nineteen ninety one, Officer
Jenkins in Virginia Beach City Police Department. I remember him
if he ever hears this. I believe his name was
James Jenkins. I could be wrong, but Officer Jenkins had
a mustache. Dude was awesome. But that was my DARE officer. Yes,
those people make an impact in people's lives. I agree.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
So I mean, of course it requires, you know, additional
funding or you know you're going to have to switch
some things up to make that happen. That the children
need to be a priority. So implementing those educational reas
sources that creating that bond of under you know, understanding
that law enforcement is good. It's here to help you know,
(29:08):
those days when you were told specifically, if you don't
see a police officer, then you run to the mailman.
The mailman will help you another mom, I'm not somebody
will help you they need to know, you know, what
to do, and they need to know younger and then
they're getting into high school. Yeah, I mean it might
be hard to bring up the topic of sextortion for
(29:28):
middle schoolers, but the high school kids in some way
need to know what they're up against so that they
can pretend the protect themselves or education and the parents.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
So yes, there's.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
Tons of people that go in provide education, which is amazing,
but I really believe this is something that bridges a
gap that's needed and for so many different reasons, like kids,
you know, get an opportunity to meet these officers, they
might want to be police officers and serve in this
particular capacity to save children from you know, terrible crimes,
(30:02):
terrible things that happen in them.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Absolutely, and with that, we just want to make sure
that people have information as we close the segment, to
get them the information to reach out to you. We
could we could make several episodes. That's why I said
in the beginning, we're going to have you on this
show some more because this is a topic that as
difficult as it is to discuss, we need to discuss
(30:28):
that we need to be talking about this because this
is preserving the future of America. These are our children
and we you know, anybody, I think anybody who cares.
It doesn't matter if you're a parent or not. If
you care and you want to make sure that right
is done and that you know the innocent are protected,
(30:51):
then this should matter. I mean, I hate using the
word should, but it's the truth. It's this is imperative,
you know, and we want to have a country, a neighborhood,
a city where you know, people feel safe and because
people are safe, not because they feel safe, but because
they are. And some of it it starts at home,
(31:12):
it starts with us. So if you want more information
on how to get involved, the email address is info
at lotuslot Us Dashshadows dot org and you can also
go to their website Lotus dash Shadows dot org for
more information. But this is definitely a topic we'll be
(31:34):
talking more about. Shila Gallo, thank you so much for
being on the show. We look forward to having you
on again in the future. And now on the show,
we have with us Sandy Albrand. She is a veteran
and she is also the client care manager and nurse
community liaison with Heart, Body and Mind Home Care. So
(31:55):
thank you for being on this show, Sandy. It's a
pleasure absolutely. So tell us about your military service. We'll
just jump right in because I know you and I
have spoken about it before, but you have some pretty
interesting nuances to your time in the military.
Speaker 5 (32:13):
I am back in the seventy It was in a
reserve and a indigen there in a Savannah. I'm the recruiter.
He sort of got lost and he walked on one
track we started and he said, have you ever joined
the MILI And I said, yes, I did. Why don't
you sow? He invited down Savannah in Savannah and the
(32:35):
so next that I enlist and the rest is his
fight from there, and we own some of our weekend duties.
We would go over to work with the Marines. I
was a corman. I went in, Oh Wow, and so
I loved what time went on other things. So I
(32:56):
had to go in the independent. Ready, okay, my husband
and we at him. He was active duty stationed and
so we had had an overseas signment to Venice, so
we went to Wow. We got there, then the golf
so we were stationed. Even though I had delivered to
(33:19):
my home and went on nave duty. It wow, and
that was an while I was just don't to visit.
I worked with detail there to meet him, working with he,
so did some with the Venice. My Spanish is not
that on and had an intern and I would set
that up. Then after we made it back and I
(33:43):
joined by reserves and at that time nine to eleven,
so I was with in the Charleston Naval Hospital I
had I had as a nurse, I had like five
room as an oar so any national art and ASA
Corman wow, and our reserve center in Savannah soon disbanded.
(34:08):
So I went there doing reserve air cargo handling with
the air Handling Unit. Corman see one thirty is trying
to stab a lot. I kept thinking the Navy, and
had even got a Navy on just different would be
a great could be a nerd air. So I talked
(34:30):
with command and the next thing transitioning.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Yes, we got you to our side.
Speaker 5 (34:39):
So I transitioned over and ended up a few years Deil.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
That's like a gem. You know people in the Air
Force dream about I think they're a dream bases throughout
the Air Force, and the big ones I think are
Hicckem and Hawaii, which you did time.
Speaker 5 (34:56):
Why.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Mcdill's another big one and pass trick, which I was
fortunate to go past.
Speaker 5 (35:03):
Yes, and Andrews.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Yep, I was at Andrews as well. So yeah, those
are kind of like the dream basis. So you got
to go to McDill, which is like a base people
dream about but most never get to.
Speaker 5 (35:16):
It was. It was a wonderful experience. However, friends and absolutely,
I mean once you're in the military, it's in your
body and your soul. Mm hmmm.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Absolutely. The fraternities there, like we can almost kind of
recognize each other even now in our you know, post
military lives, you can kind of recognize it.
Speaker 5 (35:38):
Well. Coming over to nurse part of the oh wow,
so I had to get nurses fly and this was
mm hm. That was an experience. And actually the survival
training it was experienced to gain.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
My that's where I went for emeds and we had
they had a concurrent class going on at the time
for aircrew survival and whatnot for you know, for the
aerovac teams. Right, so they were there, but we were
also there for EMDs to get ready to go on deployment.
So it was interesting. I know exactly where you were. Yeah,
(36:16):
it was.
Speaker 5 (36:17):
It was quite interest. You know. It was the knowledge
of training, the leadership, you know, it was so valuable
even to me today. Yeah, and coming back even in
Savilian law that place of absolutely. But I think the
(36:39):
survival quite going out in the week, you know.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
In the woods, roughing it.
Speaker 5 (36:45):
Right, Yeah, meeting up with scorpions.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
And oh gosh, yeah a few did you get bet up?
Speaker 5 (36:53):
I did? Oh and so they so one night, so
they drop you off nowhere with nothing. They had candy
bar and that a canteen of four. Yep, they dropped this. Okay,
those shelter nothing, you're here. So and it was the
real experience.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
You have to yep.
Speaker 5 (37:13):
So yeah, I woke up stinging. We need to take
it and we need to be back. No, no, no, I
knew I did do this. Yeah, I'll be okay, give
me a tile and off right there you go til
and off fixed or matron great. So uh yeah I
did that. My wings came back there.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Well you finished it.
Speaker 5 (37:36):
I finished that time. Yeah, so in two thousand, but
it's still in.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
I believe you know, there's no none correct.
Speaker 5 (37:45):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
It kind of gets your blood pumping a little bit tarder. Yeah,
I agree, to say the bellegiance yep, to start off, yeah,
mm hmmm, it has it has a whole new emphasis.
I think us as veterans, it's like you the words
take on a whole new because we've lived it.
Speaker 5 (38:03):
But to be able in the air some of my
duties being an equation we transwounded from.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
Yeah, they came through the Aero Medical Staging Facility because
I was I was the exec for the hospital Commander
and Andrews from eight to nine and and so we
called it the ASF. That was a huge part of
you know, the facility at the time. Having that, I
think in Germany they called a catso but same thing.
(38:35):
It's an ARA Medical Staging facility. So it's the route
by which they come through and Andrews, if I'm not mistaken,
was like their first stop in the state, right and
then from there they would you know, kind of point
route them back to their home station or what have
you to once they got them stabilized. I think they
(38:55):
stabilized them and launched although in Germany, and then they
brought them to Andrew and then they got them on
to where they needed to go. Sometimes they took them
on to Travis or wherever the case might be in California.
For those listening, they don't know where that is.
Speaker 5 (39:10):
M M.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
You know the center yep. Now that's all like sam Houston.
And forgive me for anybody who's listening that knows this
and is listening to me waffle it. But I think
now it's like sam Houston Military Medical Fort sam Houston
Military Medical Center, something like that. But it's BAMC, which
is what we knew it as Brooke Army Medical Center.
(39:35):
Several different locations around San Antonio. They've kind of all
made it like a Fort sam Houston, you know, joint
based Fort sam Houston something or other. Again, I apologize
I'm completely messing that up, but whatever. So yeah, so
San Antonio in general, that's a huge area for the
Air Force to fly people back to. But I always
(39:58):
admired how like if I went downstairs into the ASI
at Malcolm Grow Medical Center, they had a huge board
and it had every single patient you know, their name,
where they station, and there was just a list of
different locations where they had to get these people too,
and they did it flawlessly. It was incredible.
Speaker 5 (40:21):
It was it was when you went in, you knew
we're right, we were ready. We went on a Oh wow,
the different teams country doing ev So I think the
military that you get young could do it, and I
(40:42):
would have joined exactly. There's so many opportunities you're educating,
I mean all of them. You can the benefit you
can take and and I did while I was in
the even though I was active. It's not just reserve.
When you're in the reserves, you're act. You're there, you're
part of the tea and you're called up on. I
(41:04):
had my seabag went on and then I had the
air course because you get that, you know, no matter
you're own twenty four yep and lot.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Yeah, and when they call you, you're on the clock. It's
like you don't have time to Sometimes you don't have
time to grab a cup of coffee, you don't have
time to do your hair or whatever. Per se, it's
just get your uniform on and be as in rags
as you can and show up as fast as you can.
You can fix the rest of it once you sign
in there. But yeah, that's so, you flew on C
(41:38):
seventeen's of course, were there any other aircraft that you flew?
Speaker 5 (41:42):
My main the main aircraft that's okay, but I have
flown on nice ceiling.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
Yeah and yeah, kind of get a boom operators view
of how that works.
Speaker 5 (41:54):
Yeah, you know, you sort of mix a bit of
experiments pleasure with the mission.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So it's funny my experience with aircrew.
So right before I retired, actually had an approved retirement date,
but it was during COVID and I got selected to
go to Charleston Air Force Base to learn how to
fly CE seventeen missions with a transport isolation system so
(42:24):
that if someone in the deployed setting were to become
you know, COVID positive or whatever, we could fly into
that area, extract that individual safely without you know, potentially
infecting other people, and get them back to Germany for
treatment and care or whatever the case might be. And
(42:45):
so it was so interesting because we got to Charleston.
I was not aircrew by trade. I was a bio
environmental engineer, and when you show up, if you're going
to be working on their aircraft, Like, the thing I
loved about it is that they take full responsibility for
their aircraft and their role with it, but at the
same time they're welcoming of people that are helping join
(43:08):
you know, their mission set, which was really nice. So
it was really cool to go from like, you know,
I've been essentially medical my whole career, with the exception
of like a couple years in airmen and family readiness,
but I was always like preventive medicine. I didn't do
patient care, and then all of a sudden to be
thrust into you know, an aerovac environment. It was really neat,
(43:32):
and the people were very welcoming and open, and there
was definitely when it was time to work, it was
time to work, but there was also plenty of time
for you know, fun and just kind of having a
good time, and and the camaraderie and whatnot was definitely strong.
Speaker 5 (43:49):
It's very very strong and no matter where you go
or wherever you will, all you will always.
Speaker 1 (43:57):
Have I would agree. Yeah, so aircrew, that's definitely a
nice thing about it is they stick together pretty.
Speaker 5 (44:04):
Well, they do, and we went together, we did things
you know, you you work.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
Absolutely. I definitely think that's part of their their mindset
for sure. So so are there any like interesting like
you talked about going to Bulgaria picking up refugees and such.
Venezuela like that's a place that most people when they
hear about, you know, military service, we don't think that
(44:32):
anybody gets orders to Venezuela. What was that like working
in the embassy?
Speaker 5 (44:37):
It was, it was it was a good experience the
man's and then be a missioning it and be a
part to go to the state department. Okay, but venice
we right now with the situation. The embassy got it.
So it's a beautiful, beautiful they were recepting there.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
But you know, just I think it's more politics though
than people that have changed, because I did. I met
a girl one time on vacation. We were down in
Antigua and there was a couple on an excursion with
us who were from Venezuela, and she was telling me
because I speak limited Spanish, I speak enough to get
(45:22):
by and be dangerous, I guess. But her and I
were talking to each other, and you know, I mentioned
to her, I was like, I don't think I can
go to Venezuela. And her response to me in Spanish
was because of politics, no what the people would be.
And I was like, I believe that because she was
very friendly and very nice to talk to you. So
(45:46):
I think I think it's sad that you know, and
I understand why, politics being what they are in the military.
As much as we try to be a political it
it doesn't always come across that way. It is a
you know, military sometimes as a tool that is used
in the process of political dealings. But you know, it's
(46:07):
like you can you can meet people, you can see things.
It's like it's a missed opportunity, you know, to kind
of foster a little more cooperation and understanding that we're
all people.
Speaker 5 (46:18):
I think exposure because as a volunteer, but I'm also
part of my I did fall in Haiti. So with
this ear so we so much advanced equipment resource here
that we just take for granted. When I've been in
(46:40):
the finis Haiti, when you've been in those see the
limit equipment, what they have, and then you know, you
think they get back and how do they give back?
They they're imaginative imagination of how to use the resources
they have.
Speaker 1 (47:00):
Yeah, so yeah, ingenuity pays off engineering, it does.
Speaker 5 (47:06):
Sometimes I would just sit by because I'm looking for
a special of product, sad and it and them I
clean it up soap and water.
Speaker 1 (47:18):
Or they could possibly even go out into the woods
or the forest and find some kind of an herbal
thing and have you know, some kind of a salve
made out of that maybe where you wouldn't have considered that.
Speaker 5 (47:31):
No, and I so do I what do you do
you fix? We give ivy. We always have an ivy
Corman or amdic or you know aircrew. You always got
that coconut juice. Coconut juices or watermelon juice. Yeah, watermelons
high and the tassi all your item.
Speaker 1 (47:53):
It helps you right, so absorbed.
Speaker 5 (47:56):
So you know they have fruits and vegetables. This is
their medicine. These are the medication.
Speaker 1 (48:03):
So now focusing from how your military career kind of
prepared you for your current role in home healthcare in
what ways do you feel like that it sounds kind
of like a perfect marriage honestly, because you went from
being a nurse in the military, so now you do
at home care. And so I'm sure some of the
(48:25):
structure something where your military career kind of prepared you
for in home healthcare.
Speaker 5 (48:31):
The caregivers that I made, they're in the home and
we were predominant veteran. That's wonderful, so veterans I am.
When there is an issue, maybe this PTSD, if there's dementia,
they're not eating, drinking, or maybe it's in their last
stages their own I'm I can coordinate work through these
(48:57):
just sometimes going and that's what I do. I assession
to see if the level we can, if that meets
their needs and maybe make recom to home help to
other levels of care in our work the case.
Speaker 1 (49:16):
So, so you're still kind of in the system, and
you are in the system with and you're a veteran
who helps other veterans. So like I think that's helpful because,
like you pointed out earlier, there's that camaraderie and fraternal
bond we kind of all share where we kind of
wrecking each other. And I think probably in those stages
(49:37):
of life that you described where you give assistance, it
helps to have somebody who kind of speaks your same dialect,
that kind of knows how to effectively communicate.
Speaker 5 (49:49):
And that's so I can speak there exactly understand, I understand.
And the thing is when I go, when we get in,
you go, well I meet the right mm hmmm. And
this may absolutely and then the communic is and the
type of this because the veteran their experiences that they've
(50:13):
been through disabilities.
Speaker 1 (50:15):
Yep.
Speaker 5 (50:16):
This sasparium or the care of man it has communicat absolutely.
Speaker 1 (50:21):
Will leverage it too to make them feel like they're
being seen, heard, receiving the proper care and treatment that
they want to have. I think that kind of helps
tie it all together. Absolutely well, wonderful. Well, we appreciate
you being on the show and telling us about your
wonderful stories with being from being in the Navy to
(50:43):
the Air Force, that's I'm sure quite a shift, and
then everything that you did with Aerovac and being a corman.
I mean, you've definitely had some adventures in your life
and then to be able to bring that to the
table with your home care role that you you now
currently serve. And I think we were talking earlier before
(51:04):
we got on the air that like the military service
is kind of once it's in you, it's there for life,
and so it's just I think in some ways it's
a matter of even though we transition, we still serve
just in a different absolutely and you are very much
a part of that. So Sandy, thank you so much
for being on the show, for telling your story, and
(51:26):
hopefully we'll have you on again.
Speaker 2 (51:27):
In the future and anything else.
Speaker 1 (51:30):
I don't think so. Just thanks to our sponsors, thanks
to one hundred point nine WCCFFM, thank you to reachs
Across America Radio as well. We're having us on their
radio broadcasts. Appreciate all the opportunities to put visibility on
organizations that are veteran centric. You don't have to be
(51:51):
a veteran to listen to the show or to be
on this show. If you support us, if you love us,
so just thanks and please continue telling people about our
show and how they can listen, whether it's locally in
Southwest Florida on one hundred point nine FM or on
the free iHeartRadio app. If they pull that up and
(52:11):
they search WCCF on Fridays at nine am, they can
find our show. And then also we are aired on
Rets Across America Radio on Fridays at three pm, so
you can find both Rees Across America Radio and WCCF
via the iHeartRadio app. Rally Pointers fall Out
Rally Pointers Fun.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Once again, folks, it's us at the Rally Point Show.
Your host, Sergeant James Heavaway, and my co host Amina.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Makanu and our guest host we have with us today.
Introduce yourself.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
I'm Justin Leadford from Warrior Wellness Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Very cool and j Justin is going to be joining
us from time to time as a guest host here
on the Rally Point Show. So, now that we've introduced
the gang, everybody doing good, feeling good?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Hey man, living, breathing.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Oh yeah, right on, Well, let's jump right into the show.
And in this segment of our show, we have with
us Shila Gallo. She's the co founder and director of
operations for Lotus Shadows. She is also a retired staff
sergeant in the Air Force. Woop, whoops, I got a
fellow Air Force veteran's sister in the house this morning.
Welcome to the show, Shila, Thank you for having me. Yeah,
(00:59):
thanks for being here. So, so there's we were talking
before being on the air now and so I know
that there's a lot to unpack and we definitely plan
on having you on future shows. So, but do tell
us about your military history in the sense of how
your family history played a role into you also serving,
(01:23):
and then tell us about your service in the military.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Well, I am retired stef Serge in Shila Gallo and
when I first, I guess, began my journey in the military,
it was pretty much sprung from nine to eleve Actually,
I had wanted to serve. My father had passed and
he would have never really wanted me to serve enlisted,
(01:48):
and I would have, you know, might not have moved
in that direction, but I always wanted to. And I
thought I would be an army linguist. And they could
only take one person at the time, and there was
a gentleman and myself, and he could be in combat
and I couldn't. They gave me an option of intelligence analysts,
(02:10):
and I said no, I declined to take that offer,
and you know, went to school, did a few things.
Nine to eleven happened, and the only combat rear field
that women could truly serve in with Air Force Security Forces,
and that's what I decided to do. And I ended
it up in Mine, not North Dakota as my first assignment.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Only the best go north, That's what I've heard. I
didn't serve there, but I hear that a lot. Why not?
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Why not?
Speaker 1 (02:39):
The reason it's freezing? It was freezing, So.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
You know, protection of vice ebm's intercontinental ballistic missiles was
really where I started. They were going to bring est back,
which is like swat here you know, QRRF CRF, And
there was no man or woman standard. You either made
it or you didn't. And I was like, I'm jumping
(03:07):
out a helicopters. This is awesome. So I started in
Huee's and spinning out to the missile field. And you know,
you can talk about what you did if it's in
your performance report, but I wouldn't be that good of
a strategic operational manager if I even said some of
those things, I don't find it to be appropriate. So
thinking of that type of protection as how I started,
(03:31):
and then I went overseas from there for four and
a half years and ended up retiring under Title ten
Presidential Orders. I was appointed by President upon.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Okay, wow, so it sounds like you have a lot
of probably have a lot of adventurous stories. Oh yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
I mean my recruiter didn't want me to be security forces.
He was just like, do anything air traffic controller, You've
got depth perception, you can do anything. I said, listen,
I'm going in and I'm in a serving combat and
if I'm not, you know the dumbbell. Then I get
to fly, and I get I guess i'd be flying
in U He's become an airborne fire team, and then
(04:11):
I became an electronic security system specialist in a major
accident investigator. So imagine jumping out of a helicopter, setting
up the corner one investigating in the incident.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yeah, that's a case. That's a particular set of skills,
I would say, So I would say it's definitely not
for the faint of heart. So that's awesome. So then
tell us how you were able to translate the skills
that you got in the air force into what you
are doing now with loadus Shadows. And I guess before
(04:43):
we do that, if I may provided us with some
wonderful information, I'll just read a little bit about Load
of Shadows so that our listeners can understand. It says,
in a world where innocence is stolen, a child's journey
begins with a whisper, a false hope. Taken from the
safety of home, they are thrust into a nightmare cloaked
(05:04):
in darkness, where every day is a battle for survival.
They navigate through shadows, their voices muted, their dreams shattered.
Each step is dictated by those who see them not
as children but as commodity. But within this bleak existence,
a flicker of resilience persists, a silent promise of escape.
(05:25):
Will they find the light, Will the light find them?
Or will the darkness consume them? We are coming and
we will never stop fighting for the recovery of hidden children.
And that is the overview of Lotus Shadows. Their mission
is to spearhead the battle against human trafficking, with a
focus on saving American children who are victims of sexual exploitation,
(05:48):
labor abuse, or have been kidnapped or trafficked, both within
the United States and abroad. They are committed to rescuing
these children and bringing them to safety, facilitating their recovery,
and supporting law enforce meant in prosecuting those responsible for
their abuse. Their efforts are fueled by an unyielding commitment,
profound empathy, and a firm resolve to protect and restore
(06:09):
the lives impacted by this grave injustice. Wow, Like that's
that's heavy, but it really does sound like all those
years ago you were basically being prepared for this role
with Lotus Shadows.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Tell us that's exactly how it is, and I mean
the poll to have to do this, I mean I
wasn't aware of the problem. I mean, I wasn't aware
of the gravity of this situation. And to realize that
people aren't truly rescuing the kids. I mean they're saying
they're doing it, doing it it's coming from perhaps. I mean,
(06:47):
my husband and I had the unfortunate happening of going
and working for someone who said they were going to
do they were doing this, then he wasn't doing it.
We offered to build it out for him, never having
any intention of doing it, and we couldn't believe in
So I went to the source of what I believe
to be the best at recovering specifically American children, and
(07:09):
that is what we did. We are an anti human
trafficking rescue organ it so we recovered the child and
we bring them to a vetted aftercare. So we have
a sub group, you know, we have a mission support
and one of these individuals, her specific job is to
(07:30):
vet facilities because some of them are actually part of
the problem. We need to make sure what their capabilities are,
long term, short term, everything. So we recovered the child,
we get them to that appropriate aftercare. Now, well, of
course we would like to assist law enforcement if possible.
(07:52):
That is not the direct mission. It is to recover
the child and bring them to safety. The reason you
might not know about people like me is because the
pride came from within. This is coming from pure purpose.
If you want fame, if you're looking to get rich,
you know that those are the kind of people that
can get you killed. So we're coming from a place
(08:14):
where it's it's we're in the shadows. We fill in
the gap, not to get into law enforcement's way, but
to ensure that if the opportunity and capability exists to
securely recover a child that is suffering, we will be there.
And we are. We respond nationally as well as abroad.
(08:34):
And you know, there are relationships that are built to
ensure success.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
So here in Southwest Florida, is there a big demand
for this?
Speaker 5 (08:45):
Is there?
Speaker 4 (08:46):
It's horrific And you know, even in this beautiful town,
it's everywhere. And you know in the United the United
States is the number one consumer. You know, sound of freedom.
We need more sound of freedom than movies. We need
more education, exposure, how to how to protect your own children,
your own community. When we say it takes a village,
(09:06):
we need those granny's looking you know. We are absolutely
and because it is real and it is here. So
being that we're the number one consumer Florida is kind
of lean in the way. We're number three, uh, in
the state of Florida, our account the entire state, but.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
They so we're number three in the nation.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
In the nation, yes, excuse me, and it is everywhere.
Some people, you know, might say that it's not happening,
and I feel that it's orderlying criminal to not prepared
that your public.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
I was going to say, because if you think about
all the different attractions that Disney that we have in Florida,
Disney Universal. You know, we have a lot of child
friendly attractions in the state. And I remember so for
many many years, my family and I we had annual
passes to Disney, especially when I was at Patrick, and
(10:02):
people would tell us they were like, yeah, like Florida
or Disney itself is like one of the highest places
for you know, trafficking, you know, people basically abusing and
harming minor children like that was, which is horrible because
it's supposed to be the happiest place on earth, right,
(10:24):
And so it's just I can believe that we're third
in the nation, but it's that's not a good statistic
to have. I mean, we love where we live, we
see the beauty of it. But at the same time,
it's like, I'm grateful for the people who are able
to fight against the darkness that's there that some of
(10:45):
us might not fully be privy to, you might not
be aware of. I can tell you one time we
were on Thanksgiving. We were driving out to my husband's
grandmother's house and she lived in Fort Myers, And on
the way there, we stopped at Aghasty and there was
a teeny each girl walking around in that gas station,
and it was like something in me, like your your spiders,
(11:06):
and I'd go off, and especially being a mom, I
think that's some of it. But I could tell this
girl was like looking around very aimlessly, but she was
kind of like looking over her shoulder, and I so
wanted to say something. Because we had that computer based
training in the military for combating trafficking in persons, right,
So I think the Army probably called it the same thing,
(11:27):
but something about her demeanor and the setting because it
was kind of a like a S station. I was like,
something doesn't and I walked out to the car and
I got in the car and I looked at my husband,
and anybody who knows my husband knows that he's somebody
that most people would not want to cross. And I
looked at him and I was like, there's a girl
(11:48):
in there, and I briefly described her and I was like,
something's not right. I think something's wrong, and he was
my husband's like, what do you want me to do?
I was like, you just walk in there and kind
of like feel it out for you because he has
special Forces experience himself, and I was like, can you
just kind of feel that out and tell me, like
if I'm wrong, And like, I don't know what, but
(12:09):
I felt powerless. I felt like I didn't know what
to do. When you touched on the fact that there
needs to be education, I absolutely agreed, because it's like
I had no idea what to do in that situation.
To this day, I still don't know if that poor
girl was being trafficked or if she was in harm's
way of some kind and it was like I didn't
know how to help. I felt like something was wrong,
but I didn't rightly know what to do. And sometimes
(12:32):
when you call the police, if there's not an actual
crime taking place, what are they really gonna do? Or
they might not even respond. And this was Thanksgiving Day,
it was a holiday, and so I was just like,
you know what I mean, I would imagine your organization
kind of helps address it.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
And that's the thing, And that's where I'm here in
this capacity. I mean, there's a certain level of exposure
that's kind of needed to let people know that we're here,
you know, but as far as out in the field,
you'd never you know, keeping very low profile, absolutely, but
getting involved with our local community were the people are
(13:12):
begging and pleading for the educator. And we've come across
and we can only focus on so much, and I say,
you know, in this situation, I want to touch base
on what you just talked about. People don't know what
to do. People are apprehensive about calling law enforcement. They
think that they're overworked or lazy, or they're mean, or
oh I just you know, somebody, a normal person, Oh,
(13:35):
I probably smell like marijuana, or I had a drink
at lunch. I don't want to be talking at the
cops right now. There could be a lot.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Well, or some people think maybe I'm overreacting. Maybe I'm
thinking I'm seeing something that I'm not, and maybe I
would be wasting resources calling for something that I think
is a problem that maybe isn't.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
But that's where we have the ability to engage with
people like you know, where we can and go and
talk to the homeless. They might be in a state
you know, we can offer them help, but we're not
going to you know, and engage in anything other than
the conversation and hey, maybe you know, how can I
help you?
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Have you seen this person? You know?
Speaker 4 (14:17):
So if someone is apprehensive about calling Allie through regular channels,
they can contact somebody like us. We have a relationship.
I want you to understand, it's a network of people.
Even in places where you might have somebody crumbing at
the top, there's wonderful officers, veterans in those departments that
are willing to do anything to help the child, but
(14:39):
funding might not be their resources might be not be there.
We get to fill in the gap and then and
say like, yes we do human traffic, but recently, we
did a runaway situation. We found the child, we got
we called the sheriff, the deputy. So the deputy actually
came out when I out in the field, dismounted his vehicle, boom,
(15:03):
found him in a couple seconds and and he's safe now,
you know. So a situation like that where it's already public, sure,
but you know, when we're out in the field and
someone might like claim no, our miracle ahead and do it.
You know, but that's really dangerous stuff. And I don't
even really want you to do it because you can
get your team killed.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
I'm sorry, it was no you were you were absolutely
responding to it. I was just saying, I think there's
there is a need for education, like you were saying,
because so many people find themselves in a situation where
something doesn't look great, it doesn't feel right. They're not
sure how to responsibly proceed yes, and then it leaves
people wondering, did I do the right thing, did I
(15:43):
do the wrong thing? Whatever happened to that person that
I saw that things seemed wrong?
Speaker 4 (15:47):
You know, so you can you can contact us at
info at Lotus Shadows dot org. I know that might
be a mouthful. But Lotus dash shadows dot org if
go to dot com and I'll bring it to us too.
So lotusdashshadows dot org. You can reach out to us
(16:07):
via email. We can take a look at you know
what you might have. I mean, people feel like they're
wasting your time. Five seconds for me to take a
look at an email might save a life and we
can start surveilling and taking a look in that particular area.
And when we work together, we save lives. And mass
(16:28):
education we're talking about, you know a lot of people
are providing education, but bridging that gap with mom enforcement
and students, like with their DARE program. Then implementing a
little bit more of the DARE program make it a
little more intensive. Include specifics in human trafficking, what to
(16:48):
look for, What would you do if you were captured?
Do everything you can, don't go with them, kick the
tail lights out the car, wave your arms out of
the tail lights, all the little things you can do.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
We've got to tell if you're being groomed, because a
lot of children nowadays go online and they don't even
realize that they're being groomed until they come and tell
their parents. Something that the parents like that does not
sound right. Do not engage with people like that. Like
we started early telling our children, don't ever tell somebody
where you live. You can tell them what state you
(17:22):
live in, maybe, but don't ever get more specific than that.
Don't tell them information like how old you are. Don't
give your address out, don't talk about where you go
to school. Don't give the name of your school, because
that lets people narrow it down to where you live.
Like you know, you have to tell your kids this
kind of stuff because they'll be online and you're not
there to interfere referee.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
It the people they play Fortnite with or the people
that play Minecraft. Yeah, so have you noticed that that's
like a big start point for for a lot of
the stuff is people like kids online, strangers online.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
It couldn't be more grateful that you mention this. They
are coming at them through the phones, through the video games,
and the parents have no idea, and the kids are smart,
they know how to swap out this and they're told
how to do it. So say you're a ten year
old girl and you're playing and a game and it's
got little stuffed animals, and someone listens their message, Hey,
(18:22):
I see you like that do you want some help
so that you can get the crown for that stuffed animal?
And the little girl's like, oh, yes, thank you, Sarah,
I'm so glad we're friends. And they start developing the
relationship there and they say, hey, you know that plushy
from the game. I have it, and why don't you
come out one house away, you know, right where the
(18:44):
stop sign is where you said your bus stop is,
and I'll give you the plushy and you can run
right home. Oh no, my mom and dad said, I
can't leave the house. Well that's why I'm saying, go
right around the corner from the house where they can't
see you, and I'll throw it out the window and
then I'll see another time and we'll talk later. The
little girl runs out of the house and she's gone,
(19:04):
never to be seen again.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
This is.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
Very real. This is your most innocent baby. She has
no idea. I mean, this is how they're coming at them.
They're coming through the games. They're giving them gifts through
the games. It comes in the form of gifts. They're
giving something they want. Oh well, my friends have one
hundred friends. Oh guess what this person says, Hey, hundred
(19:29):
friends of creeps. Why don't you follow her too? And
now she feels like she's popular or he and there
is an increase for her wants and little boys. I mean,
and we're not just talking human trafficking. Sextortion is a thing.
These beautiful, beautiful children and they think they're talking to
someone their age, some really cute woman, you know, girl,
(19:53):
not woman, sixteen year old girl, sixteen year old boy.
And they're in an entirely different country sorting them for money,
and they need to be able to talk to their parents.
They need to have someone that they can talk to
that this is happening like that. This can happen to anyone.
The phones, the phones and the social media, and the
(20:16):
girls really self esteem confidence. I've seen it happen to
my own baby. I said, what the heck, But you
know the younger one, she's thirteen, and I said, no way,
we're not doing that. So you learn sometimes as a parent,
and you can't get mad at yourself, but you can
grow from it. You can learn from it. But you
watch what they're doing.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Yeah, I have four daughters, so I'm constantly worried about
things like that.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Yeah, I have sons, and I used to always tell them.
I'm like, don't think you're immune to this stuff, like
we talked to her. I think as veterans, we talk
to our kids more openly about topics that some parents
might not because we're exposed to it through maybe training
or through an experience on a deployment or a TDY.
So we're willing to talk to our kids about this stuff.
(21:07):
But I told my sons, I was like, please, don't
think that girls are the only ones that get traffic.
They traffic little boys too, And I hate having to
say that to them, but I need them to understand,
like you are not immune to this, like no child
is children, like your pamphlets said, like, there are people
who view our children as commodities. That's why people make
(21:30):
comments like children are not for sale. And that's horrible
that you have to make that statement, but it's necessary
because it happens that way.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Well, first, I want to apologize folks for coming late
into the game here I'm sending back catching all of this.
First of all routine for me, thank you for your
service and sacrifice. Listen to your background in the air Force.
I had a whole trigger moment. The MP inside me said, ooh,
that's an investing in the army have MPs MPIs. I'm
(22:02):
a combination of mp MPI and the skill set you're
given over a period of time in the career. It's
permanent and it becomes a part who you are. It's
not a skill set, it's this and moving forward. How
you apply that in the load of shadows shadow excuse me,
I will say this. I love the name. Uh. It
(22:23):
has a whole different two different levels of meaning for me,
good things and hope in the shadows because you have
to work in the shadows and show them hope. One
of the reasons why I converted to health apartment rather
than long for it, because I will say that being
in a health department, I'm a mandatory reporter and I
(22:43):
get actually first line interaction with the community, and there
are triggers that again we have when the situation is
not right. I will say that in my time doing
helmets and car seat installs and training all that, I'll
say in my eight years and nine years have done that.
There have been many a day I've had to get
(23:05):
child protective services and ball because I'm not going if
I don't trust it, I'm gonna trust my gut and
to your common man, you said it earlier. If something
don't feel right, it probably isn't right. You just don't
know if you're some conscious telling you there's something that's off.
I don't know what it is. But say something to nothing.
If you see something, say something. I'll say that today
(23:26):
it falls all in my mouth. My teeth brought. See
you see something, say something for People don't like getting
involved because they don't want to be marginalized, judged or
made fun of. And sometimes my brethren tend to be
impatient or have other things to do. They're human, and
sometimes people will feel that what they have to say
(23:48):
don't count. I'd rather you make a report and say
KI reported this, just in case it may not happen
for a hundred times. Is that one time that you
say something, they make a report. You've now started. You
give them more time to respond. We have a report
of this from somebody, so without that report, it just
slows down. Response, slows up the investigation. And I forgot
(24:11):
what the timeframe was. There's a window you have to
find these children or get a case going, or it
gets harder and harder for them to come home. And
the probability than being found lessons Also with the Health Department,
we are involved in trafficking and apparently one of the
airmoks at Florida is port cities or port states. Correct,
(24:32):
the more ports would have, the higher probability of trafficking.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
We had a recent story here where there were two
girls that went missing from Port Charlotte, and I saw
how they handled the investigation, and obviously everybody's there's always
going to be a critic, But anyways, they went missing
from Port Charlotte, they got investigators involved, they got you know,
law enforcement involved, they kept it very quiet in the media,
(24:57):
and for obvious reasons, they ended up finding these girls
across the state import Saint Lucy, which is about almost
three hours east of where we are, and they they
waited to report it in the news until after the
girls had been recovered. And at first people were like,
(25:17):
why didn't anybody say and you know, why didn't they
put in the news so that we could look for
them or you know, whatever the case might be. But
at the same time, it was like there were people
who stepped in who said, if visibility had been put
on this in the media, it would alert those people
who had trafficked those girls, and they might have changed
(25:40):
a tactic or they might have done something different that
would have made it even harder to find these girls.
So they're like, you have to understand that, you know,
radio silence, if you will, was maintained until it was
safe to report what had happened and that those girls
had been recovered, because once they kind of had their
sights on them or they had a lead on them,
(26:01):
they didn't want to lose it, and so they waited
to report it to the public until later, which I mean,
I fully saw why they did that, But at the
same time, I agree with your earlier statement, Sheila that
it takes a village and we have to teach people,
because I think the problem with why they didn't release
(26:22):
it to the public is because as a public right now,
we are uneducated in the ways of how to effectively
assist a human trafficking situation, and so because of our
own ignorance, we might, in our ignorance do or say
something that could compromise that whole situation and make it
to where those girls didn't come home. So I think
(26:42):
the education need is so crucial because we have people
who have the desire and the will that want to help,
but we don't know how, and there's a fear to
of being targeted. If you step into that line of
fire to try to help that child and you don't
know what you're doing, you might be targeted. You might
have a real problem. Like Sheila said earlier, you could
(27:05):
be killed. That would be horrible, but it's something that
you know. That's why the education piece, I think is
the critical key.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
And I want to get back onto that education piece
because you know, people might not understand that. You know,
this is a need to know and the way that
they're operating is absolutely in order to save lines correct
and they're lucky to eat. They even do a press
release on it because you get some these girls that
have a bad situation. Depending on how large of an
(27:33):
organization it is, you're just bringing that to the surface
and now they might start scattering. You might have other
cases that are all intertwined. And as far as the
education piece, the police department, I was talking about the
DARE and implementing you know, the human trafficking and what
to do and to no matter what, you never go,
(27:58):
you never go, You fight, you fight like it, you know,
and let these kids know you know, with an officer
such they're also fixing you know, relationships here. You know
you're getting a relationship again with that DARE program, with
those those individual officers that are you know, they're kind
(28:20):
of hand picked because they're wonderful with kids.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Still, remember my DARE officer from nineteen ninety one, Officer
Jenkins in Virginia Beach City Police Department. I remember him
if he ever hears this. I believe his name was
James Jenkins. I could be wrong, but Officer Jenkins had
a mustache. Dude was awesome. But that was my DARE officer. Yes,
those people make an impact in people's lives. I agree.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
So I mean, of course it requires, you know, additional
funding or you know you're going to have to switch
some things up to make that happen. That the children
need to be a priority. So implementing those educational reas
sources that creating that bond of under you know, understanding
that law enforcement is good. It's here to help you know,
(29:08):
those days when you were told specifically, if you don't
see a police officer, then you run to the mailman.
The mailman will help you another mom, I'm not somebody
will help you they need to know, you know, what
to do, and they need to know younger and then
they're getting into high school. Yeah, I mean it might
be hard to bring up the topic of sextortion for
(29:28):
middle schoolers, but the high school kids in some way
need to know what they're up against so that they
can pretend the protect themselves or education and the parents.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
So yes, there's.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
Tons of people that go in provide education, which is amazing,
but I really believe this is something that bridges a
gap that's needed and for so many different reasons, like kids,
you know, get an opportunity to meet these officers, they
might want to be police officers and serve in this
particular capacity to save children from you know, terrible crimes,
(30:02):
terrible things that happen in them.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Absolutely, and with that, we just want to make sure
that people have information as we close the segment, to
get them the information to reach out to you. We
could we could make several episodes. That's why I said
in the beginning, we're going to have you on this
show some more because this is a topic that as
difficult as it is to discuss, we need to discuss
(30:28):
that we need to be talking about this because this
is preserving the future of America. These are our children
and we you know, anybody, I think anybody who cares.
It doesn't matter if you're a parent or not. If
you care and you want to make sure that right
is done and that you know the innocent are protected,
(30:51):
then this should matter. I mean, I hate using the
word should, but it's the truth. It's this is imperative,
you know, and we want to have a country, a neighborhood,
a city where you know, people feel safe and because
people are safe, not because they feel safe, but because
they are. And some of it it starts at home,
(31:12):
it starts with us. So if you want more information
on how to get involved, the email address is info
at lotuslot Us Dashshadows dot org and you can also
go to their website Lotus dash Shadows dot org for
more information. But this is definitely a topic we'll be
(31:34):
talking more about. Shila Gallo, thank you so much for
being on the show. We look forward to having you
on again in the future. And now on the show,
we have with us Sandy Albrand. She is a veteran
and she is also the client care manager and nurse
community liaison with Heart, Body and Mind Home Care. So
(31:55):
thank you for being on this show, Sandy. It's a
pleasure absolutely. So tell us about your military service. We'll
just jump right in because I know you and I
have spoken about it before, but you have some pretty
interesting nuances to your time in the military.
Speaker 5 (32:13):
I am back in the seventy It was in a
reserve and a indigen there in a Savannah. I'm the recruiter.
He sort of got lost and he walked on one
track we started and he said, have you ever joined
the MILI And I said, yes, I did. Why don't
you sow? He invited down Savannah in Savannah and the
(32:35):
so next that I enlist and the rest is his
fight from there, and we own some of our weekend duties.
We would go over to work with the Marines. I
was a corman. I went in, Oh Wow, and so
I loved what time went on other things. So I
(32:56):
had to go in the independent. Ready, okay, my husband
and we at him. He was active duty stationed and
so we had had an overseas signment to Venice, so
we went to Wow. We got there, then the golf
so we were stationed. Even though I had delivered to
(33:19):
my home and went on nave duty. It wow, and
that was an while I was just don't to visit.
I worked with detail there to meet him, working with he,
so did some with the Venice. My Spanish is not
that on and had an intern and I would set
that up. Then after we made it back and I
(33:43):
joined by reserves and at that time nine to eleven,
so I was with in the Charleston Naval Hospital I
had I had as a nurse, I had like five
room as an oar so any national art and ASA
Corman wow, and our reserve center in Savannah soon disbanded.
(34:08):
So I went there doing reserve air cargo handling with
the air Handling Unit. Corman see one thirty is trying
to stab a lot. I kept thinking the Navy, and
had even got a Navy on just different would be
a great could be a nerd air. So I talked
(34:30):
with command and the next thing transitioning.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Yes, we got you to our side.
Speaker 5 (34:39):
So I transitioned over and ended up a few years Deil.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
That's like a gem. You know people in the Air
Force dream about I think they're a dream bases throughout
the Air Force, and the big ones I think are
Hicckem and Hawaii, which you did time.
Speaker 5 (34:56):
Why.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Mcdill's another big one and pass trick, which I was
fortunate to go past.
Speaker 5 (35:03):
Yes, and Andrews.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Yep, I was at Andrews as well. So yeah, those
are kind of like the dream basis. So you got
to go to McDill, which is like a base people
dream about but most never get to.
Speaker 5 (35:16):
It was. It was a wonderful experience. However, friends and absolutely,
I mean once you're in the military, it's in your
body and your soul. Mm hmmm.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Absolutely. The fraternities there, like we can almost kind of
recognize each other even now in our you know, post
military lives, you can kind of recognize it.
Speaker 5 (35:38):
Well. Coming over to nurse part of the oh wow,
so I had to get nurses fly and this was
mm hm. That was an experience. And actually the survival
training it was experienced to gain.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
My that's where I went for emeds and we had
they had a concurrent class going on at the time
for aircrew survival and whatnot for you know, for the
aerovac teams. Right, so they were there, but we were
also there for EMDs to get ready to go on deployment.
So it was interesting. I know exactly where you were. Yeah,
(36:16):
it was.
Speaker 5 (36:17):
It was quite interest. You know. It was the knowledge
of training, the leadership, you know, it was so valuable
even to me today. Yeah, and coming back even in
Savilian law that place of absolutely. But I think the
(36:39):
survival quite going out in the week, you know.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
In the woods, roughing it.
Speaker 5 (36:45):
Right, Yeah, meeting up with scorpions.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
And oh gosh, yeah a few did you get bet up?
Speaker 5 (36:53):
I did? Oh and so they so one night, so
they drop you off nowhere with nothing. They had candy
bar and that a canteen of four. Yep, they dropped this. Okay,
those shelter nothing, you're here. So and it was the
real experience.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
You have to yep.
Speaker 5 (37:13):
So yeah, I woke up stinging. We need to take
it and we need to be back. No, no, no, I
knew I did do this. Yeah, I'll be okay, give
me a tile and off right there you go til
and off fixed or matron great. So uh yeah I
did that. My wings came back there.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Well you finished it.
Speaker 5 (37:36):
I finished that time. Yeah, so in two thousand, but
it's still in.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
I believe you know, there's no none correct.
Speaker 5 (37:45):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
It kind of gets your blood pumping a little bit tarder. Yeah,
I agree, to say the bellegiance yep, to start off, yeah,
mm hmmm, it has it has a whole new emphasis.
I think us as veterans, it's like you the words
take on a whole new because we've lived it.
Speaker 5 (38:03):
But to be able in the air some of my
duties being an equation we transwounded from.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
Yeah, they came through the Aero Medical Staging Facility because
I was I was the exec for the hospital Commander
and Andrews from eight to nine and and so we
called it the ASF. That was a huge part of
you know, the facility at the time. Having that, I
think in Germany they called a catso but same thing.
(38:35):
It's an ARA Medical Staging facility. So it's the route
by which they come through and Andrews, if I'm not mistaken,
was like their first stop in the state, right and
then from there they would you know, kind of point
route them back to their home station or what have
you to once they got them stabilized. I think they
(38:55):
stabilized them and launched although in Germany, and then they
brought them to Andrew and then they got them on
to where they needed to go. Sometimes they took them
on to Travis or wherever the case might be in California.
For those listening, they don't know where that is.
Speaker 5 (39:10):
M M.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
You know the center yep. Now that's all like sam Houston.
And forgive me for anybody who's listening that knows this
and is listening to me waffle it. But I think
now it's like sam Houston Military Medical Fort sam Houston
Military Medical Center, something like that. But it's BAMC, which
is what we knew it as Brooke Army Medical Center.
(39:35):
Several different locations around San Antonio. They've kind of all
made it like a Fort sam Houston, you know, joint
based Fort sam Houston something or other. Again, I apologize
I'm completely messing that up, but whatever. So yeah, so
San Antonio in general, that's a huge area for the
Air Force to fly people back to. But I always
(39:58):
admired how like if I went downstairs into the ASI
at Malcolm Grow Medical Center, they had a huge board
and it had every single patient you know, their name,
where they station, and there was just a list of
different locations where they had to get these people too,
and they did it flawlessly. It was incredible.
Speaker 5 (40:21):
It was it was when you went in, you knew
we're right, we were ready. We went on a Oh wow,
the different teams country doing ev So I think the
military that you get young could do it, and I
(40:42):
would have joined exactly. There's so many opportunities you're educating,
I mean all of them. You can the benefit you
can take and and I did while I was in
the even though I was active. It's not just reserve.
When you're in the reserves, you're act. You're there, you're
part of the tea and you're called up on. I
(41:04):
had my seabag went on and then I had the
air course because you get that, you know, no matter
you're own twenty four yep and lot.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Yeah, and when they call you, you're on the clock. It's
like you don't have time to Sometimes you don't have
time to grab a cup of coffee, you don't have
time to do your hair or whatever. Per se, it's
just get your uniform on and be as in rags
as you can and show up as fast as you can.
You can fix the rest of it once you sign
in there. But yeah, that's so, you flew on C
(41:38):
seventeen's of course, were there any other aircraft that you flew?
Speaker 5 (41:42):
My main the main aircraft that's okay, but I have
flown on nice ceiling.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
Yeah and yeah, kind of get a boom operators view
of how that works.
Speaker 5 (41:54):
Yeah, you know, you sort of mix a bit of
experiments pleasure with the mission.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So it's funny my experience with aircrew.
So right before I retired, actually had an approved retirement date,
but it was during COVID and I got selected to
go to Charleston Air Force Base to learn how to
fly CE seventeen missions with a transport isolation system so
(42:24):
that if someone in the deployed setting were to become
you know, COVID positive or whatever, we could fly into
that area, extract that individual safely without you know, potentially
infecting other people, and get them back to Germany for
treatment and care or whatever the case might be. And
(42:45):
so it was so interesting because we got to Charleston.
I was not aircrew by trade. I was a bio
environmental engineer, and when you show up, if you're going
to be working on their aircraft, Like, the thing I
loved about it is that they take full responsibility for
their aircraft and their role with it, but at the
same time they're welcoming of people that are helping join
(43:08):
you know, their mission set, which was really nice. So
it was really cool to go from like, you know,
I've been essentially medical my whole career, with the exception
of like a couple years in airmen and family readiness,
but I was always like preventive medicine. I didn't do
patient care, and then all of a sudden to be
thrust into you know, an aerovac environment. It was really neat,
(43:32):
and the people were very welcoming and open, and there
was definitely when it was time to work, it was
time to work, but there was also plenty of time
for you know, fun and just kind of having a
good time, and and the camaraderie and whatnot was definitely strong.
Speaker 5 (43:49):
It's very very strong and no matter where you go
or wherever you will, all you will always.
Speaker 1 (43:57):
Have I would agree. Yeah, so aircrew, that's definitely a
nice thing about it is they stick together pretty.
Speaker 5 (44:04):
Well, they do, and we went together, we did things
you know, you you work.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
Absolutely. I definitely think that's part of their their mindset
for sure. So so are there any like interesting like
you talked about going to Bulgaria picking up refugees and such.
Venezuela like that's a place that most people when they
hear about, you know, military service, we don't think that
(44:32):
anybody gets orders to Venezuela. What was that like working
in the embassy?
Speaker 5 (44:37):
It was, it was it was a good experience the
man's and then be a missioning it and be a
part to go to the state department. Okay, but venice
we right now with the situation. The embassy got it.
So it's a beautiful, beautiful they were recepting there.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
But you know, just I think it's more politics though
than people that have changed, because I did. I met
a girl one time on vacation. We were down in
Antigua and there was a couple on an excursion with
us who were from Venezuela, and she was telling me
because I speak limited Spanish, I speak enough to get
(45:22):
by and be dangerous, I guess. But her and I
were talking to each other, and you know, I mentioned
to her, I was like, I don't think I can
go to Venezuela. And her response to me in Spanish
was because of politics, no what the people would be.
And I was like, I believe that because she was
very friendly and very nice to talk to you. So
(45:46):
I think I think it's sad that you know, and
I understand why, politics being what they are in the military.
As much as we try to be a political it
it doesn't always come across that way. It is a
you know, military sometimes as a tool that is used
in the process of political dealings. But you know, it's
(46:07):
like you can you can meet people, you can see things.
It's like it's a missed opportunity, you know, to kind
of foster a little more cooperation and understanding that we're
all people.
Speaker 5 (46:18):
I think exposure because as a volunteer, but I'm also
part of my I did fall in Haiti. So with
this ear so we so much advanced equipment resource here
that we just take for granted. When I've been in
(46:40):
the finis Haiti, when you've been in those see the
limit equipment, what they have, and then you know, you
think they get back and how do they give back?
They they're imaginative imagination of how to use the resources
they have.
Speaker 1 (47:00):
Yeah, so yeah, ingenuity pays off engineering, it does.
Speaker 5 (47:06):
Sometimes I would just sit by because I'm looking for
a special of product, sad and it and them I
clean it up soap and water.
Speaker 1 (47:18):
Or they could possibly even go out into the woods
or the forest and find some kind of an herbal
thing and have you know, some kind of a salve
made out of that maybe where you wouldn't have considered that.
Speaker 5 (47:31):
No, and I so do I what do you do
you fix? We give ivy. We always have an ivy
Corman or amdic or you know aircrew. You always got
that coconut juice. Coconut juices or watermelon juice. Yeah, watermelons
high and the tassi all your item.
Speaker 1 (47:53):
It helps you right, so absorbed.
Speaker 5 (47:56):
So you know they have fruits and vegetables. This is
their medicine. These are the medication.
Speaker 1 (48:03):
So now focusing from how your military career kind of
prepared you for your current role in home healthcare in
what ways do you feel like that it sounds kind
of like a perfect marriage honestly, because you went from
being a nurse in the military, so now you do
at home care. And so I'm sure some of the
(48:25):
structure something where your military career kind of prepared you
for in home healthcare.
Speaker 5 (48:31):
The caregivers that I made, they're in the home and
we were predominant veteran. That's wonderful, so veterans I am.
When there is an issue, maybe this PTSD, if there's dementia,
they're not eating, drinking, or maybe it's in their last
stages their own I'm I can coordinate work through these
(48:57):
just sometimes going and that's what I do. I assession
to see if the level we can, if that meets
their needs and maybe make recom to home help to
other levels of care in our work the case.
Speaker 1 (49:16):
So, so you're still kind of in the system, and
you are in the system with and you're a veteran
who helps other veterans. So like I think that's helpful because,
like you pointed out earlier, there's that camaraderie and fraternal
bond we kind of all share where we kind of
wrecking each other. And I think probably in those stages
(49:37):
of life that you described where you give assistance, it
helps to have somebody who kind of speaks your same dialect,
that kind of knows how to effectively communicate.
Speaker 5 (49:49):
And that's so I can speak there exactly understand, I understand.
And the thing is when I go, when we get in,
you go, well I meet the right mm hmmm. And
this may absolutely and then the communic is and the
type of this because the veteran their experiences that they've
(50:13):
been through disabilities.
Speaker 1 (50:15):
Yep.
Speaker 5 (50:16):
This sasparium or the care of man it has communicat absolutely.
Speaker 1 (50:21):
Will leverage it too to make them feel like they're
being seen, heard, receiving the proper care and treatment that
they want to have. I think that kind of helps
tie it all together. Absolutely well, wonderful. Well, we appreciate
you being on the show and telling us about your
wonderful stories with being from being in the Navy to
(50:43):
the Air Force, that's I'm sure quite a shift, and
then everything that you did with Aerovac and being a corman.
I mean, you've definitely had some adventures in your life
and then to be able to bring that to the
table with your home care role that you you now
currently serve. And I think we were talking earlier before
(51:04):
we got on the air that like the military service
is kind of once it's in you, it's there for life,
and so it's just I think in some ways it's
a matter of even though we transition, we still serve
just in a different absolutely and you are very much
a part of that. So Sandy, thank you so much
for being on the show, for telling your story, and
(51:26):
hopefully we'll have you on again.
Speaker 2 (51:27):
In the future and anything else.
Speaker 1 (51:30):
I don't think so. Just thanks to our sponsors, thanks
to one hundred point nine WCCFFM, thank you to reachs
Across America Radio as well. We're having us on their
radio broadcasts. Appreciate all the opportunities to put visibility on
organizations that are veteran centric. You don't have to be
(51:51):
a veteran to listen to the show or to be
on this show. If you support us, if you love us,
so just thanks and please continue telling people about our
show and how they can listen, whether it's locally in
Southwest Florida on one hundred point nine FM or on
the free iHeartRadio app. If they pull that up and
(52:11):
they search WCCF on Fridays at nine am, they can
find our show. And then also we are aired on
Rets Across America Radio on Fridays at three pm, so
you can find both Rees Across America Radio and WCCF
via the iHeartRadio app. Rally Pointers fall Out
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