Rally Point 74

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Rally Pointers Fun In. It's that time again for the
Rally Points Show. Welcome to today's show. I'm your host,
Amanda macchiato mccanu with my co host Justin Ledford.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Good morning everyone and Paul Pleshi.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Good morning, everybody. Ready to get this show started? Oh yeah,
all right, let's jump right in. On today's episode, we
are having our Southwest Florida Honor Flight Day, so we
are going to talk to some individuals that just recently
went on the Southwest Florida Honor Flights trip from April eighth.
It's a day trip to DC, so we flew there

(00:38):
and back. I also Chateran, so did my husband Brandon
McCane and our guardian Caroline Claybaw, both of whom are
in the studio today. Say hello to the listeners. Good morning,
good morning, well thank you for coming on the show.
So so also Justin Ledford, our very own Justin flew
on the same honor flight as a veteran I did.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
I was there, yep.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
So so today we're just kind of going to talk
about that experience. So Caroline, you're you were our guardian
and I think you've been involved with Southwest Florida Honor
Flight the longest out of the four of us. So
why don't you tell us about how you came to
be involved with Honor Flight and then how you came
to be a guardian.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
Okay, I was well, I knew of Honor Flight when
I was with the air show, the Florida International Air Show,
and my husband had always wanted to go on it,
but he had gotten six so he couldn't go. And
after he passed away, I used to be a member
of Civil Air Patrol too, and I decided I was

(01:46):
not worthy of flying anymore. And you get to a
certain age and you're not worthy of flying. But so
I thought, well, I'll do Honor Flight. And we talked
to my boss, my the owner of the Boco Beacon
where I work over on Gasparilla Island. Well, we actually

(02:07):
snuck and put his name on him and me and
his wife did surprise.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
That's like the best.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
And he got on there and he was like, I
grew up in Washington, why would I want to go there?

Speaker 1 (02:22):
You're going, oh gosh.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
And ever since then we've I've been involved in it.
I started volunteering. You kind of have to volunteer and
get to know the group and why it's there and
what it's doing and how it's done. I volunteered for
the golf tournament, I volunteered for orientation, and finally I

(02:45):
put my application in and I said, I think it's
time that I need to be a guardian. And during
that time, once my boss actually went on the Honor Flight,
we've had a lot of well not a lot, but
we've had I think four or five veterans from Boca
Grand go on the Honor Flight and they've all been

(03:09):
very amazed at the organization.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
And that's how I became a guardian. Nice, very cool.
And so how long have you been volunteering with Southwest
Florida Honor Flight?

Speaker 3 (03:22):
About two years?

Speaker 1 (03:23):
Awesome. And so for our listeners it might not be
familiar with what Honor Flight is. Southwest Florida. Honor Flight
covers seven different counties down here in Southwest Florida. So basically,
Honor Flight exists to honor veterans by taking them up
to Washington, d C. To see the memorials and the
monuments that are dedicated to men and women who have

(03:45):
served in our armed forces. So it takes a huge
army of people to make that happen. Usually we have
the Southwest Florida Honor Flight President Naomi Kobe with us
monthly for this segment, but she couldn't be with us today,
but she would tell you it literally takes an army
to make this happen between volunteers the guardians, and the

(04:07):
guardians are the ones who fly with the veterans. So
Caroline was mine and my husband Brandon's guardian, and it
was just wonderful because as a veteran going to d
C seeing those memorials, it's a lot. It's a lot
to take in, you know, mentally, emotionally. It's a very
long day. I think we got up at two o'clock
in the morning to be at Puntagorda Airport and we

(04:30):
didn't get home until after eleven o'clock at night. So
like we didn't get back to Puntagorda I should say
until after eleven o'clock, we didn't get home and go
to bed I think till one thirty the next morning.
So so it is a long day, but your guardian
is there to be your companion during the day, and
so it was so nice because you get to know
each other better. You're able to kind of relate to

(04:52):
one another. And then throughout the day, Caroline would always
make sure that, you know, we got to see what
we wanted to see, because not every ve wants to
see every memorial for whatever reason, they just might not
be up for it. And so just making sure that
we got to see the things we wanted to see,
do the things we wanted to do with the time
that we had in DC, and then also just making

(05:13):
sure like if we needed something held for us or
you know, anything like that, she took care of that.
If we had a meal, she made sure we got
our meals first before she ate. That's what a guardian does.
The guardian is there to be like the red carpet
concierge for the veteran all day long, but also be
a companion and someone that they can talk to and
relate to. So then there's also people like, gosh, there's

(05:37):
bus captains. There were people on the bus medics absolutely
para medics, and yeah, there are people that make sure
that you get back on the bus before you leave.
We take roll call every single time. So during our day,
it was funny because every time I got back on
the bus and it was always the same lady, I'd
be like, I got two mccane's and a Clay Bob.

(05:58):
Almost felt like I should be like, we got two
claps and a Rick Flair, But it was. It was
a good day.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
So, but I was always ready to get back on
the bus because it was cold when we went. It
was it was very cool.

Speaker 1 (06:11):
I mean I think it was. It was just cold
in general, like I mean, yeah, we live in southwest Florida,
so for us, cold is a relative term. But when
we stepped off the bus at the Ewagma Memorial, I
think they said it was twenty eight degrees outside or
that was the wind chill or something.

Speaker 4 (06:26):
It was.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
It was really cold, but people like my husband love
it so so I guess my next question would be
for you, Brandon, honey Bunny, So what was tell us
about your experience with Honor Flight and how you came
to sign up for it and participate.

Speaker 5 (06:46):
Well, I've never experienced anything quite like it, and just
a shout out to Honor Flight. The logistics alone would
have impressed any military person. But how it came about
is I guess One night my wife to me and
we were talking about it and we were lucky enough
to be selected and we went and just like Amanda

(07:07):
and Justin were saying, it was we were stationed DC
for years and there's no way we could have seen
those impressive monuments even just going to see them, not
even talking about in the manner in which we saw them.
It was one of the most impactful things that I've

(07:31):
ever been part of.

Speaker 1 (07:32):
Absolutely, And there were times when we were stationed in
DC that we would venture into the district, but usually
it was very congested, like almost every day. But with
on our flight, we had police escorts. Sometimes there would
be motorcycle groups that would give us an escort to
certain places, so we had a little bit more ease
of mobility, I guess, and fluidity moving about the district

(07:56):
during the day. So Justin, we were on the flight too.
What was your favorite stop?

Speaker 2 (08:03):
My favorite stop, well, I don't know, I mean, I
kind of liked it all. My My favorite is always
the Korean War Memorial, which one of you have a
great picture that we Caroline.

Speaker 1 (08:16):
Caroline got a great picture of us looking at the
wall and it reflects your reflection back right.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yeah, So I still need a copy of that. But
it was just a great day. I was talking to
my wife, who was supposed to go, but we had
pet issues, so one of us had to stay back.
But I think the four of us actually pulled the
the average age curve way down.

Speaker 1 (08:42):
Yeah, I think so.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
But so I kind of felt guilty, to be honest
with you, that I had signed up and that I
was going. But my wife reminded me, like, you know,
I never got a welcome home ceremony. So one of
the one of the the base for Honor Flight is
to honor those once we get back with a welcome

(09:07):
home ceremony. That a lot of people that came back
will pretty much all people that came back from Vietnam
didn't didn't get a welcome home ceremony, so it's too
it's to give them that piece that they missed. And
when I came back from Iraq, I was on a
I was on a team on an Iraqi base. I

(09:28):
wasn't like with a unit. So when I came back,
it was my wife and baby at the airport. That
was it. And it was in the middle of the night,
so it was literally just my wife and kids, right,
So it was so I would say the biggest thing
for me was the welcome home ceremony when you get
back to the airport and there's just hundreds of people

(09:49):
there to welcome you home, and it's very overwhelming. It's
it was an amazing.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
Experience, Yeah, definitely, But I think it's overwhelming in a
good way. It conjures a lot of emotions for people.
I mean, for me, it was like it was almost
like being on a bit of a roller coaster or
maybe a swing is a better way to put it.
Like it was like there would be times where I'd
be like whoa, Like this person is here because a
lot of people that we knew were at the airport.

(10:14):
So you know, you see people who you know, and
you're just like, wow, they showed up at eleven o'clock
at night to welcome us. And then you're looking around
and there's all these flags weaving, all these posters saying
welcome home, and you're just like wow, that's so cool.
And then sometimes you kind of get hit a little
bit in the fields and like, you know, you almost
have an allergy attack if you will, Oh yeah, because

(10:35):
you're just so overcome by the support and the gratitude.
Like I think that's kind of a theme throughout the day,
is there's there's a gratitude and a reverence and a
respect for the service that every single veteran on that
on or flight gave. And it didn't matter if you were,
you know, in combat, if you were you know, in

(10:56):
the you served during the Cold War maybe and felt
like nothing really happened while you were in, whether you deployed,
whether you didn't, it didn't matter. It was all about
gratitude for the service rendered by the veteran because at
any moment, when we raise our right hand, at any moment,
you could be called upon to, you know, lay that

(11:17):
ultimate sacrifice on the altar of freedom, if you will,
and many were. So it was really neat to kind
of see that theme throughout the day, like you said,
from the beginning, all the way until we got home.
And I would agree with you that the welcome was
certainly something that whether you got it or didn't while
you were in, it was still just an emotionally overwhelming thing.

(11:41):
But I would imagine, and I can't speak for you know,
Vietnam veterans create more veterans people that didn't get that welcome,
but I would imagine it was that much more meaningful
for them that it was to some degree, some healing
and maybe some closure for them to finally receive that welcome,
that gratitude, that just outpouring of love and thankfulness from civilians.

Speaker 2 (12:07):
Well, we've heard from numerous veterans that were on the trip,
Korean War veteran, the Vietnam veteran that have said that
when we came back and we had the welcome home ceremony,
that they had those negative images in their head and
those images were now replaced by images of the welcome

(12:31):
home ceremony. So that was pretty powerful.

Speaker 1 (12:33):
Absolutely yes, and that was discussed at a hub meeting.
So the Southwest Florida Honor Flight meets, I believe monthly.
I think there are certain months throughout the year that
they probably don't meet due to holidays or snowbird season,
but their next they usually meet. I believe it's a
third fourth Wednesday of the month, thank you, the fourth

(12:54):
Wednesday of the month at seven pm. They meet at
Kingsgate Golf Court, switches off of King's Highway and Rampart Boulevard.
So if you're listening and you want to get involved
or just want more info, you don't have to commit
anything by coming to a hub meeting, but you can
at least kind of come and see how Southwest Florida
Honor Flight operates. I have to say I went to

(13:16):
my first hub meeting last month with Caroline, and they
were very efficient. When I first saw the packet of
info that they gave us that they said they were
going to discuss, I was like, oh, gosh, we're going
to be here a while. No, they had that meeting
done in an hour or hour and a half or less,
which for the amount of information they covered, it was

(13:37):
absolutely impressive. But getting back to the actual day of
Honor Flight, Brandon, what was your favorite part about the
day or I guess the most meaningful.

Speaker 5 (13:52):
I think the most meaningful was just, I guess taking
everything in and watching the actions of others, especially you know,
the people that you know we're a generation or to
beyond us. It was it was definitely something to see.

Speaker 1 (14:11):
Absolutely my favorite part was the uh, the Military Women's
Memorial for you know, obvious reasons, but they actually had
a surprise for us on the Honor Flight for US
women veterans. When we got to the Military Women's Memorial,
they did a recognition ceremony for all the women veterans

(14:33):
and there were I think eleven of us on the flight,
and it was just really neat because they, you know,
they had us all line up in the front of
the room. You know, we did some of the you know,
pomp and circumstance if you will, of you know, patriotism
and paying respect to the flag, and then they went
through and did a recognition ceremony for the women veterans,

(14:56):
and it was it was very personalized because they present
to us with these lovely blue leather portfolios and when
you open them, it had you know, your official photo,
your name, when you served, where you served, what your
job was. There was all kinds of information in there,
and they read it out loud for each women veteran

(15:18):
and it was amazing because the audience, for the most
part was our honor flight folks, so it was, you know,
all the male veterans that were on the flight, all
the guardians, all the staff members, and it was pretty neat.
At one point, I remember they were reading a lady's
her portfolio. They were reading her information about her career,

(15:39):
and I saw one gentleman kind of nudge another one
and look at him like wow, you know, And so
that was for me that was impactful because a lot
of times, as a woman serving, it's just kind of,
I think, something in the national conscience that we all
have to work to overcome. But a lot of times
we tend not to look at a woman and think

(15:59):
that it could be a veteran. And I say we
because I have done that myself. I have mistaken a
woman for being a dependent spouse when in fact she
was a veteran. So it happens to all of us.
It's just something that we need to, you know, work
to better change that narrative and recognize. But it was
really cool, and so Naomi recently told me that there

(16:20):
is a goal to eventually have an all female honor flight,
which would be amazing. So the guardians, the wheelchair captains,
the bus captains, the veterans all women like that would
be pretty neat because the percentage of people who have served,
the percentage of veterans who are women is still kind
of low in comparison, but significant nonetheless.

Speaker 2 (16:44):
So if you're a female veteran out there, you need
to go to swflonnorflight dot org and make sure that
you fill out your application to go on an honor flight,
either as a guardian or as.

Speaker 1 (16:59):
A veteran, and if you're a veteran, hopefully you would
go as a veteran. So some people, I think, feel
like it's a natural progression to go as a guardian
first before they go as a veteran. I'm bucking that
tradition because I went as a veteran first, and I
planned to go as a guardian later on. But there

(17:19):
were some other cool things that happened. So Caroline Brandon,
tell us about the evening and the event, the surprise
event that they had for us, because our flight was
sponsored by a certain group. Don't look at me like
you've already forgot. I know my husband's looking at me
in astonishment, like what are you talking about? So we

(17:40):
are on. Our flight was sponsored yet by Anheuser Busch,
So tell everybody about dinner and the evening's events.

Speaker 5 (17:50):
Go ahead, you can go first, Caroline, that's fine.

Speaker 3 (17:53):
Well, Anheuser Busch sponsored the flight. They sponsored one a year,
and they picked our hub to do it this time.
And they gave us usually you have your dinners on
the bus or on the plane or something like that.
They gave us a full sit down dinner, and of
course we had some Budweiser products, but they made us

(18:16):
a can that had Southwest Honor flight on it, and
Doug Collins, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, was there to speak,
so was Byron Donald's and Greg Stouby and that was
very special to this flight.

Speaker 5 (18:37):
And everything was just enjoyable. We got to sit down,
we got to listen to, you know, whatever they had
to say, and you know, they were really pro veteran
and everything they said, and you know, we really appreciated that.
And the dinner was great. We all got to just
kind of sit around and talk to each other and
all you.

Speaker 2 (18:56):
Could eat Mission barbecue which were amazing with menu item
and then you know some surveaces which were excellent.

Speaker 1 (19:07):
We even got to take home.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
Well I guess yeah, we got to take home some memorabilia.
They made it home memorabilia.

Speaker 1 (19:16):
Yeah, so that was pretty neat. We got we got
a lot of stuff during the day, like we got
a backpack, a jacket, a T shirt, and then in
the evening we got coins. I mean, we got all
kinds of stuff. And then Brandon on the way home.

(19:36):
If you remember the flight home, because we flew in
and out of Dulls, I think previously on our flight
used to fly in and out of Baltimore Washington Airport.
But having lived in DC for eight years, my husband
and I both know that that is horrible a road
to drive down because it's the Baltimore Washington Parkway. But
this time we were able to fly into Dallas, so

(19:57):
thankfully we were kind of right on top of close
enough down street from DC.

Speaker 5 (20:02):
Even that was almost a one off, I think.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
Yeah, it was. That was a rarity that our flight
got to fly into Dulles and part of that was
because of the Anheuser Busch sponsorship of our flight. So
but on the way home, they they still had surprises
for it, like they had surprises all day long. It
was kind of neat, Like that's the nice part. I mean,
you wake up at two am, it better be good, right,
So it was kind of nice. They kept us awake

(20:28):
by you know, giving us surprises to bring some excitement.
And on the way home they had surprises for us too,
which do you know what I'm kind of getting at. Yeah,
So tell people about the mail call and kind of
what you thought about that.

Speaker 5 (20:45):
Okay, So me personally, I really enjoyed the mail call part.
So I don't know whether it was a tactic for
them to keep us from falling asleep or what, but anyway,
I think it was. But anyway, they came out and
they had what was like one hundred and eighty pounds
or something like that. Anyway, they brought in a lot
of mail for all the veterans that are on that flight.
And as we look through them, I mean it was

(21:05):
from friends that you didn't even tell that you were
going on the honor flight. It was from your community,
it was from kids in local schools. Uh, there were there.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
It was.

Speaker 5 (21:20):
It was just a lot of fun and you know,
really humbling and really emotional to read some of these things.
And we we really and well, I'm for me, I
really enjoyed that part of it.

Speaker 1 (21:36):
Absolutely. I had two favorite pieces of mail, well, a
few favorite pieces of mail. Like so, we we all
got letters from you know, our elected officials thanking us
for our service, which that was cool. But we also
got letters from the sheriffs of several of the counties
at Southwest Forlida Honor Flight, you know covers and so
I joked with my husband, I was like, I'm keeping
these sheriff's letters in my glove compartment, so that if

(21:59):
I ever get over in those counties and be like, look,
your sheriff loves me, Can I get a warning?

Speaker 5 (22:05):
But no.

Speaker 1 (22:07):
I think probably my favorite and I did. We did
get a lot from people that we knew that we
were Like how on earth did they know we were
on an honor flight and like how did these letters
get there? So Southwest Florida Honor Flight definitely works some
magic to make the day special for you. They will
find a way to engage with people who you know,
and they will you know, they will help them get

(22:28):
mail to you.

Speaker 2 (22:29):
Yeah, it just shows the level of dedication that Naomi
and her team have behind me.

Speaker 1 (22:35):
Absolutely, yes, they put a lot of thought and effort
into it. But my favorite piece of mail came from
an elementary school age child and it was so precious.
This child wrote in this card, I they wrote, I
appreciate you, but you know, kids are learning to spell
like phonetically when they're younger. This child wrote, I A

(22:59):
pre a p p r E dash s h e
dash a t e U and I just thought that
was the cutest thing ever. I oh, pre she ate you.
That child broke that word down and it just made
me giggle.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
I don't I don't see the problem. I don't see
the issue.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
Well, I'm not gonna say nothing. I'm gonna be nice
on that one. But yeah, so it was the ones room.
The kids were great because you could tell that they
were so grateful and they so wanted to thank the veterans,
and some of them didn't quite have the words or
they were still learning. But but yeah, that I thought

(23:38):
that male from the elementary school kids, that just absolutely
warmed my heart. I was like, absolutely it was. And
there were some people that on the flight. I mean
we tried not to look around too much. I mean
I think we looked to each other and talk to
each other a lot. But in some way, there were
some people who had some private moments of dare I say,

(24:00):
healing during mail call because they were reading letters and
like you know, you'd see somebody kind of wipe their
eye or you know kind of really take a moment
to reflect on what they were reading. And that's you know,
just more like Justin said, that's more of the power
of honor flight and more evidence of the effort and

(24:21):
the thoughtfulness that Naomi and her team really put into
making sure that Honor flight is a memorable experience for sure.

Speaker 4 (24:32):
You know, we talked about Anheuser Busch sponsoring that flight.
Let's talk a little bit about the expense and the
funding that goes into an honor flight.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
Absolutely, I just worked an info table with Naomi, so
I actually know the answer to this question. Apparently it
costs I believe one hundred and eighteen thousand. It costs
over one hundred thousand dollars to send an honor flight
to DC. So the flight has to be chartered through
an airline. We flew with Allegiance, but it costs over

(25:03):
one hundred thousand dollars to fly people and that's a
huge price. So the guardians do pay a portion of
their airfare, if I'm not mistaken. Is that correct? You
pay it all? Okay, So the guardians pay their own airfare.
But for the veterans, the way they are able to
do that is through fundraising. And I'm glad you brought

(25:23):
that up because Southwest Florida Honor Flight is always fundraising
to help send these veterans. They're always seeking out grants.
That's what I did with that info table with Naomi.
We were at a meeting for a group called Sisterhood
for Good. They service Sarasota Amanate County, and we were
able to tell that group of ladies what Southwest Flida

(25:45):
Honor Flight is, what they do, how they impact the community,
the lives of veterans and those who are supportive of us,
because everybody benefits from it. Like the people that were
at our welcome home rally were telling me how blessed
they felt to be there and what a richly rewarding
experience that was for them. So it really kind of
touched everybody that is involved is touched by the power

(26:08):
of Honor Flight. So with the funding and the fundraising,
I'm glad you mentioned that because they do have some
fundraisers coming up. So at the end of May, on
the thirty first, they're going to have a car show
at the Sebring International Raceway from two to six pm
on May thirty first, and then they're also going to

(26:29):
have a clay shoot on June fourteenth at nine am
at Burmont in Plana Gorda. And so if you want
more information on those events, you can get them from
SWFL Honor Flight dot org or if you're on Facebook,
you can go to their Facebook page which is Southwest
Florida Honor Flight. If you search that, it will pull

(26:50):
it up and you can go in and see what
their events are and you can see the flyers for that.
But yeah, Naomi and her team are always looking for
ways to fundraise, ways to bring in money to help
offset the cost so that these flights can happen. And
the next one's happening in October, they're gonna fly out
of Sarasota, So because Sarasota is also within our range

(27:13):
of our hub is what they call each chapter, if
you will, of Honor Flight, they call it a hub.
And so they're going to share the love a little
bit and go up to Sarasota and do an honor
flight out of there in October. So if you're looking
for a worthy cause to support, that is definitely one
of them, you know, just to kind of put that

(27:35):
in perspective, and there are events and ways to do that,
and if you're interested in any other info along those lines,
you can go to SWFL Honorflight dot org and find
other ways if you wish to donate.

Speaker 4 (27:47):
And that goes for all our listeners across the nation
local chapters that you can get involved with. It also
helped them fund their Honor flights.

Speaker 1 (27:56):
Absolutely, if you search Honor Flight hub near me, it
should pop up with the Honor Flight. If you have
your location settings on, then you should be able to
find the hub that's nearest to you. So, like I said,
our hub cover seven counties. Other hubs around the country.
I'm not sure how many. You know what kind of

(28:17):
land area they cover, but from what I understand, they're
typically regional.

Speaker 2 (28:22):
So so I do think it's important to point out
because I don't I don't want us to be accused
of false advertisements. So Anheuser Bush. So they they pick
one hub every every every Honor flight to sponsor.

Speaker 1 (28:41):
And that correct year, every year, every year.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
And that's nationwide. So we just kind of we we got.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
Lucky the jack.

Speaker 2 (28:51):
So so I don't I don't want someone I don't
want that to take away from your experience. If you
get there and it's like that's not what they said,
it would.

Speaker 1 (28:58):
Be like they'll still feed you, just might not have
a party where they also give you beer as part
of dinner. I don't know. But even then, I mean,
we had to be responsible, Like they made it well known.
If you're going to go on this honor flight, you
will drink responsibly or not at all.

Speaker 2 (29:15):
Oh, we had to sign a play.

Speaker 1 (29:16):
Yeah, we had to sign waivers. So it was definitely
it was not a free for all. It was definitely
a dignified situation where you know, we were going to
respect Anheuser Busch, we were going to respect honor flight,
and we were going to respect that that arrangement was
made and do right by it. And we did. We
didn't have any any issues with that at all.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
But I think we enjoyed that part, which we all did.
But it was a very small piece of an amazing
day about so it's still worth going like, don't don't
let that take it away from the experience.

Speaker 1 (29:54):
Oh yeah, you still get to go to all the
memorials and they do presentations at the memorials to so
if you have a veteran in your family who unfortunately
has passed on and was not able to go on
an honor flight, there is a way that Southwest Florida
Honor Flight can recognize your fallen service member with their
I believe it's called flags of honor. I might be

(30:17):
getting that wrong, but when we went on our flight,
they made sure that we all observed a moment of
silence as they brought those service members' flags on board
the aircraft and when they took them off the aircraft,
and then the veteran depending on which era they had
served in, they were honored at the memorial corresponding to

(30:37):
the years of their service. So it was definitely a
way to recognize them and it was definitely a way
to recognize them and also let their families see it.
So if you don't go on the honor flight, but
somebody you love is on the honor flight, the other
thing you can do is follow Southwest Florida Honor Flights

(31:00):
Facebook page and all throughout the day they post live
videos photos, so you can follow along throughout the day
and kind of see where they are, what they're doing,
and they take great care to capture those those memorial
recognitions when they have the flag of the fallen service member.

Speaker 5 (31:23):
It's also some of the other agencies that are involved.
If you know you're paying attention, you're taking it all in.
Everything that's done or said that day has an extremely
special meaning.

Speaker 1 (31:34):
Absolutely, it's it's definitely there's a lot of thought and
care put into the entire day.

Speaker 3 (31:41):
The the flags when they honor the flags of the
veterans at their memorial, their specific memorial. They do take
the flags and refold them right and have a refolding
flag in front of the memorial.

Speaker 2 (31:57):
Yeah, and it drew quite the audience. So it was
so you have people there that were with us from
Honor Flight, but then other tourists in DC they were
stopping by and just like, oh, what's going on. And
so everyone that was in the area got to witness
this and they got a little bit of an education
on what we were doing and why we were doing it, so,

(32:21):
you know, and that just spreads the word and brings
more recognition to the.

Speaker 1 (32:24):
Veterans, absolutely and to the cause of Honor Flight. So
while we were there, there were several other Honor Flight
groups from around the country that were there on the
same day. So it was I was going to say, yeah,
we did. We saw a group from Saint Louis, some
groups from other areas of the country. So that was

(32:45):
kind of neat, you know, coming across other people. I mean,
who knows if you had time to talk, because sometimes
some of our stops were pretty short. Sometimes they'd be like,
we need you back on the bus. In twenty minutes
and we're like, oh my goodness, it's going to take
us like ten minutes to get off the bus and
get over there. But you still had time to see everything.

Speaker 2 (33:01):
It was so weird, you really did. And it was
crazy how how it flowed. You would think that they've
done that before.

Speaker 1 (33:07):
You know, well, yeah, some of them have. I think
Naomi's done it like twenty four times or something.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
So every everything flows and it's like, well, be back
on the bus in twenty minutes, and you're you're looking
around at your fellow veterans. I'm like, I don't know
if we'll be off the bus in twenty minutes. And so,
but yeah, how they make it happen, make it happen,
it's amazing.

Speaker 1 (33:27):
I think they do that too to show us that
even though we're like no longer in the service, like
we still kind of have those aspects of like those
attributes of sense of urgency or you know, can do
kind of stuff. And so yeah, I mean, we made
it happen. We were able to see I think everything
we wanted to see, and we got some great pictures, absolutely,

(33:50):
some wonderful memories. So yeah, so if you're listening and
you're you're thinking about going on and on or flight
and you're a veteran, don't think about it. Do it
a go to SWFL honor flight dot org and apply.
If you're listening and you're thinking, I would love to
a company a veteran around DC all day, do it.
Go online, go to sw FL honorflight dot org and

(34:13):
apply to be a guardian. From what I understand, that
is a richly rewarding experience.

Speaker 3 (34:19):
It's very rewarding. It's changes your attitude and your life
towards things.

Speaker 1 (34:25):
It does like we gained a new friend. I mean
we see Caroline pretty regularly now, and I mean you
gave us opportunities to go to events and be a
part of things that we wouldn't have otherwise been able
to be a part of. So thank you. It's You're welcome.
It's beautiful, wonderful friendship. And I do think too that
Naomi and her team put a lot of thought into

(34:46):
how they pair a guardian and a veteran too, because
we had so many things in common when we were talking,
but even some things that were like wow, like they
could have never known, like you're from Ohio. My mother's
families from Ohio. Like there were some similarities that I
was like, there's no way they knew about that. So

(35:07):
and justin you had your guardian was a guy Heiser
Bush tell us about Alan.

Speaker 2 (35:13):
Yeah, no, Alan was great. So yeah, so he works
at Anheuser Busch or a sub of Anheuser Busch and
Fort Myers. And it was it was crazy because you
were saying they just know how to pair people, and
like Alan and I got along so great. And actually
I pulled up pictures of my cousins and like he

(35:34):
could be a cousin. It's crazy, like he like he
looks so much like all of my cousins.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
Was kind of like you feed him and they start
to look like you.

Speaker 2 (35:43):
It was. It was amazing. Yeah, and so so we
talked quite a bit and he actually joined our Legacy
Rock club. So he he comes up to Port Charlotte
quite a bit, so he plans on joining us. And yeah, no,
it was a great experience. And you know, I was

(36:03):
paired with the right person for sure. So so like
you were saying, Naomi knows who to pair people with,
I guess I look like I needed to be paired
with with the beer guy like that. I must have
put off that vibe well.

Speaker 1 (36:17):
And it's funny because you, your wife, Casey, and Brandon
all were supposed to have Anheuser Busch employees as their guardians.
But if I'm not mistaken, I think the guardians that
were assigned to Brannan and Casey they ended up not
being able to come either.

Speaker 5 (36:33):
Late night Tash Gosh.

Speaker 1 (36:36):
I don't know about that, but I think it all
worked for the better that we shared Caroline as a guardian,
So I think you would like we did. We kind
of all hung around throughout the day together. I think
I kept showing up, right, it kept popping up. But yeah,
so so yes. I mean, do you have any other

(36:58):
reflections on your day with Honor flight or.

Speaker 5 (37:06):
I mean just everything taken as a whole. It's something
that you really have to kind of reflect on because
there was so much in the reverence and the importance
behind it all. It's just because you go on the
flight and you come home, it doesn't mean it's necessarily done.
There's a lot to take in, a lot to reflect

(37:26):
on afterwards, and it's just it's one of the most impactful,
best experiences I've ever had.

Speaker 3 (37:33):
I kind of agree with you. One thing you said earlier.
Just watching the reactions of the other veterans. I was
in the Vietnam era myself, and just to see them
actually being honored and being happy about it.

Speaker 1 (37:51):
Absolutely, and I mean sometimes that happiness came through a smile.
Sometimes it came with, you know, a little bit of
an allergy attack, like I said earlier, because we used
to joke on active duty, we used feel like en
CEOs don't cry, we have allergy. So that goes for
NCO senior, n CEOs, all of them. But yeah, I

(38:12):
mean it was I've told people many times like healing
happens on an on or flight, and I truly believe
that that happened for some people that day. I think
that was something that it was kind of like the
trip they didn't know they needed.

Speaker 3 (38:25):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (38:26):
You know we have things in life where it's like
I didn't know I needed that, but I really did.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
I will say that we've talked to or I've had
several Vietnam veterans talk to me about, you know, not
being ready for that experience and you're not forced into anything.
So absolutely so, like where the Vietnam Wall is, you know,
you kind of walk down to the Vietnam Wall. If

(38:51):
you don't want to take that walk, you don't have to.
And if you're not ready to see that and experience that,
you don't have to. No one forces you into it.
It's kind of like on our Legacy Rock Club when
we go out and do our walks. Like people can
choose to share their experiences or not choose to share
their experiences. But a lot of people like watch from

(39:14):
the distance and just kind of take it in from
a distance. And if you want to get involved, you can,
but no one's forcing you to take that step. You don't.
You don't have to put yourself in that position.

Speaker 1 (39:27):
You know absolutely, and I'm glad that you mentioned like
nothing is forced on an on or flight. The biggest
thing about it is your guardian. While I said earlier
that you know, they're like your concierge red carpet. They
never leave you all day. If you don't want to
go to a memorial, they will sit with you, whether

(39:47):
you want to sit on the bus, if you want
to sit on a bench outside away from the memorial,
they will be with you. Sometimes at certain stops they
would tell people if you don't wish to visit this memorial,
there are some other memorials in the general Vicinity and
you can go see those. Like I never knew there
was a Challenger memorial for the Challenger shuttle. I did

(40:08):
not know that, but they were like, yeah, you can
stop and go see that instead if you don't wish
to visit the memorial that we were at, and I
can't remember which one that correlated to.

Speaker 2 (40:17):
We were at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Speaker 1 (40:19):
Okay, thank you.

Speaker 2 (40:20):
Challenger memorial is like a cross, got it. The Changing
of the.

Speaker 1 (40:25):
Guard, and that's another one that was very heavily impactful,
was the changing of the Guard. And it was actually
pretty neat that the Honor Guard that day. The detail
they actually gave a nod to the Honor Flight and
the way they did it was as they were walking,
they wear taps on their shoes, and when they walked
up to, you know, begin their procession toward the tumb

(40:48):
of the Unknown Soldier, the lead person scraped their heel
and that was how you knew that was a nod
toward the Honor Flight attendees that day and kind of
us to them. So that was pretty neat because I've
seen that, We've both seen that in DC multiple times
and never had we been there, I guess on an

(41:10):
honor flight day because we never heard the scraping of
the heel. But they told us, they said, that's for
all of you. And that was really awesome, a very
awesome experience. So and it was kind of neat too,
because you're lumped in with the rest of the public
and so you see, you see children, you see you
know other adults who maybe they served, maybe they didn't.

(41:32):
We had kids standing in front of us, and it
was so funny because they would be quiet when they
needed to be quiet, but there were times where you could,
you know, kind of speak in low tones to each other.
And these kids were like, I wonder how tall that
guy is? And the guy there was a man standing
there who was he kind of helped oversee and manage
the detail, and so he leaned over to the kids

(41:54):
and told them how tall he was. And the gentleman,
I think was like six foot five or something. He
was very touous. So I leaned over and I told him,
I said, and if you keep eating your vegetables, you
might be able to hit that height too. And they
kind of looked back at me with like, oh, ry
smile like okay, but no, but they appreciated it. And

(42:15):
when they found out that we were with Honor Flight,
they turned around and like thanked us for our service.
They were probably like thirteen years old, but yeah, it
was just the whole day had interactions like that where
you interacted with people who were on the Honor Flight
with you, but you also interacted with people around the
district and it it was kind of nice to me.

(42:35):
It was kind of a feeling of you know, common bond,
common ground, some unity there, which I definitely think is
it's important and it's needed, especially in these times.

Speaker 3 (42:48):
Another one of the memorials that touched me, and probably
because I read the book of the Three Women, the
nurses that were in Vietnam. Those girls were eighteen and
nineteen when they went over there. They thought they were
doing their duty as just being a nurse. They had
just gotten out of nursing school. Little did they know

(43:09):
that they would be They're treating people that had gotten
blown up and were dying, and it was the book
is very eye opening and to see that memorial to
them was something for me.

Speaker 1 (43:27):
That book is The Women by Kristin Hannah. I've heard
so much about it. It's on my list of books
to read. But yeah, that's I'm glad you brought that up.
Because the Vietnam Memorial, most people think it's just the wall,
and it's not. The wall is obviously like the centerpiece,
if you will, where they honor all those that were

(43:48):
fallen missing in action as well or put on that wall,
and if they were recovered, they filled in the cross
next to their name. But there there are several statues.
There were the women, the nurses, There were also the
men keeping guard. There were just there were several displays

(44:09):
kind of in that general area that brought it all together.
And so yeah, I think everybody kind of took a
little something different from the day, Like all of us
were impacted by certain different things in different ways. So
but yeah, so I mean it's definitely a great experience

(44:32):
to go on on our flight. Like I said, it
will be a long day, but so worth it as
far as you know what you get out of it,
new friendships, you make, all.

Speaker 5 (44:43):
Of that, and as you said before, everyone experiences it different,
which is also an extremely great thing because then you
can share it with other generations and and everyone will
get something from it.

Speaker 1 (44:57):
And fellow veterans, like when you come home, you can
tell your fellow you know, your friends who also served
about it, so that if they haven't gone on an
honor flight, maybe it will help them decide or just
give them kind of something to consider or think about,
you know, as far as what that experience is like
in case they were wondering or they're still thinking about it.

(45:19):
So with that, there's, like we said, there's so much
to Honor Flight and we're just so glad to have
the show that we had today. I mean, it was
kind of neat that four out of the five of
us on the show today went on the same honor
flight and can talk to that and Paul, I hope
we gave you some insight and you know, some information

(45:40):
because Paul is also a Vietnam veteran, and hopefully we'll
be able to go on and honor flight in the
near future. But you know, again, it's just make sure
that you go on sw FL Honor flight dot org
and apply if you're interested, and just keep in mind
on our flight. If you're looking for a group to

(46:00):
be involved with a worthy cause to support, they are
absolutely one of them in this community. And thank you
again Carole and my Huly Brandon mcconue for being on
the show. Thank you not I mean, I think he
did it of his own free will kind of rights.

(46:21):
Only a slate bit of distress in that voice, but anyways, no,
I appreciate it. It's wonderful when we can bring a
veteran and a guardian on the show to talk about
the experience that they had together on an honor flight.
So thank you for being our guardian, Caroline. You're welcome,
We appreciate you awesome. Well, thanks so much you guys.

(46:43):
We appreciate you being on the show.

Speaker 3 (46:44):
And you're welcome. Ye.

Speaker 1 (46:45):
Thanks guys, ladies and gentlemen, mark your calendars for Saturday,
May twenty fourth at the Franz Ross YMCA. We're going
to have a whole day dedicated to veterans and resources
for them. Starting at eight am, Legacy Rock Club Southwest
Florida will be there hosting a ruck through Frans Ross Park.
All ages, all abilities are welcome, purpose over pace. Then

(47:10):
stick around for the Veteran Resource Fair at the Frans
Ross YMCA from eleven am to two pm. All veterans,
family members and community supporters are welcome. Don't miss the
opportunity to connect, celebrate, and support our veteran community. You
can expect to connect with local resources, support services, and
organizations dedicated to helping veterans and their families. Again, that's

(47:31):
the Veteran Resource Fair May twenty fourth, twenty twenty five,
starting with an eight am ruck followed by the Veteran
Resource Fair from eleven am to two pm inside the
Frans Ross YMCA. See you there, all right.

Speaker 2 (47:47):
Welcome back everybody. This is justin with Warrior Wellness Radio.
So now myself and Paul we're going to talk a
little bit about Legacy Rock Club. So, Paul, how you.

Speaker 4 (47:58):
Doing and fine? And the walks are doing really great.
I'm feeling much better from it. You know, we just
had the all women's ruck this Saturday. How did that go, Amanda?

Speaker 1 (48:12):
It went well. We had a Lady's of Legacy all
Women's ruck on Saturday and we had a great turnout,
wonderful success. A lot of we rocked about two miles,
had a bunch of folks that didn't know each other,
that you know, started as strangers, left as friends. Lots
of laughs, good times. We got some great photos. They're

(48:33):
up on the Facebook page Legacy Rock Club SWFL. So
for those listening, if you're not a member and you
are on Facebook, please go over there and join the
page and you can keep up with where we're at,
what we're doing, and hopefully come out and join us
for a ruck.

Speaker 2 (48:49):
So I know you were there. I know that my
wife Casey was there.

Speaker 1 (48:53):
Yes, she was. She was my rock and partner.

Speaker 2 (48:56):
So was it all veterans or it wasn't all veterans?

Speaker 1 (48:59):
No, it was a total mix. So I think Casey
and I were actually the only veterans there. The other
folks in attendance were ladies of the community who they
know you, probably through your experience when you work at
the Why doing swim lessons. I think that's how one
lady knew you. She brought a friend, right, and then

(49:19):
another lady from Charlie Foxtrott, wonderful woman. Shout out to Debra.
She was there as well, and she was just an
absolute delight. We had a great time talking, laughing. I mean,
we rock and don't get me wrong, we got some exercise.
We definitely broke a sweat. But please know, like we're
not out there like huff and like our life depends

(49:40):
on it. We're you know, we're taking time to get
a decent workout, but we can also talk. Laugh. We
stopped a pet some dogs. It was great. We met
I think like five dogs. So Centennial Park is a
good spot because a lot of folks in the community
come out maybe to exercise, walk their dogs, whatever, So
it was a great way to kind of tell people
about our group and and then also just a good

(50:01):
way to interface with the community.

Speaker 2 (50:03):
So to give a little predictability. So we're going to
start doing Kpey's Pioneer Trail every Wednesday at seven thirty,
and then every Thursday at seven thirty we're going to
start doing or continue to doing Franz Ross frans Ross Park,
and then.

Speaker 1 (50:23):
Fridays we're going to start doing Centennial Park at about
seven thirty as well. So those will all be put
on the Facebook page. We'll find ways to make sure
we get that word out to people. But we're trying
to create some consistency so that if you can't join
us every time, you at least know where to find out.

Speaker 2 (50:38):
We have that predictability, so and just.

Speaker 1 (50:41):
So you know, like it's Kpey's Pioneer Trail will be
directly like in the park area, directly behind publics. For
the days that we're at Franz Ross. Frans Ross Park
just go to the YMCA will be right there. And
then on Friday's Centennial Park, but you'll want to be
over by the Veterans Area, which is in between the
soccer field and the baseball fields. There is an area
set up in tribute to veterans and that's where we'll
meet up and that's where we'll step off from right.

Speaker 2 (51:04):
And then our next big Saturday event is going to
be at Franz Ross at eight o'clock on May twenty fourth,
so we're going to do a ruck there and that's
going to be followed by the Veteran Resource Fair. So
the Veteran Resource Fair is going to be May twenty
fourth from eleven to two, and as part of that,
we're going to have Mission Barbecue, who's going to be

(51:25):
promoting their new location opening the June. The Tenth Bay
Pines is sending down four doctors to talk about toxic
exposure and they're going to be doing toxic exposure screenings.

Speaker 1 (51:38):
Plus that's huge. Anybody that thinks they might have been
exposed to something definitely needs to go to that.

Speaker 2 (51:43):
So that in addition, we're going to have twenty five
other vendors, so it's going to be a huge event.
So if you're a veteran, please make sure that you
come out and support that. Check it out. There's going
to be vsos to do your claims, anything that you
can think of. There's a chance that it might be there,
So come check it out.

Speaker 1 (52:01):
Yep. Come for the recks, stay for the fair. If
you love your veterans and support your troops, what better
way to show it than supporting Southwest Florida Honor Flight.
They have two events coming up in the near future,
so their first event will be a car show at
Seabring International Raceway on May thirty first, from two to
six pm. Come on out and have a great time
at the car show in c Bring. More information available

(52:23):
at SWFL Honorflight dot org or on Facebook at Southwest
Florida Honor Flight. The next event is Saturday, June fourteenth,
a clay shoot tournament will be happening at Burmont Shooting
Club four eight five seven to one Bourmont Road in
Pona Gorda, Florida. Eight am registration nine am start again.

(52:44):
More details available at SWFL Honorflight dot org. Make sure
you sign up for these events. If you'd like to
come out and support or participate, we'd love to see
you there.

Speaker 2 (52:55):
Well, that's all the time that we have for today.
This has been justin Letford along.

Speaker 1 (52:59):
With Amanda mccanu and and Paul Polesi signing off rally
Pointers fall Out