Rally Point 77 Final

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Rally Pointers Fun, Good Morning, Everybody show wherever you might
be in the world today, it's your host, Amanda Mulcanue,
along with my co host Jay the Sarge Hemingway and
Justin Ledford.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Good morning everyone, Good.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Morning, as well as our producer Zane the Brain, whoa
taking care of business. So we have a great show
for you today and we're just gonna jump right on
in and now. With us on the show, we have
in the studio Emma Coleman. She is an Army veteran
and she is a woman who I think has probably
lived several lives. So welcome to the show. Emma, thank

(00:42):
you very kindly. Amanda, thank you absolutely so you're an
Army veteran, and I also thought it was really cool
when you were talking to us ahead of time and
we were getting information from you. You and I are
actually from the same hometown, which I thought was really interesting.
So we're both from the Norfolk, Virginia Beach area in Virginia.
So it's a small world to meet down in southwest Florida.

(01:05):
But so I thought that was kind of cool. I'm
in a room full of Army veterans, but at least
I have the sisterhood of a fellow female veteran, and
she's frum my homebook. So I'm claiming it. So welcome
to the show.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Yeah. So okay, well let's talk about your time in
the military. So you served in the army. Tell us
about that.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
So as you stayed. I'm from Norfolk, Virginia Beach, and
I am a middle child. So I take a pulse.
You understand where I'm going with that, the middle child syndrome,
A little bit rebellious. I was growing up and quite frankly,
I am the only veteran.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
Of your siblings.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
Yes I am, indeed, and I don't know who else
will go after me. There's been on a military person
in my family. Growing up, I had academic and track scholarships.
I was well known for running track. I was a
distance runner, and in a nutshell, I turned down all
my scholarships wanting to get away from home, and already

(02:08):
had it made up in my mind. I'm going to
be in the army. There's no hands down, this is
what I was going to do. So I joined the
Army pretty much right out of high school, went into
the Army, and I served the logistics and pol petroleum supply.
I think back then it was seventy seven fox Trot.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
It be such a fun name associated with pol, but
I won't think, what's that smell? Pol? That was the
g rated word.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
Yes, yes, precisely. So I did that, and then I
told the recruited, look, I want Airborne in my contract.
I didn't care. I just wanted to get away from
home and wanted Airborne in my contract. So whatever job
you gave me, as long as I had Airborne, and
respectfully said I wasn't going to be a cook. Eventually
I went to Fort Jackson. And after going to Fort
Jackson and then going to excuse me for using O names,

(02:57):
I know they renamed these military installations now at Fort Benning, I.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
Was going to say, I don't know. I don't know
any of the new names. I was just in the
USO and the Richmond Airport. Recently, the lady that was
working at the USO kept saying the name of this
army post and I was like, she's like, do you
know where that? I was like, I do not even
know that post, and she's like, she told me she
said it used to be and I think it was
the one it used to be Fort Benning. It was

(03:22):
either Fort Benning or Fort Stewart. She was like, it
used to be that, and I was like, I can't
even keep up with all these basis changing names. So
absolutely this conversation will stay relevant to the era in
which we serve, so we're.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
Thank you for that. So yeah, So I was at
Fort Benning and Dan eventually I made my way to
one of my favorite person places, excuse me, which was
the NTC for Irwin, California Root sixty six Get your
kicks out of Roote sixty six and.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
I'm excepted for Irwin. No, I'm kidding. We were actually
talking about that this morning too, before you came in.
We were talking about how some a lot of Army
installations are very very secluded. Rural it might be a
good word for it, but I mean we were talking
about the reason why that is is because some of
the training missions and things like that are things that
you don't want, you know, the local population really being

(04:13):
surrounded by. You don't want to be too close to
neighborhoods or whatever. Depending on what kind of training missions
or other missions you're carrying out. You know, sometimes it's
a good thing to keep it away from the gem
Pop exactly.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
So yeah, I was at Border I wayn California and
high deserts. Up to today, I would probably say it
was one of my favorite duty stations.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
Wow oh wow. Really listen.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
That's like people in the Air Force saying they loved
Mina Air Force Base in North Dakota.

Speaker 3 (04:40):
So I was in here for New Mexico Holloman's Air
Force Base.

Speaker 4 (04:44):
See.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
Yeah, even though I'm from Norfolk, Virginia Beach and God knows,
I love water. I'm very passionate about water. I identify
with the deserts like there's a piece that surpasses all understanding.
There's no shame in me saying that, but literally, it's
just so.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
It's such a different environment from where we grew up.
It's so different, and we can see that beauty because yes,
it's a stark contrast so what we lived around.

Speaker 3 (05:09):
Absolutely. And I know before we started taping here, I
was talking about me getting my grad degree grad excuse me,
graduate degrees and I studied abroad over in Portugal and Morocco,
and my colhort at that time noticed that they said, hey, Emma,
you don't seem to care for Portugal. That much, you know,
And I said, this is okay. I can adapt to
any environment. However, I told me, so when we get

(05:32):
to Morocco, you're going to see a different Emma. You're
going to see a different me. And we got to
Morocco and that desert. I don't know if it was
a trigger that made me feel like I was back
in a rock or what it was, but I just
had a piece and I had the most profound joy
being in the desert. So the desert is my place.
But I like Southwest Florida, don't get exactly.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
We still need the ocean. I think if you're from
if you're from the Tidewater area, you need the ocean
in your soul, like you have to be close to it.
You're not complete if you're not near it. So, yes,
that I would agree that is the draw for Southwest Florida.
And we get palm trees and the beaches are way
prettier here. No offense to the seven five seven, but

(06:12):
beaches are prettier here.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
You're the first person I've ever heard say that they
liked for Erwin. Later.

Speaker 3 (06:18):
Yeah, I'm a different one. I'm a different breed.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
But I was in the station there I'm into MTC
twice and.

Speaker 5 (06:24):
That was it.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
But I got my best sleep out there in the
field because I was S and T troops. I still
remember that. That's back in the moondays, but S and
T troops and my best sleep was out there with
the coyotes and sleeping on my tank.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
And no, that's probably true. Yeah, I agree with that. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
Well, and it sounds too like you're the type of
person who will bloom where you're planted. Thank you. So yeah, absolutely,
so tell us more about your time in the military.
So you're at for Irwin.

Speaker 3 (06:50):
You also deployed, Yes, so full circle and disclosure when
I went in military, and I don't want to give
out too much information. I'm not that I'm trying to
hide anything, but I am working on a different project
where it's going to be a tell all got it.
I will say that when I went in military first time,
right out of high school on active duty, it didn't

(07:11):
quite work out for me the way that I wanted
it to, but I was determined and I hope the
audiences get this. If nothing else, if you have a goal,
go for it. You can meet it. It may be
opticals that you may calls upon yourself, inflicted upon yourself
for circumstances that were out of your control. But set
your mind on that go and even if it takes

(07:31):
years for it to come to pass, it can happen.
So I said that to say that it didn't quite
work out the way I wanted it to. When I
went bactive duty. I'm out of high school with my contract.
Eventually I fout myself again back in two thousand and five,
I want to say two thousand and five, two thousand
and four, where I was living in Georgia, and I

(07:54):
have a medical background before I got my degrees. I'm
a clinical administrative medical backrod and I was working at
Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia, in the nursing station
when I got a call from my unit, which was
military intel, says, hey, you need to get down here.
So I got down there and they said You're going
to Iraq. So I had just joined Georgia National Guards.

(08:18):
It wasn't even a solid week they said you're deploying,
So that was quite a bit of a challenge. I
was ready for it because again I knew I want
to serve my country, and I'm very patriotic you know,
and so I guess it was trans Excuse me, I
guess it was a little bit challenging Juesu. In fact,

(08:39):
I only have a son. He's now twenty five, but
at that time he was four years old, and long
story short, his biological father and I both wind up
being deployed, so he was parent. Listen why we both
served over in a rock. It came full circle though,
when I got to Iraq, I would never had I
think God has a funny sense of humor. My very

(09:00):
first duty station border when California, I ran into some
of my service members and they couldn't believe it was
that private. Wow, yes, definitely.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
That's cool. So so you went and you deployed. And
during your deployment, what was that like?

Speaker 3 (09:20):
Well, I had told my family that if anything should
happen to me, no matter what, understand that no one
forced me to sign a dotted line. And I still
hold true to that today. This is something that I
wanted to do, and I enjoyed it, and I make
the best of it. And whatever the outcome, if I
get killed or something, don't grieve for me. This is

(09:42):
know that I did what I wanted to do. You know,
I deployed with this unit out of Georgia. They were
military intel and it was a National Guard unit. I
remember the first sergeant looking at me, and I don't
think he had really researched my background, just being transparent
with what had happened the first time I I went
in the military. He just knew I was active duty,

(10:02):
and he says, you're gonna be a valuable assets. You're
going to be a true valuable asset. And you know,
in the military you wear a lot of different heads.
So I went in as pol and wanted to be airborne,
and I did not wear that hat whatsoever. When I
joined Georgia National Guards, I wind up being getting deployed
to Iraq and I became the battalion administrator, So I

(10:25):
was responsible for processing all DA thirty one leave forms, anything,
administrative rosters, just keeping it all up to date and everything,
if you will. Also, I ran supply and logistics while
I was there.

Speaker 1 (10:40):
I was it was a logistician too, weren't you.

Speaker 3 (10:44):
Yeah, So I was always the one that was ordering
the parts for you know, Gottago vehicles. Also, and I
say this respectfully serving in the National Guards and it's
not for every service member. Let me just put this
out there. I think in any organization, you're gonna have
good and bad apples, point blank. Absolutely No, So the military,

(11:07):
and it's not to be down in the military.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
But just team dynamics in general. You bring people from
all different walks of life. You're gonna have some bumps,
So you're gonna have some some butting of heads, and
some folks that make decisions that make you kind of wonder. Yeah. Absolutely, yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:22):
So being in the National Guards, I can't say that
for all service members. You know, you only get in
at weekend training and annual versus. I had been active duty.
In my training, I sailed, I was GIJS right when
it came to training in the military, that part wasn't
an issue for me. And so when I got over, well,

(11:42):
when my unit got over to ir Rock, I had
one of those first sergeants that happened to be you
wanted a female to do different tasks that, if you
may label that males would do when no one was
willing to step up to the plate.

Speaker 1 (11:58):
So he wanted to kind of push you to break
the bar.

Speaker 3 (12:00):
So he had me. He pushed me to break the barrier. Look,
you know, you've already been military before. And sadly, the
sisterhood that I had at that time in the military, again,
it was kind of like junior high high school got
it drama, you know, that was unfolding, and then I'm
the new kid on the block, so they definitely wasn't
going to push for And then there was also the

(12:21):
caveat that they were calling me by my last name
that I served it that time. Hey, ABC, you know what,
You're on a Discovery channel of this unit, we're on
the History channel, and all that you do is not
really going to be appreciated.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
So wow, that's some of that toxicity that we talk
about in the military where people can't handle. It's supposed
to be camaraderie. It's supposed to be let's all get
there together, and unfortunately, if people view you as a
threat or as intimidating, they will go out of their
way to try to subvert you because you're making the

(12:57):
rest of them look back.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
Yes, and that happened.

Speaker 1 (13:00):
Understand that.

Speaker 3 (13:01):
It was so funny because before we even made it overseas,
we deployed, We mobilized to Fort Dick's, New Jersey, and
First Star just says over right foul, and he said
get in a front lane and resposition. When it got
to me, he did not have me do any push hips.
He says, ABC, You're not going to do any push ships.

(13:21):
This is the most motivated soldier I've ever seen him.
Why did he do that?

Speaker 1 (13:25):
And all the hatred and the daggers flow.

Speaker 3 (13:28):
My god. So now we get over there. You know,
they have the mentality that hey.

Speaker 1 (13:35):
You're blessed and highly favored.

Speaker 3 (13:37):
Y yeah, or I'm sleeping or doing something that I
was high school junior drama, high school drama, and so
I wind up going on entry control point duty is
where I was going with my story. I was the
only female, if you will, that was over there servant
at an injury control point duty every single night with

(13:57):
my battle buddy that I'm still super close to today.
For the whole deployment. Didn't get in off during the day,
maybe get a couple of hours of weink weit, but
deal still had to do to Dade was flowing.

Speaker 1 (14:10):
Yes, you say you're planted, So I'm sure you took
those lemons and made some bomb pastic lemonade out of it.

Speaker 3 (14:17):
And so I really enjoyed working with Third Country nationals.
You know, it actually enlightened me not knowing how many
countries are really were right. But different people are people
that look like you and I in their just nationality.
They're from displace, so their culture is so different.

Speaker 1 (14:34):
So with your time in the military and all the
different facets of it, which it's it's nice to be
able to talk to you having the active duty and
the guard perspective. How would you like how would you
say that that has helped to kind of guide you
toward where you are today.

Speaker 3 (14:50):
When we returned back to demo at Fort Dick's, New Jersey,
there came an opening for a training coordinator, which I
was stealing uniform I had gotten in over there, so
got it. I was with a medical unit for a while,
and but of course I still had to carry on
with my task duties and so I wind up and
this is probably one of my proudest accomplishments outside of

(15:12):
serving in a rock is. I beat out all the
senior officers and as NCOs and officers for a position
that was a GS twelve. Maybe I'm as a training
coordinator and I wind up training over two hundred and
fifty thousand service members of all branches to get ready
to deploy. So I was responsible for the mess hall,

(15:35):
the training facility, the ranges, whatever was needed. You didn't
get anything from Fort Dix or McGuire Air Force Base
without going through me, and that's awesome. I was also
responsible for social morales, so when we would have special events,
quite a few celebrities I could name drop that came through.
I was there.

Speaker 1 (15:53):
You coordinated that. That's awesome. Well, that's wonderful. I think
to your experiences that you have probably helped you better
understand the pulse of that kind of an ops tempo
where it's like what would help them feel better, what
would help them be motivated, but also what do they
need to be successful? And so you knew all of
that and put it all together. That's that's wonderful. I'm

(16:15):
sure there are people listening to the show right now
who your fingerprints are somewhere on their time in the military,
which is awesome most definitely.

Speaker 5 (16:24):
And the man, if you don't mind me to cut in.

Speaker 1 (16:26):
Through a little go for it.

Speaker 5 (16:28):
First of all, I will say thank you for your
sacrifice and service to our country. Absolutely, and folks out
there listen and just remember when you're doing your job,
and you're serving a country, whoever ms you may be,
You're going to serve a whole lot of adversity and
a whole lot of lines and rotten lemons. But you
know what your job is to pick out those rotten
lemons and make the best situation with what you have,
because that will guarantee you. The more adversity they throw

(16:51):
at you, the more stronger and more capable you become
in service, and then they're out. And I can only
imagine that some of those skills you picked up during
that time exemplified you after.

Speaker 3 (17:02):
Your career was over, and that is so true. You
know that adversity is going to come. And I heard
a quote this morning as I was preparing for the show,
the lady that just want the tennis opening, and she stated,
she said, I've learned that adversity and fear is going
to come, but you can overcome it. It's impossible to
block it out, but it's possible to overcome it.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
Absolutely. The only way out is through. That's the creedle
has always been taught to me and has always proven true.

Speaker 5 (17:31):
Most definitely, especially during that basic training time, they tell
you straight up, the quickest route is just straight three
nine weeks. Don't don't try to circumvent it, don't try
side stepping it, because all you're going to do is
make it longer and it's going to hurt worse. So
pay for it up front.

Speaker 1 (17:44):
And uh.

Speaker 5 (17:45):
And again I have to say one thing. A quote
that we made here is that many strong people are
forged by fire, but it's a better privilege of those
who like the flame. And I am fortunate that we
in this room are hopefully among those who are the
flame for those that we served. Based on your careers
and your ranks, various ranks that you served has only

(18:06):
proven for that to be true. More so the soldiers
and the last that you touched during your career and
out only exemplifies that point. And I say thank you
again for being able to be that like for those
other soldiers and airman present company included that have left
the mark in our military.

Speaker 1 (18:22):
Well absolutely, But I mean so, Emma, for you for
your career. I mean to put the emphasis where it belongs,
which is you being our guest. Are there any like
certain poignant memories or experiences that you had that you
would want to share with our listeners?

Speaker 3 (18:38):
So I reflected on this one then, I think is
so hilarious. So again, I'm from Virginia Beach and I
grew up what a pretty okay family dynamic. But the
one thing that I was not a customed or had
never been around, was shoot them up, bang bang, All right,
So here I go right out of hest school and

(19:01):
very very tiny, very very tiny, And so of course
the drill sergeant made me the I believe it was
called the bay leader. At that time. I was a
bay leader.

Speaker 1 (19:12):
We called an element leaders in the Air Force. But
I know what you're talking about.

Speaker 3 (19:15):
And so this is through basic training, and I excelled
at it. I took that challenge because I knew first
and foremost going in the military as far as the
mental toughness and the physical toughness, that was going to
be a brief for me. God bless my deceased mother.
She passed when I served over in Iraq two weeks
before Christmas. She passed away. Sorry doing my tour, but

(19:35):
she was worse than any drill sergeant could ever be,
right way worse put it me.

Speaker 1 (19:41):
It was my dad. I was like, oh, when I
got the basic train, I was like, y'all can't hit us? Okay.
My dad used to bounce quarters off my bed and
do white glove inspections.

Speaker 3 (19:49):
Right, we're good, right? And my mother showed up at
my a t oh because a rumor that she had
heard and slapped me in front of everybody. I'm a
grown woman getting slaps, so wow, I'm gonna lose point.
Where was that? But God bless her, mister dearly. But nevertheless,
I'm When I got to basic training, I knew nothing

(20:10):
about fireing a weapon. And they said, Michro sergeant said,
you know you are awesome. They used to call us
little Dodo birds. You little Dodo bird, You little Dodo bird.
You are awesome. But you're not gonna graduate if you
don't know how.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
To fight our weapon. Right, So you were definitely you
were probably like me. I was like blinking my eyes
because we're sleep deprived, trying to stay awake and really
pay attention to everything they said. Because my father he
had My dad had like hunting weapons in the house
and stuff, but we just we never touched them. He didn't.

(20:44):
I was youngest of four girls. My dad didn't take
us hunting. So the first time saying first time I
ever laid hands on a weapon was at basic military training. Absolutely,
So when we were in that class and they're teaching us,
you know, all the little acronyms like sports and how
to clear your I'm sixteen and everything else, I was
definitely like locked on doing everything I could to pay
attention to everything that person said because I wanted to

(21:05):
make sure when I got out there that I didn't
look a total hot mess. I couldn't hit the broad
side of a barn, but still so it was the
first time I ever shot a gun, so I was
kind of proud of myself. But yeah, so you're the.

Speaker 3 (21:16):
One that I learned. Well, guess what happened. So you
you know those saying you never tell a private to
go do something spanking brand new private on top of that,
so get out of basic training and I get to back,
like going back to the NTC Ford Win, California, and
my unit it was deployed. We went out for field
training I think like two weeks at a time, and

(21:39):
my commander he said to me, he says, we're going
down and have breakfast if anything come up this side
of the hill, and I might as well disclose my
last name at that time, Private Sparrow. I want you
to shoot at it. Well, he told the wrong one.
Little did I know that do it here precisely? So

(22:04):
I just g I jan't motivated taking orders. The medic
truck came uph my gosh, and the service member got
out and just had to use the buy ram in
the desert and I burke with that thing burst. Okay,
nobody ever told me you don't shoot that right.

Speaker 1 (22:21):
And even convention, they didn't give you guys up rundown,
did they?

Speaker 3 (22:26):
So that was forever the most.

Speaker 1 (22:27):
Did they have their armband on their red cross?

Speaker 3 (22:30):
You know, I don't even remember. I h that's right. Yes,
that was hilarious. Now full circle. And you ever someone
say something you wonder if there's some truth behind it.
Eventually I have been out of the military and this
is recently working for a federal agency and I was
telling this same story in our remote environment on a

(22:54):
zoom meeting and the person challenged me and said, you know,
I'm that person you shot at and there's so line
between you're telling me the truth or not. But in
my heart I think it.

Speaker 1 (23:03):
Was oh my goodness, wow, hilarious, hilarious.

Speaker 3 (23:10):
That is had to be my Oh my god. The
funniest time.

Speaker 1 (23:15):
In your private Benjamin moment.

Speaker 3 (23:17):
Indeed, indeed, indeed it was myself.

Speaker 5 (23:23):
I've given order and to execute, I.

Speaker 1 (23:25):
Experienced your your d I could not be mad at
you for that. You did what he told you to do.
He didn't tell you unless it's a medic exactly exactly.

Speaker 3 (23:35):
So, but's that was a great time I've had to
overcome down a serious note, a lot of tragedy that
struck why I was serving in the military. As I
stated it a moment ago, my mother passed away exactly
two weeks before Christmas. And I even remember that my
chain of command told me before the Red Cross when
the Red Cross message was received that if you go

(23:57):
home to Virginia and your mom don't pass and you
come back out here, we're not going to let you
go home to the funeral.

Speaker 1 (24:03):
Oh my.

Speaker 3 (24:04):
And you know, God has a way of making things happen.
My last day of my leave, mom passed away to
sumber eleventh. So that was, you know, a major psychological
factor for me. And when I backtrack that same year October,
just as soon as I got boots on ground in
theater over there in a rock, I lost someone who

(24:27):
was dear to me, he got he excuse me, he
burned up in his vehicle convoy. And I'm very protective
of that story. But it is dear, you know, to
lose your I will just say battle buddy definitely lost him.
I had lost him that October and now and then
Thanksgiving grandmother died, and now Christmas mom died, you know,

(24:51):
but I still managed to finish my tour. I again,
as I started this interview, I am not just y,
I Jane, but really wanted to protect are served my
country was really important.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
But it's also a testament to your strength and your
mental toughness that you touched on earlier when you were
talking about that, Like, you definitely were given the right mindset.
You have the right mindset of you know, what you
were faced with while you were in the military, for sure.
So I'm sorry to hear that story. But at the

(25:26):
same time, it kind of lends itself to the fact
that based off your experiences, I mean my unqualified opinion,
but pseudo qualified opinion would say that you definitely live
with a degree of post traumatic stress disorder. And so
I think everything happens for a reason, Timing works out
for a reason, and so I find it fitting that

(25:48):
timing worked out the way it was meant to write
for you to be on the show and share that
story with us and with our listeners.

Speaker 3 (25:56):
You're rock, but even a rock cracks, and it's okay,
You're still And it's just like that viral video I
believe where they take a dollar bill and they crumble
it up. Is still a dollar bill. It still has
the same value. There is crispy one crumble. So the
same analogy was apply. You're still a rock, you know.
But it's okay to say I need help regardless of

(26:17):
what have been said. Because I even had someone in
my chain of command at one point when I was
at Fort Dix, New Jersey, my orders almost ran out
to no fault of my own. And you know, the
last thing you want to do is your orders to
fall off. Yeah, And so I was going through using
the chain of command and doing the right things and
the right way of trying to resolve it. And when

(26:38):
I finally had to get to the leadership, they said
to me, ABC, you know, every time I look at you,
I feel like I hit a bottle of tonol in
my pocket. Wow what and see you see how I
can remember that up to today.

Speaker 1 (26:49):
Oh absolutely, people say to you that that stick with
you because they were that damaging and that inappropriately hurtful
lack of a better term. So yeah, totally understand.

Speaker 3 (27:04):
So we wound up anyway in that situation. We got
my order situation rectified. But I need a help, you know,
and that's not what I needed to hear it at
the correct.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
That you spoke up, because the military tells you speak
up and ask for help. But then when you do
speak up and ask for help, sometimes if you ask
the wrong person or the person who is incapable of
helping you, or whose idea of help is not helpful
to you, you will be met with those kinds of responses,
which is extremely unfortunate. But I mean, at least you

(27:34):
were able to rise above it and get everything done
to keep your orders intact and keep the mission precisely precisely.

Speaker 3 (27:41):
So recently I went on a trip to I took
a cruise justice Mother's Day weekend. And this is just
so transparent right now. I hadn't even shared this with
my with my spouse, but it was precisely mother Stay
week and this year when I went on my cruise
and I had no idea that the director of the

(28:01):
cruise ship wanted to honor veterans, wanted to recognize. He
wanted to recognize every branch of the military, and he
played the song for each branch of the military. But
before that we had even gotten to that point. He
played the national anthem. And in my whole lifetime, yeah,
I may get emotional and have a little bit of tears,

(28:23):
but in the middle of planet I had to walk
away from everyone. I walked away. So it was a
recent trigger for me. Again, this was just this Mother's Day.
We have the factor in that looking back now, just
a couple of weeks ago, last month, my dad. I
just lost my dad this year, and I am I

(28:46):
was more than a daddy's girl, and he was more
than a girl's dad. We were more than the best
of friends. But his birthdays May fifth. The person that
got killed in a Rock birthday is May a mother
who passed away while I was in a Rock. It's
May eleven, and her birthday fell on Mother's Day this year.
So I was overwhelmed in that moment, and for a moment,

(29:11):
I got a little bit upset with myself. You know,
I felt a little less than like, how do you
walk out while they're playing the national anthem? I have
been to really many baseball games or sport games, excuse
me events, and you know, I'm there and I'm fine.
I may get a little cheery at it, but it
was a trigger for me this time, and I really

(29:31):
walked away. But I came back, you know, it came back,
and I'm glad that I recognized, but you know, and
was able to deal with it, because I'm number one.
If you don't recognize, then how you're gonna even begin
your healing process? Are you going to even begin? And
you know, and it's very easy to get in our heads.
And if it's anything I would tell people with PTSD

(29:53):
is pick up, pick up a phone, reach out to somebody,
pick up. You know, it's okay to need help. It's
okay to say that I need help, you know, and
that should be very taken seriously and to the to
the entities that provide help.

Speaker 1 (30:09):
I will.

Speaker 3 (30:10):
I'm a firm believer in one. She doesn't fit all.
You know, it's just not going to work somebody with PTSD.
Medication is not the answer. And I think we need
to get to a place where we realize that, you know,
it doesn't look the same for everybody. The solution to
treatment plan isn't the same at all.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
Yeah, you know, and there are new there are new
treatment methods like brain based healing, which we've had groups
on the show that talk about brain based healing Operation
Warrior Resolution giving them a shout out. Brain based healing
is so important for PTSD survivors because most PTSD survivors
the hard part they have with mental health is every

(30:50):
time they get a new provider they have to tell
their whole story all over again and relive every bit
of it. And brain based healing completely turns that on
its head and says, we're not doing that, We're not
looking back. I mean, I don't fully know what brain
base healing is yet. I haven't gone on my Operation
Warrior Resolution retreat yet, but I will be this fall.

(31:11):
But my sister went on one and did brain base healing,
and she learned that it's not about looking back, it's
about looking forward and staying focused on that. You don't
have to talk about where you've been, what you've experienced.
You don't have to talk about that in order to
heal from it. You just have to reframe it's a
lot of reframing your thinking and reframing your perspective and
almost like rewiring your neuropathways to teach your brain. We're

(31:36):
not looking back, we're not going back there. We're moving ahead,
We're moving forward. And so I would agree like it's
not a one size fits all for PTSD, and that's
definitely something that I hope we will see more of
where we're not asking PTSD survivors to constantly relive their trauma.
We're trying to help them move forward. We're trying to
help them look forward. You know, if looking back at

(32:00):
the trauma does not help them, then let's focus on
looking forwards. Absolutely, And thank you for being on the
show today and sharing your story. We hope to have
you on again at a later point to discuss some
of the exciting things that you have coming up that
you've kind of alluded to today on the show. So thank
you again. Just thank you for your service, like the
stars said, for your sacrifice, for sharing your story and

(32:23):
for you know, putting a highlight on PTSD awareness. Thank
you so much for the work that you're doing.

Speaker 3 (32:29):
Thank you, thank you so much for allowing me to
use this platform.

Speaker 5 (32:33):
Thank you anytime.

Speaker 2 (32:35):
All right, Welcome back everybody, And for our next segment,
we have Cassie Vallardi who is the interim executive director
of Franz Ross YMCA as well as the Association Aquatics
Director for all of Southwest Florida YMCAs. And with her
today we have Alison Busic who is the interim executive

(32:58):
director at Point A gore To YMCA and she is
the association director of Marketing. So this is our new
Charlotte County leadership team for the YMCA.

Speaker 1 (33:09):
Welcome, thank you, Thank you for having us so.

Speaker 2 (33:14):
First week on the job. So how are things going?

Speaker 6 (33:18):
Really just spending some time getting to know everyone in
the community, you know, I've already made relationships with a
lot of the staff just through my time with Southwest Florida,
but really getting to know the members now.

Speaker 4 (33:30):
And for me, I am back at Punchborder YMCA. I
have been gone for about two years now, and so
it's kind of a homecoming for me, and I've been
taking the time to sit down with our members and
really get a feel for how they're feeling and what
we want to do moving forward in the building.

Speaker 2 (33:47):
Okay, and something else with you guys, So both of
you have came out with us to do our walks
with the Legacy rout Club, So I'm glad that you
guys are partaking in there at It's been good having you.

Speaker 6 (34:03):
Yeah, it's been a lot of fun, just you know,
a reason to get up early in the morning and
kind of a change of scenery and getting to know
some new people.

Speaker 1 (34:10):
Absolutely, it's nice to have. Franz Ross is kind of
a central location for people to meet so that we
can do our rocks. So thank you for being open
to facilitating that so that we have a place that
we can tell folks, you know, every week on a
certain day, we're going to be here. So every Thursday
at seven point thirty we are at Franz Ross YMCA
doing rock club. So yes, thank you for facilitating, supporting

(34:33):
and also being a part of it.

Speaker 6 (34:34):
Of course, it's kind of a hidden gem in that area,
so glad that people have that landmark now can go
check it out for themselves.

Speaker 1 (34:40):
It really is a lot of people tell us that
they had no idea. Myself included, I had no idea
that was back there, like my credit unions across the
street from it, and I never ventured far enough down
the street to see you guys, until Justin told me
to come to Frans Ross YMCA, and I was like, oh, okay,
this is back here.

Speaker 3 (34:56):
Nice.

Speaker 1 (34:56):
It's kind of the best kept secret.

Speaker 3 (34:58):
But we don't want it to be a secret.

Speaker 1 (34:59):
Correct, Yeah, we want it to be a beacon for
people in the county. I would agree with.

Speaker 5 (35:03):
That, right.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
So there is a YMCA in Port Charlotte. But yeah,
a lot of people don't know about it. So it
it's a Franz Ross Park. So if you can't find
the Port Charlotte WYMCA, just look up Frans Ross Park and.

Speaker 1 (35:19):
It's on Cusada. Can you tell us the address? I
don't want to get it wrong. It's like Cassada Avenue
or Sada Boulevard or something like that in Port Charlotte.
So it's on Casa Okay, yeah, so exactly. So if
you get an address that starts with a Q, it's
like it's like that movie White Man Can't Jump when
Rosie Perez is like food, it's just start with a queue.
I love her accent. But yes, road that starts with

(35:40):
a que. If you get a road that starts with
a queue, that's where the Frans Ross YMCA.

Speaker 2 (35:43):
If you find your way to Cochrane, turn on Cassada
the first building on the right there you go. Yeah,
so Allison, we probably will not be doing a lot
of rucks down there in your area because people people
don't cross the bridge. I don't really know why.

Speaker 4 (36:00):
No no OTB, even from our side, there's no OTB.
I wish there was more OTB because I think we
have a lot to offer at both facilities for people on.

Speaker 1 (36:09):
Either side of the bridge.

Speaker 3 (36:10):
That would be a great benefit.

Speaker 4 (36:12):
And you know, we have the veterans program in the
rocking at Franz Ross and at Puntagorda we have a
lot of Parkinson's programming and so I think that that's
a great benefit for our community as well.

Speaker 1 (36:23):
So really what I'm hearing is maybe we need to
consider doing a Solstice stride on June twenty first at
the Punta Gorda YMCA. Yes, as a way to kind
of bring some awareness to that location. I'm actually as
I say this, I'm going to put this in my
planner because my planner is my brain, so that we

(36:43):
don't forget that. Yeah, write that down on it, master
started yep.

Speaker 4 (36:50):
So yes, yes, we do have tennis at the Puntagorda
YMCA as well.

Speaker 1 (36:54):
We have six clay courts.

Speaker 4 (36:57):
And one hard court that we often convert into four
pickleball courts, and so on Tuesdays and Thursdays from eight
to noon, the pickleball courts are flooded for open play
and we love having people come and join us for
pickleball as well as tennis.

Speaker 1 (37:13):
Producer Zaying gets very excited about tennis.

Speaker 4 (37:16):
He does.

Speaker 1 (37:17):
For those of you listening. The reason the tennis conversation
came up is because not only is here our wonderful producer,
the edits our show, but he also was playing charades.
So that's awesome. See another thing that we're learning about
the y mcas in the area.

Speaker 2 (37:36):
Okay, so Pointa Gorda. You got pickleball and you've got tennis.
So what's the big thing that we offer at the
Frans Ross YMCA.

Speaker 6 (37:46):
A big thing I will say is, you know, it's
an indoor pool. They have an indoor pool there on
site and it's one of the at least for my knowledge,
the only one in Port Charlotte that offers swim lessons
to the community. So you don't have to be a
member to participate in swim lessons. You can be a
non member and come in and we start as young
as six months old with our parent and child class

(38:07):
and there is no top age. You're never too old
to learn how to swim. So you know, private and
group lessons. And we're very fortunate across our YMCA as
a Southwest Florida to have over one hundred and fifty
thousand dollars of grant money specifically to go towards free
swim lessons for our communities.

Speaker 1 (38:25):
That is awesome. Now the question for you about the
swim lessons is that also like I know how to swim,
but I might not know the specific mechanics of certain
swimming strokes. Would that be an appropriate means of taking
swim lessons if you wanted to learn like how to
properly swim laps? Right? Is that something you could do?

Speaker 3 (38:41):
Yeah for sure.

Speaker 6 (38:41):
Yeah. Our swim our swim program really splits into two
different parts. So we have our Safety around Water program,
which is more of those if you fall in the water,
how can you float on your back? How can you
get to safety? Also do some dry land activities. You know,
if your friend is in a difficult situation, in the water,
what can you do to help them? And then we
have the other side of it, which is our progressive

(39:02):
so lessons and the progressive swim lesson model was invented by.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
The YMCA, and that's where we start.

Speaker 6 (39:07):
At six months old with getting them you know, just
used to the waters, that water discovery and exploration, and
then we go through getting younger kids preschool age, school age,
acclimated to the water and how to move forward, and
we eventually get to those swim strokes where we're actually
teaching the mechanics of a proper uh you know, freestyle stroke, breaststroke,
all of the competitive strokes, including butterfly, which that's where

(39:29):
I kind of tap out at.

Speaker 1 (39:32):
But you get some of the swim strokes you see
on the Olympics look pretty do I know, my lie
that I could do those, and I'm pretty sure my
attempts to do it without any kind of educated info
is probably really awful lot exactly, and that's fine.

Speaker 6 (39:47):
I mean, we we have instructors across all spectrums, so
you know, instructors that work very well with the young ones,
with the infants and toddlers in preschool age, and then
we have the ones that have that competitive swim background
that can teach those you know, make canical pieces to
the strokes. And even after you progress through our entire continuum,
there's different pathways you can go down, So it's not
just a matter of learning how to swim. You know,

(40:08):
what's your reason behind it? Are you a young teenager
that now wants to go into aquatic leadership and become
a lifeguard or become a swim lesson instructor yourself, or
are you an adult that's just looking for that recreation
and you know, fitness side of it and being able
to swim, lapse and gain that endurance and also realizing
even just your comfort in the water. Water exercise it's

(40:30):
very low impact. You know a lot of people can
do it. It's great to help build back balance or
improve your balance and even just that community aspect, so
to get in the water, no matter how shallow or
deep it is. A lot of people, especially adults, are
combating fear and potentially some traumatic events that might have
happened around the water. So we even have programs and
curriculum that help combat that possible fear.

Speaker 3 (40:52):
That's all.

Speaker 2 (40:53):
Yeah, people don't realize the importance of knowing how to
swim in state of Florida. And I don't understand that
because it's.

Speaker 1 (40:59):
Like we're surrounded by water.

Speaker 2 (41:01):
Yeah yeah, I mean there's water literally everywhere in the
state of Florida, and uh, you know, for those who
don't know, I've talked about it a few times, but
I do swim lessons at the y m c A.
And man, I love it. I love teaching at Franz Ross.
It's by far the best pool to do swim lessons
at because like the deepest part is like five feet,

(41:23):
So if you're with an adult and you're doing swim
lessons and you're like, hey, if you freak out, stand
your feet exactly and like like the shallow end, you know,
it's like three feet. It's heated, you know, so the kids,
most of the kids can can stand up, you know.
So it just makes it makes it a lot easier.
And it's a great teaching pool. And so if there

(41:48):
if there are people who can't necessarily afford swim lessons,
caill Swim lessons are very expensive these days, So is
there a is there a plan for that, because I
think that's a deterrent that keeps people from signing up.

Speaker 4 (42:03):
Yeah, it absolutely is a deterrent from individuals and at
the YMCA, no one is ever turned away due to
inability to afford. And so at the WHY last year
we gave over one point four million dollars in scholarship
or financial assistance to our communities And if anybody is interested,
they can check out the website or come to one

(42:24):
of our welcome centers and our staff would love to
walk them through how to get that financial assistance because
we do want everyone to be safe, and I think
it's important that whether you know it's one lessons, you're
never too old to learn how to swim. I think
that you know, Justin has a client who was older
and just learned how to swim. And we also combating

(42:45):
wellness if you want to do personal training or anything else,
or just move your body and be a part of
classes and create a community for your mental health and
be around other people. Seeking out that scholarship assistance is.

Speaker 1 (42:59):
Very much and is the website that people need to
go to y m c A s w FL dot
org that is correct awesome, and then is it easy
enough for them to kind of find where to apply.

Speaker 4 (43:10):
It's under our membership tab and then it'll walk you
through right there.

Speaker 1 (43:14):
Awesome.

Speaker 2 (43:14):
Yeah, I know. So in the last year, Yeah, I've
had a client that was seventy four, I had a
client that was forty seven. And then one of the
things that I had been working on at the Franz
Ross YMTA, So I talked to the Navy recruiters. So,
any of the Navy recruits that need swim lessons, I

(43:37):
don't know why people joined the Navy and don't know
how to swim, but you know.

Speaker 1 (43:40):
Whatever, to you would be surprised.

Speaker 2 (43:43):
Oh yeah, surprise absolutely yeah. So so yeah, so I
talked to the Navy recruiter and I let them know, Hey,
if you if you have a recruit that doesn't know
how to swim, send them over. And yeah, I just
I just had one person successfully go through swim lessons
and then successfully go through or Navy basic training. Yeah

(44:03):
she did great.

Speaker 1 (44:05):
So are there other water safety initiatives that the YMC
participates in, as you know, in addition to doing lessons
or the progressive you know lessons, is there anything else
surrounding water safety initiatives that you guys do at any
point in the year.

Speaker 6 (44:22):
So during the school year, both are our Sarasota County
school locations as well as Franz Ross with Charlotte County
partner with the second grade age group. So we work
with our second grade swimmers and bring them in during
their school day and go through a week's worth of
swim lessons for our partnering in schools. So that's a
big thing, you know, second graders coming in during their
school day as a part of their as part of

(44:43):
their day to learn those safety skills and the basis
of swim lessons.

Speaker 2 (44:49):
So I saw that you have like the summer swimming
safety campaign Phones Down, Eyes Up. So what's that about?

Speaker 6 (44:57):
Yeah, so it may concluded our National Safety round Water Month.
So with the YMC of the USA or national organization,
they started this campaign called Phone Stand, Eyes Up. And
really the basis behind it is to make sure that
there's always an adult present and paying attention to whenever
kids are in the water. So, you know, as quickly

(45:18):
as we think it is to respond to an email
or you know, change the song on our playlist, or
look at a listen to a podcast, or read an
audio book, add something to your grocery list. Just the
moment you look away to look at your phone. It
takes that just that short time for something to happen
to a child that's in the water, and understanding that,

(45:38):
you know, drowning is not like what it is in
the movies. It's not thrashing, it's not yelling and screaming
for help. It's very silent and it happens in a
matter of seconds if if we're not being paying attention.
So a big thing that we say with the YMCA
is always have a designated water watcher, someone that is
solely focused on watching the kids in the water and
ensuring that if that person has to step away for

(46:00):
whatever reason, they're passing that responsibility off to another adult.

Speaker 3 (46:05):
You know, statistics don't lie, and.

Speaker 6 (46:06):
Eighty eight percent of drownings take place when there is
an adult somewhere near the vicinity.

Speaker 3 (46:11):
Well, what was the adult doing.

Speaker 6 (46:13):
Were they solely paying attention to the kids in the
water or were they distracted?

Speaker 5 (46:17):
Right?

Speaker 2 (46:18):
Yeah, And I know it's so much easier these days
to be complacent and to just check your phone and
then you know, you go to check your phone for
a second, and then you know, you get sucked into
you know, watching Instagram reels or tiktoks and stuff. Like that,
and you know, you.

Speaker 1 (46:34):
Know, like exactly and it only takes a few seconds.
Like I can remember when I was younger, we were
at like a barbecue at a neighbor's house and the
neighbor beside them had to pull somehow. During the course
of this barbecue, a four year old boy snuck out
of the backyard, went over to the neighbor's house and
jumped in the pool. The pool had to cover on it,

(46:55):
so when the child jumped in, it collapsed around him.
And the adults when they figured out that little boy
was missing and they could hear thrashing next door, they
ran over and thankfully it was a happy story, like
the child was okay and everything was fine, but it
was literally like he was there one minute and gone
the next. So I absolutely think that this is an

(47:16):
important initiative to address because it's been there all the time.
We need to keep our eyes on our kids, whether
they're you know, already in the pool or if you
know there's a pool nearby, making sure you keep an
eye on your kids, so god forbid they don't wander
over to that pool, fall in and something unfortunate happens.

Speaker 6 (47:32):
Right, And we always talk about you know, there's different
layers of protection. So ideally, yes, there's a certified lifeguard
on duty. You know, when you're at a community pool
or at a YMCA, that's the standard that we will
not ever to tear from. But those backyard pools and
even just other different bodies of water, the ocean, the canals,
everything that's around us. You know, there's really no substitute
for having an attentive adult watching the kids. Even you know,

(47:55):
when we're utilizing life jackets or floaties. You know, a
lot of those things are meant to be more for play,
so pool noodles and inflatables. But you know, unless you're
in a Coast Guard approved life jacket, unless you have
an adult watching solely watching the kids, then those are
those layers of protection that are needed and a big
part of our some lessons and our safet around Water

(48:15):
program is one of the first things we really try
to teach all of our kids is to ask permission
before going in the water. So from day one we
teach them that skill, and every lesson following we make
sure that they either ask their parent or guardian who
brings them in, or they're asking the lifeguard on duty
or yourself is a some lesson instructor for permission before
they enter the water, so that even they learn at

(48:37):
their age that they need to make sure an adult
knows that they want to go in the water.

Speaker 2 (48:41):
So what is the difference between like regular group lessons
that you sign up for and the Safety around Water classes?
Because I know that Safety around Water is also a
group lesson, but it's more accelerated and it's basically like
a week's time frame.

Speaker 6 (49:01):
Yeah, so there's definitely some flexibility with the timing of
the Safety around Water program. And the reason that is
is because there's two big benchmark skills that we're aiming for.
So the two benchmark skills skills for our Safety around
Water classes is to be able to perform jump, push, turn, grab,
So meaning if I jumped in the water or I
fell in the water, how can I push off the bottom,

(49:22):
turn around and reach to the side, and then swim float?
Swim So if a child is swimming and they become
tired or in distress in some way, then being able
to roll over to their back and float until they
either can call for help because their mouth is out
of the water they're on their back, or they catch
their breath enough to flip back to their stomach and
continue swimming to safety. So those are the two skills

(49:43):
that we really focus in on in our Safety around
Water program, which allows a little bit more of a
flexible schedule depending on you know, who we're partnering with,
the type of organization working with or the schedule that
they may have. And then the swim lessons. You know,
it's built on six to eight swim lessons. There are
lesson playing lessing guides that every instructor uses that touches

(50:03):
on those skills as well, but also looks towards the
you know, learning the proper strokes, so how to do
eventually how to do a flip turn, how to do
an appropriate dive when you get into those more advanced stages.
So our Safety around Water program is built around those
first three stages of our progressive swim lessons. So water acclimation,
water movement, water stamina. Am I used to the water?
Am I comfortable in it? Can I move around safely

(50:25):
in it? And do I have the stamina to get
to safety?

Speaker 2 (50:28):
And there's a different cost associated with the safety around
water correct, Yes, it's mostly grants.

Speaker 5 (50:36):
Correct.

Speaker 6 (50:36):
Yeah, So our safet Around Water program. I'm very fortunate
to have a lot of grant money to go towards that.
So when you come to the why, you know, we
have a few grants specifically at Franz Ross right now
that cater towards you know, non swimmers, individuals and disabilities,
marginalized groups, things like that, to be able to give
them the opportunity to participate in a Safety around water

(50:58):
class free of charge through that grand.

Speaker 2 (51:01):
Right, so there's no excuses.

Speaker 1 (51:02):
So how can people apply for utilization of the grant
for the Safety around water course? Yeah, so steps they
need to take the easiest.

Speaker 6 (51:10):
Thing to do is to reach out to the Frans
Ross Ymca Jenna is the aquatics director there. She does
a great job, you know, recruiting those participants. She even
teaches a lot of them herself, and or they can
reach out to me. As you know, I'm sitting there
at Frans Ross as the interim executive director but also
the as the interim executive director, but also as the

(51:32):
association director of Aquatics. You know, I all that grant
money funnels through me, so you know, I'm distributing the
funds among all of our Wise I'm doing all the
reporting and tracking things. So definitely a couple resources there
at the Frans Ross why to get the more information
and to have them fill out her intake form to
you know, ensure we have the proper qualifications. And even

(51:52):
more than that, anyone, you know, Medicaid has started a
program now where we can accept, depending on their plan,
provide around some lessons through their Medicaid plan.

Speaker 2 (52:02):
Oh nice, Well, so all right, So for warrior wellness
the thing that you know that I'm pretty pretty pumped about,
So warrior wellness and like military wellness programs. Since we're
talking about grants, I have to mention the Venice YMCA
recently got a grant strictly for veterans, correct, So could

(52:24):
you explain that real quickly.

Speaker 6 (52:26):
Yeah, So, the Venice YMCA actually was approached by by
a private donor who passed military experience as a veteran
and really just wanted to give back to that community.
So they have partnered with our Venice location to provide
memberships free memberships for veterans, and within a matter of
a couple of weeks they ran out of money. They

(52:46):
served I think well over one hundred maybe close to
two hundred veterans, and so that that funder, that donor
saw you know, the great need for that and agreed
to contribute even more over the next two years. So
if you're interested in that, if that's something that you
think really you could benefit from, you can go to
our Venice location and find out more there. And once

(53:07):
you join at Venice, that is actually an association wide
membership where you'll be able to access the Punagorda Y,
the Franz Ross Y, any otherwise within our Southwest Florida territory.

Speaker 1 (53:17):
If you want more information, go to ymcaswfl dot org
go under membership to get information about scholarships for swim
training and then of course just keep safe around the water.
If you have any questions, go into one of the
YMCAs and talk to Cassie and her team. They will
be happy to help you out. Thanks again, ladies, appreciate
you being on the show. Thank you. Rally Pointers fall

(53:40):
Out