Rally Point 84

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Rally Pointers full in. Good morning everybody, Happy Friday. Welcome
to the rally Point Radio Show. I'm your host, Amanda
Mulcanu and your fellow co hosts here in the studio
with us, Justin.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Ledford, good morning, and Paul Pleshi, glad to be here. Awesome.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Well let's jump right into the show this morning. So
we have our monthly segment now with our friends from
dav Chapter eighty two. We have with us Ashley Abbott,
she is the public relations officer, and Joe Rapley, who
is the lead service officer handling claims for you at
the Dav's location in the Port Charlotte Town Center.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Mall, good morning, y'all, how are you?

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Good morning, Good morning to you.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Awesome, thanks for being here. So today we're going to
talk about a subject that a lot of people, some
have maybe heard of, some veterans maybe have utilized it.
But we're going to talk about individual unemployability. So yeah,
let's jump right into that conversation. So what is individual unemployability?

Speaker 4 (01:00):
Well, I guess I'll start in this Ashley. Individual Individual
unemployability is basically for veterans that are rated less than
one hundred percent. However, they can be paid at the
one hundred percent rate. And one of the things that
we've seen recently is and everybody wants to be one
hundred percent. The problem is not everyone is able to

(01:24):
be one hundred percent or deserves one hundred percent rating
from the VA, but the difference, I would say, the
difference between a ninety percent rating, which pays a veteran
about eighteen to nineteen hundred dollars a month, and a
one hundred percent rating, which can be a four thousand
dollars a month payment, is significant, and a lot of
veterans want to have that, as well as some tax

(01:45):
benefits and other benefits that might be available to them.
The problem is, once you apply for that, your folder
is opened up and the VA will look at everything
that you're applying and there is always the chance of
going backwards with that rate.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
Oh so it can it can actually decrease your rating.
So if they decrease the rating, does that mean the
member can't then be considered for individual unemployability? Like for example,
so say somebody goes in and they're ninety percent and
they apply for individual unemployability. When that folder gets open up,
let's say the Evaluator Authority that be up at big

(02:24):
VA says, oh, some of these ratings need to be decreased.
So suddenly the person drops to eighty percent. Can they
still get the individual unemployability and thereby be paid at
the one hundred percent level even though their rating got decreased,
or how does that work?

Speaker 3 (02:38):
They can be.

Speaker 4 (02:39):
But part of the criteria for that rating is you
have to have at least one rating at seventy percent
or a sixty percent with combined ratings and the ratings
can be two forty percent, you have to have at
least to forty percent. And one of the things we
were talking about when we came on is a vamath. Yes,

(03:00):
so VA math is a little confusing, and just to
make an example, if I have four disability ratings at fifty.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Percent, the raw math is two hundred percent.

Speaker 3 (03:10):
I have a two hundred percent rating.

Speaker 4 (03:14):
But using VA math and the way they calculated on
the whole person concept is you have one hundred percent
of a body and take that first fifty percent and
you do fifty percent of one hundred.

Speaker 3 (03:27):
Now you're fifty percent.

Speaker 4 (03:28):
You take another fifty percent and do it on that
fifty percent, and now you're at twenty five percent, You
take the next fifty percent and do it on that
twenty five percent, and you're at twelve and a half percent.
And then you take that fourth fifty percent and do
it on the twelve and a half percent, and you're
basically at six percent. Wow, so you're at a ninety

(03:52):
six percent rating.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
And they round down or do they round down to
ninety percent?

Speaker 5 (04:00):
God?

Speaker 4 (04:00):
So that's the easy way to kind of explaining VAMP.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
Got it.

Speaker 4 (04:05):
Now, If you have that ninety percent rating and you
want to apply for unemployability, they're looking at all those
different those conditions that you're applying it for, and one
of those fifty percents can decrease the problem with that is,
are you now unable to maintain viable employment? Because it's

(04:26):
not saying that you cannot work, it's saying that you
cannot maintain viable employment.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
And that's what a lot of our districts don't by
viable employment. Does that mean like you can't make enough
money to sustain your household? What does viable employment mean?
Does that mean like you can't hold a full time job,
or does that mean you can't hold a job where
you would make enough money to pay your bills.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
That's a great question.

Speaker 4 (04:51):
And there is a threshold for that based on the
area that a veteran would live in, and that's based
on the minimum amount support a family in that area.
So you know, it might be twenty thousand dollars in
some areas, it might be twelve thousand dollars in another area.
But that's something that veterans definitely need to be aware
of when they're applying for this program.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
Got it.

Speaker 6 (05:14):
So if you are one of total and permanent but apply,
you apply for unemployability, and there's a chance that your
could go away.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
Yeah, and if you're one hundred percent permanent and totally,
there's no receiving.

Speaker 4 (05:35):
And one of the things because I personally I do
not like unemployability. It's great in some situations, but my
veterans they need to understand that they're going to open
up your folder and if you have not been getting
care or treatment for a particular illness or condition, that
you could go backwards.

Speaker 3 (05:57):
It could negatively affect you.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
Good to know.

Speaker 1 (06:01):
So, And you said, with unemployability, at least one condition
has to be individually rated at seventy percent.

Speaker 4 (06:09):
One at sixty uh you have to have or two
at forty to a combine to seventy.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
Got it, good old VA math.

Speaker 1 (06:19):
That's why everybody thinks VA math is voodoo. Like I
don't know, I mean, I'm not afraid to talk about
my situation, but I am one hundred percent total and
permanent my raw math with the VA if you just
took every single thing and added it up as like
somewhere in the neighborhood of seven hundred percent. So it's
kind of one of those things like I mean, I
tell people, you know, I'm one hundred percent for a reason,

(06:40):
like I might look young on the outside, but my
body tells a different story. So so yeah, So sometimes
it's and it's hard because there are people who sometimes
don't understand, you know, why is my spouse's raw VA
math one hundred and thirty percent but they're not rated
at one hundred percent. But like you said, it all
depends on you know, exactly what that condition kind of

(07:03):
is and how it correlates to the whole person concept
as far as one hundred percent of the body.

Speaker 4 (07:08):
Yeah, and a lot of times what we see in
our office is, you know, my neighbor is one hundred
percent why I at one hundred percent or right, my
uncle deserves this, he should be at one hundred percent.
And everybody deserves what they deserve based on what they've
been through in the illnesses or injuries that they have.
And one of the things that we want to encourage

(07:29):
is even if you don't think you have a service
connected disability, you should go in and speak to somebody
about that.

Speaker 6 (07:36):
Yeah, because a lot of people think that it doesn't
apply to them because you know, they served during peacetime
or you know, it was the eighties, it was the
nineties when there wasn't a lot going on, and you know,
you know I was, I was state side. I never
deployed that you know, you get it all the time.
And so they don't want to take from that pot
of money. They don't feel like they deserve it. And
oh well I'm taken away from another veteran. So so

(07:58):
how does what's your answer to that?

Speaker 7 (08:00):
Well, to be honest, I mean we all went through training,
right right, We taxed our bodies in a huge way.
I know when I first joined. When you go through
that line, they're fitting you for your uniforms and your boots,
and they put me in boots that were literally two
whole sizes under. And I told them it was a
civilian fitting us for our boots. And I said, boots

(08:21):
too tight. And he took the boot off and took
the insul out and put it back on my foot
and said, now it fits.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
Oh wow, And you're terrified.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
In boot camp, you know you're not gonna well, everybody
acts like they're a TI or a DII, depending on
your branch, you know, there they might be like an
E four, E five, but they're going to act like
they're God related to you.

Speaker 2 (08:40):
It's like, oh gosh, and you're terrified. I mean I was.

Speaker 7 (08:43):
I was seventeen. I wasn't even eighteen yet, and so
part way through through boot camp I passed out because
I was in so much pain in formation because I
wasn't going to say a word. I wanted this.

Speaker 2 (08:53):
I wanted to be in the military.

Speaker 7 (08:54):
I wanted to serve. And when they took me to
the hospital and took X rays, we found out my.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
Feet were fractured. Oh wow.

Speaker 7 (09:01):
So, I mean that's just a simple example of like
we go through training, we put our bodies through. I mean,
that's the majority of what we do is actually in
the mode of training and pushing our bodies to the
limit to see what they can do, and injuries happen
all the way, how careful we.

Speaker 6 (09:17):
Are, and especially at seventeen, you assume that whoever's fitting
you for your boots like, okay, well that doesn't make
any sense to me, But this person must know what
they're doing because it's their job.

Speaker 4 (09:27):
Was in an army, Yeah, I was in the army.
See that's some of the army stuff. The doors stand up.

Speaker 3 (09:36):
We went to the doctor, yes we did.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
You still got paid to be an appointments. You still
got paid to be at appointment.

Speaker 6 (09:43):
You know what, though, that is a good point because
if there are any active duty people listening, go to
the doctor. Document every don't don't wait until early.

Speaker 1 (09:54):
And go often, you know, to toe the line though,
if you're not trying to get out on an emmy,
don't go too often, but go go early, go often.
Get things documented. Yeah, make sure it's notated in your
record so that there's a viable linear path of this
started getting documented here and it continued or whatever. But

(10:15):
I would dare say too, to your point about we
all went through training or some people feel like they
don't deserve it. Keep in mind too that there are
other conditions sometimes take literally decades to surface, one of
the primary ones being agent orange related conditions. So my
father served in Vietnam, was on a ship where they
were within twelve knautical miles of the shore. So he's

(10:38):
definitely on that list of people. Yes, he is definitely
on that list of ships that were considered exposed. However,
when he left the Navy, they told them things like,
don't go to the VA because they'll slap a disability
label on you and you'll never get a job and
you'll never be able to take care of your family.
So he didn't, and he felt like when he got

(10:59):
out he was still in good shape, he was in
decent health. He was like, I didn't have any problems.
So fast forward forty years. All the guys he served
with are passed away now from cancers, from illnesses that
would be attributable now to that presumptive list for agent
orange exposure. And now he's having health conditions that are

(11:21):
related to it, but don't have a diagnosis that falls
on the presumptive list.

Speaker 2 (11:25):
There's that, or there's also like.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
The Packed Act when that got signed, that changed the
game for several generations of veterans, especially Cold War era
those that didn't see combat. Yes, Vietnam era veterans finally
were seen, recognized and started getting taken care of, which
was important. So I mean go into the vso like
you said, even though people think they don't deserve it,

(11:49):
justin like, it's so important to go not just for
the sake of filing acclaim, but just doing a benefits review.
Like that should happen about every five years or so.
You should be going in for a benefits review because
things change. Things change from a benefit standpoint, a legislative standpoint,
sometimes based on correct me if I'm wrong, sometimes based
on your age or the time you served or whatever.

(12:10):
There might be changes that will positively impact a veteran.
So it's important to go back for those benefits reviews.

Speaker 4 (12:17):
And even as a service officer, sometimes it's hard for
us to keep up with some of the changes. But
just to go back with this one of the things
that I tell my veterans that applying for benefits is
so generational in a sense because one of the things
that's being lost now are World War Two veterans. And
when you think about World War two. In the battles

(12:37):
that those veterans had, they were just glad to be home.
They wanted to come home, be with their wives, white
picket fence. They didn't want anything from anyone. They were
just glad to have made it back. They never applied
for benefits. Then you have our Vietnam veterans that came
back home and they would spit on and they were shunned,
and they would kick to the curb and they were told,

(12:58):
don't go to the VA, and we don't want you.
They weren't given anything, and they were pushed it aside.
Didn't know what benefits were available to them.

Speaker 1 (13:08):
I just recently learned career war veterans had a similar thing.
They came home, like in the middle of the night
and went back to work the next day. There was
no welcome for them. There was no welcome back, and
there certainly was no offering of these are the benefits
or the things that are afforded to you by virtue
of your service in the military.

Speaker 2 (13:26):
So you're absolutely right about that.

Speaker 4 (13:28):
So you know, those veterans, they were happy to be back,
or they weren't given anything, and it's important for them
to understand what you went through You're not going to
come back home the same right. You might have been hurt,
you might have suffered some mental illnesses, you might be
going through it. And in a lot of cases, divorce rates,
substance abuse. There's a lot of things that show evidence

(13:50):
of that. And we man up and women up and
say we can make it, because really it's an a doctrination.
It says we're American fighting man, we can't be defeated.

Speaker 3 (14:00):
We're the best on earth. But we're human and we
go through things.

Speaker 4 (14:04):
And I encourage my veterans to apply and make the
DA say no if you're suffering.

Speaker 6 (14:10):
Right, absolutely, So what if a veteran never gets seen
by the VA, but they've went through the civilian side,
they have, you know, plenty of medical history to show
that they were in certain places with certain things, but
they basically pass away from their symptoms. So if their
spouse identifies that, So like with the pak dak and

(14:33):
all the things that are coming up, So if someone so,
if we lost a veteran to some of the things
that are on the packdack location plus symptoms, is that
spouse able to do anything after the service member passes.

Speaker 4 (14:49):
Well, I would start with while the service member is living,
to understand what the rules are, because before you go
to war, you want to know what the rules of engagement.
So it's the same, what if we're dealing with our veteran,
and please veterans, if you have spouses, talk to them.
Let them know what you went through, what you was
exposed to, all of those things. Now, if the veteran

(15:11):
has passed, there's two things that can happen. Either you
pass from something that was a presumptive condition or you
pass from something that you think might have been affiliated
with the military. So first is to know what those
conditions are, and if it's on a presumptive list, it's
never too late to file. The main thing is that

(15:33):
it has to be on the death certificate, even if
it's a contributing factor to the death. So whatever the
veteran is suffering from, whether there's high blood pressure, where
there's diabetes, whatever those conditions are, make sure that it's
on the death certificate somewhere. So that way it makes
it that much easier for the veteran to file, the
veterans surviving spouse to file.

Speaker 1 (15:54):
I'm just curious how would somebody do that, because I'm
just thinking, like in the blur of losing your spouse,
like who does that grieving widow or widow or ask like, hey,
can you please make sure that you're thorough on the
death certificate?

Speaker 2 (16:08):
How does that message get through to those folks?

Speaker 4 (16:11):
So veteran passes and there has to be a doctor
that's going to certify the death, and hopefully you would
have a conversation with someone in the hospital prior to
that veteran passing and make sure that, hey, please make
sure all this conditions are listed on the death certificate
or whoever's going to certify them, please make sure they
get in contact with me. And then even after the fact,

(16:33):
you can't amend a death sttitute. Okay, So that could
be done after the fact as long as it's a
timely processed but it can be done. And that could
be the difference between a surviving spouse not receiving anything
at all and a surviving spouse receiving almost two thousand
dollars a month because.

Speaker 3 (16:53):
Of the death. Very important.

Speaker 1 (16:55):
Yeah, So advocacy is what I'm hearing. Advocacy is huge.
So if you have someone, if you have a loved
on a spouse who is maybe in the end stages
of life. Just making sure that the medical team is
aware of this person is a veteran. Please make sure
that everything is documented such that you know, for the
sake of veterans, benefits and things like that, things can

(17:17):
be taken care of.

Speaker 3 (17:18):
Yeah, and call out office Ashley. I give you the number.

Speaker 4 (17:22):
Even if the veteran has passed ten years ago, and
it might be because of a service connected disability. Uh,
it's never too late to file.

Speaker 2 (17:31):
That's good to know. And what is the number to call?

Speaker 7 (17:33):
The number is nine four one, six two, eight three three.

Speaker 1 (17:37):
And you guys have some stuff coming up at the
dav if I'm not mistaken, isn't that right?

Speaker 5 (17:41):
We do.

Speaker 7 (17:42):
We have our our first ever walkathon and we're having
that at the mall and it's nine o'clock in the
morning at the Port Charlotte Town Center mall. And we're
really excited because the first time we've done this. It's
the idea is to get the community out there. We'll
have some you know, different vendors and companies there to
support and represent us, and I'm just excited to see

(18:05):
who comes out. The mall is really big for people
walking in the morning and so now we're gonna gonna
take it over for the day.

Speaker 3 (18:11):
Well ask you.

Speaker 4 (18:11):
I'm gonna jump in on that on a second, because
currently we've been advertising this for almost two to three
months and I think a lot of people in the
community often they say, uh, thank you for your service, right,
And currently we have thirteen people that's enrolled in this walkathon,
and we see walkers in the mall all the time.

(18:32):
So I'm calling out all the walkers in the area.

Speaker 3 (18:36):
That if you really want.

Speaker 4 (18:37):
To support your veterans, because we work on donations. We
don't operate a bar or anything of that nature, and
it's important for us to raise funds for things, you know,
events like this, So please enroll, come out and walk,
have a good time, learn meet some veterans in this event.

Speaker 2 (18:54):
What is your website?

Speaker 1 (18:55):
Because people can sign up on the website if they want,
or can they show up the morning of dollars in
hand to make their contribution.

Speaker 2 (19:02):
Both both can happen.

Speaker 7 (19:04):
But you can go to our website which is dav
Chapter eighty two dot com. But you can also show
up the day.

Speaker 2 (19:12):
Of perfect and there will be some fellow veterans right.

Speaker 1 (19:15):
There will be a lot of good networking resources, lots
of resources out there to help people know what's in
the community, what can help them as well. So for sure,
and what time does it start?

Speaker 3 (19:25):
At?

Speaker 2 (19:25):
Nine am? Nine am?

Speaker 4 (19:27):
All right, nine to If you have questions on disability
or you're not sure any of the subjects that we
touched on today, please come out and find out.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
You can literally walk and talk about it.

Speaker 3 (19:40):
Let's talk.

Speaker 6 (19:40):
Seah, I was gonna say that, but I don't want
to put anybody on.

Speaker 1 (19:42):
The spot, like that's totally a military thing, because I
know sometimes if I had to talk to somebody on.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
The fly, but like we can walk and talk and
they'd be like, okay, some.

Speaker 7 (19:50):
Of the best best conversations happened that way. Also, we're
there Monday through Friday from ten am to three pm.

Speaker 2 (19:57):
You can walk in.

Speaker 7 (19:57):
You don't need an appointment. You can call us any time,
of course, but if you just want to stop it
and say hello, it's all your fellow veterans hanging out coffee.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
Yes, we do have the Veterans Coffee. We just started that.

Speaker 7 (20:09):
We had it this past Tuesday and it was a
huge success. Was that every Tuesday it's no So the
next one is going to be on the twenty ninth.
It starts at ten am, goes till noon, so it's
just two hours where you can have some very stiff,
you know, coffee and donuts and hang out with your
fellow veterans.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
And you just mean strong coffee. Right, some of the
people are retired.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
I know nothing about that strongly caffeinated, extra rich coffee.

Speaker 2 (20:39):
Yeah, but it did.

Speaker 7 (20:41):
It was It was a huge success. A lot of
people really enjoyed that first time around we did this,
and so we're really looking.

Speaker 2 (20:47):
Forward to July twenty ninth at ten am. Correct. Awesome.

Speaker 1 (20:52):
Also, yes, see everything's easy right in the middle of town.
Well all right, well thanks for coming out today. We
will be gladly seeing you at the walks on the
rally Point show will be there and we will see
you again in the studio next month.

Speaker 6 (21:06):
Thank you.

Speaker 8 (21:08):
Good morning. Now we're going to go back to a
special session for me. I have the privilege of introducing
Kathleen Kanal as her father would say. And the reason
that she's not only a special sister veteran, her father
served with me in Vietnam. We consider her our niece.

(21:33):
So it's a special interview for me. Kathleen, how are
you doing today good?

Speaker 5 (21:39):
How are you guys doing, doing great?

Speaker 3 (21:42):
Doing real good?

Speaker 8 (21:43):
Kathleen. Let's start off. Can you give me a little
bit of your pre service history.

Speaker 5 (21:49):
Pree service. My dad was working at the VA. I'm
the baby of six in our family. We're kind of
spread out thanks to his army service. There's twenty one
years between the oldest and youngest. My mom stayed at home.
I played soccer in high school. We do have a
lot of military in both sides, my mom and my

(22:12):
dad's side. And after I graduated high school, I was
just kind of working in the valley and trying to
save up money to pay for my car and maybe
go to college. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do,
and three years later I ended up planning a contract.

Speaker 8 (22:31):
So you decided to join the Marines. At that point,
I did.

Speaker 5 (22:35):
I went bad. It was kind of difficult for me
because I didn't really tell anybody that I had done it,
and sitting down to tell my dad, who had served
twenty years and seen Korea and Vietnam, that I was
going Marine Corps, I kind of felt like I betrayed
him by the Marine Corps. Yeah, he did he told me.

(22:59):
He was like, well, I'm idn't tell you right now.
It's not going.

Speaker 8 (23:02):
To be easy.

Speaker 5 (23:03):
And I was like, I kind of got that from
the recruiter.

Speaker 8 (23:06):
So when you you enlisted, so you got to choose
your profession, right, do you got to choose your mos.

Speaker 5 (23:12):
I thought I did, but then I quickly found out
that the needs of the Marine Corps or what are given.
And while I was doing my training and they were
assigning our mos field the one I had chosen, which
was combat photography. I was going for English major and
I love to write. Back when I was in high

(23:34):
school and choosing my college path had closed, so they
decided to stick me into an electrician field because that
made sense. So instead of writing with the pen, I
got to play with electricity English engineering.

Speaker 2 (23:49):
They both start with an E.

Speaker 1 (23:51):
You know.

Speaker 5 (23:52):
Well, the way my recruiter explained it was because it
fell under utilities. Yeah, And I was like, I try,
all right, I get yeah, sure that's the way we think.
So okay, So did you find out.

Speaker 8 (24:06):
Before you went to boot camp or after?

Speaker 5 (24:10):
We actually find out during after boot camp, Marines go
three weeks to field training, which is called Marine Corps
Combat Training, or for infantry, it's you know, schools infantry,
So you kind of go out here in the fields
for three weeks roughing it, getting that lifestyle, and and
right at the end before you complete that is when

(24:31):
they tell you where you're going to go to school
and what your MOS is gonna be. So I have
a lot of time to really contemplate anything.

Speaker 6 (24:37):
Anyway, Well, yeah, that's put a bus.

Speaker 2 (24:43):
Did you have a guaranteed job? Justin Oh.

Speaker 6 (24:45):
When I went into the Army, I knew I had
stationed a choice I had, I had my MOS that
I wanted I had, and.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
Y'all talk about y'all claim the Air Force is spoiled. So, Kathleen,
I went in the Air Force and I I went open.
In general, my story is actually eerily similar to yours
because I was an English major in college before I
joined the Air Force, and I wanted to be a journalist.
So but yeah, when I went because I went open,
her story is very similar. It was like they put

(25:15):
all the people who went open in a room and
they put your orders face down and you didn't dare
touch them until they said, okay, you can turn them over.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
And it was like surprise to find out what your
job is. It was that sounds terrible. It was horrifying.

Speaker 1 (25:29):
It was like a movie where it like pans into
your face and you're like no, so yeah, now I
fully can understand and empathize how you felt thinking you
were going to combat photography and then finding out you
were going to do electrician work.

Speaker 5 (25:43):
It was funny because all the comm schools are for
us are out in twenty nine Palms in California. So
I was under the impression, you know, I was going
to get on a flight and I was going to
be on the West Coast for a little while, which
I'd never seen in my life. And so when I
got to Courthouse Bay, which is on the backside of Lujune,
it's the engineer school, I called my recruiter and I said, hey, staff,

(26:08):
startedn't I'm looking to come home. You know, do some
recruiters assistance because they weren't picking up our class for
a little while. And he goes, Connell, why are you
on Lujune And I said, well, I don't know. They
told me to get on this bus. I got on
the bus. They told me I'm coming here for school.
So he had looked it up in the computer and
had seen because I was contract and then I had

(26:29):
also signed somebody up underneath me, so I got PFC
out of boot camp, so I gained some rank. But
I was like, I don't know, I just did what
they told me to do. Like I'm not, you know,
going to argue with him at this point. So he
was the one that had told me what had happened.
I was like, great, because I would freak if a
light bulb went out, like when I turned it on

(26:51):
and it you know, when you turn it out, and yeah, yeah,
that would share the crap out of me. So I'm like, oh,
this is going to be great.

Speaker 8 (26:59):
So now you're done with basic training and you now
have an MS what progression happened next with your military experience?

Speaker 5 (27:06):
So when we go to school, we didn't pick up
for a while, so they kind of put us on
duty and you know, they look for any chance to
give you the field duty and stuff. Then my schooling
was about three months long for generator operator and they
show you how a hard wire, basic electrician stuff, outlets, lights,

(27:27):
and then we had what was called Memphis gear, which
is like plug and play chords with outlets and lights,
switches and stuff. On them for the field, which we
would use in like ten situations. So then at the
end of schooling is when they give you a list
and they say, here's your wish list. Put down in

(27:47):
top three places of where you want to be stationed
in the whole wide world of the Marine Corps. And
people always put Hawaii in their top three, and it's
like a crap shoot, You're really not going to get Hawaii,
but they always just put it in there in case.
And so my first one was Okinawa, Japan. Nice, and
then I think it might have been the East Coast

(28:08):
to stay close to home, and maybe Penalton, But yeah,
I got my choice. And that was the one thing
I think the Marine Corps did give me while I
was in that I asked for and wanted was my
time in Okinawa. So I went straight over to Okinawa.
It was I went home on leave and then I
went over there. It was at the beginning of August

(28:34):
end August September ish, two thousand and it was a
year back then now they do three. And I ended
up pregnant with my oldest son before I came back home,
right before September eleventh, two thousand and one. I came
home September seventh.

Speaker 2 (28:53):
I flew wow.

Speaker 5 (28:55):
Yeah, yeah, that was shocked and off seven months pregnant,
waking up to that was a little scary. He's now
a marine too.

Speaker 1 (29:01):
Oh wow. Carried on the family business. So did you
go home on leave in September?

Speaker 5 (29:06):
They wanted okay, So when I was coming, I had
orders to Lejung with eighth Engineer Support Battalion and I
was supposed to report in the thirteenth of October, and
we went down a couple of days early and my
dad helped me find a place to stay and then
I reported in. But when I woke up and saw

(29:28):
the news that morning, I kind of knew like it
was going to get real real quick.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:34):
I think we all kind of figured that out real
fast when that happened.

Speaker 5 (29:37):
Oh yeah. I was grateful I was back to stateside
because having my first baby, I wanted my mommy there
and I would have been a mess if I would
have had to have him over in oak Wanhawa because
they locked that down there was no travel. So yeah,
I was grateful to be stateside at least with my
family and closer to home with everything going on. But
then I went to le June ADSB was an amazing

(30:00):
units and that's who I went to Kuayton I request
we got our orders for I actually left Super Bowl
Sunday of two thousand and three. It was a horrible,
horrible Super Bowl game. It wasn't even a game, and
we had to be at our battalion at midnight's takeoff
and I was there until July two thousand and three.

(30:20):
I came back home.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (30:22):
And that was I mean, that was back in the
time where I mean in the Air Force for the
most part, people were doing like ninety day rotations and
then they swapped over to one hundred and twenty days
and that people were like freaking out. Where the Army
just rolled their eyes and was like shut up, we
go for nine months, eighteen months, depending on the situation.

Speaker 5 (30:40):
The long ones.

Speaker 6 (30:41):
Yeah, no one could.

Speaker 2 (30:44):
I said the Army. You're not the army.

Speaker 5 (30:49):
We're the ones that both Marines are the first in
last to leave.

Speaker 3 (30:52):
But we do.

Speaker 5 (30:53):
It's about a six months to a year rotation depending
on the situation.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (30:57):
And at the time that was like forever some people's
minds to be deployed.

Speaker 5 (31:02):
That was a long time, yes, compared to like you know,
a couple of weeks here in the field, or like
a month off somewhere, or you know, short deployment for
maybe three months. Right, Yeah, that was long term living.

Speaker 6 (31:14):
Well, especially since you know that was when we uh
we first started deployments again really, I mean, we hadn't
been anything like that since the early nineties, so it
was new to all of us for sure.

Speaker 1 (31:25):
Prior to that, it was like sixty day rotations. Like
there were people in my unit that got picked up
for other country national escort duties and they were gone
for like sixty days, like two months, so you know,
people thought that was a while, or then like ninety days.
My husband got deployed for ninety days and that seemed
like forever, forever.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
Yeah, and then they were like.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
Let's crank it up to eleven now, some of y'all
go in four to six months, maybe eighteen whatever.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
It was like, wow, oh o.

Speaker 5 (31:52):
Our operation our we were under second FFSG and SECONDIVE
and when we went over, our orders were to port
the grant units moving north. So we were in Kuwait
waiting for what seemed like forever, and we were sitting
right where we did in the Gulf. So I was
a little comprehensive. I was like, can we not sit

(32:12):
where we sat last time, because I'm pretty sure they
have these coordinates, they know where we are. So we
were at the border waiting and when we got the
orders come down saying, you know, invasions taking place, we
started our convoys and we actually bridged, which Paul's familiar with.

(32:33):
We hadn't had a bridging operation that big since the
days of Vietnam. And we used the floatation bridges and
the other suspension bridges because we blew all the bridges
across the Tigris and the Saddam Canal all the way
north for the grunts and used our bridges. So it
was quite I got our unit, got a Presidential Unit

(32:56):
citation for it.

Speaker 8 (32:57):
Wow, So let me understand that as an electrician and
now you're building bridges.

Speaker 5 (33:06):
Yeah, then I was sitting at a floodlight taking pop
shots from the other side and helping uh bridge all
the way up towards bad Done. Yeah, there were no lines.
They all became a blur.

Speaker 1 (33:18):
I was going to say, yeah, that's like the needs
of the Marine Corps right there.

Speaker 5 (33:22):
Yes, And females were not designated to stay anywhere. If
you were in a job like I was considered a
critical must. We were support, so you know, you went
where you were needed. At that time, there was no
and we didn't sign like papers saying oh, well there's

(33:42):
a line in the sand over there where I can't cross.
Oh no, no, there were no lines in the sand anywhere.

Speaker 6 (33:49):
Well, there's a you know, there's a misconception, especially people
that have never served, you know, about females in combat roles.
But like what you want to understand is like even
if you're in support roles, something things got to get
to the front line somehow.

Speaker 5 (34:03):
So exactly right, right, Yeah, they don't pop up there magically, Yeah,
air drop.

Speaker 6 (34:08):
Everything in those rules go away real quickly once you're
in there.

Speaker 5 (34:12):
Even I think with the females training now in the
different combat moss and going through you know, the School
of Infantry and doing all that, I think people are
still under the impression that, yeah, they get their training,
but they don't really foresee them doing anything with it.
But it's a total misconception. I mean, it's been happening.

(34:33):
I'm sure it happened back in the day before my
time in Vietnam. You know, if there was a need
for something and a female happened to be able to
do it. I'm sure they did it, you know.

Speaker 8 (34:44):
I think that's the biggest change that we're seeing in
the military all over, is that there are no lines anymore.
They are hard to break, but we are breaking them.

Speaker 5 (34:55):
Yeah, barriers have definitely been broken, especially in the Marine Corps.
Now there's no fourth battalion that was specifically only Paras Island.
Females were going there for recruit training for one hundred years.
They did away with fourth and they integrated us all.
So there's three battalions now and females and males, even

(35:18):
though there's less females. So when I went, there was
a female platoon that graduated every like three weeks with
male platoons, but males graduated every Friday on the cycles.
And now there's the three battalions and females are integrated within,
which we don't. We stay within separate squad days, but
they're right alongside them doing their training and they're part

(35:39):
of the actual platoon and they're doing it that way,
which is a little sad for us because I was like,
why why the change is? But I get it. I mean,
modern warfare we have to kind of you know, change
with the times and roll with the punches, I suppose.

Speaker 8 (35:55):
So when you came home, what was your opinion onion
of all the things you did and how you did them?
Were you I almost get that you were excited doing them?

Speaker 5 (36:07):
I actually I couldn't believe when I talked to a counselor.
I was having issues when I came home and I
went to talk to a counselor and she had diagnosed
me with PTSD and anxiety, and I went, what you said, Well,
you don't know, because when I was overseas, I wasn't
stressed out stressed if they did the bunker call and

(36:31):
I had to run and put a gas mask on,
but I wasn't like completely worried twenty four to seven
or anxious and nervous. Your training kind of kicks in
so and we make the most of it. We always
have fun wherever the heck we are Marines, our Marines
and any service member. When when you're doing a craptastic
thing or you're in a crappy place with crappy weather,

(36:54):
you do stuff because you got to. You gotta stay
light on your feet and make fun and just make
the best of it whichever way you can. So I
was shocked because I didn't feel like I was nervous
over there. I actually enjoyed my time overseas as a
unit with the guys that I served with, because I

(37:15):
don't know, we just you know, you become a close
knit unit. I think when you're in that kind of
situation and you know, shots could be coming down range
at you, or you know, missile could be flying over
your head at any minute, because you don't know what's
going to happen, but you feel secure in who you're with.

Speaker 8 (37:34):
You know, you become very attached to everybody around you.

Speaker 5 (37:38):
Oh yeah, when when I mean we say we're we're
brothers and sisters before something like that, But after something
like that, you really are really close. In fact, I
leave Wednesday to go on my trip for our reunion,
our fifth fifth year reunion this year with the guys
from my unit.

Speaker 8 (37:56):
So you made a decision to get out of the
military and not make it a career or what if
what caused you to make that decision.

Speaker 5 (38:05):
I trying to regret it all the time because I'd
be retired. But I came home and they had like
a tent set up with a barbecue at our battalion,
and all the other Marines that had stayed back and
had come back before us were all there, and the families.
And when I saw my son again for the first time,

(38:25):
I mean he was like I was born October sixteenth,
two thousand and one. I came home in July of
two thousand and three, so I mean, he was still tiny,
and he kind of looked at me, because the entire
time I was away, he was with my parents and
my sisters in Pennsylvania, So he kind of looked at me,
and he was a little like confused. And it took

(38:47):
us a little while to get back into a routine
of me being around again all the time. And he
was so used to the routine he had become accustomed
with my mom and my sister putting him to bed
or saving him, and that look on his face. I
just I had an inkling when I came back that
this war and conflict was nowhere near going to be over.

(39:10):
And with my ol Moss at the time, and being
a single mom, I mean, I had my family to
support me, and my unit really did a good job too,
But I thought to myself, I can't do this again.
And as he gets older and having to say goodbye,
it's going to be I mean, it was hard saying
goodbye to home in the first place, but when they
get older and more aware, you know that, oh, Mommy's

(39:31):
going away for however long. And I was like, no,
I can't do this. I'm good, won and done, and
I was right. I mean, my unit went back over
multiple times after that, and then Afghanistans started, so and
we're still kind of out there supporting Paudi Arabia. There's
still units deploying to their actual bases now, but I mean,

(39:55):
it's still the want. There is still a never ending battle.
So I feel like I made the right decision, even
though I really did want to do twenty like my dad,
but he wasn't in the cards.

Speaker 8 (40:07):
That brings up another subject that's near and dear to me.
What kind of conversations did you and your dad have
about his service and then your service?

Speaker 5 (40:17):
So so growing up my entire life, I knew my
dad was cook and was in charge of the mess
tense and loved to cook during his time in the army.
That's all I knew. Knew he was a cook, and
at this point he had been working in the kitchen
at the VA as a supervisor, so that's all I knew,

(40:40):
and I didn't ask. And then when I joined the
Marine Corps and went to boot camp, he was like
my biggest supporter ever. He wrote me so many letters
and really didn't tell me much. But then when I graduated,
he kind of opened up about his time and I
learned what units he had been stationed with, and I

(41:01):
was like, wait, what I thought you were just like, oh, cook,
what are you talking about? And then when I came
home from Iraq, he really really opened up to me
because our times were so much alike with you know,
people were kind of on the fence about supporting us,
and you guys really didn't get a lot of support

(41:22):
with your mom and coming home, and he was so
worried that when I came home I was going to
have trouble and that, you know, with the way the
media and people were talking about their feelings about this war.
So we really bonded and he started to tell me
stories and I could not believe. I was like, wow, Dad,

(41:45):
like are you serious. Right now? You were with like
an artillery unit and you were in the field in
the prone position, laying down suppressive fire of me, Like
I thought you were in the chowhall cooking breakfast.

Speaker 2 (42:00):
It's in the world, Like it's funny.

Speaker 1 (42:02):
I was going to say, I'm the daughter of a
Vietnam veteran too, and it is kind of funny how
our fathers open up more to us as they realized
that through our service we can now empathize with things
they did or things they experienced.

Speaker 2 (42:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (42:15):
Absolutely, Wow, I was blown away. But then for us
it was really therapeutic because we knew we could talk
to each other about stuff, and he really did open up,
and I think I got him to open up to
me more about personal feelings more than anything, because the

(42:38):
Vietnam Era and the Greatest generation, like they they suppressed
that stuff and nobody really knew and they didn't talk
about it back then. And talking to him was like
my first form of therapy. And when he was telling
me stories and then he we used to make each
other laugh because he would bust my butt about being
a marine and I would us his butt about being

(43:01):
an army, but not too much because he was the colonel.

Speaker 2 (43:05):
According to the folks at the VA right.

Speaker 5 (43:08):
Yes, oh my gosh, he would walk into that kitchen
and it was like five stars coming through. So he
ran a type ship, but he cared about the people
he worked for so much. And he always threw like
a Christmas party for them in the best food. And
he always and I've heard it from Paul and other
brothers from their unit of how my dad would make

(43:31):
sure that they got you know, good good stuff. And
he knew how to trade with local farmers and you know,
make here in their decisions to try and get some
local meat and not so much the can stuff that
you really don't always meet just because the label says so.
So he was telling me a story once about one
of my generators that wasn't mine at the time. It

(43:54):
was pre mind, but I probably still had it in
my inventory somewhere at Marine Corps. He come across, I
think it was true lie, he said, the rat and
he came across a USMC generator you see, And I
was like, oh really, and he's like, yep, you're a
drift and I went and he's like, so we acquired

(44:15):
it and.

Speaker 8 (44:17):
Came known as that became known as the Great Generator Caper,
and we got investigated for it.

Speaker 5 (44:25):
Yeah, And Paul said, when ce I came around. I went,
oh my god. He didn't divulge that there was an
actual investigation on it, but yeah, as a generator in the.

Speaker 8 (44:37):
Field, I think your dad's beyond the limitations that I
think he put it back. It was just there. He said,
it needed a home.

Speaker 5 (44:49):
Yeah, we just set it over there. It's been waiting
for you to come for it.

Speaker 2 (44:53):
It was an orphan generator.

Speaker 1 (44:55):
Better better you guys have it than it fall into
the hands of the enemy.

Speaker 5 (44:58):
Right to be run.

Speaker 8 (45:01):
We were told real quick, you don't know where it
came from or your phrases. What generator? We have a generator.

Speaker 6 (45:11):
So I was a supply sergeant in the army and
sometimes yeah, sometimes you tactically acquire things, so things just appear.

Speaker 3 (45:21):
I don't know.

Speaker 8 (45:24):
Yes, you're a gift.

Speaker 4 (45:26):
Not all.

Speaker 8 (45:27):
There's not all horror stories that we share with each other,
but but it does make us close forever.

Speaker 5 (45:35):
Yeah. When he told me that story, I was laughing.
I said, oh no, Yes, the Marines left their stuff
behind and it became a blessing for me. And I said, well,
I guess so we must have been in a hurry
to get somewhere.

Speaker 8 (45:51):
All the military is to say we may have different forces,
but all the stories somehow intertwine. Whether it's Air Force, Marines, Navy, Army,
they all come back somehow and intertwined. It's the same
but different.

Speaker 1 (46:07):
The fraternities there, even among the rivalry. So air Force
and Army might pick on each other, you know, everybody
picks on the Marines sometimes.

Speaker 5 (46:18):
The Navy especially tries to get us and we're like, listen,
get on the boat and drive us where we're going.

Speaker 3 (46:23):
Right.

Speaker 1 (46:23):
I would say crans are a sensitive subject. I got it.
But the fraternities there, like when we meet fellow veterans,
there's that kindred spirit there that kind of, like Paul said,
blinds us all together.

Speaker 6 (46:37):
So at our last Veteran resource fair that we had,
sports clips had a booth set up and they had
edible crayons for the Marines.

Speaker 5 (46:47):
Yes, I actually had a friend that started making them.
That's awesome, and they were all big hit. That was
like after my time. There were a couple of things
that because you know, I get it, where we're supposed
to not be the smartest brand. Especially the guys are
like you know, they're a little feral. They will do

(47:09):
some questionable thing.

Speaker 1 (47:10):
I was going to say, my sister was friends with
a lot of marines out at Yorktown Naval Weapon Center,
so yeah, I got to see up close and personal
just how crazy marines can be. There were definitely some
funny times over there, so.

Speaker 5 (47:26):
I will say said, we don't have boring times in
the field. There's always something that they'll come up with
to keep you occupied.

Speaker 2 (47:34):
And keep things interesting.

Speaker 3 (47:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (47:39):
I think up until probably the last year when I
started doing waror Wellness and doing the radio show and stuff,
I don't think I had ever had a real conversation
with a marine. But like every marine that I've met
over the last few months has just been the best.
They're very good people, the ones that I've met anyway.

Speaker 5 (47:58):
Oh yeah, yeah. I And at Courthouse Bay, you're on
the backside of La June and the beach isn't too far,
so you would go out to the beach and it
would there would be like nobody out there. But some
of the guys that were out there were from the
AAV Unit, which was right near where our schooling was,
and the Yatyas. They were some crazies. I mean, you

(48:21):
have to be to put yourself in a machine that
goes underwater and then comes up out of the water
onto the beach and you're like, we're gonna go right
out of the door. So you know, they probably bypassed
all their side peoples. So those guys were always doing
crazy stuff. And I remember being at the beach looking
over and I thought they were fighting, but they were

(48:43):
just like playing with each other. But it was just
their style of play. It looked like a WWE match
was going down next door, and.

Speaker 1 (48:52):
They were just practicing their hand to hand combat skills
because they were feeling froggy.

Speaker 5 (48:58):
Yeah, they were. They were practicing there and stuff, and
I was like, Okay, everything's good over here, all right. Yeah,
that's that's kind of the marine though. They Yeah, don't
get a board marine somewhere with something, because they will
find a way to get into trouble real quick by
doing something with it. Like the third floor of barracks

(49:18):
and Ocanawan during typhoons, and the parachutes that they would
make out of their will be the liners of their
ponchos stories or they would stand at one end and
open the because the outside doors would go to the
stairwells outside the barracks. So when the winds were blowing
just the right angle it would come down the hallway.
So they would get in a mop bucket and sit

(49:40):
with their buddies by the doors. Their buddies would open
the doors and they would go fly in and see
who could go the furtherest down the hallway to the
other side of the doors and race. And I was like, Okay,
this is entertaining.

Speaker 8 (49:54):
To watch no limits and no fear.

Speaker 5 (49:58):
No none, none, which I think I don't know that
the blessing occurs sometimes with the Marines, but I know
our unit we had water dogs, which was water purification.
They did shower units, they did water supply, and we
actually had washers that I didn't know even existed in

(50:21):
the field until Iraq. And then we had HVAC guys
which we never even used our a season tense what
and then us electricians we were also with the h
was our other side. So we were a crazy clan
of mixes in the bunch, but that the four units together,

(50:44):
and then motor Key was always around, I mean from
all walks of life too, so never a boring moment.

Speaker 8 (50:51):
Well, Kathleen, I want to thank you for coming on.
I'm just so proud that we connected and that I
got to have my unofficial niece on the air. So
thanks for joining this day, and we really enjoyed having
you listen.

Speaker 5 (51:06):
I was so honored when you reached out to me
and the message that he sent me started off, Hey Marine,
and I went ooh, and it was I was so
honored to you know, I've never been interviewed before. This
is my first actual official interview, so well.

Speaker 1 (51:23):
Thank you for telling your story. I hope you'll continue
telling your story because it's important and it will speak
to people on multiple levels, whether it's the single mom
who's serving or who you know got out because she
wanted to be home with her kids, or you know,
the woman who's trying to continue breaking barriers in today's military,

(51:44):
or whatever the case might be. Or even sometimes guys
get really surprised when they hear about the things that
US ladies do in uniform. So you know, you have
a really awesome story, and I hope you'll continue telling it.

Speaker 6 (51:57):
Yeah, we'll definitely have you back on here again and
we'll talk about other things VA Honor Flight things like that.

Speaker 5 (52:03):
Yes, anytime, just have Paul reached out, tell me Haym.

Speaker 8 (52:06):
Marine, you got it.

Speaker 2 (52:10):
Thanks Kathleen.

Speaker 5 (52:11):
It was a pleasure, guys, Thank you so much.

Speaker 6 (52:13):
Thank you all Right, So before we close out today,
I just wanted to come on here and just do
a heartfelt thank you for all the people that helped
out this weekend and the Weir wellness fundraiser that was
out at the Wyvern. I want to thank my wife, Casey,
my mom was there, my sisters Jennifer and carry were there,

(52:33):
Debbie Lux helping Hearts for Heroes for allowing me to
basically take over their.

Speaker 3 (52:42):
Fundraiser.

Speaker 6 (52:43):
Heidi, Shawna, Kim, Jim, the Rally Point Show, my partners
that I've got in here, Paul, Jay, Amanda along with
Amanda's husband Brandon, our Legacy Rock Club, our Rock that
were out there, deb and Emma, and we had some

(53:05):
great raffles and silent auctions. So I definitely want to
make sure that I say thank you to you. Fit Jim,
the YMCA of Southwest Florida, Charlotte County, Flowers, The Twisted Fork, Bert's,
Harley Davison Mission Barbecue, Active Age, Senior Care, Illusion SPA,

(53:27):
SBG Insurance, Ted Stansberry Florida Veteran Cleaning, Kim Omntre Sports,
Clips and Tiki Time Beach Shop there, plus there were
so many others there that supported me, and it was
an unbelievable event. It was a great time and I

(53:50):
really appreciate it and I look forward to the next one.

Speaker 3 (53:53):
Thank you very much.

Speaker 6 (53:55):
Rally Pointers all out,