Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Rally Pointers. Attention, hut ADDIE's This is the Rally Point Show.
Your host Paul Poleshi there with Zane the Brain who
makes us sound good every week. Oh it's my pleasure.
And on the phone right now, we have our wonderful guest,
Naomi Copeland from Southwest Honor Flight for Florida.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hello, Good morning, Nao, Good morning listen.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
I'd like to take this show today and really recap
our honor flight that was on October fourteenth, But I
want to do a little bit about behind the scenes
how we get there before we actually talk about the
actual honor flight. So this one is a special occasion
for the Honor Flight organization. Can you tell us what's
(00:53):
going on there?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yeah? So, Southwest Florida Honor Flight covers seven counties, and
those counties are Charlotte, This, Soto, Hardy, Hendry Highlands, Manatee,
and Sarasota County. I happen to live here in Sarasota County,
(01:18):
and when I moved here literally nine years ago this month,
I had been very involved in Honor Flight network. I
kind of just navigated to the north to the Saint
Pete West Central Hub, and when I realized that what
I thought. There was no hub here that covered Sarasota
and Manatee Counties. I called my friends at Network and
(01:40):
I'm like, Hey, can I start a hub in Sarasota
and Bradenton. We are rich in veterans and we have
a great philanthropic community that is very supportive of nonprofits.
And my friends at Network told me that I could
not do that because there was already a hub here.
(02:02):
And I'm like, well, if there's a hub here, I
have never heard of it, and so they don't really
promote that they cover Sarasota and Bradentton. So that's when
I got connected with Southwest Florida onnor Flight and began
volunteering just kind of organically. I became a board member,
(02:24):
became vice president before I had even taken a flight
with them, and then on flight day became president. And
my mission was to get exposure of Southwest Florida Honor
Flight in Sarasota and Bradenton Manatee counties because geographically seven
counties from the Skybridge down to the Lee County Line
(02:47):
seabring literally down to Alligator Alley, Clewiston, Florida, way down
there off southwest corner of the lake, just a little
north of Alligator Alley. That's a wide, wide swath of land.
And so I began talking with the individuals at Sarasota
Bradenton International Airport and they have graciously been looking forward
(03:12):
to connecting with an Honor Flight hub to have a
flight out of SRQ Southwest Florida. Honor Flight has historically
flown from our southern airports. Hunta Gorda Airport's been the
home of our hub for the last five flights over
three years. And so we have been focused for literally
(03:34):
the last twelve months preparing and getting ready for a
flight out of SRQ, and the commissioners of the Airport Authority,
the executive team at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, all of
the employees from TSA to marketing to housekeeping and grounds
(03:56):
and parking lot crew have been so helped in making
this a reality.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
It's an amazing it takes that long to get this
on the road.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, we have had a lot of logistical meetings with
the SRQ folks. We began sitting down with them about
eighteen months ago and more, you know, we probably had
six meetings with them in the last three months, just
making sure we have all of our tea's crossed, our
(04:29):
ies dotted to give our veterans the best experience on
their flight day, little details that they may not see
or know about, to make it a flawless day for everyone.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Well myself, going on as the media representative for the flight,
I was attended both your normal monthly meetings to get
ready for this and then with your training sessions that
happened on a Sunday. I don't know how to describe it.
(05:04):
It was just I was just in awe. It was
like a military operation, from the minute I drove into
the driveway and was told where parking was to actually
going through the training sessions. You know it's your volunteers
are amazing. Why don't you tell us you describe in
your words what I saw when I drove in that driveway.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Well, you saw the biggest, hugest American flag hanging off
of a hook and ladder fire truck from the Manatee
Fire Department. I think it was the South Manateee Division
of the Manatee Fire Department welcoming our veterans to orientation
(05:53):
and our guests, and this was a huge first for us.
You know Unity of Manatee and Sarasota Counties has waited
twenty years to have an honor flight out of SRQ,
and I am telling you, people came out of the
(06:13):
wood work. We've been sending press releases for a couple
of months now, about three weeks ago, I really focused
in on reaching our sheriff's offices, our fire departments, our
police departments, our law enforcement, and they have overwhelmingly supported
(06:35):
our veterans. And this honor flight that we took out
of SRQ just fire engines, fire personnel, law enforcement personnel,
They just a lot of them are veterans themselves, but
they just want to make sure that our veterans are honored,
are respected. And it blew me away. It continues to
(06:59):
give me shivers and goose bumps and tears to see
when we pulled into that Brandenton Moose Lodge, that ladder
truck with that I don't even know the size, like
seventy feet, I don't even know.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
It was huge American. It was huge. I mean, and
you couldn't miss it the minute you turned into that driveway,
even I mean the volunteers that had it was.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Ye yeah, yeah, And I will tell you We talk
about it all the time, Paul. It is a community
of volunteers and individuals, patriotic, passionate Americans that come together
to pull an honor flight off. And when I say
it takes a community, it takes a village, a city,
(07:48):
a county region to make an honor flight happen. And
we cannot thank our volunteers enough. They come out of
the woodwork. They asked for no thanks or no appreciation
or nothing in return except for to serve our veterans,
And our board of directors can never begin to thank
them enough for coming out and helping us. You say
(08:10):
it was a military precision day. On the back end
of it, it never feels like that. So I'm glad
that that's exactly what it looks like, because we never
want anything other than it to look like that. But
there are greeters in the parking lot showing people where
to park. There are volunteers shuttling arounding golf court carts
(08:31):
to bring veterans up to the door so that they
are treated like VIPs from the minute they hit the
ground of wherever our orientation is. Then there's welcoming crews inside,
there's check in volunteers that help check in the veterans
and guardians. We've got people that donate you know, catering
(08:51):
to provide food for the veterans and the guardians and
the guests their family members. We have fantastic board members
who blood, sweat, tears, put up screens for projectors, sound
systems playing background music. Merchandise. We we have merchandise Office
(09:15):
Florida merchandise that we take donations for. We had a
fantastic volunteer that makes by hand wood American flags and
they are available in all branches in his garage and
he donates the proceeds to that back to Honor Flight.
(09:35):
So those things are going to be at you know,
our our fundraising events. And there's ways if you want
to connect with us if you are interested in one
of these handmade wavy American wooden flags. Will have some
of them on our Facebook page. You can just reach
out to us and we'll get you hooked up. But
it's it's a village, it's a town, it's a community,
(09:55):
it's a county, it's a whole region. And I'll tell
you they have my love and appreciation. Every single time
I see them, I tell them thank you and the
veterans thank everyone that participates in this day.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Well, it's also a training session too. You're training the
guardians of their responsibility, how they perform what they're expected
to do. So that training session also took place.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Which yeah, yeah, So we want to make sure that
our guardians know our expectations and what their charge, if
you will, is for the day, and their charge is
to be the hands, the feat the eyes of the
veteran for their flight day because they are going to
(10:45):
be in so much awe of everything that goes on.
They missed the cracks that are in the ground and
then you know, they stumble. We have what we call
honor chairs, which are wheelchairs, and we learned early on
that there's just some people, for no fault of their own,
that just don't know how to use an honor chair,
(11:07):
and so we make sure our veterans that need those
honor chairs are treated respectfully, dignantly, and so we show
our guardians how to push a wheelchair properly, how to
go over you know, pebbles because some of the ground
is uneven. You know, you know that you saw that
on Tuesday, there's you know, terrains that they have to
(11:31):
go over blocks. At the Vietnam Wall, there's little three
by three squares of granted in the ground and that's
the sidewalk that leads up to the wall. And so
we train up our guardians and their charge is to
be in you know, responsible safety wise, food wise, for
our greatest treasures, our veterans, and so they are confident
(11:55):
in their duties for the day. And then just to
make sure that we're both on the same page for expects,
answer any questions and there's always a bunch of really
really good questions. And then we go into our full
orientation flight day where our guardians then go in and
get to meet the veteran or veterans that they're going
(12:17):
to be with on flight day. And I tell guardians
when I'm making phone calls to them to confirm them
for the flight, that this is going to be a
very special relationship that you will have with this individual.
I tell you for the rest of your life. Tuesday's
(12:40):
flight was personally my twenty sixth flight. Fifteen times before that,
I paid my own way and took a day off
of work to spend with the greatest treasures are veterans.
And I will tell you I've celebrated the best of times,
the saddest of time, anniversaries, birthdays, and I've you know,
(13:03):
said goodbye to a few of my veterans when they
have been interned at a national cemetery. And likewise, for
our veterans, you may not know this person, and I
know you're a little apprehensive about it ahead of time,
But for our veterans on Tuesday that got to hang
out with their new best friends. It was just so
(13:25):
amazing to see our veterans interact with the guardians at
the memorials, the tears, the kleenexes, the smiles, the pictures
being taken. Paul, like, I just reflect back on Tuesday
and all of that is just overwhelming. At times for me.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Well, you know, making some recordings and conversations that that happened,
it is, it's very emotional. But for me as a veteran,
it was a lot of fun. Also, I got to
meet more of my brothers and sisters. You know, we
are one big family, and yes, it does take its
(14:09):
toll on us. The other thing that that was kind
of neat at that meeting was also the training of
the veterans. It kind of started the excitement of you know,
even just bust assignments, who was on what bus and
and it kind of became getting everybody wound up for
(14:34):
this great trip that they were going to go on. Yeah,
it was almost like a revival. It was.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
It really really is. And you know, I tell folks
all of the time when I'm making presentations and speaking
engagements and just out in the community at the ballpark
when I'm tabling, you know, fundraising is always hard. We
always need funds to take another flight. We've got, you know,
a couple hundred that trends on a wait list waiting
(15:03):
for their flight. And each flight, I know we've talked
about it before and you heard it on orientation day.
Each flight is approximately one hundred and eighteen thousand dollars
in expenses. Our aircraft is our most expensive expense on
flight day. And we keep moving forward with hope that
(15:24):
our community, our patriotic Americans, our generous donors, individuals, families,
businesses will support us financially, that you know, we can
take another flight in the spring and another flight in
the fall. Every year we go on face that our
(15:44):
community will come through for us, and funding is always
not easy, especially you know when you have some tropical
storms and hurricanes in South Florida, Southwest Florida. But more
hard to convince is our veterans that A they're worthy
to go on a flight. B they're not taking a
(16:07):
seat away from someone else that should go before them.
And see just answering all of their questions because they're
anxious and you know, nervous they are. You know, they
have little flashbacks of their time in the military, whether
they were one of our female veterans, and we are
(16:27):
you know, we really really focus on honoring our female
veterans also that served, and our Vietnam veterans. You know,
they're a little anxious about what might happen if they
approached the wall, and we take all of that very
We are very very sensitive to that. We have eight
medics at a minimum that come with us on each flight.
(16:51):
The flight on Tuesday, we were very fortunate we had
three physicians that came with us, you know, and that
they're the people that are going to be able to
help you in a medical emergency on flight day, not
your family member.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
And so we also we also had the additional problem
of the shutdown. The were not what we normally would
have expected and it also drained us to provide some
supplies that we normally don't.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Supply, right, and you know, our yellow Shirt National Park
volunteers weren't on hand, you know, the the etchings at
the wall, if they were a name way up high
on the panel the ladder, because the volunteers are the
only folks that are allowed to go up on that
ladder and get that etching. So we we you know,
(17:46):
you saw we we made the best out of it.
But you know, we started orientation to build that excitement
so that our veterans are a little more at ease
in preparation for flight day. And when they arrived at
the airport on Tuesday, four o'clock in the morning was
really really early, wasn't it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, But I'll
(18:13):
tell you, you got the adrenaline going really honestly all
day long, and you know, there's not ever barely a
lull to close your eyes. But we hope our veterans,
you know, came back Tuesday night best better than when
they left, and more fulfilled. And we saw that in
the tears and the welcome home and just the community
showing up and supporting this inaugural flight out of Sarasota
(18:38):
International Airport for US, even though we've been flying for
you know, since two thousand and seven out of the
southern airports. We you know, early on we flew out
of RSW and then starting in twenty twenty two, we
started flying out of Panagorda. So we're going to keep
SRQ in our rotation. We're not leaving punagor To Airport.
(19:00):
We're going to be flying out of there in the spring.
So we just are you know, blessed in our seven counties.
We have two really large airports that we can take
flights out of to better accommodate, you know, the veterans
in those seven counties.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
And it's also good for the communities because they get
they get a chance to come out and participate. I
think that's great that we're in more than one airport.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Now, yeah, yeah, And didn't you see that Tuesday night, Paul, Like,
holy cow, did you ever expect any of that and
all of those people.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
No, no, it's mining. It really is.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Blew me away. It blew me away. And so thank
you to the community for stepping up and showing up.
I know, you know, it's a school night and you know,
eight fifty PM comes, you know, a little later in
the day when our plane landed. But thank you for
sticking around and hanging out and helping us give those
(19:56):
veterans the best welcome home that they deserve. They finally
received it, and you know, I saw healing. I don't
know about you, Paul, but I saw our veterans on Tuesday,
you know, just the healing they they've some of the
things the veterans said to me. You know, they've been
(20:16):
going to the VA or having counseling for you know,
decades since Vietnam, and wow, this just really helped more
than any of that counseling. And I've heard that on
previous flights, but I had a lot of veterans say
that to me on Tuesday night when I, you know,
told them welcome home and thank you for your service.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Well, by the way, I want to thank you for
giving me the title of media So when I talked
to James negotiations, I'm going to use that against him.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Yes, yes, you are our media person, one of our
media persons that were on that flight, right.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
That's right. I mean fifty years ago, when I was
in Vietnam, I would have thought that I would be
talking about it as a as a media person and
as a host. So I get more benefits than than
I could ever tell you from from all.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Yeah. So the serge, you know, dude like he's media now,
Like we got the media pass and everything for Paul.
So Serge like, I'm not sure, but you need to
up the contract a little.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Yeah, well that'd be easy for him to do. But
getting that we sidetracked a little bit. Let's get back
to it. You know, even even some of the stories
that that we will eventually put on the air, We're
going to put a couple of them on today, you know,
just to celebrate this this occasion, not only for Sarasota,
(21:47):
but you know, it's just another milestone in South and
all of the honor flights across the nation that we're
just one of many, and we want to continue to
do that to give them the inspiration to go on.
But I'll tell you this is my first time really
being involved in it. I can't say enough about it.
(22:11):
It's just it's just amazing what has been accomplished with
our veterans on that day, all the areas we went to,
all the events that we did, all the shrines that's
what I call them. I call them shrines. But the
spots of them that we weigh are That's why I
(22:32):
keep telling That's why I want to make sure that
the business people of of our area understand that we
will acknowledge them. If they make a five hundred dollars
donation to on a flight, just go to our website,
our website, Just go to their website, make a donation,
and we will mention you on the air. We'll talk
about you because we're so grateful for your donations.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Yeah, And they have two ways they can do that, Paul.
They can go to our website, which is sw s
L Honor Flight dot org and you can click on
the donate now button and fill it in from there,
or you can scroll down on that website on the
(23:18):
main homepage has our post office box. And I believe
that is something in twenty twenty five that I have
really been trying to be better about. And I know
in twenty twenty six we've got some new things that
we're going to start right at the beginning of the
year with our donations and our donors acknowledge them on
(23:39):
social media. We do a really good job of it now,
but we're upping the ante because we understand, you know,
twenty twenty four really hit those three back to backstorms, hurricanes,
tropical depressions really took a toll on the Southwest Florida
and Charlotte County was still not recovered from Hurricane Ian
(24:01):
and then even Hurricane Charlie before that. So we are
grateful for every dollar that goes to our veterans to
help us fly them to Washington, DC and honor them
at their memorials. And you can go to our website
SWFL Honor Flight dot org. You can donate online or
you can send a check. We are going to mention
(24:24):
you on the air. You're going to get mentioned on
our website and on our social media.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
You know. We also have some other fundraisers going on.
Don't you have any poker run going on?
Speaker 2 (24:35):
And some other things we do. We have the first
Hank Tenter Memorial Poker Run benefiting Southwest Florida Honor Flight
that will be on Saturday, December sixth. We will be
taking off kickstands up from berths A. It's the Harley
(25:00):
Davidson in Punagorda Port Charlotte. Excuse me, I think it's
Bird's Black Widow. Harley Davidson is the technical full name
of it. So that is on Saturday, December sixth. You
can go to our website and our social media and
find out more details about that. And then in January
(25:22):
of twenty twenty six, we will be doing another car
show cruise in at Seabring International Raceway in Seabring, Florida.
We're finalizing the date on that and the details, so
we'll have that on our website and social media. And
then on Saturday, January thirty first, we will be doing
(25:45):
a clay shoot at Vermont Shooting Club in Puntagorda. Registration
and sponsorships are available now for that, so it will
be a sold out. There is a limited number of
teams that we will be able to host for that,
and that is January thirty first, twenty twenty six. So
(26:06):
we've got lots of ways that you can support on
a flight also having fun and again I know you
mentioned you've been attending a couple of our Hub meetings.
I feel you know on a flight day is really
stressful for the individuals that are involved in it. To
put it on flawlessly for our veterans, we have to
(26:27):
have a lot of fun. I like to laugh and
have a lot of fun, even at myself. So our
Hub Meetings, which is our monthly business meeting, is the
fourth Wednesday of the month. So our next Hub meeting
will be the fourth Wednesday in October, but in the
months of November and December we meet on the third
(26:48):
Wednesday because of the holidays, and it is at seven pm.
It's at Kingsgate Golf Club in Port Charlotte in the clubhouse.
And we do do a Zoom virtual option. If you're
interested in participating and you want zoom link, you just
need the email list and you can get that email
(27:09):
address from our website which is swflonnorflight dot org and
just shoot us an email and say, hey, add me
to the mailing list. Would like to participate in your
meetings by zoom and we'll get you onto our mailing list.
We mail that link out about a week to the
week of the meetings. So next Hub meeting is the
(27:29):
fourth Wednesday in October. If you want to learn more
about on or Flight, come to that meeting. It's going
to be a really great meeting because you know it'll
be the first meeting right after the flight from Tuesday
and you can. We'll have applications there if you know
a veteran, if you want to be a guardian, Our
guardian and veteran applications are on our website. But we
(27:50):
also have that and all of the fundraising materials of
our upcoming endeavors at our Hub meetings. And Paul I
forgot to throw in there reachs across America. We are
five dollars of every wreath that our Hub cells comes
back to us, and you can double that by remembering
(28:13):
a veteran that's interned at a national cemetery. And we
have Sarasota National Cemetery here in our area, plus a
couple of other smaller cemeteries have veterans sections that across
America support. You can find that information on our website too.
I believe the reefs are seventeen dollars and you can
(28:35):
do it in honor of someone, in memory of someone,
or you can just support wreaths across America by buying
a wreath and it'll be placed on a veteran's gravesite
at a national cemetery. So that is also coming up
in December two.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
There's a lot of these fundraisers that have value for
our listener. You get to pay in some activity and
also support our Honor flight. The expense is tremendous, but
the rewards are just as great. So all of your
businesses out there, are all you individuals, pick one and
(29:14):
please help us pull another Honor flight off with the
precision that we have.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Well, we're just about through for today. We're gonna in
our second half of the program. We're gonna give you
some of the recordings that we made on the Honor
Flight so you can see how our veterans experience it. Again,
they owe me to all your board members, to all
of the people who volunteer, our gratitude and thank you
(29:47):
for being on the air again.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Thank you, thank you so much, and we just appreciate it.
We are very focused on honoring our veterans again. Let
the wait list scare you. Please get your application in
sooner rather than later. If you are a veteran or
a guardian, submit it. When the time comes. We'll give
(30:11):
you a call. If that date doesn't work, we'll keep
calling you until it works. But we always hope that
our veterans especially will make a date work. That we
have our one flight. It's a one day up and
back trip to DC. You know that, Paul, we do
a spring flight and we do a fall flight. Get
your applications in as soon as possible, and you can
(30:32):
email us with any questions that you have. So thank
you so much for the time today.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Absolutely, and we'll go into our recordings and the next sessions.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
Thanks, Naomi, thank you outstanding. And by the way, good morning, Naomi.
It's Jay Sarge. But I will say I have a
master Starry here, so it's a little confused and justin
say hello, hello.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Morning.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
One of my questions for you are is excuse me
with the different hubs that you have here in Florida
in throughout the United States, are you guys are Thomas
or one another? Or you guys kind of work together?
How does that usually work?
Speaker 2 (31:09):
We work together? We obviously it's all about the veterans,
and so it's whatever the veterans' desires and wishes are,
and so we do our very very best to work
with all of the hubs across the United States. Last year,
the number of veterans still waiting for their honor flight
(31:31):
was over forty two thousand. Veterans across the United States,
And so there are veterans that maybe could I think
about snowbirds. I get asked all of the time, does
the veteran have to live here? They don't. We've taken
a couple of brothers that live here in Port Charlotte
(31:52):
and their brother lives in Michigan, and the brother flew
down so that he could experience the Honor fly. All
three of them were veterans together, so that they could
all be honored together, have a you know, a bond,
a special form of healing maybe together and share share
those memories, and those veterans and every veteran always say
(32:15):
the honor fly is one of the best days of
their life. So we do our very very best to
make sure that the needs of the veterans are met
and what whatever their wishes are. So it's best when
we all work together as hubs across the United States.
Speaker 4 (32:31):
Okay, So I have a question as the new kid.
So I know that it sounds like a great program
that I know a lot of veterans are going to
want to get on board with. UH, So, how do
you how do you determine who gets put on the
waiting list? How does how does that work? Is there
(32:53):
a cost associated because I know that there's a lot
of veterans that I feel like it doesn't apply to them.
I've talked to a few Vietnam veterans that don't think
that they fit the criteria. Can you explain what the
criteria is and the waiting list process?
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Absolutely, those are really great questions. And I will tell
you fund raising for the flights are always you know,
that's always a challenge. But I will tell you getting
the veterans to submit their applications is actually harder than
raising funds. And that is because we know, you know,
(33:35):
I think you know, World War Two veterans were the
greatest generation. There are many still around, and I will
tell you I believe that a lot of them move
from the north the Midwest to the northwest to Florida
where it's such an amazing climate most days year round,
(33:56):
and I think they get healthier, this is just my opinion,
and they longer, and so they by the time we
get to them and find find them, you know, it's
they're one hundred there, they're ninety nine. They're pushing one
hundred and one. We've had one hundred and two year
old World War two veterans. So that's always the challenge
(34:16):
is making sure that the veterans understand and our belief
in our hub at Southwest Florida Honor Flight is you
were the flag of our nation, You were willing and
ready to serve whenever you were called. You deserve to
be honored. And so a lot of hubs early on
(34:37):
only would take combat veterans, veterans who saw combat, and
that has evolved over the years because it is all
veterans deserve to be honored the waiting list. So what
happens is veterans will submit an application. We fly our
(34:59):
veterans at no cost, so our veterans fly completely for free.
We do all kinds of fund rate to ensure that
our veterans do not have to pay a dime because
they've already paid a price for our freedom. And guardians
accompany veterans and they do pay a portion of the
flight cost expenses. And World War Two veterans obviously take priority.
(35:26):
Korean veterans are the next person, if you will, that
takes priority because we know we're we're you know, there's
fewer and fewer World War Two veterans, there's fewer and
fewer Korean veterans as well, and then anyone with a
life limiting illness. So if and how we define that
(35:47):
is if they would submit their application and it would
be a couple of years before they would maybe get
their call FORU or fly and they are in the
middle of, you know, seven episodes of cancer, we're going
to get them on the flight as soon as we
possibly can, respectfully, and then everyone goes in a wait list.
(36:10):
It's by date application received. And it's always a little
challenging because we could have a World War Two veteran
who is a friend of a Vietnam veteran who just
submits their application, and we're going to try to do
our very best to keep friends and brothers and sisters
together on their honor flights. So it is always a
(36:31):
juggling act. We never intend to hurt anyone's feelings. And
sometimes we've called people and filled the flight and one
I can give you one example. In the spring of
twenty twenty four, this is a perfect example. I had
confirmed a Korean veteran on his honor flight. His stepdaughter
(36:55):
was going to be his guardian. A month goes by
and about three weeks before the flight, I get a
call from the step daughter and says, hey, my stepdad
has been in the hospital for ten days. We appreciate
the fact that you know we're going to get him
on his honor flight, but we just don't think he
can make it. And I said, you're sure, you know
(37:17):
because I have to submit a manifest to TSA and
they're like, no, go ahead and remove both of us,
which we did seven days before the flight. We submitted
our manifest. The day before our orientation, I get a
phone call from the step daughter, would you mind if
we brought dad to orientation tomorrow. We just want to
(37:40):
give him an idea of what it looks like. And
I said absolutely, please bring him. And he came in
to the location where our orientation was being held and
I immediately turned to my vice president and I said,
he absolutely has to get on this flight on Tuesday.
(38:02):
There's no ifans or buts about it. I will not
go on the flight and I will give him my seat.
Let's get him on the flight. And we had did
a little bit of maneuvering and we were able to
get him on the flight, get his information to TSA,
get him through, and he passed away ten days after
the flight. So yeah, so we were able to honor
(38:26):
him and get him on his honor flight as a
last act of respect and honor, and he it was
the best day of his life. And he talked about
it for the ten days after the flight until he
left our earth. So that is kind of the pecking order.
There is no charge for our veterans. If you have
(38:49):
worn the flag of our nation and Southwest Florida Honor
Flights Hub, you should submit an application right now for
our In preparation for our conference this week in December,
we had to submit our statistics, how many veterans we flew,
how many guardians we flew, how many flights we flew,
and how many are on our wait list. And I
(39:11):
will tell you Southwest Florida Honor Flight we have been
working diligently and non stop for the last three years.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
Hi. In this segment, I was going to play some
of the recordings that I made on the honor Flight trip,
but unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, as they say, that
ain't going to happen. So what I thought I'd do
here is give you my observations and my feelings of
what was going on, how the day went, to start
off was it was an amazing day. I arrived there,
(39:50):
what I saw was going to be very early. The
veterans and their guardians were going to arrive around four o'clock,
so I got there about an hour earlier. When I
walked into the reception area, the volunteers there and the
staff had already set up the signs and decorations and tables,
welcoming tables, and all of the initial information that had
(40:15):
to be done before we got on the plane. It
was kind of shocking that they were already there and
ready to go when I got there. So when the
veterans and the guardians started to arrive to check in,
the volunteers were all set up, they were ready to function.
(40:36):
That flowed very easily. We got everybody checked in and
the assignments with their guardians was taken care of, so
we were ready to board the plane. Now you have
to understand that we're still in the government shutdown at
this time, but even though the government was shut down,
(40:58):
the TSA and the security screeners were efficient, quick pleasant.
They really got us through the TSA process process and
the check in with quite efficient movement. As we get
(41:20):
after we got through security and was starting to go
through into the actual airport to our loading area. There
were again more volunteers with signs. They greeted us pleasantly.
They ushered us to where we had to go to
to be on the check in. The airport person the
(41:42):
airport employees and ground personnel were ready for us. They
had it all set up and they had wheelchair ramps
to get us into the plane, which was quite defeat
to get us into that charter Allegiance was ready for us.
The airlines that we had chartered to fly, they were
I mean for that early in the morning. They were
(42:04):
ready to go and all set up. There was no
glitches to getting even our wheelchairs and all of us
on the on the flight. The flight had a slight
little incident there. Our medics were quick at hand, as
you know, like uh as you know nam Man, as
(42:28):
you know, Nami Naomi had told us God.
Speaker 2 (42:33):
We.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
Have our own EMTs and doctors on the flight for
such emergencies. But even that was handled with efficient and
and just done well. So our hats off to all
of our medical personnel. When we got to the airport
in DC, that's Dulles Airport, again there was volunteers with
(42:59):
signs in hand, and they were just everywhere helping us
find what we needed to find and getting us to
our designated area where we're going to pick up our
convoy of buses. Now on the buses with wheelchairs stowed
(43:21):
and ready to go, we were off to our first memorial,
which was the World War Two Memorial. Quite the scene
if you've never seen it. They also had a special
presentation and folding of the flag for our only World
War Two veteran and then they presented that flag to
(43:42):
him in memory of today's events. From the World War
Two Memorial. We then went to the South Korean Memorial
for our veterans, and this was a special presentation from
South Korea. They had ambassador do the presentation and he
(44:04):
presented our Korean vets with a memento with a medal,
and the ambassador presented a medallion a medal to our
Korean vets and read a presentation and presented them with
(44:25):
the placards for that for their work in the Korean War.
From there, we went to the Lincoln Memorial that if
you've never been there, that's quite a site. There's quite
a few steps. They do have handicap ramps, to get
(44:46):
into the actual museum. I walked up all of those steps,
sat there on the top step and just was amazed
by the view of the reflecting pool, and in the
background is the Washington Monument and off to its left
you can see the Capitol building. It was amazing. I
(45:07):
sat there for quite a while, observing that it was
also time for us to have lunch, and we had
some free time here we could wander around and look
at all the different sites there were to see in
that general area. It was interesting to see the number
(45:28):
of people. Even though the parks and recreation people were
not in full force there, there was still a lot
of visitors. What I noticed that there was a lot
of schools. There was quite a few number of school
children there, and there was also quite quite few people
from other countries looking at all the monuments and really
(45:51):
enjoying the sites to be seen. Also, remember even though
that the government is shut down, there still was law enforcement.
There was still security in all of the monuments areas.
And if you looked in the background, there were troops
doing patrols in small groups, but you had to look
for him. They were there, but they were in the background.
(46:15):
So after this casual time. We then went to the
Vietnam area with all of the different monuments and exhibits
they have there. Then we were back on the bus
and we went to the Service Women's Monument or Museum,
where there was a ceremony that was performed for the
(46:38):
thirteen women veterans that we had in attendance. It was
very moving, very individual to all of them. Was quite
a pleasant site, quite a nice event. And walking through
the museum that they have there, there was a lot
of different areas you could go to and read some
(47:01):
of the placards, reach some of the displays. Again, it
was quite informative and quite pleasant to see. The next
stop for us was at Arlington National Cemetery. It is
a amazing and breathtaking place to see as we drove
(47:21):
through to get to our deep Bark.
Speaker 3 (47:27):
Hell.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
The next stop was actually in the Arlington National Cemetery.
It's a breathtaking site to see all of those white headstones.
They're never ending, They're everywhere, no matter what the terrain was,
(47:50):
they're all in a row. They go everywhere. There's no
spot that you can't look and get a view of
this breathtaking sight. We took a quick stop for a
group pitcher and then it was to the tomb of
the Unknown Soldier. That area there is an area of
(48:16):
reverence and silence, total silence. The only spoken word is
by the guards when they're changing the guards. It's quite
the procedure and their reverence to the tomb of the
Unknown Soldier is just another site to behold how they
(48:41):
do it, what they do it, and why they do it.
But we got an additional site to see there. They
had the changing and putting on a new reef that
you've seen on television. They actually went through that, and
I believe it was a family of someone who was
interred there in the cemetery. It was it's total silence.
(49:07):
There's no spoken words other than the guards, and they
do a special salute to the veterans. But I'll let
you experience that when you go on your honor flight.
I can't speak enough about the value of this trip,
the precision in which they take care of it, the
(49:29):
way they do it. I have specifically left out some
of the finer details. You need to go there to
experience the whole trip and to really do that trip
for the veterans. If you're a guardian, I believe you
get as much out of it as the veteran does.
(49:50):
It's a bond that happens between the gardens, the guardians,
and the veterans. You need to really consider it. If
you're a veteran, you need to go online and apply
to be on that flight. There is a waiting list,
so you want to get on it as quickly as possible.
If you were a spouse of a veteran, you might
(50:12):
want to consider helping them sign up for it. It's
a once in a lifetime event. It's worth every minute
of your time. Oh, by the way, I have to
also talk about Sarasota, the welcoming home that Sarasota gave
(50:35):
the veterans when we got back and got off the flight,
I have no idea if there was anybody in Sarasota
that wasn't there. It was never ending. It was a
maze of people welcoming our veterans back. The I can't
(50:56):
list all of the organizations that were there to welcome
the vet back, whether it was fire police, whether it
was there was a lot of school children there. There
was music there. I mean there was just Sarasota had
pulled out all the plugs to make that trip back
(51:18):
to make our veterans coming home everything that it should be.
So to you, Sarasota and all the residents and all
of the organizations were just it was. I was in
awe of how they could get that many people at
the airport. I'll give you an idea. It took me
(51:39):
an hour to get out of the parking lot to
go home. So that's how. That's how busy that that
group was. I'm really curious to know how many people
were there. But again, Sarasota, you pulled out all all
the stops. You got an amazing welcoming committee there. The
(51:59):
resident I can't say enough about them. I was so
impressed and so pleased the way they brought there welcome
to our veterans. And that leads me to again, I
always have to do this. The flights are one hundred
and eighteen thousand dollars around, and you can understand when
(52:24):
you see all the events and everything we do. So
we need you to, especially you businesses out there. I
know you make donations to different organizations, but you might
want to consider Honor Flight. And my offer still stands
that if you make a five hundred dollars donation, I'll
promote and mention your business on the air at one
(52:44):
of our segments. So please reconsider where you want to
put your money. The veterans are really worth it, and
then it's a quality event and your money is well
spent donating to the Honor Flight.
Speaker 2 (53:00):
M HM.
Speaker 1 (53:01):
At this point, I'm I'm gonna sign up by saying
rally pointers. Dismissed
Rally Pointers. Attention, hut ADDIE's This is the Rally Point Show.
Your host Paul Poleshi there with Zane the Brain who
makes us sound good every week. Oh it's my pleasure.
And on the phone right now, we have our wonderful guest,
Naomi Copeland from Southwest Honor Flight for Florida.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hello, Good morning, Nao, Good morning listen.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
I'd like to take this show today and really recap
our honor flight that was on October fourteenth, But I
want to do a little bit about behind the scenes
how we get there before we actually talk about the
actual honor flight. So this one is a special occasion
for the Honor Flight organization. Can you tell us what's
(00:53):
going on there?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yeah? So, Southwest Florida Honor Flight covers seven counties, and
those counties are Charlotte, This, Soto, Hardy, Hendry Highlands, Manatee,
and Sarasota County. I happen to live here in Sarasota County,
(01:18):
and when I moved here literally nine years ago this month,
I had been very involved in Honor Flight network. I
kind of just navigated to the north to the Saint
Pete West Central Hub, and when I realized that what
I thought. There was no hub here that covered Sarasota
and Manatee Counties. I called my friends at Network and
(01:40):
I'm like, Hey, can I start a hub in Sarasota
and Bradenton. We are rich in veterans and we have
a great philanthropic community that is very supportive of nonprofits.
And my friends at Network told me that I could
not do that because there was already a hub here.
(02:02):
And I'm like, well, if there's a hub here, I
have never heard of it, and so they don't really
promote that they cover Sarasota and Bradentton. So that's when
I got connected with Southwest Florida onnor Flight and began
volunteering just kind of organically. I became a board member,
(02:24):
became vice president before I had even taken a flight
with them, and then on flight day became president. And
my mission was to get exposure of Southwest Florida Honor
Flight in Sarasota and Bradenton Manatee counties because geographically seven
counties from the Skybridge down to the Lee County Line
(02:47):
seabring literally down to Alligator Alley, Clewiston, Florida, way down
there off southwest corner of the lake, just a little
north of Alligator Alley. That's a wide, wide swath of land.
And so I began talking with the individuals at Sarasota
Bradenton International Airport and they have graciously been looking forward
(03:12):
to connecting with an Honor Flight hub to have a
flight out of SRQ Southwest Florida. Honor Flight has historically
flown from our southern airports. Hunta Gorda Airport's been the
home of our hub for the last five flights over
three years. And so we have been focused for literally
(03:34):
the last twelve months preparing and getting ready for a
flight out of SRQ, and the commissioners of the Airport Authority,
the executive team at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, all of
the employees from TSA to marketing to housekeeping and grounds
(03:56):
and parking lot crew have been so helped in making
this a reality.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
It's an amazing it takes that long to get this
on the road.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, we have had a lot of logistical meetings with
the SRQ folks. We began sitting down with them about
eighteen months ago and more, you know, we probably had
six meetings with them in the last three months, just
making sure we have all of our tea's crossed, our
(04:29):
ies dotted to give our veterans the best experience on
their flight day, little details that they may not see
or know about, to make it a flawless day for everyone.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Well myself, going on as the media representative for the flight,
I was attended both your normal monthly meetings to get
ready for this and then with your training sessions that
happened on a Sunday. I don't know how to describe it.
(05:04):
It was just I was just in awe. It was
like a military operation, from the minute I drove into
the driveway and was told where parking was to actually
going through the training sessions. You know it's your volunteers
are amazing. Why don't you tell us you describe in
your words what I saw when I drove in that driveway.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Well, you saw the biggest, hugest American flag hanging off
of a hook and ladder fire truck from the Manatee
Fire Department. I think it was the South Manateee Division
of the Manatee Fire Department welcoming our veterans to orientation
(05:53):
and our guests, and this was a huge first for us.
You know Unity of Manatee and Sarasota Counties has waited
twenty years to have an honor flight out of SRQ,
and I am telling you, people came out of the
(06:13):
wood work. We've been sending press releases for a couple
of months now, about three weeks ago, I really focused
in on reaching our sheriff's offices, our fire departments, our
police departments, our law enforcement, and they have overwhelmingly supported
(06:35):
our veterans. And this honor flight that we took out
of SRQ just fire engines, fire personnel, law enforcement personnel,
They just a lot of them are veterans themselves, but
they just want to make sure that our veterans are honored,
are respected. And it blew me away. It continues to
(06:59):
give me shivers and goose bumps and tears to see
when we pulled into that Brandenton Moose Lodge, that ladder
truck with that I don't even know the size, like
seventy feet, I don't even know.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
It was huge American. It was huge. I mean, and
you couldn't miss it the minute you turned into that driveway,
even I mean the volunteers that had it was.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Ye yeah, yeah, And I will tell you We talk
about it all the time, Paul. It is a community
of volunteers and individuals, patriotic, passionate Americans that come together
to pull an honor flight off. And when I say
it takes a community, it takes a village, a city,
(07:48):
a county region to make an honor flight happen. And
we cannot thank our volunteers enough. They come out of
the woodwork. They asked for no thanks or no appreciation
or nothing in return except for to serve our veterans,
And our board of directors can never begin to thank
them enough for coming out and helping us. You say
(08:10):
it was a military precision day. On the back end
of it, it never feels like that. So I'm glad
that that's exactly what it looks like, because we never
want anything other than it to look like that. But
there are greeters in the parking lot showing people where
to park. There are volunteers shuttling arounding golf court carts
(08:31):
to bring veterans up to the door so that they
are treated like VIPs from the minute they hit the
ground of wherever our orientation is. Then there's welcoming crews inside,
there's check in volunteers that help check in the veterans
and guardians. We've got people that donate you know, catering
(08:51):
to provide food for the veterans and the guardians and
the guests their family members. We have fantastic board members
who blood, sweat, tears, put up screens for projectors, sound
systems playing background music. Merchandise. We we have merchandise Office
(09:15):
Florida merchandise that we take donations for. We had a
fantastic volunteer that makes by hand wood American flags and
they are available in all branches in his garage and
he donates the proceeds to that back to Honor Flight.
(09:35):
So those things are going to be at you know,
our our fundraising events. And there's ways if you want
to connect with us if you are interested in one
of these handmade wavy American wooden flags. Will have some
of them on our Facebook page. You can just reach
out to us and we'll get you hooked up. But
it's it's a village, it's a town, it's a community,
(09:55):
it's a county, it's a whole region. And I'll tell
you they have my love and appreciation. Every single time
I see them, I tell them thank you and the
veterans thank everyone that participates in this day.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Well, it's also a training session too. You're training the
guardians of their responsibility, how they perform what they're expected
to do. So that training session also took place.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Which yeah, yeah, So we want to make sure that
our guardians know our expectations and what their charge, if
you will, is for the day, and their charge is
to be the hands, the feat the eyes of the
veteran for their flight day because they are going to
(10:45):
be in so much awe of everything that goes on.
They missed the cracks that are in the ground and
then you know, they stumble. We have what we call
honor chairs, which are wheelchairs, and we learned early on
that there's just some people, for no fault of their own,
that just don't know how to use an honor chair,
(11:07):
and so we make sure our veterans that need those
honor chairs are treated respectfully, dignantly, and so we show
our guardians how to push a wheelchair properly, how to
go over you know, pebbles because some of the ground
is uneven. You know, you know that you saw that
on Tuesday, there's you know, terrains that they have to
(11:31):
go over blocks. At the Vietnam Wall, there's little three
by three squares of granted in the ground and that's
the sidewalk that leads up to the wall. And so
we train up our guardians and their charge is to
be in you know, responsible safety wise, food wise, for
our greatest treasures, our veterans, and so they are confident
(11:55):
in their duties for the day. And then just to
make sure that we're both on the same page for expects,
answer any questions and there's always a bunch of really
really good questions. And then we go into our full
orientation flight day where our guardians then go in and
get to meet the veteran or veterans that they're going
(12:17):
to be with on flight day. And I tell guardians
when I'm making phone calls to them to confirm them
for the flight, that this is going to be a
very special relationship that you will have with this individual.
I tell you for the rest of your life. Tuesday's
(12:40):
flight was personally my twenty sixth flight. Fifteen times before that,
I paid my own way and took a day off
of work to spend with the greatest treasures are veterans.
And I will tell you I've celebrated the best of times,
the saddest of time, anniversaries, birthdays, and I've you know,
(13:03):
said goodbye to a few of my veterans when they
have been interned at a national cemetery. And likewise, for
our veterans, you may not know this person, and I
know you're a little apprehensive about it ahead of time,
But for our veterans on Tuesday that got to hang
out with their new best friends. It was just so
(13:25):
amazing to see our veterans interact with the guardians at
the memorials, the tears, the kleenexes, the smiles, the pictures
being taken. Paul, like, I just reflect back on Tuesday
and all of that is just overwhelming. At times for me.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Well, you know, making some recordings and conversations that that happened,
it is, it's very emotional. But for me as a veteran,
it was a lot of fun. Also, I got to
meet more of my brothers and sisters. You know, we
are one big family, and yes, it does take its
(14:09):
toll on us. The other thing that that was kind
of neat at that meeting was also the training of
the veterans. It kind of started the excitement of you know,
even just bust assignments, who was on what bus and
and it kind of became getting everybody wound up for
(14:34):
this great trip that they were going to go on. Yeah,
it was almost like a revival. It was.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
It really really is. And you know, I tell folks
all of the time when I'm making presentations and speaking
engagements and just out in the community at the ballpark
when I'm tabling, you know, fundraising is always hard. We
always need funds to take another flight. We've got, you know,
a couple hundred that trends on a wait list waiting
(15:03):
for their flight. And each flight, I know we've talked
about it before and you heard it on orientation day.
Each flight is approximately one hundred and eighteen thousand dollars
in expenses. Our aircraft is our most expensive expense on
flight day. And we keep moving forward with hope that
(15:24):
our community, our patriotic Americans, our generous donors, individuals, families,
businesses will support us financially, that you know, we can
take another flight in the spring and another flight in
the fall. Every year we go on face that our
(15:44):
community will come through for us, and funding is always
not easy, especially you know when you have some tropical
storms and hurricanes in South Florida, Southwest Florida. But more
hard to convince is our veterans that A they're worthy
to go on a flight. B they're not taking a
(16:07):
seat away from someone else that should go before them.
And see just answering all of their questions because they're
anxious and you know, nervous they are. You know, they
have little flashbacks of their time in the military, whether
they were one of our female veterans, and we are
(16:27):
you know, we really really focus on honoring our female
veterans also that served, and our Vietnam veterans. You know,
they're a little anxious about what might happen if they
approached the wall, and we take all of that very
We are very very sensitive to that. We have eight
medics at a minimum that come with us on each flight.
(16:51):
The flight on Tuesday, we were very fortunate we had
three physicians that came with us, you know, and that
they're the people that are going to be able to
help you in a medical emergency on flight day, not
your family member.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
And so we also we also had the additional problem
of the shutdown. The were not what we normally would
have expected and it also drained us to provide some
supplies that we normally don't.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Supply, right, and you know, our yellow Shirt National Park
volunteers weren't on hand, you know, the the etchings at
the wall, if they were a name way up high
on the panel the ladder, because the volunteers are the
only folks that are allowed to go up on that
ladder and get that etching. So we we you know,
(17:46):
you saw we we made the best out of it.
But you know, we started orientation to build that excitement
so that our veterans are a little more at ease
in preparation for flight day. And when they arrived at
the airport on Tuesday, four o'clock in the morning was
really really early, wasn't it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, But I'll
(18:13):
tell you, you got the adrenaline going really honestly all
day long, and you know, there's not ever barely a
lull to close your eyes. But we hope our veterans,
you know, came back Tuesday night best better than when
they left, and more fulfilled. And we saw that in
the tears and the welcome home and just the community
showing up and supporting this inaugural flight out of Sarasota
(18:38):
International Airport for US, even though we've been flying for
you know, since two thousand and seven out of the
southern airports. We you know, early on we flew out
of RSW and then starting in twenty twenty two, we
started flying out of Panagorda. So we're going to keep
SRQ in our rotation. We're not leaving punagor To Airport.
(19:00):
We're going to be flying out of there in the spring.
So we just are you know, blessed in our seven counties.
We have two really large airports that we can take
flights out of to better accommodate, you know, the veterans
in those seven counties.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
And it's also good for the communities because they get
they get a chance to come out and participate. I
think that's great that we're in more than one airport.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Now, yeah, yeah, And didn't you see that Tuesday night, Paul, Like,
holy cow, did you ever expect any of that and
all of those people.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
No, no, it's mining. It really is.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Blew me away. It blew me away. And so thank
you to the community for stepping up and showing up.
I know, you know, it's a school night and you know,
eight fifty PM comes, you know, a little later in
the day when our plane landed. But thank you for
sticking around and hanging out and helping us give those
(19:56):
veterans the best welcome home that they deserve. They finally
received it, and you know, I saw healing. I don't
know about you, Paul, but I saw our veterans on Tuesday,
you know, just the healing they they've some of the
things the veterans said to me. You know, they've been
(20:16):
going to the VA or having counseling for you know,
decades since Vietnam, and wow, this just really helped more
than any of that counseling. And I've heard that on
previous flights, but I had a lot of veterans say
that to me on Tuesday night when I, you know,
told them welcome home and thank you for your service.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Well, by the way, I want to thank you for
giving me the title of media So when I talked
to James negotiations, I'm going to use that against him.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Yes, yes, you are our media person, one of our
media persons that were on that flight, right.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
That's right. I mean fifty years ago, when I was
in Vietnam, I would have thought that I would be
talking about it as a as a media person and
as a host. So I get more benefits than than
I could ever tell you from from all.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Yeah. So the serge, you know, dude like he's media now,
Like we got the media pass and everything for Paul.
So Serge like, I'm not sure, but you need to
up the contract a little.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Yeah, well that'd be easy for him to do. But
getting that we sidetracked a little bit. Let's get back
to it. You know, even even some of the stories
that that we will eventually put on the air, We're
going to put a couple of them on today, you know,
just to celebrate this this occasion, not only for Sarasota,
(21:47):
but you know, it's just another milestone in South and
all of the honor flights across the nation that we're
just one of many, and we want to continue to
do that to give them the inspiration to go on.
But I'll tell you this is my first time really
being involved in it. I can't say enough about it.
(22:11):
It's just it's just amazing what has been accomplished with
our veterans on that day, all the areas we went to,
all the events that we did, all the shrines that's
what I call them. I call them shrines. But the
spots of them that we weigh are That's why I
(22:32):
keep telling That's why I want to make sure that
the business people of of our area understand that we
will acknowledge them. If they make a five hundred dollars
donation to on a flight, just go to our website,
our website, Just go to their website, make a donation,
and we will mention you on the air. We'll talk
about you because we're so grateful for your donations.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Yeah, And they have two ways they can do that, Paul.
They can go to our website, which is sw s
L Honor Flight dot org and you can click on
the donate now button and fill it in from there,
or you can scroll down on that website on the
(23:18):
main homepage has our post office box. And I believe
that is something in twenty twenty five that I have
really been trying to be better about. And I know
in twenty twenty six we've got some new things that
we're going to start right at the beginning of the
year with our donations and our donors acknowledge them on
(23:39):
social media. We do a really good job of it now,
but we're upping the ante because we understand, you know,
twenty twenty four really hit those three back to backstorms, hurricanes,
tropical depressions really took a toll on the Southwest Florida
and Charlotte County was still not recovered from Hurricane Ian
(24:01):
and then even Hurricane Charlie before that. So we are
grateful for every dollar that goes to our veterans to
help us fly them to Washington, DC and honor them
at their memorials. And you can go to our website
SWFL Honor Flight dot org. You can donate online or
you can send a check. We are going to mention
(24:24):
you on the air. You're going to get mentioned on
our website and on our social media.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
You know. We also have some other fundraisers going on.
Don't you have any poker run going on?
Speaker 2 (24:35):
And some other things we do. We have the first
Hank Tenter Memorial Poker Run benefiting Southwest Florida Honor Flight
that will be on Saturday, December sixth. We will be
taking off kickstands up from berths A. It's the Harley
(25:00):
Davidson in Punagorda Port Charlotte. Excuse me, I think it's
Bird's Black Widow. Harley Davidson is the technical full name
of it. So that is on Saturday, December sixth. You
can go to our website and our social media and
find out more details about that. And then in January
(25:22):
of twenty twenty six, we will be doing another car
show cruise in at Seabring International Raceway in Seabring, Florida.
We're finalizing the date on that and the details, so
we'll have that on our website and social media. And
then on Saturday, January thirty first, we will be doing
(25:45):
a clay shoot at Vermont Shooting Club in Puntagorda. Registration
and sponsorships are available now for that, so it will
be a sold out. There is a limited number of
teams that we will be able to host for that,
and that is January thirty first, twenty twenty six. So
(26:06):
we've got lots of ways that you can support on
a flight also having fun and again I know you
mentioned you've been attending a couple of our Hub meetings.
I feel you know on a flight day is really
stressful for the individuals that are involved in it. To
put it on flawlessly for our veterans, we have to
(26:27):
have a lot of fun. I like to laugh and
have a lot of fun, even at myself. So our
Hub Meetings, which is our monthly business meeting, is the
fourth Wednesday of the month. So our next Hub meeting
will be the fourth Wednesday in October, but in the
months of November and December we meet on the third
(26:48):
Wednesday because of the holidays, and it is at seven pm.
It's at Kingsgate Golf Club in Port Charlotte in the clubhouse.
And we do do a Zoom virtual option. If you're
interested in participating and you want zoom link, you just
need the email list and you can get that email
(27:09):
address from our website which is swflonnorflight dot org and
just shoot us an email and say, hey, add me
to the mailing list. Would like to participate in your
meetings by zoom and we'll get you onto our mailing list.
We mail that link out about a week to the
week of the meetings. So next Hub meeting is the
(27:29):
fourth Wednesday in October. If you want to learn more
about on or Flight, come to that meeting. It's going
to be a really great meeting because you know it'll
be the first meeting right after the flight from Tuesday
and you can. We'll have applications there if you know
a veteran, if you want to be a guardian, Our
guardian and veteran applications are on our website. But we
(27:50):
also have that and all of the fundraising materials of
our upcoming endeavors at our Hub meetings. And Paul I
forgot to throw in there reachs across America. We are
five dollars of every wreath that our Hub cells comes
back to us, and you can double that by remembering
(28:13):
a veteran that's interned at a national cemetery. And we
have Sarasota National Cemetery here in our area, plus a
couple of other smaller cemeteries have veterans sections that across
America support. You can find that information on our website too.
I believe the reefs are seventeen dollars and you can
(28:35):
do it in honor of someone, in memory of someone,
or you can just support wreaths across America by buying
a wreath and it'll be placed on a veteran's gravesite
at a national cemetery. So that is also coming up
in December two.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
There's a lot of these fundraisers that have value for
our listener. You get to pay in some activity and
also support our Honor flight. The expense is tremendous, but
the rewards are just as great. So all of your
businesses out there, are all you individuals, pick one and
(29:14):
please help us pull another Honor flight off with the
precision that we have.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Well, we're just about through for today. We're gonna in
our second half of the program. We're gonna give you
some of the recordings that we made on the Honor
Flight so you can see how our veterans experience it. Again,
they owe me to all your board members, to all
of the people who volunteer, our gratitude and thank you
(29:47):
for being on the air again.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Thank you, thank you so much, and we just appreciate it.
We are very focused on honoring our veterans again. Let
the wait list scare you. Please get your application in
sooner rather than later. If you are a veteran or
a guardian, submit it. When the time comes. We'll give
(30:11):
you a call. If that date doesn't work, we'll keep
calling you until it works. But we always hope that
our veterans especially will make a date work. That we
have our one flight. It's a one day up and
back trip to DC. You know that, Paul, we do
a spring flight and we do a fall flight. Get
your applications in as soon as possible, and you can
(30:32):
email us with any questions that you have. So thank
you so much for the time today.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Absolutely, and we'll go into our recordings and the next sessions.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
Thanks, Naomi, thank you outstanding. And by the way, good morning, Naomi.
It's Jay Sarge. But I will say I have a
master Starry here, so it's a little confused and justin
say hello, hello.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Morning.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
One of my questions for you are is excuse me
with the different hubs that you have here in Florida
in throughout the United States, are you guys are Thomas
or one another? Or you guys kind of work together?
How does that usually work?
Speaker 2 (31:09):
We work together? We obviously it's all about the veterans,
and so it's whatever the veterans' desires and wishes are,
and so we do our very very best to work
with all of the hubs across the United States. Last year,
the number of veterans still waiting for their honor flight
(31:31):
was over forty two thousand. Veterans across the United States,
And so there are veterans that maybe could I think
about snowbirds. I get asked all of the time, does
the veteran have to live here? They don't. We've taken
a couple of brothers that live here in Port Charlotte
(31:52):
and their brother lives in Michigan, and the brother flew
down so that he could experience the Honor fly. All
three of them were veterans together, so that they could
all be honored together, have a you know, a bond,
a special form of healing maybe together and share share
those memories, and those veterans and every veteran always say
(32:15):
the honor fly is one of the best days of
their life. So we do our very very best to
make sure that the needs of the veterans are met
and what whatever their wishes are. So it's best when
we all work together as hubs across the United States.
Speaker 4 (32:31):
Okay, So I have a question as the new kid.
So I know that it sounds like a great program
that I know a lot of veterans are going to
want to get on board with. UH, So, how do
you how do you determine who gets put on the
waiting list? How does how does that work? Is there
(32:53):
a cost associated because I know that there's a lot
of veterans that I feel like it doesn't apply to them.
I've talked to a few Vietnam veterans that don't think
that they fit the criteria. Can you explain what the
criteria is and the waiting list process?
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Absolutely, those are really great questions. And I will tell
you fund raising for the flights are always you know,
that's always a challenge. But I will tell you getting
the veterans to submit their applications is actually harder than
raising funds. And that is because we know, you know,
(33:35):
I think you know, World War Two veterans were the
greatest generation. There are many still around, and I will
tell you I believe that a lot of them move
from the north the Midwest to the northwest to Florida
where it's such an amazing climate most days year round,
(33:56):
and I think they get healthier, this is just my opinion,
and they longer, and so they by the time we
get to them and find find them, you know, it's
they're one hundred there, they're ninety nine. They're pushing one
hundred and one. We've had one hundred and two year
old World War two veterans. So that's always the challenge
(34:16):
is making sure that the veterans understand and our belief
in our hub at Southwest Florida Honor Flight is you
were the flag of our nation, You were willing and
ready to serve whenever you were called. You deserve to
be honored. And so a lot of hubs early on
(34:37):
only would take combat veterans, veterans who saw combat, and
that has evolved over the years because it is all
veterans deserve to be honored the waiting list. So what
happens is veterans will submit an application. We fly our
(34:59):
veterans at no cost, so our veterans fly completely for free.
We do all kinds of fund rate to ensure that
our veterans do not have to pay a dime because
they've already paid a price for our freedom. And guardians
accompany veterans and they do pay a portion of the
flight cost expenses. And World War Two veterans obviously take priority.
(35:26):
Korean veterans are the next person, if you will, that
takes priority because we know we're we're you know, there's
fewer and fewer World War Two veterans, there's fewer and
fewer Korean veterans as well, and then anyone with a
life limiting illness. So if and how we define that
(35:47):
is if they would submit their application and it would
be a couple of years before they would maybe get
their call FORU or fly and they are in the
middle of, you know, seven episodes of cancer, we're going
to get them on the flight as soon as we
possibly can, respectfully, and then everyone goes in a wait list.
(36:10):
It's by date application received. And it's always a little
challenging because we could have a World War Two veteran
who is a friend of a Vietnam veteran who just
submits their application, and we're going to try to do
our very best to keep friends and brothers and sisters
together on their honor flights. So it is always a
(36:31):
juggling act. We never intend to hurt anyone's feelings. And
sometimes we've called people and filled the flight and one
I can give you one example. In the spring of
twenty twenty four, this is a perfect example. I had
confirmed a Korean veteran on his honor flight. His stepdaughter
(36:55):
was going to be his guardian. A month goes by
and about three weeks before the flight, I get a
call from the step daughter and says, hey, my stepdad
has been in the hospital for ten days. We appreciate
the fact that you know we're going to get him
on his honor flight, but we just don't think he
can make it. And I said, you're sure, you know
(37:17):
because I have to submit a manifest to TSA and
they're like, no, go ahead and remove both of us,
which we did seven days before the flight. We submitted
our manifest. The day before our orientation, I get a
phone call from the step daughter, would you mind if
we brought dad to orientation tomorrow. We just want to
(37:40):
give him an idea of what it looks like. And
I said absolutely, please bring him. And he came in
to the location where our orientation was being held and
I immediately turned to my vice president and I said,
he absolutely has to get on this flight on Tuesday.
(38:02):
There's no ifans or buts about it. I will not
go on the flight and I will give him my seat.
Let's get him on the flight. And we had did
a little bit of maneuvering and we were able to
get him on the flight, get his information to TSA,
get him through, and he passed away ten days after
the flight. So yeah, so we were able to honor
(38:26):
him and get him on his honor flight as a
last act of respect and honor, and he it was
the best day of his life. And he talked about
it for the ten days after the flight until he
left our earth. So that is kind of the pecking order.
There is no charge for our veterans. If you have
(38:49):
worn the flag of our nation and Southwest Florida Honor
Flights Hub, you should submit an application right now for
our In preparation for our conference this week in December,
we had to submit our statistics, how many veterans we flew,
how many guardians we flew, how many flights we flew,
and how many are on our wait list. And I
(39:11):
will tell you Southwest Florida Honor Flight we have been
working diligently and non stop for the last three years.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
Hi. In this segment, I was going to play some
of the recordings that I made on the honor Flight trip,
but unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, as they say, that
ain't going to happen. So what I thought I'd do
here is give you my observations and my feelings of
what was going on, how the day went, to start
off was it was an amazing day. I arrived there,
(39:50):
what I saw was going to be very early. The
veterans and their guardians were going to arrive around four o'clock,
so I got there about an hour earlier. When I
walked into the reception area, the volunteers there and the
staff had already set up the signs and decorations and tables,
welcoming tables, and all of the initial information that had
(40:15):
to be done before we got on the plane. It
was kind of shocking that they were already there and
ready to go when I got there. So when the
veterans and the guardians started to arrive to check in,
the volunteers were all set up, they were ready to function.
(40:36):
That flowed very easily. We got everybody checked in and
the assignments with their guardians was taken care of, so
we were ready to board the plane. Now you have
to understand that we're still in the government shutdown at
this time, but even though the government was shut down,
(40:58):
the TSA and the security screeners were efficient, quick pleasant.
They really got us through the TSA process process and
the check in with quite efficient movement. As we get
(41:20):
after we got through security and was starting to go
through into the actual airport to our loading area. There
were again more volunteers with signs. They greeted us pleasantly.
They ushered us to where we had to go to
to be on the check in. The airport person the
(41:42):
airport employees and ground personnel were ready for us. They
had it all set up and they had wheelchair ramps
to get us into the plane, which was quite defeat
to get us into that charter Allegiance was ready for us.
The airlines that we had chartered to fly, they were
I mean for that early in the morning. They were
(42:04):
ready to go and all set up. There was no
glitches to getting even our wheelchairs and all of us
on the on the flight. The flight had a slight
little incident there. Our medics were quick at hand, as
you know, like uh as you know nam Man, as
(42:28):
you know, Nami Naomi had told us God.
Speaker 2 (42:33):
We.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
Have our own EMTs and doctors on the flight for
such emergencies. But even that was handled with efficient and
and just done well. So our hats off to all
of our medical personnel. When we got to the airport
in DC, that's Dulles Airport, again there was volunteers with
(42:59):
signs in hand, and they were just everywhere helping us
find what we needed to find and getting us to
our designated area where we're going to pick up our
convoy of buses. Now on the buses with wheelchairs stowed
(43:21):
and ready to go, we were off to our first memorial,
which was the World War Two Memorial. Quite the scene
if you've never seen it. They also had a special
presentation and folding of the flag for our only World
War Two veteran and then they presented that flag to
(43:42):
him in memory of today's events. From the World War
Two Memorial. We then went to the South Korean Memorial
for our veterans, and this was a special presentation from
South Korea. They had ambassador do the presentation and he
(44:04):
presented our Korean vets with a memento with a medal,
and the ambassador presented a medallion a medal to our
Korean vets and read a presentation and presented them with
(44:25):
the placards for that for their work in the Korean War.
From there, we went to the Lincoln Memorial that if
you've never been there, that's quite a site. There's quite
a few steps. They do have handicap ramps, to get
(44:46):
into the actual museum. I walked up all of those steps,
sat there on the top step and just was amazed
by the view of the reflecting pool, and in the
background is the Washington Monument and off to its left
you can see the Capitol building. It was amazing. I
(45:07):
sat there for quite a while, observing that it was
also time for us to have lunch, and we had
some free time here we could wander around and look
at all the different sites there were to see in
that general area. It was interesting to see the number
(45:28):
of people. Even though the parks and recreation people were
not in full force there, there was still a lot
of visitors. What I noticed that there was a lot
of schools. There was quite a few number of school
children there, and there was also quite quite few people
from other countries looking at all the monuments and really
(45:51):
enjoying the sites to be seen. Also, remember even though
that the government is shut down, there still was law enforcement.
There was still security in all of the monuments areas.
And if you looked in the background, there were troops
doing patrols in small groups, but you had to look
for him. They were there, but they were in the background.
(46:15):
So after this casual time. We then went to the
Vietnam area with all of the different monuments and exhibits
they have there. Then we were back on the bus
and we went to the Service Women's Monument or Museum,
where there was a ceremony that was performed for the
(46:38):
thirteen women veterans that we had in attendance. It was
very moving, very individual to all of them. Was quite
a pleasant site, quite a nice event. And walking through
the museum that they have there, there was a lot
of different areas you could go to and read some
(47:01):
of the placards, reach some of the displays. Again, it
was quite informative and quite pleasant to see. The next
stop for us was at Arlington National Cemetery. It is
a amazing and breathtaking place to see as we drove
(47:21):
through to get to our deep Bark.
Speaker 3 (47:27):
Hell.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
The next stop was actually in the Arlington National Cemetery.
It's a breathtaking site to see all of those white headstones.
They're never ending, They're everywhere, no matter what the terrain was,
(47:50):
they're all in a row. They go everywhere. There's no
spot that you can't look and get a view of
this breathtaking sight. We took a quick stop for a
group pitcher and then it was to the tomb of
the Unknown Soldier. That area there is an area of
(48:16):
reverence and silence, total silence. The only spoken word is
by the guards when they're changing the guards. It's quite
the procedure and their reverence to the tomb of the
Unknown Soldier is just another site to behold how they
(48:41):
do it, what they do it, and why they do it.
But we got an additional site to see there. They
had the changing and putting on a new reef that
you've seen on television. They actually went through that, and
I believe it was a family of someone who was
interred there in the cemetery. It was it's total silence.
(49:07):
There's no spoken words other than the guards, and they
do a special salute to the veterans. But I'll let
you experience that when you go on your honor flight.
I can't speak enough about the value of this trip,
the precision in which they take care of it, the
(49:29):
way they do it. I have specifically left out some
of the finer details. You need to go there to
experience the whole trip and to really do that trip
for the veterans. If you're a guardian, I believe you
get as much out of it as the veteran does.
(49:50):
It's a bond that happens between the gardens, the guardians,
and the veterans. You need to really consider it. If
you're a veteran, you need to go online and apply
to be on that flight. There is a waiting list,
so you want to get on it as quickly as possible.
If you were a spouse of a veteran, you might
(50:12):
want to consider helping them sign up for it. It's
a once in a lifetime event. It's worth every minute
of your time. Oh, by the way, I have to
also talk about Sarasota, the welcoming home that Sarasota gave
(50:35):
the veterans when we got back and got off the flight,
I have no idea if there was anybody in Sarasota
that wasn't there. It was never ending. It was a
maze of people welcoming our veterans back. The I can't
(50:56):
list all of the organizations that were there to welcome
the vet back, whether it was fire police, whether it
was there was a lot of school children there. There
was music there. I mean there was just Sarasota had
pulled out all the plugs to make that trip back
(51:18):
to make our veterans coming home everything that it should be.
So to you, Sarasota and all the residents and all
of the organizations were just it was. I was in
awe of how they could get that many people at
the airport. I'll give you an idea. It took me
(51:39):
an hour to get out of the parking lot to
go home. So that's how. That's how busy that that
group was. I'm really curious to know how many people
were there. But again, Sarasota, you pulled out all all
the stops. You got an amazing welcoming committee there. The
(51:59):
resident I can't say enough about them. I was so
impressed and so pleased the way they brought there welcome
to our veterans. And that leads me to again, I
always have to do this. The flights are one hundred
and eighteen thousand dollars around, and you can understand when
(52:24):
you see all the events and everything we do. So
we need you to, especially you businesses out there. I
know you make donations to different organizations, but you might
want to consider Honor Flight. And my offer still stands
that if you make a five hundred dollars donation, I'll
promote and mention your business on the air at one
(52:44):
of our segments. So please reconsider where you want to
put your money. The veterans are really worth it, and
then it's a quality event and your money is well
spent donating to the Honor Flight.
Speaker 2 (53:00):
M HM.
Speaker 1 (53:01):
At this point, I'm I'm gonna sign up by saying
rally pointers. Dismissed
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