Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Rally Pointers fall.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
In once again, ladies and gentlemen, it's your favorite serge
Jay Hemingway with a man of Makanue and of course
your nosing the brain in the studios bringing you the
rally point show. How's everybody doing today?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Doing all right?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hanging in there, hey man, it's all we can do.
Just want to give a quick shout out to at
Medicare Solutions. I'm glad I met you and Derek Anderson
on the road killing it guy. Folks, I have to
say again thank you very much for keeping this man busy.
He's helping us pay the bills here and we appreciate
helping you guys as well. Also, I want to give
a shout out to reads across America celebrating our heroes
(00:41):
for a falling the best way we can every time.
De Semper fourteenth, twenty twenty four. So, folks, how's your
weekend's bend?
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Pretty goods?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Outstanding? Outstanding, good week? And who we have on.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Our show for today, Well, we've got a lot of
good stuff lined up for you, guys. We're going to
hear some stories from folk time in the military, so
we have that coming to you. And then we'll also
have a benefits update from our friends at the DAV outstanding.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Hey, folks, were back on the air today. We have
Dave Grant from the DAV here at my goodness chapter.
How are you doing today, Dave?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I'm doing great.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
What do you have for us from the DAV So
I've got my cohort and Joe.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Joe rapidly yes on the air.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
I didn't forget about you.
Speaker 5 (01:32):
I'm doing fine, doing wonderful.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Hit this money.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
So first subject that I brought with me was the
Packed Act has turned two years old. The Packed Act.
If you didn't know and haven't come to see your
local DAV or any other VA counselor the Packed Act
turned two. It has expanded the VA benefits and resources
(02:02):
regarding toxic toxic exposure for veterans. It expended the presumptive
lists for many of the exposures that came out of
Vietnam and out of the Persian Gulf, and the VA
(02:26):
is now looking to expand benefits access for US veterans
of K two the use Uzbekistan base as well, and
that is hopefully going to go into effect here shortly.
(02:48):
I don't know if you have anything else to say
on that Joe yet, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:52):
Dave, were one of the terms you use with presumptive
And I don't want to get into claims, but I
will just say that, Uh. One of the things that
I've noticed is a lot of veterans coming to our
office with words like I never wanted to apply for
anything because I think someone else deserves it or they
deserve it more. And with the Pack Act, what I'll
(03:15):
say is that there's a lot of conditions that veterans
get from things that they were exposed to in the
military that they can be compensated for. And they could
be compensated for those ailments. Is one good thing, but
the bad thing about it is a lot of those
toxins create cancers, they create other things, and especially for
(03:38):
the veterans, if you are exposed to any of those,
it's never too late for you to apply. So we
suggest you come into our office. And then also, if
you happen to pass this lifetime or you happen to
die because of those conditions, your wives might be eligible
for a benefit. So that's the reason that if you
(04:00):
come into your this all you know, if you have something,
if you think you was exposed to something, to come
into our office and talk with us, not just for
the benefit of yourself, but for your for your wife's
benefit in case or your wife or husband, I might say,
benefit in case one of y'all pass understood.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
And I had a question about that, Joe, in regards
to Vietnam exposed quote unquote, can you give me a
definition of what that means? Do you have to be
specifically in country exposure? Could you be around it and
be exposed well?
Speaker 5 (04:36):
Under the pact that they opened it up to some
new areas, so it's not just Vietnam. There was specific
areas in the Southeast Asia that was opened up. And
as we know, agent orange, which is the same thing
that basically Monsanto was using, was terrible over there. So
(04:57):
even if you think you was exposed to, I mean,
there's certain things that agent orange is going to cause.
One of the new items is high blood pressure, yes,
and that was a real big one, high blood pressure
and I mean heart conditions. So if you're suffering from
any one of those, you know, and you can't go
we can't go into depth on the phone but or
(05:18):
on air. But if you expose and you think something
is related to those toxins, please come into the office.
Because it's not just agent orange. There's other things out there.
I mean gasoline, aircraft fumes. There's a lot of toxins
that we were exposed to in the military, no question,
no question.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
And you can plug this your address in location many
times you want during the show. So where can where
can they find your office?
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Port Charlotte Town Center Mall. Were in between J C.
Pennies and Dellarts. Come up the atrium towards DSW Shoes
and we're just before you get to d W Shoes
on the right hand side. Yeah, right right there on
(06:06):
the right hand side is the office and come in.
We usually have about four service officers on every day.
We're open Monday through Friday from ten am to four
p m.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
And uh, correct me if I'm wrong. I have I
had this stick while I'm going around talking telling people
to get their ratings checked out or disability ratings checked out.
Is that they're doing their battle buddies a favor in
the future by applying for them. Now I have this
theory that and maybe you can correct me on it
(06:40):
both is it I'm tossing This is a toss up question.
I feel that if our veterans of today and yesterday
don't apply for their benefits, that our government may reallocate
what they put for us to something else. Is there
any truth to that?
Speaker 5 (06:55):
Well, the BA gets a budget every year, and that
budget is determined by how many people are seen in
the healthcare facilities, how many claims are being paid. If
our veterans do not apply for their benefits, if they
don't go get the healthcare that they're deserving of, that
budget will start to shrink. In order for that budget
(07:18):
to remain stable or be more money to go into
their pot our veterans need to go ahead and apply
for their disabilities and get their healthcare that they deserve
and earned.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
And so America, you just heard it from from the
from the horse's mouth, so to speak. You need to
apply for your benefits today as soon as possible, or
you will impact the VA's annual budget. True. That's that's
just truth right there, folks.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Well, and that kind of takes up into the next
topic that I had, which is the vets benefits checks
could be delayed without a VA funding effect soon because
there is a shortfall in the current VA budget. Fifteen
billion is their current shortfall and this week. That's one
(08:07):
of the things that Congress, both houses of Congress are
working on as early as Tuesday. So the Congressman Johnson
as the Speaker of the House, and Senator who I
(08:32):
can see his face, I just can't remember his name.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
A state Florida or.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
No from New York Schumer, Schumer, thank you. Senator Schumer
planned to address that this week and it's the intent
is to pass a continuing resolution that will get them
(08:58):
into the whole February. But we'll see how many add
ons go into that budget.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Understood, And folks just remember you need to remember to
apply for your benefits. If you do not make it
an effort, they will take it out. They will shorten
our budget, therefore making it harder for us to get
services for what we need.
Speaker 5 (09:23):
I mean, and as we look at things, I mean,
the Pact Act in itself just awarding when you think
of it, every Vietnam veteran that was exposed to agent
orange and if they have high blood pressure, which was
just awarded two years ago. The amount of money that
needs to be allocated for that and all the ailments
(09:46):
that a veteran can get secondary to high blood pressure,
that's a lot of money, So we need to make
sure the veterans get in, follow your claims, and do everything.
So the VA continues to get money and personnel to
process those claims.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Almost definitely one hundred percent. And my young veterans, that
includes you. So if you just left service, or if
you're still in service, you can still go to the BA.
I'm just letting you.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Know, yep. So next topic. VA claim errors result in
one hundred million and incorrect payments. So what what happened here?
When the service members are leaving the service because of
(10:35):
an overage in the service, they get what is called
a severance pay. Yes, thank you. Now, if you get
a disability rating, you can't have a disability payment and
(10:55):
a severance check concurrently. So the VA is required to
recoup that money, which means that every individual that was
paid the severance now is indebted to the US government.
(11:17):
So there are a number of individuals that received severance
pay and are in debt now to our government, some
to the tune of thirty twenty thirty thousand dollars. And
(11:38):
there have been a number of stories in the Military
Times and Navy Times, Army Times talking about this. I
encourage you if you're facing these challenges, come in and
talk to us. We have ways of helping you. The
(12:00):
VA is not always trying to penalize you. We can
work with you and try to look at your finances
and determine mitigating factors. I'm not going to guarantee anything,
(12:23):
can't do that, but we can help you look at
your any possible remedies.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
One of the things we used to say in the
military is there's a waiver for everything. So that's one
of those items where it's possible to receive a waiver,
And like Dave said, we can't guarantee it, but it's
one of the options that might be available for veterans
at that circumstance.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Arrives understood because I've read a couple of articles where
some people who are like you know, been have left
service over twenty years ago, are forced to pay back
one hundred thousand dollars or forced to live their children.
Do they hold back the actual VA check or they
slash it in half or how does that repayment take
a form.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
Either all. But the important thing is to have a
conversation with the VA. There's probably a form that's going
to ask what your financial responsibilities are and then based
on that, there's an agreement that can be made to
you know, how much can be paid monthly or whatever
(13:32):
on a mistake that the government made.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Wow, I mean I get it. I had friends that
got out when we did an enlisted review board back
in like twenty fourteen timeframe, and they got early separation
incentives and all this stuff, and some of them had
to pay that money back, and then some of them
were told, I think it was, that they had to
(13:55):
they either had to pay it back or they had
to forego their VA disability check until that amount, the
amount they had received upon separating had been recouped to
the VA and then they could begin receiving their vachecks again.
But that put some of them out for quite a while,
and since some people who really had a hard time
(14:16):
holding down a full time job scrambling looking for work
because they had to find a way to survive. Yes,
so I mean I understand mistakes happen and things like that,
but hopefully this is something where they're getting in front
of it so this doesn't happen again, because it would
be a shame to hear this same song and dance
in ten years where people are having these same problems
(14:38):
again because the system hasn't caught it. But this is
again kind of one of those things where technology is
not always your friend. You do need somebody with critical
thinking skills and unfortunately unpopular opinion, AI ain't it.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
No, And that's one of the reasons we keep trying
to get this word out to our veteran community. Come
in and talk to your DAV service rep. We're here
to help, and that the VA is not always your enemy. No,
we we will help you in making these reparations with
(15:11):
the VA.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Absolutely. I think some of it even goes even further
back to the transition assistance coordinators at the installations being
able to understand the codes that are on you know,
the DD two fourteen or you know the forms that
are given as part of the transition process because some
of them are Department of Defense forms, some of them
are branch specific, but making sure that they understand what
(15:33):
those codes mean so that they can communicate to the member. Hey,
you may not want to file for VA disability just yet,
because exactly it could come back to bite you financially
if you're accepting this other severance package. Or you may
want to forego accepting the severance package. If you intend
on filing a VA claim, and if your disability is
(15:54):
high enough that you will receive a substantial amount of
money off of which you may need to live, then
you may want to forego that little carrot that they're
dangling in front of your face right now, because that
might be a more short term solution exactly, that would
create this long term issue. Well what else we got?
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Okay, So this next one.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
I think we've kind of talked that one to death.
But it's unfortunate. I just I hope the VA can
get their arms around it and figure out a way
to keep it from happening again.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
So this next one is going to apply to a
small VA veteran community. President Biden granted a pardon to
our LGBTQ plus community. However, Comma, it didn't really grant
(16:53):
a pardon to the individuals that hate intended. Nothing against
President Biden. I'll never criticize, but unless you were convicted
at a UCMJ court martial, it didn't apply to you.
(17:19):
So if it was administrative actions or a resignation or
some other action taken against an individual, the veteran receives
no benefit from.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
His is this for individuals who were separated prior to
the repeal of Don't Ask, don't Tell. Yes, got it?
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Just to be clear for our listeners, So if you
were separated prior to the repeal of Don't Ask, don't tell,
it's a very limited scope of who who can have
their service records updated, yes, and who cannot.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
The officials had previously amended rules to allow service members
discharged under Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy to access that effense,
So there was a previous amendment or yeah, amended rules.
A joke can probably speak more to that than I can.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
Well, they what I'd like to say on that is
I'm going to and I'm not to put it in
the same category. But in a lot of instances, veterans
that had certain offenses, whether it was a LGBT incident,
whether it was a psych tight you know, mental health
(18:42):
such as they were acting out in the military UH
and had bad conduct bad conduct discharges, or other than
honorable conduct DD two fourteens that this is an opportunity
to get those upgraded, to get your benefits. So again
(19:02):
the suggestion is that come in and at least speak
with someone, so we can look at each individual as
an individual case and discuss with you to give you
your options.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Tracking that one, yeah, because that that leads into another
one of the articles that I brought in where the
Navy Times highlighted a mother who blames the VA regarding
a Navy veteran's death.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
He was suffering from PTSD when he was discharged, and
the Lexington VA in Virginia was alleged not to have
provided him timely care. And we all know we tried
(19:59):
to obtain care in the VA system, and sometimes community
care is not as timely as we would like, or
even VA care is not as timely as we like.
And in this case, he wasn't going to get his
(20:22):
appointment I think until something like February, and he committed
suicide in September. So it's a challenge, you know, trying
(20:44):
to insist on community care so that you can get
more timely assistance. Come in and talk to the DAV
and ask us how we can help you obtain some
assistance when when you're struggling. Suicide prevention is so critical,
(21:10):
and we have the Firewatch and we have other suicide
prevention avenues that we would love to engage in with you.
Suicide is not something you should suffer through on.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Your own, most definitely, And I wanted to ask you
both this question and in matters of crisis care, which
this is a story of, if I were to go
into the dav SAM in a crisis moment, can you
walk me through what might my experience be?
Speaker 3 (21:42):
Joe?
Speaker 5 (21:46):
Well, first, of course, the VA has a hotline, and
then it kind of becomes an individual issue. What is
your support mechanism? The bad thing about like that is
you can't be forced to do something against your will. However,
(22:06):
if you're willing to come in and speak with us,
then we could get in contact with someone from the
DA and they could take the necessary steps to ensure
that you get treatment as soon as possible, or able
to speak with someone as soon as possible that's able
to understand exactly what it is you're going through and
(22:27):
where to best send you. The bad thing about and
I would say, I'm not sure if this goes out.
In the Port Charlotte Naples Sarasota area is especially for
wartime veterans. In most communities they have a veterans center.
We really don't have one locally here, so I think
that's going to be more of a community care, whether
(22:52):
the VA would send you to someone within the local
area to speak with someone that is used to dealing
with veterans and have some sort of program set up
for veterans.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Absolutely, sometimes via community care can be just as difficult
to obtain as trying to get in with the VA
in cases of you know, the need for mental health
impatient care. So I know, I've seen a few cases
myself where veterans have waited and waited, like you stated
with the article where it said that you know, the
(23:25):
veteran waited, had to wait months and months and months
to be seen and it was just too long before
unfortunately they took matters into their own hands. But then
I've also seen where people have reached out for community
care and been told and this has happened to me
as well, not necessarily with mental health, but with other aspects,
where you reach out for community care and they say, well,
(23:47):
that could be one to two months before you even
get an appointment because of whatever reason, whether it's a
funding issue, whether it's you know, access to care in
the community or you know, providers being available, that all
that can all get very difficult. So It is good
that you all mentioned the VET Center and the other
(24:11):
like nonprofit avenues that exist out there, that their sole
purpose is to help veterans who are coping with suicidal
ideations or other mental health crises, to try to find
additional pathways to getting them the care they need, whether
it's inside the VA or if it's outside, but through
a veteran centric organization. I think that's definitely critical and
(24:35):
worth mentioning that the DAV can be a vehicle for
that most definitely.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
All right.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Last side of my head is asbestos. Asbestos exposure remains
a concern for veterans today, especially Navy veterans post nineteen eighties.
It remains a high risk of asbestos exposure. The Navy
(25:08):
quit or has cut back on its use of asbestos,
but it hasn't totally eliminated use of asbestos. I still
have veterans coming in complaining of asbestos disposure and the
complications from having been exposed to asbestos. It does require
(25:34):
you go to a pulmonologist and receive evaluation and in
nexus statement, it has a devastating effect on veterans' health.
Speaker 6 (25:52):
And.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
I know a lot of our facilities have had to
go through extensive cleanups because of that asbestos. So it's
one of those that remains an issue. It's something that
you would need to come in and speak to one
(26:16):
of our service officers and they would provide you some
additional advice and guidance. I don't know if you have
anything else to say on this one, Joe.
Speaker 5 (26:27):
No, just that, Yeah, there's a lot of items and
kind of like the toxins that we were exposed to
in the military. And if you feel that you was
exposed to something and have an ailment that might be
related to that exposure, then please do come in so
that we could help lead you in the right direction.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Understood. And also, do you guys have a phone number
from the call in your office if they want and
set up an appointment.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
No appointments are needed. We take everyone on a first come,
first served basis. However, you can call us at nine
four one six nine two eight three three. Any of
my front desk personnel will pick up and connect you
with a service officer to answer any of your questions
(27:17):
over the phone.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
And folks, take it from the sarage firsthand. I've been
there in their facility and when I say it's not
like being in the v I'm going to sit there
and wait for hours. That is not the case. The
minute you get through the door, you're greeted and they'll
get you set down with the Veteran Service officer asap.
That being said, gentlemen, Commander Grant, thank you for sharing
(27:40):
being on the show.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
My pleasure.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Joe, you're the man, and hopefully we'll send more people
down your way.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
Oh, it's a pleasure. It's a pleasure serving veterans, and.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Thank you God bless you both for helping us US
veterans get the benefits we've so served and deserved. And
we hope that our listeners will utilize your skills and
expertise and their path again and their benefits as well.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Indeed, thanks for what you guys do. Appreciate you our pleasure,
And on today's show we have with us Larry Depascual.
Larry is an Army veteran who served during Vietnam. Good morning, Larry,
thanks for being on the show.
Speaker 6 (28:18):
Oh great, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Awesome. Yeah, we're glad to have you. First of all,
we just want to say thank you for your service
and your sacrifice, especially serving during probably one of the most,
I would dare say, just chaotic and difficult eras in
our military history. So thank you very much from the
bottom of our hearts.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
You bet well.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
I mean, let's dive right in, like we want to
hear your story. So tell us about how how you
came to join the army. I know, for some people
it's the draft. Some people joked that they won the
draft bingo. For others, they walked into a recruiter's office
and figured might as well do to do. So, how
did you come to join the army?
Speaker 6 (29:04):
Well, I'm an army brat. My father was a career
soldier and we moved around the world and the country,
so I had been exposed to army life as a
dependent certainly from the age of four on till I
(29:26):
went to college. So it was pretty natural for me
to be viewing the army as something that I would
join at some point upon the end of my college education.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
Very matter of.
Speaker 6 (29:42):
Fact, I met my wife, who was also an army brat.
We met at an American high school in Nurrenberg, Germany,
in the late fifties. And I don't need to worry
with the details, but I left Germany, she stayed graduated
from high school and we were kind of in communicado
(30:02):
for two or three years, but she had the address
of my grandparents in Jersey and sent me a birthday
card through them, and I got it, and one thing
led to another and we got back together. So we've
been together since we were sixteen years old in Mid
(30:22):
America for the last fifty eight years.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
So not as wonderful, wow, you know again.
Speaker 6 (30:30):
So the army was kind of my way of life.
My father retired as a warrant officer, he was a
maintenance warrant and decided to participate in Army ROTC at
Seaton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey, and stayed
(30:52):
with that for the full four years of my education
there and was commissioned a second lieutenant upon graduation in
nineteen sixty seven. So there I was and received orders
in the middle of the summer of sixty seven to
(31:14):
report to Fort Knox, Kentucky for the Armor Officers Basic Course,
which essentially is new second lieutenants either through OCS or ROTC,
and where you learn some of the basics of military life,
army tactics, army discipline. There's some physical aspect to the
(31:38):
time here there. It's essentially almost a three month program.
So I was there from September of sixty seven to
December of sixty seven. And when I completed that course,
so you're still pretty green, I was twenty three years old,
still young, and new that I was going to be
(32:01):
going to Vietnam the following year. I had orders to
that effect. Stayed at Fort Knox for about six months
after the Armor Officers Basic course, and I was with
an Armor battalion as a communications officer awaiting departure to Vietnam. Meanwhile,
(32:27):
was married and had a child who was six months
old when I went to Vietnam. For those officers and
senior NCOs that are probably going to be with a
line unit in Vietnam, there was a of course they
called Jungle School, which was in Panama at the time,
(32:52):
thirteen days, I guess, more or less trying to acclimatize
you to the what whether you would be experiencing in
the mosquitoes, et cetera, etc. There was some physical aspect
to it in some training, but I like to tell
people I thought Panama in Jungle School is worse than Vietnam.
(33:14):
With the exception I didn't get shot at in Jungle School.
So that was August of sixty sixty eight, and in
September of nineteen sixty eight, I arrived in Vietnam. You
(33:35):
know my cousin Paul, he went with the unit from
the States. I went as a replacement. And so you
go to a replacement stationed in Long Bend. You wait
there until they tell you where your assignment is, and
that's how it evolved. It was very couple of days.
(34:01):
Ended up being assigned to the third of the seventeenth
Air Cavalry, which was not part of first the first
Air cab but it was a unit that was attached
to the first Aviation Brigade. And so that's how I
ended up. In September of sixty eight, showed up and
(34:25):
they said we're going to send you to the third
of the seventeenth Air Cavalry, and they really get after him.
So when they said that, my heart dropped because I
thought I'd be Garden helicopters, but far from it. So
I'm there. The first part of my tour was as
a platoon leader. We were assigned to be the QRS,
(34:51):
the quick Reaction Force for a company of alerts long
range patrol people. Who went out in the small teams
didn't move very much. There were kind of the guys
in the ears out there, and there was a bird
dog fixed wing aircraft that moved around keeping in touch
(35:15):
with these alerts on the ground. There might have been
five or six of these small teams, maybe six or
so people, six or so alerks, and if they got
into a contact with the bad guys, we were alerted.
Now there were three platoons and I had one platoon,
(35:35):
and you were on twenty four hours, and if the
siren went off lerts were in contact, you got on
the choppers and you got inserted and they got extracted.
So that was the role, and did that for half
my tour, and the second half of my tour I
(35:56):
was the assistant logistics officer for the squad and served
out the balance of my tour there in that role.
Didn't know whether I wanted to stay in the service,
so I extended for a year. So my total service
was from sixty seven to nineteen seventy and came back
(36:21):
was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas for a year. I
was the logistics officer for the first Brigade of the
first Armored Division, and then ultimately decided that I wasn't
excited about returning to Vietnam and decided to leave the service.
So in nineteen seventy I left the military and went
(36:48):
to grad school in an Mba, went to the Mercy
of Notre Dame. And what was interesting there were a
number of us in this class who had been across
the pond, who had been to Vietnam. We didn't talk
about it. This nineteen seventy to nineteen seventy two I
was there, didn't talk about it. But what was really
(37:11):
interesting is the Army had sent two majors to Notre
Dame to earn their nbas, and of course the Army
was paying. But one of the majors was a fellow
my name of Pat Brady. And how we found out
that Pat Brady had won the Congressional Medal of Honor
(37:34):
in Vietnam is there was an article in the local newspaper,
the South Bend Tribune, and there was a big article
about him. And so he was a dust stuff pilot
over there and had done some very heroic things. But
that's we just didn't talk about it. It just we
all wanted to get on with our lives and we
were all there, and that's how we found out that
(37:56):
this guy, and if you looked him up, Patrick Brady
ended up with two stars. He was a major general.
You could read the citation for how he earned the
Medal of Honor. And so that pretty much was how
it was. We didn't talk about it, you know. I
graduated Notre Dame and got an MBA, started my career
(38:19):
in human resource management. And there was a business meeting
that I went to in nineteen eighty eight and I
took my wife and my daughter and wanted to see
the sites after the meetings. And I have to tell
(38:40):
you we wanted to see the wall. And if you've
been there, you know how it kind of rises up.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
I've been to the one in DC. I used to
help wash it with Air Force Surgeons Association when I
was stationed at Andrews. It's a very moving monument and
the replica we have here is pretty good, but it's
not quite the same as DC obviously.
Speaker 6 (39:07):
Well, and this was the period when a lot of
things were being left at the base of the wall,
you know, memoi still but about one hundred yards last
started to cry, I mean really cry, and it was
unexpected I hadn't cried at all about my experience there,
(39:30):
but I was embarrassed with my wife and my daughter there,
and that was my reaction, was just the spontaneous event.
I can't tell you why I just did. And so
I've been back to the wall one other time and
took three grandsons and didn't have the same emotional effect
(39:53):
as it did that first time. And as I've gotten
old older, you know, I've thought about my experience, and
you know, and there are some other veterans, you know,
we a couple of fellows and I on Monday mornings
(40:13):
clean our church and have coffee and pastry and talk
and we don't talk about it much, but you know,
we do know each of us had that experience. And
as I've reflected, when I was a younger man and
(40:34):
had a mortgage and two kids and bills in a career,
I didn't think much about it. But you know, I'm
seventy nine now, and I think what's occurred to me
is that I've been blessed to have lived this much
longer than the names on the wall. Absolutely, there were
(41:00):
five of my classmates from sut in the Hall who
were killed there before I got in country. It was
during that tent offensive, and I knew all of them,
A couple of them I knew pretty well, you know,
and they were all gone at twenty three or four.
And so what I've reflected on over the years is
(41:21):
that experience that I've been blessed. And the people in
my church say, well, the Guardian angel was looking after Larry,
And could I say, kind of sarcastically, well, what happened
to the Guardian angels? Of those fifty eight thousand names
on the wall? Would they lay down on the job.
(41:43):
So I guess my point is I've been filled with
more sorrow as I've gotten older and realized I've gotten
to live this much longer and others haven't. And that's
just the fact of life. But it was nothing I
reflected on much when I was younger, too busy making
(42:06):
my way. Uh So, so that's kind of my story,
I guess I have. I'm not sure the right word,
but how the civilians in this country think of and
treat the military people today, it's a lot different. And
(42:30):
you know the quote quote they're all heroes. And I
think back, and you know, you said, well, you know,
I would have preferred not to go to Vietnam, but
that's what the government wanted me to do, and they
sent me there. And you know, I'm no less a soldier,
or was this a little less a soldier than or
any of us were than those in the military's day.
(42:52):
But it's the fickleness of the civilian population, I guess,
or the times of you know, the sick Steve and
all that that went on during that period public. Yeah,
and so that's you know, I'm not angry at today's military.
I just think civilians just didn't get it back when
(43:18):
we were all serving on an active duty and that
we did what we were told to do to the
best of our ability. And we're no less true American
soldiers than today's folks. But it's it's just that that
sticks in my crawl a little bit. And every once
in a while, you know, I wear a hat sometimes
(43:40):
it says Vietnam veteran on it, and occasionally someone will
come up and say thank you for your service. You
say you're welcome, and others look at it and don't
know what to say, and so, you know, it's just
it's just where we are. So that's that's kind of
my story. Uh, you know I you know, I loved
(44:01):
the army when I was in. I didn't care for
my tour in Vietnam. It was, among other things, because
I was married. There was no way to really communicate
with my family back home except by letter, and my
wife saved all those letters. I still have them. I
(44:22):
haven't read them since I wrote them all those years ago.
Don't care to read them. But as I reflect, I
knew I was okay. I knew I wasn't wounded. I
know I wasn't dead. But my parents, my in laws,
my wife, they had no idea so they could get
a letter and I'm fine, but the letters didn't travel
(44:46):
that fast. So my point is, well, we're probably eight
thousand miles away from home. We were in this cocoon
of lack of communication back home. Unlike today, where they're
blessed with FaceTime and cell phones and things like that
that makes it a little bit easier to communicate with
(45:10):
your family and relatives back home, But while we were there,
there was none of that, and so I didn't think
about that until I got older, and that, jeez, my
wife never knew. And when I was over there, her father,
who had retired from the military, and he was at
Fort Dix, New Jersey, and they stayed had a house
(45:34):
and they stayed in Jersey. And so while I was overseas,
she lived with her mother and father and our son there.
And because there were a lot of military people in
the area, every once in a while a sedan, an
army sedan would roll by, and you know what that
(45:56):
can mean when there's a sedan, and UH, it could
sometimes not be good news. So she had to deal
with that, and I did. I was safe relatively and
I knew it was okay. So as I think about it,
I'm glad that the military military today has an easier
(46:21):
way to communicate with family and friends than we did.
We were just in the great Void, and everybody wanted
to wanted to get the Freedom Bird back to the
world and UH, and I talked to Paul about this
and and others too, who have You're coming home. You've
(46:42):
obviously survived, and there's a lot of chatter going on
in this aircraft. It's a commercial aircraft. Well, and then
we came into UH Travis Air Force Base in north
of San Francisco, and once the pilot said, we're starting
our final approach into Travis, you could have heard a
(47:04):
pin drop, their bull noise subsided. It was absolutely quiet
until the wheels touched down in market and then everybody
just went crazy. And apparently that's the experience that others
had upon returning home. So I'm not sure what else
(47:26):
to share with you. I'm I'm open to any questions.
I think that I'm proud of the proud of the
three years I was in I left the service as
a captain because they were devoting so fast because of attrition,
officer attrition, and uh, you know, I'm again I'm proud
(47:48):
they have served. And I think all these years later,
I think Americans understand what we experienced and how we
were treated. And I never had an experience where someone
singling me out and said something nasty to me, or
(48:09):
you've heard of people saying they've been split on. I
never experienced that. When I got on out of the service,
I just wanted to get on with my life and
I did. And so that's the Larry the Past Squall story.
Speaker 2 (48:26):
Well, sir, I'll say again thank you for your sacrifice
during your time in service. A couple observations and thoughts
I had when you were speaking as Today's society is
a little bit more understanding that it used to be
(48:48):
fifty years ago. And in regards to those souls that
were taking back home to the Lord, I guess it's
a matter of perspective.
Speaker 5 (48:59):
We all have our.
Speaker 2 (48:59):
Assign missions in life given by God, and when your
mission's over, you take your home sometime sooner, sometimes later.
And perspective I believe, and I've tried to kind of
brought my mind around, is that your mission hasn't done yet.
You've come back home and you've been able to educate
(49:22):
civilians into the life of an army person during our
army soldier during Vietnam, and for that, I think our
country needs more of you and more of these stories
so that they can have an understanding and appreciation for
the I'll say, the things we tend to take for
(49:43):
granted today and they're not for granted. They've been paid
for in fold ahead of time to the service of
men and women we've lost during the multiple campaigns since
that time. So one of the things I'd like to
say to you is that you're one of our treasures
(50:04):
in the military. Uh so that you educate veterans like
myself being younger at how you've managed to be here today,
and you've transitioned as best as anyone can probably hope to.
And I'll say again, thank you for your sacrifice for
(50:24):
serving our country during that particular time in period.
Speaker 6 (50:29):
Well, thank you. I appreciate that. And that's that's a
good perspective, uh and uh concept and insight to have.
I had one other thing to add is I was
at a business launch with a lawyer and I don't
(50:54):
remember the context of that meeting, but I think he
had served there too, And when we were talking about it,
and I said, I was regretful those people who had
lost their lives over there, or lost their minds or
lost pieces of their body, but especially for those that
(51:16):
had died. And his observation was, well, they're in a
better place. And I wasn't smart enough to think or
say anything to that. But as I reflected on it
over the years, you know, I wouldn't I hope to
be in a better place, but I sure wasn't ready
(51:38):
to be in a better place at twenty three years old.
So that is something that I've carried with me as well.
That hopefully, and I am a person of faith, I
believe that there is this better place and trusting that
(51:58):
they're there. But like I said, I'm seventy nine, so
I've been blessed with an extra fifty five or so years,
and so it's all about perspective, I suppose, But anyway.
Speaker 1 (52:14):
It really is. I was going to say, I think
it's kind of interesting. I'm also a person of faith
and in the mornings I take time to kind of
read a devotion and there was a verse today that
actually really stuck out to me. It was in Psalm
one hundred and sixteen, and it says, precious in the
sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants.
(52:34):
So I mean that kind of hit me too, same
because I was just like, whoa really, because sometimes we think,
like the way that you think is absolutely normal and
totally understandable, you know, we think that way and then
we see quotes that say things like, you know, long
life as a privilege denied to many. You know, I
(52:55):
had a nephew that passed away at thirteen years old,
obviously not combat related, but in trying to find you know,
when somebody dies at a young age, like you you know,
your colleagues in the military, when they passed away and
they were so young, and you think about all the
things that maybe they would never get to experience or
something to some degree, I think that we kind of
(53:18):
go searching for some kind of meaning or significance or
some kind of peace or beauty that we can pull
from that horrible situation. And for you know, for my family,
what helped us was trying to figure out, how can
we live our life in a way that will honor
my nephew and everything that he wasn't going to get
(53:39):
to do. And being in the military, and I was
in the Air Force for twenty years, so yes, I
lost people I served with during my time in the military.
After my time in the military, unfortunately, we've received way
too many notifications that friends of ours have passed on
and they were in their thirties forties.
Speaker 6 (53:57):
You know.
Speaker 1 (53:58):
That's that's the thing that kind of helps ground my
husband and me, because we were both twenty year forst veterans,
is how do we live our lives in a way
that honors the memory of our friends that maybe won't
get to do certain things or get to experience certain things.
How can we honor them with the way that we
live our lives. And that's really helped us kind of
(54:20):
make peace with the situation because we can't understand, you know,
we don't know why or you know, what the reasoning
is for, you know, for their earthly mission to be
cut short. We may not understand that. But you know,
there's a saying that ran through the military a lot
when I was in, which was control what you can control.
And so for us it was we got to try
(54:43):
to live our lives the best we can to honor
the lives of our friends that you know that we
perceive were cut short. But in essence, honestly they got
to be free from a lot of the troubles and
problems and you know, worries and issues of this world world,
and they get to be somewhere where they don't have
to deal with that. So, I mean, we try to
(55:05):
wrap our heads around that. But at the same time,
just living our lives the best we can is the
only thing about it that we can control.
Speaker 6 (55:12):
Well, and that's a healthy, healthy way. Certainly challenging to
do that, but as a healthy way get it.
Speaker 5 (55:20):
But you know, there.
Speaker 6 (55:21):
Are the constant reminder for me is are the legacy
costs associated with the defoliant agent orange over there and
I was. I looked at a map one time of
where it had been spread, and I was just fortunate
there's a little pocket of where I was in three
(55:43):
Corps that it wasn't. But you know, Paul has suffered
from that, and plenty of people that I know here.
So you might have not had a terrible experience when
you were there and much younger, but you know that
that Thefoliant has had some serious impact over the years
(56:07):
as we've aged. So you know, it's it's always there.
It's just a kind of a fact of life. You know.
The government said you're going, you went. A lot of
people didn't burn cards, protest and all that, and that's
just and you can do that in this country. That's
that's the beauty of it, I guess. But I I'm
(56:33):
I'm blessed by my long marriage to my wife and
by my faith and uh so thankful to be here,
uh certainly, and uh you know again, I appreciate the
ability to share with you, you know, my experiences and uh,
(56:56):
you know, uh happy to be able to do that.
So is is there anything else that I might answer,
or any other questions that I might.
Speaker 1 (57:05):
Well, we're just honestly thankful for you coming and sharing
your story, because by doing that, you're you know, you're
blessing us, our listeners. People will hear this broadcast in
southwest Florida all throughout the country via reached across America radio.
So by you sharing your story, you don't know what
(57:25):
you could be doing to inspire someone else who you
know has tried not to maybe think about their time
in Vietnam, or hasn't really talked about it much with
their friends or their loved ones. Your story is going
to help inspire somebody else to share their story, no
matter what era they served in the military. You've done
(57:47):
a very honorable thing, first by raising your right hand
and willingly serving in our armed forces, especially at such
a cataclysmic time in our history, but also by you know,
sharing your story today. It's very honorable and we're just
so grateful that you came on the show and that
you know, you told your story.
Speaker 6 (58:09):
Well again, thank you for the opportunity, and I hope
that it might help somebody that's struggled. I mean, you know,
there are obviously those folks that have had a lot
more difficulty assimilating back over time to civilian life and
(58:32):
their lives in general. You know, their wounds, I guess
are inside and so if this helps, that's great, and
I'm proud and happy to do it. And again, thank
you for the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (58:47):
Well, Sir Anesta. From our perspective, thank you for sharing
your story. Your experiences from fifty years ago still has
relevance here today with our young soldiers coming home from Afghanistan.
And I'm hoping that your story can as a beacon
of hope for our listeners listening out there, because through loss,
(59:13):
there's still a life, and in that life you honor
those we've lost and the little bit we've shared here today,
I hope that well, when we had the listeners hearing
your story can relate and hopefully have an opportunity for
them to heal at that particular cant to start that
journey of healing. And I say thank you again.
Speaker 6 (59:35):
Okay, well, thanks for the again, thanks for the opportunity, folks,
have a good day and onward and forward.
Speaker 1 (59:43):
Absolutely thanks for being on the show, Larry, thank you
very much, sir.
Speaker 6 (59:48):
Okay, folks, thank you. I have a good day, you too.
Rally Pointers fall.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
In once again, ladies and gentlemen, it's your favorite serge
Jay Hemingway with a man of Makanue and of course
your nosing the brain in the studios bringing you the
rally point show. How's everybody doing today?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Doing all right?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hanging in there, hey man, it's all we can do.
Just want to give a quick shout out to at
Medicare Solutions. I'm glad I met you and Derek Anderson
on the road killing it guy. Folks, I have to
say again thank you very much for keeping this man busy.
He's helping us pay the bills here and we appreciate
helping you guys as well. Also, I want to give
a shout out to reads across America celebrating our heroes
(00:41):
for a falling the best way we can every time.
De Semper fourteenth, twenty twenty four. So, folks, how's your
weekend's bend?
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Pretty goods?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Outstanding? Outstanding, good week? And who we have on.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Our show for today, Well, we've got a lot of
good stuff lined up for you, guys. We're going to
hear some stories from folk time in the military, so
we have that coming to you. And then we'll also
have a benefits update from our friends at the DAV outstanding.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Hey, folks, were back on the air today. We have
Dave Grant from the DAV here at my goodness chapter.
How are you doing today, Dave?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I'm doing great.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
What do you have for us from the DAV So
I've got my cohort and Joe.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Joe rapidly yes on the air.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
I didn't forget about you.
Speaker 5 (01:32):
I'm doing fine, doing wonderful.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Hit this money.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
So first subject that I brought with me was the
Packed Act has turned two years old. The Packed Act.
If you didn't know and haven't come to see your
local DAV or any other VA counselor the Packed Act
turned two. It has expanded the VA benefits and resources
(02:02):
regarding toxic toxic exposure for veterans. It expended the presumptive
lists for many of the exposures that came out of
Vietnam and out of the Persian Gulf, and the VA
(02:26):
is now looking to expand benefits access for US veterans
of K two the use Uzbekistan base as well, and
that is hopefully going to go into effect here shortly.
(02:48):
I don't know if you have anything else to say
on that Joe yet, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:52):
Dave, were one of the terms you use with presumptive
And I don't want to get into claims, but I
will just say that, Uh. One of the things that
I've noticed is a lot of veterans coming to our
office with words like I never wanted to apply for
anything because I think someone else deserves it or they
deserve it more. And with the Pack Act, what I'll
(03:15):
say is that there's a lot of conditions that veterans
get from things that they were exposed to in the
military that they can be compensated for. And they could
be compensated for those ailments. Is one good thing, but
the bad thing about it is a lot of those
toxins create cancers, they create other things, and especially for
(03:38):
the veterans, if you are exposed to any of those,
it's never too late for you to apply. So we
suggest you come into our office. And then also, if
you happen to pass this lifetime or you happen to
die because of those conditions, your wives might be eligible
for a benefit. So that's the reason that if you
(04:00):
come into your this all you know, if you have something,
if you think you was exposed to something, to come
into our office and talk with us, not just for
the benefit of yourself, but for your for your wife's
benefit in case or your wife or husband, I might say,
benefit in case one of y'all pass understood.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
And I had a question about that, Joe, in regards
to Vietnam exposed quote unquote, can you give me a
definition of what that means? Do you have to be
specifically in country exposure? Could you be around it and
be exposed well?
Speaker 5 (04:36):
Under the pact that they opened it up to some
new areas, so it's not just Vietnam. There was specific
areas in the Southeast Asia that was opened up. And
as we know, agent orange, which is the same thing
that basically Monsanto was using, was terrible over there. So
(04:57):
even if you think you was exposed to, I mean,
there's certain things that agent orange is going to cause.
One of the new items is high blood pressure, yes,
and that was a real big one, high blood pressure
and I mean heart conditions. So if you're suffering from
any one of those, you know, and you can't go
we can't go into depth on the phone but or
(05:18):
on air. But if you expose and you think something
is related to those toxins, please come into the office.
Because it's not just agent orange. There's other things out there.
I mean gasoline, aircraft fumes. There's a lot of toxins
that we were exposed to in the military, no question,
no question.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
And you can plug this your address in location many
times you want during the show. So where can where
can they find your office?
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Port Charlotte Town Center Mall. Were in between J C.
Pennies and Dellarts. Come up the atrium towards DSW Shoes
and we're just before you get to d W Shoes
on the right hand side. Yeah, right right there on
(06:06):
the right hand side is the office and come in.
We usually have about four service officers on every day.
We're open Monday through Friday from ten am to four
p m.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
And uh, correct me if I'm wrong. I have I
had this stick while I'm going around talking telling people
to get their ratings checked out or disability ratings checked out.
Is that they're doing their battle buddies a favor in
the future by applying for them. Now I have this
theory that and maybe you can correct me on it
(06:40):
both is it I'm tossing This is a toss up question.
I feel that if our veterans of today and yesterday
don't apply for their benefits, that our government may reallocate
what they put for us to something else. Is there
any truth to that?
Speaker 5 (06:55):
Well, the BA gets a budget every year, and that
budget is determined by how many people are seen in
the healthcare facilities, how many claims are being paid. If
our veterans do not apply for their benefits, if they
don't go get the healthcare that they're deserving of, that
budget will start to shrink. In order for that budget
(07:18):
to remain stable or be more money to go into
their pot our veterans need to go ahead and apply
for their disabilities and get their healthcare that they deserve
and earned.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
And so America, you just heard it from from the
from the horse's mouth, so to speak. You need to
apply for your benefits today as soon as possible, or
you will impact the VA's annual budget. True. That's that's
just truth right there, folks.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Well, and that kind of takes up into the next
topic that I had, which is the vets benefits checks
could be delayed without a VA funding effect soon because
there is a shortfall in the current VA budget. Fifteen
billion is their current shortfall and this week. That's one
(08:07):
of the things that Congress, both houses of Congress are
working on as early as Tuesday. So the Congressman Johnson
as the Speaker of the House, and Senator who I
(08:32):
can see his face, I just can't remember his name.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
A state Florida or.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
No from New York Schumer, Schumer, thank you. Senator Schumer
planned to address that this week and it's the intent
is to pass a continuing resolution that will get them
(08:58):
into the whole February. But we'll see how many add
ons go into that budget.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Understood, And folks just remember you need to remember to
apply for your benefits. If you do not make it
an effort, they will take it out. They will shorten
our budget, therefore making it harder for us to get
services for what we need.
Speaker 5 (09:23):
I mean, and as we look at things, I mean,
the Pact Act in itself just awarding when you think
of it, every Vietnam veteran that was exposed to agent
orange and if they have high blood pressure, which was
just awarded two years ago. The amount of money that
needs to be allocated for that and all the ailments
(09:46):
that a veteran can get secondary to high blood pressure,
that's a lot of money, So we need to make
sure the veterans get in, follow your claims, and do everything.
So the VA continues to get money and personnel to
process those claims.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Almost definitely one hundred percent. And my young veterans, that
includes you. So if you just left service, or if
you're still in service, you can still go to the BA.
I'm just letting you.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Know, yep. So next topic. VA claim errors result in
one hundred million and incorrect payments. So what what happened here?
When the service members are leaving the service because of
(10:35):
an overage in the service, they get what is called
a severance pay. Yes, thank you. Now, if you get
a disability rating, you can't have a disability payment and
(10:55):
a severance check concurrently. So the VA is required to
recoup that money, which means that every individual that was
paid the severance now is indebted to the US government.
(11:17):
So there are a number of individuals that received severance
pay and are in debt now to our government, some
to the tune of thirty twenty thirty thousand dollars. And
(11:38):
there have been a number of stories in the Military
Times and Navy Times, Army Times talking about this. I
encourage you if you're facing these challenges, come in and
talk to us. We have ways of helping you. The
(12:00):
VA is not always trying to penalize you. We can
work with you and try to look at your finances
and determine mitigating factors. I'm not going to guarantee anything,
(12:23):
can't do that, but we can help you look at
your any possible remedies.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
One of the things we used to say in the
military is there's a waiver for everything. So that's one
of those items where it's possible to receive a waiver,
And like Dave said, we can't guarantee it, but it's
one of the options that might be available for veterans
at that circumstance.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Arrives understood because I've read a couple of articles where
some people who are like you know, been have left
service over twenty years ago, are forced to pay back
one hundred thousand dollars or forced to live their children.
Do they hold back the actual VA check or they
slash it in half or how does that repayment take
a form.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
Either all. But the important thing is to have a
conversation with the VA. There's probably a form that's going
to ask what your financial responsibilities are and then based
on that, there's an agreement that can be made to
you know, how much can be paid monthly or whatever
(13:32):
on a mistake that the government made.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Wow, I mean I get it. I had friends that
got out when we did an enlisted review board back
in like twenty fourteen timeframe, and they got early separation
incentives and all this stuff, and some of them had
to pay that money back, and then some of them
were told, I think it was, that they had to
(13:55):
they either had to pay it back or they had
to forego their VA disability check until that amount, the
amount they had received upon separating had been recouped to
the VA and then they could begin receiving their vachecks again.
But that put some of them out for quite a while,
and since some people who really had a hard time
(14:16):
holding down a full time job scrambling looking for work
because they had to find a way to survive. Yes,
so I mean I understand mistakes happen and things like that,
but hopefully this is something where they're getting in front
of it so this doesn't happen again, because it would
be a shame to hear this same song and dance
in ten years where people are having these same problems
(14:38):
again because the system hasn't caught it. But this is
again kind of one of those things where technology is
not always your friend. You do need somebody with critical
thinking skills and unfortunately unpopular opinion, AI ain't it.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
No, And that's one of the reasons we keep trying
to get this word out to our veteran community. Come
in and talk to your DAV service rep. We're here
to help, and that the VA is not always your enemy. No,
we we will help you in making these reparations with
(15:11):
the VA.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Absolutely. I think some of it even goes even further
back to the transition assistance coordinators at the installations being
able to understand the codes that are on you know,
the DD two fourteen or you know the forms that
are given as part of the transition process because some
of them are Department of Defense forms, some of them
are branch specific, but making sure that they understand what
(15:33):
those codes mean so that they can communicate to the member. Hey,
you may not want to file for VA disability just yet,
because exactly it could come back to bite you financially
if you're accepting this other severance package. Or you may
want to forego accepting the severance package. If you intend
on filing a VA claim, and if your disability is
(15:54):
high enough that you will receive a substantial amount of
money off of which you may need to live, then
you may want to forego that little carrot that they're
dangling in front of your face right now, because that
might be a more short term solution exactly, that would
create this long term issue. Well what else we got?
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Okay, So this next one.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
I think we've kind of talked that one to death.
But it's unfortunate. I just I hope the VA can
get their arms around it and figure out a way
to keep it from happening again.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
So this next one is going to apply to a
small VA veteran community. President Biden granted a pardon to
our LGBTQ plus community. However, Comma, it didn't really grant
(16:53):
a pardon to the individuals that hate intended. Nothing against
President Biden. I'll never criticize, but unless you were convicted
at a UCMJ court martial, it didn't apply to you.
(17:19):
So if it was administrative actions or a resignation or
some other action taken against an individual, the veteran receives
no benefit from.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
His is this for individuals who were separated prior to
the repeal of Don't Ask, don't Tell. Yes, got it?
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Just to be clear for our listeners, So if you
were separated prior to the repeal of Don't Ask, don't tell,
it's a very limited scope of who who can have
their service records updated, yes, and who cannot.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
The officials had previously amended rules to allow service members
discharged under Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy to access that effense,
So there was a previous amendment or yeah, amended rules.
A joke can probably speak more to that than I can.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
Well, they what I'd like to say on that is
I'm going to and I'm not to put it in
the same category. But in a lot of instances, veterans
that had certain offenses, whether it was a LGBT incident,
whether it was a psych tight you know, mental health
(18:42):
such as they were acting out in the military UH
and had bad conduct bad conduct discharges, or other than
honorable conduct DD two fourteens that this is an opportunity
to get those upgraded, to get your benefits. So again
(19:02):
the suggestion is that come in and at least speak
with someone, so we can look at each individual as
an individual case and discuss with you to give you
your options.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Tracking that one, yeah, because that that leads into another
one of the articles that I brought in where the
Navy Times highlighted a mother who blames the VA regarding
a Navy veteran's death.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
He was suffering from PTSD when he was discharged, and
the Lexington VA in Virginia was alleged not to have
provided him timely care. And we all know we tried
(19:59):
to obtain care in the VA system, and sometimes community
care is not as timely as we would like, or
even VA care is not as timely as we like.
And in this case, he wasn't going to get his
(20:22):
appointment I think until something like February, and he committed
suicide in September. So it's a challenge, you know, trying
(20:44):
to insist on community care so that you can get
more timely assistance. Come in and talk to the DAV
and ask us how we can help you obtain some
assistance when when you're struggling. Suicide prevention is so critical,
(21:10):
and we have the Firewatch and we have other suicide
prevention avenues that we would love to engage in with you.
Suicide is not something you should suffer through on.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Your own, most definitely, And I wanted to ask you
both this question and in matters of crisis care, which
this is a story of, if I were to go
into the dav SAM in a crisis moment, can you
walk me through what might my experience be?
Speaker 3 (21:42):
Joe?
Speaker 5 (21:46):
Well, first, of course, the VA has a hotline, and
then it kind of becomes an individual issue. What is
your support mechanism? The bad thing about like that is
you can't be forced to do something against your will. However,
(22:06):
if you're willing to come in and speak with us,
then we could get in contact with someone from the
DA and they could take the necessary steps to ensure
that you get treatment as soon as possible, or able
to speak with someone as soon as possible that's able
to understand exactly what it is you're going through and
(22:27):
where to best send you. The bad thing about and
I would say, I'm not sure if this goes out.
In the Port Charlotte Naples Sarasota area is especially for
wartime veterans. In most communities they have a veterans center.
We really don't have one locally here, so I think
that's going to be more of a community care, whether
(22:52):
the VA would send you to someone within the local
area to speak with someone that is used to dealing
with veterans and have some sort of program set up
for veterans.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Absolutely, sometimes via community care can be just as difficult
to obtain as trying to get in with the VA
in cases of you know, the need for mental health
impatient care. So I know, I've seen a few cases
myself where veterans have waited and waited, like you stated
with the article where it said that you know, the
(23:25):
veteran waited, had to wait months and months and months
to be seen and it was just too long before
unfortunately they took matters into their own hands. But then
I've also seen where people have reached out for community
care and been told and this has happened to me
as well, not necessarily with mental health, but with other aspects,
where you reach out for community care and they say, well,
(23:47):
that could be one to two months before you even
get an appointment because of whatever reason, whether it's a
funding issue, whether it's you know, access to care in
the community or you know, providers being available, that all
that can all get very difficult. So It is good
that you all mentioned the VET Center and the other
(24:11):
like nonprofit avenues that exist out there, that their sole
purpose is to help veterans who are coping with suicidal
ideations or other mental health crises, to try to find
additional pathways to getting them the care they need, whether
it's inside the VA or if it's outside, but through
a veteran centric organization. I think that's definitely critical and
(24:35):
worth mentioning that the DAV can be a vehicle for
that most definitely.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
All right.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Last side of my head is asbestos. Asbestos exposure remains
a concern for veterans today, especially Navy veterans post nineteen eighties.
It remains a high risk of asbestos exposure. The Navy
(25:08):
quit or has cut back on its use of asbestos,
but it hasn't totally eliminated use of asbestos. I still
have veterans coming in complaining of asbestos disposure and the
complications from having been exposed to asbestos. It does require
(25:34):
you go to a pulmonologist and receive evaluation and in
nexus statement, it has a devastating effect on veterans' health.
Speaker 6 (25:52):
And.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
I know a lot of our facilities have had to
go through extensive cleanups because of that asbestos. So it's
one of those that remains an issue. It's something that
you would need to come in and speak to one
(26:16):
of our service officers and they would provide you some
additional advice and guidance. I don't know if you have
anything else to say on this one, Joe.
Speaker 5 (26:27):
No, just that, Yeah, there's a lot of items and
kind of like the toxins that we were exposed to
in the military. And if you feel that you was
exposed to something and have an ailment that might be
related to that exposure, then please do come in so
that we could help lead you in the right direction.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Understood. And also, do you guys have a phone number
from the call in your office if they want and
set up an appointment.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
No appointments are needed. We take everyone on a first come,
first served basis. However, you can call us at nine
four one six nine two eight three three. Any of
my front desk personnel will pick up and connect you
with a service officer to answer any of your questions
(27:17):
over the phone.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
And folks, take it from the sarage firsthand. I've been
there in their facility and when I say it's not
like being in the v I'm going to sit there
and wait for hours. That is not the case. The
minute you get through the door, you're greeted and they'll
get you set down with the Veteran Service officer asap.
That being said, gentlemen, Commander Grant, thank you for sharing
(27:40):
being on the show.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
My pleasure.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Joe, you're the man, and hopefully we'll send more people
down your way.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
Oh, it's a pleasure. It's a pleasure serving veterans, and.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Thank you God bless you both for helping us US
veterans get the benefits we've so served and deserved. And
we hope that our listeners will utilize your skills and
expertise and their path again and their benefits as well.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Indeed, thanks for what you guys do. Appreciate you our pleasure,
And on today's show we have with us Larry Depascual.
Larry is an Army veteran who served during Vietnam. Good morning, Larry,
thanks for being on the show.
Speaker 6 (28:18):
Oh great, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Awesome. Yeah, we're glad to have you. First of all,
we just want to say thank you for your service
and your sacrifice, especially serving during probably one of the most,
I would dare say, just chaotic and difficult eras in
our military history. So thank you very much from the
bottom of our hearts.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
You bet well.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
I mean, let's dive right in, like we want to
hear your story. So tell us about how how you
came to join the army. I know, for some people
it's the draft. Some people joked that they won the
draft bingo. For others, they walked into a recruiter's office
and figured might as well do to do. So, how
did you come to join the army?
Speaker 6 (29:04):
Well, I'm an army brat. My father was a career
soldier and we moved around the world and the country,
so I had been exposed to army life as a
dependent certainly from the age of four on till I
(29:26):
went to college. So it was pretty natural for me
to be viewing the army as something that I would
join at some point upon the end of my college education.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
Very matter of.
Speaker 6 (29:42):
Fact, I met my wife, who was also an army brat.
We met at an American high school in Nurrenberg, Germany,
in the late fifties. And I don't need to worry
with the details, but I left Germany, she stayed graduated
from high school and we were kind of in communicado
(30:02):
for two or three years, but she had the address
of my grandparents in Jersey and sent me a birthday
card through them, and I got it, and one thing
led to another and we got back together. So we've
been together since we were sixteen years old in Mid
(30:22):
America for the last fifty eight years.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
So not as wonderful, wow, you know again.
Speaker 6 (30:30):
So the army was kind of my way of life.
My father retired as a warrant officer, he was a
maintenance warrant and decided to participate in Army ROTC at
Seaton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey, and stayed
(30:52):
with that for the full four years of my education
there and was commissioned a second lieutenant upon graduation in
nineteen sixty seven. So there I was and received orders
in the middle of the summer of sixty seven to
(31:14):
report to Fort Knox, Kentucky for the Armor Officers Basic Course,
which essentially is new second lieutenants either through OCS or ROTC,
and where you learn some of the basics of military life,
army tactics, army discipline. There's some physical aspect to the
(31:38):
time here there. It's essentially almost a three month program.
So I was there from September of sixty seven to
December of sixty seven. And when I completed that course,
so you're still pretty green, I was twenty three years old,
still young, and new that I was going to be
(32:01):
going to Vietnam the following year. I had orders to
that effect. Stayed at Fort Knox for about six months
after the Armor Officers Basic course, and I was with
an Armor battalion as a communications officer awaiting departure to Vietnam. Meanwhile,
(32:27):
was married and had a child who was six months
old when I went to Vietnam. For those officers and
senior NCOs that are probably going to be with a
line unit in Vietnam, there was a of course they
called Jungle School, which was in Panama at the time,
(32:52):
thirteen days, I guess, more or less trying to acclimatize
you to the what whether you would be experiencing in
the mosquitoes, et cetera, etc. There was some physical aspect
to it in some training, but I like to tell
people I thought Panama in Jungle School is worse than Vietnam.
(33:14):
With the exception I didn't get shot at in Jungle School.
So that was August of sixty sixty eight, and in
September of nineteen sixty eight, I arrived in Vietnam. You
(33:35):
know my cousin Paul, he went with the unit from
the States. I went as a replacement. And so you
go to a replacement stationed in Long Bend. You wait
there until they tell you where your assignment is, and
that's how it evolved. It was very couple of days.
(34:01):
Ended up being assigned to the third of the seventeenth
Air Cavalry, which was not part of first the first
Air cab but it was a unit that was attached
to the first Aviation Brigade. And so that's how I
ended up. In September of sixty eight, showed up and
(34:25):
they said we're going to send you to the third
of the seventeenth Air Cavalry, and they really get after him.
So when they said that, my heart dropped because I
thought I'd be Garden helicopters, but far from it. So
I'm there. The first part of my tour was as
a platoon leader. We were assigned to be the QRS,
(34:51):
the quick Reaction Force for a company of alerts long
range patrol people. Who went out in the small teams
didn't move very much. There were kind of the guys
in the ears out there, and there was a bird
dog fixed wing aircraft that moved around keeping in touch
(35:15):
with these alerts on the ground. There might have been
five or six of these small teams, maybe six or
so people, six or so alerks, and if they got
into a contact with the bad guys, we were alerted.
Now there were three platoons and I had one platoon,
(35:35):
and you were on twenty four hours, and if the
siren went off lerts were in contact, you got on
the choppers and you got inserted and they got extracted.
So that was the role, and did that for half
my tour, and the second half of my tour I
(35:56):
was the assistant logistics officer for the squad and served
out the balance of my tour there in that role.
Didn't know whether I wanted to stay in the service,
so I extended for a year. So my total service
was from sixty seven to nineteen seventy and came back
(36:21):
was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas for a year. I
was the logistics officer for the first Brigade of the
first Armored Division, and then ultimately decided that I wasn't
excited about returning to Vietnam and decided to leave the service.
So in nineteen seventy I left the military and went
(36:48):
to grad school in an Mba, went to the Mercy
of Notre Dame. And what was interesting there were a
number of us in this class who had been across
the pond, who had been to Vietnam. We didn't talk
about it. This nineteen seventy to nineteen seventy two I
was there, didn't talk about it. But what was really
(37:11):
interesting is the Army had sent two majors to Notre
Dame to earn their nbas, and of course the Army
was paying. But one of the majors was a fellow
my name of Pat Brady. And how we found out
that Pat Brady had won the Congressional Medal of Honor
(37:34):
in Vietnam is there was an article in the local newspaper,
the South Bend Tribune, and there was a big article
about him. And so he was a dust stuff pilot
over there and had done some very heroic things. But
that's we just didn't talk about it. It just we
all wanted to get on with our lives and we
were all there, and that's how we found out that
(37:56):
this guy, and if you looked him up, Patrick Brady
ended up with two stars. He was a major general.
You could read the citation for how he earned the
Medal of Honor. And so that pretty much was how
it was. We didn't talk about it, you know. I
graduated Notre Dame and got an MBA, started my career
(38:19):
in human resource management. And there was a business meeting
that I went to in nineteen eighty eight and I
took my wife and my daughter and wanted to see
the sites after the meetings. And I have to tell
(38:40):
you we wanted to see the wall. And if you've
been there, you know how it kind of rises up.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
I've been to the one in DC. I used to
help wash it with Air Force Surgeons Association when I
was stationed at Andrews. It's a very moving monument and
the replica we have here is pretty good, but it's
not quite the same as DC obviously.
Speaker 6 (39:07):
Well, and this was the period when a lot of
things were being left at the base of the wall,
you know, memoi still but about one hundred yards last
started to cry, I mean really cry, and it was
unexpected I hadn't cried at all about my experience there,
(39:30):
but I was embarrassed with my wife and my daughter there,
and that was my reaction, was just the spontaneous event.
I can't tell you why I just did. And so
I've been back to the wall one other time and
took three grandsons and didn't have the same emotional effect
(39:53):
as it did that first time. And as I've gotten
old older, you know, I've thought about my experience, and
you know, and there are some other veterans, you know,
we a couple of fellows and I on Monday mornings
(40:13):
clean our church and have coffee and pastry and talk
and we don't talk about it much, but you know,
we do know each of us had that experience. And
as I've reflected, when I was a younger man and
(40:34):
had a mortgage and two kids and bills in a career,
I didn't think much about it. But you know, I'm
seventy nine now, and I think what's occurred to me
is that I've been blessed to have lived this much
longer than the names on the wall. Absolutely, there were
(41:00):
five of my classmates from sut in the Hall who
were killed there before I got in country. It was
during that tent offensive, and I knew all of them,
A couple of them I knew pretty well, you know,
and they were all gone at twenty three or four.
And so what I've reflected on over the years is
(41:21):
that experience that I've been blessed. And the people in
my church say, well, the Guardian angel was looking after Larry,
And could I say, kind of sarcastically, well, what happened
to the Guardian angels? Of those fifty eight thousand names
on the wall? Would they lay down on the job.
(41:43):
So I guess my point is I've been filled with
more sorrow as I've gotten older and realized I've gotten
to live this much longer and others haven't. And that's
just the fact of life. But it was nothing I
reflected on much when I was younger, too busy making
(42:06):
my way. Uh So, so that's kind of my story,
I guess I have. I'm not sure the right word,
but how the civilians in this country think of and
treat the military people today, it's a lot different. And
(42:30):
you know the quote quote they're all heroes. And I
think back, and you know, you said, well, you know,
I would have preferred not to go to Vietnam, but
that's what the government wanted me to do, and they
sent me there. And you know, I'm no less a soldier,
or was this a little less a soldier than or
any of us were than those in the military's day.
(42:52):
But it's the fickleness of the civilian population, I guess,
or the times of you know, the sick Steve and
all that that went on during that period public. Yeah,
and so that's you know, I'm not angry at today's military.
I just think civilians just didn't get it back when
(43:18):
we were all serving on an active duty and that
we did what we were told to do to the
best of our ability. And we're no less true American
soldiers than today's folks. But it's it's just that that
sticks in my crawl a little bit. And every once
in a while, you know, I wear a hat sometimes
(43:40):
it says Vietnam veteran on it, and occasionally someone will
come up and say thank you for your service. You
say you're welcome, and others look at it and don't
know what to say, and so, you know, it's just
it's just where we are. So that's that's kind of
my story. Uh, you know I you know, I loved
(44:01):
the army when I was in. I didn't care for
my tour in Vietnam. It was, among other things, because
I was married. There was no way to really communicate
with my family back home except by letter, and my
wife saved all those letters. I still have them. I
(44:22):
haven't read them since I wrote them all those years ago.
Don't care to read them. But as I reflect, I
knew I was okay. I knew I wasn't wounded. I
know I wasn't dead. But my parents, my in laws,
my wife, they had no idea so they could get
a letter and I'm fine, but the letters didn't travel
(44:46):
that fast. So my point is, well, we're probably eight
thousand miles away from home. We were in this cocoon
of lack of communication back home. Unlike today, where they're
blessed with FaceTime and cell phones and things like that
that makes it a little bit easier to communicate with
(45:10):
your family and relatives back home, But while we were there,
there was none of that, and so I didn't think
about that until I got older, and that, jeez, my
wife never knew. And when I was over there, her father,
who had retired from the military, and he was at
Fort Dix, New Jersey, and they stayed had a house
(45:34):
and they stayed in Jersey. And so while I was overseas,
she lived with her mother and father and our son there.
And because there were a lot of military people in
the area, every once in a while a sedan, an
army sedan would roll by, and you know what that
(45:56):
can mean when there's a sedan, and UH, it could
sometimes not be good news. So she had to deal
with that, and I did. I was safe relatively and
I knew it was okay. So as I think about it,
I'm glad that the military military today has an easier
(46:21):
way to communicate with family and friends than we did.
We were just in the great Void, and everybody wanted
to wanted to get the Freedom Bird back to the
world and UH, and I talked to Paul about this
and and others too, who have You're coming home. You've
(46:42):
obviously survived, and there's a lot of chatter going on
in this aircraft. It's a commercial aircraft. Well, and then
we came into UH Travis Air Force Base in north
of San Francisco, and once the pilot said, we're starting
our final approach into Travis, you could have heard a
(47:04):
pin drop, their bull noise subsided. It was absolutely quiet
until the wheels touched down in market and then everybody
just went crazy. And apparently that's the experience that others
had upon returning home. So I'm not sure what else
(47:26):
to share with you. I'm I'm open to any questions.
I think that I'm proud of the proud of the
three years I was in I left the service as
a captain because they were devoting so fast because of attrition,
officer attrition, and uh, you know, I'm again I'm proud
(47:48):
they have served. And I think all these years later,
I think Americans understand what we experienced and how we
were treated. And I never had an experience where someone
singling me out and said something nasty to me, or
(48:09):
you've heard of people saying they've been split on. I
never experienced that. When I got on out of the service,
I just wanted to get on with my life and
I did. And so that's the Larry the Past Squall story.
Speaker 2 (48:26):
Well, sir, I'll say again thank you for your sacrifice
during your time in service. A couple observations and thoughts
I had when you were speaking as Today's society is
a little bit more understanding that it used to be
(48:48):
fifty years ago. And in regards to those souls that
were taking back home to the Lord, I guess it's
a matter of perspective.
Speaker 5 (48:59):
We all have our.
Speaker 2 (48:59):
Assign missions in life given by God, and when your
mission's over, you take your home sometime sooner, sometimes later.
And perspective I believe, and I've tried to kind of
brought my mind around, is that your mission hasn't done yet.
You've come back home and you've been able to educate
(49:22):
civilians into the life of an army person during our
army soldier during Vietnam, and for that, I think our
country needs more of you and more of these stories
so that they can have an understanding and appreciation for
the I'll say, the things we tend to take for
(49:43):
granted today and they're not for granted. They've been paid
for in fold ahead of time to the service of
men and women we've lost during the multiple campaigns since
that time. So one of the things I'd like to
say to you is that you're one of our treasures
(50:04):
in the military. Uh so that you educate veterans like
myself being younger at how you've managed to be here today,
and you've transitioned as best as anyone can probably hope to.
And I'll say again, thank you for your sacrifice for
(50:24):
serving our country during that particular time in period.
Speaker 6 (50:29):
Well, thank you. I appreciate that. And that's that's a
good perspective, uh and uh concept and insight to have.
I had one other thing to add is I was
at a business launch with a lawyer and I don't
(50:54):
remember the context of that meeting, but I think he
had served there too, And when we were talking about it,
and I said, I was regretful those people who had
lost their lives over there, or lost their minds or
lost pieces of their body, but especially for those that
(51:16):
had died. And his observation was, well, they're in a
better place. And I wasn't smart enough to think or
say anything to that. But as I reflected on it
over the years, you know, I wouldn't I hope to
be in a better place, but I sure wasn't ready
(51:38):
to be in a better place at twenty three years old.
So that is something that I've carried with me as well.
That hopefully, and I am a person of faith, I
believe that there is this better place and trusting that
(51:58):
they're there. But like I said, I'm seventy nine, so
I've been blessed with an extra fifty five or so years,
and so it's all about perspective, I suppose, But anyway.
Speaker 1 (52:14):
It really is. I was going to say, I think
it's kind of interesting. I'm also a person of faith
and in the mornings I take time to kind of
read a devotion and there was a verse today that
actually really stuck out to me. It was in Psalm
one hundred and sixteen, and it says, precious in the
sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants.
(52:34):
So I mean that kind of hit me too, same
because I was just like, whoa really, because sometimes we think,
like the way that you think is absolutely normal and
totally understandable, you know, we think that way and then
we see quotes that say things like, you know, long
life as a privilege denied to many. You know, I
(52:55):
had a nephew that passed away at thirteen years old,
obviously not combat related, but in trying to find you know,
when somebody dies at a young age, like you you know,
your colleagues in the military, when they passed away and
they were so young, and you think about all the
things that maybe they would never get to experience or
something to some degree, I think that we kind of
(53:18):
go searching for some kind of meaning or significance or
some kind of peace or beauty that we can pull
from that horrible situation. And for you know, for my family,
what helped us was trying to figure out, how can
we live our life in a way that will honor
my nephew and everything that he wasn't going to get
(53:39):
to do. And being in the military, and I was
in the Air Force for twenty years, so yes, I
lost people I served with during my time in the military.
After my time in the military, unfortunately, we've received way
too many notifications that friends of ours have passed on
and they were in their thirties forties.
Speaker 6 (53:57):
You know.
Speaker 1 (53:58):
That's that's the thing that kind of helps ground my
husband and me, because we were both twenty year forst veterans,
is how do we live our lives in a way
that honors the memory of our friends that maybe won't
get to do certain things or get to experience certain things.
How can we honor them with the way that we
live our lives. And that's really helped us kind of
(54:20):
make peace with the situation because we can't understand, you know,
we don't know why or you know, what the reasoning
is for, you know, for their earthly mission to be
cut short. We may not understand that. But you know,
there's a saying that ran through the military a lot
when I was in, which was control what you can control.
And so for us it was we got to try
(54:43):
to live our lives the best we can to honor
the lives of our friends that you know that we
perceive were cut short. But in essence, honestly they got
to be free from a lot of the troubles and
problems and you know, worries and issues of this world world,
and they get to be somewhere where they don't have
to deal with that. So, I mean, we try to
(55:05):
wrap our heads around that. But at the same time,
just living our lives the best we can is the
only thing about it that we can control.
Speaker 6 (55:12):
Well, and that's a healthy, healthy way. Certainly challenging to
do that, but as a healthy way get it.
Speaker 5 (55:20):
But you know, there.
Speaker 6 (55:21):
Are the constant reminder for me is are the legacy
costs associated with the defoliant agent orange over there and
I was. I looked at a map one time of
where it had been spread, and I was just fortunate
there's a little pocket of where I was in three
(55:43):
Corps that it wasn't. But you know, Paul has suffered
from that, and plenty of people that I know here.
So you might have not had a terrible experience when
you were there and much younger, but you know that
that Thefoliant has had some serious impact over the years
(56:07):
as we've aged. So you know, it's it's always there.
It's just a kind of a fact of life. You know.
The government said you're going, you went. A lot of
people didn't burn cards, protest and all that, and that's
just and you can do that in this country. That's
that's the beauty of it, I guess. But I I'm
(56:33):
I'm blessed by my long marriage to my wife and
by my faith and uh so thankful to be here,
uh certainly, and uh you know again, I appreciate the
ability to share with you, you know, my experiences and uh,
(56:56):
you know, uh happy to be able to do that.
So is is there anything else that I might answer,
or any other questions that I might.
Speaker 1 (57:05):
Well, we're just honestly thankful for you coming and sharing
your story, because by doing that, you're you know, you're
blessing us, our listeners. People will hear this broadcast in
southwest Florida all throughout the country via reached across America radio.
So by you sharing your story, you don't know what
(57:25):
you could be doing to inspire someone else who you
know has tried not to maybe think about their time
in Vietnam, or hasn't really talked about it much with
their friends or their loved ones. Your story is going
to help inspire somebody else to share their story, no
matter what era they served in the military. You've done
(57:47):
a very honorable thing, first by raising your right hand
and willingly serving in our armed forces, especially at such
a cataclysmic time in our history, but also by you know,
sharing your story today. It's very honorable and we're just
so grateful that you came on the show and that
you know, you told your story.
Speaker 6 (58:09):
Well again, thank you for the opportunity, and I hope
that it might help somebody that's struggled. I mean, you know,
there are obviously those folks that have had a lot
more difficulty assimilating back over time to civilian life and
(58:32):
their lives in general. You know, their wounds, I guess
are inside and so if this helps, that's great, and
I'm proud and happy to do it. And again, thank
you for the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (58:47):
Well, Sir Anesta. From our perspective, thank you for sharing
your story. Your experiences from fifty years ago still has
relevance here today with our young soldiers coming home from Afghanistan.
And I'm hoping that your story can as a beacon
of hope for our listeners listening out there, because through loss,
(59:13):
there's still a life, and in that life you honor
those we've lost and the little bit we've shared here today,
I hope that well, when we had the listeners hearing
your story can relate and hopefully have an opportunity for
them to heal at that particular cant to start that
journey of healing. And I say thank you again.
Speaker 6 (59:35):
Okay, well, thanks for the again, thanks for the opportunity, folks,
have a good day and onward and forward.
Speaker 1 (59:43):
Absolutely thanks for being on the show, Larry, thank you
very much, sir.
Speaker 6 (59:48):
Okay, folks, thank you. I have a good day, you too.
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