December 15, 2024 • 45 mins
The WWIA MO-KAN Ducks, Bucks, and Trapping Event has been proudly serving and honoring our Purple Heart Heroes for the past 15 years. It is one of our longest standing events within the Foundation, and their patriotic team of supporters are truly a remarkable group of people. On today’s episode of the WWIA Podcast, WWIA Founder and CEO, John McDaniel, welcomes one of our good friends who is one of the integral parts of Mighty Team MO-KAN, Mr. Terry Supple.
Terry recently retired after successfully owning and operating his own screen printing and sign business for 44 years. He has been married to his beautiful wife for 42 years, is the father of three amazing children, is a doting grandfather to nine grandchildren, as well as two dogs.
An avid hunter for over 40 years, enjoying both quail and duck hunting, he enjoys the quality and experience of the hunt, including the company and camaraderie of those he surrounds himself with more than anything else. He considers it a high honor and privilege to serve America’s combat-wounded veterans with his team over the past fifteen years and always feels he gets more out of the experience than they do. We’re proud to share this great American’s story with you and hope you get to enjoy learning more about Terry and Team MO-KAN.
Takeaways:
- The MO-KAN Ducks, Bucks and Trapping event has significantly impacted combat wounded veterans for 15 years.
- Terry Supple shares how the Napier Duck Hunting Club evolved over the years from humble beginnings.
- Camaraderie and connection among veterans are fostered through shared experiences in nature at events.
- Combat-wounded veterans often find healing and support through engaging activities and shared stories.
- The emotional toll of serving veterans is significant, often leaving organizers feeling drained yet fulfilled.
- Terry emphasizes the importance of welcoming Vietnam veterans home, as they were not honored in their time.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:04):
Hello and welcome to the WWIAPodcast. We're honored to have you
join us in our mission tobring honor, connection and healing
to America's combat woundedPurple Heart heroes. If this is your
first time listening to thispodcast, we welcome you if you're
a returning listener. Thanksfor coming back. Please be sure to
(00:25):
tell others about our podcastand leave us a review if you're enjoying
what you're hearing. The WWIAMO-KAN Ducks, Bucks and Trapping
event has been proudly servingand honoring our Purple Heart heroes
for the past 15 years. It'sone of our longest standing events
within the foundation andtheir patriotic team of supporters
(00:45):
are truly a remarkable groupof people. On today's episode of
the WWIA podcast, WWIA founderand CEO John McDaniel welcomes one
of our good friends who's oneof the integral parts of mighty Team
MO-KAN, Mr. Terry Supple.Terry recently retired after successfully
(01:06):
owning and operating his ownscreen printing and sign business
for 44 years. He's beenmarried to his beautiful wife for
42 years, is the father ofthree amazing children, is a doting
grandfather to ninegrandchildren, as well as two dogs.
An avid hunter for over 40years, enjoying both quail and duck
hunting, he enjoys the qualityand experience of the hunt, including
(01:29):
the company and camaraderie ofthose he surrounds himself with.
More than anything else, heconsiders it a high honor and privilege
to serve America'scombat-wounded veterans with his
team over the past 15 yearsand always feels he gets more out
of the experience than theydo. We are proud to share this great
American story with you andhope you get to enjoy learning more
(01:49):
about Terry and Team MO-KAN.Without further ado, let's jump into
the conversation with John andTerry now.
Hi, I'm John McDaniel, founderand CEO of the Wounded warriors in
Action foundation. And this isour podcast, Honor, Connect, Heal.
(02:10):
So today I have a very specialguest with me. His name is Terry
Supple. Terry, welcome to the program.
Good morning, John, how are you?
Great, great. So foreverybody, Terry Supple is one of
the leaders of our, ofprobably what is our, I call it the
(02:31):
800 pound gorilla, you know,but you know, probably the, you know,
the Foundation's, you know,biggest, baddest mission that we
do. I don't know how else todescribe it, but the Mo can is the
800 pound gorilla. Because it,you know, I said earlier when we
were chatting, I said MO-KAN,you know, if the foundation were
(02:51):
the sun, MO-KAN would be oneof those giant planets out there,
you know, circling the sunwith this gravitational effect and
pull that which anytime yougot close to it, you just get sucked
in.
I've never heard of it that way.
But okay, this behemoth that'sjust out there, you know, that's
got its own properties and,you know, and moons and satellites
(03:14):
and all kinds of stufffloating around it. Man, it's, it's
amazing. I mean, it's the oneevent, the only event where you can,
you know, in one weekend, youknow, you stack up. You guys stack
up like 200 ducks. You know,every, every hero gets a crack at
or harvest a monster, youknow, Missouri or Kansas timber buck.
You have a trap line goingwith the Department of Natural Resources.
(03:39):
And I don't know, and you do afishing event, you know, on the side
for monster catfish. I mean,I'm missing things, but it's just
an amazing event and you're abig part of that. And I just wanted
to say, you know, thanks forthat. But tell us about Napier, because
Napier Duck Hunting Club is anamazing club. And, and you are, I
(04:00):
don't know, are you the, areyou one of the founders? Are you
the president? I mean, what'syour role there, Terry?
Well, actually, when it, whenit all started back in 1998, there
were four guys got together. Iwas the fifth guy to come in. We
didn't have, I think we had100 acres. There was no house, there
was no roads, there wasnothing. There was a gate and a ditch.
(04:21):
And it used to be used in theold days for goose hunting because
it does. It is close proximityto the Squaw Creek National Wildlife
Refuge or Los Bluffs, as theycall it now. And people would pay
to come in there and huntgeese. Well, a certain doctor friend
of ours bought it in the backin 1952, I believe, and he just turned
(04:42):
it into a private it gamefarm. So we kind of took that and
said, well, we want to huntducks more than geese. So we flooded
part of it. We planted corn ona lot of it. We put in ground blinds
on it, pits, heaters and stuffin them as you, if you will, made
(05:02):
it comfortable and kind ofprogressively took on a few more
members to pay for the newstuff. The new land, the more land
the, the double wide trailerwe had, I think was when you came
and stayed there, it was adouble wide. We since built a 22
bedroom house there thatstarted out, you know how guys think.
(05:27):
You know, this is, if I wasgoing to do this, this is what I'd
do. And we all got together,threw it in a hat, and funded that
ourselves.
It's amazing.
We started out, we had a mudroom that was kind of dinky, and
we said, well, let's build abigger mudroom. And it snowballed.
Now our mudroom looks like agymnasium, locker room. And we built
the house, and we built a. Afive bed, five bunk beds, basically
(05:53):
for the warriors to come andstay with us. So they've got their
own quarters there. If theywant to get away, they can go up
there and close the door orthey can, you know, or there's other
bedrooms for them. So, yeah,it's. It. It's just kind of progressed
into, like you said, amonster. Now we've got it right at
300 acres. We just developedanother 48 acres north of us that
does adjoin our property. Nowwe put in a new well and pump and
(06:16):
all that. So, yeah, we're over300 acres, and it's built for fun.
Wow.
You know, I remember the firsttime I met you. Of course, you know,
what started all this was, youknow, Brian Roderick and, you know,
and his band of merry menthere, three or four of his best
(06:37):
buddies who are all, you know,amazing duck hunters and sportsmen
in general. And 15 years ago,I met. I had Jake Wipkey with me,
and I met Brian on an event.He said he wanted to help, and so
we went there and we huntedducks on his property. It was just
ducks at the time, as Irecall. And then every year, it sort
(07:01):
of grew, and he started doinga banquet. And like I said, like,
the planetary effects ofMO-KAN just continued to get bigger
and stronger. And, you know,we were putting the heroes up in
a. In a hotel room. And theproblem with doing that is that while.
While it might be a nice placeto sleep, you know, guys go back
(07:23):
to their hotel room and theyshut the door, and that's it, you
know, and that doesn't reallyfoster the kind of camaraderie and
relationship building and thethings that we're trying to really
accomplish that happen arounda fire or, you know, pit or, you
know, in a common use arealike Napier offers, with a ton of
terrain and a setting in theoutdoors and, you know, it's just
(07:44):
amazing. So, you know, thanksfor, you know, opening up your ranks
and then expanding youroperations to accommodate for our
heroes now in, you know, the15th year of the MO-KAN iteration.
You know, I know of no otherevent that we do where you're. We're
stacking up. You guys arestacking Up. You know, I don't know
(08:05):
what the number is, but, youknow, 150, 200 ducks in a weekend.
Every hero shooting, you know,getting a chance or harvesting a
monster timber buck either inMissouri or Kansas with their, you
know, with their bows. There'sa trap line in, you know, it's. It's
amazing. And you guys also doa big catfishing event in the summertime,
(08:29):
and, you know, it's justincredible what you guys have accomplished.
And I just want to, you know,extend my gratitude and my thanks
for all that you've done inyour leadership and support of our
mission there. Terry, it'sreally incredible.
Well, we've enjoyed everyminute of it. You know, we've had
them. Adam at Napier. I'vebeen involved pretty much the whole
(08:53):
time, but we've had them atNapier for 13 years now, so. Wow.
We just. We just really enjoyhaving them up there.
Yeah. And what a great bunchof guys. I know we were saying in
the. You and I were chattingin the pre show about the first time
we met. I remember, I can'trecall if we hunted the first time.
(09:16):
It may have been the secondtime, but the first time you said,
hey, come with me. I think youbrought your Labrador. And you and
I sat in a duck blind there asthe sun was setting, and you didn't
tell me what I was about toseek. I had no idea. Right. I had
heard rumors like, you need togo. Brian's like, you need to go
(09:37):
with Terry. And I'm like,okay, so I go with Terry. You know,
we're sitting there and thesun's going down, and, you know,
the habitat is just amazing,what you guys have created there.
And all of a sudden, as thesun sets, the skies just turn black,
literally, with ducks and thenoise that they're making and how
they're communicating andwhere they're flying. It's no. I
(10:01):
don't know how they don'tcollide into each other, but it literally
is like a phenomenon I'venever seen. Yeah, it is. I mean,
I've never seen anything likethat. You know, I've sat in duck
blinds for hours and hours andnever saw a duck. You know, we all
have. But here I'm like, howcome this. How come I didn't know
(10:21):
that this ever existed? Youknow, you must be smack dab in the
middle of the flyway. But, youknow, kudos to you guys for creating
the habitat and doing whatyou've done to attract that many
waterfowl. It's really incredible.
Well, It's a fun place. Weenjoy it, and it's kind of our playground.
(10:42):
You know, we, as my wife says,is cheaper than therapy. You know,
when my. When I hit thegravel, I know my blood pressure
drops 20 points, and it'sjust. You can get away from stuff,
and. And hopefully, you know,you don't have cel a lot of the time,
so.
Right, exactly.
That works out okay.
That's like a camp Hacket. Youknow, I've had people go, why don't
you get WI Fi? I just givethem that look, like, really, dude?
(11:06):
Yeah, yeah.
You're not. You're not here tobe on WI Fi. I don't say anything,
but, you know, emergency 911still works. Don't ask me how I know
that, but yeah. No, you guys.You know, you guys are doing amazing
things there. And I had thegals tally up the total amount of
(11:28):
contributions in kind in cashthat MO-KAN has produced in the 15
years of your amazing missionthere. And it's the number, and we
won't get into the decimalpoints and all that, but it's 528,000
and some change. That'sincredible. That's absolutely incredible.
(11:50):
Your team has won the highestaward that our Foundation gives,
and that's the Medal of HonorPatron Award.
Wow.
Yeah. And you've done that.That's for proceeds in excess of
250,000. So as I look at this,I'm like, I think you guys are in
the pipeline to get yoursecond Medal of Honor Patron Award.
(12:15):
I mean, it just doesn't getany better than that. It's really
amazing. It's a ton ofresource. It's a ton of Heroes served.
It's a ton of lives changed.And it goes beyond, obviously, the
pointy end of the spear there.The work itself. It's that ripple
effect that goes off into thecommunity. It's like you say, hey,
(12:37):
I'm getting more out of thisthan you think you are. I mean, you
say you are, but I appreciateyou saying that because I feel the
same way sometimes, too. WhenI'm done with a mission, you know,
serving the heroes, I feellike I know they got something out
of that, but I darn sure knowI did, too.
Sure.
You know, and that's a. It'san incredible feeling, isn't it?
And it's. You know, and it's.It's like the beginning. It's the
(13:00):
kickoff to Thanksgiving week.It's the highlight of my Thanksgiving.
There you go. That starts thatweekend. And it's like my knees don't
hurt as bad. My, my problemsaren't as big after I meet some of
these young men and women andthat have gone through what they've
gone through to give us thatopportunity, you know.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah. It's a great time of theyear for me. We always look forward
(13:20):
to it.
I know you've developed somerelationships with some of the guides.
I know. You know, youmentioned in the pre show, you mentioned
Jake and Frenchie and youknow, we just got a great crew of
combat wounded guides thatare, you know, supporting your mission
and 42 others across thecountry. But you probably also have
(13:42):
a pretty cool story orsomething. I hate to put you on the
spot, but, you know, if you'vegot a story that you'd like to share
with us, something that I'msure we'd all like to hear about
your experience there atNapier, doing your thing.
Well, you know, there's,there's tons and tons of story and
I did, I did make some notes.That's probably not fair to do that.
(14:04):
But, you know, this time ofthe year, especially when I was going
through my memory and thinkingof some of the cool people we've
met, you know, that have, thathave come across, you know, John
Keeney and Whipkey andFrenchie and Carp and Caleb. I mean,
Carp, you know, I hope.
(14:25):
Carp is listening to this man,because we could have, we could have
a whole program on Carp.
Well, you know, one of thegreatest stories that I had was Carp
and Ryan Schultz, who used tohelp us a lot. And he still does
help some, but he's got hisown stuff going on now. They're big
financial supporters still,but we were getting ready to go to
mass one Sunday morning, didnot go out to hunt and came out halfway
(14:50):
dressed. And Carp says, whereare you guys going? I said, well,
we're going to mass. It's alittle town of Forest City down,
down the road. He says, well,can I go? I said, well, sure, you
can go. And he says, well, allI got is camo. I said, okay. So Ryan
and I went back to our room.
God's gonna accept you.
Ryan and I went back to ourrooms and we put our camo on and
(15:13):
we took church. And it was aCatholic church and Ryan and I were
both Catholic. So we'restanding there, we introduced him
to the priest and thecongregation is all related. So when
you walk in, every head in theplace turns to see who walked in.
So we walk in with Carp and hemakes his presence known wherever
he goes.
Yes.
So at the end of mass, theysaid, let us go in peace to love
(15:34):
and serve the Lord. And Carpthrows both arms in the air and says,
hallelujah. Completely.
That story. I love that story.
Completely out of line for theCatholic church. And these 80 year
old Catholic women turned around.
They turned around.
I was like, what the heck was that?
It was Carp. It was the Carpfactor. It was Carp.
(15:58):
You know, he spawned.
Did you. Oh, my God.
And then they proceeded toinvite us to their parish luncheon
afterwards. They loved it. Youknow, they loved it.
It was new blood, new life. Yeah.
Oh, so, so much fun. That wasa great Sunday morning.
Yeah.
One that won't be forgotten.
I have to. No, you. I'm gonna.I'm gonna. I'm gonna ask to see if
(16:21):
we can't get Carp on. Thatwould be hilarious. What a great.
What a great American. Okay,so. Well, that's pretty cool. I appreciate.
I hadn't laughed that hard ona podcast in a while. I appreciate
that. I had no idea. You know,I. I have to live vicariously through
you guys sometimes. I hearthese stories, you know, all the
time of something and I didn'tknow that it happened, you know,
(16:43):
I mean, I get it sort ofsecondhand, but.
Yeah, that's a great.
That's a great one.
You know, and that was. Thatwas one of my favorite stories with.
With an individual and one ofthe other guys. I wish I knew the
kid's name. He was a. Yeah, hewas a young man and he lost lower
leg, I think it was. And wewere all sitting on the couch watching
football one Sunday afternoon.And a good friend of mine was there
with us. Very instrumental.He's a general, very instrumental
(17:06):
in getting the Air NationalGuard involved with us. Lots of labor,
lots of help, lots of tablesand chairs. When we started out,
Steve Cotter was his name andhe was sitting next to Steve. And
Steve gets up and he says, I'mgonna go get something to drink.
You guys need anything? Andthis kid was sitting next to me.
He says, well, yeah, if you'regoing. I take a beer. So Cotter,
(17:27):
being gracious, he says, okay,I'll get your beer. He comes back
and the kid elbows me. Hegoes, here, here's my camera. Take
a picture of this guy givingme that beer. And I said, okay. He
says, because my buddies willnever believe that I had a bug general
fetching me beers.
And then you gotta watch thoseenlisted guys. They're wily, man.
(17:47):
Oh, my gosh. And he says, hewas a bug private or something when
he got injured.
Oh, perfect. Right.
So here's this boss, you know,that everybody used to worship.
No, that's right. Well, youknow what? Yeah, that's awesome.
You know, I tell you the onething I was mentioning, you know,
I had a chance to speak tosome folks over the Veteran Day weekend
(18:10):
here, and I was thinking aboutwhat I might say, and one of the
things that came to my mindwas just this idea of service, you
know, and, well, there's aclassic example here, you know, here's
a general officer, retiredgeneral, two star officer, who's,
you know, supporting thisactivity. And one of the participants
(18:34):
asked him if he would go gethim a beer. And the general goes
and gets him a beer anddoesn't even bat an eye because he's
in service. Right? We're allin service in a way, shape or form,
you know, and that's just,that's wonderful, isn't it?
Absolutely. You know that it'sjust those things just make you.
You know, he's just one of usat that time, you know, if he was
(18:56):
in a mess, all they'd besaluting him. But when he's down
in the trenches and he was asoldier. Soldier. I mean, he was.
Yeah, he was a good man. Is agood man.
Yeah, he is. He, he made me acouple of knives and I asked him
if he would make a customknife for me as a trapper in a place
(19:18):
where, you know, there arewolves and things. And I needed to
have a. I don't have as muchuse in my right arm as I once did,
so I wanted to have a knifethat I could pull out and use left
handed, you know, with mytrapping kit. And he made me one
and I carry it faithfully.It's, it's a, It's a perfect knife.
(19:38):
And I'm just humbled. He's,he's a great American.
Very good. Yeah, he's a goodman. Good.
Well, there you go. There'sanother example of the gravity, you
know, of, of, of mocan. Youknow, it's a thousand points of light.
You start looking around atall the connective tissue that's
out there and it's just incredible.
(19:59):
Yeah, it is, it's. It's kindof a. It's. Once it's in motion,
you know, it just kind ofkeeps snowballing.
Right.
You know, and you know, inour, the, the fundraising efforts,
you know, we used to have thebig one night gala. I think you've
been to one of those. Yep, Acouple of them cova kind of Killed
that. So, yep, yep, we starteddoing the fundraising. You know,
(20:20):
I just said, well, I'll takecare of this, and made some phone
calls, did some emails, andpretty soon we had enough money to
do everything. So, you know, Ithink that last year, I think you
even got a check on our behalffrom England from an insurance company.
That's right.
And you'll be doing that againthis year. We sent all their telex
or whatever those numbers areto us.
(20:41):
Yeah, no, that's heading yourway. Well, that's wonderful. Yeah,
it really is. And we're verythankful for all that you all have
done and continue to do. Andyou've got this mission coming up.
You guys are all ready forthat, huh?
Yes, sir. It's kind of in theprocess. Brian and I had meeting
last, last night. Kyle and Imet this morning on logistics and
(21:02):
guides. And we've got foodand, you know, a Catholic school.
I, you know, I'm not bringingup my religion because it's my religion.
I'm bringing it up because youtalk about reaching out into the
community. Thirteen years ago,my wife is a school teacher at this
Catholic school and we toldthem what was happening. Well, one
of the teachers there, her dadfought in three wars. Another one
(21:25):
had two boys that wereenlisted servicemen. One of them's
husband was a colonel,Lieutenant colonel. So they had a
stake in it. They, they reallybought into it. And I don't know
if you've ever seen the tablewe call it, that these school kids
make pictures for them andChristmas ornaments and prayer books.
(21:46):
And they bring goodies enoughto fill a 5 by 20 foot table heaped
full of goodies for the guys.Last year it was two Ford Expeditions
full. I could not get anythingelse in my truck and I made two trips,
but that's the support this.And, you know, three years ago, Jake
(22:09):
and I were talking and hesays, well, let's, let's take somebody
down there. So we took acouple of guys down and it was, it
was pretty neat. It was very.Riles was his name. He was the first
one to go. And we do anassembly with the older kids and
they ask questions. And lastyear the younger kids came in and
they, they ask questions. Andthe guys were so good with him, especially
(22:29):
Jake, the way he moderates andcontrols it and, you know, being
a father of a young manhimself and he's. But we've got this
school involved with it nowand they, they just go out of their
way to help us. So it's kindof neat how many people get involved.
Well, yeah. Well, let me tellyou again, this is what I, this is
(22:54):
what I said to the both venueswhere that I spoke at over the weekend
was the importance of gettingyouth involved and telling them about
what it means to be a veteran.And it's one thing to tell them,
that's another thing whenthere's somebody like Jake standing
right there. Right. Or theyget to go and do something that helps
(23:15):
veterans, especially combatwounded veterans. It's quite incredible.
And yeah, I'm super thankfulfor all of that. And I would highly
encourage you. You know,church is a great place. I mean,
I'm a Catholic too. I wouldlove my church to do something like
that to support. And I knowthey would if I asked them, you know,
(23:37):
but there's plenty of youthinvolved in that and it's, it's just
wonderful. It really, reallyis. That's a great idea and I completely
endorse it.
The big step is the firststep, you know, and if you reach
out to some of these people,you know, and we used to have so
many people that came to thatbanquet and they'd buy their $10
ticket or whatever it was justto be a part of it. And we didn't
(23:59):
ever go back to the banquet. Imean, it was a lot of work. I mean,
it was a lot of work. And wethought, well, is it worth the work
or is it just easier to raisethe money and have the guys together
some more, you know?
Right. And no, that's right. Iwent to one of them, I'll tell you.
I went to one of the mo canbanquets and it was the last one
(24:19):
I went to. Actually. No, Itake it back. I think I've been to
three. I went to three. One ofthem I went to. The guys were all
in the back, in a back room bya pool table, just hanging out. And
I went back there and I justlooked around and I was like, well,
this isn't exactly meeting theintent here, you know, but there's
a lot going on in the otherroom, you know, and I just get the
(24:42):
sense that, you know, thatthey maybe felt a little uncomfortable.
I don't know. It does happenfor sure, but it's, it's overwhelming.
Right? It's completelyoverwhelming. Sure. What. When there's
350 people in a room and youknow that they're there to celebrate
you and support you and it's athing. And the guys, some of them
(25:06):
are uncomfortable with it,some of them love it, but I understand
how much energy it takes toPull it off. Like you said, the hard
part is taking that firststep. And one of those steps is asking
for help. And that's not inmy. That's not in my genetics. And
so I struggle asking for help,but it's great when you have people
(25:32):
like you and your team whoaren't afraid to ask for help. Help
for these veterans thatdesperately need to establish meaningful
connections in their life andneed to know that what they did over
there, whatever their.Whatever that, wherever that is,
(25:54):
that it was valued, especiallyby people that they don't know that
are American citizens. Right.That's what that. That's what's so
important about. Importantabout this game. Imagine showing
up at, you know, at somevenue. You've never met anybody there.
And these people are doing allthat they can in terms of preparation
(26:15):
and during the execution tomake sure that your three or four
days that you spend with themis one of the more memorable events
you've ever had in your life.Think about that. I mean that if
that's not impactful, I don'tknow what is. And that's what you
guys are doing. Everybody'sdoing that across the country, and
that's in support of thefoundation, and that's what makes
(26:37):
it so powerful.
Yeah. And you know, John,you've just done such wonderful things
getting this thing up off theground and rolling, to have the vision
to say, you know, these guyscould use some help maybe, and I'm
the guy that can do it. And Ithink that's so admirable that you're.
You know, a lot of guys in theservice don't want to talk about
it. My dad was Korea. He neverwanted to talk about it. My father
(27:01):
in law was Korea and asubmarine. He never liked to talk
about it. The guys fromVietnam, they have every reason not
to want to be a part of it ortalk about it, you know, and as I
told them I was just a littlekid or we could have done something,
you know, and to have theVietnam guy. Guys come in now, it's
like we finally get a chance to.
Yeah.
(27:21):
Do something nice for them,you know.
Yeah. Well, yeah, no, you'reright. And I, you know, I very deliberately,
we very deliberately have, youknow, worked that space, the Vietnam
space, if you will, with thatgeneration. They were. I was too
(27:42):
young. Like, you know, I was.I was born in 1964. So by the time
I'm 10, Vietnam is essentiallyover. But all of my leaders, when
I got on active duty in 1987as an army officer, every single
One of my battalion andbrigade and division commanders for
(28:05):
many, many years were allVietnam veterans. And so I grew up
following them, learning fromthem, and to include the enlisted,
you know, I mean, you know, Idon't want to just make this an officer
thing, because it's not, youknow, the enlisted men there was,
you know, some platoonsergeants. My first sergeant was
(28:27):
a Vietnam veteran. My first.First sergeant was a Vietnam veteran.
And, yeah, so you, you know,to look up to them, and then, you
know, having seen, you know,the movie all, you know, what Hollywood
has done, you know, everythingfrom, you know, platoon to Apocalypse
now, we've all seen them, youknow, and, you know, we know what,
(28:48):
you know, we can imagine whathappened over there. We read the
books, we can listen to thestories. But for them to come home
and not be welcomed is a sin.And you can't put it any other way.
We can't change what happened,can't change that. That. That happened
in this country, and you can'tchange it. But what you can do is
make amends for it or try to.And so the Vietnam veterans support
(29:11):
to the foundation now has beenremarkable and remarkable, and we're
just serving them. We justwant you to be part of this thing,
you know, and when the heroeslook at a Vietnam veteran, when I
look at a Vietnam veteran andI always have been around Vietnam
veterans as often as I can, Ijust say thanks. Thanks for what
(29:35):
you did for this country, andthank you for providing the leadership
that you did, you know, whileyou served. And it's. And it. And
it goes beyond, you know, theservice. And when these young heroes,
combat wounded Purple Heartrecipients, see a Vietnam veteran
that might be 20, 30 yearsolder than they are, and he's out
(29:57):
there doing it, you know, thatsends a very strong and powerful
message, don't you think, hey,he can do it. He's doing it. He's
okay. He made it through it.You know, that's.
That's very, very true. Youknow, so many of them came back and
they were nothing. They threwstuff at them. I mean, I remember
kids from my neighborhood, youknow, eight or nine years older than
(30:20):
me, that had that happen, youknow, or. Or they didn't come back.
And, you know, and then youwalk by that house every day and
think, wow, it hits prettyclose to home. And so, you know,
now you look at it and I say,you know, the thing I say to a lot
of them is, welcome home.Because they never got to hear that
before. They never got to hear that.
Exactly. You know, yeah, Thoseare powerful words for a Vietnam
(30:43):
veteran. Powerful. Yeah,that's right. That's right. Well,
that's great, man. It'sreally, really great. You know, you
guys are just doing God's workand I really, really appreciate it.
I genuinely do. You know, letme ask you, you know, like, what's
it feel like when it's allover, like when they leave? You know,
(31:06):
one of the things we. I alwaystell Jake was the first person. Jake
Whipke, you know, beensupporting the foundation as a guide
longer than anybody, any otherguide. And he and I have developed,
you know, over the years,quite a relationship. But I used
to say to Jake, you know,after we'd get done serving, you
(31:27):
know, on an event and, youknow, we run around the country for
many years together, the twoof us just pulling this thing, you
know, getting this thingpulled up by its bootstraps. And
as it was gaining momentum andsome traction in places, we just
kept reinforcing that with,you know, doing our best to make
sure that, you know, the workwe were doing was true. Right. And
(31:49):
just. And that we were, youknow, representing as, you know,
the foundation as, as best wecould. But at the end of the events,
I would always look at Jakeand go, I don't know how you feel,
man, but I am smoked. Like atip of Rilla, man. I am smoked. You
know, I mean, emotionally,physically, mentally, I am done.
(32:11):
I need like two days after aWWI event to go into what I would
call the post event coma andjust do nothing besides tend to my
feelings. I'm serious, man.Tend to how I'm feeling, recover,
process, you know, I don'tknow what about you, but what do
(32:33):
you think? What happens whenevery, when the dust is settling
and everybody's gone? Doesthat resonate with you?
Oh, my gosh, yes. You know,and Kyle and I were just talking
about this and I said, I canremember the time on Monday morning
where we, you know, put foodaway, put beds away, clean sheets,
whatever we're doing and getall that stuff done. And Kyle looked
at me and he says, you know,I'm just going home and going to
(32:55):
bed and I'm sleep untilThanksgiving. This is on Monday.
Thanksgiving is on the coming Thursday.
Yes.
And Kyle handles all thelogic, the guides, the farms, the
travel, the pickups and drop offs.
Yeah.
You know, and that says a lot.
Oh, my God. Yeah.
And I've always, you know,I've always thought, now this is
(33:18):
kind of going backwards just alittle bit so I can get where I want
to go. But the darkness alwaysbrings out the best in a person.
Yeah.
Whether you're driving to aduck hunting spot in the morning
with a stranger.
Yeah.
You can talk to each otherwithout looking at each other. Ours
is at the campfire. Okay. Theguys love the campfire. And they
open up, you don't have to saymuch. And they open up and talk to
(33:40):
you.
Yeah.
And they tell you a story thatmaybe they've never told anybody
or their family didn't want tohear it or their best friend didn't
want to hear it. But you'relistening to them. But they love
to sit by the campfire till 1or 2 in the morning. And these guys
are 30 years old and I'm 65.
Yeah.
And I still have to get up at3 o'clock and pack their lunches
(34:02):
and get their stuff together.
Amen. You know, I know.
You know, their guide'spicking them up at 4, 4:15, 4:00
or whatever. And it's like,okay, I can do that a couple nights
in a row, but after fourthnight I just, I, I'm dead. I'm drained.
And, and again, it's nothing.I can't, I can fix that. I can go
(34:22):
home and rest for a day or soor go to the offer. Used to go to
the office. But yeah, you're,you're drained. You're kind of mentally
drained and. But it's a gooddrain. You know, you'll be sitting
there thinking of something,watching a silly football game like
nobody cares who's playing.And you'll think of something and
just start giggling. It'slike, yeah, I remember that. And
I remember when he said blah,blah, blah, you know, and you. And
(34:44):
so. But it's, yeah, it isdraining. And I can just imagine,
you know, these guys when theytake off and they've got their cooler
full or they've got theirantlers, you know, waiting to see
that rack come in the, youknow, delivered to them, that kind
of stuff. I can justanticipate what they're going to
look like when that rack showsup in three months. You know, like
(35:05):
Christmas Day to them. And,and that makes it all worthwhile.
That's what you do it for.
Yeah. I love this. I love theanalogy with the darkness. You know,
I mean, that's, I thought youwere going to go in another direction
with that, but I agree there'ssomething about, you know, in the
military we would call iteither, you know, it's EENT, which
(35:26):
is early evening nauticaltwilight, or BMNT, which is before
morning nautical twilight.These are two terms for, @ least
for an infantryman that areembedded in your brain, in your soul.
It's that period of time whereyou can see but the sun isn't up
(35:47):
or the sun has gone down, orthere's complete darkness. Like you
say, you're loading the truckup at 3:30 in the morning to go out
to the duck blind and pond andspread the decoys and get the layouts
cracked and, you know, etc.You know, it's that time where it's
the anticipation of the hunt,or it's just after the hunt that,
(36:12):
that darkness as it's, youknow, befalling you is. Or rising
before you, clearing beforeyou, is something that is really
magical. And it's a greattime, you know, to communicate or
to not communicate. And youdon't always have to be saying anything.
Just being in the safepresence. Okay. Of somebody, you
(36:35):
know, sharing a common bond,you know, that right there is so
powerful. My dad wasn't a verytalkative person, but, you know,
so I've spent a lot of time inthe darkness, you know, with my dad,
before hunting and afterhunting and you know, man, if you,
(36:56):
that, that, that's the goodstuff right there. And I appreciate
you sharing that, Terry. I do.
Yeah. You know, and it, I can,I've heard more intense stories at
3:30 in the morning, sittingout on the bench with a guy, waiting
for his ride to show up.
Yeah.
To take him to meet a guide,you know, so it just seems like they
(37:17):
open up at that time andthat's, that's great. Or at the campfire,
like I said, you know, sittingaround a campfire. They've told a
lot of deep stories there.
Yes, yes.
And some of the guys have beenin pretty dark places when they start
telling those stories. Andthen you talk to them six months
to a year later and they'redoing great.
Yep.
Doing big things.
Well, that's part of thehealing process, you know, I mean,
(37:39):
and that's telling the story.
Yeah.
You know, and communicating topeople that you trust. And you find
every time you do it, youknow, that it's not as daunting,
you know, as it was once was.Telling the story. And there's, you
know, it's, it's cathartic,you know, it's, it's, it's, it's,
it's expressing, you know,some of that, you know, some of those
(38:05):
memories that will be aroundyou forever, but it's almost like
opening the door, you know, alittle bit, you know, to your soul
and having some of that, youknow, creep out of you, which is
good, you've got to do it,you've got to exercise it. And then
the other thing you're doingthat's so important, you know, there's
(38:25):
only so much, you know, randomaccess, memory, if you will, or memory
in general. You know, it'salmost like a computer. Your hard
drive, your head, your soul,you know, there's only so many memories
that you can really, you know,retain and hold. And then, you know,
when you're replacing some ofthose challenging memories of things
(38:46):
that you did, you did itbecause you were asked to do it.
You were commanded to do it.It was your job to do it, you know,
and we shouldn't have to askanybody to do some of those things,
but we do. Yeah, we do.Because freedom is not free, you
know, and when you'redefending this country, you know,
and, you know, in our way oflife, or defending, you know, some
(39:10):
innocent people and their wayof life, you have to do some things
sometimes that are, you know,that are hard to deal with after
it's been done. And tosupplant some of those memories with
the memories that you guys arecreating, you know, that that's what's
happening and that's reallyremarkable. The work that you're
(39:34):
doing is really remarkable.And the fact that you follow up,
the fact that you get up at 3o'clock in the morning and make sandwiches,
you know, I know, hey, you'retalking to the chief cook and bottle
washer, you know, I get it.You know, and, and that's what makes
it so special. You're inservice. And when they open up and
(39:55):
tell you their stories and youcan get closer to them, you, you
know, you're making them, youknow, you're providing an environment
that's permissive and what'shappening is good and that's what
you walk away with, right?
Yep, that's exactly right.Exactly right. You know, and how
fortunate I am that they feltcomfortable enough with me to talk
(40:16):
to me. That's how I feel, totell me some of their stories. And,
you know, these kids have goneover there, young men, women, whatever,
have gone over there andthey've had to see things that they
should never have to see.
That's right.
And you've been there. Youknow, I, I never did it, but I can
certainly relate to it. I canjust only imagine if, you know, my
(40:37):
grandsons went, you know, howthat would be. And, you know, they're,
it's, it's a tough, toughthing. But if we can help them, that's
what we want to do.
That's the thing, buddy. Youknow, the work you're doing now,
the collective work you guysare doing now is, you know, is your
way of serving. And I wouldargue without even having an argument
(41:00):
that, you know, the workyou're doing now is way more important
than what work you may haveever done if you had joined the service
or had been called to duty.You know, this is a very, very important
work. And it's not over. Itnever is, never over. You know, I
would love to someday be outof a job and go, you know, we just
(41:23):
don't have, you know, there'sno more combat wounded veterans.
You know, the country's, youknow, doesn't have any more purport
recipients. You know, somedaythat would be great because it means
we didn't, you know, we're notfighting wars, you know, we're not
getting guys banged up, youknow, But I think if you look at
our, you know, 248 yearhistory, you're going to find that
(41:45):
about every 10 years thiscountry goes to war. Yeah. Hey, it
is what it is, you know, thinkabout it. Just go back in time, you
know, it's 10, 20 years maxbefore we're back in the goo, before
our veteran, you know, ourservice members are closing with,
you know, you know, andengaging in combat with a, with a
(42:09):
foreign enemy. 10 to 20 years.
That's crazy. You know, and Iheard a thing the other day, not
to change the subject, but acommentator was saying that the kids
going to vote for the firsttime have never seen this country
without war. You know, 18years. You know, we've been at war
since, you know, early 2000s.So they've always had war in their
(42:32):
back pocket. So that's good.Yeah, it's good.
Yeah. That's good. Hey, well,listen, my friend, I'll give you
the last whack at the pinataif you, if you want it. I don't want
you to leave here with anysaved rounds in your vest. Expend
all, Expend all. Ammunition.Is there anything else you'd like
(42:54):
to share with us, my friend?
No, I just, I just think thatwe are blessed to have the crew that
we have up here and the, andsupport people, you know, of course,
the Brian and Brad and Kyleand Mark Williams and Ryan Van Meter.
I mean these guys all kick inso much, you know, and even my donors
that, you know, for the lastsix years I get phone calls the 1st
(43:17):
of September. When are yougoing to send me that note for your.
For your money? And so, youknow, unfortunately, I've had three
of them passed away in thelast year who were big donors for
this project. But, you know,then they were older gentlemen. But
it's tough, but it's so funbecause these people are energized.
And it's like. It's like theold buddy you don't talk to until
(43:39):
hunting season, right? Some ofthese people I never talk to, hey,
when are you going to send methe note? Or they'll call me. I haven't
seen your email yet. Where doI send my check? You know, and so
you've got that kind ofsupport. It's pretty easy to do.
It's pretty easy to do. Andwe'll keep doing it as long as we
can.
Well, Terry, thank you foryour time today and thanks for all
(44:01):
you've done over the last 15years. And I wish you and your team,
their MO-KAN team, all thebest here. Coming up on the 15th
mission. And just know thatI'm proud of all of you and very
humbled that you're carryingthe guide on and representing the
(44:22):
foundation as well as you do.It's remarkable. And thank you all
for what you're doing.
Well, thank you for letting usbe a part of it. We'll just keep
doing what we do.
All right, God bless you. Youhave a great day, my friend.
All right, thanks, John. We'llsee you, brother.
Bye. Bye.
(44:43):
Thank you for listening to theww. To learn more about the Wounded
warriors in Action foundationand how you can get involved, please
visit our website@wwiaf.org orfollow us on social media on Facebook,
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(45:04):
or offer feedback about ourpodcast, or if you have a suggestion
for a future episode, pleaseemail us at podcast podcast@wwiaf.org
thank you for your support andfor helping us honor, connect and
heal our combat wounded PurpleHeart heroes through the power of
the great outdoors.
Hello and welcome to the WWIAPodcast. We're honored to have you
join us in our mission tobring honor, connection and healing
to America's combat woundedPurple Heart heroes. If this is your
first time listening to thispodcast, we welcome you if you're
a returning listener. Thanksfor coming back. Please be sure to
(00:25):
tell others about our podcastand leave us a review if you're enjoying
what you're hearing. The WWIAMO-KAN Ducks, Bucks and Trapping
event has been proudly servingand honoring our Purple Heart heroes
for the past 15 years. It'sone of our longest standing events
within the foundation andtheir patriotic team of supporters
(00:45):
are truly a remarkable groupof people. On today's episode of
the WWIA podcast, WWIA founderand CEO John McDaniel welcomes one
of our good friends who's oneof the integral parts of mighty Team
MO-KAN, Mr. Terry Supple.Terry recently retired after successfully
(01:06):
owning and operating his ownscreen printing and sign business
for 44 years. He's beenmarried to his beautiful wife for
42 years, is the father ofthree amazing children, is a doting
grandfather to ninegrandchildren, as well as two dogs.
An avid hunter for over 40years, enjoying both quail and duck
hunting, he enjoys the qualityand experience of the hunt, including
(01:29):
the company and camaraderie ofthose he surrounds himself with.
More than anything else, heconsiders it a high honor and privilege
to serve America'scombat-wounded veterans with his
team over the past 15 yearsand always feels he gets more out
of the experience than theydo. We are proud to share this great
American story with you andhope you get to enjoy learning more
(01:49):
about Terry and Team MO-KAN.Without further ado, let's jump into
the conversation with John andTerry now.
Hi, I'm John McDaniel, founderand CEO of the Wounded warriors in
Action foundation. And this isour podcast, Honor, Connect, Heal.
(02:10):
So today I have a very specialguest with me. His name is Terry
Supple. Terry, welcome to the program.
Good morning, John, how are you?
Great, great. So foreverybody, Terry Supple is one of
the leaders of our, ofprobably what is our, I call it the
(02:31):
800 pound gorilla, you know,but you know, probably the, you know,
the Foundation's, you know,biggest, baddest mission that we
do. I don't know how else todescribe it, but the Mo can is the
800 pound gorilla. Because it,you know, I said earlier when we
were chatting, I said MO-KAN,you know, if the foundation were
(02:51):
the sun, MO-KAN would be oneof those giant planets out there,
you know, circling the sunwith this gravitational effect and
pull that which anytime yougot close to it, you just get sucked
in.
I've never heard of it that way.
But okay, this behemoth that'sjust out there, you know, that's
got its own properties and,you know, and moons and satellites
(03:14):
and all kinds of stufffloating around it. Man, it's, it's
amazing. I mean, it's the oneevent, the only event where you can,
you know, in one weekend, youknow, you stack up. You guys stack
up like 200 ducks. You know,every, every hero gets a crack at
or harvest a monster, youknow, Missouri or Kansas timber buck.
You have a trap line goingwith the Department of Natural Resources.
(03:39):
And I don't know, and you do afishing event, you know, on the side
for monster catfish. I mean,I'm missing things, but it's just
an amazing event and you're abig part of that. And I just wanted
to say, you know, thanks forthat. But tell us about Napier, because
Napier Duck Hunting Club is anamazing club. And, and you are, I
(04:00):
don't know, are you the, areyou one of the founders? Are you
the president? I mean, what'syour role there, Terry?
Well, actually, when it, whenit all started back in 1998, there
were four guys got together. Iwas the fifth guy to come in. We
didn't have, I think we had100 acres. There was no house, there
was no roads, there wasnothing. There was a gate and a ditch.
(04:21):
And it used to be used in theold days for goose hunting because
it does. It is close proximityto the Squaw Creek National Wildlife
Refuge or Los Bluffs, as theycall it now. And people would pay
to come in there and huntgeese. Well, a certain doctor friend
of ours bought it in the backin 1952, I believe, and he just turned
(04:42):
it into a private it gamefarm. So we kind of took that and
said, well, we want to huntducks more than geese. So we flooded
part of it. We planted corn ona lot of it. We put in ground blinds
on it, pits, heaters and stuffin them as you, if you will, made
(05:02):
it comfortable and kind ofprogressively took on a few more
members to pay for the newstuff. The new land, the more land
the, the double wide trailerwe had, I think was when you came
and stayed there, it was adouble wide. We since built a 22
bedroom house there thatstarted out, you know how guys think.
(05:27):
You know, this is, if I wasgoing to do this, this is what I'd
do. And we all got together,threw it in a hat, and funded that
ourselves.
It's amazing.
We started out, we had a mudroom that was kind of dinky, and
we said, well, let's build abigger mudroom. And it snowballed.
Now our mudroom looks like agymnasium, locker room. And we built
the house, and we built a. Afive bed, five bunk beds, basically
(05:53):
for the warriors to come andstay with us. So they've got their
own quarters there. If theywant to get away, they can go up
there and close the door orthey can, you know, or there's other
bedrooms for them. So, yeah,it's. It. It's just kind of progressed
into, like you said, amonster. Now we've got it right at
300 acres. We just developedanother 48 acres north of us that
does adjoin our property. Nowwe put in a new well and pump and
(06:16):
all that. So, yeah, we're over300 acres, and it's built for fun.
Wow.
You know, I remember the firsttime I met you. Of course, you know,
what started all this was, youknow, Brian Roderick and, you know,
and his band of merry menthere, three or four of his best
(06:37):
buddies who are all, you know,amazing duck hunters and sportsmen
in general. And 15 years ago,I met. I had Jake Wipkey with me,
and I met Brian on an event.He said he wanted to help, and so
we went there and we huntedducks on his property. It was just
ducks at the time, as Irecall. And then every year, it sort
(07:01):
of grew, and he started doinga banquet. And like I said, like,
the planetary effects ofMO-KAN just continued to get bigger
and stronger. And, you know,we were putting the heroes up in
a. In a hotel room. And theproblem with doing that is that while.
While it might be a nice placeto sleep, you know, guys go back
(07:23):
to their hotel room and theyshut the door, and that's it, you
know, and that doesn't reallyfoster the kind of camaraderie and
relationship building and thethings that we're trying to really
accomplish that happen arounda fire or, you know, pit or, you
know, in a common use arealike Napier offers, with a ton of
terrain and a setting in theoutdoors and, you know, it's just
(07:44):
amazing. So, you know, thanksfor, you know, opening up your ranks
and then expanding youroperations to accommodate for our
heroes now in, you know, the15th year of the MO-KAN iteration.
You know, I know of no otherevent that we do where you're. We're
stacking up. You guys arestacking Up. You know, I don't know
(08:05):
what the number is, but, youknow, 150, 200 ducks in a weekend.
Every hero shooting, you know,getting a chance or harvesting a
monster timber buck either inMissouri or Kansas with their, you
know, with their bows. There'sa trap line in, you know, it's. It's
amazing. And you guys also doa big catfishing event in the summertime,
(08:29):
and, you know, it's justincredible what you guys have accomplished.
And I just want to, you know,extend my gratitude and my thanks
for all that you've done inyour leadership and support of our
mission there. Terry, it'sreally incredible.
Well, we've enjoyed everyminute of it. You know, we've had
them. Adam at Napier. I'vebeen involved pretty much the whole
(08:53):
time, but we've had them atNapier for 13 years now, so. Wow.
We just. We just really enjoyhaving them up there.
Yeah. And what a great bunchof guys. I know we were saying in
the. You and I were chattingin the pre show about the first time
we met. I remember, I can'trecall if we hunted the first time.
(09:16):
It may have been the secondtime, but the first time you said,
hey, come with me. I think youbrought your Labrador. And you and
I sat in a duck blind there asthe sun was setting, and you didn't
tell me what I was about toseek. I had no idea. Right. I had
heard rumors like, you need togo. Brian's like, you need to go
(09:37):
with Terry. And I'm like,okay, so I go with Terry. You know,
we're sitting there and thesun's going down, and, you know,
the habitat is just amazing,what you guys have created there.
And all of a sudden, as thesun sets, the skies just turn black,
literally, with ducks and thenoise that they're making and how
they're communicating andwhere they're flying. It's no. I
(10:01):
don't know how they don'tcollide into each other, but it literally
is like a phenomenon I'venever seen. Yeah, it is. I mean,
I've never seen anything likethat. You know, I've sat in duck
blinds for hours and hours andnever saw a duck. You know, we all
have. But here I'm like, howcome this. How come I didn't know
(10:21):
that this ever existed? Youknow, you must be smack dab in the
middle of the flyway. But, youknow, kudos to you guys for creating
the habitat and doing whatyou've done to attract that many
waterfowl. It's really incredible.
Well, It's a fun place. Weenjoy it, and it's kind of our playground.
(10:42):
You know, we, as my wife says,is cheaper than therapy. You know,
when my. When I hit thegravel, I know my blood pressure
drops 20 points, and it'sjust. You can get away from stuff,
and. And hopefully, you know,you don't have cel a lot of the time,
so.
Right, exactly.
That works out okay.
That's like a camp Hacket. Youknow, I've had people go, why don't
you get WI Fi? I just givethem that look, like, really, dude?
(11:06):
Yeah, yeah.
You're not. You're not here tobe on WI Fi. I don't say anything,
but, you know, emergency 911still works. Don't ask me how I know
that, but yeah. No, you guys.You know, you guys are doing amazing
things there. And I had thegals tally up the total amount of
(11:28):
contributions in kind in cashthat MO-KAN has produced in the 15
years of your amazing missionthere. And it's the number, and we
won't get into the decimalpoints and all that, but it's 528,000
and some change. That'sincredible. That's absolutely incredible.
(11:50):
Your team has won the highestaward that our Foundation gives,
and that's the Medal of HonorPatron Award.
Wow.
Yeah. And you've done that.That's for proceeds in excess of
250,000. So as I look at this,I'm like, I think you guys are in
the pipeline to get yoursecond Medal of Honor Patron Award.
(12:15):
I mean, it just doesn't getany better than that. It's really
amazing. It's a ton ofresource. It's a ton of Heroes served.
It's a ton of lives changed.And it goes beyond, obviously, the
pointy end of the spear there.The work itself. It's that ripple
effect that goes off into thecommunity. It's like you say, hey,
(12:37):
I'm getting more out of thisthan you think you are. I mean, you
say you are, but I appreciateyou saying that because I feel the
same way sometimes, too. WhenI'm done with a mission, you know,
serving the heroes, I feellike I know they got something out
of that, but I darn sure knowI did, too.
Sure.
You know, and that's a. It'san incredible feeling, isn't it?
And it's. You know, and it's.It's like the beginning. It's the
(13:00):
kickoff to Thanksgiving week.It's the highlight of my Thanksgiving.
There you go. That starts thatweekend. And it's like my knees don't
hurt as bad. My, my problemsaren't as big after I meet some of
these young men and women andthat have gone through what they've
gone through to give us thatopportunity, you know.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah. It's a great time of theyear for me. We always look forward
(13:20):
to it.
I know you've developed somerelationships with some of the guides.
I know. You know, youmentioned in the pre show, you mentioned
Jake and Frenchie and youknow, we just got a great crew of
combat wounded guides thatare, you know, supporting your mission
and 42 others across thecountry. But you probably also have
(13:42):
a pretty cool story orsomething. I hate to put you on the
spot, but, you know, if you'vegot a story that you'd like to share
with us, something that I'msure we'd all like to hear about
your experience there atNapier, doing your thing.
Well, you know, there's,there's tons and tons of story and
I did, I did make some notes.That's probably not fair to do that.
(14:04):
But, you know, this time ofthe year, especially when I was going
through my memory and thinkingof some of the cool people we've
met, you know, that have, thathave come across, you know, John
Keeney and Whipkey andFrenchie and Carp and Caleb. I mean,
Carp, you know, I hope.
(14:25):
Carp is listening to this man,because we could have, we could have
a whole program on Carp.
Well, you know, one of thegreatest stories that I had was Carp
and Ryan Schultz, who used tohelp us a lot. And he still does
help some, but he's got hisown stuff going on now. They're big
financial supporters still,but we were getting ready to go to
mass one Sunday morning, didnot go out to hunt and came out halfway
(14:50):
dressed. And Carp says, whereare you guys going? I said, well,
we're going to mass. It's alittle town of Forest City down,
down the road. He says, well,can I go? I said, well, sure, you
can go. And he says, well, allI got is camo. I said, okay. So Ryan
and I went back to our room.
God's gonna accept you.
Ryan and I went back to ourrooms and we put our camo on and
(15:13):
we took church. And it was aCatholic church and Ryan and I were
both Catholic. So we'restanding there, we introduced him
to the priest and thecongregation is all related. So when
you walk in, every head in theplace turns to see who walked in.
So we walk in with Carp and hemakes his presence known wherever
he goes.
Yes.
So at the end of mass, theysaid, let us go in peace to love
(15:34):
and serve the Lord. And Carpthrows both arms in the air and says,
hallelujah. Completely.
That story. I love that story.
Completely out of line for theCatholic church. And these 80 year
old Catholic women turned around.
They turned around.
I was like, what the heck was that?
It was Carp. It was the Carpfactor. It was Carp.
(15:58):
You know, he spawned.
Did you. Oh, my God.
And then they proceeded toinvite us to their parish luncheon
afterwards. They loved it. Youknow, they loved it.
It was new blood, new life. Yeah.
Oh, so, so much fun. That wasa great Sunday morning.
Yeah.
One that won't be forgotten.
I have to. No, you. I'm gonna.I'm gonna. I'm gonna ask to see if
(16:21):
we can't get Carp on. Thatwould be hilarious. What a great.
What a great American. Okay,so. Well, that's pretty cool. I appreciate.
I hadn't laughed that hard ona podcast in a while. I appreciate
that. I had no idea. You know,I. I have to live vicariously through
you guys sometimes. I hearthese stories, you know, all the
time of something and I didn'tknow that it happened, you know,
(16:43):
I mean, I get it sort ofsecondhand, but.
Yeah, that's a great.
That's a great one.
You know, and that was. Thatwas one of my favorite stories with.
With an individual and one ofthe other guys. I wish I knew the
kid's name. He was a. Yeah, hewas a young man and he lost lower
leg, I think it was. And wewere all sitting on the couch watching
football one Sunday afternoon.And a good friend of mine was there
with us. Very instrumental.He's a general, very instrumental
(17:06):
in getting the Air NationalGuard involved with us. Lots of labor,
lots of help, lots of tablesand chairs. When we started out,
Steve Cotter was his name andhe was sitting next to Steve. And
Steve gets up and he says, I'mgonna go get something to drink.
You guys need anything? Andthis kid was sitting next to me.
He says, well, yeah, if you'regoing. I take a beer. So Cotter,
(17:27):
being gracious, he says, okay,I'll get your beer. He comes back
and the kid elbows me. Hegoes, here, here's my camera. Take
a picture of this guy givingme that beer. And I said, okay. He
says, because my buddies willnever believe that I had a bug general
fetching me beers.
And then you gotta watch thoseenlisted guys. They're wily, man.
(17:47):
Oh, my gosh. And he says, hewas a bug private or something when
he got injured.
Oh, perfect. Right.
So here's this boss, you know,that everybody used to worship.
No, that's right. Well, youknow what? Yeah, that's awesome.
You know, I tell you the onething I was mentioning, you know,
I had a chance to speak tosome folks over the Veteran Day weekend
(18:10):
here, and I was thinking aboutwhat I might say, and one of the
things that came to my mindwas just this idea of service, you
know, and, well, there's aclassic example here, you know, here's
a general officer, retiredgeneral, two star officer, who's,
you know, supporting thisactivity. And one of the participants
(18:34):
asked him if he would go gethim a beer. And the general goes
and gets him a beer anddoesn't even bat an eye because he's
in service. Right? We're allin service in a way, shape or form,
you know, and that's just,that's wonderful, isn't it?
Absolutely. You know that it'sjust those things just make you.
You know, he's just one of usat that time, you know, if he was
(18:56):
in a mess, all they'd besaluting him. But when he's down
in the trenches and he was asoldier. Soldier. I mean, he was.
Yeah, he was a good man. Is agood man.
Yeah, he is. He, he made me acouple of knives and I asked him
if he would make a customknife for me as a trapper in a place
(19:18):
where, you know, there arewolves and things. And I needed to
have a. I don't have as muchuse in my right arm as I once did,
so I wanted to have a knifethat I could pull out and use left
handed, you know, with mytrapping kit. And he made me one
and I carry it faithfully.It's, it's a, It's a perfect knife.
(19:38):
And I'm just humbled. He's,he's a great American.
Very good. Yeah, he's a goodman. Good.
Well, there you go. There'sanother example of the gravity, you
know, of, of, of mocan. Youknow, it's a thousand points of light.
You start looking around atall the connective tissue that's
out there and it's just incredible.
(19:59):
Yeah, it is, it's. It's kindof a. It's. Once it's in motion,
you know, it just kind ofkeeps snowballing.
Right.
You know, and you know, inour, the, the fundraising efforts,
you know, we used to have thebig one night gala. I think you've
been to one of those. Yep, Acouple of them cova kind of Killed
that. So, yep, yep, we starteddoing the fundraising. You know,
(20:20):
I just said, well, I'll takecare of this, and made some phone
calls, did some emails, andpretty soon we had enough money to
do everything. So, you know, Ithink that last year, I think you
even got a check on our behalffrom England from an insurance company.
That's right.
And you'll be doing that againthis year. We sent all their telex
or whatever those numbers areto us.
(20:41):
Yeah, no, that's heading yourway. Well, that's wonderful. Yeah,
it really is. And we're verythankful for all that you all have
done and continue to do. Andyou've got this mission coming up.
You guys are all ready forthat, huh?
Yes, sir. It's kind of in theprocess. Brian and I had meeting
last, last night. Kyle and Imet this morning on logistics and
(21:02):
guides. And we've got foodand, you know, a Catholic school.
I, you know, I'm not bringingup my religion because it's my religion.
I'm bringing it up because youtalk about reaching out into the
community. Thirteen years ago,my wife is a school teacher at this
Catholic school and we toldthem what was happening. Well, one
of the teachers there, her dadfought in three wars. Another one
(21:25):
had two boys that wereenlisted servicemen. One of them's
husband was a colonel,Lieutenant colonel. So they had a
stake in it. They, they reallybought into it. And I don't know
if you've ever seen the tablewe call it, that these school kids
make pictures for them andChristmas ornaments and prayer books.
(21:46):
And they bring goodies enoughto fill a 5 by 20 foot table heaped
full of goodies for the guys.Last year it was two Ford Expeditions
full. I could not get anythingelse in my truck and I made two trips,
but that's the support this.And, you know, three years ago, Jake
(22:09):
and I were talking and hesays, well, let's, let's take somebody
down there. So we took acouple of guys down and it was, it
was pretty neat. It was very.Riles was his name. He was the first
one to go. And we do anassembly with the older kids and
they ask questions. And lastyear the younger kids came in and
they, they ask questions. Andthe guys were so good with him, especially
(22:29):
Jake, the way he moderates andcontrols it and, you know, being
a father of a young manhimself and he's. But we've got this
school involved with it nowand they, they just go out of their
way to help us. So it's kindof neat how many people get involved.
Well, yeah. Well, let me tellyou again, this is what I, this is
(22:54):
what I said to the both venueswhere that I spoke at over the weekend
was the importance of gettingyouth involved and telling them about
what it means to be a veteran.And it's one thing to tell them,
that's another thing whenthere's somebody like Jake standing
right there. Right. Or theyget to go and do something that helps
(23:15):
veterans, especially combatwounded veterans. It's quite incredible.
And yeah, I'm super thankfulfor all of that. And I would highly
encourage you. You know,church is a great place. I mean,
I'm a Catholic too. I wouldlove my church to do something like
that to support. And I knowthey would if I asked them, you know,
(23:37):
but there's plenty of youthinvolved in that and it's, it's just
wonderful. It really, reallyis. That's a great idea and I completely
endorse it.
The big step is the firststep, you know, and if you reach
out to some of these people,you know, and we used to have so
many people that came to thatbanquet and they'd buy their $10
ticket or whatever it was justto be a part of it. And we didn't
(23:59):
ever go back to the banquet. Imean, it was a lot of work. I mean,
it was a lot of work. And wethought, well, is it worth the work
or is it just easier to raisethe money and have the guys together
some more, you know?
Right. And no, that's right. Iwent to one of them, I'll tell you.
I went to one of the mo canbanquets and it was the last one
(24:19):
I went to. Actually. No, Itake it back. I think I've been to
three. I went to three. One ofthem I went to. The guys were all
in the back, in a back room bya pool table, just hanging out. And
I went back there and I justlooked around and I was like, well,
this isn't exactly meeting theintent here, you know, but there's
a lot going on in the otherroom, you know, and I just get the
(24:42):
sense that, you know, thatthey maybe felt a little uncomfortable.
I don't know. It does happenfor sure, but it's, it's overwhelming.
Right? It's completelyoverwhelming. Sure. What. When there's
350 people in a room and youknow that they're there to celebrate
you and support you and it's athing. And the guys, some of them
(25:06):
are uncomfortable with it,some of them love it, but I understand
how much energy it takes toPull it off. Like you said, the hard
part is taking that firststep. And one of those steps is asking
for help. And that's not inmy. That's not in my genetics. And
so I struggle asking for help,but it's great when you have people
(25:32):
like you and your team whoaren't afraid to ask for help. Help
for these veterans thatdesperately need to establish meaningful
connections in their life andneed to know that what they did over
there, whatever their.Whatever that, wherever that is,
(25:54):
that it was valued, especiallyby people that they don't know that
are American citizens. Right.That's what that. That's what's so
important about. Importantabout this game. Imagine showing
up at, you know, at somevenue. You've never met anybody there.
And these people are doing allthat they can in terms of preparation
(26:15):
and during the execution tomake sure that your three or four
days that you spend with themis one of the more memorable events
you've ever had in your life.Think about that. I mean that if
that's not impactful, I don'tknow what is. And that's what you
guys are doing. Everybody'sdoing that across the country, and
that's in support of thefoundation, and that's what makes
(26:37):
it so powerful.
Yeah. And you know, John,you've just done such wonderful things
getting this thing up off theground and rolling, to have the vision
to say, you know, these guyscould use some help maybe, and I'm
the guy that can do it. And Ithink that's so admirable that you're.
You know, a lot of guys in theservice don't want to talk about
it. My dad was Korea. He neverwanted to talk about it. My father
(27:01):
in law was Korea and asubmarine. He never liked to talk
about it. The guys fromVietnam, they have every reason not
to want to be a part of it ortalk about it, you know, and as I
told them I was just a littlekid or we could have done something,
you know, and to have theVietnam guy. Guys come in now, it's
like we finally get a chance to.
Yeah.
(27:21):
Do something nice for them,you know.
Yeah. Well, yeah, no, you'reright. And I, you know, I very deliberately,
we very deliberately have, youknow, worked that space, the Vietnam
space, if you will, with thatgeneration. They were. I was too
(27:42):
young. Like, you know, I was.I was born in 1964. So by the time
I'm 10, Vietnam is essentiallyover. But all of my leaders, when
I got on active duty in 1987as an army officer, every single
One of my battalion andbrigade and division commanders for
(28:05):
many, many years were allVietnam veterans. And so I grew up
following them, learning fromthem, and to include the enlisted,
you know, I mean, you know, Idon't want to just make this an officer
thing, because it's not, youknow, the enlisted men there was,
you know, some platoonsergeants. My first sergeant was
(28:27):
a Vietnam veteran. My first.First sergeant was a Vietnam veteran.
And, yeah, so you, you know,to look up to them, and then, you
know, having seen, you know,the movie all, you know, what Hollywood
has done, you know, everythingfrom, you know, platoon to Apocalypse
now, we've all seen them, youknow, and, you know, we know what,
(28:48):
you know, we can imagine whathappened over there. We read the
books, we can listen to thestories. But for them to come home
and not be welcomed is a sin.And you can't put it any other way.
We can't change what happened,can't change that. That. That happened
in this country, and you can'tchange it. But what you can do is
make amends for it or try to.And so the Vietnam veterans support
(29:11):
to the foundation now has beenremarkable and remarkable, and we're
just serving them. We justwant you to be part of this thing,
you know, and when the heroeslook at a Vietnam veteran, when I
look at a Vietnam veteran andI always have been around Vietnam
veterans as often as I can, Ijust say thanks. Thanks for what
(29:35):
you did for this country, andthank you for providing the leadership
that you did, you know, whileyou served. And it's. And it. And
it goes beyond, you know, theservice. And when these young heroes,
combat wounded Purple Heartrecipients, see a Vietnam veteran
that might be 20, 30 yearsolder than they are, and he's out
(29:57):
there doing it, you know, thatsends a very strong and powerful
message, don't you think, hey,he can do it. He's doing it. He's
okay. He made it through it.You know, that's.
That's very, very true. Youknow, so many of them came back and
they were nothing. They threwstuff at them. I mean, I remember
kids from my neighborhood, youknow, eight or nine years older than
(30:20):
me, that had that happen, youknow, or. Or they didn't come back.
And, you know, and then youwalk by that house every day and
think, wow, it hits prettyclose to home. And so, you know,
now you look at it and I say,you know, the thing I say to a lot
of them is, welcome home.Because they never got to hear that
before. They never got to hear that.
Exactly. You know, yeah, Thoseare powerful words for a Vietnam
(30:43):
veteran. Powerful. Yeah,that's right. That's right. Well,
that's great, man. It'sreally, really great. You know, you
guys are just doing God's workand I really, really appreciate it.
I genuinely do. You know, letme ask you, you know, like, what's
it feel like when it's allover, like when they leave? You know,
(31:06):
one of the things we. I alwaystell Jake was the first person. Jake
Whipke, you know, beensupporting the foundation as a guide
longer than anybody, any otherguide. And he and I have developed,
you know, over the years,quite a relationship. But I used
to say to Jake, you know,after we'd get done serving, you
(31:27):
know, on an event and, youknow, we run around the country for
many years together, the twoof us just pulling this thing, you
know, getting this thingpulled up by its bootstraps. And
as it was gaining momentum andsome traction in places, we just
kept reinforcing that with,you know, doing our best to make
sure that, you know, the workwe were doing was true. Right. And
(31:49):
just. And that we were, youknow, representing as, you know,
the foundation as, as best wecould. But at the end of the events,
I would always look at Jakeand go, I don't know how you feel,
man, but I am smoked. Like atip of Rilla, man. I am smoked. You
know, I mean, emotionally,physically, mentally, I am done.
(32:11):
I need like two days after aWWI event to go into what I would
call the post event coma andjust do nothing besides tend to my
feelings. I'm serious, man.Tend to how I'm feeling, recover,
process, you know, I don'tknow what about you, but what do
(32:33):
you think? What happens whenevery, when the dust is settling
and everybody's gone? Doesthat resonate with you?
Oh, my gosh, yes. You know,and Kyle and I were just talking
about this and I said, I canremember the time on Monday morning
where we, you know, put foodaway, put beds away, clean sheets,
whatever we're doing and getall that stuff done. And Kyle looked
at me and he says, you know,I'm just going home and going to
(32:55):
bed and I'm sleep untilThanksgiving. This is on Monday.
Thanksgiving is on the coming Thursday.
Yes.
And Kyle handles all thelogic, the guides, the farms, the
travel, the pickups and drop offs.
Yeah.
You know, and that says a lot.
Oh, my God. Yeah.
And I've always, you know,I've always thought, now this is
(33:18):
kind of going backwards just alittle bit so I can get where I want
to go. But the darkness alwaysbrings out the best in a person.
Yeah.
Whether you're driving to aduck hunting spot in the morning
with a stranger.
Yeah.
You can talk to each otherwithout looking at each other. Ours
is at the campfire. Okay. Theguys love the campfire. And they
open up, you don't have to saymuch. And they open up and talk to
(33:40):
you.
Yeah.
And they tell you a story thatmaybe they've never told anybody
or their family didn't want tohear it or their best friend didn't
want to hear it. But you'relistening to them. But they love
to sit by the campfire till 1or 2 in the morning. And these guys
are 30 years old and I'm 65.
Yeah.
And I still have to get up at3 o'clock and pack their lunches
(34:02):
and get their stuff together.
Amen. You know, I know.
You know, their guide'spicking them up at 4, 4:15, 4:00
or whatever. And it's like,okay, I can do that a couple nights
in a row, but after fourthnight I just, I, I'm dead. I'm drained.
And, and again, it's nothing.I can't, I can fix that. I can go
(34:22):
home and rest for a day or soor go to the offer. Used to go to
the office. But yeah, you're,you're drained. You're kind of mentally
drained and. But it's a gooddrain. You know, you'll be sitting
there thinking of something,watching a silly football game like
nobody cares who's playing.And you'll think of something and
just start giggling. It'slike, yeah, I remember that. And
I remember when he said blah,blah, blah, you know, and you. And
(34:44):
so. But it's, yeah, it isdraining. And I can just imagine,
you know, these guys when theytake off and they've got their cooler
full or they've got theirantlers, you know, waiting to see
that rack come in the, youknow, delivered to them, that kind
of stuff. I can justanticipate what they're going to
look like when that rack showsup in three months. You know, like
(35:05):
Christmas Day to them. And,and that makes it all worthwhile.
That's what you do it for.
Yeah. I love this. I love theanalogy with the darkness. You know,
I mean, that's, I thought youwere going to go in another direction
with that, but I agree there'ssomething about, you know, in the
military we would call iteither, you know, it's EENT, which
(35:26):
is early evening nauticaltwilight, or BMNT, which is before
morning nautical twilight.These are two terms for, @ least
for an infantryman that areembedded in your brain, in your soul.
It's that period of time whereyou can see but the sun isn't up
(35:47):
or the sun has gone down, orthere's complete darkness. Like you
say, you're loading the truckup at 3:30 in the morning to go out
to the duck blind and pond andspread the decoys and get the layouts
cracked and, you know, etc.You know, it's that time where it's
the anticipation of the hunt,or it's just after the hunt that,
(36:12):
that darkness as it's, youknow, befalling you is. Or rising
before you, clearing beforeyou, is something that is really
magical. And it's a greattime, you know, to communicate or
to not communicate. And youdon't always have to be saying anything.
Just being in the safepresence. Okay. Of somebody, you
(36:35):
know, sharing a common bond,you know, that right there is so
powerful. My dad wasn't a verytalkative person, but, you know,
so I've spent a lot of time inthe darkness, you know, with my dad,
before hunting and afterhunting and you know, man, if you,
(36:56):
that, that, that's the goodstuff right there. And I appreciate
you sharing that, Terry. I do.
Yeah. You know, and it, I can,I've heard more intense stories at
3:30 in the morning, sittingout on the bench with a guy, waiting
for his ride to show up.
Yeah.
To take him to meet a guide,you know, so it just seems like they
(37:17):
open up at that time andthat's, that's great. Or at the campfire,
like I said, you know, sittingaround a campfire. They've told a
lot of deep stories there.
Yes, yes.
And some of the guys have beenin pretty dark places when they start
telling those stories. Andthen you talk to them six months
to a year later and they'redoing great.
Yep.
Doing big things.
Well, that's part of thehealing process, you know, I mean,
(37:39):
and that's telling the story.
Yeah.
You know, and communicating topeople that you trust. And you find
every time you do it, youknow, that it's not as daunting,
you know, as it was once was.Telling the story. And there's, you
know, it's, it's cathartic,you know, it's, it's, it's, it's,
it's expressing, you know,some of that, you know, some of those
(38:05):
memories that will be aroundyou forever, but it's almost like
opening the door, you know, alittle bit, you know, to your soul
and having some of that, youknow, creep out of you, which is
good, you've got to do it,you've got to exercise it. And then
the other thing you're doingthat's so important, you know, there's
(38:25):
only so much, you know, randomaccess, memory, if you will, or memory
in general. You know, it'salmost like a computer. Your hard
drive, your head, your soul,you know, there's only so many memories
that you can really, you know,retain and hold. And then, you know,
when you're replacing some ofthose challenging memories of things
(38:46):
that you did, you did itbecause you were asked to do it.
You were commanded to do it.It was your job to do it, you know,
and we shouldn't have to askanybody to do some of those things,
but we do. Yeah, we do.Because freedom is not free, you
know, and when you'redefending this country, you know,
and, you know, in our way oflife, or defending, you know, some
(39:10):
innocent people and their wayof life, you have to do some things
sometimes that are, you know,that are hard to deal with after
it's been done. And tosupplant some of those memories with
the memories that you guys arecreating, you know, that that's what's
happening and that's reallyremarkable. The work that you're
(39:34):
doing is really remarkable.And the fact that you follow up,
the fact that you get up at 3o'clock in the morning and make sandwiches,
you know, I know, hey, you'retalking to the chief cook and bottle
washer, you know, I get it.You know, and, and that's what makes
it so special. You're inservice. And when they open up and
(39:55):
tell you their stories and youcan get closer to them, you, you
know, you're making them, youknow, you're providing an environment
that's permissive and what'shappening is good and that's what
you walk away with, right?
Yep, that's exactly right.Exactly right. You know, and how
fortunate I am that they feltcomfortable enough with me to talk
(40:16):
to me. That's how I feel, totell me some of their stories. And,
you know, these kids have goneover there, young men, women, whatever,
have gone over there andthey've had to see things that they
should never have to see.
That's right.
And you've been there. Youknow, I, I never did it, but I can
certainly relate to it. I canjust only imagine if, you know, my
(40:37):
grandsons went, you know, howthat would be. And, you know, they're,
it's, it's a tough, toughthing. But if we can help them, that's
what we want to do.
That's the thing, buddy. Youknow, the work you're doing now,
the collective work you guysare doing now is, you know, is your
way of serving. And I wouldargue without even having an argument
(41:00):
that, you know, the workyou're doing now is way more important
than what work you may haveever done if you had joined the service
or had been called to duty.You know, this is a very, very important
work. And it's not over. Itnever is, never over. You know, I
would love to someday be outof a job and go, you know, we just
(41:23):
don't have, you know, there'sno more combat wounded veterans.
You know, the country's, youknow, doesn't have any more purport
recipients. You know, somedaythat would be great because it means
we didn't, you know, we're notfighting wars, you know, we're not
getting guys banged up, youknow, But I think if you look at
our, you know, 248 yearhistory, you're going to find that
(41:45):
about every 10 years thiscountry goes to war. Yeah. Hey, it
is what it is, you know, thinkabout it. Just go back in time, you
know, it's 10, 20 years maxbefore we're back in the goo, before
our veteran, you know, ourservice members are closing with,
you know, you know, andengaging in combat with a, with a
(42:09):
foreign enemy. 10 to 20 years.
That's crazy. You know, and Iheard a thing the other day, not
to change the subject, but acommentator was saying that the kids
going to vote for the firsttime have never seen this country
without war. You know, 18years. You know, we've been at war
since, you know, early 2000s.So they've always had war in their
(42:32):
back pocket. So that's good.Yeah, it's good.
Yeah. That's good. Hey, well,listen, my friend, I'll give you
the last whack at the pinataif you, if you want it. I don't want
you to leave here with anysaved rounds in your vest. Expend
all, Expend all. Ammunition.Is there anything else you'd like
(42:54):
to share with us, my friend?
No, I just, I just think thatwe are blessed to have the crew that
we have up here and the, andsupport people, you know, of course,
the Brian and Brad and Kyleand Mark Williams and Ryan Van Meter.
I mean these guys all kick inso much, you know, and even my donors
that, you know, for the lastsix years I get phone calls the 1st
(43:17):
of September. When are yougoing to send me that note for your.
For your money? And so, youknow, unfortunately, I've had three
of them passed away in thelast year who were big donors for
this project. But, you know,then they were older gentlemen. But
it's tough, but it's so funbecause these people are energized.
And it's like. It's like theold buddy you don't talk to until
(43:39):
hunting season, right? Some ofthese people I never talk to, hey,
when are you going to send methe note? Or they'll call me. I haven't
seen your email yet. Where doI send my check? You know, and so
you've got that kind ofsupport. It's pretty easy to do.
It's pretty easy to do. Andwe'll keep doing it as long as we
can.
Well, Terry, thank you foryour time today and thanks for all
(44:01):
you've done over the last 15years. And I wish you and your team,
their MO-KAN team, all thebest here. Coming up on the 15th
mission. And just know thatI'm proud of all of you and very
humbled that you're carryingthe guide on and representing the
(44:22):
foundation as well as you do.It's remarkable. And thank you all
for what you're doing.
Well, thank you for letting usbe a part of it. We'll just keep
doing what we do.
All right, God bless you. Youhave a great day, my friend.
All right, thanks, John. We'llsee you, brother.
Bye. Bye.
(44:43):
Thank you for listening to theww. To learn more about the Wounded
warriors in Action foundationand how you can get involved, please
visit our website@wwiaf.org orfollow us on social media on Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter andLinkedIn. If you'd like to comment
(45:04):
or offer feedback about ourpodcast, or if you have a suggestion
for a future episode, pleaseemail us at podcast podcast@wwiaf.org
thank you for your support andfor helping us honor, connect and
heal our combat wounded PurpleHeart heroes through the power of
the great outdoors.
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