Episode 57: Interview with WWIA Host Andy Wilson of the Great Creek Hunt Club Events

The world-class outdoor sporting adventures that our combat-wounded Veterans participate in would not be possible without the generosity and support of our event Hosts. We have a remarkable team of WWIA event Hosts across North America who work with their local communities, friends, and businesses to honor and serve our Purple heart Heroes throughout each year. These Hosts do this voluntarily, rallying support, resources, and coordinating their community base because they want to give back, to recognize and thank America’s combat-wounded Veterans for their tremendous service and sacrifice. Our event Hosts are a critical part of what we do, and we could not be more grateful to have them as a part of our WWIA team and family. Today, WWIA Founder and CEO, John McDaniel is honored to introduce you to one of our valued event Hosts, Mr. Andy Wilson.

Andy is the Host of the Great Creek Hunt Club events in beautiful Alberta, Virginia. Great Creek Hunt Club proudly hosts two events per year, a turkey hunt in the spring, and a deer hunt in the fall. This will be their 12th year of hosting the deer hunt, and their 8th year of hosting the turkey hunt. Andy was born and raised just outside of Richmond, Virginia and has been married to his beautiful wife Abigail for 17 years. They have 2 amazing daughters, Kynleigh, who’s about to turn 10, and the youngest, Annistyn, who just turned 7. Whether it’s hunting, fishing, riding 4-wheelers, or checking trail cameras, they both love spending time with Andy in the great outdoors. Andy has hunted at the Great Creek Hunt Club since he was old enough to carry a gun. His grandfather and friends started the hunt club back in 1965and it is still thriving today. Andy says his best hunting memories have been made at the hunt club. It’s a special place to get away and commune with nature, and the hunting in this area is exceptional. Having the opportunity to hunt with some of the same people for over 30 years has been a tremendous privilege, and the members of the Great Creek Hunt Club are honored to be able to host these events in honor and recognition of America’s Purple Heart Heroes.

Takeaways:

• The Wounded Warriors in Action Foundation is dedicated to honoring and supporting combat wounded veterans through outdoor activities.
• Our community of event hosts plays a pivotal role in facilitating unique hunting experiences for Purple Heart recipients across North America.
• The significance of camaraderie and connection among veterans during these events fosters healing and appreciation for their sacrifices.
• Every event is not solely about the harvest but rather the shared experiences and bonds created between participants and their guides.
• Engagement in outdoor activities provides veterans an opportunity to reconnect with nature and find joy in shared interests.
• The Foundation's success relies heavily on the generous contributions of local communities and individuals who support our mission.

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• WWIA
• Great Creek Hunt Club
• Fort Myer Thrift Store
• Bonaire Exteriors

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Foreign.
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

(00:21):
a returning listener. Thanksfor coming back. Please be sure to
tell others about our podcastand leave us a review if you're enjoying
what you're hearing. The worldclass outdoor sporting adventures
that our combat woundedveterans participate in would not
be possible without thegenerosity and support of our event
hosts. We have a remarkableteam of WWIA event hosts across North

(00:45):
America who work with theirlocal communities, friends and businesses
to honor and serve our PurpleHeart heroes throughout each year.
These hosts do thisvoluntarily, rallying support, resources
and coordinating theircommunity base because they want
to give back to recognize andthank America's combat wounded veterans

(01:07):
for their tremendous serviceand sacrifice. Our event hosts are
a critical part of what we doand we could not be more grateful
to have them as part of ourWWIA team and family. Today, WWIA
founder and CEO John McDanielis honored to introduce you to one
of our valued event hosts, Mr.Andy Wilson. Andy is the host of

(01:31):
the Great Creek Hunt Clubevents in beautiful Alberta, Virginia.
Great Creek Hunt Club proudlyhosts two events per year, a turkey
hunt in the spring and a deerhunt in the fall. This will be their
12th year of hosting the deerhunt and their 8th year of hosting
the turkey hunt. Andy was bornand raised just outside of Richmond,
Virginia and has been marriedto his beautiful wife Abigail for

(01:54):
17 years. They have twoamazing daughters, Kenley, who is
about to turn 10, and theyoungest, Aniston, who just turned
7. Whether it's hunting,fishing, riding four wheelers or
checking trail cameras, theyboth love spending time with Andy
in the great outdoors. Andyhas hunted at the Great Creek Hunt

(02:15):
Club since he was old enoughto carry a gun. His grandfather and
friends started the hunt clubback in 1965. It's where Andy says
his best hunting memories havebeen made and it's still thriving
today. It's a special place toget away and commune with nature
and the hunting in this areais exceptional. Having the opportunity
to hunt with some of the samepeople for over 30 years has been

(02:38):
a tremendous privilege and themembers of the Great Creek Hunt Club
are honored to be able to hostthese events in honor and recognition
of America's Purple Heartheroes. This is a great episode,
so let's jump into theconversation with John and Andy now.

(03:00):
Hi, I'm John McDaniel, founderand CEO of the Wounded warriors in
Action Foundation. And this isour podcast, Honor Connect, Heal.
Well, it's today I haveanother special guest with me and
I guess Andy. Would you say wemet like 12 years ago, something
like that?
Yeah, probably 12, 13 years ago.

(03:23):
12 or 13. Wilson is with.Yeah, Andy Wilson is with us on the
program, hailing fromVirginia, and he's been helping the
foundation out with his teamdoing deer hunts and turkey hunts
in Virginia. Right. Right. Nowwhere exactly in Virginia are you?

(03:43):
So we are. The club itself islocated in Albert of Virginia. It's
about. About an hour south of Richmond.
Yeah. And we were talking inthe pre show about, you know, where
we first met, and both of ourmemories are a little bit Shaggy.
But 12 years ago, you know, onan event, you know, it was probably

(04:04):
a brief meeting. I don't. Idon't think we went out and, you
know, and drank any beers oranything like that, you know, but.
But which would. Would not benecessarily uncommon back in those
days. But anyway, yeah. Sowelcome to the program and tell us,
Andy, about. About your. Yourmission and what's going on. You

(04:26):
know, how this whole thingstarted and. And kind of bring us
up to date because I think itstarted out just as a deer hunt.
And then you guys added aturkey event, didn't you?
We did. So it started out as adeer hunt, and it actually started
the time that reference thatyou and I kind of met down there
in Carolina. I got invited togo guide a turkey hunt with a buddy

(04:47):
of mine. His organization wasrunning it at the time. And I got
to meet Tim Spence, who's anassociate, and I met you as well.
And I just started kind ofbrainstorming, thinking. I was like,
hey, you know, this would besomething awesome that our club,
the Great Creek, could do.Just a way to give back. So I ran
it by the club, ourorganization, and of course, you

(05:08):
know, I brought it to you guysand filled out the application. You
know, we received our first deer.
Hunt and we did a couple deer.
Hunts then I was like, man,you know, my passion. I love the
turkey hunt. I would ratherturkey hunt the deer hunt. I was
like, I want to do a turkeyhunt as well. So probably a couple
years went by, we. We added aturkey hunt as well. And. And since

(05:28):
then, I think we're close toclose to 20 events total now, which
is. Which is awesome.
Yeah. Wow, that's crazy. Yeah,that's great. Well, thanks for. Thanks
for all you do, man. I mean,it. It takes a village Right. I mean,
I'm sure that. That I rememberthe great creek hunt club and if

(05:50):
my memory serves me. Me properand, you know, just a bunch of. A
bunch of great guys and it wasa great club, and I think it's a
really good fit for us. But,you know, tell me about your team.
I mean, that's. That's. I loveto always hear about guys, teams,
you know, people's teams thatare supporting this because it's.

(06:11):
You might be the guy in chargeand the, you know, the leader of
the. Of the event or theevents. But there's always a great
team behind you. Right? Sotell us about your team.
So obviously my name's on theevent, but it takes so many people
between. I mean, it'sdifferent people for the deer hunt,
different people for theturkey hunt. It takes a village.

(06:31):
I mean, it really does. So forthe deer hunt, a lot of individuals,
there's. We have a member ofour club, Mike Tripp. He is. Is always
Johnny on the spot for us,whether it's picking guys up from
the airport, getting dinnersand st. Stuff that first night, getting.
Getting people down, because Isay we're about an hour south of
Richmond. So he drives themand brings them in. Mike has been,

(06:55):
I mean, probably the mostimportant piece for me in the club
itself to. To. To helping usout. But between Mike, you know,
landowners. We have landownersthat don't normally allow us to hunt
their land. But when we runthe event, hey, you know, they don't
allow anybody to hunt really.
And they.
When we run the event, they'relike, hey, y'all have access. Y'all

(07:17):
come on and hunt. So, youknow, Ms. Williams Urban Jr. They
are all like. They are all inon the event. You know, for us, obviously,
we're a little different deerhunt wise because we dog hunt. We're
dog hunting club. So for me, Imean, we have all our dog drivers,
all our dog handlers, the guysthat, you know, run their dogs. I

(07:39):
mean, they're taking off workto do the event. I mean, they're
sacrificing their time, youknow, to come in for the event. We
have a couple of guys thatcome from a club next to us that.
That, you know, they. Theytake away from their own club to
come help our event out.Obviously, the dog guys, the. The
individuals who take standswith. With our heroes, you know,

(08:00):
they're sacrificing their timeas well, you know, to help them out
because, you know, 99% ofthese guys have never dog hunted.
So for them, it's somethingnew. And, you know, they're kind
of walking through tellingthem everything, what to expect,
what to do. So those guys area huge, huge asset to us then. You
know, we have several peoplewho live in the community that live

(08:22):
down there. You know, DwayneHawthorne, he's actually our club
president. He's got a housedown there that he allows us to stay
at. Him and Dee Whitaker ownthat house, so they allow us to stay
at the house, which is. Whichis awesome because the setting is
just. It's back in the woods.It's in the middle of nowhere. You
know, you don't have anythingelse. Like you can just relax, unwind,
you know. Roger Engelking is ahuge one because he.

(08:44):
He.
We stayed at his house foryears before he actually moved down
there. I mean, his house wasway back. It was actually my family's
house way back in the day, andhe's fixed it up and just living
there.
Really?
Yeah. It's pretty cool. It's.It's pretty cool.
We still hunt.
Like, the land that we haveis. Was my grandfather's family's
land. So for me, it's a lot ofhistory involved in it. But. But,

(09:07):
you know, all those guys frompeople who cook. Who cook food, cook
dinner, you know, we couldn'tdo without them. I mean, the turkey
hunt, obviously is acompletely different event because
we've mixed in a littlefishing with it. So we'll have guys
that bring boats down to gofishing that don't even turkey hunt.
But for the turkey hunt.
Right.
You know, we like same thing.We have the landowners allow us to

(09:28):
use their land, which. Whichis awesome because we've always been
very successful there with theturkey hunt. Like I said, Ms. Williams
again. And Irvin Jr. Has beenIrvin Moore Jr. His full name.
They've been awesome about it.
You know, my. Actually my. Mydad is. Is a men's group from church.
Every event they come down,whether it's, you know, Friday afternoon,

(09:48):
they bring lunch to the guys.It's about seven or eight of his
group from. From church thatcome in and. And it's. It's pretty
awesome. So, like, I say ittakes. It takes a huge team, and
I say my name's on the event,but it's far from me. It's. It's.
Everybody associated withGreat Creek. It's members of the
community. It's, you know, mydad's church group. It's. It's amazing

(10:09):
the amount of support that we get.
Yeah. Well, what's. What'samazing about the foundation. A lot
of these activities that wedo, events as. As we call them is,
you know, you do you havethese. These communities that are
now that, that, that otherwisecommunities within communities, adjacent

(10:31):
communities, neighbors, youknow, start to. To pour in on something.
Like you mentioned, hey, youguys can use our land on this on
that weekend, no problem. Theyprobably wouldn't let their, Their,
you know, some of them won'tlet their brothers hunt on it, you
know, but when they find outthat our. Our nation's combat wounded,
you know, are coming to enjoya weekend of hunting, they're, you

(10:54):
know, they. They open up thedoors and they access to their. To
their property and theirfacilities. It's really amazing.
So thanks for sharing thatstory. You know, it's the same thing
with me, like at Camp Hackett,you know, I mean, it started very
small, and then it just. Everyyear it just that the ring kept expanding,
you know, more people wouldget, you know, in on this thing and

(11:18):
it just added to the, youknow, to the richness of the event
and it, and it brought thecommunity together. It strengthened
the community and has a bond.There's a bonding agent, if you will,
that, that brings everybodytogether and it's, you know, it's
this common cause. It's. It'spretty neat, man. I appreciate you
sharing that, that with me. Sotell me, Andy, about, Tell me about

(11:42):
what happens, because if yousaid you were going to run dogs on
deer in Wisconsin, you know,you'd find yourself in jail really
quickly. You know what I mean?
Absolutely.
And so it's like, it's. It'slike sacrilege in some places. It
is, you know, like, I neverhurt. Yeah. You know, and. And it's

(12:03):
a sensitive topic. You know,it can be, you know, and, And I,
I've been. I've hound huntedbefore, you know, not. Not for deer,
but, you know, I've houndhunted before for. For cats, you
know, big cats and this kindof thing and for coon, you know,

(12:24):
and I, And I, you know, I'veactually been part. I wasn't the
hunter, but I've been part ofdog hunts that involved, you know,
bear, you know, up in BritishColumbia. So I, you know, I'm not
an anti. By any means. It'sjust a little unorthodox when you
come from a traditional, youknow, stand hunter or still hunter,

(12:47):
you know, this idea of loosenthe dogs on deer. But let's talk
about that because I'm surethere are people out there that are.
That are interested andknowing how this works. And so if
you would, you know, explainthat to us, I'd appreciate it.
Yeah, absolutely. So,obviously, Virginia, since I started

(13:09):
hunting, since even obviouslyway before me, I mean, our club started
in 65, 1965. So we've beenrunning dogs for them down here.
It's. It's been a way of life,obviously. You know, it's always.
It's always been a. A hottopic, if you must. But basically,
the way it works is. I mean,you mentioned Wisconsin. You guys

(13:30):
probably do man drives, youknow, where you have standards and
you have pushers. Yeah,something very similar. What we'll
do is a group andorganization. We meet up every morning.
We look and say, okay, we got,you know, X amount of guys, X amount
of dog guys. We're going to gohunt, set whatever, whatever block
we decide to hunt. And the waywe do it is we try to surround it

(13:52):
safely, just like you would ina man drive. You know, we have our
standards set, and then wehave our dog drivers that will take
and walk their dogs, hiketheir dogs in the woods. They'll,
you know, jump a deer, cut atrack, whatever it is, and they're
pushing the deer, you know, bythe standards, is the way it is.
So we. We try to. Obviously,people don't think there's a lot

(14:14):
of strategy involved in it,but there is. You know, we try to
have our standards that, youknow, the best. The best routes,
the best crossings. You know,if we think of deers, lacrosse, a
creek, a certain place, like,we want to make sure we have a standard
there. So there is, you know,you can't just walk into the wood
and say, I'm going to standhere and I'm going to kill one with
a dog. Run it. Like, you haveto be truly a good woodsman. You

(14:35):
know, you're crossing, youread your sign, you can kind of figure
it out, you know, which way isthe wind. The wind blowing that day.
And a lot of it could. Couldbe the dog, too, whatever dog is
pushing it. Of how fast thedeer might, you know, get out of
there, whether it be a walkerrunning it maybe a little bit faster,
a beagle, maybe a little bitslower, you know, whatever it is.
So there's a lot of strategyinvol. And I think that's been the

(14:58):
awesome thing about our deerhunt is, like I say, 99 of the guys
have never done it. I thinkwe've had two. Two people that I
can recall in the 10, 11 yearsof deer hunts. So, I mean, 40 some
people that we've had havecome in. And only two of them have
ever done it. And every one ofthem have walked away with a. With

(15:19):
a new appreciation of it andkind of seen how we did it. Like,
it's kind of great becauseyou're meeting with your buddies,
you know, so in the morning.You're joking. You're messing around.
Okay. Hey, we're get serious.We're going to go hunt. At the end
of the day, hey, we're goingto get together, we're going to come
back if we kill some deer,we're going to skin some deer, we're
going to clean some deer, youknow, eat a little dinner, whatever

(15:40):
it is. So it's great becauseit's. There's a lot of camaraderie
involved in it. And, you know,for us, it's like it's been a way
of life. Dog hunting got meinto hunting. I mean, my grandfather
did it. He was never really a.He never bow hunted. He was never.
Because we have a season, youknow, both season of black powder.
He. He never really did any ofthat until me and my brother kind

(16:02):
of started hunting with them.So if it wasn't for dog hunting,
and who knows if I ever gotinto hunting, I. I don't know, maybe
eventually at some point, butit's what got me in the woods. So,
like I say, down here, it is away of life. I mean, you take, you
know, dog guys, they are someof the most dedicated. Yeah, they're

(16:25):
very dedicated. I mean,they're not just, you know, they
want to make sure their dogsare, you know, in shape. They're
running. They're, you know,they're. Those guys are. They put
up a lot of time and money.They sacrifice a lot. So it's like
I say, it's. It's awesome.It's a way of life. If nobody's ever
done it, I always suggestdoing it, like, don't, don't knock
it till you try it kind ofthing. We feel like the way we do

(16:48):
it has always been, like Isaid, we've been around since 1965,
and, you know, our communityaround us, everybody knows us. We
got good relationships withthem. So it's. It's not like we're,
you know, I know sometimespeople feel dog hunting people can
kind of trample on their land.Like we. That's not how we do things.
It's not how it works with us.So it's. It's a great time. It truly

(17:11):
is.
You know, in my mind, youknow, I. I try to think through,
you know, what, what mightthis, you know, what might this event
that I'm getting ready to do,what might this be like? You know,
and, and as I think about it,I'm like visioning, envisioning myself
standing in a location whereI've got good fields of fire and

(17:34):
I can hear the dogs coming.And. And so I'm. I'm tuned up and
I'm. I'm ready to take a shot.But then this deer comes by me at
Mach 4 and I don't get a shotbecause he' on a dead sprint. And
I'm like, wow, that was fun.You know, I mean, I, you know what,
what? You know, I mean, we'reall trained, you know, as a stand
hunter or as a deer hunter,you know, the, the least most preferred

(17:55):
shot, like I won't even take ashot at it. Yeah, that's running.
Yeah.
You know, I mean, I, I mean,when. And I've never taken a shot
unless I should say, not saynever, but, you know, I've taken
that first shot and then asthe deer is running away, you know,
of course, you know, if I'vegot a good shot, I'll. I'll take
a second or perhaps even athird shot. But, you know, so I would

(18:20):
imagine that, that probably, Idon't, I'm guessing, but the high
percentage of those shots thatguys that are, you know, deer hunting
with dogs, with you guys aretaking shots at deer that are. That
are moving. Right. I mean,they're probably not standing still.
Yeah, I mean, something. Itreally depends on where they're at.
And we kind of learned, youknow, through the first. Probably,

(18:43):
actually, probably our secondevent, we kind of set them up in
some places where the deerwere. It was a big, like, wide open
field, deer were crossing it.And the shots were a little bit.
They were moving a littlefaster. And we kind of said, you
know what, like, we gotta, wegotta do a little bit better. We
gotta take them down into thewoods. On some of these crossings,
like, whether it's a creekcrossing or whatnot, I would say

(19:05):
50% of them are probably runthem. A lot of them, the deer might
just be tipping through thewoods because, you know, the other
thing is some of these deer wekill or what we call slipping deer,
so you might have, you know, adog or a pack of dogs running, two
or three deer, and you mighthave a deer that got up and slipped
away from them. And one of thestandards, you know, it comes, you're

(19:25):
trying to slip by, slip out ofthe hunt. And so it's it's just sneaking,
it's just tipping through thewoods. So I mean it's probably a
50, 50.
But right.
The way we've tried to do itis okay, hey, let's make these shots
where it's, you know, 40, 50yards or less. We don't obviously
we want high percentage shotsis what we want. Like I said, we
learned, we kind of learned onthe, on the second year that we did

(19:48):
the event, those guys, man, wehad deer crossing this field and
they shot a lot. And it was,it was, you know, it was, it's not
easy shooting if you're notused to it by any means. So we said,
okay, you know what, like inthe woods, we're going in the woods
on these crossings and it'slike I say it's probably 50, 50.

(20:08):
Some are running, some arestill. But you got some guys that
get used to it. Next thing youknow they're, they're making some
shots that are incredible thatthey never thought they could make.
And of course, you know, it'sshotguns and buckshot. That's what
we're using. So it's, youknow, we're not using.
So you got to be close really.
Ideally 40 yards, 50 yards orless is what we try to do.

(20:30):
Right. It's like bow hunting.It's up close and personal.
100. That's right. So yeah,that's right.
Right. Cool, Cool. All right,so what kind of dogs are these guys
running?
So most, most of what we haveare walkers and the walkers and beagles
is what we have. So we'll havea little bit long legged dog and

(20:50):
we'll have, you know, abeagle, shorter legged beagle and
they, they run a littledifferent. You know, a walker is
going to be a little bit, alittle bit faster obviously. Long
legged dog. A beagle is goingto be a little bit, a little bit
slower but known to have abetter nose. So you know, it's not
that they're any, any. Itreally depends on, on the dog guy

(21:13):
of what their preference is.You know what they like, they like
a little bit faster, they likea little bit slower or better nose,
whatever. So it's, it's mainlyjust walker and beagles is what we
run.
You, you, you said you thinkthe beagles have a better nose.
Oh, yeah. By far, by far myopinion. By far.
Yeah, by far.

(21:34):
Yeah. Really?
You can see where a walkermore deliberate.
Yeah.
A walker will kind of wind adeer as it's running. So it's not
if a deer, you know, cross Onecertain spot, he might be 10, 15
yards off the track becausehe's winding it where a beagle will
have his nose right therewhere that, where that deer ran.
And he'll, you know, run rightbehind, right on the track of where

(21:55):
it is. He won't be off it.He'll be right on it. So definitely,
definitely a better night.
My opinion, some people andreporting and. Yeah, and reporting
the whole time, right?
Yeah. I mean, both of them,like, say. Yeah, absolutely. If they're,
if they're on a deer.
And they're running, they're.They're going to give mouth.
They're going to be. You'regoing to hear them coming.
Yeah, right on. So, you know,I'm curious. If you wanted to, you

(22:22):
know, if you wanted to takeyour, your, your, your deer dog and
go coon hunting, could you doit? Or are these dogs just like,
they're ate up from the groundup with deer? What's going on there?
Yeah, so I mean, most of yourdogs, like, they might get off and
run a, a coyote tracker.They'll even get on a bear and run
a bear. But yeah, we try notto. If they're a deer dog, we're

(22:43):
gonna run deer with them.We're not gonna mess with them on
a, on a coon or anything elselike that. Like they're gonna be
strictly, strictly a deer dog, hopefully.
Okay, very good. And, and youguys also, you were, we were saying
in the pre show, you weretalking to me about how, you know,
you, you started on a turkeyhunt eight years ago and so now you're

(23:07):
doing, doing two events thereat the Great Creek. And. But you're,
you're a turkey guy. So tellme, tell me how that's going. I mean,
I love turkey hunting and Ilove to talk to guys who, who love
to, to turkey hunt becausethere's nothing else like that. I
mean, there, there, there,there really isn't. You know, that,
that moment when you know thatgobbler's coming in and you know

(23:29):
he's coming in and then hepresents himself, you know, and maybe
in full strut and, and you'rereally close to him and, and there's
that moment of tr. Like that,in my opinion, and you're a turkey
hunter. Tell us about, tell usabout that part of your operation.

(23:50):
So that part of the operation,like obviously way different than
the deer hunt. The way we dothings. It's not normally a big a
group as during our deer hunt,but I have, I mean, what I consider
some of the best Turkeyhunters around. Between my brother
Neil, guy, Chris Vaughn, Jimand Bob, Major ball, Will Morgan,

(24:11):
David, Chris, his brotherJordan. These guys are, I mean, extremely
knowledgeable. I mean, we're,we're going out before the season
and we're listening. We're,you know, we're looking for sign.
But the way our turkey huntworks is, you know, we'll generally
take for each hero, we'll havetwo guys with them. And the way we
try to do it is obviously oneguy. Depending on their level of,

(24:33):
level of hunting experience.If they've turkey hunted a ton or,
you know, not, not hunted awhole lot, you will usually have
a guy sit with them close byto kind of walk them through, you
know, the situation. And we'llhave a gu behind them calling, but
outside of them, we have fouror five guys that will, will ride
around and listen in themorning, you know, first thing and

(24:53):
try to hear a bird get a birdgoblin and, and you know, we're,
we're talking to each other.Hey, if nobody's on a bird, hey,
y'all come over here. I got abird goblin over here. So It really,
that one is like 10 of us. Youknow, it might be, it might be four
guys hunting, but it's 10 ofus that are trying to find birds
for everybody else. And, and Iwould say in all honesty, our, our
success rate with the turkeyhunt is phenomenal. I mean, I never

(25:17):
would have thought, I mean, mygoal was always, you know, if we
kill two birds in event, Ithink that's a great weekend. But
we're having, we're havingweekends and events where four or
five, I mean, you know, Ithink, I think five or six might
be our most. But you know,we've killed, you know, four or five
several times. And it's like,I say it's my passion just because

(25:37):
it's one on one with the bird,but I always contribute that to the
knowledge of the guys.
That, the guides who are, who are.
Taking our heroes and just howgood they are at what they do. I
mean, they're extremelyincredible. I mean, as big as I am
of a turkey hunter, they'reeven bigger. So it's awesome.

(25:58):
I, I think I got, I think Igot a pot call from you guys. A slate
call years and years ago, Ithink. I think I did. I do. I have
it in my collection. I shouldhave dusted it off this morning and
brought it in. Yeah, yeah,yeah, I know you, I, I know you did.

(26:21):
I, I, I, I, I, I, I treasureit. It's, it's sitting at home in
my collection. That's. That'sright. You sent it to me. I think
I. I actually just got.
The one from you guys. The.The boscal that has, like, the turkey
wing up top. Like, thatthing's pretty awesome. I told. I
told my brother. I showed itto him and I said, man, I don't like.
He made that.

(26:41):
Yeah, I got the card with it,which I really appreciate that and
you guys sending that. But Itold him, I was like, I don't know
if I want to try to call onein with it and then retire it or
if I just want to put it in.Like, I'm a big turkey call. I like
collections, you know, ofthem. And I'm like, I don't know
if I just want to retire itright away or I want to try to call
one in with it first.
Just give it a little, you know.

(27:01):
To try it out. So I appreciate it.
I think Trent. I. I thinkTrent would want you to. Yeah, I
think. I think he'd want youto try to. To.
Well, since he wants thatlook, you stay dust off two weeks.
So I'll try it out with. Withmy daughter trying to get her own
one.
There you go. Did you get apiece of chalk with it, too? I think

(27:22):
we tried to do.
I think I did. I'm pretty sureI did. Yes.
Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, anyway,that's a pretty special call. And,
you know, everybody. Every.Every person that makes a call has
got a. A way of doing it, youknow, And I. And I used to have.
I used to have it. So it waslike this, you know, when the feathers
towards you, the working endis towards you. That's how I've always

(27:45):
worked it. And Trent said thatwith that one, you should be using
it where it's away from you,where the. Where the. That. That
cock feather, the end of it,the quill, if you will, is. Is away
from you.
Okay.
And I. I mean, I was like,wow. I was glad. Glad I asked that
question. But, you know, hey,it is what it is. I mean, you know,

(28:07):
what. What it sounds like,what it should sound like. And, you
know the interesting thingabout turkey hunting, biologically
speaking? Well, there's a lotof things that are interesting about
it, but it was put to me onceupon a time by. By a gentleman who
had a lot of experience andwas explaining to me, you know, what.

(28:29):
What's actually happening outthere in nature, you know, and when
you start to study the turkeyand you realize that, you know, these
toms you know, have a broodessentially of hens, and. And, you
know, they're gobbling, andthe hens naturally, you know, go
towards, you know, thegobbler, you know, I mean, they're.

(28:49):
They're attracted to. To. To,you know, his sound, you know, his
acrobatics. And, and whatyou're trying to do in. In. In turkey
hunting is reverse nature,essentially. Pull him away from his
hands and get him close toyou, which is. Which is really not
the way it happens, like, innature. So if you get him, you know,

(29:13):
to. To entice him to come toyou, you've really accomplished something.
I just always. I alwaysthought that was cool.
Oh, yeah, yeah. That's always.It's. It's the challenge of it, for
sure. Then you get that. Thatone stubborn. That'll hang up for.
For no reason. It won't movein and just where he's. He's where
he wants to be that day.
That.
That's.
That's what makes it fun.It's. I don't ever feel like it's.

(29:36):
They're gonna do the samething two days in a row. It's always
something different.
No, it is. Yeah. I alwaysrefer to him as the smartest dumb
bird on the planet because.Yeah. One moment you'll see him do
something that. It just blowsyou away. Like, I. I can't. I can't
crack the code on this dude,man. And. And, you know, he's just
hung up. I just can't get him,you know?

(29:57):
Yeah.
Or you got everything youthink is perfect, and he spots something
he don't like and he's gone.
Yeah.
And that's it. You're done.He's done. You're done for the day
with that guy. He's not comingback. And, you know, he's. He's picked
out something that's notright. You know, they're very. They're
masterful with their eyesightin being able to determine, well,
of course, motion, of coursethat'll kill you. But also I've learned

(30:21):
that if something's out ofwhack, like, it just doesn't look
right to him. He's not coming,you know, and so, you know, I don't
care how good of a calleryou're. He's, you know, you. You've
spooked him to the pointwhere. Where he's not coming. And
then on the other side of thecoin, I've had him come in where
you got two really nice Toms,a couple of Jakes, you know, whatever.

(30:42):
And they're. They're coming inon your decoy, and, okay, I'm like,
okay, get ready. Get ready.You know, and the guys I'm with,
you know, he's all ready, andI could take him when you want, you
know, and then. And he shootsthe turkey, and turkey's on the ground
flopping around. He ain'tgoing anywhere. And the others don't
even leave. They just, like,go over and start kicking his ass.

(31:03):
They're like, you know, he wasthe big shot of the. Not. Now they're
taking their turn at him, andthey're working them over right in
front of you, and a shotgunjust went off. You're like, I just
spent 30 minutes bringing youin here, you know, quiet and, like,
whatnot. And I just killedyour buddy, and all you want to do
is pummel his ass. It alwaysjust. I. I don't know. I always just
get such a. A hoot out of. Outof that bird, man.

(31:26):
Oh, yeah. It's crazy when theydo it. Well, I always tell people,
you can be the best car in theworld, but if you ain't where he
wants to be, you ain't gonnakill him, so. That's for sure.
Yeah, that's right. That'sright. I love it. I love it. If everybody
could see the smile on yourface, you know, that's because you're.
You know, you get excitedabout it. You know, only sportsmans

(31:48):
who've been. Who've been thereand done that, you know, get that.
You know, get that smile ontheir face. So I can appreciate that
for sure.
Oh, yeah.
Hey, tell me, Andy, you know,I mean, you've been doing this now
for quite a while, you know,13 years or so, which is incredible.
And again, I want to. I wantto make sure that I thank you personally

(32:11):
and your entire, you know,community of support. Hopefully,
you get a chance to share thiswith them and they can, you know,
enjoy this podcast. But I wantto thank them, and it's the little
things that count. You know,it's like your dad in his church
group making lunches andshowing up, you know, I mean, I can

(32:35):
imagine that whoever madethose lunches that. That morning,
you know, put extra care intomaking sure that the sandwiches were
right. And maybe there was anapple in the bag and, you know, maybe
a treat or something likethat, you know, and. Or maybe they
went to the local diner andthey, you know, enlisted the support
of a local diner that they'veknown, you know, the guy who owns

(32:57):
the thing for 30 years. Theycan Be going in there and getting
coffee and this guy made thesandwiches, you know, just by way
of example. And, and, and it'salways the little things, you know,
in life that make such a bigdifference. And, and I want to thank
all of your community and thepeople that are making this, these

(33:18):
events happen because they'rereally the unsung heroes and many
hands make for light work whenyou are surrounding these combat
wounded veterans with peopleand communities who genuinely care
about their well being, whoappreciate what they did for this

(33:41):
country in some far off land,in some scary dark place so that
we could enjoy the, you know,the freedoms that we have in this
great country. As they weredefending freedom in some dark corner
of the globe and now they'reback home and everything has changed
and here they come to a, youknow, a little place in Virginia,

(34:03):
you know, in Alberta,Virginia. And you know, that's a
unique culture right there. Imean, it is. And many of them might
not ever have had theopportunity to meet a Virginian or
to hunt with dogs or to huntturkeys on this beautiful property
of yours in this beautifulclub, you know, and, and that's what

(34:24):
makes it special because theyget there and they're having an experience
that they otherwise wouldnever have with people they would
otherwise never know and ontrain they would otherwise never
get to walk or enjoy. So Iwant to thank everybody in your community
and I got to give a shout outalso, you know, to the folks that,

(34:47):
that help, you know, supportand fund, you know, this very important
mission. And, and so thanks toeverybody for all that you've done
to, to help make this be avery special event for our heroes.
Because I can guarantee youthat they're walking away from this
event and they're going backto their homes, you know, getting

(35:08):
on planes or getting back intheir car and driving home. And I'm
sure that you've given themmemories for a lifetime. So thank
you, Andy, and your entireextended community for helping make
this happen for so manyconsecutive years. And I'm sure you've
got some stories, somethingthat maybe you want to share with

(35:30):
us in the audience about someof your experiences with the wounded
veterans. Obviously, you guyswouldn't be doing it year after year
if it didn't mean something toyou. So the question to you is, you
know, on behalf of your team,what's it mean to you?
I mean, really, I mean, to meit, I guess, I mean, it sounds bad

(35:58):
to say, but where's CandaceCrowd what it means, because I've
always said I'VE done theevent, and we've done the event just
as a way to show ourappreciation to those have sacrificed
so much. I mean, let's faceit, you know, we wouldn't be able
to have the. The freedoms wehave without them, without the sacrifices
they've made, you know, fortheir country, for. For everybody.

(36:23):
So for us, I mean, it reallymeans everything we love. You know,
obviously, the giving back.And. And I always, always kind of
said is. I mean, I don't have.It sounds bad. I don't have anything
to give you but a passion forthe outdoors, right? If I can. If
I can take a guy one day andmeet him, turkey hunt, and we connect

(36:45):
and I give him a passion forthe outdoors, and that's a way for
him to. To kind of get out andget away and. And maybe get a new
hobby, bring some other joy tohis life, whatever. Then. Then I've
done what I feel like, youknow, I kind of set out to do, you
know, even if it's gettingaway for a weekend, fishing, hunting,
whatever it is. I mean, so, Imean, I think everybody at the club

(37:08):
and everybody who helps out,from my dad to the, you know, the.
The members of the community,I mean, all of them, it's just a
simple way of saying thank youfor everything you've done, everything
you've gone through, thesacrifices you've made. So, you know,
for. For all, for us, it'sjust, you know, it means the world
to us that we can help out anddo everything for sure.

(37:31):
You know, I was just right.I'm writing this down because it's
a great quote. Just let mefinish this here. This is what you
said. You said I don't haveanything to give you other than my
passion for the outdoors. Andthat's just one of the best quotes
I've ever heard. You know,that's really good, man. And. And

(37:53):
that's true, you know, when.When I as. As you know, one of the.
As the original host, if youwill, and I still run this event
up in Northern Wisconsin atour camp every year. And, and it's
like, man, if I had to knuckleit down to one thing, you know, at
that. The very bare roots ofwhat, what, what can I do, what am

(38:16):
I doing and what can I do forthis. This thing, this event, you
know, it really boils down tojust that, you know, I. I can really,
you know, the most meaningfulthing I can give you or share with
you is my passion for whatwe're about to go do.
Absolutely.
You Know, and, and that rightthere, man, that, that, that, that
hit. That hits hard, you know,and, and because that's why you're

(38:40):
doing it. And, and some ofthem, a lot of these amazing men
and women, you know, theydon't have it because they've never
seen it. Like, they know theydon't have that passion because they've
never experienced it. They'venever been around people that, you
know, have that to give, andthis might be their first opportunity

(39:03):
or you might be setting astandard for them to see and feel
what it's like to be aroundsomebody that has that level of passion
for that particular thing. Andthen once you've been successful
at it and you've seen it andyou've experienced it, now you want

(39:24):
more of that. And that, that,that's contagious. You know, it.
You know, the enthusiasm iscontagious. You know, passion for
something is contagious. Sothat, that's, that's. That's great.
That's really a great way ofsaying it, and I appreciate you sharing
that, Andy.
I always, you know, I think.

(39:46):
Yeah, that's great for, forme, from.
The first, the first event wehad, I kind of. I think I looked
at. Looked at it and wentabout it the wrong way. I was more
worried about the, you know,the success of the harvest, of the
kill. So I was too caught upin that, like, the first event. And
then I realized from thatfirst event that, you know, the harvest

(40:07):
was just. That was icing onthe cake. It was everything else.
The comments.
That's like a byproduct. Yeah.
I mean, you get like. You geta little piece of the testimonials
and see, and hardly ever doessomebody mention the harvest. Hey,
I was able to take my firstdeer, my first turkey. Like, everything
that's mentioned is, you know,the individuals that help out, like,

(40:27):
what, what it meant to themoutside of the. The harvest. So,
I mean, for me, like I said, Ikind of. I say the first event, I
went about it the wrong wayjust because I was so worried about,
you know, the harvest to kill.And, you know, that's what kind of.
Yeah, that's. Yeah. So.
Yeah.
But.
Well, to, to that. To thatpoint, you know, I'll. And again,

(40:51):
I'll. There may be a futurehost out there that's listening to
this and says, you know, Ithink I'd like to do that. You know,
but for those people that areworried about the, you know, the
results, like how many ducksdid we kill? Or how many deer do
we kill, you Know, I alwayssay that's, that's incidental, you
know. Yeah. Hey, we, webrought them together to go do this

(41:12):
thing and they're going to goout there and they're going to do
it. But at the end of the day,you know, these guys, when they start
telling the story about whathappened, well, when they get back
to their family or when theywrite their, you know, when they
write their testimonial, likeit's almost forgotten whether or
not or rarely is it mentionedthat they shot a deer or got, got,

(41:33):
got, got a duck or killed aturkey. You know, it's always about.
If you read the testimonialson the website, I think there's 1600
of them, you know, that we'vecollected over the past 18 years
and you know, we've digitizedall of them. They're, they're all
handwritten, you know, notesand all these journals across the

(41:55):
country. But they all say theyall have a similar thing theme. And
it all starts with, you know,thank you, you know, thank you for
what you did for me thisweekend. You know, the child was
amazing. The people arephenomenal. You made me feel like,
you know, like I was part ofyour family. You know, you made me

(42:17):
feel like what I did for ourcountry was valued. I was lost and,
and, and, and you guys helped,you know, redirect me. You know,
I've made friends for life.You know, you've read it and you've
heard them and you've seen it.And that's what it is, man. It's
it. They have a place and aconnection, a common connection to

(42:37):
people that they just met. Youknow, Americans that they just met
and they were together on aweekend. But it was all good, you
know, it was a safe place. Youwelcomed them. There's lots of camaraderie,
you know, there's lots ofhonor, you know, there, you know,
there's lots of, you know,connections and hence there's also
a lot of healing. Now thathealing might not take place right

(43:00):
there and then, but, you know,and we're not talking about, you
know, the clinical type ofhealing. It's non clinical, you know,
it's this idea of, you know,helping restore the psyche. It's
about, you know, helping themto, to, to feel good about what they
did, what they had to go do,you know, what they did. And, and

(43:23):
it, it was appreciated. Right?And this is an expression, this is
a collective expression of ourappreciation for, for what they did
while they were wearing auniform, full stop. And you know,
you Guys are doing great withthat, man. And I want to. I want
to thank you for. For makingit such a special event.
Well, we certainly appreciatethe opportunity and everything. So

(43:45):
it's. It's been a blast, for sure.
Yeah. Yeah. Do you have any.Any. Any really cool, like, any stories
or something you want to sharewith us? Any highlight? Because some.
Some of the highlights are.Are things that, you know, you're
like, you can't make it up,man. I mean, I don't want to. I don't
want to sit here and tellstories, but, you know, if we were

(44:06):
sitting together, if we weresitting around a fire and had a glass
of brown water in our hands orsomething, I think that we, you know,
we could talk, we could tellsome stories. Now, they're all hilarious,
and they're all so impactful,but they always involve, you know,
a soldier or a Marine or, youknow, somebody doing, you know, something
or something that, you know,really, you know, stood out. Do you

(44:30):
have anything like that he'dlike to share with us?
Man, I actually. I got twothat. Two that, when I started thinking
about it, kind of stood out.And the first one is just. Just a
funny. This kind of shows youthe personality of the individual.
But Peter and I would. I wouldbutcher his last name. So I'm not
going to say it, but Peter wasfrom Australia. He was in the Australian

(44:52):
Army. I came, you know, cameover here, joined the army here.
But he came up here on a. Iwant to say it was our very first
turkey hunt. And I rememberour phone conversation because I
call all the heroes, you know,prior to them coming in, just to,
you know, set expectations,ask them questions, whatever. And
I was like, hey, man, you gotany questions? He was like, well,
do you have snakes up there?And I said, yeah, you know, we do.

(45:13):
We, you know, black snake,copperhead. The odds of you seeing
one, I mean, slim to none.You'll probably be okay. And my thinking
was, like, man, he's scared ofit or whatever. You know, he's got,
you know, something going on.Like, he just doesn't want to be
around it. He's gonna. He'sgonna take off and run if he sees
it or something. But the veryfirst night, we just met everybody,
and we go out and. And we goto roost turkeys. And somehow he.

(45:38):
He goes with another one ofour. Our members of the club. Somehow
they come across a copperhead,of course, you know, poison snake
up in Virginia. And I don'tknow. I don't know what they did,
but it Serious?
Serious viper. Serious. Yeah,yeah, serious pit.
I don't know. Know the. Thewhole story, but somehow they wanted

(45:59):
to play a joke on me and theycontemplated what they want to do,
but the snake ended up in my.My turkey decoy bag the next morning.
So we go to. We go to get outthe truck and hunting and I'm sitting
there and I'm like, what isthis in my bag? Well, dag on if that
snake's not in my bag and Iflip it upside down and here comes

(46:21):
a snake. Keep in mind this islike 5:30 in the morning, and I'm
standing by the truck, gettingready to walk into the woods and
a snake flopping out my bag.And I'm like, man, you. You got to
be kidding me, man.
But.
But right then I knew I couldtell Peter's personality. And the
guy was. He was awesome,incredible guy. And a day later,
I actually called in a birdfor him. Was actually probably one

(46:42):
of the cooler turkey huntsI've ever had. He ended up killing
a turkey. And the next daywhat happens? Me and him walk up
on a black snake as well. Sothe guy who asked about him, we hardly
see him some weeks some forsome reason finds two snakes that
weekend. So I don't know ifhe's some sort of snake whisper or
what, but it was just. It wasjust a funny story because he, you

(47:04):
know, trying to play thetrickle. Me just met him, you know,
that day and trying to play ajoke on me, which I thought was.
Was pretty fun and prettycool. But you know, the second. The
second story was the secondstory. And this is what kind of,
I guess chain changed mymindset a little bit about, you know,

(47:25):
when I talk about like theharvest and how these guys really,
truly, when they come in,they. They root for each other. They're
wanting them to. Hey, man,like, what'd you see? Did you kill
like in. In usually when. Whenthey kill a deer, you know, they
all want to be involved in it.And this kind of started with. With
Tim Spence and Daniel. DanielNewman was one of our first guys.

(47:46):
He was the. The first deerhunt event that we had. And me and
Daniel want to stand. And Inever forget Tim calls me and. And
Tim had shot a pretty nicebuck and you know, timid had dog
hunted before, so he was goingto stand by himself. And he says,
hey, this is what happened.You know, the deer kind of ran this
way. You want to. You want totry to get. Sometimes if we maybe

(48:09):
try to get a dog one orwhatever. And I said, well, hey,
you know, we might come downthere. Give me a minute. And I looked
at Daniel and I had givenDaniel the option because, you know,
on our deer hunt, if our doghunt kind of fizzles out by 3:30
or something, we'll go stillhunt. I said, hey, you, you want
me to take you still huntingor do you want to go over here and
look for Tim's deer? Andwithout hesitation, Daniel's like,

(48:31):
I want to go look for Tim'sdeer. Like, he wanted to be a part
of it. And that just kind ofshowed me. And granted, whenever
I found it, Tim really niceeight pointer he killed. And just
the excitement that Daniel hadfor, like I say, somebody he had
just met two days prior. Andyou could tell it meant so much to
him, you know, to be therewith Tim and, and everything, that's

(48:53):
what kind of changed mymindset of like, you know, okay,
like these guys, you know, howthey, how they were around each other,
how they were rooting for eachother, you know, was. It's pretty
awesome. So, yeah, those arethe two stories that really stuck
out to me. Like I said, Tim,we still see Tim all the time, so
we still talk about that, thathunt in that day, you know, to this

(49:14):
day.
So it was pretty cool.
Yeah. Timmy's a great Americanand, and I, I, I have a lot of respect
and admiration for him and ourfriendship. And if it wasn't for
him, I don't think we, you andI wouldn't be talking, for starters.
Probably not.
Yeah.
But Spence is. Yeah, he's justgreat American and has done. He's

(49:42):
one of our guides and one ofour senior guides, and he certainly
has paved the way for a lot ofheroes and has done a lot to advance
this cause. And I appreciateyou sharing that story because. And

(50:03):
as you were telling snakestory, made me laugh because I won't
tell my snake story, but Ihave a similar experience in my past
that made me, that justbrought a smile to my face with snakes.
But this idea of asking ahero, what would you rather do? Would
you rather go still huntingwith me or would you rather go help

(50:26):
Timmy find his buck? And hewithout hesitation says, I want to
go help Tim find his buck, youknow, and, and it's because, like
you said, like you aptly put,you know, they want to help each
other, you know, that's, it'sall about that, that, that friendship
and that, and, and that, thatteamwork, that idea of, of helping

(50:49):
your brother out, you know,because how many times have we been
alone out There trying to dosomething by yourself and, and, and,
and, and whether you'resuccessful or not, it's amplified
when you have somebodysupporting you in the field, like,
hey, I have a wounded animal,you know, I can't tell you how many

(51:14):
times I got up in the middleof the night after spending, you
know, till way past darklooking for something and then just
couldn't sleep and said, youknow what? I'm going back out there.
You're doing what? I'm like,I'm going back out there there, you
know, and so that's what I do.I go back out there in the middle
of night, you know, with the,with the bear, the wolves, that doesn't
matter. The rain, the sleet,the snow. You know, I, I just. I'm

(51:38):
ate up with it. But, you know,when you have somebody who will choose
to do that and be with hisbrother that he just met versus doing
something for himself, that,that tells that. That's a powerful
story right there. And I, Iappreciate you sharing that. And
that's. That's the good stuff,right? That's the stuff that you

(51:59):
could. You can't make up.That's the stuff that you experience
when you're out there thatmakes it so meaningful and so powerful,
these experiences that wehave. You know, it's everything in
between the lines, right,that, that, you know, that, that.
It's the spaces in between thenotes, if you will. It's those pauses

(52:20):
in between, you know, the, thenotes that make the. That. That make
the. The music, if you will,so interesting. And. Yeah, so. So
I appreciate you sharing thatwith me, Andy. That's a great story.
Those are a couple great stories.
Yeah. Like I said, there's. Wecould spend all day talking about
them, but there's. We. We gota pile of me doing events for, you

(52:42):
know, 10, 12 years, whateverit is. You get a bunch of stories,
but those are the ones thatstuck out to me the most. For sure.
Yeah. Well, listen, I. I wishyou and your team all. All the best
moving forward. You know, Ithank you and praise you for your
work. It. It's. It is a lot ofwork. I know you guys rearrange your

(53:05):
schedules every year for it,and, and you carve out some space
in your personal life to. Tohelp these heroes, and, you know,
it means the world to them,and it certainly means the world
to me, and I want to again,you know, recognize you for all that
you've done and thank you andwish you guys all the best. And,

(53:25):
you know, we're here for ifyou. If you ever need anything, we're
a phone call away.
Well, we certainly appreciatethe opportunity we've been given
and, you know, we enjoy everyevent, everything. You guys are first
class from everybody in theorganization, you know, from Corrina,
to you, to David to everyassociate, you know, we've ever had,

(53:47):
everybody has been, you know,first class. I've always said it
would be awesome to get anevent with just all the associates
we've had just to reconnectwith some of them. And it would be
fun to do at some point in thefuture. But we certainly appreciate
everything like, say, theopportunity. It means the world to
us and we look forward to abunch more events for sure.

(54:10):
Yeah. And I almost forgot, Igot to give a plug in here to the
Fort Myer Thrift Store in FortMyers, Virginia. It's a small little
postage stamp post, army post.And I think it's joint today where
there's more than just armyguys there, but they do. The little

(54:33):
thrift store there does.Collects money and resources and
then they give grants. And oneof the grants that they have given
us for many years, we write itevery year. We just got done writing
it. Again, requesting fundingsupport for your activity and for
all Virginian soldiers,sailors, airmen and Marine Purple

(54:54):
Heart recipients. And thatgrant funds helps fund your operation
and helps fund getting PurpleHeart recipients from the great state
of Virginia out to our events.So to the Fort Myer Thrift Store,
thank you for all yourcontinued support through the years.
You're enabling this greatactivity and we're going to share

(55:17):
this with them so that maybethey can get a better snapshot of
what, what it looks like andfeels like to be part of your mission.
And you've done a great jobwith that, Andy. Thank you.
Well, we certainly appreciateit. One, I forgot to mention one
person, and if I don't,she'll. She'll probably. If she listens
to this, she's probably goingto call me and get on me. But April

(55:38):
Woody and her brother MikeWoody from Bonaire Exteriors here
in Chessfield, every year theypay for the license of the guys.
And I just want to make sure Imade note for their donation every
year, both events. So Apriland Mike, I really appreciate it.
Thank you. April and Mike, Godbless you. All right, buddy, listen.

(56:01):
Fair winds and following seas,go out there and get them, man.
I appreciate it, man.
Keep. Keep being you andleading from the. Yeah. Keep bleeding
from the front money. That,that. That's what it's all about.
I do appreciate it. Iappreciate the opportunity and. And
everything. So it's been awesome.
Yeah. All right, buddy. Good luck.
You too. Thank you.
All right. Thank you. Bye.

(56:25):
Thank you for listening to theWWIA podcast. To learn more about
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(56:48):
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