November 11, 2024 • 31 mins
Introducing the podcast and plans for the future. Cohosts Luis Martinez (USAF Retired) and Joe Villalobos (USMC) introduce themselves and talk a little bit about plans moving forward with this platform.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Robert see class.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
All right, So welcome to the Military Veteran Podcast or MVP,
something brand new that we're starting. So my name is Joe.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Via Lobos Luis Martinez.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
So me and Luis have known each other for a
while now, kind of seen each other in passing, but
we decided to get together and put this podcast together
so we could talk about real things that have veterans
deal with and then resources kind of for veterans.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
So yes, I mean it's.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
It's especially in the area where we live in in
the Contra Valley, and I don't want to limit to
the world just here where we're living at, but there's
a lot of times to get a lot of veterans
that come in and say, hey, I don't know where
to go for help. Either a that's not real good advertising,
or hey, it's word of mouth and veterans advertising is
always word of mouth. And it's always a good thing
to bring a lot of veterans on the show to
(00:52):
talk about what they've done. Because we have a lot
of veterans in our community. We've done some amazing things
and they're just humble and they don't say anything.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
But when you find out you're like man that's that's cool.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Oh yeah, it's cool. And there's a lot of people
I know, kind of over the generations. People always say, well,
like they don't like to talk about this, they don't
like to talk about this. But when you get veterans
together and you start asking questions, hey, what did you do,
people like sharing their story, People like, you know, sharing
their experiences and especially if they can help somebody else
out so well, and the.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Thing let's like, let's use Vietnam veterans as an example.
You know, we have a lot of Vietnam veterans who
didn't serve in country and they serve stateside or germanything
like that, and they feel like, hey, I didn't play
a role. I'm like one percent.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Did you know that?
Speaker 3 (01:31):
You know, we're all cogs in the machine, you know,
one goes down, up and down. But I also let
them know, as younger veterans, if you didn't have to
go through what you did as far as like training,
you know, everything that months, many of us will not
even be here right now. So it's just the way
of bringing everyone together, you know, recognizing individuals in the community,
recognizing organizations who don't want recognition because they just want
(01:53):
to help, but it's good to say, hey, you know,
we have these people behind our back, especially in our community,
because you know, we're.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
A giant family.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
I think people are slowly realizing that, Oh man, you know,
we got each other's backs.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
So that was something new to me.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I didn't realize how many different people kind of had
their hands in the pod doing things for veterans. You
hear about like kind of the big names of this
is what they're doing. They're the ones in the spotlight,
but there's a lot of people in the background that
love helping out and want to do stuff for our veterans,
and they don't care about the recognition. Like you said,
they just want to do it to be able to benefit.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Right you know.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
So I mean, we don't want to get recognized for
doing We think it's our job, right, you know. It's
like I did my job, that's all I need to do.
But it does feel good when you have someone call up,
you know, hey, Joe, I really appreciate what you did today.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Because they didn't. You didn't ask for it.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Yeah, do it because of that, but they said hey,
you know, and you know, it's it's very good to say.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
It feels good.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
We have people come up and say thank you for
your service. I know a lot of us feel uncomfortable
when have people come up to us, but it's just
it's they're taking their time to kind of say, you know,
thank you to us, and then we never know what's
going on in that person's life, right, So it doesn't
matter if it's like Memorial Day, Veterans Day like. But me,
I don't try to chastise it and try to tell
the difference. It's like, I don't know what's going on
(03:04):
in his or her life. They may have a son
or daughter, husband and wife then passed away and this
is their way to recognize them.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
I just say thank you, you know, Yeah, I really appreciative.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
But yeah, it's just there's a lot of those community
man that that are just far and none hands down amazing.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
So getting not to get too selfish, but getting us.
So we'll talk about kind of us and kind of
how we I guess our journey, how did we get here?
So I know you you were in the military longer
than me. Uh you were you joined a little bit
before me.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
We'll give it away the grade.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
But yeah, I joined in ninety six, joined the Air Force,
at that time, it was we joined a little because
it was more family friendly and I had just got
married and my wife at the time was pregnant. Wasn't
gonna go to the Army because that's when my dad
had went, but he said, no, joined the Air Force.
It's a lot more trainings for that, So okay, so
I joined. I wanted another that you know, hey, you
got this job. Guess what their job employs all the time.
(03:56):
But I don't regret it.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
I love it. Heavy quota or fifteen years.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
I did get hurt o nine uh had to have surgeries,
so I didn't really have the choice of whether I
have to go on or stay. But I got medically retired,
got out and the journey at at the beginning was
extremely hard because I had to figure out.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
How to do this by myself.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Yeah, and I made a lot of mistakes, had to
go through a lot of angry issues personally.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Finally I was.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Just like, you know what, I gotta I gotta figure
something out. And that's when I started learning how to
do stuff and now what.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
I do now for the community.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
As far as like my role with the state and
everything is, I don't like leaving anyone behind it, you know.
So if you come in you need help, I'm gonna
help you because I don't.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Want you to struggle hard. I struggle, so i's and
I just love it.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
And just treat everyone like family and cause we are
one huge family.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
So during your time in did you deploy or where
did you go?
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Yeah? I deployed twelve times.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
We did Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, you know, did a couple Ireland,
Egypt saying kids, Guyana, So there's a lot of stuff
in there. The last five deployments we went with the Army.
We were actually one of the only and a rent horse,
you know, your Air Force, one of the very few
that got non special ops that were able to get
jump qualified. So we went to for Benning or schools
like that, so I got my ownings. But you know,
(05:10):
it's I loved every deployment, and every deployment was different.
But it was the fact that I had family there
that it really didn't you know, it didn't make me
feel like I was on loan. Yeah, so it was
really good.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
That's something that people when I talk to people that
haven't been in the military and stuff like that, when
I tell them that those were some of the best days.
It's really hard for people to understand because they get
the perception of war and movies and they don't see
the brotherhood. They don't see that camaraderie, that family that
you have whenever year overseas. So I joined in two
thousand and four, I joined the Marine Corps and kind
(05:42):
of funny deal. I was gonna go to the Army
as well, and I met a guy in high school
that was like, the Marines are the best. You know,
you got to be a marine in this. So I
was like, well, I'm gonna challenge myself if this is
the hardest one. And come to find out, I mean,
they're pretty much all the same thing. We get prideful
behind and our services and stuff, but we all did
(06:02):
the same stuff. So he said it was the hardest one.
So I was like, well, let's challenge myself. So that's
why I went Marine Corps instead of going army. So
I did two trips to Iraq and then two trips
Afghanis in like you said, I had a lot of
fun really on all my trips.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
There were some hard days.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
There was some crazy stuff that happened in between, but overall,
I wouldn't take it back. If I could go back
to that time, I definitely would.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
I mean definitely, I wouldn't.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
There's some things that happened, like injuries and what not,
but I wouldn't take it back, only because what happened
there kind of led us where we're at now right,
whether it's with your family and in the community. I
do know that I learned more of a family aspect
when I was deployed, and I'm trying to keep everyone
here to learn the same thing.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
The halet's where a family you need help, don't be
a free to ask.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
So it's yeah, I just it's it's got to be deployed.
I woudn't change anything. It's sometimes when we were back.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Then, oh yeah, yeah, so it's easier, you know, And
I tell people, I'm like, I woke up, I ate,
I went to the gym, I worked and then went
to sleep and did it again. I didn't have to
go pay bills, I wasn't runn near ings like it
was easy, you know. So there's times that I'm like, man,
I just wish I could be back in that timeframe
or whatever.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
But but the cool.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Thing now is that the Marine Corps actually they actually
have the same ASSPA score as the Air Force. I
have to have the same ass work. So I was like, man,
and they're progressing. Man, and the Marines in this community
or man, I don't know any better group of Marines
than in any other world. The United States retaed here
in San Angelos.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
So I remember going to boot camp and talking to
people and like, you know, the Marines kind of get this,
we get this picture painted of us of like they're
just the grunts of the guys on the ground, not
they're not the smartest kind of deal man. Not to
say that I am the smartest, but I at least
had a little bit higher score. I was able to
pick a different job. But I remember being in boot
camp and talking to people from all over the United States.
(07:49):
It's my first time leaving Texas, and I'm like, well,
what's your job?
Speaker 4 (07:52):
What are you gonna do? And I had a guy tell.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Me I'm playing in the band, and I'm like no,
but like in the military, Like why did you He's like,
I'm in the band. He got recruited at a college.
He played the tuba and it was gonna be in
the Marine Corps band. And I'm like, okay, I didn't
know that, Like I didn't realize all the different jobs,
all the different things, like everybody, like you said, plays
(08:13):
a role, and again he's important.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
They needed him.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
They obviously recruited him for a reason. But I was
just like, you're coming to do the band, Like, okay,
that's that's cool.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Especially when you're sitting in like I don't know how
I didn't recorrect. When you're sitting in basic training and
they go all right, and then we can play an instrument.
You saw these hands go up and you're like, what's
going on? And they take him out and then you
know they're going off for the band.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
I'm like, there's a band.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Then later on you feel like, man, every service has
got this amazing band.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
I remember going I remember standing information and my vets
will get this cuz standing information, you gotta hold your bearing.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
You're standing in position of attention.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
And the Marine Corps band comes through and then silent
drill team everything and it just looked amazing. And the
guy behind me, really good buddy of mine, whispers in
my ear and.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
He's like, did we just get served?
Speaker 2 (08:58):
And I almost lost. I'm like, you gotta be kidneyed
and I have we have generals and startain majors, and
everybody's sitting there and I'm like, you mother, like trying
not to lose it, but yeah, there's a lot of
things that I miss. Oh yeah, And he's just back
there giggling. I'm covering them up, but he's like, did
we just get served? I'm like, godly, But now I
(09:19):
think this is gonna be a really cool deal. We
both work at the VA, not necessarily for the VA,
we have different roles, but we get to be around
vets all day long. So it's a really cool deal.
You know a little bit more people than I do,
but I like the idea of getting our community together,
getting to share their stories, Like, you know, a lot
(09:40):
of our you know, World War two veterans aren't here anymore.
We're we're rolling into that, you know, Korean veteran time frame,
Vietnam veteran time frame, where these guys are getting older
and a lot of these stories are being lost. So
this is gonna be a really good way to document
their stories, their experiences, and then their time frame, especially
like Vietnam veterans compared to your Iraq Afghinnisian veterans was
(10:03):
different when they came home.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Oh one percent.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
I'm glad to buy that up because you know, we
have a PTSD group that we started, and you know,
we have a lot of Vietnam veterans go for OIF,
OEF and first responders, and everyone always seems to assume that.
You know, hey, you guys were different from our wars.
If you think about it, you know it's almost the same.
Just the color is a different. Right now, you got jungle,
you got cities that we don't know who the combatants are,
(10:27):
We don't know what this. So there's a bunch of stuff. Yes,
there is a huge difference. And when we get off
the plane, especial when we get off from Baltimore and whatnot. Yeah,
we do have a bunch of people that are welcomings home.
But what a lot of Vietnam venters understand it is
like ten times out of ten that's you guys welcome
as home. Yeah, and they don't realize and like, you know,
you guys refuse to let us come home to that.
So you know, if it wasn't for y'all, like we
(10:48):
wouldn't even get that.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Now.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Oh yeah, I remember coming back my last trip from Afghanistan.
When we came back, we flew in the main and
it was just like a heroes welcome. They had asles
of people and a bunch of them were older vets,
Vietnam vets, career war vets, and they were all there
and everybody was there to welcome us because, like you said,
they didn't want us to experience what they had experienced
when they came back. But those are the things that
(11:11):
we need to remember, those things because if you don't
remember where you came from, like history, we're better to
repeat ourselves. So talking to these older veterans and getting
these stories of this is what you dealt with. But
more importantly, how did you cope.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
With those things?
Speaker 2 (11:26):
How did you get through those things?
Speaker 3 (11:28):
And you know, I always say the best person take
care of vetter's another vet. I'm not saying there's people
out there who can't. I'm just you know, it's easily relatable.
Other veters open up and started swapping war stories and whatnot.
But yeah, I agree one hundred percent. It is you know,
getting them people to come in and we don't lose
their stories. And as veterans, we'll tell you when we join. Yeah,
we have a higher service as far as like protecting
(11:49):
the country and stuff like that. But when we get out,
we don't have that role anymore. So we have to
take care of our community. Yeah, and letting vetters know
that we have women better come into VA all the time.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
You know.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
I don't never consider myself a vetter. And you're like,
why you did one hundred percent? You know, when we
actually let them know that, hey, we have your back
and this is what you did, you know, it's a
feeling of pride for us when they leave knowing that
they have a sense of pride now, you know. So
it's that's what I love about, you know, to be
on our community. Just get them to come in and
realize their impact they have and the impact they have
on us, and then getting their stories out there, because
(12:22):
if we don't, like you said, you know, we're doomed
to like lose those stories forever.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Oh yeah, So I think this is gonna be a
great way, Like I said, that kind of encapitalize all
these stories and things, and I think even better, like
you talked about, this was kind of your plan to
want to sit down and talk. My idea was, I
want to get some stories it'd be kind of cool,
and you your idea was kind of to push this
even further. Let's get these resources out to people. We're
(12:47):
not lawyers, we're not trying to give anybody any kind
of legal advice or medical advice, but if we can
at least put people in the right direction for some
of these resources, especially for our local guys, that's what
we want to do. We want to try to help
out as many people as possible, and even just people
listening hearing these stories, there's gonna be a lot of
people that y'all are going to be able to relate
(13:08):
to in whether it's a PTSD issue, whether it's a
you know, transition to civilian life, all those different things
that we deal with that's kind of specific to veterans.
It's gonna be really cool for people to hear these stories,
to be able to relate to them and hopefully take
something from it.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
And it's you know, not to forget the military families
as well too, because they sacrifice so much too. If
you were with your husband and wife and the service,
you sacrifice there, and then when you get out, it's
even more of a sacrifice because you've got to deal
with whatever happened, and I always call it. We all
know what a pow is prison war back in the day.
I always call the new veterans now POWs because we
(13:46):
usually carry our war back with us. We're fighting it.
It's to have that background. So hate have other veters
have family members here, but to highlight some of the
community members here and that say hey, they really have
your back, but they don't advertise it because they don't
want the glory. And it's like, let us say, hey,
we appreciate you for everything you do. You know, even
though you don't ask for it. We're gonna say, hey,
they do this, go see help.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
And I found a new respect for the families. I
had a wife when I was in the military.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
The entire time.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
She did an amazing job, took care of me, took
care of things at home. The one thing that I
didn't ever really pay attention to was all my Marines
or all my you know, any service, all those guys
that had kids. Lloyd, you talked about, you know, your
wife being pregnant at the time going into the military.
When I leave my daughter for a weekend, now, it's rough,
and I don't think about those things or I didn't
(14:32):
think about those things back then. Deploying you know, anywhere
from six months to some of these services a year,
eighteen months, two years, and being gone for that time. Yes,
you're doing something amazing, you're doing something better than yourself.
You're serving, But the kids don't know that. The kids
just know mom is here, Dad's not here, and they're
having to deal with it. So looking at it, looking
(14:54):
at it from the outside now, I have, like I said,
a whole new found respect for it, and I want
to try to help people as much possible because of
the stuff they've had to go through hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
I mean we've all probably had answers to where we're deployed.
And back in the day, we had them rale tens
for phone calls. You get ten, fifteen minutes and it
hung up. And then later on in our careers we
had sat phones. But then sat phones you were outside
talking outside. Maybe you're tod cash rever like that. But
every once in a while you get mortared, and what do.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
You do, Like you kids say, hey, what's that was that?
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (15:22):
You know, someone drops it, or trying to keep them
calm while you're trying to take care of your stuff too,
So yeah, there's a lot of stuff. And I really
appreciate all the families, because again, if it wasn't for
the families, a lot of us wouldn't be here right now.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
So I remember being in Iraq and we had our
area and I don't know why it was called this,
but it was called Segovia and it was an area
where we had computers. And at the time, you know,
you'd get on your messenger and you can message people
back and forth. And as soon as we started getting mortared,
they'd shut everything down, no information going out. They didn't
want anything leaked. And I get it, but you're in
the middle of a conversation with family. It gets cut
(15:56):
off and it could be an hour, a day, a week,
It just depends on how bad things had gotten. And
now looking at it, I'm like, dang, Like I can't
imagine being the family member that just got cut off
from communication and now you don't know nothing a day,
a week, a month, like.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Because as the calm blackouts when something happens, we had
that when I was in Talifar. You know, you had
a calm blackout. Internet, everything's stopped working, phones, you could
do nothing except for the security lines. And that's because
they didn't want information to get out before the family
got notified. So yeah, that's you know, you got a
two weeks later you're like, hey, it's gonna cause, Hey,
I'm a right, everything's cool, Like what happened? I can't
(16:34):
really get into that right now, but you'll talk about
when to get home.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Yeah, so, and I mean, and I would try to
stress that to my wife, like, hey, no news is
good news. Unless you hear something bad, just let it be.
But again, it's easier said than done. That person just
having to continue living their life and just wondering what's
going on, what's happening, and not knowing anything.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
So so what would you think or not? What do
you think?
Speaker 2 (16:57):
What would you say is a good piece of advice
for somebody who's just about to get out of the military,
you're just.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Getting ready to go to the military depends, it doesn't
matter where you're gonna go.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Just you know, keep in mind that it's okay to say, hey,
I need help. It's okay.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
A lot of us when we got out, we didn't
do that. We you know, stumbled through it. But realizing now,
you know, hindsight's twenty twenty. You know, the very the
hardest thing to ever do as a veteran is to
walk through a door and say, hey, I need help.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
But once you walk through, you're good.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Man.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Hey we got you.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
As a matter, if it's male, female, whatever, we got you.
The hardest part is always asking for help and then
where to go for help. You know, sometimes you don't
trust somebody, But again, veterans always word of mouth. That's
the best advertisement. He We'll talk to Joe, go talk
to lays and you know that's just pretty much the
initial Hey, I need help, you know, not just you,
but if your wife or husband who's not a military,
(17:49):
you know, bring them with you, like, hey, you know,
we need help.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Because it's a family unit.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
If you're going to be successful out of the service,
you got to bring the family together to be successful
out of service.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
So it's it's best.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
I would say that, and I would always tell people.
And something I try to stress on everyone is that
you're not alone in any of this. A lot of
us that have been.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
Out for a while.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
I've been out twelve years now, you've been out would
run the same time a little longer, but you know,
you've been out this amount of time, so we've gone
through different things. Not to say been there, done that,
but we've had our time to deal with certain things that,
you know, processing the things that happened while you were in,
stuff like that, and a lot of these service members
start getting out and for me, like when I moved
(18:32):
to sant Angelo, I didn't have any friends here, didn't
have any family here, so I felt even more alone
than ever, you know, and I'm like, man, I don't
know what to do about this. I don't know what
to do about that. And luckily my wife was like, hey,
you need to go get help. You need to go
talk to somebody. So I had somebody there. And then
when I started talking and start explaining certain things to
people and talking to other vets, they're like, oh, I
dealt with that. I dealt with this, And I'm like, okay,
(18:53):
it wasn't just me feeling a certain type of way
or going through the things that I was going through
and then feeling less than because like you said, we
had a purpose in the military. You have that schedule,
wh's regimented this, this, this, this, you get out, and
I remember thinking like this freedom is gonna be awesome.
I get to do whatever I want, and then I'd
wake up and then I'm like, what do I do?
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Right?
Speaker 2 (19:14):
You know, and then you have that loss. You you
start getting into some of these these negative thoughts, you
know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Well, I mean it's it's you're going a million miles
now in the service. And then it's not even the hey, slow,
slow down, put the brakes, it's a million mine hours
five yeah, you know, so it's like what do I do?
And then most veterans, it's the idle hands. I'm you know,
I don't hand to get you in trouble. So it's
just finding your purpose and what to do, whether it's
go to school or help other vets, you know, find
education and just like do something that's passionate them that
(19:41):
you want to do. So that's what I did, is
you know, I wanted to help other vets, so I
take it and dump it in there. We all have issues,
whether it's PTSD whatever, but you have the choice in
whether you want to let it hold you back or
fuel you. You know, you get to decide, and it's
okay to do both. It's okay to be like, hey man,
I don't feel like doing nothing today. But It's okay
(20:02):
to be like hey, off and running, you know, so
most all veterans understand that. And it's also okay to
have those feelings to hate, you know, the negative feelings,
and we got to get over those negative feelings as
far as, like you know, I could. You know, I
wish things were a lot better. I wish I could
do better for my wife and my husband. You know,
things be a lot better if I wasn't here. Those
are normal thoughts, They're exactly normal issue.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Is that what do you do to combat that?
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Family, friends, hobbies with that and then realizing that you
have a community behind you. It says, you know what,
I have those same thoughts, But I got.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
You, so yeah, I agree one hundred percent. Like you said,
it's normal.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
We have those feelings, we have those thoughts we have
you have to take that time to kind of process
everything because, like you said, a million miles an hour
aryor in the military, you get out and for me,
like I gotta got back from Afghanistan. A month later,
I got out of the military, and then I'm living
in the town where I didn't know anybody. So I
went from again a million mile hour to nothing, and
I'm like, well, what do I do now? You know,
(20:59):
so it's normal to feel that way, but like you said,
how do we channel that? What do we do with
that to move forward to make yourself better and then
ultimately to make other people better.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
So, yeah, let's find your passionate and goo man, just
find your passion and go and realize that there's a
community here that has you one hundred percent, and not
just other vets, but the community.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Oh yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
And it's something I stress to everybody, and I want
to kind of keep it here as far as like
putting this information out. If anybody is having certain feelings,
if you feel a certain type of way, you need
somebody to talk to. The National Crisis Line very easy,
nine eight eight. They change the number recently, nine eight eight,
and for veterans, you hit one after that and you're
on the phone with somebody immediately. So if you're going
through things you need somebody to talk to, there is
(21:41):
somebody there twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
And another thing that the VA is done, which I
think is phenomenal, is that whether you're enrolled or not,
regardless of discharge status, you can go and seek emergency
services for mental health at your local VA. So don't
be afraid to Hey, I don't I can't go and
talk to one. Yes, the vasas I got you. Yeah,
the VA, you know it had Everyone has their own
age with the VA. But I've been in the VA
(22:05):
system for a while and I absolutely love it. There
are some hiccups, but that's the hiccups you gave most hospitals.
But again the fact that they're saying, hey, if you
need help, come see as no matter what, we got you.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
So that's a very great resource.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
See.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
And I had so my personal experience when I got
out of the military and I actually started going to
the VA, and stuff I didn't learn until recently, Like
the VA was broken up into these different branches. I
just assumed I heard VA, and I was like, it's
one entity. So my initial experience with the VA was
on the benefit side, and it had nothing to do
with what the benefits were doing for or against me.
(22:38):
It was the individual that I was dealing with. And unfortunately,
I mean it's like everything you got bad apples everywhere.
There's a lot of people that do want to help,
and then there's some people maybe their intentions were good.
They just aren't going about it the right way. And
that's kind of what I fell into. The individual that
I was dealing with could have done better, could have
gave me more information. So I had that like bitter
(22:58):
taste of like, oh, I don't want to go to
the V right And a lot of us get that,
and I fed into, you know, the stereotypes of VA
doesn't do this, VIA doesn't do that. And then when
I started coming to the VA and started talking to people,
and then when I talk to you, and I'm like,
I didn't realize you worked for the VA, because, like
I said, i'd seen you in passing in other places,
and then now working here, I see the hard work
(23:19):
that everybody is doing and the initiative that everybody's putting
in to be better, and I'm like, oh, this is
way different than my initial experience. For one, And then
what my thought was because now you know, you have
your health side, your benefits side, the cemetery side, and
you have all these different people in different sections doing
phenomenal and like you said, I believe in the VA.
I tell everybody you need to go, you need to go.
(23:43):
Are you going to have the best experience every time,
maybe not. But there's a lot of people there that
are not going to give up on you.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Right, And sometimes when you do your benefits, it's you know,
you get those ones that will go all out for you,
get you get some that are.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Just, hey, this is my nine to five, and it's
hard to find who you're gonna get.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
When you find that one person he's like, hey, I
got you one hundred, Sam, let's go, then it's a
world of difference. And then you realize that VA is
the same way when you find that one doctor is
all like, you know, I'm on here to check a box,
which happens in any organization. Yeah, And then you get
the one doctor he's like, no, I'm gonna do this,
and you're like wow, like where'd you go? Like, don't
ever quit?
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Oh yeah, And that's that's the other part of you
know we talked about don't quit, don't give up. It's
like that with everything on the benefit side as well.
Y'all you veterans are gonna know this more than anybody else.
You're you're gonna get told no, you're gonna get denied
on something. Don't give up. I've been denied on plenty
of things. And it's whether it's a wording issue, whether
it's a documents issue, just don't give up on it.
(24:37):
Find somebody, keep going, keep putting it in. There's benefits
out there for you because you deserve them. Don't don't
sit there. And my initial thought was like, well, there's
people worse than me. I don't I don't need this
or I don't deserve this, because you know, I have
friends and guys that I served with came back as amputees,
you know, purple heart recipients, guys that were actually physically injured,
(25:00):
and so I come back and I'm like, man, I
don't deserve they need this stuff.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
They need that.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
But there's a lot of us that are dealing with
things maybe that aren't visible, whether it's a mental health issue,
whether it's it might be minor to you know, an
amputation or something, but it's still an issue that you're
having to deal with and have to live with.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
So don't ever judge, you know, your symptom by another.
Like you can have back pain, and like, man, I
don't want to claim back pain, but the other other
person has back pain. You know, we all handle pain differently,
we all handle trauma differently. So don't trying to judge,
you know, might it's not worse than his or hers.
The thing is is that you joined. This is your benefit.
The money is allocated for you. You're just not tapping
(25:39):
into your money. Yeah, right, So going to this and
if you get to a certain age where you know,
like my forty seven is for that. At this point,
we're not doing the claim for you, and not to
be rude, we're doing this for your family. Yeah, because
we want to make sure that because most veans come
in we know that like us. If it was just me,
I don't care, man, I'll do whatever. But it's if
I have wife kids, for that, I want to do
(26:00):
everything I can to make sure that they're set when
I'm gone. If I can have my kids have no
college debt, why am I not going to work? So
it's just something you want to do. You don't fight dirty.
Right when we do claims, we're not. I'll say, hey,
we're not doing this for you, doing for your family now,
you know, so want.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
To take care of them.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
I remember having I say she was a daughter, but
she was around my age and she comes in with
her dad and she's checking them in for an appointment
doing these things, and I remember thinking, because I have
a daughter, and I'm like, man, that's awesome. I hope
you know that I raised my daughter well enough that
when that day comes, if I need help get into
an appointment, that she's gonna, you know, take me and
stuff like that. So that's where my mind went, and
(26:37):
I was telling her. I was like, man, that's so
awesome that you're doing this. And then she had this
kind of breakdown moment and she was like, take care
of yourself. She's like, get everything in order. She's like,
because my dad didn't, and that's why I'm here. And
it was still a very nice thing that she was doing,
but at the same time, it made me a little
bit sad because I'm like, now she's having to deal
with what he could have done before and again, whether
(26:58):
it was lack of information, whether it was lack of motivation, whatever,
Now your family's having to pick up those pieces and
work for you. Just do it now, as soon as
you get out, as soon as you get an opportunity
to do it, so that somebody else isn't having to
do your work for what you deserve.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Well, especially younger veterans. You know, we tend to not
look at that. You know, Hey, I mean I'm young,
I got kids, I got a job.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
We're doing this like that. But I mean, in reality,
we're not guaranteed tomorrow, right, so makes you were good
to go.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
And the biggest thing is make sure you have your documents.
It's usually just one document. Make sure you know where
you get it. And that's when you when people come
in they're panicking, it's like, dud, don't panic, I got you.
Don't worry about it.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
We'll get it.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
That way, you're not leaving you myself. We're not blaming
the bet for not doing this. But sometimes everyone knows that, Hey,
my d dat fourteen's and it's safe. But then your
husband and wife something happens and you in the emotion
of things, you forget the combo.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
So now you're panicking you can't do this. You can
do It's like, you know what, just stop, I got you.
We have a copy, you know.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
So, I mean preparing unforeseen end of life is a
lot of preparation that you know, we're all getting to
have to do. But thatden it's it's affective life.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
It's got to go that way. Being prepared to go
that route. I'd rather be prepared and not know what's
going on when something happens to you. So it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
I remember being joining the military, being eighteen years old
and being asked to fill out of will and I'm like,
what in the world, Like I'd never heard of a will.
I mean, my family, we've been very fortunate, we've gotten
older and stuff like that, but they didn't go to
the military and they didn't have to deal with those things,
so we didn't have benefits and wills and cemetery plots
and stuff like that. And I'm eighteen years old trying
to figure this out, like, well, who do I write down?
Speaker 1 (28:32):
What do I put my mom?
Speaker 4 (28:33):
Do I put my wife?
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Like, So there's a lot of a lot of things
that we have to deal with. It's a little bit
different than the normal eighteen year old living their life.
But like you said, we're not guaranteed tomorrow, so there's
a lot of things that that can happen that we
have to kind of be prepared for.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
And that's why like this avenue here, what we're doing
the podcast is not only can we have speakers talk,
but it's avenue is like, you know, where do I
go to get this.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Will we got it.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
I can take you where to go. If you have
as to the base, we can go here. If you're
retired and go here. You you're good online, we can
go here. It's getting you prepared. And if you don't
know what to do for that will we have people
you can say, hey, even though we're not subject matter experts,
I have someone you can go talk to. And that's
you know, that's a good thing about the VA and
the community is like, yes, we're not gonna know everything,
but we can know where to send you to, right.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
It's not having the informations.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Knowing where to go and wills are extremely hard because
some people do and some people don't. And I know
when I did minor service, it was easy and just
sat in front to hate and science.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
It's cool, wet to go. But now it's just you know,
hold you know, holdly all that. What am I gonna do?
Speaker 2 (29:32):
You know?
Speaker 3 (29:32):
Okay, now I got my kids, got this like a house,
like try to figure it out. But the legal rep
team that I want to go see military, they brought
you down easy, and I was.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Like, this is a lot easier when I thought so.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Well, also, man, I think this is gonna be a
great introduction for what our goal is with all of this. Like,
so we'll get some vets on here, We're gonna have
some amazing guest speakers, amazing stories, amazing just everything, and
then resources, Like I said, that's gonna that's gonna be
the biggest push, ensuring that you guys, and you know,
even if it's not you, if you have a coworker, friend,
family member, whoever that was in the military who are unsure,
(30:05):
because we have some guys that I've heard that like, well,
I was in back in the eighties, I was in
the nineties. It's too late to do a claim, it's
too late to do this, and it's never too late.
So hopefully we're here to put out enough information and
to kind of motivate people to get to that point.
But I think this is gonna be an awesome deal.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
I agree number saying that things would be awesome. And
then if there's stuff that you want to know, specifically,
don't be afraid of comments. Eight can I find out
about this and we'll gear towards that. We don't hoard information.
The more information we get out to the people, the
better's going to be for y'all in the long run.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
So I think that'd be a cool deal.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Once we get moving and get some more guests and
stuff on here, we can start opening up and we'll
do questions in the comments, and then at the end
of our segment we can start answering some of these
questions for our veterans to be able to help them out.
But unless you get an announcement, I think this is
gonna be all.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
I think this is awesome. Just you know, as veterans,
we know the difference between Vetter's Day Memorial Day. On
our job to preach that to people when they come
up on certain holidays, say hey, this is the difference
because we never know that mother, father, son, daughter, who
has someone that passed away that was in the service.
So coming up to us and saying thank you, it's
(31:13):
just the way too memorialize is their loved one. So
instead of jumping down someone's throat, just saying thank you,
you know, and we really appreciate today's space to day
being Veterans Day. This is your guys' day.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Be safe.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
If you're a drink, I have a plan to get
home because we still need you because the mission
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Continues, all right, man, I think that was awesome, good deal,
Robert see class.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
All right, So welcome to the Military Veteran Podcast or MVP,
something brand new that we're starting. So my name is Joe.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Via Lobos Luis Martinez.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
So me and Luis have known each other for a
while now, kind of seen each other in passing, but
we decided to get together and put this podcast together
so we could talk about real things that have veterans
deal with and then resources kind of for veterans.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
So yes, I mean it's.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
It's especially in the area where we live in in
the Contra Valley, and I don't want to limit to
the world just here where we're living at, but there's
a lot of times to get a lot of veterans
that come in and say, hey, I don't know where
to go for help. Either a that's not real good advertising,
or hey, it's word of mouth and veterans advertising is
always word of mouth. And it's always a good thing
to bring a lot of veterans on the show to
(00:52):
talk about what they've done. Because we have a lot
of veterans in our community. We've done some amazing things
and they're just humble and they don't say anything.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
But when you find out you're like man that's that's cool.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Oh yeah, it's cool. And there's a lot of people
I know, kind of over the generations. People always say, well,
like they don't like to talk about this, they don't
like to talk about this. But when you get veterans
together and you start asking questions, hey, what did you do,
people like sharing their story, People like, you know, sharing
their experiences and especially if they can help somebody else
out so well, and the.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Thing let's like, let's use Vietnam veterans as an example.
You know, we have a lot of Vietnam veterans who
didn't serve in country and they serve stateside or germanything
like that, and they feel like, hey, I didn't play
a role. I'm like one percent.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Did you know that?
Speaker 3 (01:31):
You know, we're all cogs in the machine, you know,
one goes down, up and down. But I also let
them know, as younger veterans, if you didn't have to
go through what you did as far as like training,
you know, everything that months, many of us will not
even be here right now. So it's just the way
of bringing everyone together, you know, recognizing individuals in the community,
recognizing organizations who don't want recognition because they just want
(01:53):
to help, but it's good to say, hey, you know,
we have these people behind our back, especially in our community,
because you know, we're.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
A giant family.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
I think people are slowly realizing that, Oh man, you know,
we got each other's backs.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
So that was something new to me.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I didn't realize how many different people kind of had
their hands in the pod doing things for veterans. You
hear about like kind of the big names of this
is what they're doing. They're the ones in the spotlight,
but there's a lot of people in the background that
love helping out and want to do stuff for our veterans,
and they don't care about the recognition. Like you said,
they just want to do it to be able to benefit.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Right you know.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
So I mean, we don't want to get recognized for
doing We think it's our job, right, you know. It's
like I did my job, that's all I need to do.
But it does feel good when you have someone call up,
you know, hey, Joe, I really appreciate what you did today.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Because they didn't. You didn't ask for it.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Yeah, do it because of that, but they said hey,
you know, and you know, it's it's very good to say.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
It feels good.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
We have people come up and say thank you for
your service. I know a lot of us feel uncomfortable
when have people come up to us, but it's just
it's they're taking their time to kind of say, you know,
thank you to us, and then we never know what's
going on in that person's life, right, So it doesn't
matter if it's like Memorial Day, Veterans Day like. But me,
I don't try to chastise it and try to tell
the difference. It's like, I don't know what's going on
(03:04):
in his or her life. They may have a son
or daughter, husband and wife then passed away and this
is their way to recognize them.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
I just say thank you, you know, Yeah, I really appreciative.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
But yeah, it's just there's a lot of those community
man that that are just far and none hands down amazing.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
So getting not to get too selfish, but getting us.
So we'll talk about kind of us and kind of
how we I guess our journey, how did we get here?
So I know you you were in the military longer
than me. Uh you were you joined a little bit
before me.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
We'll give it away the grade.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
But yeah, I joined in ninety six, joined the Air Force,
at that time, it was we joined a little because
it was more family friendly and I had just got
married and my wife at the time was pregnant. Wasn't
gonna go to the Army because that's when my dad
had went, but he said, no, joined the Air Force.
It's a lot more trainings for that, So okay, so
I joined. I wanted another that you know, hey, you
got this job. Guess what their job employs all the time.
(03:56):
But I don't regret it.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
I love it. Heavy quota or fifteen years.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
I did get hurt o nine uh had to have surgeries,
so I didn't really have the choice of whether I
have to go on or stay. But I got medically retired,
got out and the journey at at the beginning was
extremely hard because I had to figure out.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
How to do this by myself.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Yeah, and I made a lot of mistakes, had to
go through a lot of angry issues personally.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Finally I was.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Just like, you know what, I gotta I gotta figure
something out. And that's when I started learning how to
do stuff and now what.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
I do now for the community.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
As far as like my role with the state and
everything is, I don't like leaving anyone behind it, you know.
So if you come in you need help, I'm gonna
help you because I don't.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Want you to struggle hard. I struggle, so i's and
I just love it.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
And just treat everyone like family and cause we are
one huge family.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
So during your time in did you deploy or where
did you go?
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Yeah? I deployed twelve times.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
We did Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, you know, did a couple Ireland,
Egypt saying kids, Guyana, So there's a lot of stuff
in there. The last five deployments we went with the Army.
We were actually one of the only and a rent horse,
you know, your Air Force, one of the very few
that got non special ops that were able to get
jump qualified. So we went to for Benning or schools
like that, so I got my ownings. But you know,
(05:10):
it's I loved every deployment, and every deployment was different.
But it was the fact that I had family there
that it really didn't you know, it didn't make me
feel like I was on loan. Yeah, so it was
really good.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
That's something that people when I talk to people that
haven't been in the military and stuff like that, when
I tell them that those were some of the best days.
It's really hard for people to understand because they get
the perception of war and movies and they don't see
the brotherhood. They don't see that camaraderie, that family that
you have whenever year overseas. So I joined in two
thousand and four, I joined the Marine Corps and kind
(05:42):
of funny deal. I was gonna go to the Army
as well, and I met a guy in high school
that was like, the Marines are the best. You know,
you got to be a marine in this. So I
was like, well, I'm gonna challenge myself if this is
the hardest one. And come to find out, I mean,
they're pretty much all the same thing. We get prideful
behind and our services and stuff, but we all did
(06:02):
the same stuff. So he said it was the hardest one.
So I was like, well, let's challenge myself. So that's
why I went Marine Corps instead of going army. So
I did two trips to Iraq and then two trips
Afghanis in like you said, I had a lot of
fun really on all my trips.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
There were some hard days.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
There was some crazy stuff that happened in between, but overall,
I wouldn't take it back. If I could go back
to that time, I definitely would.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
I mean definitely, I wouldn't.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
There's some things that happened, like injuries and what not,
but I wouldn't take it back, only because what happened
there kind of led us where we're at now right,
whether it's with your family and in the community. I
do know that I learned more of a family aspect
when I was deployed, and I'm trying to keep everyone
here to learn the same thing.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
The halet's where a family you need help, don't be
a free to ask.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
So it's yeah, I just it's it's got to be deployed.
I woudn't change anything. It's sometimes when we were back.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Then, oh yeah, yeah, so it's easier, you know, And
I tell people, I'm like, I woke up, I ate,
I went to the gym, I worked and then went
to sleep and did it again. I didn't have to
go pay bills, I wasn't runn near ings like it
was easy, you know. So there's times that I'm like, man,
I just wish I could be back in that timeframe
or whatever.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
But but the cool.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Thing now is that the Marine Corps actually they actually
have the same ASSPA score as the Air Force. I
have to have the same ass work. So I was like, man,
and they're progressing. Man, and the Marines in this community
or man, I don't know any better group of Marines
than in any other world. The United States retaed here
in San Angelos.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
So I remember going to boot camp and talking to
people and like, you know, the Marines kind of get this,
we get this picture painted of us of like they're
just the grunts of the guys on the ground, not
they're not the smartest kind of deal man. Not to
say that I am the smartest, but I at least
had a little bit higher score. I was able to
pick a different job. But I remember being in boot
camp and talking to people from all over the United States.
(07:49):
It's my first time leaving Texas, and I'm like, well,
what's your job?
Speaker 4 (07:52):
What are you gonna do? And I had a guy tell.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Me I'm playing in the band, and I'm like no,
but like in the military, Like why did you He's like,
I'm in the band. He got recruited at a college.
He played the tuba and it was gonna be in
the Marine Corps band. And I'm like, okay, I didn't
know that, Like I didn't realize all the different jobs,
all the different things, like everybody, like you said, plays
(08:13):
a role, and again he's important.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
They needed him.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
They obviously recruited him for a reason. But I was
just like, you're coming to do the band, Like, okay,
that's that's cool.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Especially when you're sitting in like I don't know how
I didn't recorrect. When you're sitting in basic training and
they go all right, and then we can play an instrument.
You saw these hands go up and you're like, what's
going on? And they take him out and then you
know they're going off for the band.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
I'm like, there's a band.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Then later on you feel like, man, every service has
got this amazing band.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
I remember going I remember standing information and my vets
will get this cuz standing information, you gotta hold your bearing.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
You're standing in position of attention.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
And the Marine Corps band comes through and then silent
drill team everything and it just looked amazing. And the
guy behind me, really good buddy of mine, whispers in
my ear and.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
He's like, did we just get served?
Speaker 2 (08:58):
And I almost lost. I'm like, you gotta be kidneyed
and I have we have generals and startain majors, and
everybody's sitting there and I'm like, you mother, like trying
not to lose it, but yeah, there's a lot of
things that I miss. Oh yeah, And he's just back
there giggling. I'm covering them up, but he's like, did
we just get served? I'm like, godly, But now I
(09:19):
think this is gonna be a really cool deal. We
both work at the VA, not necessarily for the VA,
we have different roles, but we get to be around
vets all day long. So it's a really cool deal.
You know a little bit more people than I do,
but I like the idea of getting our community together,
getting to share their stories, Like, you know, a lot
(09:40):
of our you know, World War two veterans aren't here anymore.
We're we're rolling into that, you know, Korean veteran time frame,
Vietnam veteran time frame, where these guys are getting older
and a lot of these stories are being lost. So
this is gonna be a really good way to document
their stories, their experiences, and then their time frame, especially
like Vietnam veterans compared to your Iraq Afghinnisian veterans was
(10:03):
different when they came home.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Oh one percent.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
I'm glad to buy that up because you know, we
have a PTSD group that we started, and you know,
we have a lot of Vietnam veterans go for OIF,
OEF and first responders, and everyone always seems to assume that.
You know, hey, you guys were different from our wars.
If you think about it, you know it's almost the same.
Just the color is a different. Right now, you got jungle,
you got cities that we don't know who the combatants are,
(10:27):
We don't know what this. So there's a bunch of stuff. Yes,
there is a huge difference. And when we get off
the plane, especial when we get off from Baltimore and whatnot. Yeah,
we do have a bunch of people that are welcomings home.
But what a lot of Vietnam venters understand it is
like ten times out of ten that's you guys welcome
as home. Yeah, and they don't realize and like, you know,
you guys refuse to let us come home to that.
So you know, if it wasn't for y'all, like we
(10:48):
wouldn't even get that.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Now.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Oh yeah, I remember coming back my last trip from Afghanistan.
When we came back, we flew in the main and
it was just like a heroes welcome. They had asles
of people and a bunch of them were older vets,
Vietnam vets, career war vets, and they were all there
and everybody was there to welcome us because, like you said,
they didn't want us to experience what they had experienced
when they came back. But those are the things that
(11:11):
we need to remember, those things because if you don't
remember where you came from, like history, we're better to
repeat ourselves. So talking to these older veterans and getting
these stories of this is what you dealt with. But
more importantly, how did you cope.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
With those things?
Speaker 2 (11:26):
How did you get through those things?
Speaker 3 (11:28):
And you know, I always say the best person take
care of vetter's another vet. I'm not saying there's people
out there who can't. I'm just you know, it's easily relatable.
Other veters open up and started swapping war stories and whatnot.
But yeah, I agree one hundred percent. It is you know,
getting them people to come in and we don't lose
their stories. And as veterans, we'll tell you when we join. Yeah,
we have a higher service as far as like protecting
(11:49):
the country and stuff like that. But when we get out,
we don't have that role anymore. So we have to
take care of our community. Yeah, and letting vetters know
that we have women better come into VA all the time.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
You know.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
I don't never consider myself a vetter. And you're like,
why you did one hundred percent? You know, when we
actually let them know that, hey, we have your back
and this is what you did, you know, it's a
feeling of pride for us when they leave knowing that
they have a sense of pride now, you know. So
it's that's what I love about, you know, to be
on our community. Just get them to come in and
realize their impact they have and the impact they have
on us, and then getting their stories out there, because
(12:22):
if we don't, like you said, you know, we're doomed
to like lose those stories forever.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Oh yeah, So I think this is gonna be a
great way, Like I said, that kind of encapitalize all
these stories and things, and I think even better, like
you talked about, this was kind of your plan to
want to sit down and talk. My idea was, I
want to get some stories it'd be kind of cool,
and you your idea was kind of to push this
even further. Let's get these resources out to people. We're
(12:47):
not lawyers, we're not trying to give anybody any kind
of legal advice or medical advice, but if we can
at least put people in the right direction for some
of these resources, especially for our local guys, that's what
we want to do. We want to try to help
out as many people as possible, and even just people
listening hearing these stories, there's gonna be a lot of
people that y'all are going to be able to relate
(13:08):
to in whether it's a PTSD issue, whether it's a
you know, transition to civilian life, all those different things
that we deal with that's kind of specific to veterans.
It's gonna be really cool for people to hear these stories,
to be able to relate to them and hopefully take
something from it.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
And it's you know, not to forget the military families
as well too, because they sacrifice so much too. If
you were with your husband and wife and the service,
you sacrifice there, and then when you get out, it's
even more of a sacrifice because you've got to deal
with whatever happened, and I always call it. We all
know what a pow is prison war back in the day.
I always call the new veterans now POWs because we
(13:46):
usually carry our war back with us. We're fighting it.
It's to have that background. So hate have other veters
have family members here, but to highlight some of the
community members here and that say hey, they really have
your back, but they don't advertise it because they don't
want the glory. And it's like, let us say, hey,
we appreciate you for everything you do. You know, even
though you don't ask for it. We're gonna say, hey,
they do this, go see help.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
And I found a new respect for the families. I
had a wife when I was in the military.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
The entire time.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
She did an amazing job, took care of me, took
care of things at home. The one thing that I
didn't ever really pay attention to was all my Marines
or all my you know, any service, all those guys
that had kids. Lloyd, you talked about, you know, your
wife being pregnant at the time going into the military.
When I leave my daughter for a weekend, now, it's rough,
and I don't think about those things or I didn't
(14:32):
think about those things back then. Deploying you know, anywhere
from six months to some of these services a year,
eighteen months, two years, and being gone for that time. Yes,
you're doing something amazing, you're doing something better than yourself.
You're serving, But the kids don't know that. The kids
just know mom is here, Dad's not here, and they're
having to deal with it. So looking at it, looking
(14:54):
at it from the outside now, I have, like I said,
a whole new found respect for it, and I want
to try to help people as much possible because of
the stuff they've had to go through hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
I mean we've all probably had answers to where we're deployed.
And back in the day, we had them rale tens
for phone calls. You get ten, fifteen minutes and it
hung up. And then later on in our careers we
had sat phones. But then sat phones you were outside
talking outside. Maybe you're tod cash rever like that. But
every once in a while you get mortared, and what do.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
You do, Like you kids say, hey, what's that was that?
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (15:22):
You know, someone drops it, or trying to keep them
calm while you're trying to take care of your stuff too,
So yeah, there's a lot of stuff. And I really
appreciate all the families, because again, if it wasn't for
the families, a lot of us wouldn't be here right now.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
So I remember being in Iraq and we had our
area and I don't know why it was called this,
but it was called Segovia and it was an area
where we had computers. And at the time, you know,
you'd get on your messenger and you can message people
back and forth. And as soon as we started getting mortared,
they'd shut everything down, no information going out. They didn't
want anything leaked. And I get it, but you're in
the middle of a conversation with family. It gets cut
(15:56):
off and it could be an hour, a day, a week,
It just depends on how bad things had gotten. And
now looking at it, I'm like, dang, Like I can't
imagine being the family member that just got cut off
from communication and now you don't know nothing a day,
a week, a month, like.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Because as the calm blackouts when something happens, we had
that when I was in Talifar. You know, you had
a calm blackout. Internet, everything's stopped working, phones, you could
do nothing except for the security lines. And that's because
they didn't want information to get out before the family
got notified. So yeah, that's you know, you got a
two weeks later you're like, hey, it's gonna cause, Hey,
I'm a right, everything's cool, Like what happened? I can't
(16:34):
really get into that right now, but you'll talk about
when to get home.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Yeah, so, and I mean, and I would try to
stress that to my wife, like, hey, no news is
good news. Unless you hear something bad, just let it be.
But again, it's easier said than done. That person just
having to continue living their life and just wondering what's
going on, what's happening, and not knowing anything.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
So so what would you think or not? What do
you think?
Speaker 2 (16:57):
What would you say is a good piece of advice
for somebody who's just about to get out of the military,
you're just.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Getting ready to go to the military depends, it doesn't
matter where you're gonna go.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Just you know, keep in mind that it's okay to say, hey,
I need help. It's okay.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
A lot of us when we got out, we didn't
do that. We you know, stumbled through it. But realizing now,
you know, hindsight's twenty twenty. You know, the very the
hardest thing to ever do as a veteran is to
walk through a door and say, hey, I need help.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
But once you walk through, you're good.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Man.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Hey we got you.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
As a matter, if it's male, female, whatever, we got you.
The hardest part is always asking for help and then
where to go for help. You know, sometimes you don't
trust somebody, But again, veterans always word of mouth. That's
the best advertisement. He We'll talk to Joe, go talk
to lays and you know that's just pretty much the
initial Hey, I need help, you know, not just you,
but if your wife or husband who's not a military,
(17:49):
you know, bring them with you, like, hey, you know,
we need help.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Because it's a family unit.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
If you're going to be successful out of the service,
you got to bring the family together to be successful
out of service.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
So it's it's best.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
I would say that, and I would always tell people.
And something I try to stress on everyone is that
you're not alone in any of this. A lot of
us that have been.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
Out for a while.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
I've been out twelve years now, you've been out would
run the same time a little longer, but you know,
you've been out this amount of time, so we've gone
through different things. Not to say been there, done that,
but we've had our time to deal with certain things that,
you know, processing the things that happened while you were in,
stuff like that, and a lot of these service members
start getting out and for me, like when I moved
(18:32):
to sant Angelo, I didn't have any friends here, didn't
have any family here, so I felt even more alone
than ever, you know, and I'm like, man, I don't
know what to do about this. I don't know what
to do about that. And luckily my wife was like, hey,
you need to go get help. You need to go
talk to somebody. So I had somebody there. And then
when I started talking and start explaining certain things to
people and talking to other vets, they're like, oh, I
dealt with that. I dealt with this, And I'm like, okay,
(18:53):
it wasn't just me feeling a certain type of way
or going through the things that I was going through
and then feeling less than because like you said, we
had a purpose in the military. You have that schedule,
wh's regimented this, this, this, this, you get out, and
I remember thinking like this freedom is gonna be awesome.
I get to do whatever I want, and then I'd
wake up and then I'm like, what do I do?
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Right?
Speaker 2 (19:14):
You know, and then you have that loss. You you
start getting into some of these these negative thoughts, you
know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Well, I mean it's it's you're going a million miles
now in the service. And then it's not even the hey, slow,
slow down, put the brakes, it's a million mine hours
five yeah, you know, so it's like what do I do?
And then most veterans, it's the idle hands. I'm you know,
I don't hand to get you in trouble. So it's
just finding your purpose and what to do, whether it's
go to school or help other vets, you know, find
education and just like do something that's passionate them that
(19:41):
you want to do. So that's what I did, is
you know, I wanted to help other vets, so I
take it and dump it in there. We all have issues,
whether it's PTSD whatever, but you have the choice in
whether you want to let it hold you back or
fuel you. You know, you get to decide, and it's
okay to do both. It's okay to be like, hey man,
I don't feel like doing nothing today. But It's okay
(20:02):
to be like hey, off and running, you know, so
most all veterans understand that. And it's also okay to
have those feelings to hate, you know, the negative feelings,
and we got to get over those negative feelings as
far as, like you know, I could. You know, I
wish things were a lot better. I wish I could
do better for my wife and my husband. You know,
things be a lot better if I wasn't here. Those
are normal thoughts, They're exactly normal issue.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Is that what do you do to combat that?
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Family, friends, hobbies with that and then realizing that you
have a community behind you. It says, you know what,
I have those same thoughts, But I got.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
You, so yeah, I agree one hundred percent. Like you said,
it's normal.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
We have those feelings, we have those thoughts we have
you have to take that time to kind of process
everything because, like you said, a million miles an hour
aryor in the military, you get out and for me,
like I gotta got back from Afghanistan. A month later,
I got out of the military, and then I'm living
in the town where I didn't know anybody. So I
went from again a million mile hour to nothing, and
I'm like, well, what do I do now? You know,
(20:59):
so it's normal to feel that way, but like you said,
how do we channel that? What do we do with
that to move forward to make yourself better and then
ultimately to make other people better.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
So, yeah, let's find your passionate and goo man, just
find your passion and go and realize that there's a
community here that has you one hundred percent, and not
just other vets, but the community.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Oh yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
And it's something I stress to everybody, and I want
to kind of keep it here as far as like
putting this information out. If anybody is having certain feelings,
if you feel a certain type of way, you need
somebody to talk to. The National Crisis Line very easy,
nine eight eight. They change the number recently, nine eight eight,
and for veterans, you hit one after that and you're
on the phone with somebody immediately. So if you're going
through things you need somebody to talk to, there is
(21:41):
somebody there twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
And another thing that the VA is done, which I
think is phenomenal, is that whether you're enrolled or not,
regardless of discharge status, you can go and seek emergency
services for mental health at your local VA. So don't
be afraid to Hey, I don't I can't go and
talk to one. Yes, the vasas I got you. Yeah,
the VA, you know it had Everyone has their own
age with the VA. But I've been in the VA
(22:05):
system for a while and I absolutely love it. There
are some hiccups, but that's the hiccups you gave most hospitals.
But again the fact that they're saying, hey, if you
need help, come see as no matter what, we got you.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
So that's a very great resource.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
See.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
And I had so my personal experience when I got
out of the military and I actually started going to
the VA, and stuff I didn't learn until recently, Like
the VA was broken up into these different branches. I
just assumed I heard VA, and I was like, it's
one entity. So my initial experience with the VA was
on the benefit side, and it had nothing to do
with what the benefits were doing for or against me.
(22:38):
It was the individual that I was dealing with. And unfortunately,
I mean it's like everything you got bad apples everywhere.
There's a lot of people that do want to help,
and then there's some people maybe their intentions were good.
They just aren't going about it the right way. And
that's kind of what I fell into. The individual that
I was dealing with could have done better, could have
gave me more information. So I had that like bitter
(22:58):
taste of like, oh, I don't want to go to
the V right And a lot of us get that,
and I fed into, you know, the stereotypes of VA
doesn't do this, VIA doesn't do that. And then when
I started coming to the VA and started talking to people,
and then when I talk to you, and I'm like,
I didn't realize you worked for the VA, because, like
I said, i'd seen you in passing in other places,
and then now working here, I see the hard work
(23:19):
that everybody is doing and the initiative that everybody's putting
in to be better, and I'm like, oh, this is
way different than my initial experience. For one, And then
what my thought was because now you know, you have
your health side, your benefits side, the cemetery side, and
you have all these different people in different sections doing
phenomenal and like you said, I believe in the VA.
I tell everybody you need to go, you need to go.
(23:43):
Are you going to have the best experience every time,
maybe not. But there's a lot of people there that
are not going to give up on you.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Right, And sometimes when you do your benefits, it's you know,
you get those ones that will go all out for you,
get you get some that are.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Just, hey, this is my nine to five, and it's
hard to find who you're gonna get.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
When you find that one person he's like, hey, I
got you one hundred, Sam, let's go, then it's a
world of difference. And then you realize that VA is
the same way when you find that one doctor is
all like, you know, I'm on here to check a box,
which happens in any organization. Yeah, And then you get
the one doctor he's like, no, I'm gonna do this,
and you're like wow, like where'd you go? Like, don't
ever quit?
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Oh yeah, And that's that's the other part of you
know we talked about don't quit, don't give up. It's
like that with everything on the benefit side as well.
Y'all you veterans are gonna know this more than anybody else.
You're you're gonna get told no, you're gonna get denied
on something. Don't give up. I've been denied on plenty
of things. And it's whether it's a wording issue, whether
it's a documents issue, just don't give up on it.
(24:37):
Find somebody, keep going, keep putting it in. There's benefits
out there for you because you deserve them. Don't don't
sit there. And my initial thought was like, well, there's
people worse than me. I don't I don't need this
or I don't deserve this, because you know, I have
friends and guys that I served with came back as amputees,
you know, purple heart recipients, guys that were actually physically injured,
(25:00):
and so I come back and I'm like, man, I
don't deserve they need this stuff.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
They need that.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
But there's a lot of us that are dealing with
things maybe that aren't visible, whether it's a mental health issue,
whether it's it might be minor to you know, an
amputation or something, but it's still an issue that you're
having to deal with and have to live with.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
So don't ever judge, you know, your symptom by another.
Like you can have back pain, and like, man, I
don't want to claim back pain, but the other other
person has back pain. You know, we all handle pain differently,
we all handle trauma differently. So don't trying to judge,
you know, might it's not worse than his or hers.
The thing is is that you joined. This is your benefit.
The money is allocated for you. You're just not tapping
(25:39):
into your money. Yeah, right, So going to this and
if you get to a certain age where you know,
like my forty seven is for that. At this point,
we're not doing the claim for you, and not to
be rude, we're doing this for your family. Yeah, because
we want to make sure that because most veans come
in we know that like us. If it was just me,
I don't care, man, I'll do whatever. But it's if
I have wife kids, for that, I want to do
(26:00):
everything I can to make sure that they're set when
I'm gone. If I can have my kids have no
college debt, why am I not going to work? So
it's just something you want to do. You don't fight dirty.
Right when we do claims, we're not. I'll say, hey,
we're not doing this for you, doing for your family now,
you know, so want.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
To take care of them.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
I remember having I say she was a daughter, but
she was around my age and she comes in with
her dad and she's checking them in for an appointment
doing these things, and I remember thinking, because I have
a daughter, and I'm like, man, that's awesome. I hope
you know that I raised my daughter well enough that
when that day comes, if I need help get into
an appointment, that she's gonna, you know, take me and
stuff like that. So that's where my mind went, and
(26:37):
I was telling her. I was like, man, that's so
awesome that you're doing this. And then she had this
kind of breakdown moment and she was like, take care
of yourself. She's like, get everything in order. She's like,
because my dad didn't, and that's why I'm here. And
it was still a very nice thing that she was doing,
but at the same time, it made me a little
bit sad because I'm like, now she's having to deal
with what he could have done before and again, whether
(26:58):
it was lack of information, whether it was lack of motivation, whatever,
Now your family's having to pick up those pieces and
work for you. Just do it now, as soon as
you get out, as soon as you get an opportunity
to do it, so that somebody else isn't having to
do your work for what you deserve.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Well, especially younger veterans. You know, we tend to not
look at that. You know, Hey, I mean I'm young,
I got kids, I got a job.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
We're doing this like that. But I mean, in reality,
we're not guaranteed tomorrow, right, so makes you were good
to go.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
And the biggest thing is make sure you have your documents.
It's usually just one document. Make sure you know where
you get it. And that's when you when people come
in they're panicking, it's like, dud, don't panic, I got you.
Don't worry about it.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
We'll get it.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
That way, you're not leaving you myself. We're not blaming
the bet for not doing this. But sometimes everyone knows that, Hey,
my d dat fourteen's and it's safe. But then your
husband and wife something happens and you in the emotion
of things, you forget the combo.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
So now you're panicking you can't do this. You can
do It's like, you know what, just stop, I got you.
We have a copy, you know.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
So, I mean preparing unforeseen end of life is a
lot of preparation that you know, we're all getting to
have to do. But thatden it's it's affective life.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
It's got to go that way. Being prepared to go
that route. I'd rather be prepared and not know what's
going on when something happens to you. So it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
I remember being joining the military, being eighteen years old
and being asked to fill out of will and I'm like,
what in the world, Like I'd never heard of a will.
I mean, my family, we've been very fortunate, we've gotten
older and stuff like that, but they didn't go to
the military and they didn't have to deal with those things,
so we didn't have benefits and wills and cemetery plots
and stuff like that. And I'm eighteen years old trying
to figure this out, like, well, who do I write down?
Speaker 1 (28:32):
What do I put my mom?
Speaker 4 (28:33):
Do I put my wife?
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Like, So there's a lot of a lot of things
that we have to deal with. It's a little bit
different than the normal eighteen year old living their life.
But like you said, we're not guaranteed tomorrow, so there's
a lot of things that that can happen that we
have to kind of be prepared for.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
And that's why like this avenue here, what we're doing
the podcast is not only can we have speakers talk,
but it's avenue is like, you know, where do I
go to get this.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Will we got it.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
I can take you where to go. If you have
as to the base, we can go here. If you're
retired and go here. You you're good online, we can
go here. It's getting you prepared. And if you don't
know what to do for that will we have people
you can say, hey, even though we're not subject matter experts,
I have someone you can go talk to. And that's
you know, that's a good thing about the VA and
the community is like, yes, we're not gonna know everything,
but we can know where to send you to, right.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
It's not having the informations.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Knowing where to go and wills are extremely hard because
some people do and some people don't. And I know
when I did minor service, it was easy and just
sat in front to hate and science.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
It's cool, wet to go. But now it's just you know,
hold you know, holdly all that. What am I gonna do?
Speaker 2 (29:32):
You know?
Speaker 3 (29:32):
Okay, now I got my kids, got this like a house,
like try to figure it out. But the legal rep
team that I want to go see military, they brought
you down easy, and I was.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Like, this is a lot easier when I thought so.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Well, also, man, I think this is gonna be a
great introduction for what our goal is with all of this. Like,
so we'll get some vets on here, We're gonna have
some amazing guest speakers, amazing stories, amazing just everything, and
then resources, Like I said, that's gonna that's gonna be
the biggest push, ensuring that you guys, and you know,
even if it's not you, if you have a coworker, friend,
family member, whoever that was in the military who are unsure,
(30:05):
because we have some guys that I've heard that like, well,
I was in back in the eighties, I was in
the nineties. It's too late to do a claim, it's
too late to do this, and it's never too late.
So hopefully we're here to put out enough information and
to kind of motivate people to get to that point.
But I think this is gonna be an awesome deal.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
I agree number saying that things would be awesome. And
then if there's stuff that you want to know, specifically,
don't be afraid of comments. Eight can I find out
about this and we'll gear towards that. We don't hoard information.
The more information we get out to the people, the
better's going to be for y'all in the long run.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
So I think that'd be a cool deal.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Once we get moving and get some more guests and
stuff on here, we can start opening up and we'll
do questions in the comments, and then at the end
of our segment we can start answering some of these
questions for our veterans to be able to help them out.
But unless you get an announcement, I think this is
gonna be all.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
I think this is awesome. Just you know, as veterans,
we know the difference between Vetter's Day Memorial Day. On
our job to preach that to people when they come
up on certain holidays, say hey, this is the difference
because we never know that mother, father, son, daughter, who
has someone that passed away that was in the service.
So coming up to us and saying thank you, it's
(31:13):
just the way too memorialize is their loved one. So
instead of jumping down someone's throat, just saying thank you,
you know, and we really appreciate today's space to day
being Veterans Day. This is your guys' day.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Be safe.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
If you're a drink, I have a plan to get
home because we still need you because the mission
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Continues, all right, man, I think that was awesome, good deal,
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