November 13, 2024 • 54 mins
It's TripWire Time. Join us today as Staci and I have Todd Nunley and our producer "Skywatcher" on the show. This post Veterans Day show will share the unique projects that Dtaci is involved in as the Naperville VFW Commander. We will also discuss what Veterans Day means to the panel. See you soon!!!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:38):
Good afternoon, everybody. It is time for Tripwire.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
It is November thirteenth, four pm Eastern time.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
We have a great show ahead of us.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
We are doing posts everything, Veterans Day, Marine Corps Birthday.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
We're going to get into it. Please say hello to my.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Special guests Skywalker Sure and Todd Nunneley. You guys have
seen them on shows before. And without further ado, I'm
gonna turn it over to my beautiful co host, Stacy Boyer. Stacy,
just share the share the incredible awesomeness that came from Naperville,
Illinois this weekend.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
So I talked a lot about the huge support of
Naperville with the veteran community, and I love being the
commander at one of the if not the largest in
the state.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
I'm pretty sure we are.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
But we had so much going on, and usually, you know,
you've got the Marine Corps Birthday, which is a holiday
within itself, so it's the two hundred and forty ninth
birthday there. So we had flag raising and there's you know,
a ball every couple of days, so that is just
a huge part of what's going on around here. But
(01:52):
then we roll into Veterans Day and we've got a
lot of ceremonies, so we had our school visits. So
you've got the veteran community dispersed throughout all the schools
in our area. And this happens all over the state,
but you know, for me, I'm looking at what we
do in Neighborville. So we've got the high schools, We've
got you know, the middle school, elementary school, and most
(02:14):
of these schools are doing ceremonies and they are honoring veterans.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
In deep ways.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
They've got videos, they've got interviews, they've got presence, they've
made us. The schools are creating their own challenge coins.
I mean, there was a time where you say challenge
coin and like civilian, what is that? So we're embarking
on this new age where people are understanding the importance
(02:42):
the significance of the challenge coin, what it represents, the brotherhood,
the sisterhood of being a part of something that that had,
you know, has a challenge coin representing it. Which when
you've got that kind of respect and that kind of
platform built around any you know, one thing, and and
(03:02):
other people.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Are going, oh gosh, that's so cool. I want to
be a part of that. I have so much respect
for that.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
It really makes my heart full because that's our next
generation that is looking at us and going, wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Of our patriotism right absolutely, so you know along the
lines of what these schools are doing. If you guys
would be so kind as to let me kind of
just go with my thought here, I'm excited. I'm excited,
and I'm also very involved with the youth programs in
the schools. We have veterans support groups in our two
(03:40):
big high schools around here, in Aperville North and Aperville
Central High School, and they volunteer and do a lot
in the community in pretty much everything that.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
I come up with, which is a lot they're involved in.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
And it's one of the reasons why I got a
jet out of here earlier than normal because of what
we're doing.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
But before I tell you what we're doing why I'm.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Excited about it also leads to a message that we
got today from our national VFW Commander in Chief, which
I think is really relevant because it's talking about the election, okay,
which is a very touchy issue. So for me, as
the VFW commander, I do not get into conversations or
arguments about about one candidate or another.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
My goal, you know, what do you believe in? What's
your goal? Stacey?
Speaker 3 (04:32):
My goal is is to support the veteran initiatives like
writing new xports. Do you know what are the three
main things that veterans need help with? Let me see
what I can do boots on the ground in my community.
I'm going to get out there. I'm going to get
everyone i can involved, and we are going to make
change here. I can't control what these candidates do, and
(04:53):
that usually helps stop the conversation when the media person
is trying to get me to go down a rabbit
hole with them.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Yeah, get it, it's.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Just about that. Really, it's I feel that way, right.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
I Mean, what is we could sit behind a keyboard
and we can argue and we can discuss all these things,
but what is it that we're actually doing. You know,
action is what's going to change the world. You know,
be the change, be a action word.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Be the change.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
And so our national Commander in Chief he put this out.
I'm going to summarize it. I'm not going to read
this verbatim, but the one hundred and twenty five years
that the VFW has been in existence, right, We've had
twenty twenty one transfers of power throughout that period of time.
And despite the wars, rumors of war, assassinations, assassination attempts, depressions, recessions,
(05:47):
economic turmoil, political upheaval, and sharp divisions, our country has
consistently moved.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Forward as one nation.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
That gave me chills to read that, because it is
so fast actual, regardless, regardless of one half of the
country being excited, and then the right right, and so
in addition to that piece, now is the time for
Americans to show our metal to the rest of the world,
(06:18):
leading by example of what democracy truly means. We the
people of the United States, can and will keep striving
for a more perfect union. And how better else to
do that than to be encouraging our youth, our cuture,
to be excited about giving back and honoring and understanding
(06:44):
that the veterans have sacrificed. And when the kids that
I'm working with Todd doesn't know this about my adopted
Veterans Grave project, but when I can get high school
juniors and seniors to be excited about raising money to
refurbish a grave that's one hundred years old, that is priceless.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
So I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna just I'm gonna,
I'm just gonna slow us down just a little.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Bit because you're you're I love the energy. Stay, I
love the energy.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
I will never stay. Don't bring the energy to the table.
I will never say that.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
I only had one more thing to say, and then
I was gonna be, oh, well.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
There I go, uh there, I go go ahead, I'm listening.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
I'll just finish. I'll just finish and then I'll just
I'll leave it to you and and and Todd.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Can talk to We got this. We got this.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
So my point is is that I get really excited.
If you if you haven't noticed that, the kids are excited.
So I mean, you've got just all ages wanting to
think and be and and be grateful for and and contribute,
help out and collaborate.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
It's it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
So which leads me to where I'm going is the
high school neighbor foe Nor High School Veterans Club.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
Last year we made one hundred.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Christmas trees for the Quincy Assisted Living It's a veterans
assisted living facility. And what we did is we made
these a frame trees, and we actually did in my
studio where I am right now, and we are doing
about one hundred and fifty trees today and tomorrow because
we kind of outgrew my space here. We've got a
ton of volunteers. We set up like an assembly line.
(08:19):
We had their wood shop build the A frames. We
have this whole process where we staple gun the garland
and put the lights and every car on everyone and
then we drive them out.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
We got them to code.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
The fire departments approved it, and every veteran gets one
hung on their door. And so that's what we're That's
what I'm off to do, and what I really wanted
to be able to do is to take this show
and bring it live there and get a bunch of
kids to talk on. But we had to jump through
some red tapes with the school district.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
And so I'm working on it because yeah, we'll figure
it out today. And they do.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
The kids do so much with the veteran community, and me,
I said, can't we just get some kind of a
waiver that we right up that's a standard, something standard
so we don't have to jump through hoops every time.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
We do this.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Because I've already been on CBS, and I've been interviewed
in magazines and newspapers and I always talk about the
pictures are always there, We're always involving what they're doing,
and there's no reason, you know, to have unnecessary obstacles.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Let's just say. But anyway, that's why I'm out. Hopefully
all of that wrapped up nicely in a little bow
for you.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Uh huh it totally did it? Totally did Stacey. We
appreciate your energy. So, but what I would like to
do at maybe a slower pace for those of us
that are crayon eaters that are attending the podcast today,
how about you share just just a summary of what
the Gravesite initiative is and then also what you were doing.
(09:46):
Is the VFW commander with the schools in the Naperville area.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
Well, okay, so the well, there.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Might be a lot of there might be a lot
of people that don't don't know about the initiatives, either
one of them. So I just would like and Todd doesn't.
He's it's been a while since we've had Todd on
the show. Todd's got his own show. He's been busy
with the LEO.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Side of things. The first responder side of things.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
So I just want to make sure that we share
with the audience what you're up to with all the
flavor and energy that you have post Veterans Day. So
I just want to make sure that I want to
make sure that everybody understands what you're referring to in
what you just shared with everybody.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Okay, okay, So well, the Adoptive Veterans Grave Project, that's
that's what you want me to just touch on briefly, right, Stephen.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Yes, dear, yes please Okay.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
So every Memorial Day we place flags on graves. So Todd,
you're probably aware that happens.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
I think it happens in most communities.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
And I noticed three years ago when I became junior vice,
I started to really kind of pay attention to how
many of the graves were destroyed, non existent.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
We work off of a spreadsheet.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
We go to fourteen different cemeteries and we're reading where
the veterans are, and we are looking for the graves.
And so I started to realize that there was a
lot of them that would say, walk fourteen paces to
this beautiful family memorial and then look three, you know,
clicks to the right down at the ground for a pile.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Of rock and trash. Wow, that's the veterans grave. And
I was like, what what?
Speaker 3 (11:29):
So that really bothered me, and you know, it bothered
a lot of people. But I think a lot of
people are like, you know, what do we do about it?
And I just happened to be a little bit more tenacious.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
I suppose you know.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
What we do about is we enter Stacy Boyer And
then well.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
It really bothered me and I couldn't When I was
junior vice, people weren't really listening to me.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Then when I became senior vice.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
People really started to listen to the things I was saying,
because I was starting to prove myself. You know, I
would say I want to do this, and then I
would go do it, and they would like, oh, she's
actually she's doing it. And so then I realized that
there was a lot of obstacles because you have to
find next of kin. Burial laws probably in every state
(12:17):
are similar where you can't just go in and go
I'm going to refurbish this grave. I've got to find
a family member to give you permission. Well, a lot
of these grades, seven of them specifically, were over one
hundred years old, and then the other ones.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
I tried for a full year.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
I had an investigator, reporter from the local news, had
FBI helped.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
I found one.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
One with the next of kin and we refurbished that
raise the money. The students raised the money to refurbish
that grave from the Naporville North High School. And I
was going through so many obstacles. I finally said, well.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
I need this law.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
I started to read these laws about one hundred year
old anything it being historical markers. So I said, well,
I'm going to go find my state representative, and I
developed a a law that I said, why don't we,
as the VFW or American Legion take ownership of graves
that are technically historical markers if they're over a century old,
(13:10):
And then by virtue of that, we don't we don't
need to find a Nextican. If we give a good
faith effort and can't, then it doesn't just leave the
grave destroyed. Then we can take ownership and refurbish it.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
And so I did that. I changed legislation.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yes, that's cool, that's so going down to Springfield and.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Testified animus in the committee, the House, in the Senate,
and so The governor signed it August sixteenth at our
UH State Fair and it'll be in full effect in January.
Right now, we've got the seven graves in the Illinois Cemetery,
and two of those seven I've raised the money to refurbish.
We're just waiting for the law to give us that
(13:53):
you know, green flag to go. But the kids in
the community are a lot of the businesses in the community.
Everybody is like jumping on board, and I keep getting
interviewed about it in the magazines and in and on
the news, and everybody wants to help support this project.
Now it's not just this one cemetery. You know, there's
(14:14):
two hundred some on cemeteries in Illinois, and obviously I'm
going to get to the fourteen in my area first,
but I'm trying to create a kind of a scalable
program where other vfws can take it on and then
be able to use the law and the way that
I've worked the program steps to do this in their
own area.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
So that's the goal.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
But honestly, you know, with the kids having the energy
to raise the money, to raise the money at their
football games to come out to the fish fries, that
I host at our VFW and raise money.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
There for the project. It's given it.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
It gave it more momentum, you know, And so I
give them a lot of credit also because they were excited.
It kept me excited, believe it, or I mean I'm
not always just excited. I mean it helps to have
a little bit of like, you know, pat me on
the back and somebody else there next to me running
with me. And so that's how it all came, you
know that that kind of came together, and it's still
(15:13):
an ongoing work, piece of work.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
I'm going to turn it into a nonprofit here shortly.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Right now, I have it unbrellaed under our VFW Foundation,
so all that the funds don't go through me, I
have them all go into a separate place. So it's
a very segregated and safe. But yeah, so that's that.
But I mean me as a commander just doing what
I do in the community. If you were wondering about
Veterans Day, it was schools and then we had our
(15:40):
Veterans Park ceremony where I got to give my little
speech right before the mayor.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
I was so excited about that and I loved my
little speech.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
And then there was a great speech. It was a
great speech.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
And then we had our Veterans Day dinner which we
had like one hundred and twenty people. Steven, do you
remember the last time we were at the BFW and
we had that dinner. And I can't believe how robust
things have become.
Speaker 5 (16:02):
I get it, I get it.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
You guys are growing out of your space. Ridiculous.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
Yeah, so so so Todd.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
This this segues into uh well, Todd and and and Skywatcher.
This segways and and anybody watching. The segues into an
outreach program that Stacey has embraced.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
And it's with the it's with the youth. It's the
youth communities, it's the SEC. It's the schools.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
You know, Neighborville's Neighborville's got what to two high schools.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Well, actually Maporville, North Central, Nika, will.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
Bondzi and Mattea we actually have.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Okay, so there's five high schools that are all all
still part of the same Like people live in Aperville
and their kids go to all these all five of
these high schools. Point being is is that or or
something similar to that. Point being is is that you know,
there's a lot of talk these days about jen A
(17:04):
and Mollennium Hills and the moving forward and questions about
where the character is of the youth. And here is
a perfect example with what Stacy's doing with these high schools,
and we see the character of the youth because these
kids are volunteering to be there to support veteran causes,
(17:27):
to support veteran initiatives.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
So I'll let you get into that if you don't mind. Stacy.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Well, and they were all there last night at our
Veterans Day dinner. Both high schools came. There was probably
about six from each school, six to eight. They were
serving them, helping them bring the food to the table,
making sure that Belgio's catering was kept at refilled.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
They were bringing them desserts and talking to them.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
They would sit at the table and they would listen
to their stories. That's so powerful, you know, because we
all want somebody just we want to be heard. We
all want to be heard, and especially these older veterans,
I mean, they have stories to tell and they love
telling these stories to.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
These kids, and these and these these.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Kids they enjoy it and it's powerful because that's history.
It's so important we want to keep these things passing forward,
and so they're going to tell somebody else. We have
to keep telling these stories to keep this stuff alive,
even if it's painful, you know, you know the power that.
Speaker 6 (18:27):
The importance Tuesday is that this generation, or the younger generation,
like you said, has that respect the veterans. You know,
in the past when when veterans came back home, it's
the lack of respect. It started really Vietnam. You guys
can correct me on this, but I mean now, it's
so great to see that the youth are getting behind
the veterans and they're learning about their experiences and hearing
(18:49):
their stories and appreciating their service with the respect and
honor that they all deserve. And these kids, I mean,
it could even inspire a kid to become a military
person themselves.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
Oh a lot of them, A lot of them do
a lot of.
Speaker 7 (19:04):
I've got to say that it all starts at home, Yes,
at home, and it starts with the parents. I can
say that because my dad, I was retired Navy, he
was one hundred percent disabled veteran service connected. He then
later on, after getting out of the military, he was
a VA rep. So I know how all of this
(19:28):
works because my dad was a Veterans Administration representative in
the state of Oklahoma, and he went and he traveled
all around a big portion of the state of Oklahoma
helping veterans and him being a veteran himself. So I
got to see that firsthand, and I saw that.
Speaker 5 (19:46):
Man. You know, I missed my dad gravely.
Speaker 7 (19:49):
And we lost him this this December will be two
years ago. But he I saw him go and help
these guys who need did help, didn't have hardly any
assistance from the government after serving their country, and he
(20:09):
sat down with them and painstakingly he went through all
of the paperwork, helped them get the awards that they
were due, help them get their back pain that they
were due. And I literally saw a grown men sit
and weep and cry because of that. So I'm thankful
for that, and I gotta I got the inside view
of that. I got to see that because I got
(20:29):
to see my dad helping others and that that's important.
But that goes back to it starts at home and
what your parents do and how you raise your children
is extremely important. And that goes a long ways because
exactly what Bill was saying just a minute ago.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Yeah, so I really want to tell you this.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
I want to bring another another niche in the in
the black there for you did there. There is absolutely
a ton of veterans at the Neighborville VFW that have
gone on to first responder service, whether it.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Be you know, whether it be ambulatory.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Whether it be fire, whether it be law enforcement, you know,
park service, whatever. There they they spent their time in
service to the country and then they spend their time
in civil.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Service to their community.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
And it's just it's an amazing We'll have to get
you up there sometime.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
Yeah, I'm lucky.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
And yeah, maybe maybe we all could do the podcast
from that location. Hint hint, Skywatcher don't know. Uh So
we'll just I mean, we'll figure it out. It's sometimes
My point was is that that ties into your your
niche of what you do tied. I know, I've been
(21:55):
there with conversations with you about your father and about
what he did and and you and I we've had
so many conversations about both sides of that coin, the
first responder side of the coin, the veterans side of
the coin, the benefits, the mental health, the t the trauma, everything,
uh and I just want to I just wanted to
(22:15):
share with you that Stacy's community is she's in charge
of down there at the VFW inn Aperville, Illinois is.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
It's an amazing community. It really is.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
There's a lot of a lot of salt of the earth,
a lot of great loving Americans, a lot of patriots,
and uh, I just I'm so happy that you had
such an amazing weekend with all the events that you did.
I don't know whether you took a nap or got
sleep or ate or even uh, you know, it took
(22:46):
a breath.
Speaker 6 (22:49):
It's two days latest is still all posthumated, and I.
Speaker 5 (22:56):
Don't know, I don't know if you've all have seen it.
There are many video was out there.
Speaker 7 (23:02):
And I'm talking about from California to the from the
West coast to the East coast. Young younger generation and
I don't know what generation they call it, but the
younger generation today has turned more conservative.
Speaker 5 (23:19):
Are just adamant about being a part of something.
Speaker 7 (23:23):
Stacey, you mentioned this earlier, about being a part of
something that's bigger than themselves. And anybody who is involved
in a service related field, whether it is the military,
whether it is and a first responder, law enforcement, fire ems, whatever,
that's a service related field that you're providing a service.
Speaker 5 (23:44):
We all raised our hand.
Speaker 7 (23:46):
I saw the very same oath to protect and defend
the constitution of this country from foreign end domestic enemies.
Speaker 5 (23:52):
So we I mean, I get it.
Speaker 7 (23:55):
And I'm thrilled to death to see these young people
today really starting to step up and and become an America.
You know what it's all about. And we've we've had
other generations before that. I don't know what happened exactly.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
So I actually did a study on this. It's the
new generation. Is jen A the one that Stacey's dealing
with in the high school? Is there jen A?
Speaker 1 (24:24):
You know? Uh, I forget. So the Millennials were the
last ones Gen X and then or Gen Z and
then Gen.
Speaker 5 (24:32):
X before that.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
I think, I don't know anyway, point.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Being, it gets confusing at a certain time. I mean,
you know, we either drink from a water hose on
the back end of the house or we didn't, you know,
and and we are sat in front of a freaking
tablet and played video games, or we were kicked out
of the house by our parents and then told make
sure when the street lights come on, get the get
(24:57):
get home.
Speaker 7 (24:57):
And you know, I think Bill and I are in
this category. I'm in the very last year of the
baby boomers. So I'm telling on myself as far as
my age.
Speaker 4 (25:08):
How old are you talking about?
Speaker 5 (25:09):
Sixty? I just turned sixty, and well just six months
ago I turned sixty.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
So look sixty, Bill? Are you sixty?
Speaker 6 (25:16):
Heck no, I'm still in my fifties, but I'm getting there.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
How old?
Speaker 5 (25:20):
Yeah, I'm sixty.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Wait? How old are you?
Speaker 4 (25:23):
Bill?
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Fifty eight? Okay?
Speaker 4 (25:25):
And how old are you? Stephen?
Speaker 5 (25:27):
Fifty one?
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Oh, you're younger than me. I'm fifty four, Yes, dear,
I'm the youngest one.
Speaker 6 (25:35):
Stacy, John, I know you're running like crazy. But so
you spoke about these A frame Christmas trees. Yeah, when
you go to drop them off, the one hundred and
fifty or so whatever number they are, do the vetermans
know that they're getting these trees or is it like
a surprise moment for them? And secondly, I can't imagine
(25:55):
when they receive this they could have a family or not.
Because the holidays is a point where people suffer from depression.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Yep, they feel they're alone.
Speaker 6 (26:06):
And I'm getting emotional just thinking putting myself in that position,
what it must feel like to know that people care
to do something like this for me to do this,
serve it, you know, to send and bring me this tree.
It has to be an emotional, powerful moment for everyone involved.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
It's well, some of them have gotten it.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
This will be the third year, so some of them
have gotten it over they've been there for the time.
But I think that it will be a surprise to
people that are there for their first year. I think
they like to keep it a little bit of a
surprise like that, and the other people are like, you know,
anticipating it and they get super excited.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
They like really like look forward to it all year.
Speaker 7 (26:45):
That's cool, It's awesome.
Speaker 5 (26:50):
It is awesome.
Speaker 6 (26:51):
I mean, like I said, the holidays is a tough
time for many especially you know, if somebody is alone.
Just to have that appreciation because again it shows that
people care and have the youth involved and see that
it's it could be like their grandfather, Yeah, you know,
it's it's that personal connection that bond. But Stacy, where
(27:14):
can people can people help.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
With this cause? Like is there a website?
Speaker 6 (27:17):
Is that anything that people that are watching or listening
to this right now where they can help out if
they would like to.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Yeah, actually, well they could reach out to me directly
because I work with a nonprofit that's local, the Resource
Connection Network, And what they do is they provide they're
kind of like a food They've got a really cool thing.
This will be the last thing that I talk about
for a jet out of here, but they've got their
nonprofit and they're a food pantry for anyone. And what's
(27:44):
cool about this is you can pay like I think
it's like five to ten dollars and you get two
hundred dollars worth of food. And the money that you
pay though, and it's the food doesn't just go to veterans,
but the money that the people pay for the food
they need, all.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
One goes to veterans.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
So what you've got are people that are in need,
going because they need something, but the money that they
are paying it's kind of like that gift park, you
know where, and it's affordable for them, but they're giving
back at the same time they're getting help.
Speaker 4 (28:18):
It's a beautiful process.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
So my friend Renata, whom I believe Stephen you've met
at the VFL, she is the one of the heads.
Her and Michelle are boys are the heads of this,
and so I've collaborated with them. This will be the
second year and so anybody can reach out to me
directly through any of my channels, my link tree. There's
(28:41):
a thousand ways to get a hold of me, whatever
links that we have associated with the show, and I
can connect them and go from there.
Speaker 6 (28:49):
Awesome, God bless you for doing what you're doing. And
all those people are involved in this, and also the
students involved in it. It's just a great I mean,
I say, enough boys, how great. This is what you're doing,
a service to the veterans.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
Thank you. All right, I'm going to take off what Stephen,
you have one more thing?
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Well, yeah, I was just going to make sure.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Don't make sure when you're stapling garland to pieces of wood,
you watch out where your finger is.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
That's my safety brief for the night.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
I'm more concerned about not stapling my hair into something. Yes,
see you guys later.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Look by She's awesome.
Speaker 5 (29:34):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
It is NonStop energy. That my lord, she has not
stop energy.
Speaker 5 (29:42):
You know that. That's awesome. Where one what she's doing,
and then too, working with the youth like that.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
I mean, that's our future.
Speaker 7 (29:50):
I mean, when you really stop to consider it, the
future of this country is the youth.
Speaker 5 (29:55):
And if we don't put or invest into them, what's.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Going to agreed agreed principles?
Speaker 5 (30:04):
Morality?
Speaker 6 (30:05):
And it's so much involved there, I mean, and it's
such a great example.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Discipline and then also character of the individuals. I mean,
it all drives forward. So let's do it quick since
since this is the post half of the Stacey Boyer Show. Uh,
and then she has exited, so let's do this, and uh,
let's do a check in Todd and then and then
Skywatcher if you don't mind, uh, and then I'll go
(30:31):
last what how was Veterans Day weekend?
Speaker 1 (30:35):
How was the Marine Corps Birthday in your area?
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Did you guys, did you guys see any of the
packs of Marine Corps Wolves that were out there freaking
having a great time on Sunday running around from bar
to bar or doing crazy stuff.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
You know, I'm part of that. I'm part of that clan,
So I understand.
Speaker 5 (30:52):
Yeah, I did not our Sundays.
Speaker 7 (30:56):
You guys know, we're pretty pretty docile on Sundays, so uh,
but you know, the whole thing goes back to our
family members. I've got a number of family members that,
uh had.
Speaker 5 (31:13):
A great uncle that was in the Marine Corps. We've
got a brother in law in the Army. My dad
was in the Navy.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Saw.
Speaker 5 (31:19):
I mean, I've got just oodles and gobs. You know.
I was in the Army.
Speaker 7 (31:24):
OTC at least for the first couple of years before
I decided I wanted to go into another field and
then ended up going in still went into the State
Guard years later. And yeah, so I mean it it is. Yeah,
it's it's been pretty quiet around here and Florida. It
has been pretty quiet.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
I think Skywatcher, what I think he's telling us is
that they still haven't recovered from the hurricanes that went
through that area in the last couple of months.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
I'm just throwing it out there.
Speaker 5 (31:53):
Yeah they have it, and then we got another one coming.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Yeah I heard, I heard, I heard, Yeah they have.
Speaker 6 (32:01):
You know, of course, the local they have their celebration,
they have the parades going on here and they closed
the roads down, you know, they do that. But me,
Todd and Ode I was recovering on Sunday and obviously
Memorial Day. I mean Veterans Day was Monday, but I
went to see Iron Maiden, so I was like, yeah,
I was I was like, yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
But I saw the picture. I saw your picture. I
saw your picture that you posted.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
You were standing behind or the big banner was behind
you and he had your shirt on the truth.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
Yeah. Yeah, look at that.
Speaker 5 (32:37):
There is.
Speaker 7 (32:40):
Billy put on an awesome concert, don't they great?
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (32:45):
Yeah, So I never be twenty one. But getting back
to the veterans, I think, watch what I cannot TV.
There are I have family members that I speak with
and their hosts, not just like there are all the
whole that you know, there's conversations with them, and they
started telling talking about their stories. But the thing is
(33:07):
I was telling somebody about Todd actually about this situation
where veterans are. I cannot relate. And it's as simple
as that. I am not a veteran. I never served,
you know, I was not in the service, what like
with person like I was speaking with Todd about this
in the past and the experiences that Todd had overseas. Yes,
(33:30):
a person like me cannot relate even try to picture
what both of you individuals, so many veterans go through.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
You know, those horrendous.
Speaker 6 (33:44):
Experiences that you see, you know, all the sensory perception
things going on, and of course the PTSD, and you know,
it's so easy for people to say like they can
like talk about it unless you lived it. You really
really can't relate to that experience.
Speaker 5 (34:04):
You just can't.
Speaker 6 (34:05):
And to me that that demands so much respect for
these people and how they should be treated. To me,
everyone is a hero for serving this country. It doesn't
matter to me if they didn't go into combat. Is
the point that they did find that sacrifice to just say,
(34:26):
I'm gonna do this for my country, period and explore
and especially like you guys have had. I can't even
like I said, I can't relate. I can't even imagine.
But the respect I have for you at all, veterans,
I mean, it goes without saying. And I really would
love to do more on this.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
We'll talk about that. We'll talk about that. I guess
some ideas, So I'm going to turn it on.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
I'm gonna let Todd respond to what you're bringing to
the table, Skywatcher, and then and then now if you
on mine out, I'll pick up last again.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
That's fine, but you know Todd's. Todd's thing is with
with the LEO side of the House.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
And this is from my perspective, coming from the military
veterans side of the House. I've got the utmost respect
for the leos and for the first responders because they
do their jobs every day here in America and are
dealing with Americans for the most part.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
We do our shit overseas.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
And we're dealing with foreign nationals and we're dealing with
our own country members.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
That are in the military.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
We're dealing with other military members, our service members from
different countries.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
It's it's a different it's a little bit different. It's
a little bit different. It's I think it's it's more
of a I think there's.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
More of an impact, uh, if you will humor me
for a moment, I think there's more of an impact
on the psyche having to do it here at home
than having to do it overseas. And we can get
in to that later. That's a topic for another discussion.
That's my personal belief. That's the way I think about it.
But I'm gonna I'm gonna turn it over to Todd
so that way Todd can respond to before everything or.
Speaker 6 (36:10):
Todd takes it, though he mentioned something early. It's the
threats both foreign and domestic.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Agreed.
Speaker 6 (36:17):
I agree, So both both have their purposes. But I
understand exactly O D right.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
But so I don't. I won't. So I don't.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
I won't show up on an incident's site or go
on a mission and punch a local national where if
I if I'm the same person in a different venue
here in the States and I have to deal with
an American that's so stupid that I feel the need
to punch him in the face, I'm gonna punch him
in the face because the laws are different over here. Okay,
(36:47):
So I'll regress and I'll let Todd. Sorry, Bud.
Speaker 7 (36:54):
You know, all I can say is is that it
is a two prong front. The protection the defense of
this country is a too pronged front. And that's where
I think many people fail to see. If we do
not have a strong front in a foreign and as
(37:17):
far as a forem front, if we do not have
a strong front domestically, we are in trouble and we
will exist as a country. We have to have a strong,
too pronged front. Now, with what you were saying regarding domestically.
Speaker 5 (37:36):
It is. Now you've got to figure out who really is.
Speaker 7 (37:42):
One of those enemies because there are some people that
may appear to be but they're really not. Now you've
got to kick in certain critical thinking skills to figure out, well,
who really is the.
Speaker 5 (37:53):
Bad guy here?
Speaker 1 (37:54):
And you know, no, they're not.
Speaker 7 (37:58):
And that's that I will say it. It can be
tasking and very trying at times. And there's been in
never mind, I want to go there. Uh, there's been
times when you really have to bite your tongue and really, yeah,
(38:21):
have to control you know, it goes back to the
temperance or having self control over yourself or hopefully you've
got a very good brother who's standing right next to
your side who sees that what's going through your mind
that you're about.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Took that sand shoulder and pulls you back.
Speaker 7 (38:39):
Yes, i'n't had that happen a few times and say
saying I'm thankful for those guys.
Speaker 5 (38:47):
But it is a it is a task at times
to deal with that.
Speaker 7 (38:53):
And you know that is uh, I mean, that's a
whole topic we can have.
Speaker 5 (38:57):
Matter of fact, we could talk about that thing for hours.
Speaker 7 (39:00):
But you know, I'm thankful that there are people that
there are men and women who step up and volunteer
because they're both. Whether it is the military or whether
it is the first responder, law enforcement fireside, you volunteer
to do this and you raise your hand willingly going
in to face a threat.
Speaker 5 (39:22):
Yeah, that's what that's what we do.
Speaker 7 (39:24):
That's what we did. And and like I said, I've
got to see kind of two sides of the coin.
From the domestic side, I've done, like I said, some
stuff overseas, and it is difficult, I have to agree with.
Things domestically are a little more difficult. And you see
(39:47):
a lot of guys from the military when they leave
the military service, they come in as you were saying
a minute ago, Odie, these guys come into the first
responder feel law enforcement specifically, and you see or hear
so many of these guys who were in the military,
they go into law enforcement and then.
Speaker 5 (40:06):
They were killed yep, and they were killed on this land.
And I know I know that. Just yeah, it angers me. No,
I'll say this, it pisses me off.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
Was when it does, I get it.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
And you know, to be honest with you, it's uh uh,
it's it's ultimately without trying to go down a rabbit hole. Ultimately,
it's it's any it's any veteran, it's any any service
member from the military or first responders when they lose
their lives.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
A I just it drives me nuts. It drives me nuts,
especially when.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
And I want to I want to get back to
I want to get back to the things of the weekend.
But I'll just say this about this this specific topic,
my hat's off to every.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
Single UH Blue blue.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
Like every paramedic, every firefighter, every fire every police officer
out there in whatever echelon they are in. My hat's
off to every single one of them, because they have
to put up with our populace, our public these days,
and our public is just disconnected.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
I think it's the nicest way I can put it
that it's the nicest way.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
I can put it without like, I'm not trying to
start a whole other rabbit hole of you know whatever.
I just things are, things are going to get better.
I think things are will will eventually move forward in
the right direction. As we mentioned when Stacey was on this,
this jen A, the the youth.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
Their their their energy and their morals.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
And their conviction to be a part of and it
shouldn't just be that, but it should be first responders
and veterans, or at least under veteran or above you
say veterans about then below it's say military and first responders,
because I mean, we're all veterans.
Speaker 5 (42:12):
Well, and I'm going to want to come in if
I can, and.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
I am absolutely the second, and then.
Speaker 5 (42:17):
We'll switch back to yours.
Speaker 7 (42:19):
There's there's a part that I didn't mention before that
I think it's worthy of mentioning. Not only are those
enemies fore and domestic, yes, uh, those those domestic enemies.
Speaker 5 (42:31):
Then within our own law enforcement.
Speaker 7 (42:34):
Agencies, regardless of what level local, county, state, federal, tribal.
Speaker 5 (42:39):
Whatever, then you have how can I put this, You have.
Speaker 7 (42:46):
Personnel for certain positions of in management. Then you have
to not only fight the bad guy on the street,
then you have to fight the bad guy who's sitting
behind a desk because he has a title.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
And there you have So.
Speaker 6 (43:02):
That Todd you told me, because when you guys are
in the military, it's all structured.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
It's no, no, no, there's agendas in the military too,
just as much as there's agendas and first responders.
Speaker 1 (43:13):
But I got off back to duty.
Speaker 2 (43:14):
I got off back to duty because of the politics,
because of the way that politicians and then and then
leaders that shouldn't have been leaders back in the day,
decided to change my battle space based off of the
job that I did, because they thought they knew better
and they'd never done my job to begin with.
Speaker 7 (43:34):
Why they goes that goes for the first responders as well.
Speaker 5 (43:38):
I bat this one personally.
Speaker 7 (43:41):
I battled this one personally, and I went toe to
toe with these personnel in a federal agency, and.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
I just.
Speaker 6 (43:49):
So but so, dealing with the public is a game
changer I built.
Speaker 2 (43:55):
Okay, I understand that, brother, but his public is here.
My public's over there. I still deal with the public
over there. Those are called local nationals. I still deal
with the public over there. And I love this conversation,
and i'd love that. Actually, we should actually have like
our own another podcast about some of this stuff and
(44:19):
we can highlight that.
Speaker 1 (44:20):
We'll collectively highlight that.
Speaker 2 (44:21):
But I want to get back to paying tribute because
we're kind of getting off topic.
Speaker 1 (44:25):
We're kind of going down a rabbit hole.
Speaker 2 (44:27):
Yeah yeah, And so I want to make sure that
we I want to make sure that we give enough.
Speaker 1 (44:31):
Credit to what this last weekend has meant.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
And it's I joke around about the Marine Corps birthday
because I'm a Marine, and my phone was blown up
by almost everybody I know with some funny Marine Corps
meme about crayons or something or whatever, and that was
it was awesome.
Speaker 1 (44:50):
I had a great time. That's not the point. And
I sent them out to other people.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
But you know, like I got Navy friends that are
like a happy birthday to the Marine Corps from.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
Your uber driver. You know, just the Navy. The Navy
ships us everywhere.
Speaker 2 (45:05):
So it's just I mean, those are the types of
things I'd like, I'd like to touch upon that stuff.
I want to talk about Veterans Day. I do appreciate
not only your guys's stance, but everything that Stacey brought
to the table. And I don't want to I don't
want to alienate our audience. We did get down down
(45:26):
a little rap better of a rabbit hole, and that's okay,
but let's draw it back and let's talk about veterans.
Speaker 1 (45:31):
Let's talk about let's.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
Talk about do you Bill You mentioned that there's a
member of your family that's getting an honor or did
they get the honor already.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
A few months ago.
Speaker 6 (45:42):
He was part of the Boding ten years during the
Korean War. That was a Puerto Rican Army battalion. Yeah,
they actually the some senator here in New York actually,
because he's old, he's in his nineties, he put him
in the trip. So they went to his house and
(46:03):
then the ceremony there.
Speaker 5 (46:06):
That's awesome.
Speaker 6 (46:07):
That is so awesome too, you know, I can't it's
so beautiful to see that happen, like ninety four years
old and be honored like that by your country and
recognize because they were like the biggest battalion out of
Puerto Rico. There's a lot there for this, you know,
(46:27):
there's and like it's all about being Americans.
Speaker 2 (46:34):
So the biggest thing that our audience could tie that
too would be like the Tuscany Tuscany airman out of
out of World War Two. You know, it's a it's
just it's a select group of people based on nationality, ethnicity.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
And now now.
Speaker 2 (46:55):
You said it and I forgot already, but now your
family member is being recognized for being a part of
that from the Korean War.
Speaker 6 (47:01):
That's it's actually some kind of a medal of honor
kind of a ceremony. I don't even know exactly, but
being recognized as a Korean War veteran pot group because
like you said, you know, it's like the Tuskegee. It's
just saying they're still here with us. These are heroes,
you know. So yes, it's just identifying that group and
(47:24):
making them feel like they're part of everything here.
Speaker 1 (47:29):
Now that I get it.
Speaker 7 (47:30):
Obviously, there was somebody with the VA, the Veteran Administration
that had to go back and do their homework and
pull all his records and that was See.
Speaker 5 (47:39):
That is that is what ought to be done more.
There ought to be more guys.
Speaker 7 (47:45):
That do that, that do their work and you know,
and you know, and just do what they're supposed to do.
Speaker 5 (47:51):
You know that. Like I said, I mentioned it earlier
with my dad.
Speaker 7 (47:54):
I was thankful that there are people out there like
that that are willing to do that and put that
extra effort in there to recognize those who need to
be recognized.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
Yeah, agreed, Yes, totally agreed. I had a go ahead, tod.
Speaker 7 (48:14):
I'm sorry, I was just gonna say that, but that
takes effort, uh, and the willingness for guys to step
up and say, you.
Speaker 5 (48:20):
Know what, we need to make things right. Yeah, agreed,
that's what he's said.
Speaker 6 (48:26):
There could be a little bit more involved. I'm going
to quickly because I know we're running out of time,
and I.
Speaker 1 (48:30):
Know that we had a couple minutes. What do you
get going on?
Speaker 6 (48:34):
I just pulled up an article on this, and there's
more to it, you know, because I only know so
much sure books about But they were the US military's
only yes, U military is only all Hispanic unit. Wow,
and something must have happened with a trumped up court martial.
Speaker 5 (48:55):
But he was part of.
Speaker 1 (48:57):
This unit there you go back in there during the
Korean War.
Speaker 6 (49:02):
Yeah, I guess they're recognizing them after all the stuff
that happened. Sure, you know, they're cleaning up a little
bit of made what have happened?
Speaker 2 (49:14):
Like well, given recognition to those that deserve it after
all these years.
Speaker 6 (49:18):
Absolutely, Yeah, especially with that part public shaming a mass
court martials. Maybe you know, they're owning up to the
mistakes they made back in the past.
Speaker 5 (49:26):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (49:28):
Yeah, So, yeah, that's great. So I'm gonna I'm gonna
share a quick story.
Speaker 2 (49:34):
I had the so at least every veteran's day at
a minimum, but multiple times throughout the year, I call
my uncle Richard, and uh, my uncle Richard is one
of four veterans from Vietnam. My uncle Jack is still alive,
but his his term of service didn't take him to Vietnam,
(50:00):
So Richard's the only one that has combat is a
combat veteran left in the family. The other two combat
veterans and the family have already passed on. One one
was my dad's brother Tom, and then another one was
my my uncle Kenny, who married my mom's oldest, older sister.
Speaker 1 (50:20):
But anyway, Richard and I we get on.
Speaker 5 (50:22):
We get on.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
Our tangent is to uh, you know, crusty old bastards
from Chicago do from time to time, and we uh,
we just we just talk and you know, I just
I just love chatting with him because it's a connection.
Speaker 1 (50:35):
That I have with him, and I love being able
to It's a different type of rapport. Nobody else in
the family other than Richard and I are combat veterans.
And there's there's she had.
Speaker 2 (50:48):
There's probably fifty sixty people still in the family, you know,
they're still alive. Maybe more than that. I haven't I
haven't done the math. I'd have to bust off.
Speaker 1 (50:56):
My shoes to probably get that done. So but the
point is is that.
Speaker 2 (51:02):
It's just it's just nice to connect with him on
a on a every day on Betdursday. I have been
doing I've been doing this for the last you know,
five six years. And here's here's another point that I
want to bring up about Uncle Richard. I did my
first combat tour in two thousand and three and came
home and I could already see the pace of the
(51:24):
nation with how they were supporting the veterans, you know,
was very fresh from nine to eleven and everything else
moving forward.
Speaker 1 (51:31):
And and I.
Speaker 2 (51:33):
I went toe to toe with this big old man
and said, you never went to the VA. I realized that,
you know, you and a lot of your your compatriots
got spit on when he got home. But go get
some damn benefits. And and that was that was a
that was quite a while, a little bit of a
(51:54):
battle with that old krusty bastard. I love him death was,
I swear to god it was. But he finally did
and he the VA's helped him with a pacemaker. The
VA's helped him with a shoulder surgery, you know, and
some other stuff. And a lot of this is just
(52:16):
compounded stuff from injuries that have gone unattended since he
was in Vietnam.
Speaker 1 (52:23):
So I was just I was happy to spend the time.
Speaker 2 (52:25):
With him on yesterday or two days ago on Monday,
to talk with him and give him a little bit
of time just to talk with him. And we mentioned
these things about listening to the old people. I think
I think Stacey was talking about it about how the
kids they listened to the veterans and they listened to
the stories and whatnot. And I'm fifty one, I'm a
(52:48):
five time combat veteran. I can still do it with
members of my family. So you're never too old to
listen to the older people, because that's where we're going
to learn our grace, our compassion, our empathy, and.
Speaker 1 (53:05):
Our drive moving forward.
Speaker 2 (53:06):
So that way we can fix whatever we got to
fix in America right now.
Speaker 7 (53:10):
So yes, and I think that that needs to be
passed down, uh to those who are younger. There's a
whole lot to be said about wisdom as we grow older,
at least with most most people, you know, with age
comes wisdom, and we all pass the wisdom off to
those younger people to say this is what it was like.
Speaker 6 (53:31):
Yep, that's almost as close as we can get to
a quote ODI from Todd.
Speaker 1 (53:37):
Because we're we're am already. I can't believe. I'll close
I'll close this out.
Speaker 2 (53:43):
I'll close us out if you don't, if you don't mind,
unless unless Skywatcher, you want.
Speaker 1 (53:48):
To do it.
Speaker 2 (53:48):
You're the you're the man in charge behind the scenes.
I'll close this out. If you're okay with that, you can.
Speaker 1 (53:54):
Close it up.
Speaker 6 (53:54):
And I'll say this, God bless all those veterans and
their families, and the current too, of course, and those
have who lost their lives for our country and for
our freedoms. But God bless all those people out there.
And I hope all of you have a great upcoming holiday.
So oh do you tell yours?
Speaker 2 (54:11):
Thank you very much for listening to us, to listening
with us this afternoon. This wraps up another another episode
of Tripwire. God bless you, God bless our country. Stay safe.
We'll get you the next same time next week, next Wednesday,
four pm Eastern time.
Speaker 1 (54:28):
This is Tripwire Out
Good afternoon, everybody. It is time for Tripwire.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
It is November thirteenth, four pm Eastern time.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
We have a great show ahead of us.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
We are doing posts everything, Veterans Day, Marine Corps Birthday.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
We're going to get into it. Please say hello to my.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Special guests Skywalker Sure and Todd Nunneley. You guys have
seen them on shows before. And without further ado, I'm
gonna turn it over to my beautiful co host, Stacy Boyer. Stacy,
just share the share the incredible awesomeness that came from Naperville,
Illinois this weekend.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
So I talked a lot about the huge support of
Naperville with the veteran community, and I love being the
commander at one of the if not the largest in
the state.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
I'm pretty sure we are.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
But we had so much going on, and usually, you know,
you've got the Marine Corps Birthday, which is a holiday
within itself, so it's the two hundred and forty ninth
birthday there. So we had flag raising and there's you know,
a ball every couple of days, so that is just
a huge part of what's going on around here. But
(01:52):
then we roll into Veterans Day and we've got a
lot of ceremonies, so we had our school visits. So
you've got the veteran community dispersed throughout all the schools
in our area. And this happens all over the state,
but you know, for me, I'm looking at what we
do in Neighborville. So we've got the high schools, We've
got you know, the middle school, elementary school, and most
(02:14):
of these schools are doing ceremonies and they are honoring veterans.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
In deep ways.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
They've got videos, they've got interviews, they've got presence, they've
made us. The schools are creating their own challenge coins.
I mean, there was a time where you say challenge
coin and like civilian, what is that? So we're embarking
on this new age where people are understanding the importance
(02:42):
the significance of the challenge coin, what it represents, the brotherhood,
the sisterhood of being a part of something that that had,
you know, has a challenge coin representing it. Which when
you've got that kind of respect and that kind of
platform built around any you know, one thing, and and
(03:02):
other people.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Are going, oh gosh, that's so cool. I want to
be a part of that. I have so much respect
for that.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
It really makes my heart full because that's our next
generation that is looking at us and going, wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Of our patriotism right absolutely, so you know along the
lines of what these schools are doing. If you guys
would be so kind as to let me kind of
just go with my thought here, I'm excited. I'm excited,
and I'm also very involved with the youth programs in
the schools. We have veterans support groups in our two
(03:40):
big high schools around here, in Aperville North and Aperville
Central High School, and they volunteer and do a lot
in the community in pretty much everything that.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
I come up with, which is a lot they're involved in.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
And it's one of the reasons why I got a
jet out of here earlier than normal because of what
we're doing.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
But before I tell you what we're doing why I'm.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Excited about it also leads to a message that we
got today from our national VFW Commander in Chief, which
I think is really relevant because it's talking about the election, okay,
which is a very touchy issue. So for me, as
the VFW commander, I do not get into conversations or
arguments about about one candidate or another.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
My goal, you know, what do you believe in? What's
your goal? Stacey?
Speaker 3 (04:32):
My goal is is to support the veteran initiatives like
writing new xports. Do you know what are the three
main things that veterans need help with? Let me see
what I can do boots on the ground in my community.
I'm going to get out there. I'm going to get
everyone i can involved, and we are going to make
change here. I can't control what these candidates do, and
(04:53):
that usually helps stop the conversation when the media person
is trying to get me to go down a rabbit
hole with them.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Yeah, get it, it's.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Just about that. Really, it's I feel that way, right.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
I Mean, what is we could sit behind a keyboard
and we can argue and we can discuss all these things,
but what is it that we're actually doing. You know,
action is what's going to change the world. You know,
be the change, be a action word.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Be the change.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
And so our national Commander in Chief he put this out.
I'm going to summarize it. I'm not going to read
this verbatim, but the one hundred and twenty five years
that the VFW has been in existence, right, We've had
twenty twenty one transfers of power throughout that period of time.
And despite the wars, rumors of war, assassinations, assassination attempts, depressions, recessions,
(05:47):
economic turmoil, political upheaval, and sharp divisions, our country has
consistently moved.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Forward as one nation.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
That gave me chills to read that, because it is
so fast actual, regardless, regardless of one half of the
country being excited, and then the right right, and so
in addition to that piece, now is the time for
Americans to show our metal to the rest of the world,
(06:18):
leading by example of what democracy truly means. We the
people of the United States, can and will keep striving
for a more perfect union. And how better else to
do that than to be encouraging our youth, our cuture,
to be excited about giving back and honoring and understanding
(06:44):
that the veterans have sacrificed. And when the kids that
I'm working with Todd doesn't know this about my adopted
Veterans Grave project, but when I can get high school
juniors and seniors to be excited about raising money to
refurbish a grave that's one hundred years old, that is priceless.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
So I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna just I'm gonna,
I'm just gonna slow us down just a little.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Bit because you're you're I love the energy. Stay, I
love the energy.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
I will never stay. Don't bring the energy to the table.
I will never say that.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
I only had one more thing to say, and then
I was gonna be, oh, well.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
There I go, uh there, I go go ahead, I'm listening.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
I'll just finish. I'll just finish and then I'll just
I'll leave it to you and and and Todd.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Can talk to We got this. We got this.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
So my point is is that I get really excited.
If you if you haven't noticed that, the kids are excited.
So I mean, you've got just all ages wanting to
think and be and and be grateful for and and contribute,
help out and collaborate.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
It's it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
So which leads me to where I'm going is the
high school neighbor foe Nor High School Veterans Club.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
Last year we made one hundred.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Christmas trees for the Quincy Assisted Living It's a veterans
assisted living facility. And what we did is we made
these a frame trees, and we actually did in my
studio where I am right now, and we are doing
about one hundred and fifty trees today and tomorrow because
we kind of outgrew my space here. We've got a
ton of volunteers. We set up like an assembly line.
(08:19):
We had their wood shop build the A frames. We
have this whole process where we staple gun the garland
and put the lights and every car on everyone and
then we drive them out.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
We got them to code.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
The fire departments approved it, and every veteran gets one
hung on their door. And so that's what we're That's
what I'm off to do, and what I really wanted
to be able to do is to take this show
and bring it live there and get a bunch of
kids to talk on. But we had to jump through
some red tapes with the school district.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
And so I'm working on it because yeah, we'll figure
it out today. And they do.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
The kids do so much with the veteran community, and me,
I said, can't we just get some kind of a
waiver that we right up that's a standard, something standard
so we don't have to jump through hoops every time.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
We do this.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Because I've already been on CBS, and I've been interviewed
in magazines and newspapers and I always talk about the
pictures are always there, We're always involving what they're doing,
and there's no reason, you know, to have unnecessary obstacles.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Let's just say. But anyway, that's why I'm out. Hopefully
all of that wrapped up nicely in a little bow
for you.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Uh huh it totally did it? Totally did Stacey. We
appreciate your energy. So, but what I would like to
do at maybe a slower pace for those of us
that are crayon eaters that are attending the podcast today,
how about you share just just a summary of what
the Gravesite initiative is and then also what you were doing.
(09:46):
Is the VFW commander with the schools in the Naperville area.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
Well, okay, so the well, there.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Might be a lot of there might be a lot
of people that don't don't know about the initiatives, either
one of them. So I just would like and Todd doesn't.
He's it's been a while since we've had Todd on
the show. Todd's got his own show. He's been busy
with the LEO.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Side of things. The first responder side of things.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
So I just want to make sure that we share
with the audience what you're up to with all the
flavor and energy that you have post Veterans Day. So
I just want to make sure that I want to
make sure that everybody understands what you're referring to in
what you just shared with everybody.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Okay, okay, So well, the Adoptive Veterans Grave Project, that's
that's what you want me to just touch on briefly, right, Stephen.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Yes, dear, yes please Okay.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
So every Memorial Day we place flags on graves. So Todd,
you're probably aware that happens.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
I think it happens in most communities.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
And I noticed three years ago when I became junior vice,
I started to really kind of pay attention to how
many of the graves were destroyed, non existent.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
We work off of a spreadsheet.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
We go to fourteen different cemeteries and we're reading where
the veterans are, and we are looking for the graves.
And so I started to realize that there was a
lot of them that would say, walk fourteen paces to
this beautiful family memorial and then look three, you know,
clicks to the right down at the ground for a pile.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Of rock and trash. Wow, that's the veterans grave. And
I was like, what what?
Speaker 3 (11:29):
So that really bothered me, and you know, it bothered
a lot of people. But I think a lot of
people are like, you know, what do we do about it?
And I just happened to be a little bit more tenacious.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
I suppose you know.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
What we do about is we enter Stacy Boyer And
then well.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
It really bothered me and I couldn't When I was
junior vice, people weren't really listening to me.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Then when I became senior vice.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
People really started to listen to the things I was saying,
because I was starting to prove myself. You know, I
would say I want to do this, and then I
would go do it, and they would like, oh, she's
actually she's doing it. And so then I realized that
there was a lot of obstacles because you have to
find next of kin. Burial laws probably in every state
(12:17):
are similar where you can't just go in and go
I'm going to refurbish this grave. I've got to find
a family member to give you permission. Well, a lot
of these grades, seven of them specifically, were over one
hundred years old, and then the other ones.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
I tried for a full year.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
I had an investigator, reporter from the local news, had
FBI helped.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
I found one.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
One with the next of kin and we refurbished that
raise the money. The students raised the money to refurbish
that grave from the Naporville North High School. And I
was going through so many obstacles. I finally said, well.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
I need this law.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
I started to read these laws about one hundred year
old anything it being historical markers. So I said, well,
I'm going to go find my state representative, and I
developed a a law that I said, why don't we,
as the VFW or American Legion take ownership of graves
that are technically historical markers if they're over a century old,
(13:10):
And then by virtue of that, we don't we don't
need to find a Nextican. If we give a good
faith effort and can't, then it doesn't just leave the
grave destroyed. Then we can take ownership and refurbish it.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
And so I did that. I changed legislation.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yes, that's cool, that's so going down to Springfield and.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Testified animus in the committee, the House, in the Senate,
and so The governor signed it August sixteenth at our
UH State Fair and it'll be in full effect in January.
Right now, we've got the seven graves in the Illinois Cemetery,
and two of those seven I've raised the money to refurbish.
We're just waiting for the law to give us that
(13:53):
you know, green flag to go. But the kids in
the community are a lot of the businesses in the community.
Everybody is like jumping on board, and I keep getting
interviewed about it in the magazines and in and on
the news, and everybody wants to help support this project.
Now it's not just this one cemetery. You know, there's
(14:14):
two hundred some on cemeteries in Illinois, and obviously I'm
going to get to the fourteen in my area first,
but I'm trying to create a kind of a scalable
program where other vfws can take it on and then
be able to use the law and the way that
I've worked the program steps to do this in their
own area.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
So that's the goal.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
But honestly, you know, with the kids having the energy
to raise the money, to raise the money at their
football games to come out to the fish fries, that
I host at our VFW and raise money.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
There for the project. It's given it.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
It gave it more momentum, you know, And so I
give them a lot of credit also because they were excited.
It kept me excited, believe it, or I mean I'm
not always just excited. I mean it helps to have
a little bit of like, you know, pat me on
the back and somebody else there next to me running
with me. And so that's how it all came, you
know that that kind of came together, and it's still
(15:13):
an ongoing work, piece of work.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
I'm going to turn it into a nonprofit here shortly.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Right now, I have it unbrellaed under our VFW Foundation,
so all that the funds don't go through me, I
have them all go into a separate place. So it's
a very segregated and safe. But yeah, so that's that.
But I mean me as a commander just doing what
I do in the community. If you were wondering about
Veterans Day, it was schools and then we had our
(15:40):
Veterans Park ceremony where I got to give my little
speech right before the mayor.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
I was so excited about that and I loved my
little speech.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
And then there was a great speech. It was a
great speech.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
And then we had our Veterans Day dinner which we
had like one hundred and twenty people. Steven, do you
remember the last time we were at the BFW and
we had that dinner. And I can't believe how robust
things have become.
Speaker 5 (16:02):
I get it, I get it.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
You guys are growing out of your space. Ridiculous.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
Yeah, so so so Todd.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
This this segues into uh well, Todd and and and Skywatcher.
This segways and and anybody watching. The segues into an
outreach program that Stacey has embraced.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
And it's with the it's with the youth. It's the
youth communities, it's the SEC. It's the schools.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
You know, Neighborville's Neighborville's got what to two high schools.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Well, actually Maporville, North Central, Nika, will.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
Bondzi and Mattea we actually have.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Okay, so there's five high schools that are all all
still part of the same Like people live in Aperville
and their kids go to all these all five of
these high schools. Point being is is that or or
something similar to that. Point being is is that you know,
there's a lot of talk these days about jen A
(17:04):
and Mollennium Hills and the moving forward and questions about
where the character is of the youth. And here is
a perfect example with what Stacy's doing with these high schools,
and we see the character of the youth because these
kids are volunteering to be there to support veteran causes,
(17:27):
to support veteran initiatives.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
So I'll let you get into that if you don't mind. Stacy.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Well, and they were all there last night at our
Veterans Day dinner. Both high schools came. There was probably
about six from each school, six to eight. They were
serving them, helping them bring the food to the table,
making sure that Belgio's catering was kept at refilled.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
They were bringing them desserts and talking to them.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
They would sit at the table and they would listen
to their stories. That's so powerful, you know, because we
all want somebody just we want to be heard. We
all want to be heard, and especially these older veterans,
I mean, they have stories to tell and they love
telling these stories to.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
These kids, and these and these these.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Kids they enjoy it and it's powerful because that's history.
It's so important we want to keep these things passing forward,
and so they're going to tell somebody else. We have
to keep telling these stories to keep this stuff alive,
even if it's painful, you know, you know the power that.
Speaker 6 (18:27):
The importance Tuesday is that this generation, or the younger generation,
like you said, has that respect the veterans. You know,
in the past when when veterans came back home, it's
the lack of respect. It started really Vietnam. You guys
can correct me on this, but I mean now, it's
so great to see that the youth are getting behind
the veterans and they're learning about their experiences and hearing
(18:49):
their stories and appreciating their service with the respect and
honor that they all deserve. And these kids, I mean,
it could even inspire a kid to become a military
person themselves.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
Oh a lot of them, A lot of them do
a lot of.
Speaker 7 (19:04):
I've got to say that it all starts at home, Yes,
at home, and it starts with the parents. I can
say that because my dad, I was retired Navy, he
was one hundred percent disabled veteran service connected. He then
later on, after getting out of the military, he was
a VA rep. So I know how all of this
(19:28):
works because my dad was a Veterans Administration representative in
the state of Oklahoma, and he went and he traveled
all around a big portion of the state of Oklahoma
helping veterans and him being a veteran himself. So I
got to see that firsthand, and I saw that.
Speaker 5 (19:46):
Man. You know, I missed my dad gravely.
Speaker 7 (19:49):
And we lost him this this December will be two
years ago. But he I saw him go and help
these guys who need did help, didn't have hardly any
assistance from the government after serving their country, and he
(20:09):
sat down with them and painstakingly he went through all
of the paperwork, helped them get the awards that they
were due, help them get their back pain that they
were due. And I literally saw a grown men sit
and weep and cry because of that. So I'm thankful
for that, and I gotta I got the inside view
of that. I got to see that because I got
(20:29):
to see my dad helping others and that that's important.
But that goes back to it starts at home and
what your parents do and how you raise your children
is extremely important. And that goes a long ways because
exactly what Bill was saying just a minute ago.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Yeah, so I really want to tell you this.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
I want to bring another another niche in the in
the black there for you did there. There is absolutely
a ton of veterans at the Neighborville VFW that have
gone on to first responder service, whether it.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Be you know, whether it be ambulatory.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Whether it be fire, whether it be law enforcement, you know,
park service, whatever. There they they spent their time in
service to the country and then they spend their time
in civil.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Service to their community.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
And it's just it's an amazing We'll have to get
you up there sometime.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
Yeah, I'm lucky.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
And yeah, maybe maybe we all could do the podcast
from that location. Hint hint, Skywatcher don't know. Uh So
we'll just I mean, we'll figure it out. It's sometimes
My point was is that that ties into your your
niche of what you do tied. I know, I've been
(21:55):
there with conversations with you about your father and about
what he did and and you and I we've had
so many conversations about both sides of that coin, the
first responder side of the coin, the veterans side of
the coin, the benefits, the mental health, the t the trauma, everything,
uh and I just want to I just wanted to
(22:15):
share with you that Stacy's community is she's in charge
of down there at the VFW inn Aperville, Illinois is.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
It's an amazing community. It really is.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
There's a lot of a lot of salt of the earth,
a lot of great loving Americans, a lot of patriots,
and uh, I just I'm so happy that you had
such an amazing weekend with all the events that you did.
I don't know whether you took a nap or got
sleep or ate or even uh, you know, it took
(22:46):
a breath.
Speaker 6 (22:49):
It's two days latest is still all posthumated, and I.
Speaker 5 (22:56):
Don't know, I don't know if you've all have seen it.
There are many video was out there.
Speaker 7 (23:02):
And I'm talking about from California to the from the
West coast to the East coast. Young younger generation and
I don't know what generation they call it, but the
younger generation today has turned more conservative.
Speaker 5 (23:19):
Are just adamant about being a part of something.
Speaker 7 (23:23):
Stacey, you mentioned this earlier, about being a part of
something that's bigger than themselves. And anybody who is involved
in a service related field, whether it is the military,
whether it is and a first responder, law enforcement, fire ems, whatever,
that's a service related field that you're providing a service.
Speaker 5 (23:44):
We all raised our hand.
Speaker 7 (23:46):
I saw the very same oath to protect and defend
the constitution of this country from foreign end domestic enemies.
Speaker 5 (23:52):
So we I mean, I get it.
Speaker 7 (23:55):
And I'm thrilled to death to see these young people
today really starting to step up and and become an America.
You know what it's all about. And we've we've had
other generations before that. I don't know what happened exactly.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
So I actually did a study on this. It's the
new generation. Is jen A the one that Stacey's dealing
with in the high school? Is there jen A?
Speaker 1 (24:24):
You know? Uh, I forget. So the Millennials were the
last ones Gen X and then or Gen Z and
then Gen.
Speaker 5 (24:32):
X before that.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
I think, I don't know anyway, point.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Being, it gets confusing at a certain time. I mean,
you know, we either drink from a water hose on
the back end of the house or we didn't, you know,
and and we are sat in front of a freaking
tablet and played video games, or we were kicked out
of the house by our parents and then told make
sure when the street lights come on, get the get
(24:57):
get home.
Speaker 7 (24:57):
And you know, I think Bill and I are in
this category. I'm in the very last year of the
baby boomers. So I'm telling on myself as far as
my age.
Speaker 4 (25:08):
How old are you talking about?
Speaker 5 (25:09):
Sixty? I just turned sixty, and well just six months
ago I turned sixty.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
So look sixty, Bill? Are you sixty?
Speaker 6 (25:16):
Heck no, I'm still in my fifties, but I'm getting there.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
How old?
Speaker 5 (25:20):
Yeah, I'm sixty.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Wait? How old are you?
Speaker 4 (25:23):
Bill?
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Fifty eight? Okay?
Speaker 4 (25:25):
And how old are you? Stephen?
Speaker 5 (25:27):
Fifty one?
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Oh, you're younger than me. I'm fifty four, Yes, dear,
I'm the youngest one.
Speaker 6 (25:35):
Stacy, John, I know you're running like crazy. But so
you spoke about these A frame Christmas trees. Yeah, when
you go to drop them off, the one hundred and
fifty or so whatever number they are, do the vetermans
know that they're getting these trees or is it like
a surprise moment for them? And secondly, I can't imagine
(25:55):
when they receive this they could have a family or not.
Because the holidays is a point where people suffer from depression.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Yep, they feel they're alone.
Speaker 6 (26:06):
And I'm getting emotional just thinking putting myself in that position,
what it must feel like to know that people care
to do something like this for me to do this,
serve it, you know, to send and bring me this tree.
It has to be an emotional, powerful moment for everyone involved.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
It's well, some of them have gotten it.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
This will be the third year, so some of them
have gotten it over they've been there for the time.
But I think that it will be a surprise to
people that are there for their first year. I think
they like to keep it a little bit of a
surprise like that, and the other people are like, you know,
anticipating it and they get super excited.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
They like really like look forward to it all year.
Speaker 7 (26:45):
That's cool, It's awesome.
Speaker 5 (26:50):
It is awesome.
Speaker 6 (26:51):
I mean, like I said, the holidays is a tough
time for many especially you know, if somebody is alone.
Just to have that appreciation because again it shows that
people care and have the youth involved and see that
it's it could be like their grandfather, Yeah, you know,
it's it's that personal connection that bond. But Stacy, where
(27:14):
can people can people help.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
With this cause? Like is there a website?
Speaker 6 (27:17):
Is that anything that people that are watching or listening
to this right now where they can help out if
they would like to.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Yeah, actually, well they could reach out to me directly
because I work with a nonprofit that's local, the Resource
Connection Network, And what they do is they provide they're
kind of like a food They've got a really cool thing.
This will be the last thing that I talk about
for a jet out of here, but they've got their
nonprofit and they're a food pantry for anyone. And what's
(27:44):
cool about this is you can pay like I think
it's like five to ten dollars and you get two
hundred dollars worth of food. And the money that you
pay though, and it's the food doesn't just go to veterans,
but the money that the people pay for the food
they need, all.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
One goes to veterans.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
So what you've got are people that are in need,
going because they need something, but the money that they
are paying it's kind of like that gift park, you
know where, and it's affordable for them, but they're giving
back at the same time they're getting help.
Speaker 4 (28:18):
It's a beautiful process.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
So my friend Renata, whom I believe Stephen you've met
at the VFL, she is the one of the heads.
Her and Michelle are boys are the heads of this,
and so I've collaborated with them. This will be the
second year and so anybody can reach out to me
directly through any of my channels, my link tree. There's
(28:41):
a thousand ways to get a hold of me, whatever
links that we have associated with the show, and I
can connect them and go from there.
Speaker 6 (28:49):
Awesome, God bless you for doing what you're doing. And
all those people are involved in this, and also the
students involved in it. It's just a great I mean,
I say, enough boys, how great. This is what you're doing,
a service to the veterans.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
Thank you. All right, I'm going to take off what Stephen,
you have one more thing?
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Well, yeah, I was just going to make sure.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Don't make sure when you're stapling garland to pieces of wood,
you watch out where your finger is.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
That's my safety brief for the night.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
I'm more concerned about not stapling my hair into something. Yes,
see you guys later.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Look by She's awesome.
Speaker 5 (29:34):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
It is NonStop energy. That my lord, she has not
stop energy.
Speaker 5 (29:42):
You know that. That's awesome. Where one what she's doing,
and then too, working with the youth like that.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
I mean, that's our future.
Speaker 7 (29:50):
I mean, when you really stop to consider it, the
future of this country is the youth.
Speaker 5 (29:55):
And if we don't put or invest into them, what's.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Going to agreed agreed principles?
Speaker 5 (30:04):
Morality?
Speaker 6 (30:05):
And it's so much involved there, I mean, and it's
such a great example.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Discipline and then also character of the individuals. I mean,
it all drives forward. So let's do it quick since
since this is the post half of the Stacey Boyer Show. Uh,
and then she has exited, so let's do this, and uh,
let's do a check in Todd and then and then
Skywatcher if you don't mind, uh, and then I'll go
(30:31):
last what how was Veterans Day weekend?
Speaker 1 (30:35):
How was the Marine Corps Birthday in your area?
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Did you guys, did you guys see any of the
packs of Marine Corps Wolves that were out there freaking
having a great time on Sunday running around from bar
to bar or doing crazy stuff.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
You know, I'm part of that. I'm part of that clan,
So I understand.
Speaker 5 (30:52):
Yeah, I did not our Sundays.
Speaker 7 (30:56):
You guys know, we're pretty pretty docile on Sundays, so uh,
but you know, the whole thing goes back to our
family members. I've got a number of family members that,
uh had.
Speaker 5 (31:13):
A great uncle that was in the Marine Corps. We've
got a brother in law in the Army. My dad
was in the Navy.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Saw.
Speaker 5 (31:19):
I mean, I've got just oodles and gobs. You know.
I was in the Army.
Speaker 7 (31:24):
OTC at least for the first couple of years before
I decided I wanted to go into another field and
then ended up going in still went into the State
Guard years later. And yeah, so I mean it it is. Yeah,
it's it's been pretty quiet around here and Florida. It
has been pretty quiet.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
I think Skywatcher, what I think he's telling us is
that they still haven't recovered from the hurricanes that went
through that area in the last couple of months.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
I'm just throwing it out there.
Speaker 5 (31:53):
Yeah they have it, and then we got another one coming.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Yeah I heard, I heard, I heard, Yeah they have.
Speaker 6 (32:01):
You know, of course, the local they have their celebration,
they have the parades going on here and they closed
the roads down, you know, they do that. But me,
Todd and Ode I was recovering on Sunday and obviously
Memorial Day. I mean Veterans Day was Monday, but I
went to see Iron Maiden, so I was like, yeah,
I was I was like, yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
But I saw the picture. I saw your picture. I
saw your picture that you posted.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
You were standing behind or the big banner was behind
you and he had your shirt on the truth.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
Yeah. Yeah, look at that.
Speaker 5 (32:37):
There is.
Speaker 7 (32:40):
Billy put on an awesome concert, don't they great?
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (32:45):
Yeah, So I never be twenty one. But getting back
to the veterans, I think, watch what I cannot TV.
There are I have family members that I speak with
and their hosts, not just like there are all the
whole that you know, there's conversations with them, and they
started telling talking about their stories. But the thing is
(33:07):
I was telling somebody about Todd actually about this situation
where veterans are. I cannot relate. And it's as simple
as that. I am not a veteran. I never served,
you know, I was not in the service, what like
with person like I was speaking with Todd about this
in the past and the experiences that Todd had overseas. Yes,
(33:30):
a person like me cannot relate even try to picture
what both of you individuals, so many veterans go through.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
You know, those horrendous.
Speaker 6 (33:44):
Experiences that you see, you know, all the sensory perception
things going on, and of course the PTSD, and you know,
it's so easy for people to say like they can
like talk about it unless you lived it. You really
really can't relate to that experience.
Speaker 5 (34:04):
You just can't.
Speaker 6 (34:05):
And to me that that demands so much respect for
these people and how they should be treated. To me,
everyone is a hero for serving this country. It doesn't
matter to me if they didn't go into combat. Is
the point that they did find that sacrifice to just say,
(34:26):
I'm gonna do this for my country, period and explore
and especially like you guys have had. I can't even
like I said, I can't relate. I can't even imagine.
But the respect I have for you at all, veterans,
I mean, it goes without saying. And I really would
love to do more on this.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
We'll talk about that. We'll talk about that. I guess
some ideas, So I'm going to turn it on.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
I'm gonna let Todd respond to what you're bringing to
the table, Skywatcher, and then and then now if you
on mine out, I'll pick up last again.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
That's fine, but you know Todd's. Todd's thing is with
with the LEO side of the House.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
And this is from my perspective, coming from the military
veterans side of the House. I've got the utmost respect
for the leos and for the first responders because they
do their jobs every day here in America and are
dealing with Americans for the most part.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
We do our shit overseas.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
And we're dealing with foreign nationals and we're dealing with
our own country members.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
That are in the military.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
We're dealing with other military members, our service members from
different countries.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
It's it's a different it's a little bit different. It's
a little bit different. It's I think it's it's more
of a I think there's.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
More of an impact, uh, if you will humor me
for a moment, I think there's more of an impact
on the psyche having to do it here at home
than having to do it overseas. And we can get
in to that later. That's a topic for another discussion.
That's my personal belief. That's the way I think about it.
But I'm gonna I'm gonna turn it over to Todd
so that way Todd can respond to before everything or.
Speaker 6 (36:10):
Todd takes it, though he mentioned something early. It's the
threats both foreign and domestic.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Agreed.
Speaker 6 (36:17):
I agree, So both both have their purposes. But I
understand exactly O D right.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
But so I don't. I won't. So I don't.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
I won't show up on an incident's site or go
on a mission and punch a local national where if
I if I'm the same person in a different venue
here in the States and I have to deal with
an American that's so stupid that I feel the need
to punch him in the face, I'm gonna punch him
in the face because the laws are different over here. Okay,
(36:47):
So I'll regress and I'll let Todd. Sorry, Bud.
Speaker 7 (36:54):
You know, all I can say is is that it
is a two prong front. The protection the defense of
this country is a too pronged front. And that's where
I think many people fail to see. If we do
not have a strong front in a foreign and as
(37:17):
far as a forem front, if we do not have
a strong front domestically, we are in trouble and we
will exist as a country. We have to have a strong,
too pronged front. Now, with what you were saying regarding domestically.
Speaker 5 (37:36):
It is. Now you've got to figure out who really is.
Speaker 7 (37:42):
One of those enemies because there are some people that
may appear to be but they're really not. Now you've
got to kick in certain critical thinking skills to figure out, well,
who really is the.
Speaker 5 (37:53):
Bad guy here?
Speaker 1 (37:54):
And you know, no, they're not.
Speaker 7 (37:58):
And that's that I will say it. It can be
tasking and very trying at times. And there's been in
never mind, I want to go there. Uh, there's been
times when you really have to bite your tongue and really, yeah,
(38:21):
have to control you know, it goes back to the
temperance or having self control over yourself or hopefully you've
got a very good brother who's standing right next to
your side who sees that what's going through your mind
that you're about.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Took that sand shoulder and pulls you back.
Speaker 7 (38:39):
Yes, i'n't had that happen a few times and say
saying I'm thankful for those guys.
Speaker 5 (38:47):
But it is a it is a task at times
to deal with that.
Speaker 7 (38:53):
And you know that is uh, I mean, that's a
whole topic we can have.
Speaker 5 (38:57):
Matter of fact, we could talk about that thing for hours.
Speaker 7 (39:00):
But you know, I'm thankful that there are people that
there are men and women who step up and volunteer
because they're both. Whether it is the military or whether
it is the first responder, law enforcement fireside, you volunteer
to do this and you raise your hand willingly going
in to face a threat.
Speaker 5 (39:22):
Yeah, that's what that's what we do.
Speaker 7 (39:24):
That's what we did. And and like I said, I've
got to see kind of two sides of the coin.
From the domestic side, I've done, like I said, some
stuff overseas, and it is difficult, I have to agree with.
Things domestically are a little more difficult. And you see
(39:47):
a lot of guys from the military when they leave
the military service, they come in as you were saying
a minute ago, Odie, these guys come into the first
responder feel law enforcement specifically, and you see or hear
so many of these guys who were in the military,
they go into law enforcement and then.
Speaker 5 (40:06):
They were killed yep, and they were killed on this land.
And I know I know that. Just yeah, it angers me. No,
I'll say this, it pisses me off.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
Was when it does, I get it.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
And you know, to be honest with you, it's uh uh,
it's it's ultimately without trying to go down a rabbit hole. Ultimately,
it's it's any it's any veteran, it's any any service
member from the military or first responders when they lose
their lives.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
A I just it drives me nuts. It drives me nuts,
especially when.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
And I want to I want to get back to
I want to get back to the things of the weekend.
But I'll just say this about this this specific topic,
my hat's off to every.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
Single UH Blue blue.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
Like every paramedic, every firefighter, every fire every police officer
out there in whatever echelon they are in. My hat's
off to every single one of them, because they have
to put up with our populace, our public these days,
and our public is just disconnected.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
I think it's the nicest way I can put it
that it's the nicest way.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
I can put it without like, I'm not trying to
start a whole other rabbit hole of you know whatever.
I just things are, things are going to get better.
I think things are will will eventually move forward in
the right direction. As we mentioned when Stacey was on this,
this jen A, the the youth.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
Their their their energy and their morals.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
And their conviction to be a part of and it
shouldn't just be that, but it should be first responders
and veterans, or at least under veteran or above you
say veterans about then below it's say military and first responders,
because I mean, we're all veterans.
Speaker 5 (42:12):
Well, and I'm going to want to come in if
I can, and.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
I am absolutely the second, and then.
Speaker 5 (42:17):
We'll switch back to yours.
Speaker 7 (42:19):
There's there's a part that I didn't mention before that
I think it's worthy of mentioning. Not only are those
enemies fore and domestic, yes, uh, those those domestic enemies.
Speaker 5 (42:31):
Then within our own law enforcement.
Speaker 7 (42:34):
Agencies, regardless of what level local, county, state, federal, tribal.
Speaker 5 (42:39):
Whatever, then you have how can I put this, You have.
Speaker 7 (42:46):
Personnel for certain positions of in management. Then you have
to not only fight the bad guy on the street,
then you have to fight the bad guy who's sitting
behind a desk because he has a title.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
And there you have So.
Speaker 6 (43:02):
That Todd you told me, because when you guys are
in the military, it's all structured.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
It's no, no, no, there's agendas in the military too,
just as much as there's agendas and first responders.
Speaker 1 (43:13):
But I got off back to duty.
Speaker 2 (43:14):
I got off back to duty because of the politics,
because of the way that politicians and then and then
leaders that shouldn't have been leaders back in the day,
decided to change my battle space based off of the
job that I did, because they thought they knew better
and they'd never done my job to begin with.
Speaker 7 (43:34):
Why they goes that goes for the first responders as well.
Speaker 5 (43:38):
I bat this one personally.
Speaker 7 (43:41):
I battled this one personally, and I went toe to
toe with these personnel in a federal agency, and.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
I just.
Speaker 6 (43:49):
So but so, dealing with the public is a game
changer I built.
Speaker 2 (43:55):
Okay, I understand that, brother, but his public is here.
My public's over there. I still deal with the public
over there. Those are called local nationals. I still deal
with the public over there. And I love this conversation,
and i'd love that. Actually, we should actually have like
our own another podcast about some of this stuff and
(44:19):
we can highlight that.
Speaker 1 (44:20):
We'll collectively highlight that.
Speaker 2 (44:21):
But I want to get back to paying tribute because
we're kind of getting off topic.
Speaker 1 (44:25):
We're kind of going down a rabbit hole.
Speaker 2 (44:27):
Yeah yeah, And so I want to make sure that
we I want to make sure that we give enough.
Speaker 1 (44:31):
Credit to what this last weekend has meant.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
And it's I joke around about the Marine Corps birthday
because I'm a Marine, and my phone was blown up
by almost everybody I know with some funny Marine Corps
meme about crayons or something or whatever, and that was
it was awesome.
Speaker 1 (44:50):
I had a great time. That's not the point. And
I sent them out to other people.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
But you know, like I got Navy friends that are
like a happy birthday to the Marine Corps from.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
Your uber driver. You know, just the Navy. The Navy
ships us everywhere.
Speaker 2 (45:05):
So it's just I mean, those are the types of
things I'd like, I'd like to touch upon that stuff.
I want to talk about Veterans Day. I do appreciate
not only your guys's stance, but everything that Stacey brought
to the table. And I don't want to I don't
want to alienate our audience. We did get down down
(45:26):
a little rap better of a rabbit hole, and that's okay,
but let's draw it back and let's talk about veterans.
Speaker 1 (45:31):
Let's talk about let's.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
Talk about do you Bill You mentioned that there's a
member of your family that's getting an honor or did
they get the honor already.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
A few months ago.
Speaker 6 (45:42):
He was part of the Boding ten years during the
Korean War. That was a Puerto Rican Army battalion. Yeah,
they actually the some senator here in New York actually,
because he's old, he's in his nineties, he put him
in the trip. So they went to his house and
(46:03):
then the ceremony there.
Speaker 5 (46:06):
That's awesome.
Speaker 6 (46:07):
That is so awesome too, you know, I can't it's
so beautiful to see that happen, like ninety four years
old and be honored like that by your country and
recognize because they were like the biggest battalion out of
Puerto Rico. There's a lot there for this, you know,
(46:27):
there's and like it's all about being Americans.
Speaker 2 (46:34):
So the biggest thing that our audience could tie that
too would be like the Tuscany Tuscany airman out of
out of World War Two. You know, it's a it's
just it's a select group of people based on nationality, ethnicity.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
And now now.
Speaker 2 (46:55):
You said it and I forgot already, but now your
family member is being recognized for being a part of
that from the Korean War.
Speaker 6 (47:01):
That's it's actually some kind of a medal of honor
kind of a ceremony. I don't even know exactly, but
being recognized as a Korean War veteran pot group because
like you said, you know, it's like the Tuskegee. It's
just saying they're still here with us. These are heroes,
you know. So yes, it's just identifying that group and
(47:24):
making them feel like they're part of everything here.
Speaker 1 (47:29):
Now that I get it.
Speaker 7 (47:30):
Obviously, there was somebody with the VA, the Veteran Administration
that had to go back and do their homework and
pull all his records and that was See.
Speaker 5 (47:39):
That is that is what ought to be done more.
There ought to be more guys.
Speaker 7 (47:45):
That do that, that do their work and you know,
and you know, and just do what they're supposed to do.
Speaker 5 (47:51):
You know that. Like I said, I mentioned it earlier
with my dad.
Speaker 7 (47:54):
I was thankful that there are people out there like
that that are willing to do that and put that
extra effort in there to recognize those who need to
be recognized.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
Yeah, agreed, Yes, totally agreed. I had a go ahead, tod.
Speaker 7 (48:14):
I'm sorry, I was just gonna say that, but that
takes effort, uh, and the willingness for guys to step
up and say, you.
Speaker 5 (48:20):
Know what, we need to make things right. Yeah, agreed,
that's what he's said.
Speaker 6 (48:26):
There could be a little bit more involved. I'm going
to quickly because I know we're running out of time,
and I.
Speaker 1 (48:30):
Know that we had a couple minutes. What do you
get going on?
Speaker 6 (48:34):
I just pulled up an article on this, and there's
more to it, you know, because I only know so
much sure books about But they were the US military's
only yes, U military is only all Hispanic unit. Wow,
and something must have happened with a trumped up court martial.
Speaker 5 (48:55):
But he was part of.
Speaker 1 (48:57):
This unit there you go back in there during the
Korean War.
Speaker 6 (49:02):
Yeah, I guess they're recognizing them after all the stuff
that happened. Sure, you know, they're cleaning up a little
bit of made what have happened?
Speaker 2 (49:14):
Like well, given recognition to those that deserve it after
all these years.
Speaker 6 (49:18):
Absolutely, Yeah, especially with that part public shaming a mass
court martials. Maybe you know, they're owning up to the
mistakes they made back in the past.
Speaker 5 (49:26):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (49:28):
Yeah, So, yeah, that's great. So I'm gonna I'm gonna
share a quick story.
Speaker 2 (49:34):
I had the so at least every veteran's day at
a minimum, but multiple times throughout the year, I call
my uncle Richard, and uh, my uncle Richard is one
of four veterans from Vietnam. My uncle Jack is still alive,
but his his term of service didn't take him to Vietnam,
(50:00):
So Richard's the only one that has combat is a
combat veteran left in the family. The other two combat
veterans and the family have already passed on. One one
was my dad's brother Tom, and then another one was
my my uncle Kenny, who married my mom's oldest, older sister.
Speaker 1 (50:20):
But anyway, Richard and I we get on.
Speaker 5 (50:22):
We get on.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
Our tangent is to uh, you know, crusty old bastards
from Chicago do from time to time, and we uh,
we just we just talk and you know, I just
I just love chatting with him because it's a connection.
Speaker 1 (50:35):
That I have with him, and I love being able
to It's a different type of rapport. Nobody else in
the family other than Richard and I are combat veterans.
And there's there's she had.
Speaker 2 (50:48):
There's probably fifty sixty people still in the family, you know,
they're still alive. Maybe more than that. I haven't I
haven't done the math. I'd have to bust off.
Speaker 1 (50:56):
My shoes to probably get that done. So but the
point is is that.
Speaker 2 (51:02):
It's just it's just nice to connect with him on
a on a every day on Betdursday. I have been
doing I've been doing this for the last you know,
five six years. And here's here's another point that I
want to bring up about Uncle Richard. I did my
first combat tour in two thousand and three and came
home and I could already see the pace of the
(51:24):
nation with how they were supporting the veterans, you know,
was very fresh from nine to eleven and everything else
moving forward.
Speaker 1 (51:31):
And and I.
Speaker 2 (51:33):
I went toe to toe with this big old man
and said, you never went to the VA. I realized that,
you know, you and a lot of your your compatriots
got spit on when he got home. But go get
some damn benefits. And and that was that was a
that was quite a while, a little bit of a
(51:54):
battle with that old krusty bastard. I love him death was,
I swear to god it was. But he finally did
and he the VA's helped him with a pacemaker. The
VA's helped him with a shoulder surgery, you know, and
some other stuff. And a lot of this is just
(52:16):
compounded stuff from injuries that have gone unattended since he
was in Vietnam.
Speaker 1 (52:23):
So I was just I was happy to spend the time.
Speaker 2 (52:25):
With him on yesterday or two days ago on Monday,
to talk with him and give him a little bit
of time just to talk with him. And we mentioned
these things about listening to the old people. I think
I think Stacey was talking about it about how the
kids they listened to the veterans and they listened to
the stories and whatnot. And I'm fifty one, I'm a
(52:48):
five time combat veteran. I can still do it with
members of my family. So you're never too old to
listen to the older people, because that's where we're going
to learn our grace, our compassion, our empathy, and.
Speaker 1 (53:05):
Our drive moving forward.
Speaker 2 (53:06):
So that way we can fix whatever we got to
fix in America right now.
Speaker 7 (53:10):
So yes, and I think that that needs to be
passed down, uh to those who are younger. There's a
whole lot to be said about wisdom as we grow older,
at least with most most people, you know, with age
comes wisdom, and we all pass the wisdom off to
those younger people to say this is what it was like.
Speaker 6 (53:31):
Yep, that's almost as close as we can get to
a quote ODI from Todd.
Speaker 1 (53:37):
Because we're we're am already. I can't believe. I'll close
I'll close this out.
Speaker 2 (53:43):
I'll close us out if you don't, if you don't mind,
unless unless Skywatcher, you want.
Speaker 1 (53:48):
To do it.
Speaker 2 (53:48):
You're the you're the man in charge behind the scenes.
I'll close this out. If you're okay with that, you can.
Speaker 1 (53:54):
Close it up.
Speaker 6 (53:54):
And I'll say this, God bless all those veterans and
their families, and the current too, of course, and those
have who lost their lives for our country and for
our freedoms. But God bless all those people out there.
And I hope all of you have a great upcoming holiday.
So oh do you tell yours?
Speaker 2 (54:11):
Thank you very much for listening to us, to listening
with us this afternoon. This wraps up another another episode
of Tripwire. God bless you, God bless our country. Stay safe.
We'll get you the next same time next week, next Wednesday,
four pm Eastern time.
Speaker 1 (54:28):
This is Tripwire Out
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