05-23-25 *INTERVIEW* Captain David A. Bader is the Brother of Colorado Fallen Hero Daniel Bader

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let me share just a little thing with you, and
then we're going to get to my guest. This is
from the website of the National Cemetery Administration, which is
part of the Va CEM dot va dot gov. I
still can't believe. In the waning years of the Civil
War and immediately afterwards, communities in the North and South
black and white, decorated soldiers graves with floral honors on

(00:24):
springtime decoration days. The practice of strewing flowers on graves
has been documented from classical Roman times to Western Europe.
In the nineteenth century. On May fifth, eighteen sixty eight,
the Grand Army of the Republic, a politically powerful organization
of Union veterans lay led by Major General John A. Logan,

(00:48):
issued General Orders Number eleven, or the Memorial Day Act.
This issuance formerly established Memorial Day as a decoration day
on which the nation would remain member it's war dead
and decorate their graves with flowers. In subsequent decades, competition
flourished to claim when and where the first such gathering occurred,

(01:10):
in one way or another. Recent scholarship, however, points to
the Ladies of Columbus, Georgia, who in April eighteen sixty
six lobbied for a clearly defined Memorial Day on which
to place flowers on the graves of Civil War dead.
So today we are taking bits of time throughout the

(01:31):
show to honor those who passed away in the service
of our country. And I have invited you to text
in at five sixty six nine zero if somebody you knew,
somebody you loved, somebody you cared about, passed away in
the service of our country as we head into this
Memorial Day weekend, and if you would send me that

(01:54):
person's name, anything you want me to say about them,
your name, if you want to, and I promise you
I will read all all of them, and I will
share some of them on the air. Joining us with
one such story is Captain David Bader, the brother of
Colorado fallen hero Daniel Bader. Captain Bader, welcome to Kaaway,

(02:16):
Thanks for being here.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
Thank you. Ross. Tell me about your brother, Well, Ross,
I could.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
I could spend a quite quite a bit of time
doing that, but I'll try and give you the cliff
notes version. I guess growing up, Dan was you know,
he was more than just a brother to me. He
was he was a true friend. And very very loyal,

(02:51):
very loyal guy. If I had to kind of paint
a picture of him, if if you could only have
just one friend, Dan would be, you'd want a friend
like Dan.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
He was.

Speaker 3 (03:07):
He was very supportive. We looked up to each other.
There were many times where you.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
Know, he was he was kind of like that.

Speaker 3 (03:19):
He was very athletic. In high school, he was uh
you know, he was a social butterfly. He had many friends,
and myself, I was kind of like, uh, you know,
I had a couple of friends, and I was uh
more kind of like a geek and stuff I liked.
I excelled well in math and science and like to

(03:41):
learn how things work. And many times there were things
that I was jealous of then that that he had
I didn't have. But he had always come up to
me with Dave, I'm so proud of you, and I
look up to you in so many ways, and and
uh gosh, that's how it was growing up. I mean,
we we did a lot together.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
So he joined the army and and I'm you know,
who's which one of you is older?

Speaker 3 (04:07):
I am older?

Speaker 2 (04:09):
Okay?

Speaker 1 (04:09):
And did you join the military before Dan did?

Speaker 2 (04:14):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (04:14):
Yeah, we we took so yeah, I'm two years older.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
So we took.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
Kind of two different ways of joining the army. When
I was a junior going into my senior year, I
enlisted under the delayed entry program at the time. But
Dan when after the summer of his junior year, he
went into the National Guard. So he went to boot
camp and then graduated boot camp and then completed his

(04:45):
senior year in high school, and then after that he
went to a i T or Advanced Individual training, whereas
I went after I graduated high school, I went straight
active Army.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
Okay, So tell us about where Dan got deployed and
just what we're here to talk about today, now, Okay, So.

Speaker 3 (05:10):
There was there was a transition period of time where
I had I had served mindless Man and I transitioned
into the Guard, and around that period Dan Uh transitioned
into active duty Army. So we kind of kind of
flip flopped there. But it was shortly after September eleventh

(05:34):
attacked that Dang got called for OEF or excuse me,
oh if Operation Iraqi Freedom and I can't ross I apologize.
I can't remember the exact dates on when he got deployed,
but I just can only remember November first, unfortunately.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
Sure, so so he got deployed to Iraq and then what.

Speaker 3 (06:06):
Well, yeah, so he got deployed to Iraq and during
that period of time, my guardian had got our our
mobilization order.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
To to go serve as well.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
But I, uh, I was prior to that mobilization order.
I got selected to go to Officer candid school and
then my commander told me to pursue my career as
there were going to be for future deployments in the future.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
So, you know, so that was the choice I made.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
I was enough, you know, I was going through my
my schooling and Dan uh got deployed to Iraq, and uh,
I got to tell you a memory of mine. My
wife and I we were we were expecting our uh
second son, and I don't know what Dan did, but

(07:10):
uh we were. We were My wife was literally in
labor and somehow he got ahold of uh the hospital
that we were in, and he called from from Fallujah
and I got to speak to him, uh before we
had our son. That's one thing I'll never forget. But anyway, yeah, just.

Speaker 1 (07:35):
And just to I guess to not put you in
a position of having to tell this part of the story.
But Dan so, Dan was in a in a helicopter,
in a Chnook helicopter that was shot down near Fallujah.
And I think there were maybe sixteen fatalities there in

(07:55):
that crash. And uh, as I as I read from
you know, the person who connected us David is that
he was actually coming home on leave.

Speaker 2 (08:07):
Is that right? That is correct? Yes, he was.

Speaker 3 (08:12):
He was on board the Schnook and at the initially
the news reported as a crash, but in reality it
was it was it was struck by an RPG from
an insurgent, but the helicopter was not even in the
air seven minutes when when it got hit.

Speaker 1 (08:35):
Wow, wow, all right. Uh, I want to finish up,
and I don't want to put you in a, you know,
in a position of just having it keep going here. Uh,
you've served in the military as enlisted in an officer,
and I wonder if you just want to add anything

(08:56):
in the broader context of Memorial Day, it can go
beyond your broad to anything you want to say on
this Memorial Day.

Speaker 3 (09:06):
Yeah, well, you know we all this weekend for most
of us is uh, you know, it's a it's a
it's a time to take an extra day off of
work and you know, kind of reset. We're all pretty
much busy. But for a lot of or a few

(09:28):
families in Colorado, specifically gold Star families, this is going
to be a sombering weekend.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
You know.

Speaker 3 (09:36):
It can be a time of reflection on memories of
loved ones. There can be some sadness, and god forbid,
maybe some depression involved too. But I think this weekend,
I just want people to go enjoy it, but take
some time out to remember our our fallen heroes and

(09:58):
Uh and the sacrifice they made.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
But also.

Speaker 3 (10:03):
Also keep in mind that there were some families, particularly
gold Star families, that they gave us their loved ones
to serve and defend our nation, and that's that's a
sacrifice that they can't be paid back by our nation.
So I am truly grateful.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
For the.

Speaker 3 (10:29):
Freedoms that we have and for the sacrifices of the
heroes among us that have made it possible.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
Captain David bad Uh, the older brother of Colorado's own
fallen hero Daniel Vader. David, thank you so much for
your time, thank you for your service to our country,
and thank you for those wonderful words. I couldn't have
said it better and I'm I'm thinking of you and

(11:00):
your brother today. Thanks for being here.

Speaker 3 (11:02):
Thanks Roy, I appreciate this opportunity as well.

Speaker 2 (11:07):
Wow. Thank you David