Everythin' Yet Nothin' talking to veterans.

T-Roy has Veteran Jason Cottom on with some family members of vets to talk about their experiences and what it was like.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/everythin-yet-nothin-with-t-roy--4569887/support.

Episode Transcript

(00:09):
Warning. The following video contains stronglanguage which may be offensive to some viewers
and or inappropriate for children. Thecontent within this video is intended for mature
audiences only. Welcome to Everything YetNothing. Here's a hill billy and eyes
shadow who's looking fabulous and talking aboutanything yet Something. Get ready to chew
on a blade of sweet grass andtalk about a variety of LGBTQ topics to

(00:33):
the lifestyle of a gay hill billy. Watch out boats. These hills don't
just got eyes, they got themselvesa podcast. Now here's t Roy.
Hey, Hey, hey, welcometo Everything Yet Nothing. We have an
absolutely freaking kick ass show tonight.I have like so many people coming on.

(00:58):
This is better an tonight. Andof course I'm sure that everybody knows
what a veteran is and did,and we're going to show them some celebration
and thanks for doing what they've done. If it wasn't for them, we

(01:18):
wouldn't be here right now. AndI think a lot of individuals whenever a
lot of our people came back insome years, you know, we got
treated mistreated, and you know theyshouldn't know got mistreated because, like I
said, if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be here. And that's
changed a little bit, but Istill want to put it out there,

(01:42):
like, if you know a veteran, go up to him and say,
hey, thanks, you know,because they're going to appreciate that more than
anything else in the world, especiallywith their owner. I definitely stand for
veterans because I've had family members thatare veterans and still are in service and

(02:02):
fighting for us. So, um, I got an individual here that has
had some family members, and thenI have some other individuals. I have
another one that's gonna be kind oflike co hosting because he knows the other

(02:22):
ones. So it's like, Ihave so many co hosts tonight, and
I'm so confused. They don't evenknow he he's not even here. So
confused. He's like, what thehell? Sorry, sorry, you got
to back it up. I don'tknow why my aunts always look like that.
I'm not always always why. Itell him, I'm like, babe,

(02:50):
you look so screwed up. Ofcourse I didn't say screwed up.
But I want to try to keepit good and clean. But we don't
have to be an adult show.So if I want to say fuck damn,
hell, I can and it's okay. So UM, for those of
you that are gonna watch, thisis going to be an adult show.

(03:12):
UM, just in case somebody wantsto speak freely and be who they are
and get the word out. Um, We're going to go deep in some
conversation. And I can't wait becauseI'm so excited to have especially one on
here that is going to be onactually next month, and it's going to

(03:35):
be part of his story and partof his life. Chorus. Um,
I'm going to talk to you somemore because I have an idea that I
think he might like doing, soI'll bring that up whenever I bring him
out. We are waiting for anindividual to pop on. Hopefully he can

(03:59):
make it, and if not,then there's always next time. Yeah j
m F d uh huh, Igot you, bro, I'm sure I
told him. I was like,yeah, he is gonna be spewing the
f momb here I'm there and yeahthat's Larias. Oh hey, but that's

(04:24):
my private chat. He never met. I didn't say anything. I didn't
say df MG, what are youdoing, Damien, Like, look at
your face. I'm telling oh,Larius, Oh my god, it's gonna
be one hell of a show.Yea, So this last week has been

(04:47):
kind of busy. Um uh,those of you that don't know me and
my co host, Damien Paul Heiohave a radio show every Tuesday morning from
eleven until one and uh it's forcathabulous seventies, eighties, nineties rock and
soon to be country and you cancatch that on KRBC, Media group dot

(05:09):
org or the Live sixty five app. Okay, RBC, I keep on
forgetting that's what it is. I'mhorrible, I'm sounding I'm horrible. Um
so yeah it was ah, Iknow it's like, um yeah, I'm
kind of hollow. I've been tryingto lose by it, so I figured,
well, might as well have cutthis part of my body off and

(05:31):
go with it. You know.I was like, oh, look at
that, all right? So yeah, I'll take my shirt off later because
you can't see nothing. So oh, I can't wait, can't wait.
Anyways, it's supposed to know snowsnow. No, it's supposed to know
tonight. They're already canceled schools theyyeah in Branson, are you kidding me?

(05:56):
No? Already? Shit, WheneverI was in school, that is
not happy. You had to gohigh hipster. Yeah, and so um
for those of you that don't know, um, we do have an audience
and audiences we'll ask questions and giveus some comments everyone once in a while.

(06:21):
So um, if you want peopleto watch us two, they can
go to WADB dot com or radioand you can also go to everything Nothing
Facebook page and it will be liveright there, right now. Um,

(06:42):
so right now, right here,right now, right How's that? I'm
gonna like that is so exciting?Oh my god, stop it. So
anything you have anything? Oh andwe also have let's see, we have

(07:05):
that Jason, which is a veteran, and he will be talking about some
stuff that he has went through anduh, what he's danced for. And
we have mister Chris Sharp, whichhas had individuals from his family and uh

(07:29):
okay, and so we're gonna betalking about how it is to have veterans
in your family. Like I'm kindof interested in what he has to say,
um, what he remembers. Um, you know it's I think it's
really cool because I want to bringyou some good stuff up and let oh

(07:54):
my god, and mister Damien Portariowill be here and uh he's hands for
a lot of stuff that you know, he fights for a lot of good
rights in his actions everyday life.And uh, I definitely want to put
that out there because you know,do you hear that, Damian, you

(08:20):
need to like tell him up.We'll be the hand and uh so,
yeah, I would definitely be talkingto him and getting his opinions on some
stuff that I think that maybe it'lltouch somebody and open your eyes and change
your mind. If not, thenyou got a problem. So, uh,
we are going to get started.We're still biting him for a guest.

(08:43):
Hopefully he can make it on anduh but yeah you ready, Hello,
Okay, Well first, yes,first, we're gonna have Jason on
to speak with us for a fewminutes. Yeah, yeah, bye everybody,

(09:05):
Bye, Cela to bye. It'sa whole studio. Yeah, yeah,
studio. Whatever we are in thewoods or wherever we are, isn't
mister Jason? Jason, you area veteran yep, And uh where did
you serve? I was a combatmedic in the United States Army from nineteen

(09:26):
ninety six to nineteen ninety nine atWalter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington,
d C. Yeah, how manyyears ago? Was that that you served
exactly twenty three? Yeah, that'ssome time ago. Yeah, it was
a time ago. And yeah,and before then, I was a Navy

(09:48):
brat. My dad was a QueerNavy So I spent over half of my
life in the military. Hell,how was that? I don't know what
else to compare it to. Imean, you know, you the way
you you all grew up, youknow, uh same you know, same
kids all through school from grade schoolon up like that. I'm I went
to fourteen different schools growing up andnever lived in one place more than three

(10:11):
years of my life until I gotout of the military. So you know,
I just don't know any other wayto live. So, like what
my kids are going through now,they don't have any idea, you know
what it was like to have tokeep moving and always be the new kid
and rum. You know, thenwe had the wars going on, Persian

(10:33):
Golf Force going on, so mydad was gone from almost three years,
so you know it was so youhad some good and you had some bad,
but the right Yeah. Yeah,I grew up in Japan, graduate
from high school out there, livedin Spain for a couple for a couple
of months before I went into thearmy and bounced around all over the United

(10:56):
States too, so I got tosee a lot, do a lot I've
been. I swam on both sidesof the Atlantic, and I swam on
both sides of the Pacific Ocean.Oh wow, which one do you like
the best? I'm always partial ofthe Pacific Ocean. I don't know why.
Maybe because it's bigger, you haveway more to although the waters in

(11:18):
the Gulf of Mexico and Southern Atlanticare really nice. Sweet. So,
was there's someone that you were like, uh going into sir, like,
you know, a dad, grandpathat was in the family. Yeah,
it was. Yeah, this wasalmost a family tradition. At least now,

(11:41):
four generations of my family straight upserved in the military. My grandfather
served in World War Two. Itwas on one of the first ships to
go into Tokyo Bay after Japan surrendered. Um, my dad served, my
uncle served. Two of my nephewsare currently serving right now. So,
um, you know, hopefully whiteone of my kids will serve two.

(12:05):
Yeah, it's it's just part ofthe family and how we grew up the
military life. Well that's kind ofcool, you know what I mean.
It's nice to carry something on,especially something you can have so much pride
for her. Yeah. Yeah,So what is the hardest part coming back
to civilian Well, for a lotof people, coming back to civilian life's

(12:26):
really hard. I never experienced civilianlife really, so for me, it
transitioning from the military to civilian lifewas probably one of the hardest things I've
ever done, just because the mentalityis quite is radically different. The cultures
different. You know, the waywe talk to each other's a lot different
too. You know, you geta bunch of guys with the who are

(12:48):
in the military. You know,every other word is the F word and
yeah, it's like yeah and thather. Yeah, So it's, um,
we just talk. We just talkeddifferently amongst ourselves. Humors a lot
different too, um. But alsothe camaraderie and brotherhood and sisterhood there is,

(13:11):
yeah, something that I miss alot from the military. And one
of the projects I'm doing is calledDungeons and dog Tags, where I'm bringing
dungeons and dragons to our veterans andactive duty and we're doing online games.
And we just recently sent a carepackage overseas to the Sandbox to with Dungeons

(13:31):
and Dragons books and dice, sothey can set up in person our troops
that are overseas right now. Sobut yeah, we but we've had established
a place where it's veterans only playingDungeons and Dragons and it's a chance for
us to reconnect with each other,uh and have that camaraderie again, you

(13:54):
know in a fantasy world. Youknow that was similar ruggles of you know,
trying to survive and fight and stufflike that. It's a lot of
fun and um and it's it's helpedme out quite a bit too mentally,
because you know, it's nice toknow that there's other guys and women out

(14:16):
there going through the same shit thatI'm going, right and the same struggles
and all that, and so it'snice to be able to know I can
talk to any one of them ifI'm having a shitty day or vice versa.
Ivan. Through Christmas time, Ihelped a couple of guys through Christmas
holidays for having it really rough.And uh So it's you know, a

(14:39):
two way street, right and it'sa lot for you to do that,
but you know, we need moreof you out here in this world,
so that a way you know,everybody can reach out and help each other
on awareness and no matter what Ithink that you've been doing an awesome job.

(15:00):
Yeah, I mean that's a lotto me. Yeah, that's one
thing I pushed a lot on theshow on the Games is mental health awareness
and support because the only way toend the stigma's education, right, people
become educated about that's illnesses. Yeah. Absolutely. So what was the greatest

(15:24):
thing during your experiences of serving?Um, boy, that's that's a that's
a long list because for me,yeah, um actually going on leave when
I was first in the Army,I got to go on leave and take

(15:46):
a course my dad was teaching tothe military. Now he was out,
so but that was the closest Igot to serving. At the same time
he was was being able to goto this computer course that he taught out
in Sandy. I go when Iwas on leave and so I got to
go in uniform and everything like that, and that was really cool. Um.

(16:07):
You know, we had the opportunityto be Senator Bob Dole. He
was a captain in the Army YEAand combat wounded and he'd go to Walter
Reef for his treatment, you know, and of course we'd have President Clinton
come through every now and again too, because we had the Children's ward up
there, so you'd go up thereand visit that, or visit the vets,

(16:30):
you know, kind of photo opsstuff. Um, but it was
really cool to be in DC.I wouldn't want to live there ever again,
but it was a really cool placeto visit. Just the history,
the founding of our country. Cemetery, yeah, I mean, the Vietnam

(16:51):
warl all these great things that theyhave their the museums and everything like that,
so some really cool stuff. Andto be able to serve nations capitals
was an honor to one of themost premiere hospital, premier army hospital in
the world. And I worked erand ambulance and air medical evacuation ARAVAC doing

(17:12):
that when I was a combat medics. So so yeah, we we We
also had some messages to h Yeah, probably the worst was the embassy bombings
of Kenya and Tanzania where two twinbombs went off, one in one country
one and the other within an hourof each other, and the military brought

(17:37):
back the civilian casualties from those twobombings. Because they had no hospitals there.
I could treat them. And sothe military on its own dime did
this and that was just one ofthose things those will probably be I was
one of the medics that the headmedic taking the prayers, taking the patients

(17:59):
back from Andrew's Air Force Base toWalter read you know, on on transports
and stuff like that. It waspretty cool. Yeah, that's it's pretty
cool. Like sounds like you've definitelylived your life and got to see some
of the world that a lot ofpeople don't get to see. And the
party in Tokyo, Ya. Howdoes that? Oh Man, Southern Spain,

(18:26):
Now, that's where the Europeans gofor vacation, not like Aca Pola
and stuff like that. They goto the southern southern Spain where it's wine
country. It is so cool.They got these bodegas there in Spain where
they use gas pumps for the dispensedwine. That's how much wine people drink
in a week. You know,you just drive up and you buy it
by the leader and you bring yourown jug, and well you got these

(18:48):
gas pumps and they just fill upthe wine jugs, you know, for
the week's worth of wine. Ohyeah, but it's like oh yeah,
and I'm not a wine drinker,but so Spanish wine is unreal. Yeah,
I've never had it, so I'mI like my sweet wine. So
you would love Spanish wine that,yeah, because it doesn't taste it doesn't
have that alcohol. I can't dothe whole alcohol. Yeah. Yeah,

(19:17):
my drank a choice back in theday. It was straight vodka and I
can't do anything near that because I'mjust like it kills me. Yeah.
Stuff. So whenever you came back, how easy was it? Um?
You said something about it not beingeasy coming back because um, lure different.

(19:38):
So how did people treat you likeon the whole? Like respect?
Did people respect you? Didn't treatyou like shit? You know, like
you know, for the most part, most people didn't know I was a
VET for for the longest time too, not that I hit it or anything
like that. You just, Um, I bounced around the country a lot

(19:59):
about it time. I was goingthrough bipolar, really having some of the
worst symptoms of my bipolar and wasstill trying to figure that out with the
diagnosis and the medication. I mean, it took was twenty years for them
to get the medication to work oftrial and error, and so it was
during that time. It was reallyrough because I was just completely disconnected from

(20:19):
everything I knew. But I didn'teven have the familiarity of going to my
hometown or anything like that, youknow that, you know, which would
be in any military base. SoI couldn't do it go an he couldn't
go where I used to grow upat, you know, my friends.
All my identity was in the military, and then to have that yanked out

(20:41):
from under me, and then tosuffer from bipolar on top of that,
you know, it was it wassome of the roughest times in my life.
Yeah. Yeah, well, I'mglad that you're hoping with it,
and yeah, you know, you'reteaching yourself. That's all we can do
is teach ourselves how to deal withit, you know. So but how

(21:02):
do you do it? Deal withit? Like well, meda you like
a little bit of everything, sothat Yeah, see, the thing about
it is is there's no silver bullet. Medications on a silver bullet, diet,
exercise, all that, but altogetherthose all those components of medication,
whether you take it or not orif you use alternative medications, however you

(21:29):
do that, um you have thatyou have diet, you have exercise,
you have sun exposure, you havetherapy. All these little tools all together
add up to your whole um umcare pan of how you take care of
yourself. And so it's not anyone thing, but just several small things
working together to help out. Andthat's what took the longest time to figure

(21:52):
out. I was looking for asilver bullet, you know, the right
medication. Yeah, the easy way. That's Unfortunately when it comes to miltal
illness, there is no easy wayout. No, there's not. You
know. We just cope with it, deal with it the best way we
know how. And I didn't learnto thrive with it, Yeah, exactly.
And that's that's the final step,is they're learning to thrive because survival

(22:15):
isn't enough. Exactly, take thenegative out of it, pissing positive in
it, turn it into something positiveto where you can accept it and you
just make yourself better because there's nothingwrong with that, right. Sometimes we
got to check ourselves. And that'sone of the things that you know,
I think a lot of people dealwith And I could just imagine what you

(22:37):
had to go through. After goingthrough what you had to go through,
then I can just uh, fatI mean just yeah, I wouldn't be
able to do it myself. Idon't really think that I could, because
you'd be surprised what you can whenyour back is against the wall. What
you're Oh, yeah, I'm sure. And now I could defend myself if
I have to defend myself, youknow, like if that can't have to

(23:00):
come down to it. Yeah,but still, like I would, I
thought it was hard to do whatyou had to do. Yeah. And
I made a lot of bad mistakestoo, I mean a lot of bad
choices and stuff. I'm just surprisedI'm still here despite some of the decisions
I made some of them, youknow, And and of course I made

(23:22):
some good ones too, some things. Yeah, um, absolutely, so
Yeah, it's it's a mixed bag, I mean, and you got to
take the good with the bad,you know, you just can't. Yeah.
I always say there's no good withoutthe bad, and there ain't no
bad without the good exactly. That'sjust life. Yeah, and you gotta

(23:45):
learn how to live with it too, live with these mistakes that you've made
and the people that you've heard andstuff like that. Well, yeah,
I mean, we got to forgiveourselves. And it's not easy to find
the ways to forgive ourselves whenever certainthings that you know we do or whatever
who go through it's not easy whatsoever. But you know, I have kind

(24:10):
of found a circle, so itdoes have to find a circle. I
didn't go nearly through half of themost of your stuff, you know that
you went through, so I canjust yeah, I don't yeah, I
just I don't know what to say, because I'm just shocked that you're still
here and you're still talking, andyou're out here telling your story, and

(24:33):
you know, well, there's alot of guys out there, a lot
of people, but there's also alot of guys out there who aren't talking
or who can't. Somebody's got tospeak up for them. And I'm glad
that it or the twenty two aday, which is the twenty two veterans
who commit suicide every day too,and so we need to be aware of

(24:56):
that. So yeah, not beafraid to ask the hard questions about suicide
within us to suspect somebody of thinkingabout it, which is flat out asking
him, are you suicidal? Areyou thinking about hurting yourself? Because the
thing that's been studied over and overagain is that that will not trigger somebody

(25:18):
to commit suicide. Asking them flatout it will has never happened. However,
not saying something can be just asbad as saying, go ahead and
pull the trigger. Right. Butyeah, you know, because if he
thinks something's wrong, you don't wantto be the one at the funeral saying
I wish i'd said something. Iwish I had. Listen to my gut,
right, and definitely listen to yourguts no matter who you are,

(25:41):
listen to yourself, and like yousaid, to reach out, ask questions.
That w't be afraid to ask questions, you know, And if you
are suicidal and you're going through stuffand you need to reach out, don't
fear reaching out because that's what wegot to do. That's what you gotta
do to do your stuf. Goon with your life, you know,

(26:03):
walk your path that you need tobe walking. And you know, that's
about the one thing that I canthink of. And well, the other
thing I say is don't don't letit be good to a point where it
is a crisis. Right, Yes, you can always go anywhere nine one
e or anything that if he comesa crisis, but don't let it get
that bad. Don't let it getthat far. Yeah, get help early,

(26:26):
get help often, you know,be your own advocate. If you're
not getting the support you need,you know, shout for it and demand
that you get it, because nobody'sgoing to advocate for you more than you
do for yourself. Right right,So would you picture but where you are

(26:49):
if somebody needs to reach out toyou. You mentioned dog tags and if
you go to be bipolar DM dotcom do get everything. So I've did
dungeons and dog tags, um myother shows all that stuff there. So
it's the bipolar DM dot com anduh yeah, that's that'll get you plugged

(27:11):
in everywhere. Cool. There yougo, and there you have it.
Um, thank you again for comingon and sharing your story. I really
appreciate it, and I'm sure thatthere's a lot of people out there I
appreciate it too. Yeah. Soyeah, definitely, And I am going
to pull out up commercial and thenafter these messages, I am going to

(27:32):
pull out mister daymy Parfurio and ChrisSharp, Hey, and welcome back to

(30:41):
everything yet nothing Oh thank you.Oh I wasn't talking about but hey,
I'll talk to you now day.Welcome about Connie and welcome back, Kevin.
How are you today? I'm good? Get over okay, So next
we are gonna hello mister Chris Sharp. What's up? Hey? How you

(31:07):
man? What are you guys doing? Man? How are we doing?
Yeah? Jack? Oh, therewe go? So how much too much?
I really need? Like a safetypan or something put here? Oh

(31:27):
mister you know? So how youdoing? Hi? I'm Kevin. Nice
to me too, n Chris.My name is Sharpie, Chris Sharp.
I like that, mister Sharp,and enjoy I enjoy listening to the last
gentleman what was his name? It'svery good. Uh. I've talked to

(31:48):
I talked to my grandfather for manyyears, and I've heard I've heard a
lot of that kind of the samestuff that he was saying. So I
can definitely re re relate some ofthe stuff I never served. But you
know what I mean? Oh yeah, yeah, I mean you still had
family members and they did it foryou. You know, yeah, you

(32:09):
still did it. So what aresome of the things that you remember your
grandpa talking about? My grandfather didn'ttalk much, uh, but when he
did, you knew what he meant, you know. Uh. He he
had a way with being extremely straightto the point, and I think that

(32:31):
a lot of that came from himserving. Uh you know, I heard
I heard stories of my dad havingto you know, scrub the bathroom with
toothbrushes, you know, and that'skind of the way that you know,
my father was raised, you know, yeah, very militant, you know.

(32:52):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Sowhenever I mean, do you believe
that, um he came back withbaggage, you know, Um, I
guarantee you he did. Uh.But my grandfather was very good at hiding,

(33:14):
um, hiding, hiding, hidingthe bad he was. He was
very good at that. And hewould always give me at vice where it
was very shortened to the point.You know, he would say, if
something's not working, change it.Yeah, he said, that's what that's

(33:34):
what that's what they trained me.You know, if that approach isn't working,
come from this angle. Yeah.Yeah, Yeah. He was a
good He was a good man.But sounds like it really does. Sounds
like he was nice and firm andyeah, he was amazing man. He
passed away with I believe it wasuh liver liver cancer. Uh he was.

(33:59):
He just decide that he just didn'twant to live on a machine,
you know, so yeah, Imean, you know, I can't I
can't blame me. Yeah, everybodyhas their own ways of stuff. And
if that's the way he served hislife, so he had a right to.
Yeah. I have so many stories, and I mean every one of

(34:22):
us have stories about you know,our grandparents and and the ones that can
remember, uh, those you knowvividly are the ones who are truly blessed.
And I and I remember my grandpa. You know, when so funny
my grandpa, my brother choked ona fishbone. You know, he was

(34:44):
choking on a fishbone at the dinnertable. My grandpa said that that makes
you a pansy, you know,and oh my god, you should have
saw my dad. My dad wasso upset, you know, because he
had my grandpa had no compassion,like from my brother. They're choker on
that fishbone and uh, oh god, it's just zero compassion. But that's

(35:12):
a nice grandpa. Yeah. Orwhat was the other one that can of
spam? Don't ever touch grandpa's cannaspam? You know? Right? Oh
yeah I can. Then they haven'tdone that, Yeah, exactly spam?
I really really Yeah, So that'swhere he was eaten like the old sea

(35:35):
rations from World War Two. Thatmakes sense because that's a Hawaii. That's
what the military had to train on. The economy was can spam, which
is called which was Sam right thatI don't even know what they call an
uncle Sam. I mean my grandfatherwas mad if you ate a spam,

(36:00):
I mean, real life dude,like and man, you fried up on
the skillets like bacon. Baby.It's always good stuff, man, really
good stuff, absolutely good stuff.And that's why you call it everything,
never know it just it just remindsme of my grandfather, you know,

(36:28):
and uh, how how militant hewas about he knew exactly what was in
his pantry, you know, heknew how many cans of of everything.
And he he was all about survival, you know, like uh, you
know, he was about let's savesome money, you know, uh,
because we might need this later.And yeah, and that's just how my

(36:49):
grandpa was. He's the best man. I mean, I miss him so
much. You know, do youknow how many years he served forty forty?
Oh wow? And where did heserve? Oh man, everywhere?
He was actually a air conditioning engineerfor airplanes. I believe is was his

(37:15):
was his what he told me washis main priority, and they would send
him to Japan and Australia or allkinds of story crazies. I heard all
kinds of crazy stories. I thinkmy father was born in Tokyo, I
believe, yeah, because that's wherehe was stationed at the time. Nice.

(37:37):
So did he take, of course, your mom with him and everybody
go or yes, grandma, yeah, yeah there was. My dad had
two brothers and one sister and theywere all born in different areas because he
was stationed and then moved and movedand moved. Right. Oh wow wow.

(38:02):
I wondered how that worked because Imean, I'm not there kind of
thing. But yeah, you know, it's kind of nice that the family
got to go with, you know. Yeah he Uh, my dad told
told me stories of you know,being in different countries and you know,
trying to fit in, you know, and uh and so I think you

(38:22):
know, you tried, you hadto learn their language, you know,
and uh, it's it's crazy ifwe're hearing it from my dad. My
dad said something about like tsunami's hitting, you know, like seeing trees go
straight through buildings, you know,and uh, he said that it's just
it's just you just don't see alot of that kind of stuff in America,
is what my dad says, youknow. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

(38:45):
yeah. I watched it on TV, and it's like, oh my
goodness, I do not want togo through a sonami. I'm just saying.
So my my grandfather when he whenhe retired, uh, he cut
a hole in a hill. Sohe bought this land, and he on
the in the hillside. He cuta hole in there and built a house

(39:07):
on the inside of this hill.And he poured the concrete himself. He
did the framing himself and everything andbuilt this whole house, you know.
And so my whole childhood was youknow, he had already retired and and
all that stuff. You know.Yeah, yeah that's cool. Damian,

(39:28):
are you picking your nose or something? Why are you thinking? Wait?
When did you put me in theshow? I'm sitting here just now.
How long have I been? Nono one, no one? You just

(39:49):
say you're bringing on Chris mean,oh, I had no idea I was
in there. I would have beentalking, I know, it was.
It was literally you've only been onfor like roughly like ten seconds. Now,

(40:10):
yeah, okay, good, Ithought, okay, yeah, I've
been it on purpose, like I'mgonna do this. What's up, sharp
How are you doing, buddy?I'm good? How about yourself? Oh
I'm good man, I've been I'vebeen busy. So I was actually I
was talking to Sharpie on the phonethe other day and I was doing some
dishes and then I forgot what happened? What happened when I was on the

(40:35):
gravy fucking meltdown? What what?What happened? The gravy bro? The
gravy bro, Dude, it wasthe straw. It was a straw that
broke the camel's back. Like itwas just a long dude. He was.
And we've been like really trying towe've been fighting off the demons,
you know, because we're not gonnaWe're not gonna let that shit win.

(40:57):
But then I burnt the gravy.And when I burned to gravy, I
was just like that was it.But I'm fine now, I'm better.
He's just like, I gotta getout the phone. Huh, You're like,
I gotta get off the phone,dude, I can't handle this.
Yeah. No, I literally toldhim. I was just like, dude,
I'm about I'm about to have ameltdown. I just can't do this
right now. This shit. OhI've got my security camera's probably recorded me

(41:22):
ripping my hair out now anyway,um this is too to Jason. Thank
you for your service. Jason.I know that that kind of stuff could
be rough. Um Man. Youknow, my my brother, he had
his surgeries done in Walter reid Umand that's where they did they did and
actually it was an unapproved breakthrough surgerythat they did on his pancreas. And

(41:46):
for those that that don't know,I'll make a long story short. My
brother was shot three times in theback while serving in Afghanistan. He was
working inside of a military installation andhis job, he was an eighty eight
squadron in the Air Force and hewas a combat nerd. So his job
was to do calm link and youknow, satellite communications and to bring stability

(42:09):
to Afghanistan through Internet and phone structuresand all that stuff. Well, he
was responsible for training a couple ofthese Pakistani guys and they were also I
think translators probably And for what helook he has the guy that shot him.
I'm pretty sure he has like apicture with him. You know,
I don't know, I wouldn't wantit. I wouldn't even want to see

(42:30):
it if if he did, youknow anymore? But um yeah, this
guy shot him in the back threetimes because the Taliban, uh, they
got ahold of him and they said, hey, either you you attack the
Americans, or will kill your wholefamily. And you know, and here's
the thing though here and and I'mnot going to say this lightly what I'm

(42:52):
about to say. So I actuallyhad people it felt like they were defending
the situation. They're like, well, that's horrible, but how man,
it has to be hard that theysaid they would kill their whole family.
I mean, what would you do? And do you know, from the
bottom of my heart, what Iwould do if I was in that same
situation. If someone came to meand said, either you kill that person,

(43:12):
that innocent person, or We're gonnakill your whole family. I'm gonna
sit down with my two kids andmy wife and I'm gonna stay here.
Here's the deal, girls. Weall might die, but we are going
to fight until the death, youknow. And that's just how it's going
to be. Because look, anyanyone that kills an innocent person, you
know, that's he was a coward. He was a coward. He is

(43:34):
a man that that deserves no recognition, no funeral. We've never even spoke
his name. So, um,but but dude, So, my brother
was shot three times in the back. He didn't die. I mean,
he was shot with an AAR fifteenthree times in the back at point blank
range. It somehow missed his spine. It missed all of his major organs
except for his stomach, his pancreas, and his large intestines. It he

(43:58):
lost sixty percent of his stomach,seventy percent of his large intestine, and
like of his pancreas. Wow,everything well. He was in Walter Read
for maybe on a months. Therewas a doctor, doctor Camilio, at
Cordy. He's an Italian guy andhe's an amazing surgeon. There were some

(44:19):
experimental surgeries where they said, he'sprobably gonna die anyway, so can we
use his body to experiment and basicallysee, hey, if it works,
he survives, awesome. And ifhe died, well, he most likely
he's going to die. Well.They took his his pancreas out and they
flew what was left of it tosome other clinic down in Miami. Florida

(44:40):
while my brother was in Walter readSo he's living without his pancreas, you
know, on a machine and withina few days they grew elet cells and
they regenerated his pancreas essentially, butnot to grow it back. They made
this this type of soup. Idon't know how to explain it, and

(45:01):
they inserted that into his body.And my brother was living without a pancreas
and he was not diabetic. Soanyone that knows if you don't have a
pancreas or your pancreas is damage,you're you're going to be a diabetic most
likely. But the way that theydid the surgery, he actually wasn't wasn't
diabetic, and he started recovering andhe recovered for almost one year. He

(45:24):
was shot in Missouri actually, andSykes in Missouri. He left the hospital
against their wishes. You know,this is after all the amazing surgeries.
And I mean, dude, hehe was coherent, he could walk,
you know, I would talk tohim on the phone and he was honestly
happy, go lucky. I mean, his voice is a little messed up,

(45:45):
but he's like you know, anyway, his wife at the time was
she was pregnant and I was aboutto have a baby, and she just
like it was terrible, had justgotten pregnant everything. But I was two
days before Thanksgiving. He wanted tovisit some of his his people that he
served with here in Sykeston, Missouri, and he he just laid down and

(46:08):
went to sleep and never woke up. And they said it would due most
likely to complications from you no lackof oregans and a lot of damage.
So, you know, I've neveractually shared that really on your show.
So but that is the story ofwhat happened to my brother. And now
he's buried actually in the Veterans Cemeteryin Knoxville, Tennessee. And when we

(46:28):
were kids, we used to playin that cemetery. My father would take
us there to honor the veterans literally, like we would go to church and
then he would take us to thehill and he would say like, Hey,
those are all the people that thisis why you're free, and this
is why you're an American and whyyou're a patriot. And so we would
play in that cemetery. So yeah, it was it's it's kind of neat.

(46:49):
So, I mean, if Ivisited there and it's not eerie,
it's not sad, it's it's avery proud thing, even though I know
that, uh, you know,he's not here anymore. What he did,
he laid down his life and wewe learned so much through the surgeries
that they performed on him. Andit was cool, you know, it's

(47:10):
really cool. He left a legacy. And last thing he's in the Ripley's
believe it or not museum and someoneeven someone even drew like a comic character.
Yeah. Um, I don't knowif it's still displayed at the one
in Branson. It was UM anddefinitely in Knox in Tennessee. I mean
and UM and Pigeon Forge. ButI can show you online. Someone did

(47:32):
like a little cartoon comic character andkind of told his story and comic form
and and the story and the artmade it in the Ripleys. It was
really freaking awesome. So one dayI'm gonna get those printed. Yeah,
I'm gonna get like the T shirtsof every page to the comic. You
know. But if I would havedone yet, like three years ago,

(47:55):
two years ago, I could havewent in there and checked it out,
because that's where I went and Tennesseewas packing for Yeah. Man, um,
well, I mean, shoot,you'll travel there again. I know
that that we probably will with allthis stuff going on. So now let's
go out there. We'll go headit up, Sharpie. You cannot bring
the guitar, I'll bring some bongos. Hey yeah, bro oh hey,

(48:16):
fun fun funny funny story. WhenI came back from engineering in Nashville,
I went into the bar to getloaded because I was really upset with my
life and I didn't know where Iwas going. I was having like this
identity crisis. Like I was freakingout, you know. So I went
to the bar VFW Post forty twoo seven and I was having a bad

(48:37):
day, and the bartender gave mea job. And I bartended at forty
two oh seven for over a year. And uh, I served a lot
of patrons, man, and uhthose guys are a great time, man,
they are absolutely. I saw andMaranville or Aurora, Missouri. I

(49:00):
went to Monette. I sung therefor seven years every Friday, and I
had so many veterans coming there andjust hang out with this and chill and
and I am who I am,and were once like there was no big
deal. Like you know, yeah, scared of me. Oh are a

(49:21):
lot of black at that time.Like, man, you're talking about a
different level of vulgarity. I meanlike like extremely like sometimes extremely entertaining because
it's wow, that was good.I enjoyed that. Like where did you

(49:43):
come up with that bird? Becausehis name was Bird and the reason we
called him bird was when he gotreally drunk on bourbon or he would start
calling you know that was good.Yeah, he said, he said,

(50:05):
back back rap man, please juststring you a bit. Pecker. Yeah,
get no shit, That's just howhe was. Man. Literally,
that's why this show is everything yetnothing like what okay? And that reminded

(50:30):
me when when he said Pecker,I will tell you guys, my my
dad he enjoys tell this story.Um. So when my brother was in
the hospital when he first woke up, my my dad was he was in
there for just days and days andand he was just like, you know,
please Trey, wake up. Um, I just I just wake up

(50:50):
for me. And actually, Imean like he was talking to him and
he woke up. Uh, youknow, so he kind of came out
of this little coma. Uh.But the first thing, the very first
thing that came out of his mouth. He goes, hey, Dad,
do I still have my dick?Like he just wanted to make sure that.

(51:15):
Yeah, he just wanted to makesure. But h and my my
dad did let him know, Yes, he did, so anyone else that
is wondering he did. A bulletwent really close to it, but he
managed to He managed to keep that. You know. Um, and I
will give my my father, willgive him a shout out because he wrote

(51:37):
a children's book. Oh, Igrabbed it because I was gonna show you
guys. Well, he wrote achildren's book called My Daddy's Heart as Purple.
And it's a very colorful book thatreally explains to younger kids. Um,
for any age here we go.I got it right here. So
that's his book right there, andit's available on Amazon and everything explains to

(52:00):
kids what a purple heart is.Uh, and you know what veterans are,
purple heart, gold star family essentiallyand it and it talks about,
you know, losing a parent.So it's it's a it's really good.
It's good. I recommended if I'mgonna try to get in a few veteran
places here in Branson Forum this year. But definitely if you're interested to just

(52:21):
go to Amazon and search my Daddy'sHardest Purple. That's awesome. That is
absolutely awesome. Yeah, And Marchfifteenth, So March fifteenth is my birthday.
Um, I will be in thecoffee shop work for like twelve hours,
and I am hosting an auction.I'm looking for donations of items that
people would want to auction off.One hundred percent of the proceeds are going

(52:44):
to the PTS PTSD movie Pray theystand down that we originally were supposed to
shoot almost three years ago. Thenof course all this stuff happened, and
I'm doing a full script rewrite.But I'm trying to raise five thousand dollars
so I can shoot a major warscene for the movie and I can finally
complete a trailer. And also Ihave really really big announcements about that movie,

(53:07):
but I can't say anything until Marchfifteenth, But I invite you and
all your followers and Sharpie Dude stopby. I'll be there until nine pm.
And also, if I get athousand followers on my tip, my
new TikTok coffee shop dog thousand followersby March fourteenth, and I have to

(53:29):
wear a dress the entire day andmy coffee while livestree. Yeah, I
have to wear the dress and wealready have it because I had to wear
it once before for prey. Theystand down for another thing when I raised
ten thousand dollars wearing that dress,dude, So I think I can raise
five thousand so wearing a dress.But I'm almost there, dude, I

(53:50):
almost. I'm almost out a thousandfollowers on TikTok. So you're gonna look
a real good there, poppy oof, it's gonna be why But anyway,
Yeah, I really hope you guyscome out. So that's all I gotta
say. That's everything that I filledyou guys in. Uh. I just
want to hang with Sharpie now,dude, I'm telling you, I was
actually looking up do you know Louiefrom the songwriting contest? Who which one

(54:15):
lou Louie? Uh? Yeah,yeah, I believe so he does that.
Uh, I believe it's um.Hold on, you guys, keep
talking, let me look up thisinformation. Okay, all right? Uh,
I needed some blueberry lemon juice.That is some good stuff, dude.
Blueberry lemon juice seems good, butyeah, it's Sharpie. He's a

(54:43):
cool he's a cool cat to hangout with. I don't know, have
you guys hung out before? Iknow you've met, right or No?
Yeah, we hung out the radiostation. I like, besides that,
Okay, no we yeah? Yeah? Well and Ryan Kevin, those are
like my bros. Those guys hangingout with them, Dude, they're totally

(55:04):
different one. That camera's not rolling, that's it. But that's a really
change, munch man. It's thesame persons, man, Like, that's
the best part, you know.And now this this is called choose.
It's called Choose to Live, Chooseto Live, never never suicide, uh
never never suicide dot org, Chooseto Gay. I'm very familiar with with

(55:30):
that site. Wait, is thatthat's not his side, isn't it.
I believe that that's his organization,so it's not Choose to Live dot org.
Yes, okay, I'm gonna haveto go to that. I mean,
I'm gonna have to talk to himbecause I'm familiar with with the organization.
So that's that's really neat. Wehave such a major just a veteran

(55:53):
community here and support is great.Yeah. I just wanted to plug hand
real quick because a lot of Uh. I just I really believe in I
really believe in Um you know whatthey're doing. You know what I mean,
sold yourself too. While you're atit. My name is Chris Sharpe.

(56:14):
I'm a singer, songwriter, audioengineer. Uh. You know,
you're not supposed to call yourself aproducer because someone's supposed to call you a
producer first. But uh, Ido writing arranging music. I own a
studio right off the strip. Uhhere in Branson, Missouri, over by
Applebee's and famous staves and a producer. Hey, okay, yes, so

(56:38):
you said it. Thank you.I appreciate that. Hey, now your
official bro. Hey, you knowit's it's because of you. To the
end of the show. So Iwould like for mister Sharp to grab his

(57:00):
get power, okay, and uhplay some of what you were playing.
If it is DMFD coming on,No, I don't think so, Okay,
not today. Well there shout outto GMFD. Yeah, m a
veteran in his boss I go outfrom mister Chris. I'm throwing the headphones

(57:25):
off. I have a feeling it'sprobably gonna sound better that way. All
right, all right, can youhear me? Yep? All right now.
This song, Uh took me acouple of years to righte. Uh.
I wrote it about my grandfather andum, all all of the things
that he taught me, you know, and uh, it's kind of like

(57:50):
that realization when when you realize theman that you want to be. It's
right, it's that it's that Okay, Well, who do you know?
When you're a kid, you know, well, I want to be Uh,
I want to be an artist.Man, I want you, I
want to be a painter. Youknow, well, when you start getting
older, you start realizing, youknow, well, what kind of man
do I want to be? Why? I always want to be like Grandpa?
So um, I wrote the scienceabout my family, my upbringing.

(58:14):
It's called the man I want tobe. I will race a working man,
earn a daughter anytime I can.Sometimes just saying that's a get a

(58:45):
job, cut that hair back inthe sticks, rack grow up my old
man than me. And if Imade a mistake, the belt would be

(59:06):
the price. I'm saying my dad, it's never nice Tommy to fish.
Tommy once right told me to holdyour lips tight high, look back,
reminisce all the days I should him? Is he rains me. Right now,

(59:31):
I say the man, I wantto be your grandpa's house filling the
side of a hill, broke hisscreen doors. I'll be the next that
he killed Dad, Tommy to fixand with some tools and nubble breeze for

(59:53):
my own granddaddy piece. Forty yearsin the service. He paid his dues.
He sent you my lose friends,what's your family? And other tubes
Timmy and fish Timmy, what's right? Told me to hold your whole altos

(01:00:16):
time when tie that back reminisce allthe dames I said, he is He
arranged me right now, I seethe man. I love his patient,
love is kind. I've got afamily. I know the best you yet

(01:00:39):
to come. No, I'm notdone. As the days went by,
and here's when fast. He alwayshad a story about times for the past.

(01:01:00):
He spent his time in the word. There's only one good book,
one good book. Oh we setus down, made us take a look.
He didn't talk too much, butwe knew any man. Grandpa never
cared about the money we spend.He told me how he felt when no

(01:01:24):
one was around. Oh, wetalked with Jesus till he hit the ground.
Tommy defense, Tommy, what's rightto me? The whole your time
and Highland back reminess, Hold thedays I shunniness. He raised me right

(01:01:51):
now? I see the man out. He's a man out. The man
I sees a man I don't wantto be. Who let me put the

(01:02:20):
I can't hear you, guys,hold on Once for some reason, I
lost I lost audio. Can youhear me? I can hear you now.

(01:02:44):
Now that's because Troy has a thingmuted because he always forgets to unmut
it. No, it's okay.Everywhere that is called my husband love doing
that? Dude a sharpie. Igotta say, bro, I haven't heard
that. That's that's really cool.I would love to jam with you on

(01:03:07):
that, man, I would.I would. I would love to like
maybe lay some percussion or something onit. I don't know. Yeah,
I actually have it fully done.But it's like one of those things.
Well, it's like one of thosethings. It's got these steel guitars that
kind of come in cool. Okay, but it's like any song that you'll

(01:03:27):
ever record in your life. It'slike it is it done? Is it
pos private? Like? Can yousend it to me? I actually actually
hold on so I'm gonna go aheadand plug myself. So here we go,
can't you read it? Yeah?Yeah, all right, right there,
there you go four one seven threenine three five one zero five.

(01:03:52):
All right. So Chris Sharp isnineteen eighty seven at gmail dot com.
Chris Sharp is nineteen eighty seven.That's because I was born in nineteen eighty
seven. By the way, justeveryone get that. Ever, if you
email me, I will give thatsong to you for free. And I
am plugging that right now just tokind of get the word out with my

(01:04:15):
stuff. Absolutely, say your emailone more time. Chris is nineteen eighty
seven, right, Chris Sharp says, c h R I S s h
A R pe. Okay, II S nineteen eighty seven at gmail dot
com. Remember all right, ChrisSharp is nineteen eighty seven at gmail dot

(01:04:38):
com. Thank you. Chris Startis nineteen eighty seven at gmail dot com.
That's correct. Song request, Yeah, send it to me, bro,
and I'll send it to you.Bro. Have that I need to
I see. This is the thingis on the business side, uh,

(01:05:00):
you know, you just pumped thesong out, But on the artist side,
I never released anything. I shouldI probably should, dude, that
Uh, definitely soundclouded and get on. We can talk about that for day.
I'm supposed I was supposed to havea meeting with Chris this week and
I couldn't because this week has beenthe week from hell that we've been battling.

(01:05:20):
But it's it's okay. We're gonnadefeat it, dude. It's it's
okay. Man, I get it. I was telling you. I was.
It's like I'm you know, I'mtaking care of grandma, so you
know I understand hard times. Man. It's uh, I get it.
Well, I think, um,this upcoming Tuesday, if you're still available,
I would love to have that meeting. Let's do it, bro.

(01:05:42):
I mean I don't know. I'llcheck my calendar. I'm pretty sure I'm
free. Bro. Oh and Troy, but we need to shout out you
did you did some work with metoday? Yeah, so so we can
say that dude from you know,Marshall Howden Sharpie. Yes, he's running
for Alderman's World one. Yeah.Yes, he's a very nice guy.

(01:06:10):
Man, he's awesome. Well,Troy and I we shot his campaign video
today. Uh yeah, so Iwas really excited. So look out for
that hopefully in the next couple ofdays we'll have it. But that's a
guy that I'm gonna officially introduce youguys, because Marshall Holland's also the ambassador
to shows and he's got a lotof connections as well, and I think

(01:06:32):
with his vision that he has rightnow, might be a surefire way to
help launch your studio even bigger andto get those clients, because man,
he's got some stuff coming up.And I'm saying that publicly only because I
want people to get excited about allthe stuff that's coming up to Branson,
but specifically, you would be someonethat should go talk to him now.

(01:06:55):
See, I work, I workpersonally with the song Riders, and my
passion is in original music and thatis It's what I pushed very hard because
because I believe that us as creators, I think that there need to be
more of those out there. Anduh not that there's anything wrong with singing
other people's music, but I reallywant to help the artists find find themselves.

(01:07:19):
Right you know who? Who amto have a third Eye Blind cover
band? I'm not even kidding.Listen here, boy, I do like
third rye Blind. Don't even startthat, bro, I know you want
to do it? Hey, man, is we do on the street corner

(01:07:40):
with some buckets and acoustic bro,I'm in it. Let that note.
The show is over. Thank youvery much, Chris Shark. If you
want to, hey, no problem, thanks for If you want to staying
it back for a little bit second, you want to come backstage, yeah,
hand it up, bro, hereyou go. Hold on, hold

(01:08:02):
on, I got hold on,I got no your Oh god, much
stressed. I dropped it, brodhold on, bro dude, it smells
like popcorn? Is that that's sofunny? I say that seu truth.

(01:08:24):
Oh god, the irony, theirony, sorcery, sorcery. Hey,
thanks for having me on here.Man, it was I had a great
time. I had a great timetoo. Can't wait to have you back
on. Man, I'm excited.Bro. Yeah, but you have a
good time. And now see insectsomebody so we got in your comments all

(01:08:48):
right, Well let's yeah with thefinger. Anyways, Well we're you finguring.
So while we're figuring this out,like some I guess cammeras got on
my ship. So we're like,all right, bomb in the ass.

(01:09:09):
Anyways, all right, we're good. Now, we are all good.
Uh, there you have it.I'm with mister Chris Sharp and Damian Paul
Fario and there Jason, thank youfor your service. Jason, thank you.
Yes. And I didn't even saybye. Damien Sadamian say by to
you real quick. I love youguys. I can hear you. Give

(01:09:33):
me audios and it ends on stillChris, Chris has gone like this,
He's like saying bye, Damian bye, all right, I love you bye.
So, uh do you have it? And um, I just gotta

(01:09:54):
say, you know, thank youvery much Chris for coming on the show
and show and your story and someof your life with us. I really
appreciate that. And uh, Chris, we'll be back on and about four
to five weeks with some stuff likewe're gonna talk about him and where he

(01:10:15):
came from and just all kinds ofstuff that he wants to talk about.
We got all kinds of things tocover. And yeah, I'm excited to
actually meet up with him here soonand go over some interview good moments and
uh so yeah, definitely check himout because he's freaking phenomenal and he will

(01:10:36):
do you right. Gotta love theMidwestern advice. All right, and thank
you Damian poor Fario for coming onand sharing your story. I'm sure that,
um it took a lot for youto actually open up and share that
with us, and I really appreciatethat. Um I'm sure that you touched

(01:10:56):
some others out there and you,I'm sure helped tremendously on with uh what
you have went through along with yourfamily and friends. And yeah, thank
you very much, man, Ilove you and thank you again. Jason
for starveing and doing you. Iappreciate him on and you can catch him

(01:11:21):
on the bipolard am so peace andlove and be a rainbow and how somebody
else to be a rainbow? Thankyou for joining t Roy and a special
guest here on Everything Yet Nothing.Tune in next Thursday at ten pm Eastern,
nine pm Central for another episode youwon't want to miss until next time

(01:11:45):
be a Rainbow in Someone's life.Like and follow us on Facebook at double
you l f E dB Radio,no shit, Hey, look up,

(01:12:13):
good bye to see y'all