1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:18,480 All across America and around the world, this is Veterans Radio. 2 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:23,240 And now, your host for today's program, Dale Throneberry. 3 00:00:23,240 --> 00:00:27,360 Hey, welcome to Veterans Radio. 4 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:29,240 My name is Dale Throneberry. 5 00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:33,600 I'm a CW2-type helicopter pilot in Vietnam in 1969. 6 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:34,960 Welcome to our program. 7 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:37,000 We are, I'm really excited. 8 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:38,720 We've got some great guests on. 9 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:40,600 We're going to be talking with an author book called 10 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:44,120 Dan the Valley, William Yeske. 11 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:47,200 This is a heavy book, not heavy by size. 12 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:48,400 It's just heavy. 13 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:49,480 An emotional story. 14 00:00:49,480 --> 00:00:52,040 So I'm excited to talk to Will about that. 15 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:55,040 We've got another segment later on in the program where we're going 16 00:00:55,040 --> 00:01:00,400 to be talking to Scott Lopez and Scott is a member of the NVBDC, 17 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:04,360 which is a national veterans business development council. 18 00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:07,160 And he's going to be talking about his business and his connection 19 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:08,920 with NVBDC. 20 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:11,720 Also, toward the end of the program, 21 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:16,160 we're going to be playing a little tribute to Toby Keith, who's a. 22 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:20,360 Many of you know, is a musician, country Western musician who passed 23 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:23,160 away earlier this month, true patriot. 24 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:26,600 And so we're going to play one of their songs at the end of the program. 25 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:29,240 It kind of say goodbye to him. 26 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:31,680 Well, before we get to that, we got to thank our sponsors. 27 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:33,880 We can't do this program without them. 28 00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:36,600 So I want to make sure that we thank legal help for veterans. 29 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:40,880 Legal help for veterans specializes in veterans disability claims. 30 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:46,920 You can give legal help for veterans a call at 800-6934800. 31 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:51,560 The national veterans business development council, better known as NVBDC, 32 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:55,000 is the nation's leading third party authority for the certification of 33 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:56,760 veteran owned businesses. 34 00:01:56,760 --> 00:01:58,840 For more information, you can go to their website. 35 00:01:58,840 --> 00:02:06,200 That's NVBDC.org or give them a call at 888-237-8433. 36 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:09,680 Just a quick reminder, if you are a veteran owned business or a disabled 37 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:13,560 veteran owned business and you want to do business with the federal government 38 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:17,320 and many corporations, you need to be certified that you are an actual 39 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:18,760 veteran owned business. 40 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:20,880 These are the guys that can help you out. 41 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:23,320 NVBDC.org. 42 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:27,560 The Charles S. Kettles VA Medical Center here in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 43 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:30,600 For more information about them, you can go to va.gov. 44 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:36,200 We also want to make sure that we don't forget our local veterans 45 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:38,760 organizations for their longtime support. 46 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:43,600 They've been with us ever since 2003 and we wouldn't have been able to get 47 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:46,400 the program off the ground without their support. 48 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:51,040 So this is the Irwin Pretzkoer and American Post 46 and the Charles S. Kettles 49 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:56,000 Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 310, both of Ann Arbor, Michigan. 50 00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:00,920 As I mentioned, we've been doing this now for about 20 years and we are hoping 51 00:03:00,920 --> 00:03:03,480 that we can keep going for another 20 years. 52 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:06,520 That will only make me my late 90s. 53 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:07,280 I don't know. 54 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:08,760 I'm going to do that or not. 55 00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:10,520 But we do need your support. 56 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:12,920 So if you could help us out, we greatly appreciate it. 57 00:03:12,920 --> 00:03:16,920 Twenty bucks for 20 years, go to our website, veteransradio.org, 58 00:03:16,920 --> 00:03:21,040 click on the donate button, whatever you feel that you can afford, 59 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:22,880 would be greatly appreciated. 60 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:23,760 Really, thank you. 61 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:28,000 If you have a company that is interested in sponsoring Veterans Radio, 62 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:32,360 please shoot me an email at dale at veteransradio.org 63 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:35,400 and I will get back to you as soon as possible. 64 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:37,720 So thank you very much for all of your support. 65 00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:42,000 Everybody out there, we love doing this. 66 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:46,520 And we love that you like what we're doing and that you support us 67 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:49,120 with your contributions to the program. 68 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:52,160 All right, so let me get right into the show today. 69 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:56,720 My guest that I'm introducing is William Yeske. 70 00:03:57,120 --> 00:03:59,280 And his book is Damn the Valley. 71 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:02,720 And it's the story of a first platoon Bravo company, 72 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:05,320 second over the 58th. 73 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:07,160 I don't even know what all these things are anymore. 74 00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:12,320 Yeah, we are of the 82nd Airborne and the Argonne 75 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:15,000 Argonne River Valley in Afghanistan. 76 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:18,520 Will welcome the veterans radio. 77 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:21,080 Dale, it's great to be here. 78 00:04:21,080 --> 00:04:24,920 I'll tell you, this this book really knocked my socks off 79 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:26,120 when I was reading this thing. 80 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:30,160 It's it's a really intense story about. 81 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:33,760 Enlisted personnel, more than anything else. 82 00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:37,520 You only have a few comments in there about commanding officers and so forth. 83 00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:40,840 But this is the story of enlisted folks. 84 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:46,800 Yeah, I tried to I know there's been so many different ways that people have, 85 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:49,120 you know, what they've gleaned from the book. 86 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:53,960 But yes, I wanted to keep this one from the ground, the ground up where 87 00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:57,200 normally you'll get a lot of the books out either these days. 88 00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:02,040 It seems to be, you know, a myriad of special operations books, 89 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:03,360 which is good and everything, you know, 90 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:07,160 and then a lot of the other stuff, you get a lot of the books out there 91 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:10,760 that are written from the officer's perspective, whether it be that general 92 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:14,440 level officer to where, you know, a lot of this might be written either 93 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:19,440 from accounts or, you know, historical things, the A.R.s they bring in and whatnot. 94 00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:23,320 So it's a little different when you get a view from the guys on the ground, 95 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:28,480 especially just a private at the time, you know, going through what's essentially 96 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:33,040 and what was essentially a really rough time in Afghanistan at that time. 97 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:35,080 Yeah. And let's go there. 98 00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:39,040 Well, as I mentioned, we're talking with William Yeski, better known as Will. 99 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:44,200 And Will, you joined the volunteer army at the age of 26. 100 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:46,240 What kept you? 101 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:52,520 That was so I was actually looking into the Marines at 18. 102 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:57,880 And, you know, we weren't at war at the time and my parents had kind of 103 00:05:57,880 --> 00:05:59,480 kind of talked to me out of it. 104 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:01,840 You know, they were like, hey, look, go the college route. 105 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:05,880 And then from there, you know, if you still want to join up, 106 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:08,200 you have a full blessing to go in as an officer. 107 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:10,520 And of course, that sounded pretty good to me. 108 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:13,040 Of course, all they were doing was running a PSYOP campaign 109 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:15,920 because they knew I was going to get distracted in in college 110 00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:18,200 and whatnot, the type of person I was at the time. 111 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:23,640 And, you know, I just ended up to where I was at a point in my life to, 112 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:27,640 you know, there was there were some things going on to where I had to 113 00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:30,840 make some decisions and I decided to hit the reset button. 114 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:36,080 And I wanted to join up and do some time in the service as sort of that. 115 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:37,640 The hard reset. 116 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:39,800 It was something I always wanted to do. 117 00:06:40,280 --> 00:06:43,360 It was something that had, I always had that purpose instilled in me 118 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:44,880 to do something greater than myself. 119 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:50,720 And that's kind of what led me to look at that more seriously and go, you know, 120 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:55,280 like, if I'm going to do it, I don't want to regret not going that route. 121 00:06:55,280 --> 00:06:58,720 So let's just go and let's go be the best that I can, you know, 122 00:06:58,720 --> 00:07:03,800 and do the best that I can, especially while we were in a time of war, you know. 123 00:07:05,280 --> 00:07:07,840 Well, you're from a small town in Connecticut. 124 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:08,760 Right? 125 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:12,160 Very small town, very like 8000 people strong. 126 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:21,080 OK. And so you went in and you didn't just you didn't just go in and just 127 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:25,280 vaguely go through basic training, did you go in with a specific purpose of getting 128 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:31,280 involved with special forces or airborne or what are your what were your thoughts? 129 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:37,920 At the time when I signed up, I, it was 2008 when I actually went into the service 130 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:43,200 and I kind of could feel that Afghanistan was, it was winding down. 131 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:48,280 And I mean, a little did I know everything at the time, but I wanted to 132 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:51,320 get away into the fight and was like, hey, what's the best way to do that? 133 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:54,160 Should I, you know, be going back to look at the Marines? 134 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:55,960 What are my options here? 135 00:07:55,960 --> 00:08:01,040 And really looked at the best way to go is to sign up for the 18 X Ray program, 136 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:02,960 which was civilian to Green Beret. 137 00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:07,720 You still have to go through the entire pipeline, just like everybody else does. 138 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:13,120 But they have a preparatory class in between that surprisingly, a lot of the 139 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:16,920 guys that take the SOPSE course, which is Special Operations Preparatory and 140 00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:20,120 Conditioning, they end up pretty strong. 141 00:08:20,120 --> 00:08:23,760 You know, they, there's some of the stronger out of the lot to where they lean 142 00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:28,440 on the NCOs and some of the E fours and stuff that have been in the army going 143 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:31,160 through that particular course for the experience. 144 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:35,800 So it's almost a little bit of a, a meshing there, but I ended up doing, you 145 00:08:35,800 --> 00:08:39,840 know, your basic training pipeline into airborne school because anybody that's 146 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:43,320 looking at going special operations, they, they have to go through airborne. 147 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:46,920 And I've talked to quite a few people about the psychology behind that end, 148 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:52,400 you know, in where it quite honestly, the airborne is a little different than 149 00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:54,880 a lot of the other soldiers that you'll find out there. 150 00:08:55,480 --> 00:08:58,800 And it, it doesn't really have to do with the fact, you know, hey, I jump out 151 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:03,760 of perfectly good airplanes, but it's that repeated exposure to hire a general 152 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:08,400 in events to where you're actually, your body's learning to deal with cortisol spikes. 153 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:12,480 So when that adrenaline starts going, when a, when a firefighter, a gun 154 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:16,320 fight's going on, and you really need to be thinking about what's happening, 155 00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:19,320 you're already sort of conditioned. 156 00:09:19,560 --> 00:09:22,800 You've already had a leg up on other people that are out there in that, in 157 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:24,120 that way, you've been exposed to that. 158 00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:26,320 So your body has a quicker regulation time. 159 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:32,480 Um, but yeah, I went through airborne school, uh, got hurt in SOP C, but 160 00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:37,000 still completed that portion, but then ended up in, in med hold. 161 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:42,160 And, uh, the Sergeant Major came through and cut everybody from the program. 162 00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:44,760 You know, that was sitting in medical hold just all at once. 163 00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:46,720 I was like, Hey, I've not even been here a week. 164 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:48,280 Like, it doesn't matter. 165 00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:49,160 You're out of here. 166 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:53,120 You know, and a lot of us found ourselves in the, in the 82nd. 167 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:58,360 And within a year's time, you know, overseas and, uh, fourth brigade got sent to 168 00:09:58,360 --> 00:09:59,120 Afghanistan. 169 00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:02,120 I don't feel about that. 170 00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:06,600 You know, I know you, you sound like you're in a state of emergency. 171 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:11,640 Sound as though you were really kind of excited to get, you know, to get deployed 172 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:16,560 and, you know, go down range and actually see what this whole thing is all about. 173 00:10:17,520 --> 00:10:19,600 And absolutely, that's the strengths to do it. 174 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:20,680 Yeah. 175 00:10:20,680 --> 00:10:24,640 No, I knew I had the strength to do it and, and get out there. 176 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:29,560 I mean, our, our command team at fourth brigade in, in the 82nd there, and that 177 00:10:32,120 --> 00:10:33,640 to fury was awesome. 178 00:10:33,640 --> 00:10:36,440 I mean, we were, and it's, it still is a great unit. 179 00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:41,280 It was a lot of times they, uh, they're the whipping boys of the 82nd. 180 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:45,800 And they seem to get a lot more of the crap, but the thing is, it's almost like 181 00:10:46,560 --> 00:10:51,120 they're made for that wartime type of mentality that it needs to be. 182 00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:57,320 They're a little bit of a wild card there, you know, some of them and stuff, but, um, 183 00:10:58,280 --> 00:10:59,800 they're everything that airborne should be. 184 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:01,480 Wow. 185 00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:02,160 Right. 186 00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:02,680 Right. 187 00:11:04,680 --> 00:11:05,200 So, all right. 188 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:07,360 So you, you end up, you know, you're getting to the port. 189 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:08,760 When did you go to Afghanistan? 190 00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:15,560 So that was, well, I got to the unit, uh, in December of 2008. 191 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:21,320 And then, you know, by September, 2009, we're, we're leaving. 192 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:23,320 So we were actually slated for Iraq. 193 00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:26,440 So a lot of our train up was a lot of that kinetic CQB, 194 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:30,360 building to building, um, type of things that you'll see. 195 00:11:30,680 --> 00:11:32,640 Cause that's what we were headed into. 196 00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:35,800 So when we got the orders that came down, Hey, you're going to be part of the 197 00:11:35,800 --> 00:11:37,000 surge into Afghanistan. 198 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:42,560 Um, and executive orders were actually signed by President Obama to, to switch 199 00:11:42,560 --> 00:11:43,080 our deployment. 200 00:11:43,080 --> 00:11:44,600 Hey, you know, they're the next ones out. 201 00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:46,360 They're going to Afghanistan instead. 202 00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:50,040 We sort of, uh, I for one was sort of relieved. 203 00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:51,080 I was like, Oh, cool. 204 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:52,600 No more of this. 205 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:55,960 Urban fight type thing will have a little bit more standoff. 206 00:11:56,280 --> 00:11:59,080 And little did I know the situation we were heading into. 207 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:05,800 I mean, the, so the beginning of the deployment was sort of your typical, 208 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:10,200 typical type, you know, it was helmet province and we had gotten word 209 00:12:10,760 --> 00:12:13,080 from the people who went on ad bond parties. 210 00:12:13,080 --> 00:12:15,880 So the advanced party that went over there, they were like, Hey, we've 211 00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:18,520 already been involved in some firefights, but this is great. 212 00:12:18,520 --> 00:12:19,160 This is great. 213 00:12:19,160 --> 00:12:22,760 This is going to be awesome. 214 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:23,480 It's, uh, it's been a heck of a time. 215 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:25,480 It's everything that we've looked forward to. 216 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:27,080 And we were stoked. 217 00:12:27,400 --> 00:12:28,440 And then we got over there. 218 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:33,640 And it was very much that hurry up and wait type scene that you see. 219 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:35,400 And you're like, what, what happened? 220 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:39,640 So you guys just take care of all the, all the bad guys right in the beginning. 221 00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:44,040 And, um, you know, really it was essentially driving up down the 222 00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:47,800 highway until that first firefight that we got into on Halloween. 223 00:12:47,800 --> 00:12:49,400 Back in 2009. 224 00:12:50,120 --> 00:12:57,080 So, you know, up until that point, again, it was a lot of just driving dusty 225 00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:03,720 highways, uh, working hand in hand with Afghan police, but let's face it, a lot 226 00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:07,400 of times it was just sitting around, uh, waiting for something to happen, 227 00:13:07,400 --> 00:13:08,520 which nothing ever did. 228 00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:09,800 Yeah. 229 00:13:09,800 --> 00:13:13,400 No, it wasn't no one, but you, then you moved. 230 00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:15,000 Um, then we moved. 231 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:18,360 So this, the driving up and down the roads that you're talking about, 232 00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:24,120 were you just acting as, as courts for convoys or what were you doing? 233 00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:24,920 No. 234 00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:28,040 So a lot of that had to do with the advise and assist mission that we ended 235 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:31,480 up picking up to advise and assist the Afghan national police. 236 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:34,920 So there's checkpoints and stuff up and down all of these highways. 237 00:13:35,560 --> 00:13:41,560 And we would basically roll down the highway, hit the, hit the checkpoint. 238 00:13:41,560 --> 00:13:43,560 There might be a lot of traffic. 239 00:13:43,560 --> 00:13:45,160 Hit the checkpoint. 240 00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:50,280 There might be, uh, a training mission that day where, you know, you might have, uh, a 241 00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:54,120 company or two and stuff that you, that you're working with. 242 00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:56,360 And that was the beginning. 243 00:13:56,360 --> 00:14:00,120 So during that time, that was where a lot of the other more experienced guys, 244 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:03,960 they were doing all the training and we were sitting back in the trucks most of 245 00:14:03,960 --> 00:14:08,200 the day doing nothing, essentially like, Hey man, why are we having here? 246 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:10,520 We're just guarding a bunch of stuff. 247 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:15,880 The priority is work, you know, and again, a lot of, a lot of waiting around. 248 00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:22,280 When you, when did you get sent out into the valley? 249 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:29,640 So the argan dobb came when, uh, you know, we had our, our command team there for 250 00:14:29,640 --> 00:14:34,680 battalion, they kept, you know, hammering at the time, the ISAF commander. 251 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:40,120 So the commander over that part of the theater was General Stanley 252 00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:45,320 McChrystal and our battalion commander had been his aid at one point or part of 253 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:46,280 his team somewhere. 254 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:50,840 So they, they were on terms and he basically sent him something that, Hey, I 255 00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:54,920 got a bunch of hungry paratroopers who are doing nothing in Helmand province. 256 00:14:54,920 --> 00:14:57,560 You know, I can't get him into Margeau, which is what he was trying to do 257 00:14:57,560 --> 00:14:58,200 originally. 258 00:14:59,160 --> 00:14:59,960 What can we do here? 259 00:14:59,960 --> 00:15:00,920 Do you have anything? 260 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:06,200 And that's when we, you know, he was like, Oh yeah, I've got something for you. 261 00:15:06,200 --> 00:15:12,200 And that's where we ended up replacing 117 strikers, uh, out of Fort Lewis, Washington. 262 00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:16,120 And you can actually look up, there's some news articles and stuff. 263 00:15:16,120 --> 00:15:21,240 I think it's, uh, Colonel Harry Tennell's bill fated striker brigade. 264 00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:28,760 You can look up and hand those guys, when we got there to replace them, you could 265 00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:32,680 just tell, you know, you could look at these guys when we were doing our side by 266 00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:36,840 side, left seat, right seat missions to kind of show us the area we were taking over. 267 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:41,640 These guys were beat, you know, and one of the guys before we even left, 268 00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:48,200 he kind of, uh, you know, he was a, he was a lower unless he was another private at the 269 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:49,640 time and stuff. 270 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:53,320 And I kind of asked him like, Hey man, like what's, uh, what's this place all about? 271 00:15:53,320 --> 00:15:53,720 And stuff. 272 00:15:53,720 --> 00:15:57,800 And he was like, man, we haven't even, we haven't even left the wire in X amount of time, 273 00:15:58,360 --> 00:15:59,960 you know, the last month or so. 274 00:15:59,960 --> 00:16:01,240 He's like, this place is hell. 275 00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:09,960 And, you know, we, even during that side by side patrol into the valley, that first look 276 00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:14,200 of everything, we had a Kiowa mission. 277 00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:19,800 So these smaller helicopters come by and they called in fire on two guys that were just 278 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:21,000 digging in the river bed. 279 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:24,360 You know, we all kind of looked at each other and we're like, Hey, you know, it's not our 280 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:26,680 area of operations, but what the heck was that? 281 00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:31,000 You know, and they kind of looked at us and we're like, Oh no, man, they, uh, they're 282 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:32,040 digging in landmines. 283 00:16:32,040 --> 00:16:33,320 This has been an issue before. 284 00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:35,640 In a river bed. 285 00:16:37,480 --> 00:16:44,520 And you know, can you describe, you know, we've all read the stories, we've seen the news 286 00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:52,440 and everything like that about Afghanistan, but can you describe your AO, your area of 287 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:57,320 operation and what it was like and you know, like the temperatures and so forth. 288 00:16:57,320 --> 00:17:05,160 I don't think many of us are really, really aware of just the weather in Afghanistan, plus 289 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:05,880 the terrain. 290 00:17:06,760 --> 00:17:10,920 So where you look at some of this stuff from Helmand province, where you have that typical 291 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:16,760 Lawrence of Arabia type, you look at it and you're like dusty, arid desert region you 292 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:17,800 can see for miles. 293 00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:21,000 And then you turn to the Argendob. 294 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:26,680 And you have every bit of environment known to man there that between the mountains in 295 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:33,800 the distance that just spanned across here to where we have guys where we put them up 296 00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:35,080 on an observation point. 297 00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:37,000 There was a two specific ones. 298 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:44,680 There was OP one, six, zero and one, six, five and we would man one, six, five and we would 299 00:17:44,680 --> 00:17:49,640 have, you know, some sniper rifles up there and a clue and a javelin. 300 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:51,800 And everything as well as thermals and whatnot. 301 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:58,200 So they would provide overwatch, but in bringing them up there and going up to that, you know, 302 00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:03,240 that little cave and that point on the summit to where they would sit for, you know, we'd 303 00:18:03,240 --> 00:18:07,320 put four or five guys up there for about five days at a time. 304 00:18:08,840 --> 00:18:14,680 When they were up at that height, you'd see helicopters underneath you and you were like, 305 00:18:14,680 --> 00:18:15,640 whoa, what's going on? 306 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:17,400 And they're like, hey, they're up max altitude. 307 00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:22,520 I think it was only Chinooks were the only ones that could actually fly over the mountain passes. 308 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:24,280 Yeah. 309 00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:29,880 So you go from that huge mountain down into this valley to where there's just sectioned 310 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:35,640 off farmer fields and different compounds and stuff, eight to 10 foot walls and you'd 311 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:41,160 have to cross, you know, 10 to 20 of them depending on your length of control of patrol 312 00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:42,440 every time. 313 00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:44,600 Springtime was muddy. 314 00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:49,800 So either you're slipping around or slopping through mud, you know, irrigation systems. 315 00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:53,320 Really a lot. 316 00:18:53,320 --> 00:19:00,200 It was just surreal because you have to where they're using ancient farming techniques and 317 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:06,360 whatnot, but sometimes they're they're crop sharing and they're pumping these fields full 318 00:19:06,360 --> 00:19:09,080 from the river, but using modern equipment. 319 00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:13,480 So it's just crazy to see this mesh of what we ended up dumping. 320 00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:18,360 You know, it's just a very ingenious mess of methods. 321 00:19:18,360 --> 00:19:24,200 Well, you mentioned it a book a number of times in different time periods. 322 00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:31,320 You know, like if you're, you know, you're coming from 21st century America, you know, 323 00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:37,080 1000 AD in Afghanistan and that, you know, habits and cleanliness and sanitation and, 324 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:43,320 you know, you're going to have to go to the 325 00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:45,160 you know, our kind of all over the place. 326 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:49,720 And there's a shepherd coming by with his livestock, but he's wearing Adidas slides 327 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:55,880 in a G-Shock watch and you're like, this is the most mind blowing strange thing here. 328 00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:03,400 I can only imagine, you know, and it had to be culture shock for probably both sides. 329 00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:05,320 Oh, I'm sure. 330 00:20:05,320 --> 00:20:08,200 I'm sure we, I mean, just the interaction though in between. 331 00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:13,720 Yeah, they had some interaction and stuff with Americans, but a lot of times it just 332 00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:15,560 depended. It depended who the guys were. 333 00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:21,400 Some of them wanted nothing to do with sitting down with the Afghans and other guys were like, 334 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:26,200 yeah, man, let's buy that, you know, we'll buy the interpreters some lunch today because for 335 00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:33,080 five dollars, you get a stack of foot bread that was maybe 20 non deep, you know, and what it would 336 00:20:33,080 --> 00:20:39,960 feed the interpreters for a week's time, you get some of our guys in there and it's gone immediately. 337 00:20:39,960 --> 00:20:44,840 But, you know, but we'd occasionally buy for them and sit down and have a meal and stuff with them. 338 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:50,760 And as well as I always made it a point to converse with some of the local contractors or people that 339 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:56,200 we would have passed through. And there's even an instance to where that fact may have even 340 00:20:56,200 --> 00:20:57,480 ended up saving some lives. 341 00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:01,000 Could you explain that a little bit more? 342 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:09,400 Yeah, sure. That's the point to where they started having these local work parties that they would 343 00:21:09,400 --> 00:21:14,520 use on the compound. I mean, there was so much work to be done within base improvement on cop 344 00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:19,160 wear, which was where we originally ended up when we went into the Argendob. We established it, 345 00:21:19,160 --> 00:21:25,160 basically. So this is in a farm field. They had to bring in rocks, you know, because everything 346 00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:30,840 was sinking down into the mud. They had to fill the Hasco barriers. So I mean, there was heavy 347 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:35,320 equipment that needed to be brought in for that. There was just a multitude of different things. 348 00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:41,560 And, you know, we had to bring a guard out there to kind of watch these guys and everything. 349 00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:47,560 So I would always make it a point to either share a smoke with them or, you know, have a 350 00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:52,840 limited conversation and stuff with them, but always say something to them one way or another. 351 00:21:53,720 --> 00:21:58,600 Later on in deployment, when I was out of cop Johnston, we were down by one of the bazaars. 352 00:21:58,600 --> 00:22:05,240 And from across the way, they had a nickname for me because of the camel on my cigarettes. 353 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:14,120 So whoosh in Pashtun is camel. So they and I hear this, hey, whoosh from, you know, across the way. 354 00:22:14,120 --> 00:22:18,920 And it was one of the guys that I had talked to and was like, oh, hey, kind of call him over. 355 00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:26,520 And, you know, again, in a limited and broken conversation, he's basically like, oh, you guys 356 00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:30,920 are going down this way. And he's like, ah, I wouldn't go down that way today if I were you. 357 00:22:31,560 --> 00:22:36,120 And what do you mean? And I said something to the squad leader about it, which was Sergeant 358 00:22:36,120 --> 00:22:41,960 Hackers at the time. And we, of course, we did go that way. We just went into a bounding overwatch 359 00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:48,200 to where we were really watching everything around us. We had other guys, you know, checking us as 360 00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:53,720 that element moves forward and vice versa, maybe just due to that, that diligence or that extra 361 00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:59,640 oversight, you know, it's very possible that that guy might have just saved us from an ambush. 362 00:23:00,360 --> 00:23:04,120 Right. It's not like you never quite know. It sounded like he was warning you. 363 00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:11,000 Yeah. Yeah, something. Now, we're talking with with Will Yeske. His book is entitled Damn the 364 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:19,400 Valley about his experiences in Afghanistan. And, you know, you mentioned these. I'm trying to, 365 00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:24,520 you know, include as many parts of our audience as I can. There's so many stories in here. I know, 366 00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:31,480 I know. But you're talking about these, these forward observation. Well, I don't, I guess they 367 00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:37,160 weren't called that then. But, you know, these cops, the combat outposts that you went out to, 368 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:43,720 and you had to build from from nothing. So that has to do with size is like, so there's actually a 369 00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:49,320 whole thing to where you have your main operating bases like Kandahar airfield. And then some of 370 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:55,320 your forward fobs, so forward operating base, which is like, Bob Walton was mentioned as to where we 371 00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:59,480 refitted. And it was a larger one. They had a flight line where helicopters could come in and 372 00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:04,680 out and stuff, but not an actual airfield, you know, and then that breaks it down to these combat 373 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:11,080 outposts. So that one that we established, we literally took that area by force, which means 374 00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:17,720 we just rolled in and overnight. It's like, Hey, this is now our spot, you know, and push out 375 00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:25,080 security and bring in everything. And, you know, basically, top where was usually plus or minus 376 00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:31,560 about 100 people at any time. And then it broke down to where later on in the deployment, 377 00:24:32,120 --> 00:24:38,520 you know, second, but tune was originally over at cop Johnston, but we replaced second, but tune 378 00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:45,960 at cop Johnston and second, but tune was pushed out to an area of a town called Diocage. And 379 00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:53,240 third, but you stayed back at cop where it was just, it was really because the entire area was so 380 00:24:53,240 --> 00:25:00,040 saturated, you know, so we ended up on at one time, we were only 28 guys on cop Johnston, but 381 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:06,200 really it was anywhere from 34 to 28 guys, it was we operated independently as platoons. 382 00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:15,080 And you had these smaller patrols of maybe 12 men out as a, you know, operating as a squad 383 00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:20,120 or a squad plus with somebody from weapons, you know, and what not, depending on what exactly 384 00:25:20,120 --> 00:25:26,600 your mission was. So very small elements just because of the amount of, you know, 385 00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:31,400 enemy within that territory and the limited, the limited movement just due to the amount of 386 00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:38,680 landmines and stuff that were put in. This is where I was in trouble reading continually 387 00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:47,160 with the, the, your exposure to the landmines and IEDs that were, you know, not only built into 388 00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:53,640 the road every 200 feet or so, but also they were built into the buildings. And can you, 389 00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:58,920 can you tell us a little bit about that? Yeah, sure. 390 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:04,360 The dread. I mean, I wouldn't, I mean, it was definitely an adventure. That's for sure. It's, 391 00:26:04,360 --> 00:26:09,800 so I know the one that you're referring to in particular is kind of one of the more 392 00:26:09,800 --> 00:26:15,160 harder to read chapters in the book. And it has to do with sort of the techniques that the enemy 393 00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:20,920 would use. They were really masters their craft, the, the team that would replace these landmines 394 00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:29,800 and explosives. And these guys would use anything from to where the footpaths would have 395 00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:35,080 like a tow popper type mine to where there wasn't enough metal in it for our mine detectors to pick 396 00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:41,720 up. It was just a very trace small, maybe something the size of a safety pin. And that smaller charge 397 00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:47,080 would initiate a larger charge that you could put remotely somewhere else. So this particular one 398 00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:53,320 was a landmine to where we came in and we float into this compound and I had literally stepped 399 00:26:53,320 --> 00:27:01,560 over this area, maybe 30 seconds prior. And the rest of the squad is coming in. And one of the, 400 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:08,840 one of the guys stepped on the initiator charge and ended up blowing up the main charge in the wall, 401 00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:15,400 which was right underneath where specialist Johnston was. And quite honestly, in looking at 402 00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:19,720 some of the stuff, and who really knows for sure, but quite honestly, I think the fact that Johnston 403 00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:25,800 being directly over where that mine was placed and took the brunt of that explosive charge is what 404 00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:31,400 ended up saving the squad because that landmine was ended up, that was really meant to be a squad 405 00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:38,440 killer. So just the different techniques that they would use and the different 406 00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:45,160 ways that they would, you had to constantly adapt out there. It's where we were talking before in 407 00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:50,600 Vietnam, where guys would be walking in the footsteps of others. And that's where we had to 408 00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:55,320 move from moving in a wedge through areas to collapsing down into a single file for that very 409 00:27:55,320 --> 00:28:02,280 reason, minimizing the amount of ground that we were putting over because that's what the fight 410 00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:12,120 essentially was. Yeah. And you guys are exposed to this every day, every day. That's why. 411 00:28:12,120 --> 00:28:21,320 And your unit had so many casualties. I mean, not necessarily that many, 412 00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:26,200 cavalier of me, not that many killed. Oh, no, I know. 413 00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:35,080 So many damaged. Yeah. And when you start to spread out across, as through researching the book 414 00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:42,040 and talking to other people, I mentioned it in here that when we went to leave and going 415 00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:48,760 to talk to the guys over at the Pedro hangar. So the medevac guys that were pulling us out, 416 00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:56,760 you know, they would usually be there. So it was Air Force PJs. And I want to say was Pedro 54 and 417 00:28:56,760 --> 00:29:03,800 66 that were the two that were pulling us in and out and finding out things like Pedro 66 was one 418 00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:08,920 of the ones that got shot down, you know, over that time when we were there and finding out just 419 00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:16,920 the sheer scope of how many people were affected. It was just absolutely mind blowing. 420 00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:22,200 You know, and really just a heavy thing when you start going through it and finding out how 421 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:27,480 many people were affected from this thing. Even the social media campaigns and stuff when people 422 00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:33,080 look across. I mean, we've got things, you know, it goes from Instagram, Facebook, 423 00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:39,160 YouTube Reddit, but damn the Valley book and people are just coming out of the woodwork that are like 424 00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:47,880 Argonne Dobb. I remember that place left and right. And that that specific area is a hot 425 00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:52,920 button topic for a lot of these guys. A lot of people that were there hold the exact same stories, 426 00:29:52,920 --> 00:30:00,440 you know, or at least the same sentiment that we did. Well, one of the things I think that's 427 00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:05,240 so interesting, we touched on this before we came on the air is in this world of all these 428 00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:11,080 different connections with social media and so forth, is that you are are able to get these 429 00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:19,800 stories out now instead of 3040 years from now. And some of the people you know, you've had, 430 00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:26,600 you know, in listening to other interviews, you had a 52% casualty rate in your platoon. 431 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:33,000 Approximately that's over half of people were either wounded or killed in the company. But yeah, 432 00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:38,200 yeah, that's still a lot of baggage to carry with you when you come home. 433 00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:45,480 Yeah. And really, I've kind of found that through sharing these stories, it's been good not only 434 00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:50,680 for myself, but it's been good for a lot of the guys that you talk to that peer to peer type support 435 00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:56,440 to where there happens to be a lot of veterans out there and you hear it quite often, you know, 436 00:30:56,440 --> 00:31:01,320 they don't want to see a therapist or they don't want to go to therapy. They don't understand me. 437 00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:07,960 They've never been through this type of stuff. Quite honestly, trauma is trauma and they do 438 00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:14,680 know how to treat those responses to that stuff. But if it's the fact of somebody sharing their own 439 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:20,280 story, in order to start opening up to that idea of facing this sort of thing, then there's definite 440 00:31:20,280 --> 00:31:26,520 value in it. And I know that again, for myself, when in writing this book, slowing down enough to 441 00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:31,400 be able to process everything that had happened to myself and some of the other guys, I ended up 442 00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:36,680 being a really good thing for myself. And in talking with, you know, some of the other guys that were 443 00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:42,120 there, the majority of the guys that were over there, and hearing these stories, but then also 444 00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:47,000 from one in particular hearing, you know, this has been really good for me. I feel like a burden 445 00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:51,960 has been lifted off my soul, because it's been so long since I've been able to talk about this sort 446 00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:56,120 of thing. Thank you. And that to me has meant everything. 447 00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:05,080 You know, it gives you a clearer understanding of what you went through sometimes, because you 448 00:32:05,080 --> 00:32:12,440 don't, you block out some of the terrible things. And you kind of asking yourself, did that really 449 00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:18,200 happen? And you know, then you talk to somebody who was there and they go, I remember when you 450 00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:25,480 did this, I did. These stories come out of the woodwork, too. Like, it's multiple times. Oh, 451 00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:31,400 my gosh, I forgot about that. I can't believe you wrote that down. Oh, my God, like, you know, 452 00:32:31,400 --> 00:32:37,400 and they come flooding back with things. So it's, it's, it is cool in that aspect, too, of, of, 453 00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:44,680 you know, these guys are remembering this stuff as well that they had blocked out with fond memories, 454 00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:50,600 you know, so that end is good to hear as well. I mean, the book has a lot of serious and some 455 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:56,040 scary parts in it, but there's also some humorous things that go on in here. You know, and you 456 00:32:56,040 --> 00:33:04,280 mentioned, you know, care packages from home, and, you know, the sharing of the wealth when some of 457 00:33:04,280 --> 00:33:10,920 these things were came in and, and, you know, one particular thing that I liked was you were, 458 00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:17,480 I think it's cup Johnson and you had some pancake mix, but you didn't have any way of cooking the 459 00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:24,920 pancakes. Yeah, I did. At one point they sent out, I had asked, you know, hey, can you send me a 460 00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:32,280 bunch of instant bisquick? And they did, you know, and then I had no way to cook it where we were. 461 00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:36,520 There was just, it was so austere of an environment, there was nothing. And then we ended up getting 462 00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:44,440 one of those cooking trailers, but nobody, nobody used it to use it, no food, no freezer 463 00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:50,280 connex or nothing to cook on it. So it was like we were living off MREs for most of the time. 464 00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:57,880 And we finally ended up getting stuff out and then getting a food source and everything. And I 465 00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:02,760 was able to one morning, you know, as a particular, I think it was within the last month we were there. 466 00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:10,360 One morning I was able to treat the guys coming in to a stack of, stack of hot cakes and they were 467 00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:16,840 just like, what in the, and I think I used a whole, you know, a whole package of butter that the 468 00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:23,000 Coke had. He was furious at me, but you know what, the guys loved it and it was just a little taste 469 00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:28,040 to home, I guess. Well, I think so. You know, I don't think the military exchange is that much 470 00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:34,040 either because you talk in the book, the book is the Damned the Valley by William Yeske. I encourage 471 00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:39,240 our audience to go out and get this book, but you, you have the thing where you guys broke into the 472 00:34:39,240 --> 00:34:45,800 freezer unit and scarfed down most of the ice cream. No, no, no, no, it wasn't most of the ice 473 00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:52,040 cream, but myself, myself along with Weapons Squad, commandeered a five gallon Ben & Jerry 474 00:34:52,040 --> 00:34:59,720 that they had in there for us. And man, I don't think we've been sicker, sicker since, but it was 475 00:34:59,720 --> 00:35:00,760 worth every bite. 476 00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:12,760 All right. We have a couple of minutes to go. I'm so happy that you survived and I'm sure that you 477 00:35:12,760 --> 00:35:20,120 are too. Absolutely. But you've been carrying this message along with you since you got out of the 478 00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:25,800 service and have been helping veterans in many different ways. And I know that you are, you 479 00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:31,240 know, kind of a entrepreneur marketing guru out there that's been, you know, helped small 480 00:35:31,240 --> 00:35:38,040 businesses and so forth. Who is it or what is it that you've been involved with so much since 481 00:35:38,040 --> 00:35:47,000 you got out? I mean, really, it's been that race to become, I guess, useful. You know, I went to 482 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:52,920 business school after I got out, finished business school in two and a half years and then went 483 00:35:52,920 --> 00:35:58,760 forward to do some graduate classes with Columbia Business School. So I just actually just finished 484 00:35:58,760 --> 00:36:05,080 up fairly recently, putting all that stuff to use, you know, it's through the thing with a book, but 485 00:36:05,080 --> 00:36:09,960 helping other people along the way, really these collaborative efforts and everything has been 486 00:36:09,960 --> 00:36:15,160 where I've found the most use of everything. You know, it's guys from Charlie Company, 487 00:36:15,160 --> 00:36:21,160 I mentioned it in the book, Across the River from Us, got them a publishing deal and they have a book 488 00:36:21,160 --> 00:36:27,480 next year or early 2025, actually, by the name of Devil's Playground by Andrew Bragg coming out. 489 00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:33,080 There's, you know, between that, there's other stories from other guys, there's a few other 490 00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:39,800 authors that have helped out there, but people within Maryland were doing some stuff with Warrior 491 00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:47,720 WOD, where we're laying that mental health foundation through the physical end of things, 492 00:36:47,720 --> 00:36:54,600 which I found myself to be very helpful as well. And then there's Racing for Heroes, 493 00:36:54,600 --> 00:36:59,560 which has been phenomenal in the way of getting these groups of guys together, but the same thing 494 00:36:59,560 --> 00:37:05,800 is really, that's their whole thing as well is that the physical health end of things and rolling 495 00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:12,280 into the mental health and creating that group around you, that is that it's your community, 496 00:37:12,280 --> 00:37:16,360 you know, you're back up in your support that a lot of us lose when we when we leave out of the 497 00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:21,720 service. That's been one of the one of the best things about this is reconnecting with the other 498 00:37:21,720 --> 00:37:28,200 guys, but then also using that and using this group of guys and going forward and moving forward 499 00:37:28,200 --> 00:37:36,200 together. I think that's such an advantage that you have right now again with the social media 500 00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:40,680 and everything is that all of you were able to maintain contact. And because you know, you went 501 00:37:40,680 --> 00:37:46,680 over together, most of you came back together. And I know that there's usually a little down 502 00:37:46,680 --> 00:37:56,040 period before they even let you go home, which is very smart. I mean, no, I mean, we had, I mean, 503 00:37:56,040 --> 00:38:01,080 we were home in 24 hours, you know, you're still wearing your fatigues when you leave, you know, 504 00:38:01,080 --> 00:38:08,200 you left Saigon and you arrive in Detroit, your fatigue. And it was kind of a strange, strange 505 00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:14,040 world out there. So what is the name of your company and how could people contact you? 506 00:38:14,600 --> 00:38:19,800 So no limits marketing group. I mean, you can get me no limits marketing group.com. 507 00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:26,440 You got William Yeske on LinkedIn, W Yeske on Twitter, and then damn the Valley book 508 00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:33,000 is basically the link tree to everything. There's links to all the social on the book 509 00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:37,640 and the Amazon stuff Barnes and Noble where you can find the book, but also how to get in touch 510 00:38:37,640 --> 00:38:41,800 with me. I mean, really honestly, the easiest way to do it would just be to go to damn the valley 511 00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:51,640 book.com and go from there, which is what I did. That's smart, man. Yes, I think so. All right. 512 00:38:51,640 --> 00:38:57,480 Well, I want to, you know, we've been talking with William Yeske. That's why he has K.E. The book is 513 00:38:57,480 --> 00:39:05,400 damn the Valley. It's just a it's a great story and inspiring story, a scary story. It's everything 514 00:39:05,400 --> 00:39:12,360 that anybody who's ever been in the military probably went through at one point or another, and 515 00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:19,640 puts it in in context and from the from the enlisted man's viewpoint. And I think that's what's so 516 00:39:19,640 --> 00:39:25,000 important and what I found so interesting about the book. So I want to thank you so much, Will, 517 00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:29,960 for being on Veterans Radio. Let me know if you write another one or let me know about the group 518 00:39:29,960 --> 00:39:36,600 that's coming across the river. Absolutely, Dale. It's been real. Thank you so much for having me 519 00:39:36,600 --> 00:39:42,600 on and I absolutely will. Okay. Thank you very much, Will Yeske. All right, we're going to take a 520 00:39:42,600 --> 00:39:47,720 break right now for our Medal of Honor segment. And when we come back, we're going to be looking at 521 00:39:47,720 --> 00:39:55,720 the the NVBDC organizations business of the month. So we'll be right back after this. 522 00:39:55,720 --> 00:40:02,040 The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in combat given a member of the armed forces of 523 00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:07,160 the United States. There have been over 3400 recipients of the nation's highest award. 524 00:40:07,880 --> 00:40:12,920 This is one of them. First Lieutenant John Fox called in artillery fire on his own position. 525 00:40:13,480 --> 00:40:19,720 Details after this. If you have a VA claim denied by the Board of Veterans Appeals, 526 00:40:19,720 --> 00:40:26,600 contact Legal Help for Veterans at 1-800-693-4800. They're experts in handling cases before the 527 00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:32,280 U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. Their number again, 1-800-693-4800. 528 00:40:33,160 --> 00:40:38,680 On Christmas night in 1944, enemy soldiers in civilian clothes gradually infiltrated the town 529 00:40:38,680 --> 00:40:43,720 Fox and his men were in. And by early morning, the town was largely in hostile hands. 530 00:40:43,720 --> 00:40:49,880 An organized attack by uniformed German units began at 4 a.m. Being greatly outnumbered, 531 00:40:49,880 --> 00:40:54,920 most of the American forces were forced to withdraw from the town. But Fox and other members of his 532 00:40:54,920 --> 00:41:00,680 Observer Party voluntarily remained on the second floor of a house to direct defensive artillery fire. 533 00:41:01,640 --> 00:41:06,520 Fox reported the Germans were in the streets and attacking in strength. He then called for 534 00:41:06,520 --> 00:41:12,280 defensive artillery fire to slow the enemy advance. As the Germans continued to press the attack 535 00:41:12,280 --> 00:41:17,560 towards the area that Fox occupied, he adjusted the artillery fire closer to his position. 536 00:41:17,560 --> 00:41:23,000 Finally, he was warned that the next adjustment would bring the deadly artillery right on top 537 00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:29,000 of his position. After acknowledging the danger, Lieutenant Fox insisted that the last adjustment 538 00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:35,160 be fired as this was the only way to defeat the attacking soldiers. Later, when a counterattack 539 00:41:35,160 --> 00:41:40,600 retook the position from the Germans, Lieutenant Fox's body was found with the bodies of approximately 540 00:41:40,600 --> 00:41:45,800 100 German soldiers. The Medal of Honor series is a production of Veterans Radio. 541 00:42:11,080 --> 00:42:29,240 We want to welcome to Veterans Radio today Business Owner Visionary Scott Lopez. He is the 542 00:42:29,240 --> 00:42:37,000 driving force behind Zepo Production Inc. Better known as ZPI. We have him on today because we have 543 00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:43,320 a relationship with National Veteran Business Development Council and VBDC.org as it's better 544 00:42:43,320 --> 00:42:52,120 known. To spotlight, companies involved with NVBDC, which is the nation's leading third-party 545 00:42:52,120 --> 00:42:58,440 authority for certification of veteran-owned businesses, really of all sizes. This 501C3 546 00:42:58,440 --> 00:43:04,360 nonprofit was established back in 2013 and it addresses the growing need to identify and certify 547 00:43:04,360 --> 00:43:10,280 both service-disabled and veteran-owned businesses for the commercial and government marketplace. 548 00:43:10,280 --> 00:43:16,360 NVBDC has a rigorous certification process designed to withstand the scrutiny of governmental 549 00:43:16,360 --> 00:43:25,640 and corporate entities in seeking to use veteran-owned businesses. So, Scott Lopez and ZPI are NVBDC 550 00:43:25,640 --> 00:43:33,880 certified. Scott, why don't we start with this? Tell us why a nice kid from Texas went from 551 00:43:33,880 --> 00:43:41,880 high school to the US Army to driving around M181 Battle Tanks. Yeah, actually, I grew up in Southern 552 00:43:41,880 --> 00:43:46,040 California. I live in Austin now, but I grew up in Southern California and I think like most 553 00:43:47,400 --> 00:43:53,720 combat arms soldiers or anybody in the military, I don't know, college wasn't for me, right? So, 554 00:43:54,360 --> 00:44:01,240 wasn't great in high school. It wasn't my favorite thing. So, I also want to say thanks to the 555 00:44:01,240 --> 00:44:05,880 country. I remember being in basic training and every day, the dozer just get in front of you 556 00:44:05,880 --> 00:44:10,680 and what do you hear for? And some of the guys were ordered to be there. Some were there for 557 00:44:10,680 --> 00:44:16,040 just the G.I. Bill and the dozer got in front of you and he goes, what do you hear for? I was 558 00:44:16,040 --> 00:44:20,120 only 17 years old in basic training. He goes, Lopez, why'd you join the Army? I said, just to 559 00:44:20,120 --> 00:44:24,440 say thanks. He said, God, that's the best answer I've ever heard. Get up here. You're our platoon 560 00:44:24,440 --> 00:44:30,280 leader. So, I don't know. I've always just been very patriotic. That's a little reason, but 561 00:44:30,280 --> 00:44:35,640 I didn't have a lot of options, I guess, but worked out really well for me. Well, as we're going to 562 00:44:35,640 --> 00:44:42,200 hear later as you figure, life after service has been great and you're in a great position now and 563 00:44:42,200 --> 00:44:48,360 you get to not only thank the country, but also recognize your Hispanic heritage and we'll talk 564 00:44:48,360 --> 00:44:54,440 a little bit about that. But tell us what ZPI does. So, ZPI actually is Zepo Productions Inc. 565 00:44:54,440 --> 00:45:01,160 And Zepo is just Lopez backwards. Everyone I was asked with Zepo and I grew up, my best friend 566 00:45:01,160 --> 00:45:06,040 growing up, his name was Scott. So, he was long, I was Lopez. So, since I was a really young, I 567 00:45:06,040 --> 00:45:10,440 always been called Lopez. And then when you join the Army, no one uses the person's name. So, 568 00:45:11,160 --> 00:45:17,160 everyone just always called me Lopez. So, I went with Lopez backwards to Zepo. So, Zepo Productions 569 00:45:17,160 --> 00:45:25,000 Inc. We actually produce private labels and exclusive brands of services or hardware for 570 00:45:25,800 --> 00:45:31,400 distribution partners or reseller partners in the IT space. So, Ingram, Microtek, 571 00:45:31,400 --> 00:45:37,240 Datast, NXDNH, these are all big gigantic computer distributors that don't have smaller 572 00:45:37,240 --> 00:45:44,040 groups within them. We offer an opportunity for them to offer, other than alternative to OEM, 573 00:45:44,040 --> 00:45:51,480 service and support to their customers and have a little bit of arms distance from their OEM 574 00:45:51,480 --> 00:45:56,040 partners. I gotta say Cisco and Dell and HP, these big guys, right? We offer a third-party 575 00:45:56,040 --> 00:46:02,200 support to be able to support those, that hardware, further on down the road, right? Legacy gears. 576 00:46:02,200 --> 00:46:07,560 So, we call it extension of life for, again, supporting of legacy equipment. 577 00:46:07,560 --> 00:46:15,640 And when you go to the website, which is Z-P-I-A-O-M.com, you'll learn more about 578 00:46:15,640 --> 00:46:24,680 Zepo Productions or ZPI. And this whole IT space is interesting and how you get help. 579 00:46:25,400 --> 00:46:33,080 Maybe the smaller businesses, not the biggest businesses in the world, get that IT support 580 00:46:33,080 --> 00:46:38,200 that we all need nowadays. It's imperative. And we need the latest and greatest at the best cost 581 00:46:38,200 --> 00:46:44,120 possible. Why was it important after you started the business, you've been at this a while, 582 00:46:45,320 --> 00:46:51,960 to become a veteran-owned certified company? Yeah, so it's funny. So, I worked, 583 00:46:51,960 --> 00:46:57,080 luckily when I got out of the Army, I was 26 when I went to work for a company called Ingram 584 00:46:57,080 --> 00:47:01,000 Micro. Ingram Micro is the world's largest IT distributor. They were at one point, I think, 585 00:47:01,000 --> 00:47:06,840 another couple of guys emerged, but anyway, still $50 billion global gigantic company. And I got to 586 00:47:06,840 --> 00:47:15,560 go work for them. And they support, they're kind of the biggest unknown company out there, right? 587 00:47:15,560 --> 00:47:20,600 They support every reseller in the world. So, a reseller would be companies that you might be 588 00:47:20,600 --> 00:47:27,880 familiar with like CDW or SHI or Insight on the on the IT, pure IT play, but even guys like 589 00:47:27,880 --> 00:47:34,040 Best Buy and Staples and any of those retail guys as well, right? They're actually shipping 590 00:47:34,040 --> 00:47:42,600 only IT products for the reseller that we know and we partner with. So, working with distribution, 591 00:47:42,600 --> 00:47:47,320 I wanted to break out and start my own company, have my own brand offering, alternative to OEM 592 00:47:47,320 --> 00:47:52,040 product, right? Just ways to save money. So, a lot of things are privately labeled these days, 593 00:47:52,040 --> 00:47:58,840 and I'm able to source product from the exact same contract manufacturer as the big names that we 594 00:47:58,840 --> 00:48:05,400 mentioned before. With my name on it, I had a huge discount hardware and support, right? So, 595 00:48:06,040 --> 00:48:10,440 because we do that, we offer that through a sales channel. I thought it would be important for me 596 00:48:10,440 --> 00:48:16,520 to be able to let my other partners utilize my certifications as well, right? So, we're minority 597 00:48:16,520 --> 00:48:23,240 owned, Veptronone, SB88A certified on the Texas DIR contract, but I don't sell to end users. So, 598 00:48:23,240 --> 00:48:28,600 those certifications really didn't help me out very much, but bigger partners, and again, like 599 00:48:28,600 --> 00:48:33,320 CDW or Insight, these big resellers that have been around for 40 years, they don't have any diversity 600 00:48:33,320 --> 00:48:39,560 status and their enterprise customers are asking for diversity spend. Well, how can they do that 601 00:48:39,560 --> 00:48:44,040 if they're not? They need to partner with guys like me. So, when they partner with me, now their 602 00:48:44,040 --> 00:48:50,840 end user gets to retire tier two spend, and their reseller gets to retire tier one spend. And some 603 00:48:50,840 --> 00:48:56,200 of these partners like Dell and CDW are actually part of the billion dollar roundtable who takes 604 00:48:56,200 --> 00:49:04,440 prior diversity very seriously. And we both have a really cool solution and some really cool software 605 00:49:04,440 --> 00:49:11,640 around letting partners use my software and I do life as a manager for them, and they get to 606 00:49:11,640 --> 00:49:19,320 share diversity spend with me, even if they're not diverse partners. And NVBDC.org is sort of a 607 00:49:19,320 --> 00:49:26,520 leading certification entity nationwide for veterans. It's a rigorous certification, really 608 00:49:26,520 --> 00:49:32,120 have to prove yourself up. And you've done that, and in fact, you're actually on their board of 609 00:49:32,120 --> 00:49:37,560 advisors, I guess they're so impressed with you and you're so impressed with them. Tell us what 610 00:49:37,560 --> 00:49:43,160 does impress you about NVBDC? Well, like you said, you know, there's a certification process. 611 00:49:43,160 --> 00:49:49,240 There's a few other companies out there, not NGOs, they call them non-governmental organizations that 612 00:49:49,240 --> 00:49:55,160 offer certifications for other than just veteran as well. It could be minority, right? But there's 613 00:49:55,160 --> 00:50:01,000 only several that are recognized by the billion dollar roundtable. And the billion dollar roundtable 614 00:50:01,000 --> 00:50:08,120 is where the Fortune 500 companies are all members of the BDR. And that's the certifications they 615 00:50:08,120 --> 00:50:15,320 accept are NVBDC for veteran, WeBank for women, and NMSDC. Even there's other ones out there, 616 00:50:15,320 --> 00:50:19,080 these are the three. And the reason the BDR chose them is because of that stringent 617 00:50:20,280 --> 00:50:27,320 process to get certified, right? One of the things that we've seen with NVBDC is its ability to 618 00:50:27,320 --> 00:50:34,280 I think I always use the network and I get corrected. It's really not networking, but sort 619 00:50:34,280 --> 00:50:42,040 of networking between the veteran businesses and guys on the billion dollar roundtable of 620 00:50:43,480 --> 00:50:50,280 putting folks together. It's more of a matchmaker than maybe networking. But have you experienced 621 00:50:50,280 --> 00:50:58,360 that sort of value from NVBDC? Yeah, it was actually just in Louisville for their annual show 622 00:50:58,360 --> 00:51:03,960 and absolutely, right? You've got the biggest names out there. Dell and gigantic logos are there, 623 00:51:03,960 --> 00:51:09,080 and the people from their supplier diversity groups are there, and they're speaking at the event and 624 00:51:09,080 --> 00:51:15,080 talking to veterans and explaining them how do you do business with companies our size? You 625 00:51:15,080 --> 00:51:21,240 realize that most veteran owned businesses are small businesses, right? We're all small businesses. 626 00:51:21,240 --> 00:51:27,240 So how do you go? How do you work with Apple? Pretty hard to get into Apple, right? But if you 627 00:51:27,240 --> 00:51:32,440 got that NVBDC logo in there, it opens the door for you at least, right? It gives you the conversations 628 00:51:32,440 --> 00:51:37,240 and they can help you navigate a little bit easier than having doing it on your own, right? 629 00:51:37,240 --> 00:51:43,320 It's not very easy to open those doors these days. So do you get asked by other veteran owned 630 00:51:43,320 --> 00:51:47,240 businesses, hey, is it worth going through this process? And if so, what would you tell them? 631 00:51:48,280 --> 00:51:54,280 You know, like you said, I'm on the board of advisors and like I just said, it's not easy to 632 00:51:54,280 --> 00:52:01,000 open doors at companies like Dell and Apple and Disney and these gigantic companies, right? So 633 00:52:01,000 --> 00:52:07,560 you need to have everything you can possibly do to get your foot in the door. And because these 634 00:52:07,560 --> 00:52:14,360 gigantic logos are members of the BDR, it incents them, they have these goals that they put on 635 00:52:14,360 --> 00:52:18,040 themselves, by the way, right? They're not like the government where they've got these government 636 00:52:18,040 --> 00:52:22,440 mandated goals for supplier diversity. These are things that they put on themselves. So it only 637 00:52:22,440 --> 00:52:27,560 makes sense for them to back their investment, if you will, right? So, you know, I let everybody 638 00:52:27,560 --> 00:52:32,200 know, like, yeah, if you're an veteran owned company, join the NVBDC, you'll work the system 639 00:52:32,200 --> 00:52:38,840 and you'll get business out of it. All right. That was Jim Falso talking with Scott Lopez and 640 00:52:39,880 --> 00:52:46,120 talking about NVBDC. So if you are a veteran owned business and you want to learn what you need to 641 00:52:46,120 --> 00:52:53,240 do, contact these people at NVBDC.org. Next week on our program, we're going to be doing our benefits 642 00:52:53,240 --> 00:52:59,400 program. So if you have any questions to, you know, that you want to put to our group, let me know. 643 00:52:59,400 --> 00:53:05,480 That's dale at veteransradio.org. We're going to go out with a song by Toby Keith today, and that's 644 00:53:05,480 --> 00:53:12,120 because Toby passed away on February 5th, that only 62 years old says during his career, which 645 00:53:12,120 --> 00:53:17,640 spans three decades, he sold over 40 million records, thanks to his patriotic hits like 646 00:53:17,640 --> 00:53:21,880 should have been a cowboy made in America, and of course, courtesy of red, white and blue. Pro 647 00:53:21,880 --> 00:53:28,200 military stance wasn't just fodder for songs. He went through 11 USO tours to visit and play for 648 00:53:28,200 --> 00:53:34,600 the troops overseas. So we're going to say thank you very much, Toby Keith. We're going to miss 649 00:53:34,600 --> 00:53:41,320 you, your true patriot. And I think that for our audience, we want to let them know that these songs 650 00:53:41,320 --> 00:53:48,360 is really for them. And this is what he did for us here in America during our time of 651 00:53:48,360 --> 00:53:58,440 terrible times. So you're listening to veterans radio. We'll see you next week. You're dismissed. 652 00:54:18,360 --> 00:54:25,960 Sugarpunch came flying from somewhere in the back. Soon as we could see clearly who our big black 653 00:54:25,960 --> 00:54:32,960 Man, we lit up your world like the four of July 654 00:54:32,960 --> 00:54:37,960 Hey, I'm gonna say I put your name at the top of his list 655 00:54:37,960 --> 00:54:41,960 And a statue of liberty is starting to shake in her face 656 00:54:41,960 --> 00:54:45,960 And an eagle will fly and it's gonna be healed 657 00:54:45,960 --> 00:54:49,960 When you hear mother freedom start to ring in her bell 658 00:54:49,960 --> 00:54:57,960 And it'll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you 659 00:54:57,960 --> 00:55:20,960 I'll brought to you courtesy of the red, white and blue 660 00:55:20,960 --> 00:55:27,960 Justice will be served and the battle will rage 661 00:55:27,960 --> 00:55:32,960 This big dog will fight when you rattle his cage 662 00:55:32,960 --> 00:55:40,960 And you'll be sorry that you mess with the new reservation 663 00:55:40,960 --> 00:55:46,960 Cause we'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American way 664 00:55:46,960 --> 00:55:50,960 Hey, I'm gonna say I put your name at the top of his list 665 00:55:50,960 --> 00:55:54,960 And a statue of liberty is starting to shake in her face 666 00:55:54,960 --> 00:55:59,960 And an eagle will fly and it's gonna be healed 667 00:55:59,960 --> 00:56:03,960 When you hear mother freedom start to ring in her bell 668 00:56:03,960 --> 00:56:11,960 And it'll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you 669 00:56:11,960 --> 00:56:31,960 I'll brought to you courtesy of the red, white and blue 670 00:56:31,960 --> 00:56:41,960 Of my red, white and blue 671 00:57:02,960 --> 00:57:05,960 I'm gonna say I put my name at the top of his list 672 00:57:05,960 --> 00:57:09,960 And a statue of liberty is starting to shake in her bell 673 00:57:09,960 --> 00:57:13,960 And it'll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you 674 00:57:13,960 --> 00:57:17,960 I'll brought to you courtesy of the red, white and blue 675 00:57:17,960 --> 00:57:20,960 Justice will be served and the battle will rage 676 00:57:20,960 --> 00:57:23,960 When you hear mother freedom start to ring in her bell 677 00:57:23,960 --> 00:57:27,960 And it'll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you