1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,640 All across America and around the world, this is Veterans Radio. 2 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:15,920 This is Veterans Radio. 3 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:17,840 Welcome to Veterans Radio. 4 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:20,560 I am Jim Fossone. 5 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:22,880 I'm the officer of the deck today. 6 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:24,760 We've got some great programs for you. 7 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:27,760 I think you'll find very interesting. 8 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:34,640 We always want to remind you you can find more about Veterans Radio at its Facebook site 9 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:36,680 or at the web. 10 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:43,120 VeteransRadio.org is our new URL, VeteransRadio.org. 11 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:48,520 Where we're on the web 24-7, you can find a lot of our podcasts there as well. 12 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:55,080 We post new ones every Tuesday, so you can get a new story, a new interview, 13 00:00:55,080 --> 00:00:59,960 something you didn't know before by going to VeteransRadio.org. 14 00:00:59,960 --> 00:01:04,240 And before we get started, we want to thank our sponsors. 15 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:13,680 First up, we want to thank National Veteran Business Development Council, NVBDC.org. 16 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:19,360 It was established to certify both service disabled and veteran-owned businesses. 17 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:25,920 You'll find out how they can help your business by going to NVBDC.org. 18 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:29,360 We want to thank Legal Help for Veterans. 19 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:35,000 Legal Help for Veterans fights for veterans disability rights all across the nation. 20 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:46,120 You can reach them at 800-693-4800 or on the web at LegalHelpForVeterans.com. 21 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:52,280 We want to welcome to VeteransRadio today Brigadier General, retired Doug Odie Slocum, 22 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:57,480 who is going to talk to us about the Michigan Air and Space Forces Association. 23 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:00,160 General, welcome to VeteransRadio. 24 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:04,280 Okay, it's great to be here, Jim. I look forward to talking with you. How are you doing today? 25 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:10,240 We're doing great, and this is some new things going on that we want to share with the Veteran Radio audience, 26 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:19,600 not only here in the state of Michigan, but really this is affiliated with the AFA Air and Space Forces Association nationally. 27 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:27,040 Tell us a little bit about your career in the military, how many years you served, 28 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:32,080 and I know that you've had a pretty distinguished career and we don't have time to go through it all, 29 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:39,400 but I want people to understand from where your enthusiasm for AFA comes from. 30 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:43,800 Well, sure, and thanks for the opportunity, and no, we're not going to spend a lot of time on this topic, 31 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:48,000 but I was blessed to spend 35 years in uniform. 32 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:54,760 One of the greatest things was being able to serve some of the most amazing men and women you'd ever want to meet. 33 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:59,640 And if there's one part of my career that I would have to say is a highlight, 34 00:02:59,640 --> 00:03:05,240 it's a lot of opportunities to run what I would call caring for people types of programs. 35 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:15,400 Although I spent my career as a fighter pilot, I also got to be involved with many things associated with safety, suicide prevention, resiliency, 36 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:21,640 those types of things, and then of course being the commander out at Michigan's hometown air base at Selfridge, 37 00:03:21,640 --> 00:03:27,240 where we were able to implement some real world down-to-earth community-based types of caring for our people programs, 38 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:29,920 and I'll tell you that's just the highlight. 39 00:03:29,920 --> 00:03:38,320 Well, you certainly had a great run, and I saw somewhere, but I can't find it now, what airframes you flew, why don't you remind us of that? 40 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:45,760 Okay, well, I started off in the love of my life, I call it the F-4 Phantom, the legacy platform there, that fighter jet. 41 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:53,760 Then I converted over to the F-16, and I spent most of my career flying that more than 4,000 hours in the different models of the F-16, 42 00:03:53,760 --> 00:04:02,800 and then I got to top it off out at Selfridge being a pilot of the A-10 Warthog with the big bad gun that does all the neat things that it does supporting the ground trips. 43 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:08,640 We've had more than one program on the A-10s, it seems like every few years they say we're going to get rid of it, 44 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:22,960 and we have another program about the vital importance of the A-10 to the ground game, but again, we could get all of our time spent on your interesting military career and the different airframes you've flown, 45 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:33,440 but I want folks to understand that's kind of where your passion comes from for your involvement with the Air and Space Forces Association, 46 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:40,640 it's hard to get space forces in there, my mind just wants to go into the Air Force Association. 47 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:50,320 Well, they changed it about a year and a half ago, so it still kind of has a hard time coming out of my mouth too, plus we still use the AFA abbreviation. 48 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:57,920 So, to add air and space forces in there, just to let everybody know we represent both of those branches of our military now. 49 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:08,160 Well, and that's something we need to talk about more on what space force is all about, but AFA is really supposed to be the force behind the force. 50 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:10,800 Tell us about the purpose of AFA. 51 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:21,520 You know, that is a grand question that I don't think we spend enough time talking about, that essentially after World War II, as the very founders of air power, 52 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:29,440 the Army Air Corps that was about to become the U.S. Air Force, realized that they needed to have a voice beyond those who are wearing the uniform, 53 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:35,280 because those that are in uniform are very constrained on what they can say, how they can advocate. 54 00:05:35,280 --> 00:05:47,200 So, Jimmy Doolittle, you know, from the Doolittle raid, General Doolittle, was the one who was actually one of the primary founders of the Air Force Association, 55 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:59,520 and it was started to be the voice behind the force, the ones that can talk to Congress, that can keep us from reducing our strength for example, 56 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:05,680 as we did between World War I and World War II, where we pretty much ended up having to start everything over again. 57 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:14,880 So, the very founders of the Air Force founded the Air Force Association to be that voice, to be that advocate, to go out there, talk to the community, talk to Congress. 58 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:20,480 Basically, we have three verbs, it's about education, advocacy, and support. 59 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:34,080 Teaching people about the Air and Space Forces, advocating for things that they need to be able to be that dominant force that they are, and supporting the men and women who do or have worn that uniform. 60 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:43,840 And General, this is an organization at a national level, who's it open up to? Is it just you, general officer types? 61 00:06:43,840 --> 00:06:52,480 Oh, absolutely not, we're open to the public, you don't even have to have an Air Force affiliation to be part of the Air and Space Forces Association. 62 00:06:52,480 --> 00:07:02,880 Anybody can go to afa.org, you know, the website, there's a membership tab, there's lots of different ways to get involved to join the resources, 63 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:19,040 just where the think tank of the Air Force, the advocacy arm for the Air Force, there are so many different resources and ways to get engaged at this point, but the key, the first step is that membership, which is easy to do, inexpensive afa.org. 64 00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:31,440 Well, I want to turn our attention to the specific work that you're involved in as president of the Michigan Air and Space Forces Association. 65 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:52,400 There are afa groups or chapters, whatever you want to call them, all over the world, there's a reported to be a couple of hundred of such afa chapters, and you're in the process of helping build out the Michigan afa organization. 66 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:57,680 So talk to us a little bit about the Michigan afa. 67 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:09,520 You bet, you know, like a lot of these advocacy organizations around the country, I think that inherently right now there are some struggles that these organizations are going through. 68 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:14,480 So it's very nice here in Michigan, we've kind of flipped the script a little bit on this whole thing. 69 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:25,520 We have monthly get togethers, I wouldn't call them necessarily meetings because we don't talk internal business, but this is how we engage with the public, how we engage with our membership, 70 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:32,160 primarily right now, which a lot of times, well, one, it's always a great meal, whether it's a breakfast or a lunch that we put together. 71 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:34,800 You gotta have food in there, right? 72 00:08:34,800 --> 00:08:38,480 Oh, you gotta get the food, the coffee, those types of things in there. 73 00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:47,600 But then the networking, you get to meet some of the most amazing people from the state of Michigan in all different aspects, you know, the very diverse from, 74 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:53,440 you know, political involvement, community leaders, business leaders, veterans, all that. 75 00:08:53,440 --> 00:09:00,080 And in our Sterling Heights location, we have between 80 and 100 people every month that we get together. 76 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:10,640 And then we dive into different topics, you know, after what happened in the Middle East, we very specifically jumped into, let's talk about Gazel, let's talk about Israel and the Middle East. 77 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:17,840 Not only did I get an opportunity to kind of frame the discussion, but then we brought in the senior defense attaché from the embassy in Israel. 78 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:32,880 And then we brought in an Israeli general to come in and talk to us. And this is just one example of current, relevant information that will leave people with a greater understanding of our air and space forces and what's going on in the world when they walked in the door. 79 00:09:32,880 --> 00:09:40,800 This model has been very effective. We continue to grow, create memberships. We're opening new locations, starting down in Ann Arbor. 80 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:44,800 And we're looking at expanding both west and north here in the state. 81 00:09:44,800 --> 00:10:01,200 And we're going to jump into the virtual. We're going to start doing virtual events every month and then even expanding that possibly into a podcast here in the near future that will allow us to touch more topics, bring in more expertise, and just help people out, 82 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:06,400 whether they're trying to raise the business or just be part supporters of the men and women that wear the uniform. 83 00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:19,440 Well, it's so important these days to try to get word out and educate the general public about what it is our air and space forces do and what needs they have. 84 00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:34,800 So I think this is a really exciting time to be expanding the footprint, the geographic footprint of Michigan AFA and moving into the virtual world as we've all kind of become so used to zoom or teams or what have you to 85 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:43,120 attend a program that we might not otherwise be able to drive to. So is that the thinking to reach that larger class that way? 86 00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:53,440 Well, the way people engage nowadays is completely different. Some like in person, some like the virtual, some like a podcast, some through social media. 87 00:10:53,440 --> 00:11:02,560 So we're trying to meet people that the way they communicate. So we're using all of these to be able to reach out and tell the story about our Air and Space Forces Association. 88 00:11:02,560 --> 00:11:16,720 So LinkedIn, certainly Facebook, we're involved there. And like we said, through the virtual options that are coming up here shortly, as well as podcasts, emails, etc. 89 00:11:16,720 --> 00:11:21,120 Communication is the tough one. And that's what we're pushing out there is to get the word out. 90 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:31,760 We're talking veteran radio listeners to Odie Slocum, who's a retired Brigadier General, spent 35 years in uniform and is president of the Michigan AFA. 91 00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:50,400 You talked about a new location in the Ann Arbor area for your programs at that location. Where is the physical presence of the Michigan AFA in Ann Arbor? 92 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:59,200 Oh, that's a great question. We've actually got a wonderful partnership with the VFW. So the VFW posts there in Ann Arbor, the wonderful facilities. 93 00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:12,800 We're teaming with them. They open up their doors and let us use that. And then our first meeting we had there, we talked with about Space Force Operations and how to Brigadier General come in, who does just that, went to a space weapons school. 94 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:19,600 And our second meeting that we have at the end of this month, we're going to bring in a Pearl Harbor survivor, World War II veteran. 95 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:28,080 How often do you get a chance to meet and talk to living history? And this is the type of stuff that we do and that we're going to bring to the Ann Arbor area. 96 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:43,200 Well, as you say, the three pillars of the organization are education, advocacy and support. And certainly when you have a chance to hear from somebody from Space Command or a Pearl Harbor survivor, those are the educational pieces. 97 00:12:43,200 --> 00:12:46,720 Talk to us a little bit about the advocacy piece. 98 00:12:46,720 --> 00:13:10,880 Advocacy is getting that voice, especially with our elected representatives. So we've been very effective, in fact, at least in the Stirling Heights location. Every single Michigan federal delegate who's involved at the House Armed Services Committee or the Senate Armed Service Committee has come and talked to us at least once, face to face. 99 00:13:10,880 --> 00:13:24,000 So we've had Senator Peters, we've had Rep Slockin, Representative James, Jack Bergman from up north, he's the retired Marine Three Star now serving in Congress, as well as Lisa McClain. 100 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:30,480 And these are just examples, but these politicians, they come in and they talk with us. They give us an update of what's going on at the Hill. 101 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:38,240 And we have the opportunity to relate to them, not only the priorities of what's going on at the national level, but also at the local level. 102 00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:45,920 I mean, how many places do you get to go and engage with, ask questions of, are local politicians that can make a difference? 103 00:13:45,920 --> 00:14:02,080 Well, it's so important not only at the federal level, but at the state level. So few people serve nowadays, or there are many people in state capitals or local government who, you know, I know that base is over there or that post is over there, but I don't really have an idea of what they do. 104 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:05,840 So is the advocacy also at the local level? 105 00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:11,120 Well, it can be. I mean, I think that blurs the lines between that and education, because it can be both. 106 00:14:11,120 --> 00:14:24,160 You know, all these things can merge together. Our group that we're having, in fact, on this Friday coming up on the 19th, up in the Sterling Heights location, is the one-tenth wing out of Battle Creek. 107 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:37,280 There's going to come and talk. Their leadership is going to come tell us about their mission sets, about cyber defense, about command and control, about operating the RPAs, or as most people like to call them, the drone operations around the world. That's what they do. 108 00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:52,320 So everybody who attends is going to learn more about the one-tenth wing in Battle Creek, which will give them a familiarity, a little bit of relationships, you know, gives them talking points when they have an opportunity to talk to elected leaders. 109 00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:57,360 All these things are just, they work together in a synergy for what we're trying to do. 110 00:14:57,360 --> 00:15:06,080 In general, let's talk about that last pillar you mentioned. That is the organizational support for those who are serving. 111 00:15:06,080 --> 00:15:19,040 You bet. Okay, well, near and dear to my heart, that can be a variety of things. One is, you know, to make sure that they get the newest, best equipment to what degree that we can. 112 00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:39,760 A lot of that comes through the national efforts, but it can be as simple as support to families, support to the people wearing the uniform, for example, suicide prevention efforts, organizations that help veterans or, you know, connect to their benefits, those types of things. 113 00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:54,800 There are such a variety of options there to help take care of the men and women who take care of us, and that's where we just like to be able to plug in. And once again, it's not just those currently serving, but it's also our veterans and honoring that heritage. 114 00:15:54,800 --> 00:16:12,800 Well, in that area of support, it's so important to have partnerships because everybody's got a little bit different reach in their, you know, Venn diagram covers a little different area. Is Michigan AFA partnering with other organizations in these areas of its pillars that it's working in? 115 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:29,800 Well, we partner a lot. I mean, that's always been my key to leadership is, you know, the first question I always ask is, well, who can do it with me? Who's on my team? We've joined forces with the other services advocacy organizations. We call ourselves the Michigan Defense Coalition. 116 00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:47,800 So that includes a USA, the Army's advocacy group in DIA, National Defense Industrial Association, and women in defense, as well as the Navy League. So all of these organizations, we cooperate, we communicate, we do events together. 117 00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:56,800 There's a quarterly codelle breakfast that we get a different audience to be able to come in and engage here updates from the Hill, these types of things. 118 00:16:56,800 --> 00:17:09,800 But we also, whether it's the museums, the enlisted heritage house, the organizations out at Selfridge that help men and women that are serving, all of these are partners of ours to some degree or another. 119 00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:19,800 Partnerships make the world go round, Jim. And I just love it. And that's one of the fun things in the job is you get to meet and expand these networks and connect these people with other people. 120 00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:32,800 Absolutely. It's the way you spread your story much further is by telling it to somebody who may have a different set of networks or different people who then pass your information along. 121 00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:44,800 And I think it's important at a time like this where I don't think space is having the problem, but I think the Air Force is having the problem of recruiting and retention. 122 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:58,800 I know you were recently at a national conference with a FAA. Can you talk about if there's any efforts being thought about at a FAA levels to try to assist with recruiting efforts? 123 00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:16,800 Absolutely. And I just came back from a meeting in D.C. and we had the Honorable Alex Wagner, who I'm going to see if I can get this long title straight here, from Memory, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. 124 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:28,800 I know that sounds like a large, odd portfolio and it is, but he specifically gave us a talk about recruiting issues and the AFA's initiative to help the Air Force out. 125 00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:40,800 A lot of things are getting in the way of the service of meeting their recruiting goals. There's still some holdover from COVID, the low unemployment and all right now. 126 00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:54,800 A big part of it really is the lack of familiarity. Our community is not aware of what our military does and whether the advantages of a career in the military are participating or volunteering. 127 00:18:54,800 --> 00:19:07,800 So yes, the Air Force Association, our job as we educate people about the military opens up those eyes, gives those opportunities, but we also keep good communications going with the recruiters. 128 00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:15,800 And whenever there's an opportunity, you bet we're going to help let people know what those options are. 129 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:29,800 We also work with Junior ROTC as well as the ROTC that are growing our future leaders to help them be more effective at doing just that and plugging them into the Air Force Association and these resources. 130 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:39,800 There are so many ways that we can help and we're doing what we can on that front to the services so that more men and women would be interested in participating in military service. 131 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:55,800 Well, there's so many opportunities in the military, whether it's your right out of high school or right out of college that you won't get anywhere else the level of responsibility, the opportunity to meet so many different types of people and see what the world's about. 132 00:19:55,800 --> 00:20:18,800 It doesn't, not everybody has to end up as a fighter pilot. There's all kinds of great jobs in the military and I think at times, organizations such as Michigan AFA can help spread the word about whether you're in computers or electronics or a wrench, you know, you want to be wrenching or you want to fly drones or, you know, computer information. 133 00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:23,800 There's just a ton of opportunities. Isn't that the case, General? 134 00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:34,800 You bet. And it's interesting, you know, I kind of was a Cold War baby myself and, you know, people always remember Top Gun and the great recruiting thing that was and everybody wanted to be a fighter pilot. 135 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:47,800 But you hit the nail on the head that that's not the case necessarily anymore. You know, I get an opportunity to talk to everybody, these young folks that want to go to the academies, for example, and about their ambitions. 136 00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:57,800 And there's a lot more diverse goals, especially from this latest generation and the cool thing with the military is pretty much if you could think of it, they do it. 137 00:20:57,800 --> 00:21:07,800 Certainly on the things that you were mentioning there, those different types of career fields, but helping out one young cadet down at the U of M who she wants to be a dentist. 138 00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:13,800 That's her goal and is to work through the Air Force to help get through dental school to be a Air Force dentist. 139 00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:21,800 You know, things that you wouldn't necessarily equate with military service, but sure enough, they're there. There's opportunities. There's benefits. 140 00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:33,800 You know, she's going to get an education. She's going to get a commission. She's going to get this training that whether she stays for a career or not, it's certainly going to benefit her and set her up to have an amazingly fruitful life. 141 00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:43,800 Yeah, you don't even think about all dentists. Wow, that didn't cross my mind, but there's all kinds of medical field opportunities. 142 00:21:43,800 --> 00:21:54,800 And if you stick in for four years or 14 years and get out, you're going to have all that skill set bringing to the civilian marketplace. 143 00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:59,800 So great sort of soft skills developed as well in the military. 144 00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:07,800 Well, and just so I don't forget to mention this as part of all this, we're big advocates for STEM, STEM education. 145 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:17,800 We have a very robust Teacher of the Year program where we select not only here in the state, but then we have our Teachers of the Year compete nationwide. 146 00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:23,800 Three years ago, our Michigan Teacher of the Year came in second place. This year, we were third nationwide. 147 00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:31,800 We're going to keep plugging at that program until we get our Teacher of the Year here in Michigan up there on the top level at the national stage. 148 00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:40,800 But it does highlight the wonderful educational opportunities that we have here in Michigan and the capabilities. 149 00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:43,800 There's wonderful men and women doing great things. 150 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:50,800 And part of our job is to put that spotlight out there and highlight some of that so that everybody can see the great stuff going on in Michigan. 151 00:22:50,800 --> 00:23:00,800 Yeah, I guess two of the educational programs that AFA hosts promoting STEM, something Stellar Explorers and CyberPatriot. 152 00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:04,800 I'm not aware of either of those. Maybe you can inform us a little bit. 153 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:12,800 Oh, absolutely. CyberPatriot. Michigan has been very involved with. We have Ms. Cameron Shoemaker who is on our AFA team. 154 00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:25,800 CyberPatriot is supported by the AFA. And essentially, it's a competition mainly for young adults where they can learn more about cyber and they compete with one another. 155 00:23:25,800 --> 00:23:31,800 So it's encouraging. It's educational. It's inspiring. It does fantastic work. 156 00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:36,800 And then on the Stellar Explorers, that's a very similar that happens with space. 157 00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:42,800 And there's a couple teams here in Michigan, but the Stellar Explorers is one that we're looking to expand more as we go forward. 158 00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:53,800 But as we sit right now, very involved with the CyberPatriot, our toe in the water with the Stellar Explorers, that youth space program, and watching what they do and how they do it. 159 00:23:53,800 --> 00:24:03,800 I'll tell you, it'll give you faith in this new generation that's coming up right now because they have some amazing capabilities, some great brains out there. 160 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:12,800 And we all know, these old guys all know they're smarter than we are because we ask them to fix our computer or our TV internet connections at times. 161 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:18,800 So no real surprise that we'd be awestruck by watching these programs. 162 00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:27,800 We're talking to Doug Odie Slocum, who is the president of the Michigan Air and Space Forces Association, retired Brigadier General. 163 00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:34,800 And about all of the interesting things AFA is doing, not only here in the state, but around the country. 164 00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:42,800 Doug, if people want to know more about the Michigan AFA, how do they find out? 165 00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:53,800 You know, that is a great question. Just about joining in the AFA as a whole, the national website has a wealth of resources, and that is simply afa.org. 166 00:24:53,800 --> 00:25:03,800 And you can find all sorts of stuff there. We're on social media, whether it's LinkedIn, Facebook, just Michigan Air and Space Forces Association. 167 00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:12,800 We have our monthly get-togethers. You know, we are more than happy to have anybody in the public, whether you're just interested, wanting to see what we're doing, 168 00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:15,800 or if you're ready to kind of jump in with both feet and get engaged. 169 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:25,800 As I like to say, AFA is a verb. We go out and we do stuff. It's about action. It's about engagement. It's about getting people involved in different ways. 170 00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:31,800 And there's lots of opportunities. First step, afa.org. I'll get you on your way. 171 00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:41,800 That's great. And I see an email for you as president at mi.presidentatafa.org, if they want to reach out directly to you and find out, 172 00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:50,800 hey, what's coming up this month or what might I be interested in? Doug, we appreciate the time that you've taken today to spend with Veterans Radio, 173 00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:56,800 and tell our listeners about what AFA is doing nationally and here in the state. 174 00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:03,800 Well, fantastic. And I appreciate what you do with our veterans, supporting them, taking care of them. 175 00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:11,800 We owe a huge debt to our wonderful veterans, so a shout out to all those who have served, the families of those that have served, 176 00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:19,800 and certainly those who are serving now. I consider it an honor to have had that opportunity and an honor to talk with you today. 177 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:24,800 And I want to thank everybody for listening to Veterans Radio today. I am Jim Fawson. 178 00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:30,800 It's been a pleasure to be your host. I'm a Veterans Disability Lawyer at Legal Help for Veterans, 179 00:26:30,800 --> 00:26:38,800 and you can reach us at 800-693-4800 or legalhelpforveterans.com on the web. 180 00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:48,800 You can follow Veterans Radio on Facebook and listen to its podcasts and internet radio shows by visiting us at veteransradio.org. 181 00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:54,800 That's veteransradio.org. And until next time, you are dismissed. 182 00:26:54,800 --> 00:27:02,800 If you have a VA claim denied by the Board of Veterans Appeals, contact Legal Help for Veterans at 1-800-693-4800. 183 00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:10,800 They're experts in handling cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. 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