1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:15,180 All across America and around the world, this is Veterans Radio. 2 00:00:15,180 --> 00:00:17,040 And welcome to Veterans Radio. 3 00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:20,680 I am Jim Fossone with veteransradio.net. 4 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:26,200 We are recording today from the Legal Help for Veterans Studio in Northville, Michigan. 5 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:29,480 Legal Help for Veterans is a Veterans Disability Law Firm. 6 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:36,520 You can reach us at 800-693-4800. 7 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:41,920 We want to welcome to Veterans Radio today US Air Force Veteran Andy Kubik. 8 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:44,320 Andy, welcome to Veterans Radio. 9 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:45,320 Thank you very much, Jim. 10 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:46,320 Good to be here. 11 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:51,560 Well, it's always a pleasure to speak to somebody with such distinguished service. 12 00:00:51,560 --> 00:00:56,320 And a Michigan boy, nonetheless, you grew up in a harbor beach, which for those who 13 00:00:56,320 --> 00:00:59,720 don't know is over on Lake Huron in Michigan. 14 00:00:59,720 --> 00:01:05,480 Andy, you joined the Air Force right out of high school, I assume. 15 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:09,240 What put you into that direction? 16 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:16,800 I wanted to join the military. 17 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:23,800 I knew I was eventually going to go to college sometime down the road, but my initial thought 18 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:31,920 was I need to get out there and not just see the world, but do some of the hardest work 19 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:32,920 out there. 20 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:38,320 And I was introduced to this by, do you remember Tom Clancy? 21 00:01:38,320 --> 00:01:39,520 Oh, sure, yeah. 22 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:42,160 Quite a writer, quite a novelist. 23 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:43,160 Yeah. 24 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:49,400 I read all his books and I knew I was going to be, I took off, found out about the Air 25 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:55,040 Force and learned that they had special operations and that's what I wanted to do. 26 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:56,040 I was set. 27 00:01:56,040 --> 00:02:02,800 And I would meet other kids who were just like me. 28 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:09,480 They may have played football or baseball and they didn't want to go to college, but 29 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:15,120 they wanted to do something hard and they had heard a word about special operations. 30 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:20,080 And you know, you eventually would get surrounded by them. 31 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:24,560 Well it was an elite group and let's, let me frame this a little bit for our veteran 32 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:26,520 radio listeners. 33 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:32,520 Andy served from 1990 through about 2004, about 15 years of service in the United States 34 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:34,200 Air Force. 35 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:45,360 He was in special operations, a combat controller and saw activities, saw the battlefield in 36 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:51,960 Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan throughout his 15 year career. 37 00:02:51,960 --> 00:03:00,320 And Andy's activities in Bosnia in 1999 when he was involved in rescuing a down pilot, 38 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:05,200 that same year he was named the United States Air Force Special Operations Command NCO of 39 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:06,880 the year. 40 00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:12,960 Anybody who's ever been in service knows, you know, if you achieve that kind of recognition, 41 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:18,960 you had one hell of a year and you indeed had one hell of a year. 42 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:26,920 But why don't you tell folks about what being a special operations command operator in the 43 00:03:26,920 --> 00:03:28,160 Air Force is about. 44 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:33,520 I think a lot of people simply just didn't even know that the Air Force had such a group. 45 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:36,720 Sure. 46 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:42,120 Everybody knows Navy SEALs, Army Special Forces, Rangers, Marine and recon. 47 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:49,920 The Air Force comes in and has their own specialties to work with those teams. 48 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:55,120 And they specialize in air power and rescue. 49 00:03:55,120 --> 00:04:02,200 So they produce combat controllers who are air traffic controllers and forward air controllers. 50 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:09,000 That means they know how to control up to 30 aircraft at a time or more and they can 51 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:13,160 fight with airplanes if that's a way to explain it. 52 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:22,880 And then rescue specialists known as para-rescumen who specialize in going behind enemy lines 53 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:29,600 and rescuing down pilots shot down behind enemy lines. 54 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:37,920 And or fighting alongside other special operations and going in on a stack clearing a building. 55 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:41,000 They'll be right there amongst the team. 56 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:46,640 And if one of them goes down, he'll pull away from the stack and immediately work on the 57 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:48,640 individual or get him out. 58 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:51,160 He'll rescue them. 59 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:57,440 That's what it is to be an Air Force Special Ops or Special Warfare. 60 00:04:57,440 --> 00:05:06,800 And there's also air crew and pilots who fly especially modified aircraft like MC-130s, 61 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:11,680 AC-130s, used to have the Pave low helicopter. 62 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:15,240 They still have the Pave Hawk helicopter. 63 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:17,160 They have the Osprey. 64 00:05:17,160 --> 00:05:24,520 Any kind of specialized aircraft to get special warfare personnel in and out of the battlefield. 65 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:29,080 Andy, I don't know that you would know this number, but maybe you will. 66 00:05:29,080 --> 00:05:31,480 How many, put some context around this. 67 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:37,320 How many combat controllers or special operation command folks are in the United States Air 68 00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:38,320 Force? 69 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:41,000 When I was in, there was 400. 70 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:44,600 Now there's possibly 600. 71 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:48,040 That's still a pretty small contingent of men. 72 00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:49,880 And I assume some women nowadays. 73 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:55,600 No, we're trying, but there's no women. 74 00:05:55,600 --> 00:05:59,760 And is that because none have gone through the qualifications or are they precluded 75 00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:03,880 from these particular slots now? 76 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:05,960 We fully support them. 77 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:08,920 It's none of them have passed. 78 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:14,320 This forward air command, you say you fight with planes is one way to frame it. 79 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:19,680 And I think some of us maybe have seen this in the movies or read about it in what happened 80 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:21,480 in Afghanistan. 81 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:29,440 But it's that air combat controller who's on the ground marking targets for the airframes 82 00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:32,240 to come in and deliver their loads, right? 83 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:33,240 Yes. 84 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:34,240 Yep. 85 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:39,480 For fighter, bomber and intelligence aircraft. 86 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:48,360 I suspect the guy in the ground is there pretty much in a stealth mode by himself. 87 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:52,800 Tell us what a typical mission might look like in that role that you played. 88 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:54,120 Okay. 89 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:58,560 Take the deployment at 9-11. 90 00:06:58,560 --> 00:07:09,400 We were doing unconventional warfare with Army special forces and Afghan native tribes. 91 00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:17,320 unconventional warfare is when special warfare personnel align themselves with tribal foreign 92 00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:22,040 forces and they teach them how to fight. 93 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:27,640 Then they go in and they fight alongside these native tribes. 94 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:37,000 It was, it came to the public side in Vietnam and it wasn't really until 9-11 that they 95 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:42,640 really had equal action doing it for real. 96 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:49,960 I was an example of a combat controller aligned with the Army special forces team. 97 00:07:49,960 --> 00:08:00,400 At 9-11 we had eight of us, eight combat controllers with eight different teams go in, into Afghanistan. 98 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:06,120 And we fought alongside the special forces and tribal forces. 99 00:08:06,120 --> 00:08:14,640 We snuck in by helicopter and the tribal forces had Toyota pickup trucks for us or some of 100 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:16,960 them had horses. 101 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:21,000 And we rode with them. 102 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:25,480 We rode a couple hundred miles for the city of Kandahar. 103 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:31,080 That was our objective to take Kandahar and to hunt down and kill as many Taliban and 104 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:36,680 Al Qaeda with our weapons or with aircraft. 105 00:08:36,680 --> 00:08:52,000 And imagine getting to the last set of mountains before the Kandahar Airfield airport and getting 106 00:08:52,000 --> 00:09:01,000 on top of the mountain and sitting there with a native Pashtun tribal leader who used to 107 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:06,720 live in Kandahar but now lives in Phoenix, Arizona. 108 00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:11,200 And he is telling you all the specific things about the area. 109 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:13,840 You're getting eyes on the location. 110 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:17,560 It's flat desert terrain. 111 00:09:17,560 --> 00:09:20,880 And then two days later you're dropping bombs. 112 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:24,480 You're looking through scopes and binoculars. 113 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:27,160 You have laser pointers. 114 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:33,600 The aircraft have laser-guided bombs, GPS-guided bombs. 115 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:39,240 One of the aircraft could be an intelligence aircraft who's been orbiting overhead, listening 116 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:45,760 to cell phone conversations, tracking locations of Al Qaeda. 117 00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:48,000 And you're targeting. 118 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:54,000 You're calling the aircraft in hot, which means they can drop their bombs. 119 00:09:54,000 --> 00:10:04,720 We did that for about three weeks and did over 350 close air support missions fighting. 120 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:11,400 Well, and you're using at that point, you know, the latest and greatest technology, the 121 00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:14,560 guy next to you may have ridden his horse. 122 00:10:14,560 --> 00:10:20,200 But you're showing up there and commanding and controlling these as a combat controller 123 00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:27,440 for the United States Air Force with the latest and greatest technology that you hope is going 124 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:31,200 to work in this high mountain desert place. 125 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:32,200 Did it always work? 126 00:10:32,200 --> 00:10:33,200 No, no. 127 00:10:33,200 --> 00:10:38,320 There were times where it was just terrible tragedies. 128 00:10:38,320 --> 00:10:45,320 Not on my team, but my teammate and his team who was north of Kandahar. 129 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:53,840 They had one mistake, that's all it took was one mistake out of hundreds of successes. 130 00:10:53,840 --> 00:11:01,400 A B-52 bomber came in and dropped a 2,000 pound bomb on their coordinate. 131 00:11:01,400 --> 00:11:04,160 And it was an accident using the GPS. 132 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:13,280 One of the teammates switched out the battery and continued to process the mission and didn't 133 00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:18,120 realize that the GPS reverted back to his position. 134 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:25,480 And it dropped the bomb right on their position killing three Americans and eight Afghans. 135 00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:32,920 There were times when I have the pilot coming to drop bombs in three miles away, the bomb 136 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:36,640 would land away from the target. 137 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:38,680 You'd shake your head. 138 00:11:38,680 --> 00:11:46,600 So it was a time when it's too long of a story now, but we dropped the bomb and at the last 139 00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:51,640 second after the bomb was released from the aircraft, the Afghan leader was like, no, 140 00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:53,240 no, no, that's our friend. 141 00:11:53,240 --> 00:11:56,720 I was like, what do you mean that's your friend? 142 00:11:56,720 --> 00:11:59,400 You just told me that was Taliban. 143 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:01,520 Then the guy survived the bomb. 144 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:08,640 Yeah, I think, again, we get to Sanita's version back here in the states as to what, how do 145 00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:10,400 this really works? 146 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:16,320 But anybody up close knows, you know, it's not only brutal, but it's got all kinds of 147 00:12:16,320 --> 00:12:18,400 rooms for error. 148 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:25,040 Let me just remind the veteran radio listeners that we're talking to Andy Kubic, who's a 149 00:12:25,040 --> 00:12:28,160 U.S. Air Force veteran served 15 years. 150 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:36,000 And among other things was awarded the Silver Star for his activity in November of 2001. 151 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:41,600 He was attached to operational detachment, Alpha, which was attacking north through a 152 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:50,080 valley toward Kandahar, Afghanistan with a 500-man anti-Taliban force that began decisive 153 00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:54,080 engagement that took quite a long period of time. 154 00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:59,640 And there was a withering barrage of anti-aircraft gunfire and rocket grenades that had the team 155 00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:01,120 pinned down. 156 00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:05,680 As a massive volume of fire rained down on them, stunning the coalition, Staff Sergeant 157 00:13:05,680 --> 00:13:12,200 Kubic stayed in an exposed position and calmly coordinated emergency air, close air support 158 00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:14,600 with devastating effectiveness. 159 00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:19,120 Staff Sergeant Kubic controlled numerous bombing runs that set the conditions for a counter-attack 160 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:25,800 by Special Forces team in anti-Taliban force, which led to the battlefield being swept of 161 00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:27,880 the enemy forces. 162 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:32,880 Staff Sergeant Kubic's decisive actions were overwhelmingly responsible for breaking the 163 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:37,320 back of the Taliban resistance and cleared the way for the final offensive on Kandahar 164 00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:40,760 and subsequent victory in southern Afghanistan. 165 00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:44,720 And I'm reading from his Silver Star citation. 166 00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:49,240 So Andy's seen it all in theater. 167 00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:58,720 Getting out as you did in 2004, so three years or so after that hellacious activity in Afghanistan, 168 00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:03,320 the transition back to civilian life was not particularly easy for you, was it Andy? 169 00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:05,040 No, it wasn't. 170 00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:11,200 And as we transition to that, let me emphasize a couple things. 171 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:21,520 That what you just read, that was my second of, I'm sorry, that was my fourth of six deployments. 172 00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:31,800 And I would return to Afghanistan a second time and then do the invasion of Iraq. 173 00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:38,000 And my wife at the time, she was also in the Air Force, Special Operations Command. 174 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:46,720 And she deployed and she ended up choosing to leave the Air Force early and take our 175 00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:53,720 son and move back with her family in West Virginia, leaving me to do the final deployment 176 00:14:53,720 --> 00:14:55,440 to Iraq. 177 00:14:55,440 --> 00:15:03,120 And we were separated pretty much from 9-11 until January 2004. 178 00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:16,680 And you have to imagine the deployments were, I'm trying to show you how it was so difficult 179 00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:21,040 for me personally to transition. 180 00:15:21,040 --> 00:15:25,560 The experiences fighting were not regimented. 181 00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:27,760 It was a gray world. 182 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:29,920 It was not black and white. 183 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:35,240 It was making decisions, battlefield decisions, command decisions. 184 00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:38,600 It wasn't waiting for a commander to tell you what to do. 185 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:42,800 Each of us were making our own decisions and choices. 186 00:15:42,800 --> 00:15:46,040 We were working with the latest technology. 187 00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:47,920 Some of it we had never used before. 188 00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:54,280 We were handed it as we were heading out the door and we had to figure out how to use it. 189 00:15:54,280 --> 00:16:00,680 It was a mind-blowing experience, realizing that we could accomplish so much, so little. 190 00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:07,640 And we were responsible for disruption of modern warfare. 191 00:16:07,640 --> 00:16:13,480 In real time, when you experience that, you either don't realize it or it's so profound 192 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:19,560 that it's mind-blowing and you can barely communicate that to others, especially when 193 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:21,600 you get back home. 194 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:27,040 I had to make my decision on whether or not I was going to stay in or leave and return 195 00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:28,200 to my family. 196 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:35,440 I made my decision on my final day of my contract at like 4.30 in the afternoon, just as personnel 197 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:37,800 were going home. 198 00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:42,400 I decided that I would leave and accept risks. 199 00:16:42,400 --> 00:16:49,600 I was going to make a traditional transition into the CIA and return to the war later. 200 00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:53,440 First I had to get my degree. 201 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:58,760 I started seeing the first signs of PTSD. 202 00:16:58,760 --> 00:17:03,080 That last year, away from my family, I was living out of a storage unit because we had 203 00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:05,680 our house rented out. 204 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:12,480 I started abusing a commercial drug to calm my nerves. 205 00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:21,080 I would go on to use that drug for six years after I left the military, after a divorce, 206 00:17:21,080 --> 00:17:30,120 after I failed out of college and was fired from a couple jobs, had treatment. 207 00:17:30,120 --> 00:17:35,360 It would take seven years before I was treated for substance abuse. 208 00:17:35,360 --> 00:17:40,760 I was given powerful psychotropic and was treated for a wide range of mental health 209 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:45,920 issues versus being treated for substance abuse. 210 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:48,200 I was abusing a hallucinogenic. 211 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:55,040 I wasn't abusing marijuana or cocaine or any other street drug. 212 00:17:55,040 --> 00:18:00,480 That's what made the problem hard to decipher for doctors. 213 00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:05,120 Plus I wasn't telling them that I was abusing the drug. 214 00:18:05,120 --> 00:18:06,760 It was a catastrophe. 215 00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:12,840 It wasn't a traditional story of PTSD and struggling. 216 00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:15,280 It was bad choices. 217 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:23,240 It was I couldn't believe that I was such a high functioning individual who had experienced 218 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:30,840 success, had raised a family, a loving wife, who was my best friend. 219 00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:38,440 I had reached a point I was by myself with my family, my parents and my siblings struggling 220 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:40,080 to help me. 221 00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:43,440 Everything was failing. 222 00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:53,560 I had a six year old son and he would go on to witness me struggle all the way up until 223 00:18:53,560 --> 00:18:58,120 he graduated high school until it finally stopped. 224 00:18:58,120 --> 00:19:06,320 I left the VA and off and on I returned to working for the special operations command 225 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:13,520 with different jobs, never really getting my fetus established on the ground. 226 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:25,880 I had success with civilian healthcare, private industry who were experts with head trauma, 227 00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:29,680 brain injuries and PTSD. 228 00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:38,320 In fact they specialized working with NFL football players in concussion. 229 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:49,040 That came in 2014 and ever since then I've been okay and I've returned to work and rebuilt 230 00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:52,760 another life. 231 00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:56,280 I have a very close relationship with my son. 232 00:19:56,280 --> 00:20:00,840 He also joined the Air Force and is doing the same job that I used to do. 233 00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:08,880 He's surrounded by people that I know and we have a very, very close relationship. 234 00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:18,480 He's the reason I ultimately left the military in a time of war and I don't regret anything. 235 00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:19,840 I made bad choices. 236 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:22,560 I shouldn't have abused the drug. 237 00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:24,040 But I had not done that. 238 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:26,400 It would have been totally different. 239 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:29,320 I take responsibility. 240 00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:36,760 It's very rare for special warfare guys to abuse alcohol but they won't typically abuse 241 00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:39,680 drugs. 242 00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:44,120 I was an anomaly. 243 00:20:44,120 --> 00:20:46,840 Despite that they've never left my side. 244 00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:49,000 It's a close community. 245 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:55,200 It really demonstrates it's a family they haven't let you fall through the cracks. 246 00:20:55,200 --> 00:21:01,040 Although it sounds like at times you were trying to force yourself through the cracks. 247 00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:05,880 I know that you had some hospitalization. 248 00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:09,200 14 times. 249 00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:13,520 Did you find that the VA wasn't? 250 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:15,000 They weren't ready for. 251 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:22,600 I was the first Afghan Iraqi veteran in the Ann Arbor VA and the Dayton VA and the North 252 00:21:22,600 --> 00:21:25,880 Carolina VA. 253 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:31,360 The last time they saw an extreme case like mine was Vietnam. 254 00:21:31,360 --> 00:21:38,560 It sounds like that through the service you had some traumatic brain injury situations 255 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:44,480 but you found a civilian healthcare provider that kind of specialized in that area? 256 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:45,480 Yes. 257 00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:47,480 I want to say their name if that's okay. 258 00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:48,480 Go right ahead Andy. 259 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:49,480 Yeah. 260 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:55,040 It's the Eisenhower Center in Ann Arbor. 261 00:21:55,040 --> 00:22:03,040 I found this through the Special Operations Command and they have a ranch out by Chelsea 262 00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:12,520 in Chelsea, Michigan that houses former NFL players and typically special operations 263 00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:13,520 warriors. 264 00:22:13,520 --> 00:22:16,560 We're familiar with Eisenhower and Camp Liberty out there. 265 00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:23,840 They do great work and we're glad you were able to mention them specifically. 266 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:29,880 As those bad choices led you down one path it took years. 267 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:35,080 Maybe it's 10 years or something to kind of get back on the right path but you got some 268 00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:36,080 education in. 269 00:22:36,080 --> 00:22:42,720 I found a book that you wrote, The Art of 21st Century Warfare, talking about how warfare 270 00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:46,160 today is more surgical. 271 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:51,040 You kind of got yourself back on the right path the same way probably you made yourself 272 00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:55,840 a combat controller just sort of one step at a time it sounds like. 273 00:22:55,840 --> 00:22:56,840 Yes. 274 00:22:56,840 --> 00:22:58,440 Yeah, I appreciate that. 275 00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:00,280 Yep. 276 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:04,880 And the fact that your son has joined the Air Force we often ask this question but I think 277 00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:06,160 this already answers it. 278 00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:12,240 We often ask veterans looking back, you know, if you had a son, a daughter, a niece, a nephew, 279 00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:17,160 and a neighbor's kid who is saying, do you think I should join the military? 280 00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:18,880 What would you say? 281 00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:22,400 Oh I support them 110%. 282 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:30,360 I can't live that life and have all those successes and failures, the amazing experience 283 00:23:30,360 --> 00:23:34,760 and not share that or support someone else. 284 00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:43,840 I got equal experience as going to an Ivy League university. 285 00:23:43,840 --> 00:23:44,840 It's hard to put into words. 286 00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:48,080 I'd support them 110%. 287 00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:49,080 Well let's tell. 288 00:23:49,080 --> 00:23:50,560 Everything's dangerous in their own way. 289 00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:51,560 Oh absolutely. 290 00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:57,520 Let's tell people today what you're doing for Air Force Special Warfare. 291 00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:07,640 I am a field developer working alongside Special Warfare recruiting, helping select, train, 292 00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:13,520 and develop candidates who want to try out for the same work that I had done. 293 00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:18,760 And I represent Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. 294 00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:24,200 And are these candidates already in the service or thinking about getting involved, Andy? 295 00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:29,200 They're thinking about joining and they're typically in high school but also college. 296 00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:37,000 Andy, if somebody says, you know what, that level of adventure and patriotism and hard 297 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:42,440 work is something, is a challenge I want to take on, how do they get in touch with a 298 00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:44,320 field development recruiter like you? 299 00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:51,280 They go through a typical Air Force recruiter who will immediately direct them to this local 300 00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:53,680 Special Warfare recruiter. 301 00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:58,240 Every state has a Special Warfare recruiter. 302 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:02,440 Now let's clear this up because you explained it to me earlier and I don't think we've mentioned 303 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:04,600 it on the air. 304 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:12,080 Special Operations Command in the Air Force is what you were a part of back, you know, 305 00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:14,960 a decade or more ago. 306 00:25:14,960 --> 00:25:18,480 It's now changed its name, is that right? 307 00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:23,960 It's still known as Special Operations Command but they have changed from being known as Special 308 00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:26,480 Operations to Special Warfare. 309 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:28,320 Okay, great. 310 00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:32,600 Just wanted people to understand the right language as we go forward here. 311 00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:39,360 Andy, we really appreciate you taking time today talking to Veterans Radio and certainly 312 00:25:39,360 --> 00:25:46,920 Andy Kubik, the service that you have performed for the nation and continue to perform for 313 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:54,560 this great nation cannot be simply, we can't thank you enough and awards and medals don't 314 00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:55,880 do that either. 315 00:25:55,880 --> 00:26:02,320 We realize how difficult post-service is for a lot of guys whether it's because they made 316 00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:07,760 bad choices or because, you know, there's state of mind coming out of service, lend 317 00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:11,120 them to make bad choices. 318 00:26:11,120 --> 00:26:15,120 We're always thrilled when we hear a story like yours that says, hey, this is how I got 319 00:26:15,120 --> 00:26:18,640 myself out of it and what I'm doing today. 320 00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:22,480 So Andy, thanks for taking some time with Veterans Radio. 321 00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:29,280 Hey, Jim, thank you very much and my family appreciates those kind words. 322 00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:34,760 One last thought, there's going to be experience of mourning and grieving. 323 00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:37,040 That's what they rarely talk about. 324 00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:41,680 Give those, your listeners a heads up if they're in the same shoes and that can be easily 325 00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:42,680 dealt with. 326 00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:47,600 Oh, absolutely, you have to give somebody time to do that and I think you also have 327 00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:52,200 to recognize that having a purpose is so important for you. 328 00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:58,120 It was the son and trying to be the father you want to be and the family that you want 329 00:26:58,120 --> 00:26:59,680 to create. 330 00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:03,160 And I think sometimes guys don't get off the couch and get moving because they kind of 331 00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:04,160 lost that purpose. 332 00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:06,760 They really do need that purpose, don't they? 333 00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:08,160 Yes, definitely. 334 00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:11,400 Again, Andy, thank you for taking time with Veterans Radio. 335 00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:14,400 All right, take care, Jim. 336 00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:17,320 And I want to thank everybody for listening to Veterans Radio today. 337 00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:18,920 I am Jim Fawson. 338 00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:21,200 It's been a pleasure to be your host. 339 00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:25,960 I'm a Veterans Disability Lawyer at Legal Help for Veterans and you can reach us at 340 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:33,520 800-6934800 or legalhelpforveterans.com on the web. 341 00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:38,400 You can follow Veterans Radio on Facebook and listen to its podcasts and internet radio 342 00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:45,640 shows by going to veteransradio.net and until next time, you are dismissed. 343 00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:50,120 If you have a VA claim denied by the Board of Veterans Appeals, contact Legal Help for 344 00:27:50,120 --> 00:27:54,360 Veterans at 1-800-6934800. 345 00:27:54,360 --> 00:27:58,360 There are experts in handling cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. 346 00:27:58,360 --> 00:28:02,320 The number again, 1-800-6934800. 347 00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:04,120 Veterans Radio needs you. 348 00:28:04,120 --> 00:28:10,000 If you like our shows that are informative, surprising stories and relevant information 349 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:14,680 on what's happening at the VA and the military, we'd like your support. 350 00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:21,840 Individual support of $5 to $50 a month or corporate sponsorship of $1,000 to $10,000 351 00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:23,240 would be welcomed. 352 00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:29,720 You can go to veteransradio.net, click on the Sponsorship or Support tab, pay online and 353 00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:35,840 keep Veterans 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