All across America and around the world, this is Veterans Radio.
And now, your host for today's program, Dale Throneberry.
Hey, welcome to Veterans Radio.
My name is Dale Throneberry and I get to be the host today and we're going to be talking
about veteran suicide and we're trying to figure out, you know, what is causing it and maybe
what we can do.
So we've got a little group discussion going on here.
My guests include the Reverend Bob Bull, an Air Force veteran and I got Nick McBrien,
who's a U.S. Army medical veteran.
He served in OEF and OIF.
Bob was in the Air Force in Vietnam.
We're going to get to them in just a second.
But the idea here is that we want you to participate.
I mean, we can have all kinds of experts on to talk about how we can prevent suicide and
so on and so forth.
But it really comes down to, you know, the grassroots, you know, the grunts and everything
else that we always talk about that are on the ground.
Maybe we can figure out how we can come up with maybe some suggestions or maybe you know
someone who's in a crisis situation.
We have some, hopefully we have some suggestions for you and we'll see how it goes.
So the number, if you'd like to give us a call, is 734-822-1600.
That's 734-822-1600.
So if you know somebody that's in crisis situation, you might want to give us a call because we've
got some, as I say, we've got some suggestions for you.
If you know somebody right now, get a hold of them dial 988.
That's the magic number nowadays.
They don't have the long, you know, suicide crisis lines that you have to go through,
all kinds of links to get to the right people.
Just go to 988.
They'll help you out right away.
All across the country, counselors available to you 24 hours a day.
So I encourage you to look for that.
Before we get into the program, actually, I got to, you know, we got to pay the bills
around here, as they say.
So I need to thank our sponsors and, you know, over the last 20 years, we've had one sponsor
that survived the entire 20 years.
And that is Legal Help for Veterans.
Legal Help for Veterans specializes in Veterans Disability Claims.
I encourage you to give Legal Help a call.
That's 800-6934-800, or you can go to their website.
That's LegalHelpForVeterns.com.
The National Veterans Business Development Council, better known as NVBDC, the nation's
leading third-party authority for certification of veteran-owned businesses.
For more information, you can go to their website.
That's NVBDC.org, or give them a call at 888-237-8433.
If you're a veteran-owned business and you want to do business with the federal government
and many corporations, you need to be certified as a real, live veteran-owned business.
These are the folks who can help you get that certification.
The Charles S. Kettles VA Medical Center here in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
For more information, you can go to va.gov.
We also want to thank our local Veterans Service organizations who helped us get out
of the air in the first place back in November of 2003.
That would be the Irwin Prescor and American Legion post-46.
And the Charles S. Kettles Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 310, both of Ann Arbor,
Michigan.
All right, so that gets the business part of the program out of the way.
I want to introduce my guest today.
I'm going to start off with the elderly gentleman, the Reverend Bob Bull.
Bob, as I mentioned, was a Vietnam Air Force veteran.
He is a peer support specialist.
He's a service officer for the same VVA 310.
He's part of BCAT 9, does everything I think you think of.
He's a veteran's friend in our local area.
So Bob, welcome to Veterans Radio.
Thank you, Dale.
I really appreciate your having me on.
Thank you.
So let me, let's real quickly get a little bit of your background.
What did you do in the Air Force?
I was an air cargo specialist.
Nothing special.
Just, you know.
It's just a specialist.
Just a specialist, yeah.
And then after I think three and a half years, I decided to go into security.
Just something different.
So I put in my five years, three months and four days and got out.
Who counted?
Back in 73.
Okay, good for that.
And from there, where'd you go?
You transitioned.
Oh, I went back to work at Detroit Diesel in Redford, Michigan, where I was a mechanic.
And that's what I did.
I got to work in the training center and so I learned how to be a teacher.
And when I retired from Detroit Diesel in 97, I went to work at Wayne County Community
College as a teacher there for five years.
Okay, all right.
The other gentleman that's joining us today is Nick McBrien and Nick was a U.S. Army medic
and we have an OIF.
Nick, welcome to Veterans Radio.
Can you tell us a little bit about your background?
Yeah, thank you, Dale.
So my name's Nick.
I was in the Army from 2009 to 2014.
I served with both Second Cav and 10th Mountainism Medic.
Before ETSing, I was awarded an ARCOM and also the Combat Medic Bad, which I will have
you till this day.
I do take my service.
I'm 100% retired.
So it was a great life and I'm glad to be out after that.
I transitioned.
I'm helping out with Warrior and Caregiver United and the essential patriot here at Michigan.
And I'm on the board for both.
And I'm just happy to be able to give back and save one more.
That's the goal here, folks, is to save as many as we can.
We were talking before we went on the air and trying to get some numbers out there.
You know, we're all familiar with the number 22 as being the number of veterans approximately
who commit suicide on a daily basis.
I thought I was reading something where that number had dropped a little bit, but it looks
like it's going back up again.
Dale, you have to watch out for the number because we've found out that certain organizations
have some weight in deciding as to how that number is actually decided, i.e., a certain
veteran that just recently died at the VA.
So we can't really believe, trust, or utilize that data simply because that's what they
feed us.
I know it sounds kind of disparaging, if you will.
But all I know is that we can't trust the data at all.
So we work on the premise that one is too many and it doesn't matter whether it's 22
or 25 or 28 or 30.
We know that we have a lot of work cut out and that's how we attack it.
Nick, you want to comment on that?
Yeah, I do agree with that.
The number is always something that's ultimately up to the big.
We know that based off our information that we received from the Veterans Affairs is that
we saw about 6,200 per year veteran suicides.
We don't know how accurate that is.
We don't know the report.
That's just the information that we have.
So we do always revert back to just save one more, let's try and reduce to zero, let's
approach zero as quickly as possible.
Let's talk about the means and mechanics and also the prevention that we can help leverage
and improve the quality of life for our veterans and also longevity too.
Yeah, I mean that would be wonderful if we could do that.
One of my questions in kind of researching what was going on is we're trying to get people
to go to the VA, go to the VA, get your medical care and so forth.
The numbers are, which you guys just pointed out, Bob you just said what, 23% of Michigan
veterans utilize the VA?
The 23% are getting benefits or drawing benefits from the VA.
That's it in Michigan.
How many veterans do we have in Michigan?
Roughly about 570 plus thousand.
That's crazy.
Yep.
Yes it is.
I mean I can't say it's crazy because I didn't utilize the VA health system until 2008.
Something along those lines.
Yeah, and my story was 2010.
It was the same thing.
It was a matter of having to then because I had no choice.
You had mentioned that as you were getting ready to retire that you suddenly lost your
medical benefits.
Nice job.
So I don't know.
Nick, do you use the VA for your health care?
Yeah, I actually got really lucky.
So when I got out of the Army, first thing I did was I went to a VFW.
And it was kind of a weird culture shock, getting out of the Army, seeing a bunch of
veterans that have been out for as long as I've been alive and longer.
And there was one gentleman that was there and he just said, hey, you know what you're
doing tomorrow as you're hanging out with me.
And he got me in front of one of our county veteran service officers and enrolled in benefits.
It did take about three years before I started receiving the benefits.
However, I'm just glad that that whole process is done.
I got rated at 100% and he made sure that I got on the track well.
And that's been a great blessing for my family and I, knowing that a lot of my veterans that
have gotten out, a lot of the service members that I have, former platoon accompanying personnel,
yeah, 23 is, that's a very liberal number.
I would expect with the Vietnam veterans that we're still expecting, we're still seeing
probably close to 16%.
OIF, OEF is a little bit better with around one in three.
Well, you know, the problem of course is that the VA health centers are, you know, spread
out all across the country and somewhere, you know, especially in the middle of the country,
you know, the Nebraska's and Kansas and all that stuff, where it's hundreds of miles
between VA centers and it's hard to get them to go to these things.
But, you know, and I'm trying to figure out how we can get them to these centers or at
least get them to seek help.
You know, I mean, we're going to be talking about it all day.
You know, go see somebody, talk to them.
You know, you mentioned that you went into a, you know, a VFW hall.
Now, that's different from the Vietnam era veterans is we couldn't even go into the VFW
hall.
They didn't give it, they wouldn't talk to us.
And I think probably the transition getting out of the service, and this is where I'm
really happy to have Nick here to talk about it on this level, is that did they give you
any sort of transitioning training or suggestions as you were on your way out the door?
You know, that's a very interesting question.
So I was exposed to an IED my way out.
So transition was through, you know, a massive head injury.
So, you know, so I mean, we, you know, we always joke is like, Oh, well, what information
did they give you?
I'm surprised they got my name right.
So I mean, we, so we're seeing, we're seeing a change in culture.
However, you know, the majority of it is still retention.
Our ETS process is just scared the heck out of a veteran.
So this way they reenlist.
The Army is always hurting for numbers and always needs more.
Never, I've never heard the Army saying we need less.
So it's always just been the same process, don't leave, stay here, you won't make it.
Oh, okay.
So they didn't give you any encouragement at all when you got out or no classes on what
to do once you got out the door.
Department of Labor did get involved.
However, just because somebody from the Department of Labor did get involved that four hour class,
what the shape of a resume is and what the shape of eight by 11 papers doesn't mean that
you're ready for the job market or transition or how to translate your MOS into civilian
work.
I was reading somewhere where it takes about, it said about six years after you get out
of the service to kind of make that real final transition and get to work.
I mean, because many people get out of the service, maybe they hadn't been to college
before, so they got to go through college.
They got to make these decisions on, they got majors to make a decision on, am I going
to go for a grad degree?
What are my benefits?
How much can I get?
Do I have enough money to take care of this?
And so they figured that you're not really settled for six years.
I've been out for a lot longer than that.
I don't feel settled yet.
So I'm just thinking about how they came up with these numbers.
So let's see if we can talk a little bit about what we can do to help these veterans.
And Bob, I asked you on the program originally because I really wanted to promote the 988
number.
Why don't you go with that for a minute?
Well the 988 is becoming an initiative now.
Rather than just a number, we think it's a way, it's a pathway to getting veterans the
help that they need.
It's a simple number now.
It's only three digits.
It's not the 10 digits that it used to be.
It's easy to remember.
But still we only have 23% of the people in this country, I'm sorry, 17% of the people
in this country that know what that number is.
I mean I was at a Yellow Ribbon event today over at one of the Armouries and even those
people that just come back from a deployment, many of them did not know what I was talking
about with that 988 initiative.
So we have a lot of work to do.
I know we're working with the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency and with MISTA and with the
MDHSS, which is the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, to try and get
this information out there.
But it's amazing how this number has been around for almost two years, July of 22.
And yet so few people actually know what it is, how they can, I had one person say,
so how do I call them?
And I said well you just dialed 988, well punch 988 or push 988.
But it's scary that there's been so little that's available on this number and how important
it is to the lives of not only our veterans but also our children and our grandchildren
and great-grandchildren in my case, how important it is to them to know that there's somebody
out there that one, isn't going to know them, two, isn't going to tattle on them, and three,
he isn't going to write anything down on them so that they can be safe to talk to somebody,
anybody, anytime.
It's another nice thing, anytime, 24-7.
Well I know you've been working with trying to get public service vehicles to have those
numbers on the side of the thing because I got all the other numbers on there.
Why not put something that could actually help some people?
Yep.
How is that working?
Are you running into roadblocks with that?
Well so far the American Legion, the BFW, and the VBA, Vietnam veterans have all passed
the resolutions that we sent through and they're going to the state convention this summer
and if passed by those three service organizations then the legislative bodies from those service
organizations will send that up to the state asking the state police to put it on all of
their patrol cars.
We're also working with several county sheriffs departments right now but if there's 83 counties,
84 counties in the state, we've got a lot of work ahead of us.
We're trying to get them to put it on their cars too.
Some departments don't feel that it warrants being on their cars right now.
One department I said, are you kidding me?
Do you mean you need more suicides before you put it on your car?
But when they've got what, three or four cars?
It's not much.
But that's the kind of pushback we're getting right now.
Well, and I'm wondering across the country, the 988 is a nationwide number.
Yes it is.
It's not just local for all those of you that are living, listening to us out in California
and Minnesota and even downtown Detroit.
This 988 number is really important.
Yes it is.
It's kind of the first step for many people and again, you guys can jump in here anytime
but I know that we have to figure out if somebody's contemplating suicide, depending
on who they are, I guess if they, some of them will do something right away.
And other ones will kind of think about it.
But if we can get them to punch that number in while they're thinking about it, maybe
somebody can convince them not to do it.
There's a lot of material out there Dale.
But basically what we try to do is we try to get the family members and the people that
are associated with them to be the eyes and ears.
They're the ones that notice when somebody changes, when there's a change in their demeanor,
when there's a change in their, the way they do things today as opposed to yesterday.
If all of us, if they've been agitated for all this time and all of a sudden they're
calm that day, that usually means that they've made a decision, that they've got a plan going.
These are the kinds of things that a family member or a close personal friend could notice
and say, I need to get some help for this guy.
I need to get the help for help for this girl.
All of this leading to the fact that none of us is going to be able to catch all of it,
all of us can.
Yeah, I like that statement there.
Nick, I know that since you are the most recent head of the service and your numbers for your
generation are just outrageous.
I'm sure that you have had friends who have committed suicide.
Yeah, recently as well.
We're seeing it across the board in my age demographics in the OIF, OEF, and we are the
majority.
The majority of our increase is in our female population.
We have a 2.84% increase just based on VA numbers for 21 female suicides by firearms,
which is atypical of women.
We're seeing people take more serious matters.
We know that most like one in three suicides are two weeks after a financial emergency
that we can mitigate a lot of the financial emergencies.
Every state has trust funds for veterans.
Everyone is entitled to a VA compensation hearing claim and making sure that they get connected
with the county VSOs, the veterans service officers to make sure they get that process
started.
It doesn't take three years like you used to.
It's months, three, four months.
We can find temporary housing for people.
We are getting a lot better at this and we're seeing a lot more small initiatives get involved.
For example, we're in the process of standing a small 501c3 up here in Ottawa County.
Brad Dorland is really taking the front on that.
Make sure if you can get involved.
But he's looking for transitional housing for those emergencies where the veteran makes
too much money but is in an awkward stance where he can't return home and needs housing.
Where the bureaucracies are falling short and that's fine.
The bureaucracies have their importance.
We're just filling in the gaps as we go to plug as many as we can.
So if we can limit that $1,000 emergency, that two-week period where after that disruptive
event that we can prevent one-third of suicide, that's approximately 2,000 veterans saved
a year.
So just making sure just getting them into the VA for those claims through the Veterans
County Office, we could save a lot of lives there.
I know that the local county service officer here in Washtenaw County in Michigan has an
emergency funds that they can help with.
And I know that the Michigan trust has, you know, you have to qualify for it, but, you
know, has funding that they can do.
And Bob, you were involved in trying to get transitional housing built in a local community
and ran into a few roadblocks with that.
Didn't you?
Well, one of the problems is, of course, you know, it doesn't fit.
Whatever we're trying to put together doesn't fit.
I just found out today that one of the organization's fallen and wounded soldiers fund that they
were told that they had to move because the community didn't want them there anymore.
And they were in, I think, Canton or in, I can't remember exactly where they were.
But they're moving to Ann Arbor because they, the community, they didn't want them there.
I guess there was an incident in one of the homes and so they had to move.
But regardless of that, the transitional housing is an important part, especially the 60 and
90 days.
If we can get a veteran into something short-term, then chances are we can get them into a HUD
VASH or we can get them into one of the other VA programs that will help them.
The thing is that some of those programs take, I think, it was, well, I can't remember exactly
who said it, but up to 30 to 90 days is usually what it takes, depending on the program, to
get them in the system.
So if we can find some place for them.
They're actively looking, the VA, I just talked to a lady over at the VA and they're working
on things like that.
I told them if I could get an extra five to six million dollars, I could probably buy
a motel.
No, serious.
There's a motel that's available, I think, for five and a half million dollars that we
could house 30 or 40 veterans.
And it could, it's something like that.
I know that's a lot of money.
But when you think that the building is already there, the apartments are already there, everything's
there, if we'd looked at something like that, we could definitely take a dent out of that
kind of problem.
Plus, they're in a good transportable area.
They're usually on a highway or a main thoroughfare.
So transportation, which has always been an issue for veterans, could be lessened.
And usually they're within a municipality area where they can get to groceries and they
can get to banking and all those other things that makes their lives much easier.
Yeah, it's just, you just mentioned something and I was looking at it this morning.
It's called, where did it go?
The Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grants.
And it's that Congress has authorized 174 million dollars to be, hold it, I got to move
my screen here just a second here.
Here they carry out the community-based grant program that provide resources to community
organizations serving certain veterans and their families across the country.
Organizations can apply for grants up to $750,000, not too shabby.
This was, this is on the VA website.
And I know we're getting kind of off track here.
But the idea of, we're trying to figure out how we can get these men and women to reach
out for help.
And what can we do as civilians?
I was looking again on the VA website, they've got a thing called save training.
Have you heard of that?
I've been to that course.
Yeah.
Good.
You can fill it in.
I don't remember, I don't remember a lot about it.
I had to take it as a kind of a presumptive for my job.
Ideally, and I can't even remember the acronym for it anymore.
I got it right here for you.
Okay.
So save is know the signs that the indicated veteran might be thinking about suicide.
And both of you mentioned this.
That was a sense of hopelessness, feeling that there's no way out.
Yeah.
Anxiety, agitation, sleeplessness, mood swings, feeling like there's no reason to live, rage
or anger, engaging in risky activities without thinking.
Sounds like a lot of people I knew 50 years ago.
Increased alcohol or drug use and withdrawing from friends and family.
The second that the A in the save was how do we ask that most important question?
Are you thinking of killing yourself?
Yep.
Or doing harm.
Do ask the question if you've identified any of those warning signs.
It says, do ask the question in such a way that's natural and flows into the conversation.
Don't ask the question as though you're looking for a no.
You're thinking of killing yourself, are you?
Don't wait for the to ask the question until they're halfway out the door.
Yeah.
The V is to validate the veteran's experience.
Look openly about this suicide potential.
Be willing to listen.
Allow the veteran to express their feelings and make supportive, encouraging comments.
Recognize the situation is serious and don't pass judgment.
Right.
These are hard for some of us to do.
I know that.
Yes, sir.
The other thing is for encouraged treatment and expedite getting help.
Don't keep this.
Don't yet.
So if you have a friend that says, don't keep the veteran suicidal behavior a secret.
Don't leave them alone.
Try to get him to call 988-911, whatever it takes.
That's the message that we're trying to convey to our listeners today here on Veterans Radio.
We are talking with Bob Bull and Nick McRion.
Just to try and let the, you know, I mean, whoever's out there listening today, wherever
you are.
If you know somebody that you think is in a crisis mode, see if you can get them to get
some help.
Ask them some questions.
See, you know, if you can see the change in behavior, don't be afraid to, don't be afraid.
I think that's the term I'm trying to use because, you know, don't be afraid.
Oh, I might upset him.
Well, obviously he or she is already upset about something.
And if you see these signs going there, you need to take action.
We have constantly talked about, you know, when we were on active duty that we had each
other's backs.
And I think it's, you know, we have to take the lead in this battle that we're in again
to have the backs of all of our fellow veterans that are out there suffering from whatever
it might be.
You know, sometimes, you know, we don't take them seriously enough.
Do most important things, Dale, okay?
One that we're willing to listen and one that we show that we care.
If we can do those two things, then we create an avenue.
We create a guidepost.
We create a place where somebody can come to us and talk to us, can come to you and
talk to you or to Nick or anybody like that.
That they just show that they're willing to talk and that they care.
You know, they're willing to listen and care.
That starts the conversation.
Nick, how do you feel?
What can we do?
What we can do is start getting involved again, especially this COVID lifestyle.
I know a lot of us have reduced our, you know, our in-person interactions.
We need to start getting back out there and seeing each other face to face.
A phone call doesn't suffice for recognizing when people are going through a hard time.
Body language is most of our communication.
And we need to be able to see how they're behaving, how people are behaving.
These are your friends and family, your brother and sisters in arms.
You need to be in person with them.
You can't sit back.
You can't take a back seat to your relationships.
Not only are they, not only are you their safety net, they're your safety net.
You're more like, statistically speaking, as a veteran, you're more likely to die from
suicide than to a stroke.
And if you take your health seriously and you're exercising every day, then you need
to have a good safety net too.
So I mean, if you're taking stroke medications, then you need to be in person with people
too because just like with a stroke, you don't see your face slouch.
You don't see the changes in your behavior.
You just end up having a suicidal ideation or a stroke and they're about equal for our
demographic.
And we need to take this as seriously as we take medications for stroke and heart disease.
One of the things that I started, and Dale's very familiar with it, is a mobile unit.
It's been on the road almost two years now.
And we get to go out to different places.
We get to go to them, to gun shows and car shows and the U of M home games and any place
where we can go where we can set up and we can talk.
And in that way, they control the beginning of the conversation because they come to us
at these events and they start the conversation or at least they get some point where they
ask for help and we can direct them.
I find myself more as a switchboard operator than anything else in that I can direct them
to some place that's safe, somebody that's going to listen, someone who cares, somebody
has the resources, maybe it's somebody who has the time.
So.
Well, I agree.
And I know Bob that you're doing a great job at seeing that van all over the place, which
is I'm trying to think of, you know, because I see these veterans on a corner somewhere
with a sign saying, you know, disabled veteran, you know, which of course, and I don't like
to be skeptical, but you know, what are you doing on the corner kind of thing?
If you're disabled and you're, you know, one guy's had 100% disabled, I'm going, what,
you know, you've got a little bit of money coming in every month.
What are you doing out here?
But you know, maybe we need, you know, to address those people.
And I think the idea of Bob of what you're saying is to just be there at events that,
you know, maybe veterans will be, that doesn't necessarily have to be a, you know, a veteran
planned event, but like a, like a car show, or, you know, and I know you go around and
do all kinds of things like that where there's maybe there's just some veterans say, Hey,
you need to talk.
Here's a car here.
Call this, call this person or, or the, or these are this group and see what you do.
And I wanted to get back to Nick real quickly because I wanted to let him do a little promotion
here for, for Waco, for, uh, Warriors and caregivers.
I mean, it just because it's not just a veteran that's going through some of these, you know,
issues, you know, the whole family is affected by these things.
Right.
Yeah.
I mean, um, you know, we, our slogan is save one more.
You know, we talk about, you know, suicide doesn't actually impact the person that committed
suicide.
It commits, it impacts the people that survive more.
Um, that's the reality of it.
We don't want you going.
We need you on our team.
We need you here.
So whoever needs to hear that, I'm glad you got to hear it.
But as we're in caregiver United, um, we're incredibly blessed to have John Kingsinger
and Stephanie Hall as great leaders and we're looking to, we're in the process of expanding
statewide.
Just like in our name, um, the name of the game is caregiver and veteran warriors united.
And it's not just the VA certified caregivers.
It's everyone, everyone that fills that need and that gap of that safety net.
So it could be a brother, a sister, a good neighbor, a guy down the street, you know,
whomever it is.
And, you know, traditionally the American Legion, the VFW, they are a great fit for
us veterans, veterans and veterans alone.
Right.
Um, we're trying to plug that gap and I love both of those organizations.
They've done so much for me.
This just allows us to create that circle and get it a lot tighter and bring them into the
auxiliaries as well.
So we're in the process of making sure that we can connect the family and the community
back to the veteran.
Retransitioning back into service from service back into civilian life.
I, it's hard.
You know, everyone's always trying to do the empathy portion of like, what would it be like
to go to war?
And I try to explain it to them.
Like, I couldn't imagine the stress of going to college right out of, right out of high
school.
I needed to go to war force first before I could reacclimate myself to an educational
system and that always gets a good, good position from them.
You know, I couldn't imagine have the stress of just going rate to college.
Good thinking, not quite the same, but pretty close as far as anxiety is concerned.
Yeah.
And you know, it's just, it's just a different way of looking at it.
And we're as care, we're in caregiver united.
We're looking to just fully encompass everyone, pull them in together and make sure that we
get the change to save one more.
You know, Dale, I know that this is, this is veteran radio, but I also want to touch
base on the other demographic that's so, so important to us.
Okay.
And that's our children.
We see a suicide rate and I, we don't know all the numbers yet, but we know that, that
there are children as young as six years old that are taking their own lives.
And a lot of it we believe has to do with social media.
And we're hoping that we can do something with that.
Samson, some other organizations have ideas and programs.
And we're going to be working with a few organizations to try to put together some, some public service
announcements that can be run on social media over and over and over again, where most of
the young people are.
And so again, going to them with whatever we can do to tell them about the 988, to tell
them about where they can get help at the VA, to tell them about where they can go to locally,
to, to get some help right now.
They don't have to wait.
So those, these are some of the other things.
But yeah, I, I understand wholeheartedly the, the suicide, I lost a granddaughter to suicide.
So I understand that very well.
And so we, we have to be cognizant of our families too.
I think, you know, we've touched upon a lot of, a lot of issues today.
And then I know we haven't solved all the problems at all.
I just, we just want to remind our audiences to, you know, to keep an eye out on your friends,
your family, if you, if you know, if you're a veteran, your fellow veterans, as Nick pointed
out, you know, we got to get out there and talk to them again in person, you know, one
on one, it doesn't, you know, making phone calls saying, you know, hi, how are you?
Isn't necessarily going to work.
And I would encourage you to go to the VA website and look up suicide prevention.
You can do, anybody out there can do this.
You don't have to be a veteran to go to the, to va.gov.
And they have a little questionnaire, you know, a little microscope type the thing up
at the top and you just type in suicide prevention and all this information that I've talked about
and that we've talked about today is available to you and what the signs are that you could
use, what you can, you know, what you want to look out for in your veteran or in your
friends.
If you see these things, how to act, and that's that 988 number again.
If you see something, do something, don't, you know, don't let them, you know, poo poo
it away and say, well, no, it's nothing.
No, I'm fine.
It's serious.
You know, I mean, while they're, you know, abusing their body with, you know, you know,
alcohol or drugs or, or hermits, you know, they live in the basement all day.
You know, we've got to figure out how to help these men and women.
So I would encourage you that that is was one of the websites that I found that was really
actually had some really great information in there.
It also defines some of the issues that some of these men and women are dealing with.
Is it possible that you could put my email on your website?
Sure.
Okay.
If, if anybody who's listening would go to the website for veteran radio and if they
want a 988, if they want a copy of the 988 shield, a digital copy, if they send me an
email, I will send them the digital and they can put it in their car.
They can take it to the doctors and dentist's office.
They can get it into the schools.
They can take it to their church, whatever the more visibility, the better because we've
had a better chance of reaching people if we can do that.
And I will be more than happy to send that digital to anybody.
Can you give your email right now?
Because I can do that.
Listen, I can do that.
All right.
So it's the arc that is T-H-E-A-R-K dot Ypsilanti.
For those of you that can't spell Ypsilanti, it's Y-P-S-I-L-A-N-T-I at gmail.com.
All right.
We will add that to our, we will add that to our website later this evening.
So it's on there and I encourage people to do that.
So we've got to have a link to the Warriors and Caregivers united on our website.
So there's all kinds of things that we're trying to do to help and we encourage all
of you out there to do the best that you can.
I unfortunately have another segment I need to go through.
So I want to, I want to thank Bob and Nick for being on the program.
And I think something we need to talk about more, obviously.
So thanks guys for being on the program today and we'll be in touch quickly.
Thank you, Dale.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Have a great one.
God bless you all.
Thank you.
All right.
We're going to take a real quick break here for our Medal of Honor segment.
When we come back, we're going to be going into our NBBDC veteran of the veteran business
of the month.
So you're listening to Veterans Radio.
We'll be back after the interview.
The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in combat given a member of the Armed
Forces of the United States.
There have been over 3,400 recipients of the nation's highest award.
This is one of them.
PFC Raymond Clausson, a helicopter mechanic, volunteered to participate in a rescue mission.
Details after this.
If you have a VA claim denied by the Board of Veterans Appeals, contact legal help for
veterans at 1-800-693-4800.
There are experts in handling cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.
Their number again, 1-800-693-4800.
The Marine platoon had been trapped in a minefield outside of Dunn-Airing.
One Marine was already dead and 11 wounded.
It was Clausson's helicopter that had inserted the Marines and the crew felt responsible
for getting them out.
He leaned out the side door to determine where mines had already exploded to help the chopper's
land.
Then he jumped out and moved toward one of the wounded.
His enemy fired bracket at him, he picked up the man, carried him to the helicopter,
and returned for a second Marine.
Clausson made six trips into the minefield, saving 18 Marines.
Only when he was sure that all were safely aboard did he signal the pilot to lift off
and leave the combat zone.
President Nixon presented him the Medal of Honor on June 15, 1971, shaking his hand and
saying, well done, Marine.
The Medal of Honor series is a production of Veterans Radio.
Military veterans touch everyone's life.
I'm guessing right now you're thinking of a veteran, a close friend, relative?
Maybe it's you.
Even the toughest among us sometimes need help, but don't know where to turn for support.
You don't need special training to help a veteran in your life.
If you know a veteran in crisis, don't wait, reach out.
Call the Veterans Crisis Line at 988, then press 1.
A message from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Welcome.
I am Jim Fossone, and this is a Veterans Radio spotlight on the National Veteran Business
Development Council, best known as NVBDC.org.
Veterans Radio America, a nonprofit, has a partnership with NVBDC, which is the nation's
leading third party authority for certification of veteran-owned businesses of all size.
It is also a 501C3 nonprofit established in 2013.
It addresses the growing need to identify and certify both service disabled and veteran-owned
businesses for the commercial or corporate marketplace and for the government.
It administers a rigorous certification process designed to withstand the scrutiny of corporate
entities seeking to utilize veteran-owned businesses.
We want to welcome one of those businesses here to Veterans Radio.
So we're speaking with Julie Dwyer, who is the president of Express Yourself Promotional
Products down in beautiful North Carolina, and a Navy veteran.
Julie, welcome to Veterans Radio.
Thank you, Jim.
Good to be here.
Well, you spent 20 years in the Navy.
How did a nice girl like you get talked into a naval career?
Well, 21 plus years.
I served in the Navy for 21 plus years and just had the time of my life.
I went from Detroit, Michigan into the Navy after high school.
And talk to us a little bit about some of the assignments that you had over that long
career.
Well, first I retired as a sea and chief aviation warfare, surface warfare, Mjolnan.
Mike, here's the sea duty out of the 21.
I was on five ships, three of the aircraft carriers.
I traveled around the entire world.
I was part of the repair team for the attack on the USS Stark back in 1987.
So that was pretty significant.
Was one of the first women to go on into a combat zone within the Navy to repair that
ship.
I served primarily on the West Coast and primarily on shore duty with flagstaffs.
And then when I was on shipboard within the captain's office.
So I got to know pretty much majority of the crew and be able to help them out in the services
that we did provide from the admin department.
Well, you lived the slogan, join the Navy, see the world.
You got a chance to do that over such a long career.
You got out, though, and interestingly, settled in North Carolina and started a business career.
I should mention along the way, after getting out of the Metro Detroit area, you picked
up your associates of arts degree from the University of Alaska in Anchorage and your
bachelor's of arts degree from the National University in San Diego, California.
But why a business career after you got out of the Navy?
Well, I really, I had no intention of really retiring when I did.
I had to come home to take care of my mother who became paralyzed from a back surgery.
So I was on my way to Brussels and then so I had to make the difficult decision to retire
instead.
As far as my business, there at 1998 before I left the service, I was stationed in San
Diego, went to an entrepreneur expo in Del Mar.
And there they were showcasing numerous businesses that you could have.
And one of them was the promotional products business.
And so I came, I was pretty interested in that.
I bought into it while I was still in the Navy.
And as a matter of fact, my first customers were on the aircraft carrier Nimitz.
I would sell the squadrons, their t-shirts, wall caps, pins, challenge coins, you know,
all their re-enlistment memorabilia.
So that was pretty fun.
I was a nervous wreck doing it because, you know, of course, you know, trying to run the
ship the opposite same time, you know, working on providing promotional products from abroad.
But that's where I got my feet wet in this business.
And that's, there's an important lesson right there, right?
Start small, see if you like it.
Hey, if it works, maybe it'll grow and you know what, maybe it'll hang around for a while.
And this is hung around for another 22 years or plus.
So it really, it really did grow into something.
But tell us why along the way you decided, hey, you know, I think it makes sense for
me to become a certified veteran owned business and why you turned to NVBDC.
Well, you know, as you know, probably as a veteran that while you're in uniform, your
uniform reflects on your, your trust level, you know, your capabilities, what sets you
apart from, you know, the other people in the military, because you wear your ribbons
and everything else and people kind of get a, get a window into your, you know, who you,
who you are, you know, integrity wise and such.
So when I retired from the Navy, I just assumed everybody, they knew I was a veteran.
They'd provide me contract opportunities as a veteran and I'm knowing how important the
actual certification process was.
The assumption kind of hurt me for a while for a few years.
And then I met up with a woman named Annette who pretty much I shadowed her and she pretty
much showed me the importance of certifications and the NVBDC certification was, has been
extremely important and valuable to us ever since we did receive it.
We picked up quite a few corporate clients and, but the thing is the certification doesn't
stand on its own.
You obviously have to be who you say you are.
We definitely be able to deliver and deliver right the first time every time like we did
back in the military.
So a lot of those skill sets transferred over and that's it only made sense to really pursue
this certification with the NVBDC.
And they try to go out of their way, I think, to help companies big and small, get corporate
opportunities, get networking opportunities.
Did you consider yourself a big company or a little company?
I'm a small business that has been very successful.
At one time someone in morning just say, you know, if you, if this really takes off and
you're, you know, because through the procurement events, the meet and greets and, you know,
just getting yourself in front of these, these corporate buyers and these government buyers,
there's going to be a time where it's going to be like you're drinking from a fire hose.
And that's really, that's really happening.
It happened quite rapidly.
And so I was just, I just can't help but be very grateful for the skill set that I acquired
while in the military that I transferred over into my small business.
Yeah.
I think we all learn how to drink out of a fire hose in the military.
Yes.
I wouldn't, it's just, it just, it comes fast, you know, and it is, it's so very important
to get these certifications, whatever, whatever category that you could qualify for.
But the veteran on the SDVOSP certification, like I said, has been paramount to quite a
few corporate accounts that we have.
So, are very, very excited about working with the veteran on business.
That was Jim Fausone talking with our veteran businesswoman of the month for MBVDC.
You can see how this all works.
It's a great opportunity for you if you are a veteran to contact MBVDC.
I think you'll find that they're very helpful.
They've got all kinds of programs that can help you get your business going or keep it
going or helping it grow.
Joining me on the line right now, as I mentioned earlier in today's program, I had the opportunity
last night to go to a fundraiser for Fisher House Michigan.
And joining me on the line right now is the executive director of Fisher House Michigan,
and that is Kate Melcher.
Kate, welcome back to Veterans Radio.
Thanks so much, Dale.
It's great to be here, and it was wonderful to see you at the event last night.
Thank you for coming.
Thank you.
So, can you kind of tell us, I mean, most of us all know what Fisher House is all about,
but this was your big fundraiser for the year, wasn't it?
That's right.
We had folks from all over the state of Michigan and beyond that joined us.
Folks are just so excited about having a second Fisher House here in the state because you
may not know how busy the Ann Arbor Fisher House has been.
That Fisher House has hosted nearly 10,000 individuals since it opened only in June of
2020, so our state really, really is ready for another Fisher House.
Right, and that one's going to be in Detroit.
Correct.
It's on Woodward, just a couple blocks north of the Boulevard, and ironically it's near
the Fisher Building, different Fisher family, but we'll now have two Fisher Buildings,
a Fisher Building and a Fisher House, right in the same neighborhood in Detroit.
So when is that one planned to be open?
Well, it's under construction presently, and weather gets a vote, but I think a conservative
estimate would be that construction would complete around September timeframe, and I
hope the VA would be able to welcome their first guest by about Christmas time.
That would be terrific.
I know you had some great people at last night's soiree, at the War Memorial, and which
shores was that?
We were in Gross Point, and the War Memorial is just a stunning building, a stunning venue,
and steeped in history, and I encourage you to visit there for an event or just for a
tour.
But we really had a star stud at evening.
The woman who sang the national anthem is a retired Air Force technical sergeant, and
she just blew the doors off the building.
It was incredible.
And really, the feature of the night is we had Medal of Honor recipient, Dr. McLuhan,
with us last night.
And as a medic in Vietnam, he was able to really tie the mission together.
He was able to save dozens of men, and we get to save thousands every year with your
help.
I appreciate it.
That's right.
And so this is kind of a pitch to our listening audience right now.
If you want to help out the Fisher House and make a donation, how would they go about
doing that?
Visit us at fisherhousemichigan.org and follow us on socials to stay in touch.
There you go.
See?
I learned my lesson last night.
I never saw so many bids on things in my whole life.
It was quite an adventure for me.
So Kate, thank you very much for taking time out.
I need to rest today, I'm sure, and we'll be talking to you soon.
So thanks very much.
Kate Meltzer from the Fisher House, Michigan, and they were very successful last night.
I don't know how much they raised.
I'm not going to ask.
I just know it was a lot, which is cool.
So all right.
So next week, coming up on Veterans Radio, we're going to be having Rebecca Grant will
be on.
Rebecca Grant, as you know, is our foreign affairs expert extraordinaire, and she's
going to be talking with us about what's going on in the Middle East, in Russia, in
Ukraine, in China, and every place else.
So I encourage you to tune in for that program.
We're excited always when we get a chance to talk to Dr. Grant.
The other thing, of course, is we'd like to thank you for your support of Veterans Radio
and that if you'd like to help us out, just need to go to our website, veteransradio.org,
click on the donate button, and we can keep this program going for a lot longer.
So until next week, this is Dale Thromary for all of us here at Veterans Radio.
I'm going to stretch it out for three seconds.
You are dismissed.