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 --> 00:00:20,520 I am Jim Fossone. 5 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:22,840 I'm the officer of the deck today. 6 00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:24,720 We've got some great programs for you. 7 00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:29,520 We always want to remind you you can find more about Veterans Radio at its Facebook 8 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:35,240 site or at the web veteransradio.org where we're on the web 24-7. 9 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:38,360 You can find a lot of our podcasts there as well. 10 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:45,040 We post new ones every Tuesday so you can get a new story, a new interview, something 11 00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:49,600 you didn't know before by going to veteransradio.org. 12 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:53,040 And before we get started we want to thank our sponsors. 13 00:00:53,040 --> 00:01:00,880 Next up we want to thank National Veteran Business Development Council, NVBDC.org. 14 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:06,560 It was established to certify both service disabled and veteran owned businesses. 15 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:13,080 You'll find out how they can help your business by going to NVBDC.org. 16 00:01:13,080 --> 00:01:16,600 We want to thank Legal Help for Veterans. 17 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:22,120 Legal Help for Veterans fights for veterans disability rights all across the nation. 18 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:33,240 You can reach them at 800-693-4800 or on the web at legalhelpforveterans.com. 19 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:36,040 And finally, PuroClean. 20 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:38,680 PuroClean is the paramedics of property damage. 21 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:44,560 It provides water damage remediation, flood water removal, fire and smoke damage remediation, 22 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:48,000 mold removal, biohazard cleanup. 23 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:52,280 It also has a focus on veteran franchisees. 24 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:59,280 You can learn more about them by going to puroclean.com. 25 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:06,960 We want to welcome to Veterans Radio today Lieutenant Colonel US Army retired Lanny Snodgrass 26 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:12,720 who is more importantly I should say is Dr. Lanny Snodgrass, a respected psychiatrist. 27 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:15,600 Lanny, welcome to Veterans Radio. 28 00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:16,600 Thank you. 29 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:24,560 Now this is a real pleasure to talk to somebody with your experience and your expertise in 30 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:28,640 the field of psychiatry and your time in the Army. 31 00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:31,440 So let's start with this. 32 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:34,640 You earned your PhD in psychology from the University of Oregon. 33 00:02:34,640 --> 00:02:38,320 You went out and got your MD degree. 34 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:43,200 And then you went off and did residency and training and all of that and then worked for 35 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:50,600 almost 20 years I think with the Veterans Affairs doing psychiatry. 36 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:57,560 And with the department, well, yeah, well, it'd be also with the Department of Defense 37 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:06,480 because I volunteered to leave the Veterans Service and go into the Gulf War and be assigned 38 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:11,960 to the Narnia General Hospital in Germany in Nuremberg. 39 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:19,320 You developed through all of that experience and expertise if you will in PTSD and military 40 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:20,320 psychiatry. 41 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:22,200 Is that fair to say? 42 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:24,000 Yes. 43 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:31,000 And somewhere along the line later in your life and years you said, hey, I want to get 44 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:32,000 off the sidelines. 45 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:34,800 I actually want to join up and serve. 46 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:40,120 Talk to us about that process and what some might say is an advanced age. 47 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:50,000 Well, for decades, I had witnessed the profound impact of war upon veterans and active duty, 48 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:58,240 visible and invisible scars only I was dealing primarily with the invisible scars. 49 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:04,720 Although we know that certainly psychiatric problems can lead to also somatic problems 50 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:08,840 or disorders, medical disorders. 51 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:11,120 That's all integrated, the mind and body. 52 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:21,080 But after listening to these soldiers, these service members, soldiers, airmen, all of 53 00:04:21,080 --> 00:04:34,360 the different branches of the service and hearing the problems of depression, anxiety, 54 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:44,200 and post-traumatic stress that they were dealing with, I felt like there was something that 55 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:51,880 I had to do to feel this void that I had. 56 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:59,840 Not having ever joined that Sanctisville and this group of people known as the Battle 57 00:04:59,840 --> 00:05:07,800 Buddy, I felt that fraternity was something that I had to become a part of. 58 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:13,360 I just had to become a part of it before I died. 59 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:19,760 This just nodded me like a discomfort that chased me through most of my career. 60 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:27,680 Until at age 63, I dove in and in spite of the fact that having waited three years after 61 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:36,240 my physical examination for the military to give me a pass from my age, I had developed 62 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:37,240 a heart condition. 63 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:42,560 I had a base rate of 43 and I skipped and beat about 3.5 seconds between weeks. 64 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:49,280 I was very marginal to go into any kind of basic exercise of training. 65 00:05:49,280 --> 00:05:55,200 But I said, you know, this kills me, okay, but I'm going to do it and you can load my 66 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:56,200 license. 67 00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:59,640 Well, this is an amazing part of this story. 68 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:07,200 A guy who's 60 years old, professional, accomplished, has done so much, still has this burning desire 69 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:13,040 of saying, hey, I want to serve and really the name of your book that we're talking about 70 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:21,440 is the Ageless Call to Serve, Rethinking Military Service for a Changing World. 71 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:29,680 You go in, as you say, it takes some three years, you're 63 when you go into basic training. 72 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:33,400 The average age is probably down in the 20s. 73 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:37,080 Talk to us about the physicalness of this. 74 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:39,720 Yeah, I was a bunch of with the grandchildren. 75 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:50,720 They were like, I mean, I was like another planet, so green in so many ways. 76 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:55,560 It was a, I had no real free orientation. 77 00:06:55,560 --> 00:07:09,840 And so getting down there, I remember meeting one of the, one of the enlisted coming in 78 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:14,400 and she said, well, where is the head, where are we having our meetup? 79 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:15,400 I said, I don't know. 80 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:18,000 I'm trying to find it myself, the building. 81 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:21,120 And she said, well, I said, what do you do in the military? 82 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:25,640 And she says, well, she says, well, I pass gas. 83 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:28,000 And what she's a man is. 84 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:29,000 Right, right. 85 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:30,000 Yeah. 86 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:35,120 And I'm thinking, whoa, they got some new nomenclature. 87 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:39,840 I'm going to have to really, you know, bone up here to find out what this culture is all 88 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:40,840 about. 89 00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:45,520 Well, it is an interesting culture to be in the military and certainly most of us do 90 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:49,720 it at a young age, but you got yourself through basic. 91 00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:54,440 And this is 2003, the Iraq war started. 92 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:58,200 There's a huge shortage of military doctors. 93 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:02,760 That's probably why the standards on age got relaxed in your instance. 94 00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:07,400 And I know some other doctors who went in around that time, again, added a more advanced 95 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:13,640 age because they have the specialty and the services that are needed. 96 00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:17,680 And I found your book interesting because you tell us a lot about some history. 97 00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:25,920 I wasn't paying any attention to, I guess, on the age of those who fight or those who 98 00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:28,960 get drafted in the Civil War. 99 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:31,120 The draft was up to 45 in age. 100 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:34,320 World War II was up to 35 in age. 101 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:40,080 In Britain, World War II, they had a home guard that if you were between 40 and 70 years, 102 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:41,520 you can serve. 103 00:08:41,520 --> 00:08:46,920 And even today, apparently in the Russian army and the Ukraine war, if you're up to 104 00:08:46,920 --> 00:08:49,600 70, they still may pull you in. 105 00:08:49,600 --> 00:08:55,680 So the American model, which is just focused on youth, is not necessarily used all around 106 00:08:55,680 --> 00:08:57,800 the world, is it? 107 00:08:57,800 --> 00:08:58,800 Not at all. 108 00:08:58,800 --> 00:08:59,800 It isn't at all. 109 00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:01,800 It's been very inflexible. 110 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:12,600 And over the century, we have not changed the limits or the age restrictions in the 111 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:14,960 military. 112 00:09:14,960 --> 00:09:17,480 The upper or lower. 113 00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:26,040 That is, I mean, okay, the last two years, I think the Navy changed the upper limits 114 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:33,160 of enlistment for those that were 39 to move that to 41. 115 00:09:33,160 --> 00:09:39,040 But other than that, I mean, there has been virtually nothing done. 116 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:48,520 And I don't think that there's any mandate out there by the upper echelon to even give 117 00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:50,000 serious thought to this. 118 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:54,800 Well, let's admit young recruits have to be a whole lot more malleable than an old 119 00:09:54,800 --> 00:09:59,960 crusty guy like you, who's been around the world before and said, I don't know if this 120 00:09:59,960 --> 00:10:01,200 makes sense. 121 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:05,560 But the reason this is important, this age issue is important, is what you write about 122 00:10:05,560 --> 00:10:16,720 in the book too, on how, and I'd like to expand on this, how younger recruits, younger enlisted 123 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:25,280 folks are more likely to find themselves exposed to and suffering from PTSD in the long term. 124 00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:28,040 I found this discussion on age really interesting. 125 00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:29,280 Could you talk about that? 126 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:37,160 Yeah, well, a recent study that's come out by people like the researcher, Dolan, and 127 00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:50,640 his associates have discovered that if you send a person into a war zone into combat, 128 00:10:50,640 --> 00:10:59,080 underage 25, that person has way more than twice the risk of developing post-traumatic 129 00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:03,840 stress disorder, as those are 25 and older. 130 00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:12,640 The prefrontal cortex of young people is not matured until around age 25. 131 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:25,000 But the recruitment objectives are to go and recruit these young men, these young men or 132 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:37,480 women, and to have them be the bulwark for the grunt work in the line of fire. 133 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:42,320 Now why are they so attractive? 134 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:49,160 Well, because they have virtual, they believe they have this virtual vitality, which they 135 00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:50,720 have a lot of. 136 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:53,000 They also have naivety. 137 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:57,000 And the other element is fearlessness. 138 00:11:57,000 --> 00:12:00,520 They have fearlessness. 139 00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:06,520 So they will take an order even though they know that this order by the commander is going 140 00:12:06,520 --> 00:12:09,760 to result in total annihilation. 141 00:12:09,760 --> 00:12:11,560 They will still follow that order. 142 00:12:11,560 --> 00:12:17,200 Well, and our young folks don't have the same level of responsibility at home, maybe. 143 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:21,880 Maybe they don't have a family yet or a wife or a mortgage or a spouse and kids. 144 00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:27,240 I mean, it's a different, whole different way of thinking when you're unburdened by 145 00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:33,000 all of that than somebody who's 60 years old and says, okay, I've paid off the house, 146 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:36,920 I've paid off the bills, but I got these other responsibilities. 147 00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:45,440 It's very interesting to think about should you do something different on the age of combatants, 148 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:49,120 because this is a long-term implication. 149 00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:56,120 If I'm sending folks, young folks in less than 25 years of age and I'm increasing their likelihood 150 00:12:56,120 --> 00:13:04,000 of PTSD, on the back end, the nation has to pay for those folks for their healthcare, 151 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:08,400 their treatment, their disability when they get out over on the VA side. 152 00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:09,400 Not on the DOD side. 153 00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:11,240 I'm taking those young guys in. 154 00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:16,080 But if you're looking at the total cost of this, and this is probably what you saw when 155 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:21,360 you worked at the VA is, hey, these guys come out and they've got this problem for a long 156 00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:22,360 time. 157 00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:23,360 Absolutely. 158 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:29,640 The chronicity is what you really worry about. 159 00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:36,000 It's the one third that never gets really much better. 160 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:46,080 And I doubt so much of this over the years of how this leaves such scars that cannot 161 00:13:46,080 --> 00:13:53,720 be healed and they suffer the rest of their life. 162 00:13:53,720 --> 00:14:03,360 And then what we've seen is the children of those with PTSD of how this affects them. 163 00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:17,040 There was some program here not long ago that was addressing this and had several fathers 164 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:25,520 and children together and talking about the impact that PTSD has left on the lives and 165 00:14:25,520 --> 00:14:35,480 how the children tried to in some way be a healing force, but not knowing how to do 166 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:43,240 it, but wanting to care for the father that was dealt this horrible disease. 167 00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:50,440 And it created lots of anxiety, even some suicidal thoughts. 168 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:58,480 Well, there's a good point I want to jump off from because, again, there's this long-term, 169 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:02,320 you know, you want, the book talks about we really should rethink this strategy a little 170 00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:03,320 bit. 171 00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:09,600 And then area where you make some interesting observations is the recruitment or enlistment 172 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:17,280 screening that is or isn't done for things like suicide and generational trauma. 173 00:15:17,280 --> 00:15:22,000 Can you talk a little bit about that so people can get your get a thought of what your ideas 174 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:23,000 are here? 175 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:28,920 Well, I've been on the other end of this course dealing with those that probably should have 176 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:32,960 never come into the military in the beginning. 177 00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:39,280 And the front loading, I call it the front loading, where you have a history of trauma, 178 00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:43,280 you have a history of abuse. 179 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:49,880 And I mean, some people are able to overcome that, but not all, not all. 180 00:15:49,880 --> 00:15:53,040 I think there should be a psychological test. 181 00:15:53,040 --> 00:16:02,000 We have a pretty good arsenal of psychological tests that can be given to detect those that 182 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:10,160 are really on the on the marginal line survival as far as psychological survival in the military 183 00:16:10,160 --> 00:16:12,040 and those that aren't. 184 00:16:12,040 --> 00:16:16,080 And I just don't think enough attention is given to that. 185 00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:20,920 You know, the pressures are really pretty heavy on the recruiter. 186 00:16:20,920 --> 00:16:30,080 And he's he's obligated, you know, to keep his promotion moving forward, get and his 187 00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:34,800 pension to get that quota met every month. 188 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:37,840 He has he has mandates. 189 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:46,800 And I think that there have been a lot of misgivings about not wanting to do they'll 190 00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:54,480 be into the history further, not willing to want to get good screening techniques in order 191 00:16:54,480 --> 00:17:01,680 to not allow some of these that really don't have the resilience, they don't have the 192 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:06,040 capabilities to adapt to this kind of stress. 193 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:12,680 Now there are some some of these young people that go in the military that they could be 194 00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:19,440 salvaged if there was a mentor that they could identify with a sergeant, perhaps that that 195 00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:27,400 they could identify with it would that would, you know, give attention to help reinforce 196 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:33,840 the right positive attitude and emotions towards stress and dealing with stress. 197 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:36,360 But they don't have time for this. 198 00:17:36,360 --> 00:17:38,440 They don't. 199 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:47,600 And it's very rare you find some exceptional sergeant or supervised position of a person 200 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:52,360 that's going to take that kind of care and responsibility and time. 201 00:17:52,360 --> 00:17:56,080 So I think screening is very valuable, very important. 202 00:17:56,080 --> 00:18:05,520 It would, it would certainly spare a great number of these young people from disappointment 203 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:15,440 from from failure and inability to adapt and continue the fulfill their obligation in the 204 00:18:15,440 --> 00:18:16,440 military. 205 00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:22,200 The burdensome problems of this are great when you consider the resource that has to 206 00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:32,480 be mustered in order to take care of those that that now have decompensated and their 207 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:41,440 psychiatric condition is such that they require a great deal amount of care and intense work. 208 00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:43,760 You can really see that. 209 00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:44,760 Stabilize. 210 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:46,320 Yeah, you can see that tension, right? 211 00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:53,560 The tension between the recruiting needs, but in the long term tension then of there's 212 00:18:53,560 --> 00:18:58,200 going to be a problem here that's going to take, you know, years and years of treatment 213 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:03,000 because this person was maybe a little more susceptible. 214 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:07,400 Maybe they had generational trauma their age. 215 00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:09,760 There really is sort of that tension. 216 00:19:09,760 --> 00:19:14,720 Well, we know that the acceptability that increases the chances of PTSD. 217 00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:20,840 We know that especially those that are abused along that study studies, you know, bring 218 00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:28,280 out this in terms of that age group that is most susceptible to PTSD when they are in 219 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:42,200 a war zone when they're in combat that given given those facts of their mal development 220 00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:46,520 and not having the resilience. 221 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:53,320 The percentage for PTSD goes up 97% for those individuals. 222 00:19:53,320 --> 00:20:00,520 It's just, you know, it's really amazing and it gets you back to where you have to really 223 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:08,360 think about this better psychological screening tools would be so important. 224 00:20:08,360 --> 00:20:14,280 But you also talk about a concept that I want to get some of your thoughts on and that is 225 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:16,760 resiliency. 226 00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:25,400 Talk to us about what resiliency is and how the military could be a do a better job at 227 00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:29,760 helping it exist in its service members. 228 00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:40,760 Well, I think resiliency if the military has some preparatory program before basic training 229 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:44,160 before basic training ever starts. 230 00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:47,960 And let's say it's two weeks. 231 00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:55,560 I would say at least two weeks minimum of how to adapt to stress and how to approach stressful 232 00:20:55,560 --> 00:21:03,680 events, issues in your life that you're going to be confronted with in your service and 233 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:08,360 your duty assignments for the military techniques. 234 00:21:08,360 --> 00:21:14,360 I mean, you know, in this orientation, what you need is role models. 235 00:21:14,360 --> 00:21:24,440 You need some good resilient role models to give them the kind of approach of mental approach 236 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:31,720 to dealing with stresses and perceiving those not as problems, but as challenges. 237 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:37,160 And that's a whole different mental shift when you look at a stress point and an issue 238 00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:44,040 that you have to confront as a challenge rather than as a problem. 239 00:21:44,040 --> 00:21:48,720 But people that really have resilience, that's exactly what they do. 240 00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:53,680 They perceive those, they say, bring it on. 241 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:57,080 You know, I'm here to resolve these things. 242 00:21:57,080 --> 00:22:00,800 I'm here to grow from this. 243 00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:08,720 And I think that's the, you know, the approach has to be for all, I think, going into the 244 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:14,000 military for all of these young people, you're talking, we're talking about 18, 19, I'm not, 245 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:22,480 I'm not, you know, opposing for the military to not take 18, 19 year olds into service. 246 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:25,760 It's just, I don't think that, I think it's a flawed concept. 247 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:27,400 Well, we ought to prepare them. 248 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:28,680 We ought to prepare them right, right? 249 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:34,480 We ought to put them to put them into line of fire at that age. 250 00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:42,320 Now, you know, you know, 21, older, I don't know what the magic age is. 251 00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:50,680 That would be the really prime age, the appropriate age to go into a war zone and combat. 252 00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:57,800 I don't know if we, I'm not, I'm not capable of, you know, prophetically saying what that 253 00:22:57,800 --> 00:23:04,440 is, except that I think that that age group, I mean, we look, I mean, just based on the 254 00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:09,480 history, you look at Vietnam, look at, you know, what was the average age of a combat 255 00:23:09,480 --> 00:23:10,800 soldier in Vietnam? 256 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:13,240 18, 19, that's what it was. 257 00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:15,880 They come back, there's 30% of them over PBSD. 258 00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:24,680 20 years later, they're 15% of that group, that's half of them, they have still PBSD 259 00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:27,480 on their head with the rest of their life. 260 00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:32,720 I think that, you know, we really have to look at that clearly and say, what can we do to 261 00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:41,840 make any kind of adjustments here for mental health of our precious service members? 262 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:48,760 What we're talking to Dr. Lenny Snodgrass, who is a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel, 263 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:57,920 served in the early 2000s, and it's his observations, his experiences, his expertise that's rolled 264 00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:03,960 into this book called The Ageless Call to Serve Rethinking a Military Service for a 265 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:06,080 Changing World. 266 00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:09,800 This is put out by casemate publishers. 267 00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:16,680 It's really a fascinating book talking about some issues you don't normally think about, 268 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:19,920 and what I liked about it is you offered up fixes. 269 00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:23,720 We've talked about a number of them. 270 00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:30,680 But in those fixes is the recognition that in today's environment where there is telehealth 271 00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:39,240 and computers do so much, our professionals can, there certainly is a role for older 272 00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:45,560 professionals, those with experience in mastery, to join and serve. 273 00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:49,480 They don't have to be the frontline combat troops, but you offer up a number of fixes 274 00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:51,200 that I think are very interesting. 275 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:54,800 Well, the comparative model for that is the VA. 276 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:59,280 When you look at the 60-year-olds that come in and work at the VA, they've retired from 277 00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:05,400 their practice, they've been in practice for, this knows at least 30 years. 278 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:10,160 They have all these skills and everything to offer, military won't take them, but the 279 00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:16,800 VA will take them, and they've proven to be some excellent, excellent resource for the 280 00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:21,280 medical needs of the veterans. 281 00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:26,560 The military could use them on an active doing basis. 282 00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:30,560 Just like you mentioned, telemedicine, oh my goodness, we've had an explosion of telemedicine 283 00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:37,600 during the pandemic, and it now has been accepted in many areas and disciplines and in industry 284 00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:43,280 and medicine to continue onward because it's been very effective. 285 00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:51,200 I mean, you take a radiologist, he can read these films anywhere it works in the world, 286 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:58,040 and be as effective as if he were there in person reading them and sending the data and 287 00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:00,600 results and so forth. 288 00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:05,520 Well, as your subtitle says, it's a changing world. 289 00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:11,040 We're talking to and we appreciate the time that Dr. Lanny Snodgrass, Lieutenant Colonel 290 00:26:11,040 --> 00:26:15,880 Retard out of the U.S. Army, gave to us today to talk about his book, The Ageless Call to 291 00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:16,880 Serve. 292 00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:23,960 Lanny, first off, I'm glad you got a sense, you got the opportunity to quench that thirst 293 00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:30,360 that you had to serve even if you had to wait until you were 63 to do it, but I think it 294 00:26:30,360 --> 00:26:34,240 also gave you some unique perspective and insights and they're certainly captured in 295 00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:35,240 the book. 296 00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:42,560 Well, thank you, and I'm going to say that I would do it all over again. 297 00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:49,480 This opportunity ever occurred, it's not something that I regret in any sense, I regret 298 00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:50,480 never. 299 00:26:50,480 --> 00:27:00,520 It was a wonderful opportunity for me and I grew from it and I feel that I have been 300 00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:06,440 of help and it's been a life-changing experience for me. 301 00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:12,800 Much of what I've written in the book is about what came out of that experience. 302 00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:15,960 Well, we really appreciate your time today. 303 00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:16,960 Thanks, Lanny. 304 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:18,240 Well, thank you. 305 00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:23,440 I appreciate the opportunity here, it's been a moment. 306 00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:26,400 And I want to thank everybody for listening to Veterans Radio today. 307 00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:27,900 I am Jim Fawson. 308 00:27:27,900 --> 00:27:30,240 It's been a pleasure to be your host. 309 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:34,960 I'm a Veterans Disability Lawyer at Legal Help for Veterans and you can reach us at 310 00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:42,560 800-6934800 or LegalHelpforVeterans.com on the web. 311 00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:47,480 You can follow Veterans Radio on Facebook and listen to its podcasts and internet radio 312 00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:52,040 shows by visiting us at veteransradio.org. 313 00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:54,640 That's veteransradio.org. 314 00:27:54,640 --> 00:28:00,280 We again want to thank our 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