1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:15,000 All across America and around the world, this is Veterans Radio. 2 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:19,520 And now, your host for today's program, Dale Throneberry. 3 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:23,680 Hi, hey, welcome to Veterans Radio. 4 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:27,800 My name is Dale Throneberry and it's really a pleasure to have you joining us today. 5 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:30,280 I think we've got a really exciting program. 6 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:31,880 We've got a documentary maker. 7 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:35,640 We've got an organization helping veterans. 8 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:38,040 We've got an interview with NVVDC. 9 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:40,920 So we've got all kinds of things going on today. 10 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:45,400 And as I said, I'm really excited that you've been able to join us. 11 00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:47,840 First of all, before we get into the first interview, 12 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:53,000 I want to make sure that we thank our sponsors and our people who donate to our program 13 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:55,040 because we can't do this without them. 14 00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:57,640 So number one, of course, is legal help for veterans. 15 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:02,280 Legal help for veterans specializes in veterans disability claims, 16 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:06,880 give legal help a call at 800-69-34800, 17 00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:10,880 or go to their website at legalhelpforveterans.com. 18 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:15,200 The National Veterans Business Development Council, better known as NVVDC, 19 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:20,760 is the nation's leading third party authority for a certification of a veteran-known business. 20 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:24,680 For more information, go to their website, NVVDC.org, 21 00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:29,720 or give them a call at 888-237-8433. 22 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:30,640 PuroClean. 23 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:33,640 PuroClean is known as the paramedics of property damage, 24 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:36,520 and they've got offices all over the country. 25 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:40,800 In fact, each PuroClean office is independently owned and operated. 26 00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:45,680 In fact, PuroClean is one of the nation's leading restoration franchise networks 27 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:48,640 and is made up of entrepreneurs just like you. 28 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:50,520 And this is the big part. 29 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:54,360 Veterans get 25% off any franchise fee. 30 00:01:54,360 --> 00:01:55,880 So, there you go. 31 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:57,280 You want to run a business? 32 00:01:57,280 --> 00:01:59,000 Here's an opportunity. 33 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:02,400 Charles S. Kettles VA Medical Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 34 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:04,920 For more information, go to va.gov. 35 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:07,040 Slash Ann Arbor Healthcare. 36 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:11,760 And then finally, we've got the Irwin Prescor and American Legion Post 46, 37 00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:15,640 and the Charles S. Kettles Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 310, 38 00:02:15,640 --> 00:02:18,040 both here in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 39 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:23,080 If you'd like to support Veterans Radio, please go to our website, veteransradio.org, 40 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:24,680 and click on the donate button. 41 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:26,960 Thanks in advance for your support. 42 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:28,840 Now, let's get into the program. 43 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:32,960 All right, as I mentioned, we got a documentary maker on here. 44 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:41,040 And this came about really, it's one of those miracles of trying to put together a radio program. 45 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:47,440 Somebody drops off and an angel drops a great program into us. 46 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:52,000 So, joining me right now on the line is Jake Radimaker. 47 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:54,040 And Jake is a documentary maker. 48 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:55,000 He's made two of them. 49 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:57,600 One is called Brothers at War. 50 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:02,000 And the other one that is coming out in the next couple of weeks is Brothers After War. 51 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:04,680 So, Jake, welcome to Veterans Radio. 52 00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:06,000 Pleasure to be with you guys today. 53 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:07,480 Thank you for having me. 54 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:16,520 Well, you know, I just, I was really happy, obviously, when Matthew dropped, you know, an email in asking if I wanted to talk to you. 55 00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:19,680 So, tell me about, let's kind of go back to the first one. 56 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:25,600 Both of these documentaries kind of revolved around you and your whole family. 57 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:26,400 That's correct. 58 00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:31,400 You know, my brothers, Isaac and Joe, told me the truth was not coming home from Iraq. 59 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:35,760 They came back from Isaac's second deployment, Joe's first deployment. 60 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:38,680 They were in Fallujah with the 82nd Airborne. 61 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:41,760 They done, Isaac did a year in Afghanistan prior to that. 62 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:46,440 And as a family member, to be completely honest with you, that pissed me off. 63 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:48,040 So, I decided to do something about it. 64 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:49,320 I took all the money I ever made. 65 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:50,840 I started a production company. 66 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:54,040 I got permission from the Department of Defense, eventually. 67 00:03:54,040 --> 00:04:00,400 And I went to Iraq and I joined Isaac on his third deployment in Mosul, Iraq in 2005. 68 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:06,480 He, you know, your listeners will be shocked to hear I was able to film in a skiff. 69 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:10,600 Then I was able to get out by the Syrian border with his LERS teams. 70 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:15,800 And the film documented some of the mission, but really it was about the human being wearing a uniform. 71 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:18,920 And it also followed them back home as they came home. 72 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:21,360 So you're right, it was my entire family. 73 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:24,960 When Isaac comes home in the middle of the family, in the middle of the film, his daughter 74 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:29,520 who's one at this time doesn't recognize him and won't go to him. 75 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:35,920 And it's moments like this that we re-explore in Brothers After War. 76 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:40,560 I just finished watching the Brothers After War. 77 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:46,840 And I have to tell you, it was just heart wrenching for one thing. 78 00:04:46,840 --> 00:04:52,120 And plus the photography, obviously you've got a talent and skill that's involved there 79 00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:55,760 as a story maker and putting this whole thing together. 80 00:04:55,760 --> 00:05:02,080 But just a couple of lines that I took from that is that coming home has always been the 81 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:05,160 hardest part of being a warrior. 82 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:09,040 And this really struck home with me. 83 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:18,600 You know, when you're off doing your fighting, saving the world for democracy and all these 84 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:26,960 other different things, it's amazing that you come home the next day and now you're 85 00:05:26,960 --> 00:05:29,280 a civilian or now you're just home. 86 00:05:29,280 --> 00:05:33,480 And I think that you really describe that really well. 87 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:35,520 Well, I appreciate that, Dale. 88 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:37,080 I guess it was unique. 89 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:43,200 I was, you know, as the first film went on, I found myself out there with Marines in combat, 90 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:44,200 Iraqi. 91 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:46,400 I went out with snipers. 92 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:49,960 But since the film, we created these workshops. 93 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:55,760 So since 2011, we've done workshops for about 40,000 service members and their families. 94 00:05:55,760 --> 00:06:02,200 So I've had, you know, so many experiences trying to help our veterans walk through maybe 95 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:06,400 some trauma they experienced overseas or back home, frankly. 96 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:12,280 And it just occurred to me that, you know, a statistic, we lost 6,700 that were killed 97 00:06:12,280 --> 00:06:14,400 in action overseas in 20 years. 98 00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:18,120 We've lost 35,000 from my generation to suicide. 99 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:21,800 So five times more have taken their own life. 100 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:24,480 And so I really feel that that bears out. 101 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:28,400 And in making this film, that was sort of the summation statement. 102 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:32,840 You know, I started off with the film from that standpoint of having worked with so many 103 00:06:32,840 --> 00:06:37,040 service members and really wanting to do a deep dive and understand how my friends were 104 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:40,320 doing, how they're really doing, and also my brothers. 105 00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:42,640 And so I really went on that journey in this film. 106 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:48,880 And that was my, that's what I came away with, was that I think coming home is truly difficult. 107 00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:51,600 It's been that way since the ancient Greeks. 108 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:55,520 The Native Americans had ceremonies to try to help that process. 109 00:06:55,520 --> 00:07:01,600 But I think in the modern day, when less than 1% serve and society can sometimes be a little 110 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:06,960 affected, I think the disconnect between our war fighters on the front lines overseas and 111 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:11,080 then what's going on back here, I think it, it's exasperated. 112 00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:14,800 And so it's more difficult than it was maybe in World War II. 113 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:17,320 Maybe not as difficult as a Vietnam, quite honestly. 114 00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:20,520 The Vietnam bets have done a huge favor for this generation. 115 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:23,280 But I think it's very, very difficult to come home. 116 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:28,320 And I think a lot of people don't really understand that and it's hard for veterans to articulate 117 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:29,320 that. 118 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:32,160 So thank you for the kind words about the film. 119 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:37,680 I do hope that it does capture a nugget of what I think is an essential truth. 120 00:07:37,680 --> 00:07:41,560 There are many essential truths in there, Jacob. 121 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:44,440 We're talking to Jacob Rodemaker. 122 00:07:44,440 --> 00:07:48,240 His film is titled Brothers After War. 123 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:52,960 And we've talked about this topic many times here on Veterans Radio. 124 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:54,440 How do we assimilate how? 125 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:55,440 Can you hear me? 126 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:56,440 How do we? 127 00:07:56,440 --> 00:07:57,440 I can't hear you. 128 00:07:57,440 --> 00:07:58,440 Hold on one second. 129 00:07:58,440 --> 00:08:06,640 How do we, you know, how do we transition back into being a civilian? 130 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:11,040 And it's very difficult, you know, in many cases it is. 131 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:12,560 Some people come home as a group. 132 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:17,240 Some people, you know, in my generation, we came home as individuals, which is really 133 00:08:17,240 --> 00:08:22,360 the hardest part of making that transition. 134 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:26,840 You mentioned, and I can't remember the name of the, thank you. 135 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:35,160 I think Achilles in Vietnam was written by a psychiatrist from VA Hospital in Boston. 136 00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:40,880 And he was talking about the Greeks after a war, after a battle, they weren't allowed 137 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:44,040 to go home for a month. 138 00:08:44,040 --> 00:08:47,400 And that was so telling to me. 139 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:48,760 And your film does this. 140 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:56,880 When you follow your brothers, you know, for this whole 20 years almost of these wars over 141 00:08:56,880 --> 00:09:02,880 there, and how did you get them to open up to you? 142 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:08,720 So, I mean Achilles in Vietnam, actually the big, the psychiatrist for the big red one 143 00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:16,200 turned me onto that book when I helped 700 of them transition home from Iraq in 2011. 144 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:19,880 And I saw more of that in 2012 when I was asked to work with the Oklahoma National Guard 145 00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:23,960 after they lost 14 guys overseas and then had a suicide a week before I got there. 146 00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:27,680 And as recently as the 2-1 Marines, I went down to Camp Pendleton and worked with them, 147 00:09:27,680 --> 00:09:30,400 the guys who lost 11 friends overseas. 148 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:35,120 So I've been sort of in the thick of that and seen that firsthand. 149 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:39,920 You know, what one veteran told me, the magic of the film is you see the warfighter in the 150 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:44,920 war zone and then you flash to the veteran they become. 151 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:49,160 And so some of the corporals are master sergeants still serving, like my brother Joe's now deployed 152 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:54,160 nine times as a tier one operator, but is making a transition out of that for his family, 153 00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:56,040 for his kids and his wife. 154 00:09:56,040 --> 00:10:00,120 And then other ones have gone off into the civilian world and some are doing great, they're 155 00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:04,560 owning businesses, and then some are struggling a little bit and trying to find their path 156 00:10:04,560 --> 00:10:07,080 forward. 157 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:10,320 Another thing that another veteran told me they loved about the film was they said a 158 00:10:10,320 --> 00:10:13,880 lot of times when Hollywood takes on the veteran story, they either do heroes like metal 159 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:21,280 von recipients or in his words they do zeros, guys that are struggling to get by and sometimes 160 00:10:21,280 --> 00:10:23,880 in documentaries he cherry picks sad stories. 161 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:28,040 I think to your point, the reason why they opened up was twofold. 162 00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:30,320 For one, I was there with him. 163 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:32,760 You know, I returned to one of those Marine gunners. 164 00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:34,040 I was in combat with him. 165 00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:37,360 There were three Americans out there, the Syrians were shooting at me too. 166 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:39,240 I almost got hit. 167 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:43,400 And then I was filming him taking care of a wounded Iraqi soldier. 168 00:10:43,400 --> 00:10:47,360 And he opened up about that moment probably for the first time in his life. 169 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:48,360 And that's what he told me. 170 00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:55,240 He brushed by it when I first asked him and I told him, hey, David, for me, that was grace 171 00:10:55,240 --> 00:10:59,600 on earth the way you were caressing that wounded Iraqi soldier's face. 172 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:05,400 And he stopped, he looked down, he said, well, he was one of mine and he started to cry. 173 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:08,440 And he reached out to me a couple months later and he's like, thank you for coming. 174 00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:09,440 It helped. 175 00:11:09,440 --> 00:11:10,600 It really helped. 176 00:11:10,600 --> 00:11:13,240 And that's why we're telling these stories. 177 00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:16,440 They're not to make people, they're to inspire people, right? 178 00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:20,080 Because you tell your stories, you open up, you start to communicate to your families 179 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:24,360 and the burden gets a little lessened and the people that love you most, they get a 180 00:11:24,360 --> 00:11:25,600 little bit closer. 181 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:27,320 Their empathy goes up. 182 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:32,440 So that, I think it's a combination of having been there with them in the war zone, coupled 183 00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:36,960 with the fact that they knew that I was out here thanks to the Gary Sneese Foundation 184 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:40,600 doing these workshops 25 a year. 185 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:45,920 And they felt like, as in Joe's words in the film, if my story can help another veteran, 186 00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:47,580 that's why I've told you this today. 187 00:11:47,580 --> 00:11:49,080 That's why I've opened up. 188 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:54,080 So I think it was the altruistic aim of trying to help other veterans and create a movement 189 00:11:54,080 --> 00:11:58,080 across the country for vets to talk about their stories, coupled with the fact that 190 00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:03,320 a little easier to explain to a guy what it's like to get shot at when he was next to you 191 00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:04,680 getting shot at, right? 192 00:12:04,680 --> 00:12:06,720 Right, absolutely. 193 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:11,840 We had a program around here before COVID hit where every month we would get together 194 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:17,600 and have a, you know, there I was kind of just gathering of veterans and people would 195 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:19,720 just tell their stories. 196 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:27,120 And I can remember one guy talking about his experiences in Vietnam and when he was finished, 197 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:33,800 his daughter came up and gave him the giant hug and she says, I never knew any of that. 198 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:38,880 He says, I felt I couldn't tell you until now. 199 00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:44,960 And the idea of trying to keep consistently trying to get our veterans out there to tell 200 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:49,560 their stories to anybody that will listen to them is so important. 201 00:12:49,560 --> 00:12:54,360 And I thought that you really did this beautifully. 202 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:58,480 And you know, yeah, there are sad parts of your documentary, but there are also so many 203 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:01,840 uplifting parts of it as well. 204 00:13:01,840 --> 00:13:05,480 We're talking with Jake Radimike here. 205 00:13:05,480 --> 00:13:10,920 The movie that's coming out at the end of the month is Brothers After War and They're 206 00:13:10,920 --> 00:13:11,920 Coming Home. 207 00:13:11,920 --> 00:13:14,600 And you've got a pretty big family history. 208 00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:17,760 Can you tell us a little bit about that as far as military is concerned? 209 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:22,080 Yeah, it turns out my mom's, you know, great grandfather was actually a pilot in World 210 00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:23,320 War One. 211 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:29,800 We go to visit her uncle in Sicily, who unfortunately he earned a silver star and then died in Sicily. 212 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:32,760 We visit his grave as a family in the film. 213 00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:41,120 And then my father's grandfather, you know, filled his pockets with rolls of dimes and 214 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:44,840 eight milkshakes so he could make weight and then join the Army Air Corps. 215 00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:45,920 He was a co-pilot. 216 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:48,360 He did 17 bombing missions. 217 00:13:48,360 --> 00:13:51,720 The 17th mission was successful, but then they were shot down. 218 00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:57,200 And he spent the last six months of the war fighting behind enemy lines. 219 00:13:57,200 --> 00:14:00,640 And as it turns out, my brother Joe is named after him. 220 00:14:00,640 --> 00:14:06,320 So in the film, we actually returned to the site where grandpa Joe dropped and spent the 221 00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:11,600 last six months of the war fighting side by side with the Italian partisans. 222 00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:15,400 So it's an incredible story. 223 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:19,960 And it was just sort of surreal to walk that ground again and then to be asking Joe to 224 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:24,200 reflect on his own experience because that's a little bit of what Joe did. 225 00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:29,280 You know, he was the RRC of the 75th Ranger Battalion, one of those guys with a beard. 226 00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:32,120 You know, for six years he employed six times. 227 00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:35,160 We weren't always sure exactly where he was. 228 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:39,080 So it's so interesting that our grandfather had sort of done the same thing in World War 229 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:45,720 II, you know, hiding from the Nazis, hiding from the fascists and coordinating with like 230 00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:50,640 2,000 Italian partisans, 200 square miles of the resistance with the British special 231 00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:51,640 operations. 232 00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:54,520 Well, I found that really interesting. 233 00:14:54,520 --> 00:14:58,680 I just, I liked all of those things you have. 234 00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:00,560 And you have a nephew who is in the service. 235 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:02,840 Is he still in the service? 236 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:03,840 He is. 237 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:06,000 So he's four years active. 238 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:10,120 He's now in the Illinois National Guard, you know, working in the motor pool there. 239 00:15:10,120 --> 00:15:11,840 I actually think he's in SFAB. 240 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:14,960 So he's in the advisors kind of like Isaac is in the film. 241 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:18,240 He keeps falling in his uncle's footsteps. 242 00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:20,280 You know, Quinton is doing great. 243 00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:24,880 He has just found that he loves going to work in his uniform and he loves taking it off at 244 00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:28,720 the end of the day and being a civilian soldier. 245 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:32,440 So and you know, that is an aspect of this film we've always covered. 246 00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:37,600 You know, it's interesting to me that in the film Frank McCann is a sniper, but he's in 247 00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:39,080 the National Guard. 248 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:42,440 And here we follow up with him years later and he's a master sergeant in the National 249 00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:43,440 Guard. 250 00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:47,920 But this particular war, I mean, right now across the world, 55% of the people that are 251 00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:50,520 deployed are actually serving in the National Guard. 252 00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:51,520 Right. 253 00:15:51,520 --> 00:15:57,920 Yeah, it's kind of really unusual the way that they're filling in the troops, I guess 254 00:15:57,920 --> 00:15:58,920 you could say. 255 00:15:58,920 --> 00:16:02,360 And you're talking about the important party. 256 00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:05,520 One of the major important parts of your film, of course, is you were talking about 257 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:14,560 was suicide prevention, which is this generation, unfortunately, whatever the reasons are, has 258 00:16:14,560 --> 00:16:19,000 a much higher rate of suicide than any other I think in our history. 259 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:28,280 And you were talking to this one guy, I saw his bigger, Sergeant Ernest Ward, he was talking 260 00:16:28,280 --> 00:16:33,840 about what can he do or what can we all do to help prevent some of these suicides. 261 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:37,800 Can you talk a little bit about the bigger and you seem like a cool character. 262 00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:40,040 Oh, he's such a great guy. 263 00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:44,920 You know, I met him years ago, he actually took me up to Kurdistan with his unit, he's 264 00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:49,440 six foot six, he's super intimidating to look at when he's in his battle rattle, but 265 00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:52,320 he's got the heart of gold, you know. 266 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:55,000 And so I wanted to follow up with him. 267 00:16:55,000 --> 00:17:01,480 And shockingly, you know, I just happened to arrive in the weekend before one of his 268 00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:03,880 good friends had committed suicide. 269 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:05,880 And so he was kind of reeling with how to deal with that. 270 00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:09,640 And then the film, you know, he reads the note and that the guy posted on Facebook and 271 00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:14,760 then he writes a beautiful note to the family about, you know, what kind of man he was and 272 00:17:14,760 --> 00:17:17,320 that he was sorry for their loss. 273 00:17:17,320 --> 00:17:22,320 Yeah, you know, Big Ernest is an incredible, incredible guy. 274 00:17:22,320 --> 00:17:26,360 And he says in the film, I've never changed my cell phone number since 2004, because I'm 275 00:17:26,360 --> 00:17:29,720 right here, call me, call me. 276 00:17:29,720 --> 00:17:34,100 You know, I think to really prevent suicide has to be multifaceted. 277 00:17:34,100 --> 00:17:36,960 Sometimes people just focus on the final day or the final moment. 278 00:17:36,960 --> 00:17:39,320 I personally just this is just Jake talking. 279 00:17:39,320 --> 00:17:40,720 I think we got to look beyond that. 280 00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:46,240 I think we got to get way left a bang and look at, you know, communicating about your 281 00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:50,240 story, maybe go in to talk to a counselor if you need to, you know, there's a lot of 282 00:17:50,240 --> 00:17:51,800 solution that's in the film. 283 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:57,080 There's a lot of people that are go from being a sniper in this triangle of death to the best 284 00:17:57,080 --> 00:17:59,680 father of a kid with special needs. 285 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:03,400 Now in the film, he says he went to the VA and talked to a counselor 22 times and she 286 00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:04,400 was really nice. 287 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:05,400 I don't know. 288 00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:08,240 I'm not a genius, but it seems like there's a connection there. 289 00:18:08,240 --> 00:18:12,160 And my own brother, my own brother Joe talks about going and talking to somebody about his 290 00:18:12,160 --> 00:18:14,360 anger and I've watched his arc. 291 00:18:14,360 --> 00:18:20,800 He's just transformed over the years with his ability to handle his anger. 292 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:25,160 And I believe it's also on us as society. 293 00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:29,160 You know, one time a veteran told me it's not just about asking vets to reach out. 294 00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:31,640 It's about us reaching in. 295 00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:35,680 And my hope for the film and the reason why we made the workshop was cast after the first 296 00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:40,040 film we had so many veterans come up to us and say, I just had my first conversation 297 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:44,200 with, you know, his or her experience overseas after seeing the film. 298 00:18:44,200 --> 00:18:47,800 And we found that movies make tough subjects easier to talk about. 299 00:18:47,800 --> 00:18:52,640 So the vision for this theatrical release and, you know, thanks to Regal and a couple 300 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:56,240 of other places, we're getting an opportunity to, I think we're going to be able to release 301 00:18:56,240 --> 00:18:59,680 on 125 movie screens across America. 302 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:04,040 And our big hope for that is that veterans will go see the film together and experience 303 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:10,680 communication and camaraderie and that this will be a very positive step for them in a 304 00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:13,560 healing journey all the way home. 305 00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:16,840 Well, it's a great film. 306 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:21,160 I really strongly recommend it to anybody out there, whether you're a veteran or not, 307 00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:24,720 because I think if you're not a veteran, it's going to give you insight into the veteran's 308 00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:26,440 world a little bit more. 309 00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:30,400 And if you are a veteran, you're going to see that you're really not alone. 310 00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:36,360 And I think that that's one of the things that so many veterans felt or maybe even feel 311 00:19:36,360 --> 00:19:40,720 still today is that once they're done, they're done. 312 00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:43,720 And you're never done. 313 00:19:43,720 --> 00:19:44,720 That's the thing. 314 00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:45,720 You know, it's like Marines. 315 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:47,920 You know, Marines are always Marines. 316 00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:51,920 It doesn't make any difference when they served or whatever it was. 317 00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:54,280 It's just kind of this mindset. 318 00:19:54,280 --> 00:20:01,240 And I want to thank Jake Ruddermar for this film, It's The Brothers After War. 319 00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:02,240 It's coming out. 320 00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:04,120 I'm going to hit the theaters. 321 00:20:04,120 --> 00:20:06,760 It says on February 28th. 322 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:13,520 It's just a mind-altering film, Jake. 323 00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:16,840 I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate it. 324 00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:19,400 And I know that the veteran community is really going to appreciate it. 325 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:25,120 I think this is something that needs to be done. 326 00:20:25,120 --> 00:20:26,120 Well thank you for that. 327 00:20:26,120 --> 00:20:30,320 I mean, you know, Gary Sinise, when we were finishing up the film, he was my executive 328 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:33,720 producer, you know, we really wanted the film to have some fun. 329 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:35,160 You know, I jump out of an airplane. 330 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:37,760 There's a lot of humor at my expense as well. 331 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:41,280 But in the end, he said, I want to leave the vets with hope. 332 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:43,680 And I'll leave you with one final thought. 333 00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:47,200 A veteran, to your point, agrees, sounds like exactly with you. 334 00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:51,440 A veteran saw the film and he said, it made me realize I'm not broken. 335 00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:53,000 I'm not alone. 336 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:54,800 It's OK to be vulnerable. 337 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:57,880 It gave me hope for my future. 338 00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:02,080 So our hope is that that'll be the experience of tons of veterans. 339 00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:05,640 And you know, the website's brothersafterwar.com. 340 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:08,400 You can go there and see if it's playing in your neighborhood. 341 00:21:08,400 --> 00:21:11,320 If it's not, let us know or go to the local movie theater. 342 00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:15,280 We are trying to get the film out to as many veterans as possible and we'll be doing Brothers 343 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:17,640 After War seminars for years to come. 344 00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:23,640 OK, I think that's another great opportunity, again, is for these veterans to gather together 345 00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:30,200 and talk about their problems, or their issues, or, you know, just, you know, there's always 346 00:21:30,200 --> 00:21:35,920 that sense that something's missing and you need to be around, I think, other veterans 347 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:40,880 because they're the ones that can kind of put that missing puzzle piece back in there 348 00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:41,880 for you. 349 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:42,880 So. 350 00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:47,440 Well, Dale, you're right, there's a spiritual element to this and there's a social element 351 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:48,440 to this. 352 00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:51,840 Never in the history of time have we ever asked veterans just kind of figure it out on the 353 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:52,960 road. 354 00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:56,640 You know, like you said, the ancient Greeks didn't just let them be on their own for a 355 00:21:56,640 --> 00:21:57,640 month. 356 00:21:57,640 --> 00:21:59,280 They also created theater. 357 00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:03,280 Theater was created for veterans to try to explain to the rest of society what it was 358 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:06,680 like to go to war and what it was like to come home. 359 00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:10,440 And I'd like to think we're borrowing from that tradition with our American art form 360 00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:14,360 by putting this film in our current cultural town square. 361 00:22:14,360 --> 00:22:17,560 Well, get out there and watch it, folks. 362 00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:18,560 Get out there. 363 00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:21,000 It's brothers after war. 364 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:23,640 Coming out February 28. 365 00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:24,640 Check your local theaters. 366 00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:32,080 If it's not there, let us know and we'll make sure they'll start showing it, all right? 367 00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:33,080 Thank you, Dale. 368 00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:35,920 Thank you, Jake, very much for being on Veterans Radio. 369 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:40,760 We are going to make a quick transition to our next guest. 370 00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:46,880 And speaking of supporting veterans, and I muted Mike's microphone, so you may want 371 00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:48,920 to turn it on again. 372 00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:55,520 Anyway, joining me right now on the line is Mike Sully Sullivan. 373 00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:59,560 He is from Red, White and Blue, Team Red, White and Blue. 374 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:04,000 And this is an organization that has been helping veterans for a long time. 375 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:07,120 And so Sully, how are you doing? 376 00:23:07,120 --> 00:23:08,120 I'm great. 377 00:23:08,120 --> 00:23:11,360 I'm knocking things down over here, but I'm doing great. 378 00:23:11,360 --> 00:23:12,360 That's all right. 379 00:23:12,360 --> 00:23:16,160 We get so excited sometimes things just start flying. 380 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:22,120 I asked Mike to join us on the program because I was contacted that Team Red, White and Blue 381 00:23:22,120 --> 00:23:26,200 has got a big event coming up in May. 382 00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:29,920 And Sully, I'd like you to kind of, well, let me back up. 383 00:23:29,920 --> 00:23:32,000 Tell us all about Red, White and Blue. 384 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:33,000 What is it that they do? 385 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:34,000 Yeah, absolutely. 386 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:39,760 Actually, I was getting excited just to get to talk listening to Jacob because a lot of 387 00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:45,480 what he just spoke about is like the vision of Team Red, White and Blue. 388 00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:51,280 So Team Red, White and Blue, or we commonly refer to him as Team RWB, started 15 years 389 00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:56,160 ago founded by then major Mike Irwin. 390 00:23:56,160 --> 00:23:57,160 He was an Intel officer. 391 00:23:57,160 --> 00:23:59,640 He and I worked together in Third Special Forces Group. 392 00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:06,240 And he came up with the idea while he was at Michigan, studying to get his, he was getting 393 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:09,040 his master's in psychology to go teach at West Point. 394 00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:13,680 And he thought at that time, he was seeing a lot of veterans coming home from Afghanistan 395 00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:15,280 and Iraq. 396 00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:17,920 People were transitioning out of the service. 397 00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:23,520 And what he was seeing was a lot of veterans lacking purpose, accountability, a loss of 398 00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:27,320 community and that kind of team environment that they were so used to in the military. 399 00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:33,640 And he wanted to do something that would bring veterans back together in a positive way. 400 00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:36,880 And what he leaned into was physical fitness. 401 00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:41,080 It was that crucible of doing physical fitness together in the military from basic training 402 00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:48,160 on that many veterans bonded over every morning at 6.30 after a revelry went off, we would 403 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:51,440 face right and go on that two mile run. 404 00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:57,640 So he used that as the conduit to bring folks together, both veterans, active duty, reserve 405 00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:02,320 guard and community supporters, both family members and those in the community that just 406 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:05,960 wanted to help veterans out as they transitioned out of the military, especially those folks 407 00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:10,240 that had just come back from Afghanistan and Iraq. 408 00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:16,360 You fast forward 15 years later, we're 300,000 members strong across the entire United States. 409 00:25:16,360 --> 00:25:20,440 We're a chapter based organization, but we have a very effective application. 410 00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:23,680 But you can download from both Google and Apple. 411 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:28,120 And that serves kind of as what we call our digital garrison to keep the glue together 412 00:25:28,120 --> 00:25:31,880 and allow people to understand what's going out there in terms of our events, as well 413 00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:38,480 as we do a lot of fitness and health education and challenges in there, whether it's nutrition, 414 00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:44,720 sleep, you think of it, we got it going on in terms of activities that you could do 415 00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:47,040 via the app. 416 00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:52,240 We pair that with monthly missions that highlight generations of veterans throughout our history 417 00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:55,680 and significant events. 418 00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:59,880 And it just teach people motivated and going, it gives veterans that purpose and community 419 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:05,200 that they, you know, that that so connectedness that they need so they don't isolate. 420 00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:09,520 So when Jacob was talking, hey, we need to get well left of things like, you know, chronic 421 00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:15,960 mental illness, that's team RWB, you know, we know that a five mile run is not going 422 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:19,640 to fix it if you're the day before something very tragic is going to happen. 423 00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:23,440 But if you're just out of the service or you've been out for six months, you're sitting on 424 00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:26,440 the couch and you want to like, I'm going to get moving again. 425 00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:31,840 You realize that, you know, you've isolated yourself, team RWB is there to get you, get 426 00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:35,160 you going, get you active, keep you going. 427 00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:37,800 You know, our mission is to enrich veterans lives. 428 00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:41,680 And we do that through building, you know, the nation's leading health and wellness community 429 00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:42,960 for veterans. 430 00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:44,720 So that's the down and dirty of it. 431 00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:47,080 Well, I understand that. 432 00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:56,160 And I, we have talked to, you mentioned that, you know, Erwin went to U of M, the University 433 00:26:56,160 --> 00:27:02,520 of Michigan for our last audience and invited me to go out and run, but I'm a little bit 434 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:05,440 beyond that right now. 435 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:09,800 And I guess they probably run, I know they run every weekend or somewhere. 436 00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:17,000 And that, but I think it's so cool that they, you know, that they just keep active and, 437 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:22,880 you know, they keep gathering up their brothers and sisters and saying, okay, let's, let's 438 00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:24,720 go out for a run. 439 00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:29,520 And, you know, and if there's somebody's having an issue, there's an opportunity for 440 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:35,840 them to talk about it or, you know, because again, the veterans community, you know, as 441 00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:40,840 open as people would like to think it is, it's pretty, pretty narrow, especially in 442 00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:45,840 today's world, you know, with what less than 1% of, you know, people serving in the military 443 00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:46,840 nowadays. 444 00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:54,240 And at, you know, at the end of this 20 years of conflict that the year generation, you 445 00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:59,960 know, had to go through, I'm sure that I think it's just great that you're providing these 446 00:27:59,960 --> 00:28:03,920 opportunities for these people to get out there and do something different. 447 00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:06,720 Yeah, it's an awesome opportunity. 448 00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:11,920 Mike, Mike called me in when I was still a major in the special forces and he's like, 449 00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:14,520 hey, Sully, you're going to need this someday yourself. 450 00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:21,000 And then I just retired myself after a 30 year career and stepped right out of the uniform, 451 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:25,000 put on my new red shirt with the eagle on it as my uniform. 452 00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:27,280 And each day I get, you know, I have purpose myself. 453 00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:29,960 I'm driven to, you know, continue to serve veterans. 454 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:33,440 And it's cause of, you know, the way, the way I see it. 455 00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:38,200 And no matter the generation you came from, you, you know, you raised your right hand 456 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:40,640 and you were willing to fight for your nation. 457 00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:41,640 Right. 458 00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:45,960 We answered the call, you know, whether it was for the global war on terrorism vets or 459 00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:52,480 if it was the Vietnam vets like my dad, you know, it's, we all have done something for 460 00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:56,640 our nation and whether it was in crisis or in combat. 461 00:28:56,640 --> 00:29:00,320 And now, you know, we kind of see it as an opportunity to kind of charge vets with a 462 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:05,880 new mission to kind of lead the nation, kind of be that example of what a healthy lifestyle 463 00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:11,800 looks like, you know, and hopefully by giving them that purpose and that sense of accountability, 464 00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:13,800 they can kind of get after it. 465 00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:14,800 Yeah. 466 00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:18,560 To your point, we try to meet people where they're at, you know, we have Tuesdays and 467 00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:22,120 Thursdays here in Fayetteville, North Carolina, we do a five day, but it's if you want to 468 00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:23,120 walk it, you walk it. 469 00:29:23,120 --> 00:29:26,040 If you want to put on a ruck and luck, you can put us some weight on your back. 470 00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:27,040 I like to jog. 471 00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:28,760 So I jog it with some friends. 472 00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:33,360 But it's just that opportunity to continue to get out, you know, interact with everybody 473 00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:38,080 and provide yourself with some purpose that's going to allow you to enjoy what you fought 474 00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:40,000 for while you were in the service. 475 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:46,880 I think there's so many great organizations out there now, especially that, you know, 476 00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:52,680 any veteran, you know, whether you want to run, or you know, stay healthy, or you want 477 00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:57,560 to be an artist, or you want to be a singer, or, you know, you want to write a book or 478 00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:03,160 write poetry, whatever it is, there are so many programs out there for veterans now. 479 00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:08,520 And I like to think that our generation, my generation had a lot to do with that. 480 00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:14,680 And so I'm very proud to, you know, to say to tell people, you know, I am a Vietnam veteran. 481 00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:19,120 And you know, especially when we're talking to your generation, you guys are going, oh, 482 00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:22,360 wow, you guys did this and you guys did that. 483 00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:26,040 And you know, mainly because we wanted to make sure that there weren't any, there wasn't 484 00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:30,560 any opportunity for veterans to isolate themselves. 485 00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:32,760 We wanted to provide activities for them. 486 00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:36,600 And I think you guys, along with, you know, so many other organizations out there are 487 00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:37,600 doing a great thing. 488 00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:42,480 But what I wanted to bring you on for, Sally, is what in the world are you guys doing in 489 00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:43,480 May? 490 00:30:43,480 --> 00:30:46,720 What is this running across the country thing? 491 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:52,920 Well, so we've, for the last 10 years as an organization, we've run a flag from one 492 00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:55,600 part of the United States to another. 493 00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:59,120 We did that, that activate our members and members would get together. 494 00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:01,800 And it would be kind of like a day time event. 495 00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:06,680 And usually it took about 60 days for us to get a flag from one place to another. 496 00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:07,680 It was a great event. 497 00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:11,720 It got a lot of folks out. 498 00:31:11,720 --> 00:31:16,160 It was losing a little bit of its luster, but you know, it was something that we still 499 00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:20,600 thought was like part of our core mission and like to show that we were still carrying 500 00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:21,760 the flag. 501 00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:27,480 This past year, last year, there was a Navy officer active duty who decided he wanted 502 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:33,480 to raise some money for Team RWB and he wanted to try to set the single person transcon record. 503 00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:39,320 So he ran from Los Angeles to New York City last year, a young 03 in the Navy named Paul 504 00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:40,520 Johnson. 505 00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:45,800 And he did not make the record, but he put in a herculean effort and it created a lot 506 00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:50,440 of like advocacy for veterans, their issues for Team RWB. 507 00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:52,400 And we were like, how do we create that this year? 508 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:57,160 So we decided to take what we called the old glory relay, this amazing run that he did 509 00:31:57,160 --> 00:31:59,040 and we kind of married the two things together. 510 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:03,440 And it's always been kind of a dream of micro ones to do this to see how fast we could get 511 00:32:03,440 --> 00:32:06,480 a flag from one part of America to another. 512 00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:12,040 So on the 2nd of May, we are going to be on the deck of the USS Midway in the in San Diego 513 00:32:12,040 --> 00:32:17,320 Harbor and 12 veteran runners who have been picked and who have been training for like 514 00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:22,800 the last few months, 10 men and two women who represent multiple different services, 515 00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:26,920 multiple different generations coming together. 516 00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:32,480 And they are going to relay that flag as fast as they can humanly possible. 517 00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:35,200 We think they can do it in about 17 days. 518 00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:39,640 So we're starting on the 2nd of May, we're going to go kind of the South Southwest out 519 00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:46,360 of San Diego over through Phoenix, Albuquerque down into Dallas, up through Nashville and 520 00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:51,160 then in through to the kind of Shenandoah Valley into NC. 521 00:32:51,160 --> 00:32:55,920 We'll end on the National Mall, ideally on the 17th of May at the future home of the 522 00:32:55,920 --> 00:33:00,880 Global War on Terror Memorial, which is just off of, it's on the mall just off to the side 523 00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:05,920 of the Lincoln Memorial and just adjacent to the Vietnam Memorial. 524 00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:07,200 So we're really excited. 525 00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:11,880 It's going to give us an opportunity to highlight our mission, to highlight the power of veterans 526 00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:14,240 that can do like amazing things. 527 00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:17,640 Some of us will be doing a lot of support as it's going to take a whole team to get 528 00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:18,640 the team there. 529 00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:23,120 I wish I was as fast as some of these runners, but the goal is that they'll run. 530 00:33:23,120 --> 00:33:26,840 Electively, the average pace will be about seven and a half to eight minute miles with 531 00:33:26,840 --> 00:33:28,080 a flag. 532 00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:34,840 So they'll be on eight hour shifts every day, 24 hours a day until it's done where they 533 00:33:34,840 --> 00:33:38,880 get 16 hours to kind of recover as athletes and runners. 534 00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:40,920 And it's it's going to be quite the journey. 535 00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:41,920 We're pretty excited. 536 00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:44,640 I am hoping that this is going to be recorded. 537 00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:48,840 I'm sure it's going to be the I see a documentary here. 538 00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:53,640 We definitely we have a we have a veteran owned documentary company veteran made who's 539 00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:55,160 already started to do the work. 540 00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:57,000 They've filmed some stuff already. 541 00:33:57,000 --> 00:34:04,160 We had a practice, so to speak, over a weekend at a small place called the University of 542 00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:06,120 Health and Performance in Northwest Arkansas. 543 00:34:06,120 --> 00:34:10,000 We're bringing the team back together at the end of this month because they're all remote 544 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:15,120 and different parts to get together, do some more rehearsals, practice doing that eight 545 00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:16,240 hour shift. 546 00:34:16,240 --> 00:34:21,120 And then just before the second of May, we're all going to get together and get this thing 547 00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:22,840 going in San Diego. 548 00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:24,240 So we're pretty excited. 549 00:34:24,240 --> 00:34:26,000 There'll be a lot of short form media. 550 00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:29,400 You'll be able to follow online through our Instagram. 551 00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:33,600 We'll have the flag tracked 24 seven with a GPS tracker. 552 00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:37,000 So you know, no one can claim that we didn't do it. 553 00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:39,200 And it'll be filmed the entire time. 554 00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:40,720 I think it sounds great. 555 00:34:40,720 --> 00:34:41,720 So let's go. 556 00:34:41,720 --> 00:34:45,360 How do I go about supporting this your mission and this run? 557 00:34:45,360 --> 00:34:46,720 Yeah, absolutely. 558 00:34:46,720 --> 00:34:54,680 So team red, white and blue are our website is team RWB dot org. 559 00:34:54,680 --> 00:35:00,720 And you can find the details about the old glory ultra relay under the things we do 560 00:35:00,720 --> 00:35:01,840 tab. 561 00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:04,600 So you go to the things we do tab go to events. 562 00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:06,720 It'll say old glory ultra relay. 563 00:35:06,720 --> 00:35:07,960 You're good to see the route. 564 00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:11,160 You'll get to see more information about the event. 565 00:35:11,160 --> 00:35:15,680 You'll see kind of baseball cards and all 12 of the runners. 566 00:35:15,680 --> 00:35:18,560 And then later in the month, you'll see the sponsors that are going to help us make this 567 00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:20,440 happen because we're just the small nonprofits. 568 00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:23,640 So luckily we're benevolence of others are going to help us do that. 569 00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:26,840 And then there's a donate button, you know, because we're using this as a fundraiser as 570 00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:31,840 well because the money that we raise for this, we'll be able to, you know, feed our programming 571 00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:35,080 that gets after, you know, that community and physical fitness that we're providing 572 00:35:35,080 --> 00:35:36,080 for veterans. 573 00:35:36,080 --> 00:35:37,080 Absolutely. 574 00:35:37,080 --> 00:35:42,800 I want to make sure we have you guys come back, you know, at especially, you know, 575 00:35:42,800 --> 00:35:48,960 when you're on the run, but you know, so make sure if you come up with any PSA or anything, 576 00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:52,160 let us know and we want to play them up until more. 577 00:35:52,160 --> 00:35:57,720 I want to get people out on the road wherever you're running, you know, waving flags with 578 00:35:57,720 --> 00:35:58,720 you. 579 00:35:58,720 --> 00:36:00,520 We'll definitely send you the route. 580 00:36:00,520 --> 00:36:04,800 And we'd love to back in while we're on the road and let the audience know how things 581 00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:05,800 are going. 582 00:36:05,800 --> 00:36:09,360 So ideally, we're going to be telling you, we're going way too fast and we're going to 583 00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:11,360 finish before the 17th. 584 00:36:11,360 --> 00:36:14,240 But you never know, it's like any military operation. 585 00:36:14,240 --> 00:36:18,360 We doubt the plan is going to survive first contact, but we'll be prepared to adjust. 586 00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:21,880 Well, you know, you always have a plan B. 587 00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:22,880 Exactly. 588 00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:28,120 So we've been talking here with Mike, Sally Sullivan with the team, Red, White and Blue 589 00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:33,680 and they're running is coming up the whole glory ultra relay is May 2nd to 17th. 590 00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:35,920 They're going to be running. 591 00:36:35,920 --> 00:36:42,120 Why from San Diego to Washington, hopefully in less than 15 days. 592 00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:44,160 So we'll let you know how it goes. 593 00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:46,840 Mike, thanks very much for being on Veterans Radio. 594 00:36:46,840 --> 00:36:48,320 I appreciate the time. 595 00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:49,320 Thank you very much. 596 00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:54,040 All right, we're going to take a quick break here for our Medal of Honor segment. 597 00:36:54,040 --> 00:36:58,760 And then we're going to go straight into our interview with Dick Miller. 598 00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:04,440 Dick Miller is the president of the NVB DC, which is a national veteran business development 599 00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:05,440 council. 600 00:37:05,440 --> 00:37:07,280 And I'll be back after that. 601 00:37:07,280 --> 00:37:09,520 So you're listening to veterans radio. 602 00:37:09,520 --> 00:37:10,520 Stick around. 603 00:37:10,520 --> 00:37:15,600 The Medal of Honor is the highest awards for valor and combat given a member of the armed 604 00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:17,440 forces of the United States. 605 00:37:17,440 --> 00:37:22,320 There have been over 3400 recipients of the nation's highest award. 606 00:37:22,320 --> 00:37:23,320 This is one of them. 607 00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:30,320 Sergeant First Last Paul Smith gave his life to protect his troops. 608 00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:31,400 Tales after this. 609 00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:35,280 If you have a VA claim denied by the Board of Veterans Appeals, contact legal help for 610 00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:39,520 veterans at 1-800-693-4800. 611 00:37:39,520 --> 00:37:43,520 They're experts in handling cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. 612 00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:47,280 Their number again, 1-800-693-4800. 613 00:37:47,280 --> 00:37:52,920 On April 4th, 2003, a call went out for a place to put some Iraqi prisoners. 614 00:37:52,920 --> 00:37:58,600 Sergeant First Last Paul Smith volunteered to create a holding pen inside a walled courtyard. 615 00:37:58,600 --> 00:38:05,360 Soon, Iraqi soldiers, numbering perhaps 100, opened fire on Smith's position. 616 00:38:05,360 --> 00:38:07,800 Smith was accompanied by 16 men. 617 00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:12,080 Smith called for a Bradley, a tank-like vehicle with a rapid-fire cannon. 618 00:38:12,080 --> 00:38:15,000 It arrived and opened up on the Iraqis. 619 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:19,480 The enemy could not advance so long as the Bradley was in position, but then, in a move 620 00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:23,560 that baffled in angered Smith's men, the Bradley left. 621 00:38:23,560 --> 00:38:27,680 Smith's men, some of whom were wounded, were suddenly vulnerable. 622 00:38:27,680 --> 00:38:31,120 Smith could have justifiably ordered his men to withdraw. 623 00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:35,280 Smith rejected that option, thinking that abandoning the courtyard would jeopardize 624 00:38:35,280 --> 00:38:39,560 about 100 GIs outside, including medics at an aid station. 625 00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:44,280 He manned a.50 caliber machine gun atop an abandoned armored personnel carrier and fought 626 00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:48,280 off the Iraqis, going through several boxes of ammunition. 627 00:38:48,280 --> 00:38:51,680 With a battle wound down, Smith was hit in the head. 628 00:38:51,680 --> 00:38:54,600 He died before he could be evacuated from the scene. 629 00:38:54,600 --> 00:38:58,520 The Medal of Honor series is a production of Veterans Radio. 630 00:38:58,520 --> 00:39:00,880 Military veterans touch everyone's life. 631 00:39:00,880 --> 00:39:06,160 I'm guessing right now you're thinking of a veteran, a close friend, relative. 632 00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:07,160 Maybe it's you. 633 00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:12,040 Even the toughest of us sometimes need help, but don't know where to turn for support. 634 00:39:12,040 --> 00:39:14,600 You don't need special training to help a veteran in your life. 635 00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:17,480 We can all help someone going through a difficult time. 636 00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:19,640 Learn how you can be there for veterans. 637 00:39:19,640 --> 00:39:26,360 Visit VeteransCrisisLine.net VeteransCrisisLine.net, a message from the U.S. Department of Veterans 638 00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:27,360 Affairs. 639 00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:28,360 Welcome. 640 00:39:28,360 --> 00:39:42,040 I am Jim Fosso and this is Veterans Radio's spotlight on National Veterans Business Development 641 00:39:42,040 --> 00:39:47,120 Council, better known as NVBDC.org. 642 00:39:47,120 --> 00:39:52,440 Veterans Radio America Nonprofit has a partnership with NVBDC, which is the nation's leading 643 00:39:52,440 --> 00:39:57,880 third party authority for certification of veteran-owned businesses of really all sizes. 644 00:39:57,880 --> 00:40:04,320 This 501C3 non-profit was established in 2013 and addressed the growing need to identify 645 00:40:04,320 --> 00:40:10,000 and certify both service disabled and veteran-owned businesses in the commercial or corporate 646 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:12,720 marketplace as well as for government work. 647 00:40:12,720 --> 00:40:17,120 It administers a vigorous certification process designed to withstand scrutiny of governmental 648 00:40:17,120 --> 00:40:22,160 and corporate entities seeking to utilize certified veteran-owned businesses. 649 00:40:22,160 --> 00:40:26,240 And we're really pleased today of all the interviews we've done on NVBDC. 650 00:40:26,240 --> 00:40:33,280 We've never spoken to its current president, Reg. Gen. Richard S. Miller, retired. 651 00:40:33,280 --> 00:40:35,680 Dick Miller, welcome to Veterans Radio. 652 00:40:35,680 --> 00:40:37,560 Well, thank you for having me. 653 00:40:37,560 --> 00:40:44,280 Well, it's been an effort to get on each other's schedule to get this done and we had 654 00:40:44,280 --> 00:40:50,920 the opportunity to speak with NVBDC's founder Keith Hing many times, but you've been involved 655 00:40:50,920 --> 00:40:52,760 for quite a while. 656 00:40:52,760 --> 00:40:56,320 Tell us how you got involved with NVBDC. 657 00:40:56,320 --> 00:41:02,960 Well, I like to say that if you look at the organizational chart, I'm employee number 658 00:41:02,960 --> 00:41:03,960 one. 659 00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:07,000 There you go. 660 00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:15,000 I met Keith at a meeting and I had just retired and I'd been out floundering around trying 661 00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:20,440 to find something to do and my lovely wife suggested I get out of her kitchen. 662 00:41:20,440 --> 00:41:23,920 So that's a true story. 663 00:41:23,920 --> 00:41:30,240 But anyway, at the end of the day, Keith and I met at a Starbucks at 12 mile and Mound 664 00:41:30,240 --> 00:41:35,440 in Detroit and he said, look, I'm starting up this organization to help our fellow veterans 665 00:41:35,440 --> 00:41:37,480 and would you be willing to join me? 666 00:41:37,480 --> 00:41:38,680 And I said, yeah, why not? 667 00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:43,160 You miss a good program and I like what he's doing. 668 00:41:43,160 --> 00:41:47,520 So he and I joined forces and the rest is history. 669 00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:50,360 Well, and timing was everything here. 670 00:41:50,360 --> 00:41:52,440 You had just retired in 2012. 671 00:41:52,440 --> 00:41:57,000 You had done some consulting and sales work and getting familiar with the business world 672 00:41:57,000 --> 00:41:58,000 again. 673 00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:06,280 And as we said earlier, NVBDC started in 2013, which is how you became employee number 674 00:42:06,280 --> 00:42:07,280 one. 675 00:42:07,280 --> 00:42:14,480 But why don't you talk about the vision that was now a decade ago as you guys were starting 676 00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:18,600 this up and saying, what are we trying to accomplish here with NVBDC? 677 00:42:18,600 --> 00:42:27,040 Well, corporate America at that time was frustrated by certification agencies or groups because 678 00:42:27,040 --> 00:42:28,760 of fraud. 679 00:42:28,760 --> 00:42:34,160 And there wasn't a lot of accountability for these people. 680 00:42:34,160 --> 00:42:38,640 You could just say you were XYZ and there was no way to verify it. 681 00:42:38,640 --> 00:42:43,440 So they suggested to us, and I'm talking about this, as a matter of fact, it was GM Chrysler 682 00:42:43,440 --> 00:42:51,480 and Ford, that we take a look at, we bank the NMSDC Minority Supplier Development Council 683 00:42:51,480 --> 00:42:56,280 and pattern ourselves after them. 684 00:42:56,280 --> 00:43:01,680 Their certification programs were vetted, they were accepted, and if we patterned ourselves 685 00:43:01,680 --> 00:43:03,800 after them, we would be in good shape. 686 00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:06,240 And we did just that. 687 00:43:06,240 --> 00:43:13,320 We banked the women's organization, mentored us, helped us develop our policy procedures, 688 00:43:13,320 --> 00:43:17,120 and we did just that. 689 00:43:17,120 --> 00:43:23,080 Keith and I did it, and it was just him and I at the time, and they were really gracious 690 00:43:23,080 --> 00:43:26,000 about helping us through their process. 691 00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:38,560 So we ended up having a group, I mean this was GM Chrysler, Ford, Consumers Energy, Kellogg's, 692 00:43:38,560 --> 00:43:45,720 all came to our facility, and we actually vetted three companies. 693 00:43:45,720 --> 00:43:51,480 I can't remember who they were at the time, they're now, but anyway, we vetted three companies, 694 00:43:51,480 --> 00:43:58,000 they approved our process, and that is when the spigot turned on, and we went forward 695 00:43:58,000 --> 00:43:59,000 from there. 696 00:43:59,000 --> 00:44:05,440 But the whole process and the vision was to assist our fellow veterans with the certification 697 00:44:05,440 --> 00:44:08,520 process with corporate America. 698 00:44:08,520 --> 00:44:16,440 And you know, I gotta tell you, we did everything by hand. 699 00:44:16,440 --> 00:44:22,920 All the applications, the processing was all done by hand, and now we're at a point where 700 00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:26,920 we've got a very, very sophisticated computer system. 701 00:44:26,920 --> 00:44:33,520 But the one thing that the corporate America wanted was access to our database. 702 00:44:33,520 --> 00:44:38,600 You know, when they became sponsors of ours, we would give them access to all these veterans. 703 00:44:38,600 --> 00:44:46,160 Yeah, and that's sort of the interesting thing about NVBDC is there's two sides to this, 704 00:44:46,160 --> 00:44:53,960 there's the corporate partners who had a need to fill, that you guys filled, and then the 705 00:44:53,960 --> 00:45:04,160 members of who go and get certified, and then have the ability to connect, network. 706 00:45:04,160 --> 00:45:08,560 Talk about each side of this equation. 707 00:45:08,560 --> 00:45:13,960 Well the one thing we kept hearing from corporate America was, we want to do business with veterans, 708 00:45:13,960 --> 00:45:16,120 but we can't find them. 709 00:45:16,120 --> 00:45:17,600 Where do we go to find a veteran? 710 00:45:17,600 --> 00:45:23,320 Well, you know, that sounds easy on the surface, but they were 100% correct. 711 00:45:23,320 --> 00:45:30,360 You may have what, we'll tell you, Ford Motor Company, for example, they had a number of 712 00:45:30,360 --> 00:45:35,000 veteran owned businesses in their database for suppliers. 713 00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:38,520 They didn't know they were, they didn't know they were veterans. 714 00:45:38,520 --> 00:45:41,920 And so we helped them vet that list. 715 00:45:41,920 --> 00:45:47,440 We went through and we identified all these veteran owned businesses, and Sonoma Gunn, 716 00:45:47,440 --> 00:45:51,360 it was like $40 million worth of spend. 717 00:45:51,360 --> 00:45:57,120 That they were already spending with veteran owned businesses who needed to be vetted or 718 00:45:57,120 --> 00:46:01,000 certified so you could recognize that spend then. 719 00:46:01,000 --> 00:46:02,960 Exactly, exactly. 720 00:46:02,960 --> 00:46:07,560 And then that was like the light bulb moment that maybe there's a whole bunch of other 721 00:46:07,560 --> 00:46:10,760 people out there have that same situation. 722 00:46:10,760 --> 00:46:19,680 And then I will tell you that you're probably more aware than most, but we fast forward 723 00:46:19,680 --> 00:46:27,240 now as of last year, we have just revised the numbers from the billion dollar roundtable. 724 00:46:27,240 --> 00:46:34,840 They have spent $6 billion with our certified vendors or suppliers. 725 00:46:34,840 --> 00:46:40,480 That's an amazing number, $6 billion with a B. 726 00:46:40,480 --> 00:46:41,480 That's correct. 727 00:46:41,480 --> 00:46:45,320 And how many corporate, well, first off, let me stick with this. 728 00:46:45,320 --> 00:46:48,680 The billion dollar roundtable is not all of corporate America. 729 00:46:48,680 --> 00:46:50,560 It's sort of the big guys, right? 730 00:46:50,560 --> 00:46:55,040 Oh, most of the big guys, they spend, they call it the billion dollar roundtable because 731 00:46:55,040 --> 00:47:03,600 they spend a billion dollars every single year with supplier diversity suppliers, I guess, 732 00:47:03,600 --> 00:47:05,080 diversity suppliers. 733 00:47:05,080 --> 00:47:14,240 And you have corporate program partners who are in the billion dollar roundtable, but 734 00:47:14,240 --> 00:47:18,360 you have a much broader list of partners. 735 00:47:18,360 --> 00:47:20,800 Tell us a little bit about that. 736 00:47:20,800 --> 00:47:26,160 There are currently 37 corporations that are in the billion dollar roundtable. 737 00:47:26,160 --> 00:47:38,160 We have currently 187 corporate partners, if you will, and it is a who's who of America. 738 00:47:38,160 --> 00:47:42,120 I mean, my goodness, it's here. 739 00:47:42,120 --> 00:47:50,320 If you look at the people that we have as our supplier or sponsors, you know, Amazon, 740 00:47:50,320 --> 00:47:56,040 American Express, Best Buy, BMW, I'm just looking at the list here. 741 00:47:56,040 --> 00:48:00,400 I played this game with Keith a while ago and I said, well, A to Z, who's Z? 742 00:48:00,400 --> 00:48:02,360 And actually he knew who Z was. 743 00:48:02,360 --> 00:48:04,040 So it was pretty, pretty funny. 744 00:48:04,040 --> 00:48:07,440 It's 187 corporate sponsors. 745 00:48:07,440 --> 00:48:16,600 And those are the people who wanted, who want access to meet with NVBDC certified companies 746 00:48:16,600 --> 00:48:19,760 and hopefully place work with them. 747 00:48:19,760 --> 00:48:20,760 Exactly. 748 00:48:20,760 --> 00:48:24,000 And how many companies have been certified? 749 00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:29,480 We have over 3,000 at this point. 750 00:48:29,480 --> 00:48:33,520 And as I mentioned at the outset, it's a rigorous process. 751 00:48:33,520 --> 00:48:36,120 The veteran really has to own it. 752 00:48:36,120 --> 00:48:37,800 You get into the corporate records. 753 00:48:37,800 --> 00:48:42,760 You figure out, you know, do they have all the articles and bylaws and operating agreements 754 00:48:42,760 --> 00:48:46,680 in place to protect the veteran and make sure he's not just being scammed. 755 00:48:46,680 --> 00:48:47,800 He or she. 756 00:48:47,800 --> 00:48:49,400 But it's not just big companies. 757 00:48:49,400 --> 00:48:51,200 I want to get across to people. 758 00:48:51,200 --> 00:48:58,080 You don't have to be a $10 million company to be with NVBDC. 759 00:48:58,080 --> 00:49:02,400 You're able to certify smaller companies and help them network and grow, if I understand 760 00:49:02,400 --> 00:49:03,400 it. 761 00:49:03,400 --> 00:49:04,400 Absolutely. 762 00:49:04,400 --> 00:49:05,400 Absolutely. 763 00:49:05,400 --> 00:49:11,960 As a matter of fact, I'm just making this number up, but probably 70, 75% of all our 764 00:49:11,960 --> 00:49:14,640 members are small business. 765 00:49:14,640 --> 00:49:18,720 And I think that's important for folks who are out there maybe just, you know, starting 766 00:49:18,720 --> 00:49:20,720 their veteran owned business. 767 00:49:20,720 --> 00:49:21,880 Not generational. 768 00:49:21,880 --> 00:49:24,840 And they're going, well, I don't know if it's for me. 769 00:49:24,840 --> 00:49:27,640 I think this is one of those groups that's for you. 770 00:49:27,640 --> 00:49:33,040 There's going to be a cost associated with doing it, both internal and external costs. 771 00:49:33,040 --> 00:49:36,320 But there's a lot of value that can be received. 772 00:49:36,320 --> 00:49:43,280 Talk a little bit, Dick Miller, president of NVBDC, retired Brigadier General. 773 00:49:43,280 --> 00:49:48,720 U.S. Army, tell us a little bit about the benefits that members do get. 774 00:49:48,720 --> 00:49:55,560 Well, the members, we do, well, for example, this Thursday, we have what we call a jump 775 00:49:55,560 --> 00:49:59,440 start and we have a number of corporations. 776 00:49:59,440 --> 00:50:09,320 I mentioned all those corporations and we have a how to do business with these people. 777 00:50:09,320 --> 00:50:14,120 And well, for example, Eli Lilly, they'll be on their corporate purchasing folks will 778 00:50:14,120 --> 00:50:16,080 be on the line. 779 00:50:16,080 --> 00:50:20,520 We typically end up about 40, 50 people that are on these webinars. 780 00:50:20,520 --> 00:50:26,320 And they basically tell the company young, somebody's calling, I apologize. 781 00:50:26,320 --> 00:50:34,000 But anyway, they take the deep dive into how do you do business with Eli Lilly? 782 00:50:34,000 --> 00:50:37,360 You know, we have a supplier portal, you can do all these things. 783 00:50:37,360 --> 00:50:42,800 And the people that show up to these webinars, the corporate person purchasing people take 784 00:50:42,800 --> 00:50:49,600 the time to talk to them to help them and understand and help them with their process. 785 00:50:49,600 --> 00:50:52,880 For example, you know, capability statements, different things. 786 00:50:52,880 --> 00:50:55,800 And we've been doing this for a couple of three years now. 787 00:50:55,800 --> 00:50:56,800 It's free. 788 00:50:56,800 --> 00:50:58,440 We just do it to be supportive. 789 00:50:58,440 --> 00:51:02,440 Yeah, that's what one of the things that things really great about NVBDC is they don't just 790 00:51:02,440 --> 00:51:06,920 certify you, patch on the button and say good luck. 791 00:51:06,920 --> 00:51:11,840 There's a whole method here for, hey, if you want to participate and you want to grow and 792 00:51:11,840 --> 00:51:17,040 you want to seize maybe some opportunities outside the box, use the certification by 793 00:51:17,040 --> 00:51:21,680 being with NVBDC on these networking and marketing opportunities. 794 00:51:21,680 --> 00:51:29,240 Dick, if somebody is interested in either being a corporate sponsor or being a member 795 00:51:29,240 --> 00:51:33,760 of NVDC, what's the best way for them to get some information? 796 00:51:33,760 --> 00:51:40,040 Just go out to our website, NVBDC.org. 797 00:51:40,040 --> 00:51:42,440 And everything you need is there. 798 00:51:42,440 --> 00:51:43,440 It is correct. 799 00:51:43,440 --> 00:51:44,440 And you can call in. 800 00:51:44,440 --> 00:51:45,880 The staff is extremely helpful. 801 00:51:45,880 --> 00:51:49,120 So don't be put off by the process. 802 00:51:49,120 --> 00:51:53,920 I'd encourage our veteran radio listeners to dive in and see if it's something that 803 00:51:53,920 --> 00:51:55,520 their company should do. 804 00:51:55,520 --> 00:52:01,280 Dick, thanks for your time today to put a spotlight on NVBDC.org. 805 00:52:01,280 --> 00:52:02,400 Well thank you for having me. 806 00:52:02,400 --> 00:52:07,800 And you know, we're all about serving our fellow veterans. 807 00:52:07,800 --> 00:52:12,640 It's another great organization helping out veterans. 808 00:52:12,640 --> 00:52:18,240 That was my partner Jim Faustone talking with Dick Miller, who is the president of NVBDC. 809 00:52:18,240 --> 00:52:22,400 If you're a veteran known business, these are the guys you want to check out. 810 00:52:22,400 --> 00:52:27,640 Get yourself certified so that you can do business with the federal government or with 811 00:52:27,640 --> 00:52:30,600 some corporations that require you to be certified. 812 00:52:30,600 --> 00:52:35,600 And now today we talked a lot about helping veterans in different ways. 813 00:52:35,600 --> 00:52:43,600 And I encourage you to go to look at the film, The Brothers After War, if you can. 814 00:52:43,600 --> 00:52:48,000 And I think that that's an important film that I think will be very beneficial for all 815 00:52:48,000 --> 00:52:49,880 of you to see. 816 00:52:49,880 --> 00:52:57,120 Jake Ruddermaker, it's got just an incredible amount of talent as far as telling a story. 817 00:52:57,120 --> 00:53:01,040 You might want to look at his first film, which is Brothers At War. 818 00:53:01,040 --> 00:53:03,960 And that one was his real brothers. 819 00:53:03,960 --> 00:53:10,920 This is what is so cool about these documentaries is that he just felt a need, he felt a need 820 00:53:10,920 --> 00:53:16,600 to go overseas and be with his brothers while they were in Iraq and Afghanistan. 821 00:53:16,600 --> 00:53:21,800 And the newest film is about the transition that his brothers and other people that he 822 00:53:21,800 --> 00:53:27,320 met during his time making his first film, how they are transitioning, how are they 823 00:53:27,320 --> 00:53:29,000 doing, how are they surviving. 824 00:53:29,000 --> 00:53:31,960 And it's really a great story. 825 00:53:31,960 --> 00:53:36,560 And it's uplifting, it's got some really upsetting parts to it, but that's something 826 00:53:36,560 --> 00:53:38,440 I think you should check out. 827 00:53:38,440 --> 00:53:41,880 The other thing of course is Red, White and Blue. 828 00:53:41,880 --> 00:53:46,760 And Red, White and Blue is another one of these great organizations that's out there 829 00:53:46,760 --> 00:53:47,760 to help veterans. 830 00:53:47,760 --> 00:53:51,160 It was formed by veterans to help their fellow veterans. 831 00:53:51,160 --> 00:53:58,960 They're going to run across the country in May from San Diego to Washington, D.C. from 832 00:53:58,960 --> 00:54:02,920 May 2 to May 17, 24 hours a day. 833 00:54:02,920 --> 00:54:05,960 And I'm sure that you'll be able to follow them all the way along. 834 00:54:05,960 --> 00:54:09,280 That's teamrwb.org. 835 00:54:09,280 --> 00:54:13,800 For more information on that, evidently they're going to have a Google map that say you could 836 00:54:13,800 --> 00:54:18,240 follow the progress of these men and women that are running across the country. 837 00:54:18,240 --> 00:54:19,840 Again, it's a great organization. 838 00:54:19,840 --> 00:54:21,080 Go to their website. 839 00:54:21,080 --> 00:54:23,440 They can use some donations as well. 840 00:54:23,440 --> 00:54:28,880 You have so many of these nonprofit organizations out there that are trying to help threat 841 00:54:28,880 --> 00:54:31,080 veterans and help their fellow veterans. 842 00:54:31,080 --> 00:54:34,320 So this is Dale Thromberry for all of us here at Veterans Radio. 843 00:54:34,320 --> 00:54:45,920 Until next week, you are dismissed. 844 00:54:45,920 --> 00:55:04,240 God bless America, land that I love, stand beside her and guide her through the night 845 00:55:04,240 --> 00:55:08,920 with a light from above. 846 00:55:08,920 --> 00:55:20,920 From the mountains to the prairies, to the oceans, white with foam. 847 00:55:20,920 --> 00:55:32,920 God bless America, my home sweet home. 848 00:55:32,920 --> 00:55:44,920 God bless America, my home sweet home. 849 00:55:44,920 --> 00:56:02,920 God bless America, land that I love, stand beside her and guide her through the night 850 00:56:02,920 --> 00:56:06,920 with a light from above. 851 00:56:06,920 --> 00:56:18,920 From the mountains to the prairies, to the oceans, white with foam. 852 00:56:18,920 --> 00:56:30,920 God bless America, my home sweet home. 853 00:56:30,920 --> 00:56:44,920 God bless America, my home sweet home.