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Veterans Talk The Major Richard Star Act, PTSD & the Power of Connection · Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk

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The station where our veterans voices are heard MBR talk.
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Hey, thanks for supporting our channel by watching and
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listening find. Us on the web at MB radio dot.
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Welcome to Veteran Talk with Magic Mike, where what's
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important to you is important to us.
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Let's talk. I'm your host, Magic Mike, and
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today we're diving deep into something close to my heart, how
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sharing your story and getting behind the mic can be a powerful
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form of rehabilitation. Whether you're fresh out of
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service, years into civilian life, or somewhere in between,
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We've got a space for you here because everyone has a story and
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broadcasting is how we tell it. And welcome live to veterans.
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Talk with me, your favorite host right now.
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Magic. And I am live everywhere, every
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platform. So let me introduce myself
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because a lot of people don't know me on TikTok.
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A lot of people don't know me on Facebook Live and on Roku
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television. If you're joining us for the
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first time, my name is Michael. I am a combat veteran, served in
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Iraq, injured in Iraq. And this is my therapy.
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This is like many of us veterans.
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This is our therapy. This is how we get to the
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community, at the veteran community and those who support
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the veterans, such as family members and so on.
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And this is how we give back. This is my therapy, this is my
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fun, and this is one of the greatest ways to give back to
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the veteran community. As I said, what's important to
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you is important to us. Diving right in.
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I'll keep you up on current affairs and what's going on.
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I hope that everybody can hear me.
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I'll put the mic a little bit closer.
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I know it's like I feel like I have to be like this close to
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the mic, but I know I don't. So if you can't hear me, let me
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know if you're out there in TikTok line, you're joining us
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for the first time. Let me know what the sound is.
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Again, this is all new. I'm trying out some new stuff
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and yeah, we'll see what happens.
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So again, welcome. Thank you so much.
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Starting the program off right away.
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I know a lot of people were emailing about the major richest
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star act. Listen, I'm going to tell you
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all something real quick. Stop with the negativity,
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project the positivity, breathe the positivity into existence.
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And I know people hate to hear that.
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I know my TikTok viewers hate to hear that.
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But if again, if you're joining me for the first time on TikTok,
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military broadcast radio is an app.
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You can download the app. You can watch us on Roku
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television. You can watch us on YouTube.
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I'm almost every platform and it's veterans talk is my show.
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What what is going on with the Major Richard Starrack?
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I got a lot of people saying it's never going to pass.
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Stop that negativity. I don't want to hear about it.
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Stop, stop with the negativity. Here's what we know.
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It has enough signatures now to be presented to the floor.
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It still has to get over that hurdle of the Senate, right?
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People like, oh, it's never going to pass, never going to
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pass. It's this positivity.
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It'll pass. OK.
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It has until January the 3rd to get through and get to the
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president's desk and be signed for this Congress, for this
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Congress. If not, then we have the 20, the
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the 2027, right? It has enough traction on the
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wheels to get going. So stop with the negativity.
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Listen, be positive. I tell my producer all the time
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when I talk to him, I just talked to him on the phone
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yesterday. We were talking about a, a
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totally different separate thing and he was being a little
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negative. And I go, bro, be positive.
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I'm positive. Positivity, silver lining,
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silver, turn that into a silver lining.
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If you guys would talk, know what I'm talking about, it's
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pretty funny. So yeah, the Major Richard star
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act is going to be pretty cool. Those of you don't know what the
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Major Richard Star act it is from Congress.
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It is a it is a bill that will help to write all the injustice
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or the wrong that was done for veterans that served in combat,
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right. So if a veteran was injured in
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combat, they do not get their retirement, they get an offset.
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So the offset is called the VA compensation.
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So they get pay or money from the VA.
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So dollar for dollar is offset. So give you a great example.
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If somebody was retire from the military and they got $2500 a
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month, but they get $4000 from the VA dollar for dollar that is
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offset. So that means they will only get
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one. Now if you did 20 years in the
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military or more and retired and then you were deemed disabled
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through the VA, that in itself would then you would get both
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pension and the VA disability, you would get both of them.
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But for a combat veteran who had no choice but to be forced to
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retire, they do not get both of them.
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They only get one. Here's another thing, and I know
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I'm going to get beat up on this from the spouses and and the the
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Gold Star families, but I'm going to use it as an example.
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A Gold Star family member whose loved one was killed on active
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duty, regardless of whether it was an auto accident or whether
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it was in combat. They get both.
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They get DIC, which is a stipend from the VA, kind of like a
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disability, and they get a portion of the retirement.
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They get both of them. If your loved one was retired
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from the military or, or, or 100% disabled, we'll just use
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that from the, from the VA, 100% disabled through the VA.
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They have to have been disabled for 10 years in order for them
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to get any kind of an award. That's, that's a spouse, right?
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So these are laws that are trying to, that's called the
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Survivor Lives on, the Love Lives On Act, the Survivor
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Benefit Act. And that's everything that was
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in that big beautiful bill that they called Taking Care of
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Veterans Act that was shot down back in July.
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So separately though, the Major Richard Star Act has its
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traction. We'll see what the Senate does
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when they reconvene in November. I myself will be in DC knocking
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on doors and hopefully, if I'm well enough, be able to talk to
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some of the people over there and say, hey, listen, we really
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need your support on this in the House to get a vote to get it
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across the president's desk. I personally think that if it
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goes in front of the president, I don't think he'll shoot it
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down. I honestly think he would sign
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it. And then all of our combat
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veterans can be a little bit better off, I guess.
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I, I know it's, it's, I know a lot of people are very negative
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Nelly about it and stuff like that.
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But you know, those are, those are the things that we need to
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think about and work with and kind of go on other things in
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the news real quick, just let you know if you are on active
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duty, they're talking about 5 to 7%.
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They, they haven't decided yet 5 to 7% pay increase for you guys
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across the board for different ranks and so on and so forth.
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So that'd be kind of cool. And you know, I don't know, I
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think, I think it'll be, I think it'd be pretty important.
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I mean, if, if, if we start taking care of the veterans and
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military and stuff like that'd be more attractive for people to
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want to go in the military. I, I know one of the big things
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for attraction for us when my generation was the, the GI Bill,
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right? And that's even change.
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I mean, that's update now there's maybe 12 to 48 months of
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more GI Bill that you possibly could get.
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So I mean, there's a lot of things and a lot of benefits
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for, for being a veteran. So if you are one of those
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people out there that are just doing the research and stuff
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like that, listen, when we were in the military, they talked
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about barracks lawyers and and don't trust barracks lawyers.
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You know, they know everything. We have ChatGPT now and it's
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it's pretty amazing ChatGPT is out there and you know, you can
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really get some cool things from ChatGPT.
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But I will tell you this, my ChatGPT has failed me today, not
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once, but twice. So I had to correct it.
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So it's not always right. So do I am I worried about AI
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taking over the world? I'll be honest with you, not
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really because I had to correct mind twice.
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I'm not the sharpest guy and to do the sharpest tool in the
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shit. So, but here's a question that
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was asked to me and I wanted to share it with you guys and I
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hope I get some feedback from you guys.
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If you want to call into our show at 720-619-0627 again,
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720-619-0627 you can call in. Doesn't matter if you're a
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veteran or not. I have a question and that
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question is if you served in the military today versus when you
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did? If you served in the military
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today versus when you did, what do you think your deployments
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would look like? How different would your
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deployments be if you served today versus when you did back
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then? What would be your daily life
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like? I'd love to hear from you.
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If you're not out there and able to get to a phone, you're more
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than welcome to hit me up on Magic Mike at MB Radio dot US.
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Or you can feel free to go ahead and give us a call at the radio
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station. 7206, so 190627. And I thought it was pretty
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cool. I thought it was a pretty cool
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question. So I thought that I would share
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that with you guys here on the thing.
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So as we move into October the 1st, and we all know that
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September is, you know, everybody knows that September
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is, you know, suicide awareness month, right?
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Not just for the military, but put it for everybody across the
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board, right? You, you know, I asked you guys
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my last show to reach out to a loved one and just thank them
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for being there and just say thank you.
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Just be kind to him. Make sure check up on them, make
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sure they're OK, right? And you know this, this month is
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breast cancer awareness. Those of you don't know, my
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mother passed away from breast cancer in 2006.
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That was 20 years ago this September 25th.
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And it's, it's been difficult generally, right.
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So I will be wearing a pink T-shirt underneath my work shirt
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for the month of October. And, you know, in support of the
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breast cancer awareness. And it's, it's important, you
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know, there's a lot of things that are important to people.
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And you never know what anybody's going through, right?
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I mean, you know, we had suicide prevention month or awareness.
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I don't say prevention, but awareness.
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And I think the numbers are staggering right now.
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Staggering for suicide in general for men is 1 every 13
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seconds, one every 13, say I can't even fathom that.
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One every 13 seconds. That is crazy.
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I, I, I, I, I tell you that is crazy.
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And if you're one of those people who have thought about it
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and, and, or, or, you know, having a rough day, I, I want
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each and everyone of you know that tomorrow will be better,
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might be a lot better, but it's going to be a little bit better.
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And regardless of what you think, the world's still going
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to turn tomorrow. The sun's still going to shine.
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People are still going to get up.
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They're going to brush their teeth, maybe not.
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They're still going to get dressed for work, maybe not.
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But life will still go on. The differences.
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I wanted to go on with you in it.
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I've been there, been down that road, and I'll share my story
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after the break and get a little bit more deep involved in that.
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And I'm kind of going back to my roots of talk PTSD.
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So talk PTSD was a brainchild of a absolutely amazing human being
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who has the utmost empathy, understanding, and compassion
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for veterans as a veteran themselves.
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And talk PTSD was a brainchild of them and it was something
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that I wanted them to absolutely, I, I really wanted
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them to, I want to pop PTSD to be the absolute place for every
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veteran and family member to go to talk about PTSD.
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And, you know, we had this brainchild of it and we kind of
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started to roll with it. So I'm kind of getting back to
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those roots. I'd really like to get back to
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those roots and talk about my story.
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And everybody has a story and the story of my fight and where
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I'm at in my fight and how difficult it is and may be
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difficult for you. And listen, I don't care if one
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person is watching my show or 225 people are watching my show.
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What's important to me is important to you.
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And what's important to you is important to me.
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So let's talk. And I think one of the important
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things is that you know that you're not alone.
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You're not alone in the fight. You're not alone in your
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struggles. You're not alone in anything
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that you do. So if you need help, want help
12:19
or just need somebody to talk to you, feel free to reach out and
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listen. If you can't get through my
12:23
line, drop me an e-mail. I will give you my personal cell
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phone number. I don't care if it's Jesus
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birthday, your birthday or my birthday.
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I don't care if it's at 2:00 in the morning.
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I don't care if it's 2:00 in the afternoon.
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Call me. We'll figure it out one way or
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the other. I would rather you call me and
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we try to figure it out, then you not be able to figure it out
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on your own. That's what I want to do.
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So we're going to take a quick break.
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When we get back, we will jump right in and then we'll talk a
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little bit about what's going on in the world and I'll share my
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story and yeah, we'll check it out.
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We're back on Veterans Talk with Me Truly Magic and Military
16:08
Orchestrator radio station gives our veterans a voice.
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And before I took the break, I wanted to talk about my story
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and just kind of, you know, for those of you who've always been
16:18
here and supported me and know my story, please bear with me
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and those of you who haven't, please bear with me.
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So most of you know I served in the military.
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I was diagnosed with severe PTSD while I was actually in combat
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in Iraq, and I was told by a a Colonel at the time who wound up
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becoming a two star general that Rangers don't cry or falter.
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There's no such thing as PTSD when it comes to Rangers.
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And as a Sergeant and non commissioned officer in the
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United States Army, if we let you go back to the rear to seek
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help or to seek help for PTSD, that will give a sign to every
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soldier that they can be weak. So no, you're not going back.
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Even though I had several doctors sign off and say, hey,
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this guy needs a break from everything that he saw.
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So excuse me. So I was, yeah, I was pretty bad
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shape. Where do you go?
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Right. There's no empathy, there's no
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understanding. There's no, hey, we got this.
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I had a first Sergeant, his name was James Hendricks, I kid you
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not, white guy, James Hendricks, first Sergeant, Airborne Ranger,
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great guy. And he was my first Sergeant.
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I remember we were getting mortar that night, really,
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really bad. We got mortared every day.
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My, my nerves were just totally shot.
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And I was leaning up against a Hesco basket.
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So if you don't know what a Hesco basket is, it's a huge
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basket, probably about the size of a small car that's filled
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with rocks and gravel and stuff like that.
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And they stack them on top of each other and they're supposed
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to protect us from blast like mortars and stuff.
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And we were getting mortar really bad.
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And I was leaning up against the Hesco basket, had my Kevlar down
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tucked in a in a field position. And once it was over with, first
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son Hendricks picked me up. I must have weighed with all my
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gear close to 27280, maybe 300 lbs.
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And he picked me up off the ground and I'm 6 foot 3 and he
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put me up against the Hesco basket.
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He said look at me, look at me. He said we are getting out of
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here alive. Don't know how, but I promise
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you that. Now the good news is they can't
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hit anything as they're shooting at us, right?
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He said the bad news is they're shooting missiles that we've
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never even seen before. So great guy.
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I've tried to find him for years and, and haven't been able to to
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find him. I know that he was into boats
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and stuff like that or something in in Fort Lauderdale, FL.
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And so if you're out there and you happen to watch or you know
18:50
what I'm talking about, reach out to him because that guy,
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that guy was a full of empathy, understanding.
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And boy, he, he gave you that, that fight, fight, fight versus
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flight, flight, flight attitude. So come home, come home from
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Iraq. While I was in Iraq, I buried my
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father. My father died of a massive
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heart attack, buried my father while I was in Iraq.
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And then my mom was diagnosed with cancer.
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My second, third tour in support of Operation Enduring Freedom,
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which was Afghanistan. And yeah, so I came home to
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absolutely nothing. I went through a divorce.
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My kids stayed with their mom. And here I was a homeless
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veteran. I had nowhere to go.
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I had nowhere to go. And then, you know, I met this
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young lady who I, I don't even know what to call her.
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I really don't a St. an Angel. I have no idea.
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I mean, she was truly an amazing human being and she didn't know
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I was, she didn't know I was homeless.
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She didn't know anything about me.
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And we started chatting and, and she found out slowly but surely.
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And she's, she gave me the motivation to get up and, and
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go. And I went from being a homeless
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guy to, you know, getting my stuff together, having a great
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job, buying a house, selling that, buying another house,
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selling that. And, and she always supported me
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no matter what. She supported me through my
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trials, my tribulations, my faults.
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She was there and it was amazing because we all need somebody
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like that in our lives, whether it's a male or female, we need
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somebody who supports us and lifts us up and we're down.
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And, you know, I had a lot of trauma both from childhood as
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well as from the military that I never dealt with or never
20:34
unboxed. And that's why I wrote this,
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this whole entire paper that I'm finished writing on the effects
20:41
of childhood trauma, childhood abuse and combat related PTSD.
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Why do some people leave combat and don't have PTSD at all or
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doesn't affect them and then some people leave and they have
20:53
severe PTSD. So what's the correlation there?
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It is quite interesting that the numbers and how they stagger.
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So, you know, every day I'm work in progress every day.
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And, and I will tell you that one of the biggest things for me
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is how every day is a challenge and you challenge yourself, you
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know. So it's, it's, it's, it's like
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fear and faith. And it's like fear and faith are
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both made-up, right? Both, nobody knows the future,
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right? Both are in our imagination.
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The only difference is fear is imagination undressed.
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You don't like a weed. Fear grows automatically.
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Faith is when you decide to trust and moving forward and
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moving forward life is happening for you, not to you.
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And if you keep going, it will open.
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And I learned that off of a podcast that I heard and it was
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pretty freaking phenomenal. And just the thought of that and
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the thought of, you know, fear and faith, both are made-up.
22:08
No one knows the future. Fear is like a weed.
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It just grows, right? Just grows.
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And you just, if you do nothing, let it.
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It just continues to grow where faith helps you move forward,
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continues to move forward. Life is happening for you, not
22:23
to you. So the woes me owes me.
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I got no job. Woes me, I got nowhere to live
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right. You can sit there and wonder
22:30
what happened or you can get up and make things happen.
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And that was really important. And that's what it was taught to
22:35
me. I was taught by this individual
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forgiveness, not just for what I had done to them, but
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forgiveness for myself, giving myself grace and forgive myself
22:47
for what I done, not just to them, but to myself.
22:51
Because that's not who you are. I don't think anybody goes
22:53
through this life unless they're really mentally screwed up in
22:55
the head. And you know who I'm talking to
22:58
out there. If you're watching my show,
23:00
nobody loves to see people hurt. Nobody does that.
23:05
Like I said, unless you're really messed up in your head,
23:07
nobody wants to see somebody upset, cry, hurt.
23:12
It hurts you too. But but to brush it off and go
23:18
not my problem and move on when somebody's laying there crying,
23:21
hurt, whether it's physically, mentally, emotionally, that's
23:25
not normal. But moving forward and forgiving
23:31
yourself for doing that and asking for forgiveness, not just
23:35
for yourself, but from them for hurting them, right?
23:39
And this person taught me that, taught me how to forgive myself.
23:43
Listen, they might have not have been the greatest teacher when
23:46
they were actual teacher, but I'll tell you a life teacher,
23:48
they're phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal.
23:52
And they taught me to, to forgive myself.
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I listen, I forgave you long time ago.
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I don't need you don't ask for me to forgive you.
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I, I forgave you for a long time ago for your lies, your
24:02
cheating, your everything. I forgave you for that.
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You need to forgive yourself is what they taught me.
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And it wasn't until I had that conversation that I thought,
24:11
wow, I got to give myself grace. I've been beat up so much.
24:17
Those of you don't know me. I was severely molested by a
24:20
police officer at the age of 14, repeatedly handcuffed to a tree,
24:24
beat up so bad that when I got home, I had to tell my dad.
24:27
I got jumped. And my my dad was upset with me
24:30
because he thought, oh, you know, I just be in a punk and,
24:33
and didn't know how to fight right to, you know, forgive
24:42
myself because that wasn't who I am.
24:47
I'm not a cheat, I'm not a herder, I'm not a liar, I'm not
24:50
a somebody who just does all that.
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And I proved that in a relationship that I was in with
24:55
somebody who didn't give reciprocate that to me, right?
24:59
I, you know, this person asked me one time, this person asked
25:03
me one time, they said, why did you do that to me but not to
25:08
them? And I couldn't answer it.
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But the one thing I did was I gave myself for forgiveness
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reason. I bring all of this up is
25:18
because when we're dealing with PTSD and we're having a hard
25:22
day, we have to learn to forgive, give ourselves
25:25
forgiveness, give ourselves grace.
25:29
Nobody's perfect. We're all work in progress,
25:32
every one of us. But this individual taught me
25:36
how to forgive myself. And it really starts right there
25:41
when you learn to forgive yourself.
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I've already forgiven you, is what she said.
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I already forgiven you for all that garbage you did, all the
25:49
lies, all the cheat. I forgave you for that.
25:52
You need to forgive yourself. Once I was able to do that, man,
25:56
these doors opened up, man, my blinders came off and I was
25:59
like, here we go. My life is great.
26:03
Still work in progress and every day is going to be work in
26:06
progress. But I still read the good book.
26:09
I still try to do things and acts of kindness to others.
26:12
Listen, none of us are here. Nobody knows how long we're
26:15
here. We can't predict the future.
26:21
But I'm not going to shorten what I already have.
26:25
And that's the life, one life that we're given.
26:29
So if you're having a hard day, right, forgive yourself.
26:35
Just forgive yourself. Life will not happen to you.
26:41
You need to make life happen for you.
26:45
So when you're having a bad day, just remember that.
26:49
Just remember that. Be kind to each other.
26:53
Don't look so much for forgiveness for the things that
26:55
you've done wrong. You've already been forgiven for
26:57
that. I learned that right.
26:59
Everybody says that in, in, in the, in, in in the Bible.
27:03
God Forgives you for, for your sins, right?
27:06
Or Jesus forgives you for your sins.
27:07
I've already forgiven you. It's written all in the Bible.
27:08
Why are you? Why are you talking about?
27:10
I've already forgiven you. This person said that I've
27:12
already forgiven you. Give yourself forgiveness.
27:15
Give yourself grace. Once I learned to do that and
27:19
that whole thing on my shoulder was off, it was great.
27:23
I felt great. No more.
27:26
And it's a struggle. It really is The hardest thing
27:29
to do is forgive yourself. I've forgiven other people.
27:32
It comes and goes, right? Some people can forgive easily.
27:34
Some people takes a while. Forgiving yourself is hard.
27:39
Giving yourself grace is even harder.
27:42
So how do we do that? How do we give ourselves grace?
27:47
How do we give ourselves forgiveness?
27:49
It's an everyday adventure. Wake up in the morning, first
27:53
thing you do. Thank you.
27:56
Thank you for letting me be alive.
27:58
Thank you for this day. I want to make the most out of
28:00
it. If, if you really want to think
28:03
about it, we're not on this earth very long number one, but
28:07
#2 we're not all here doing the same thing, right?
28:12
You're at the grind. Enjoy life a little bit, man.
28:16
Listen, I, I was talking to a really, I'd like to call him a
28:20
dear friend that I haven't talked to in a long time,
28:22
probably 7 years, 6-7 years. And they were telling me about
28:26
how they're an ambassador for golf and how they're, you know,
28:29
they get out, they travel and they're close to the ocean, like
28:31
12 miles to the ocean, 12 miles to the, to the forest.
28:35
And, and that's important. They're get on enjoying their
28:38
lives. This person's older than me.
28:41
I just had AI just had a little jab right there.
28:44
She anyway, so yeah, this person's a little bit older than
28:48
me and I'm thinking of myself, man.
28:53
That's the life I want to live. I don't want to sit here and be
28:56
in this bubble of woes me and letting life pass me by.
28:59
I want to get up every day and enjoy it, whether it's with Eva,
29:03
my black lab, or whether it's just what happened to me today
29:09
when I went for breakfast. We're going to take a quick
29:12
break. We come back.
29:13
I'll tell you about my amazing veteran encounter today while I
29:17
was at breakfast and it was pretty cool and I'll give both
29:20
of them a shout out. Both of them are retired
29:22
veterans. United States Army 1 was a chief
29:24
Warrant Officer. The other one was a medic in the
29:26
United States Army, Both of them retired and they were pretty,
29:30
pretty powerful. But it's pretty powerful how the
29:32
veteran community came together and we all talked right there
29:36
for pretty long time. We'll be right back after this
29:40
break. And we're back on Veteran's Talk
33:15
with yours truly, Magic on military broadcast radio.
33:18
Before we took a break, I wanted to share with you a little
33:20
something that happened to me today.
33:23
And I went to a big bad breakfast, which is in Alabama.
33:28
And I sat there and I had my meal, sat in the corner by
33:33
myself, didn't pay attention to nobody.
33:36
And I went to leave and I had to go up to the counter to pay.
33:38
And when I went up to the counter, there's a little like
33:40
bar counter and there was a young, very attractive young
33:43
lady and a very old, very young lady, attractive young lady and
33:48
a older gentleman that were sitting there and they were
33:50
having a great conversation between them.
33:51
I wasn't paying attention what they were talking about.
33:53
They were sitting pretty far away.
33:55
One was on one side or the other was on the other.
33:56
But they were literally having a great conversation.
34:00
Went and paid. And the lady said, were you in
34:01
the military? She saw the tattoo on the back
34:04
of my, my leg. And I said yes.
34:06
And she said, oh, what branch? I said army.
34:08
And she said, oh, it was an army too.
34:10
I was, oh, thank you for your service.
34:12
She was thank you for yours. The gentleman turned around.
34:14
He says, would you do an Army? And we talked a little bit and
34:19
he said I was a pilot during the Vietnam era.
34:23
He did 27 years in the Army active duty.
34:26
The young lady did 23. I literally sat there and had a
34:31
conversation with these two individuals, all between the
34:33
three of us for probably about 45 minutes after I'd already eat
34:37
my breakfast was ready to leave. All three veterans just talking
34:42
about everything, talking about what it's like when you know,
34:47
you went through the military basic training.
34:48
The young, the older gentleman said eight weeks.
34:51
The young lady said nine weeks. It's at 10 weeks if you didn't
34:53
know that now. And we had a great conversation.
34:58
It was really powerful. It's really powerful to know
35:01
that the veteran community, the veteran mindset is still there.
35:08
It's it's crazy. It's still there.
35:10
So I know for a fact that when veterans get together, it's
35:15
healing. It is, it's, it's total healing.
35:19
It's a it's, it's a power that nobody can understand, right?
35:26
So here was a medic, a helicopter pilot, and a guy who
35:29
dealt with demolitions all day in the military.
35:33
And we had a common bond. And we sat here and we talked
35:36
and we talked and I mean, we talked about everything, you
35:39
know, from veteran rating to the show, military broadcast radio.
35:45
It was pretty cool. It was definitely really, really
35:48
cool. And I wanted to share this with
35:50
you real quick. And this is about, you know, not
35:58
letting your mind control you because my mind was telling me
36:04
just to get in the car and leave.
36:06
I had done eat my breakfast. I was done.
36:08
The conversation didn't nothing. I was really, even after she
36:11
asked me if I was in the military, I was just like, yeah,
36:13
whatever. When you let your mind control
36:17
you, you need to understand that the mind is a tool, right?
36:25
So think of your mind as a computer, right?
36:27
It's a tool. It's a tool that we get
36:28
information. We use information.
36:30
We receive it, we send it, right?
36:31
It is a tool. This is our brain.
36:33
Our brain is this computer, this laptop, if you will, right?
36:39
But if you let this computer control you, my God, we'd all
36:43
freak out, right? So why do we let our mind
36:46
control us? Your mind's never going to make
36:54
you happy. The mind has to be used as a
36:58
tool. You can't let it use you or
37:01
you'll be an unhappy, miserable human being.
37:04
Most people let their their mind use them.
37:07
You're more than your mind. You're your spirit, you're your
37:10
soul. You're you're, you're so much
37:12
more. Most of us in our day-to-day
37:15
lives live in the mind. That's why so many people are so
37:17
miserable. Good, bad, right, wrong.
37:22
And life is so much subtle than that.
37:25
Subtleties are enjoying more free time with yourself.
37:28
Once you get into subtleties. There was an actual Harvard
37:33
study that was done about the mind controlling and stuff.
37:36
It was absolutely phenomenal. We cannot let our minds control
37:40
us. It is a tool.
37:43
Well, how do you how, how is it a tool and stuff like that.
37:46
It's it's going back to me wanting to walk out of that
37:51
breakfast place. Just didn't want to talk to
37:53
anybody. But that was my mind.
37:55
My mind was made-up. I would just really didn't have
37:57
nothing to do. Just want to go have breakfast
37:59
and leave. Had even with me, just wanted to
38:01
leave and this veteran stop me. I want you to know that my whole
38:06
humbug day that started out at that breakfast place, Just going
38:10
there, having a cup of coffee, eating some eggs and bacon and
38:13
stuff that I'm probably not supposed to be eating to get
38:18
back in my car and then go into the dog park and watch Eva run
38:21
around, maybe throw some ball with her.
38:24
Turned into an absolutely amazing day because I ran into
38:26
two veterans because I didn't let my mind tell me to get into
38:30
that car and leave. I let my mind open up, have a
38:35
conversation with these two and realize that between the age gap
38:38
of this gentleman who joined the Army in 1973 and this lady who
38:43
just retired two years ago, and that age gap there.
38:50
But yeah, there was a commonality there and that was
38:52
being veteran. Think about that for a second.
38:58
So when I tell you this, I tell you this from the heart.
39:01
You're not alone out there. Every single veteran out there,
39:08
when you join the military, regardless of whether it's a
39:11
Guardian Air Force, Army, Navy, Marine, Coast Guard, when you
39:18
joined and you raised your right hand, you shipped off the basic
39:21
training. I don't care if you had the
39:22
hardest basic training in the world like the Army or the, the,
39:25
the, the lightest basic training in the world like the, the
39:28
Marine Corps. That was a joke for you.
39:31
Those that are in the Marines don't don't hate you still
39:37
shipped off the basic training. And when they hand you that
39:39
duffel bag and told you to hold up one pair of sock, hold up,
39:44
pair of boots, hold up four BU, hold up and hold up and you're
39:50
putting all that stuff in the bag.
39:51
They didn't say congratulations, you graduated from basic
39:55
training. Now go fire our nation's war by
39:59
yourself. You're all alone.
40:00
See you later. Nobody ever told you when you
40:03
were training basic infantry tactics to get in that foxhole
40:07
and stand there by yourself and pull 24 hour guard.
40:15
Nobody sat there and said congratulations on being a
40:18
Ranger, Airborne, Special forces, special operations, pair
40:22
pair rescue or whatever it is these special operations guys.
40:26
Nobody said congratulations when they pinned your tab on you or
40:30
you give you your beret and said now go fight a war.
40:34
They sent you to a unit. What is a unit?
40:39
It's a group, right? So why do you come home and
40:45
think that you can fight these battles by yourself?
40:49
Medicine, medication, whatever be it.
40:52
Why? Why not call up a buddy, call up
40:56
a veteran? I call up H train every now and
40:59
then just to hear his voice because I miss his voice.
41:03
Don't think that way, but sometimes I do.
41:05
Sometimes I need to hear you know what?
41:08
I hope? Sometimes he needs to hear mine.
41:11
Reach out to a veteran. I don't care if they served in
41:14
Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo.
41:16
I don't care if they served in Germany, Korea, Japan.
41:20
I don't care if they were on a ship.
41:21
I don't care if they were a cook.
41:22
I don't care what they did in the military.
41:25
Call up your military buddy. Find out how they're doing.
41:30
Call up the J Bitterman's, call up the Nadine Lashowski's.
41:37
Call up your friends and find out how they're doing and ask
41:41
them how they're doing. Because you see, that could be
41:48
the meeting between having a great day and a mediocre day.
41:54
Awesome day or OK day. Crazy, right?
42:01
Reach out to him. Reach out to that loved one that
42:04
you've neglected for so long just to say, hey, I'm thinking
42:08
of you. Or maybe just a phone call that
42:11
says I appreciate you. I called my brother today who I
42:15
haven't talked to in a little while.
42:16
We had a falling out and just asked him how he was doing.
42:20
Oh, you know, listen to his story and stuff like that and,
42:23
and his craziness and what's going on.
42:25
And trust me, I wanted to have a drink after that.
42:31
But it made me feel good when I hung up the phone, made me feel
42:34
good that I did my part and I reached out to him.
42:36
I don't know why in the world my mic is not picking up like it
42:41
should because I'm seeing the little mic thing here and it's
42:43
going mic check 1212. We're going to get this right.
42:55
Mic check, Mic check, Mic check. How about now, man?
43:06
It's like nothing. Mic check.
43:10
Yeah, we don't want to do that. That's like an echo.
43:13
Anyway, I'll figure it out one day.
43:15
Maybe I have to get a new amplifier.
43:17
But anyways, as I will say, reach out to your loved ones,
43:20
reach out to your battle buddy, check on them, make sure they're
43:22
OK. You know, I don't do veterans
43:27
talk for anything other than my own healing and the healing of
43:30
others to help others. Let them know what's going on.
43:34
Talk a little bit about this. Listen, there's guys out there
43:38
that make tons of videos and stuff like that, like just in
43:45
danger. I went down there, Emerald
43:49
Harley-Davidson in Florida and wanted to meet up with him.
43:52
He was out of town, Bella. Bella Vargas, I'm sure you guys
43:58
follow him. He's always talking about the
43:59
news and stuff like that. Another great guy that's out
44:02
there. He's active duty military.
44:04
There's so many people out there that make content and that's
44:07
great and I appreciate them and I love each and every one of
44:10
them. Bella Vargas is up and coming.
44:12
He's, you know, going around doing his thing, making his
44:15
journal debut. That's awesome.
44:20
This is my therapy and I hope that it brings you some kind of
44:24
comfort to hear and understand what I'm talking about.
44:28
Where I come from. I say this all the time.
44:31
I don't play a doctor on TV. I'm just here, just here trying
44:36
to give you guys some information, life support and
44:40
tell you my story and where I'm from.
44:42
Listen, my story is not, not one of the glamour and, and, and,
44:46
and greatness and awesomeness. It's one of struggle, of
44:49
resilience and perseverance. You know, I've been jaded, lied
44:54
to you, cheated on, stolen from, beaten, you name it.
44:59
It's not my story of who I am, though.
45:02
It's not going to be my legacy that I leave behind.
45:04
And that's what's important. I want my legacy to be 1 of
45:08
compassion, understanding, forgiving, and helping my fellow
45:13
veterans. That's what I wanted to be.
45:16
So again, if you're out there and you want to be on the show,
45:18
or you're thinking about being on a show, or you want to do
45:20
something on the show, or you have a friend that wants to be
45:23
on the show, or you have any questions, please feel free.
45:26
No idea why that came out. My TikTok just stopped on me.
45:30
I don't know why, but if if you want to be on the show, feel
45:35
free MB Radio Magic at MB Radio Magic Mike at MB Radio dot US or
45:41
you can give the call at station 720-619-0627 and you can give us
45:46
a holler. We have the H train show on
45:50
Friday into the Weeds podcast, Tracer rounds has her own show.
45:53
There's so many different shows here on military broadcast
45:56
radio. And just to let you know, a
45:57
military broadcast radio is a nonprofit.
45:59
So your donations do help. Really appreciate everyone who
46:03
has donated. Everyone has gone above and
46:05
beyond to help us out on Veterans talk on military
46:08
broadcast radio. We are on Roku television.
46:10
We're trying to get purged to get us a spot on their radio
46:14
channel as well. Or are there TV station as well,
46:17
which is pretty popular and really excited looking for that.
46:22
Yeah. Question here.
46:23
What do you say in reference to the major richest star act?
46:27
What are the percentage? Listen, I, I tried doing that
46:31
percentage was the percentage of Major Richard star act.
46:33
Going back to the Major Richard star act real quick that I
46:36
talked about at the beginning of the show.
46:37
I try to do a percentage. What are the chances of it
46:42
passing? It's it's, it's a 75% chance of
46:47
passing, whether it's going to be this year, this year, next
46:49
year, that is untold. But ChatGPT thinks it's a good
46:54
75 to 80%. Now when you put it in there, I
46:58
mean, that's, that's ChatGPT, not me.
47:01
And I do not like using ChatGPT for stuff like that because it's
47:06
like I said, it's just a guesstimation round round around
47:10
around my nation, random, random nation.
47:13
I made-up a new word. I random a nation.
47:17
I like it, stick with it. So again, if you're joining us
47:21
for the first time here on Veterans Talk military broadcast
47:23
radio, we appreciate you being here.
47:25
Really thank you for listening to us.
47:29
It is an honor to be here to be on TV.
47:33
It's, it's, it's an honor to, to serve the military community,
47:36
especially the veteran community.
47:38
And if, if you don't like my show, that's fine.
47:40
You've got tons of different shows on military broadcast
47:42
radio that you can listen to. I'm hoping to have a really
47:47
special guest, hopefully, if they have time next week.
47:50
He has written a book that is fabulous that I just finished
47:53
reading called Unresolved Leadership.
47:55
It's, it's a, it's, it's phenomenal book.
47:59
It's, it's not even a book. I feel like it's a manual for
48:01
anybody that wants to lead, support, manage, supervise, even
48:06
if you're a father, father figure, mother figure, whatever
48:09
it's, it talks a lot about different things and different
48:11
dynamics. He was my company commander in
48:14
the engineer unit that I was in in Germany in the 82nd.
48:18
His name is Colonel, retired Colonel Michael Payne, just a
48:23
phenomenal individual, just really great.
48:25
He's been on the H train show. He's going around Speaking of
48:29
different engagements, just a phenomenal person.
48:31
So I'm going to try to shoot him an invite next week, see if he
48:35
has time to come out and join me on the show again.
48:40
Just a phenomenal individual really in his book.
48:43
If you don't have it, go out to Amazon and buy it.
48:46
Listen, it's a couple bucks. I I mean, he's not even making
48:48
money on the book. It is the book is just
48:51
phenomenal. It's a it's a powerful book.
48:57
It talks about leadership, not just as a officer in the United
49:03
States Army, but just the different types of leadership
49:06
that he's been experienced to. And it's just, I mean, just
49:09
reading that book, man, made me feel like, wow, I wish I had
49:13
this knowledge back then. Just a phenomenal, yeah, just a
49:23
phenomenal book I'm reading. Somebody wrote me real quick.
49:27
It's called Unshaken Resolve and man, I can't, I can't talk
49:34
enough about it on my show, but the book is phenomenal.
49:37
It it really is. It is a, there's parts in the
49:42
book that we talked about one of our generals and, and quotes one
49:45
of our generals that served during the, during the Iraq war.
49:49
And it's I don't want to give away the book because he'll
49:51
probably beat me up, but just it's, it's he, he talks about
50:01
faith-based talks about his dad, his grandfather, about how they
50:06
kind of molded him to be the officer and leader he was.
50:08
Let me tell you something, when I talk about being a leader, he
50:11
led from the front, empathy, understanding, discipline,
50:16
fairness, but always had in his mind taking care of the soldier
50:22
first and foremost. His mentality was my soldiers
50:25
make me look as good as sorry. I had to turn this off real
50:32
quick. His mentality was my soldiers.
50:37
I'm only as good as my soldiers make me look.
50:39
That was his mentality. So he always took care of his
50:42
soldiers. I mean, it didn't matter if you
50:44
were a first Sergeant or if you were the lowest private.
50:48
He took care of his soldiers. Even today, as a retired
50:50
Colonel, he's still looking out for his soldiers and still
50:54
taking care of him. So if you don't have the book,
50:57
it is phenomenal. It is a manual for any leader,
51:01
any leader. I don't care.
51:02
Like I said, if you're a supervisor at a tire store or if
51:05
you're a supervisor at a Walmart, this book, Unshaken
51:08
Resolve is pretty, pretty awesome.
51:13
Just to give you a quick rundown, I'm going to read it.
51:17
Read a little bit of it. This is what this is what he
51:21
wrote. He goes.
51:22
When someone finishes Unshaken Resolve, my hope is simple.
51:25
I hope they become a steadier. I hope they stopped chasing
51:32
titles and start building character.
51:34
Let me tell you something. He never once ever gloated on
51:37
his title as a captain, as a major, as a Colonel.
51:41
Never once did he ever glow on that.
51:43
Never once did he say, oh, I work for a two star general.
51:45
Never one time did he ever say that the time that I knew him.
51:52
I hope they understand that leadership is not about being
51:54
louder, tougher or more impressive.
51:55
It's about being anchored in enough that people can trust you
51:59
when pressure rises. That is so important.
52:01
Had had I had that in my end of my career, it would have been
52:08
it. It would have been phenomenal.
52:09
And this is something that's so cool.
52:11
One lesson to stay with me came from Major General Jon Batiste,
52:15
which by the way of the phenomenal general, I still have
52:17
his coin. When I became a field grade
52:21
officer, he reminded me that leadership does not always
52:24
require a louder voice. Sometimes if you truly want
52:27
people to listen, you lower your voice.
52:29
You speak with clarity, discipline, and purpose.
52:32
That kind of steadiness forces people to lean in, not because
52:35
you demand attention, but because your presence has earned
52:38
it. That is powerful.
52:40
General Jon Batiste stood in a circle before we cross into Iraq
52:44
and he said, I want to be clear on our mission.
52:53
And he said, like a poised rattlesnake, you don't wait for
52:57
it to strike, you strike first. And he wasn't screaming it.
53:00
He wasn't yelling it. He was explaining what he
53:03
expected of his soldiers. Success is not just an
53:09
achievement, it's an alignment. I'm telling you, if you have
53:15
never seen this book, thought about this book, if you don't
53:20
even I don't even like to read. I've got hundreds of books over
53:23
here, hundreds of books over here.
53:26
I have some that the people have autographed for me.
53:28
Hey, I want you to have this. I've got Medal of Honor
53:31
recipient book autographed right here by David Bellavia, right
53:35
here, house to house. I've I've read that one and I've
53:38
read this one. Those are the two books out of
53:40
all these books that I've read. This book right here is
53:43
phenomenal because it makes you want to be a better person, not
53:46
just a better leader, but a better person and it gives you a
53:49
lot of insight into your current leaders and how they are.
53:56
It says you can do anything in this world as long as you put
53:58
your mind to it. That's from Alice Payne.
54:05
Every now and then you find people or you meet people in
54:07
your life that make you feel a little bit better for having met
54:09
them. This is definitely one of them,
54:13
definitely one of them. And make no mistake about it,
54:16
this book doesn't even touch his character.
54:22
His character is so much bigger than this book.
54:25
I mean, this book is literally like, like this thin.
54:27
It's not even that big. And his character is way bigger
54:31
than that. So if, if you're, if you're
54:34
thinking of giving somebody a gift, I gave this book to a
54:37
friend of mine to read and they went ahead and, and ordered it
54:43
and downloaded it. I think is how they read it
54:45
because they're traveling right now Europe for work and said
54:49
that they literally want to order this book for every single
54:51
one of their leaderships. Now this person's a huge, huge
54:57
in the industry and they want to order for all their leaders to
55:01
read because it's that impressive.
55:02
So if you're out there and you get a chance to read this book,
55:05
man, go buy it, read it, give it as a gift to somebody.
55:08
It's called Unshaken Resolve by the author, retired Lieutenant
55:12
Colonel Michael Payne. Man, I can't.
55:16
I can't even. I don't want to give away the
55:18
book. The only thing I can honestly
55:20
say bad about this guy is he doesn't age well.
55:24
He's got more Gray hair than I do.
55:26
That's the only thing I can say bad about this guy.
55:28
He's got a beautiful wife, beautiful family.
55:32
He's got the car that I'm looking to buy.
55:34
I saw that on his Facebook. Kind of jealous about that.
55:38
But he's just a great guy. Just a great guy.
55:43
And he was one of our leaders. And I'll tell you what, if I'll
55:48
make a bet with you, I'll make an honest bet with you.
55:50
And this is on the air. If you find somebody that worked
55:54
under retired Colonel Michael Payne in the military and they
55:59
can they tell you they didn't like him, I will give you $1000
56:03
for that person to come forward. Give me a, a written reason why
56:06
they didn't like him and I'll give that person $1000 and you
56:09
$1000 cash. No if ands or buts.
56:12
How about that for a challenge? That's how sure I am of what a
56:15
great leader he was. But go out there and listen.
56:18
Go out there, buy his book, read his book.
56:20
Unshaken Resolve. I'm hoping to have him on my
56:23
radio show, if not next week, whenever he has a chance.
56:27
He's just a great speaker in general.
56:33
The book I, I just can't tell you enough about the book.
56:36
He does have his own website. It's Michael Alexander Payne,
56:40
Michael Common spelling, Michael Alexander Common Spelling and
56:44
Payne payne.com. He's just, he's amazing, like I
56:51
said, speaker, an amazing leader.
56:54
And I, I, I don't, I don't know why this, I don't know why this
56:58
book isn't already a bestseller like New York Times bestseller.
57:02
I'll tell you why because people don't know about it yet, but
57:05
when they do game on. So go out, buy the book.
57:09
You'll love the book. The individual that wrote it is
57:12
battle tested. I love saying that leadership
57:17
when pressure test everything and that's so powerful.
57:21
That is powerful. Again, thank you for joining me
57:24
on Veterans Talking Military Broadcast Radio here with Magic
57:27
Again, Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
57:31
Please remember those that we've lost this terrible disease, wear
57:35
pink. Remember only real men we can
57:37
wear pink. I'll wear a pink T-shirt the
57:39
whole time I'm here. I will be traveling quite a bit,
57:42
so I will try to do my show on the road as much as I can in
57:45
November. I will be in DC for better part
57:48
of November as I'm knocking on the senators doors and and all
57:53
these people's doors and everything like that.
57:55
Also we have American Valor Awards, which is in the second
57:59
week of November, which is in DC.
58:01
If you're in DC or can make it to DC, the American Valor Awards
58:04
are also on TV. They're on The History Channel,
58:07
a American military channel. They're everywhere.
58:10
The pretty, pretty cool thing, if you haven't had a chance to
58:12
go to that event, it is the who's of who's the cools, the
58:15
cools. And it's pretty powerful as
58:18
always. But no mission too difficult, no
58:20
sacrifice too great duty first, take care of each other.
58:25
Battle buddy check, reach out to your battle buddy, see how
58:27
they're doing. Make sure that they're doing OK.
58:30
Give them a handshake, a hug, just a text message to say, hey,
58:34
bro, hey, girl, I'm thinking of you.
58:36
And let them know that they're still connected.
58:39
As always, thank you for joining Veterans Talk on military
58:42
broadcast radio. The Veterans Talk is here for
58:46
you, not for us. It's letting our veterans voices
58:49
be heard. Donate if you can.
58:51
That's how we keep the lights on in the studio.
58:54
Buy cool equipment for veterans that are willing to get into
58:56
broadcasting, podcasting, on TV. Love each and everyone of you
59:01
did. Join me and let's go make some
59:04
things happen. And remember, you control your
59:07
mind. Don't let your mind control you.
59:09
As always, take care of each other.
59:11
Love each other. We'll talk at you later.
59:14
Hi, I'm Beaker with Military Broadcast Radio TV.
59:18
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