Latest / Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk / The Bunkhouse Because Trying Beats Quitting | Bill Lowe of Semper Try

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The Bunkhouse Because Trying Beats Quitting | Bill Lowe of Semper Try · Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk

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There were times I was looking at myself in the mirror.
0:10
Dude, why are you putting on khakis?
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Where Gunny Holly, who was blown up and killed, who had two
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children? I lived in a reality for about,
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I think 15 years that it should have been me.
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The source of strength has never been you.
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It has always been from somewhere else.
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It's just my belief that mine is from God and I, I choose to rely
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on God. I'm far from perfect.
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I screw up all the time, but my life is at peace.
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I've found at peace past the storm where I am at peace.
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When things got really bad, which they will, we all are
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going to have times in our life where we just can't handle some
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things. To know that reaching out for
0:58
help is an option. It's the same as going to the
1:01
doctor. When you you can't get over the
1:03
common cold and it's turned into something crazy, sinus
1:07
infection, you got to go to a doctor and get medicine.
1:09
It's the same with your mental health.
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Hey everybody, and welcome back to the Bunkhouse here on
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military broadcast Radio where we get veterans of voice.
1:36
Before we start, bring my guest on today.
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If you could follow the link tree link below, scrolling
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across the bottom. Go ahead and follow, share,
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like, make some comments, give me some feedback, let me know
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what you think about the show. And also, if anybody out there
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is listening or know anybody that's close to them and they're
1:53
struggling through today's problems are going to dark spot,
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please let them know that they're not alone there.
1:58
They're always help out there for them.
2:00
And they can call the mental health, the mental health crisis
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line dial 988. They can dial 1 for the veteran
2:05
crisis line. There's also an option for
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anybody that's hard of hearing as well.
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And before we get started, here is a quick word from military
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broadcast Radio. The station where our veterans
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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 NB.
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Radio dot All right, welcome back.
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And then now I'm going to bring to the stage Bill Lau.
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He is the host of Semper Try podcast.
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Bill, welcome to the show, man. Thank you for having me, Cole,
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Such an honor. No, absolutely.
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Probably. I appreciate you bringing here.
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So both of us being prior Marines, if you could give us a
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little bit of background about yourself and everything.
2:49
Oh, A. Little bit of background.
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Well, I grew up in South Dakota, farm kid, you know, got close to
2:56
graduating high school, not sure what you're going to do after
3:00
high school. And I think it was between my
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junior and senior year, I was like, I'll join the Air National
3:05
Guard there in South Dakota. And I was working in the mall
3:09
and the Marine recruiter came up for lunch or whatever.
3:11
And he's like, oh, what are you gonna do after high school?
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I'm like, oh, I joined the Air National Guard and he's like,
3:15
you know, the Marines have a reserves too.
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And I'm like, no, didn't know that.
3:19
And he goes, well, why don't you swing by on your break or
3:21
whatever? So go down there, talk to him.
3:24
And I'm like, guess he changed my mind.
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I'm joining the Marine Corps Reserve.
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So between my junior and senior year, I joined the Marine Corps
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Reserve and was gonna go down to, I think it's Omaha, where's
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the closest reserve base and work on, I don't know, Humvees
3:41
or something, something heavy duty mechanic or something like
3:44
that, they called it. And then you go through your
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whole senior year and what if they drill in your head?
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What are you going to do after high school?
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What are you going to do after high school?
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And I was like, well, college wasn't an option.
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And the only two things I really had interest in was like
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photography and accounting and stuff like that.
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And I'm like, well, I don't want to be an accountant.
4:01
I mean, I like math, but no, I was like, I don't know if I can
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make a career out of photography.
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And you have to go to school for that.
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And I didn't really want to go to school.
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And I knew I didn't want to farm.
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So I had a younger brother and I figured he'd want to do that.
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And I did not want to do that. So I think it was May, early
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May, I called up my recruiter and I go, I changed my mind.
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And he goes, well, this happens. He goes, we lose some before
4:26
they join. Totally understand Goes if you
4:29
change your mind, let me know, but totally understand.
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I go, no, I changed my mind, but I want to go active duty and
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he's like, all right, you need to come in and retake the ASVAB.
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I go retake the ASVAB, he goes, well, you said when you took it
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in your junior year you didn't try too hard.
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He goes come back in, retake it. So I go back in.
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This is like early May retake the ASVAB, he goes, that's a
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good enough score. What do you want to do?
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I go, I don't know, mechanics, I like working on stuff.
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And he goes, how about you work on F18, you know, and I was
5:00
like, that sounds awesome. He goes, yeah, just magic could
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be working on F18 someday. All this other stuff and like,
5:05
Nope, that'd be awesome. He goes, well, I can't promise
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you that, but I can get you aviation maintenance.
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You'll get one of the aircraft that the Marine Corps flies.
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And he listed them all off, you know, between all the
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helicopters and planes and stuff and jets.
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And I'm like, OK, OK, OK, Yep, sounds good.
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And he goes, well, I can have you leave here like seven days.
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I graduated high school, I think it was around May 11th and I
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went to boot camp. Like I said, I don't remember
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the exact days, you know, people remember all that.
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May 17th, May 18th, headed to boot camp around then.
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So it was like 7 days after high school.
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And this was only like 1314 days after I signed the contract and
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I was gone. So yeah, that was the the start
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of it. And then, you know, just only
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did the five years and been out for a long time now already.
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So that's a little history there.
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Now that's awesome, man. Yeah, so I kind of have a a
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little story too. And I talked about it on my on
6:03
my show that my my monthly releases that I've done and some
6:06
other shows I've been on. But kind of when I came in, I
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was, I was coming in originally as artillery like my contract
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was. And then literally the day I
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left to go to recruit training, the liaison MIP said, no, we
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can't do that because you didn't do geometry.
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And like pretty much got recruited and can kind of the
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same thing you like they they rode you in with the F18 piece
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and then was like, well, I can't promise that after you were
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like, yeah, let's do that. Right, right.
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I, I will say, you know, I've heard a lot of stories of
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recruiters lying to him and I, if I could ever find, and I'm
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hoping through all this I believe I can't remember.
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I'll have to go back and see if I can find pictures and see his
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name tag. I think he was Sergeant Smith
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was his name. He was a scout sniper at the
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time. I will say he did not lie to me
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one ounce. He was 100% honest the whole
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time. He was 100% honest with my
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parents through everything that happened.
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So that is one story I do not have is a recruiter taking
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advantage of me or whatever? No.
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And that's good, man, 'cause there's so many out there that
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this happens to where their recruiter really just fools them
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with a whole bunch of lines and just get them to sign and let
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them be, you know? Yeah, I mean, and we all just
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become a number in the big picture of it, but.
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Yeah. And, and I think that's where a
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lot of us, and not even just Marines, but all services, when
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we get out, we really start to realize whether we did four or
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five years or did 20 to 30 years, we start to realize we,
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that's all we were after we're out and get that DDP 14 in our
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hands, that we were just the number and that brotherhood and
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or sisterhood isn't there like we thought it was going to be
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when we when we, when it's time to hang up the uniform.
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And I think that's where a lot of us really that it hit me very
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hard. You know, I don't know a lot of
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it. And getting out that many years
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ago, you know, I got out in O2, that was kind of before
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everybody had a cell phone. That was way before social
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media, you know, e-mail I guess was kind of a thing, you know,
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with AOL and stuff like that. And Yahoo might have been just
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coming around. But like, keep staying in
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contact with people you're in was really hard and, you know,
8:15
trying to find them. And I have a horrible memory.
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I mean, I listen to different people talk on podcast and tell
8:20
stories and they remember of names of recruits and drill
8:23
instructors that they went to boot camp with or they served
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with. And I'm like, I can remember
8:28
faces, but names, Holy crud. I have.
8:31
I can remember a couple names. That's about it.
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Yeah, and and and being Marines, we we definitely live up, or at
8:40
least try to live up to our motto of Semper Fidelis always
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faithful, right? And, and, and you being the host
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of the Semper Tri podcast, can you kind of give us some
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background like where that name came from for you?
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So, you know, you start messing around and you start thinking of
8:53
names and when I thought, OK, I want to start a podcast, what's
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the name going to be? You know, I start talking with
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the wife and I really liked, you know, it took me over 20 years
9:05
to really, you know, be more proud of being a veteran and the
9:10
being the Marine thing. I just kind of before that just
9:12
kind of kept on the down low, you know, the typical veteran
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thing, you know, the not every veteran's the same, but not
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wanting to be thanked for my service.
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You know, there's so many people that did more stuff.
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But then when I was looking to start this podcast, you know, I
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didn't really research it enough.
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You know, you like, you heard the big names out there, the big
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Navy Seals and stuff. They're always telling their
9:33
stories and that's who they're interviewing as other Navy Seals
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and all these, you know, heroic stories.
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And I'm like, well, there's, you know, you go to the VFW or you
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go to the Legion. I'm a member of our local
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Legion. You go there, there's so many
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veterans, there's so many just small stories.
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I'm like, I want to hear those small stories.
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And I know I kind of jumped away from your question here, so I'll
9:53
turn around and go back to it. But like Semper Try.
9:56
So I was like trying to find a tie of taking pride in the
9:59
Marine Corps. And obviously we should, we're
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the .01% or whatever point 1%, whatever that number is.
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And so I was like messing around.
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I think I was using AI to mess around with names.
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And so I came up with Semper Try and it's always try and kind of
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the that's how I got through boot camp.
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That's how you get through a lot of things is always trying.
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And you know, I kind of came up that tagline because trying
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beats quitting, you know, and I think that works in everyday
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life, that works in your jobs, that works.
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And that's how I made it through boot camp.
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I mean, there's a story for you, you know what I mean?
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How many people do you know that we're in boot camp for seven
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months, You know, so that's a whole another story.
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And so that was just kind of The thing is, you know, always try
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because trying beats quitting. And I really, you know, I mean,
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every one of us veterans will talk mental health, mental
10:49
health. And my wife is kind of the one
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that kind of pushed me towards this of, you know, really is it
10:56
mental health or is it brain health?
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You know, it's, it's, I mean, if you have a problem with your
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heart, you go to the doctor, you go to a heart doctor.
11:05
You know, if you've been through something, if something you have
11:08
a bad experience, whatever it is, there's something, you know,
11:11
just misconnected in your brain and you need help, you know, So
11:16
if the stigma needs to go away, it's brain health.
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Let's get it fixed. You know, So long story.
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That's why you know the name of the podcast.
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No, that's awesome. And I think you brought up a
11:28
good point to you were starting to kind of get in to what you
11:31
were really want to do is it's, it's kind of get to what I would
11:34
consider that that grassroot veteran, the ones that darn in
11:38
like the special operations space or don't have these high
11:41
profile stories and stuff like that.
11:44
Just the everyday veteran that that most of us served with or
11:48
most of us are in in as in the veteran community.
11:51
And like you said, like everybody's story deserves to be
11:54
heard. I, I definitely know that, like
11:57
you say, quite a bit is like you, you said most stories die
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unheard. And then and I think that's kind
12:02
of what kind of brought that along.
12:04
Can you kind of get a little warm on that?
12:05
And like what you mean like every like when most stories die
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unheard, what is that? What does that mean to you?
12:10
Well, you got to think about now.
12:11
What it means to me is I wish I could go back to when I was
12:16
younger and this would be when I was a kid.
12:18
I remember one of my dad's uncles.
12:20
And you know, when you're in high school, a year before high
12:24
school, you don't know what D-Day is.
12:26
You didn't know really what a veteran was.
12:30
You didn't take pride in what the military did for us.
12:33
And this, I remember my dad's uncle as a kid, I remember
12:36
every, it was always in the summer, I remember.
12:39
And obviously it's June 6th, but every D-Day, he'd watch
12:42
everything on it all day long. Everything he could see on TV,
12:47
everything he could see in the newspaper, every clip, every
12:50
picture, he would just watch and watch and watch.
12:53
And it took me a little while and I remember his wife or
12:56
whatever tell me, or maybe it was my grandma, tell me that he
12:59
was looking for himself. He's looking for anybody he
13:02
knew. He was looking to see if there
13:05
was footage of him getting off one of those boats or one of his
13:09
friends or somebody he knew and that he would sit there and
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watch that. And I'm like, holy crap.
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My dad had an uncle that, you know, was there on D-Day and
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survived it. And how that's a story that's
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unheard, you know, that's a story that died.
13:23
And so that's kind of the thing. And, you know, we're, you know,
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World War 2 vets, all those stories are going away.
13:30
And yet there's a lot of podcasts, there's a lot of
13:33
organizations that are getting those stories now.
13:35
And I'm so grateful for those. But there's just so many of
13:39
them. I'm here in central Minnesota
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and there's so many veterans around here in the Korean and
13:43
the Vietnam. And I know not everybody wants
13:46
to talk about their stories, but if you can get some of those
13:49
stories out of some people, they're just, they're amazing
13:52
stories to hear. And I mean, I love sitting there
13:55
hearing them. I'll be at the Legion and
13:57
someone will tell me a story and it'll be like 1015 minutes long.
14:01
And it was like, they'll just, they're like, oh, I parachuted
14:03
into Panama and I did this in the 80s and I did that.
14:06
And it's like 1520 minutes story.
14:08
And it's like, wow, that's amazing.
14:10
That was a great story. And it's like, would you come on
14:12
the podcast and tell me that? And then all of a sudden I'm
14:14
like, Nope, I don't have any stories.
14:15
I didn't do anything like if I would have just recorded the
14:18
last 15 minutes, that'd have been the best episode ever, you
14:21
know? So I know what I mean by that,
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you know, and I know you're kind of doing the same thing.
14:26
And we got a couple other friends that are doing the same
14:28
thing. Like I said, I didn't research
14:29
the podcast thing. I didn't think there was this
14:32
many people doing it, but I'm glad there's this many people
14:35
doing it because the support has been amazing and the new
14:38
networking has been awesome, so. Yeah, no, it, it's I, I think
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you're right. Like there are so many stories
14:48
out there that aren't talked about enough.
14:50
So like my uncle, for instance, my dad's brother, I knew he was
14:54
in the Army in Vietnam, did multiple tours in Vietnam.
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I knew who is a Green Beret in Vietnam, but I didn't know
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really what the Green Berets did back then.
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And he recently passed away this past year.
15:06
And come to find out, he was actually part of the, that
15:12
special operations training group that that was kind of a, a
15:16
joint extra, like a joint group with CIA, Delta Green Berets
15:22
Force reconnaissance Marines. Like essentially what most
15:26
people know now today is Delta is essentially what it was
15:29
before Delta was, was, was a thing and like hearing stuff
15:33
like that and knowing what he did and, and looking more into
15:36
what that group's mission was in Vietnam.
15:40
I he never once talked about it like a lot of folks like the
15:45
Vietnam War era like veterans just like our like to do you
15:49
want Air Marines like we don't are just veterans in general.
15:51
Don't talk about a lot of those things and not once what I ever
15:54
even known he was a part of anything that like that's
16:00
history and it like that is history being made before you
16:03
even know it, right. Like honestly, like all the
16:05
stuff that he went through and but yeah, he Bronze Star with a
16:11
combat V multiple Bronze Stars awardances.
16:14
And so like, yeah, again, it's those are the stories that, like
16:18
you said, those are the ones that if they're not talked
16:21
about, they die with the people who lived them, right?
16:25
Those are stories that should be in the history books that might
16:28
not make it because nobody got the chance to hear them.
16:32
So if we can get the chance to just talk to some of these
16:35
people and like you said, there's it's all the way modern,
16:39
you know, I have friends that are younger than me that have
16:42
stories of combat and all this other stuff, you know, and it's
16:45
just like, wow, you know, so there's continuing on to this
16:49
day, they're still stories, so. Yeah, yeah.
16:53
And that's kind of like like you said, like just a little bit
16:55
what I do with my show, like my flagship sessions that I do on
16:58
my monthly releases. It's it's not necess.
17:01
It's it's the veterans complete story from where they're from,
17:05
why they joined the military that what made them decide to
17:08
join what what made them decides the the branch that they decided
17:11
to to join and serve in. And then they talk about their
17:15
experiences, why they're in. And then we get into what was
17:18
transitioning out of the military.
17:19
They like life back like it back into the civilian life, because
17:23
everybody has a little bit different.
17:24
But I will say this is there's a lot of commonalities in
17:26
everybody's story, regardless of era, a veteran or will service,
17:31
the branch of service that they served in.
17:32
A lot of us have the a lot of the same, I would say, type of
17:37
story in a sense. You know, it's just the
17:40
experiences that that led to it, you know?
17:44
Yeah, no, exactly because like I, I tried to do the same thing.
17:48
I know, like I talked to you and I talked to other people that do
17:52
podcasting and they'll have like question, I'm not saying you in
17:55
general, but I'm just saying other ones, they'll have
17:57
questionnaires like, Hey, this, this or this is what I'm
17:59
thinking. And this they'll like map out
18:02
kind of what they're hoping the podcast will bring on.
18:05
And I'm just pretty much like, will you do the podcast?
18:08
And I just hope the conversation flows naturally.
18:12
And if it doesn't, you know, sometimes it's is a little
18:15
awkward. Sometimes it is what it is.
18:17
I've had a couple where there's couple minutes of silence where
18:20
like, you know, they're thinking or think, I'm like, we can edit
18:23
out, you know, if you said something wrong or said
18:26
something else. I know, like we're doing this
18:28
live and a lot of people, I mean, if somebody wants
18:31
something edited out, you know, I'm not going to make us look
18:34
like idiots where we're sitting there silence for a couple
18:36
minutes. But if something cool happens or
18:38
if it's just natural conversation, you know, I'm just
18:41
trying to the people around here I talked to, they'll say like,
18:44
you know, they, they weren't in the military.
18:47
They, you know, they have the respect for the military.
18:49
They just, they never were in. So we're like, what's the daily
18:52
life? You know, what's, what was the
18:54
daily life for you? What was the daily life?
18:56
You know, like you don't think of what it is.
18:59
Yeah. I mean, there's so many support
19:01
jobs, so many other military jobs.
19:02
There's so many jobs that's just training, getting ready for what
19:05
the military's supposed to do. And, you know, I guess you don't
19:08
ever really think about, you know, I mean, that was my daily
19:12
job. Every day was launching and
19:15
recovering and fixing aircraft. While we were preparing, the
19:18
pilots were preparing 100% of the time.
19:21
It was just another felt like another job when you look back
19:24
at it. Yeah, yeah.
19:27
I mean, I mean, I coming being from the communications career
19:30
field, like in the Marine Corps, kind of the same thing.
19:33
Like you get into a routine, you feel like it's just your job and
19:37
just nothing special. But I, I, I've started to kind
19:40
of look back and finally started to look back really.
19:42
And, and seeing like as a communicator, what our mission
19:46
really was was to provide tactical communications, whether
19:50
it be radio, computer type communications or, or telephones
19:55
or whatever and provide that to support the war fighter, right?
19:59
And like that's what you do. You support logistics, you
20:02
support aviation missions, you support the war fighter on the
20:04
ground like. That's a big deal.
20:07
If you can't communicate, you can't move, you can't do
20:09
anything. Same thing if if there's nobody
20:11
to fix the aircraft, they can't fly the aircraft later, right.
20:16
So again, like, and, and those are stories that they, they may
20:21
not be sexy or flashy, right, but they're still stories that
20:25
make the cog turn and what we call the military, you know,
20:30
and, and those stories are just as important as the operators
20:34
that are out front kicking down doors, you know, every single
20:37
day. They're, they're just as
20:38
important in my opinion, and they need to be.
20:40
Sure. They they want their
20:42
communications to be able to call and support if they need
20:44
it. They want the the, you know, the
20:47
Intel from above, you know, they want all that stuff.
20:50
They want those planes flying too, you know?
20:52
Yeah, they're right there in the heart of it.
20:54
And thank you for that. But yeah, it's everything needs
20:58
its support, so. No, absolutely.
21:02
And, and one thing I've learned, especially when it comes to not
21:05
just telling my own story, but talking to, to other veterans
21:08
about their story of, of how much of an impact it has on.
21:14
I'll still your term for a minute.
21:15
But the brain health like talking to veterans about these
21:19
types of things, but it helps me a lot with my struggles and some
21:23
of the stuff that I've I've dealt with and it seems to help
21:27
a lot of the veterans. I'm, I'm going to serve the same
21:28
If you, I would assume for you it's kind of the same.
21:31
It kind of helps you with your with your brain health as well.
21:35
Yeah, I think it gives you that sense of belonging again like
21:40
this and just yeah, I mean everyday life, you know, brain
21:45
health, you need that, you know, we're creatures that need to
21:50
interact with other creatures, you know, so it's yeah, no
21:54
matter what or how scenario it is, you know, and I I like the
21:59
giving back aspect of it. So I hope that this is, you
22:03
know, being able to give back and help the community in some
22:08
way or another too, and, you know, help with other projects
22:11
and fundraisers and, you know, obviously volunteering at the
22:14
Legion for that giving back. But yeah, there's a definitely,
22:19
and I think we've talked about this before, there's definitely
22:21
a sense of pride and enjoyment in this because once again,
22:28
let's take on a hobby basically. I guess this isn't wouldn't be a
22:32
job. It'd have to be a hobby, right?
22:33
Hobbies don't pay. Is that is that the right
22:35
terminology? Yeah, I would go with hobby.
22:37
Yeah, I. Mean yeah, we would love to be
22:42
able to support ourselves. You know, I, I don't want to be
22:44
a millionaire, but I want to be. It would be nice if this would
22:47
like help pay for a little bit of the equipment once in a
22:51
while. But yeah, you spend money on
22:53
hobbies. So but I enjoy it.
22:55
I really, really, really enjoy it.
22:57
Yeah, same here. Like it again, like I don't, I
23:00
don't do it to make money, right?
23:01
I do it to give back to the community.
23:03
This is my way of giving back to the veteran space as well.
23:05
And it's providing a space for veterans like yourself and other
23:08
guests that I've had to, to share their story, to get their
23:12
name out there to kind of show or share their services or the
23:16
things that they're doing. Also, you know, and I think this
23:20
kind of brings us into a good point for a quick break.
23:23
But when we come back, we're going to talk about some of the
23:25
stuff that you do volunteering, some of the stuff that you do
23:28
around the the Legion as well, and kind of those pieces of, of,
23:31
of your area of getting back to the veteran community as well.
23:34
So again, everybody out there listening, we'll be back here
23:37
shortly. All right, welcome back to the
26:40
Bunkhouse. Everybody live here on military
26:42
broadcast radio where we give veterans a voice.
26:45
Before the break, my my guest and I Bill was talking about
26:49
kind of the origin story of his his podcast and for try and now
26:54
I really want to get in and Bill, if you could share some
26:56
other things that you're doing. One thing before we start.
26:58
Sorry, John. Yeah, go ahead.
27:00
I I don't think you promote this enough.
27:02
That was Dallas, Alexandria. He is a Canadian veteran.
27:08
He was 17 years special forces for them.
27:12
He was a Tier 1 sniper. And now he's down in Nashville
27:17
producing songs. I love that when your songs play
27:21
that they're veteran related. And I've interviewed 1 Canadian
27:26
military veteran before and I mean, you know, the north of the
27:30
border veterans are still veterans.
27:31
But that's awesome. That song was amazing.
27:34
Tier 1 sniper. He was part of the team that was
27:38
part of what was the world's longest shot.
27:40
They recorded it. So he was part of that.
27:43
So interesting guy. Sorry.
27:45
Oh, that's no, no, thank you for that, because I'm actually that
27:48
we have kind of a group of different music videos that we
27:52
could do for our breaks and stuff.
27:54
And so I'm glad you bring it up because I'm actually going to
27:57
start doing that now. Every show is doing a little
27:58
research and when I play, when I'm going to come back in and
28:00
explain some stuff like that. I think that's a good idea.
28:03
That was good. Oh, thank you, Thank you.
28:07
All right. Sorry.
28:07
Your question again, sorry about that.
28:09
Yeah. No, no, no.
28:10
Hey, you're good, man. No, this, what I want to do is
28:13
give you the opportunity to talk some about the things that you
28:15
do volunteering wise, stuff that you do with the Legion and maybe
28:18
some other organizations that you work with.
28:21
Well, if we're talking volunteering, I would say my
28:25
volunteering, like actually giving back, started when I
28:29
moved up to Minnesota. I moved up to Minnesota 20 years
28:32
ago now. So I moved up here in O six
28:35
couple years after the military. I moved up here and I started
28:38
with the local Jay CS. So the Brainerd Jay CS and you
28:43
might have heard of them because they do host the world's largest
28:46
ice fishing extravaganza. So it's the largest ice fishing
28:50
contest that happens in one day and they do it every July.
28:56
Yeah, they do it in July. Yep.
28:57
Idiot. No, they do it in January,
28:59
February time frame when there's actually ice, you know, so
29:02
they'll get, they have to have like 17 inches of ice to
29:04
actually hold this contest because they have anywhere from
29:07
8 to 14,000 people on the ice. They drill about 20,000 holes on
29:13
Friday. And so it's just, it's a small
29:15
village develops on this lake and or whatever, and they give
29:18
away a truck they have out for $150,000 in prizes.
29:22
They've donate anywhere from 100 to $500,000 every year back to
29:28
the local community. So I started with the JCS, they
29:30
did other things. And so that's where I started my
29:33
volunteering. And then at some point in time,
29:36
you know, like I said, we'll start recognizing being a
29:39
veteran or whatever. So then I started helping with
29:41
the American Legion and then volunteering help a little bit
29:45
there. Then actually there was our
29:48
local Legion has gambling and they were looking for a new
29:52
gambling manager because the one that they had, you know, well,
29:57
there's a long story there. The one that they had before,
30:00
the one that I replaced had was like trying to lose their
30:03
license. There was fraud involved.
30:05
The legion was probably going to go under.
30:08
And so another guy took it over. Well, then he got diagnosed with
30:11
cancer and he was on his last, you know, or whatever.
30:14
So they were trying to find someone quickly and they asked
30:16
me if I'd do it. And I was like, you know,
30:19
they're like, Oh yeah, there's a little bit of, you know, stipend
30:22
or whatever to help out, you know, cuz there's a lot of
30:24
stuff. So I had to go to the classes,
30:26
learn how to do that. And gambling, you know, the
30:30
charitable gambling is actually how we donate most of our money
30:33
to the community. This is how we keep the doors
30:35
open. But it just opened up so many
30:37
more doors for working with organizations like local youth
30:42
sports and other nonprofits and being able to help volunteer
30:45
with them. And then like my wife is, she's
30:50
the president. I got to say this, right?
30:52
President, chair of a local mental health, suicide
30:55
awareness, brain health, whatever.
30:57
I think it's suicide awareness is there actually.
30:59
So it's a local 1 here called Smiles for Jake.
31:01
She's the president of that. So I get Mullen told a lot to
31:06
help with that one, which I don't mind.
31:09
And then she'll help with a lot of different events we have at
31:11
the Legion. So those are the biggest ones.
31:14
The last one, the most recent is one of my friends, she started a
31:21
memorial for, to help veterans. And it's her father worked at
31:27
the local camp here, Camp Ripley, and he helped veterans.
31:31
He'd help anybody that needed help.
31:32
So she thought in his honor, let's start one that helps
31:36
veterans. And it's, she's about three
31:38
years into it and I've kind of wanted to team up with her and
31:41
help her as much as I can because there's only like 2.
31:46
And I should add in three requirements for getting help.
31:50
And one is be a veteran. So if you're a veteran, 2, be a
31:54
veteran that needs help. And so really the third
31:57
requirement is be a veteran that needs help in our lakes area,
32:02
you know, we don't have the funds.
32:04
We hope to expand, go to state of Minnesota, go tri-state, go
32:08
keep growing, go regional. But right now we're keeping it
32:11
local because that's what we can help.
32:13
And it's the veterans she's been able to help.
32:15
You know, it'll be like someone in their last minute with, you
32:19
know, car, you know, fix a car or something so they can get to
32:22
work or make a house payment or help.
32:24
There's, there's so many situations.
32:25
There's no criteria. You know, she sits down with
32:28
them, she talks with them. It's like it can be immediate,
32:31
you know, like if it's something we need that day or next day,
32:34
it's, you know, there's not all these processes and red tapes
32:37
with all these other veteran programs, a lot of great
32:39
programs, but oh, you make too much money.
32:42
Oh, we need six weeks. Oh, we need.
32:45
There's so many hoops to jump through, I guess you'd say.
32:49
So we're trying to in the Lakes area to avoid that and try to
32:54
help that, you know, those emergency situations.
32:57
So I guess that's the biggest things like this next week I
33:00
will be going out to help the JCS.
33:03
I've aged out. I'm too old to be AJC member,
33:06
but they have kind of alumni. So they pour beer at Brainerd
33:10
International Raceway, which of the NHRA is coming to town.
33:13
So it's like what funds their operations for the whole year?
33:17
The beer sales, they make enough off of it and beer sales.
33:20
So it's all volunteer based. You know, all the tips stay with
33:23
the organization and just go out to do it to enjoy the
33:27
environment. I have friends that come up, but
33:28
it's just a volunteer and me and my wife volunteer every year to
33:31
help them out and they're always looking for more people
33:34
volunteer. But that's gives them the money
33:37
to run their operation, donate to other local nonprofits or
33:41
charities or youths or whatever, just help where they see fit and
33:45
stuff like that. And then the following week is
33:49
CRMC. What is it called?
33:52
CRMC Championship. So it's the local America's Tour
33:55
for golf is coming to town and my wife is the director of the
33:58
CRMC Foundation. So there's another, you know,
34:01
charity, non profit or whatever that I help with.
34:03
So it's a big fundraiser for them, you know, and they're able
34:06
to help cancer patients, help diabetes patients, help a lot of
34:10
people in need. And I'll, I'll probably say the
34:13
wrong thing. You know, my wife is so way
34:16
smarter than I am when it comes to all this stuff and the
34:18
wording. But so I'll help out there all
34:20
week, the week after that, you know, And I think last year they
34:25
raised about $100,000 at that event, you know, and stuff like
34:29
that. So I know they're big goals this
34:31
year, you know. So those are some of the
34:34
highlights, I guess you could say.
34:37
I think that's great. I think we, we've talked about
34:40
this before just kind of offline and, and other conversations is
34:44
getting involved in just anything to give back to A cause
34:52
helps fulfill or to fill the void of our purpose or what we
34:57
feel is a purpose or the servitude that that drove us to
35:01
join the military in the 1st place.
35:02
Because most veterans that I know or most service members
35:05
that I know, they do the, they do the service because they love
35:09
to serve. They love to provide a service
35:11
for something or somebody. And, and I will say that's one
35:15
thing that I struggled with when I first got out is finding that
35:19
purpose. And I think you brought up a
35:21
really important thing is being proud to be a veteran again,
35:26
right? Because a lot of us when we get
35:28
out, it's, we don't talk about being a veteran.
35:31
We don't wear any kind of what I would call military
35:35
paraphernalia, right? We don't wear the T-shirts, We
35:37
don't wear the, the retired Marine hat.
35:39
And, you know, I, I, I didn't do that.
35:43
And I, I still don't wear stuff like that, but I've learned to
35:48
be more proud. But in, not in like a
35:51
standoffish way of being proud, right?
35:54
Not like the one who said, well, I, I used to be a Sergeant
35:56
major, you got to respect me because I'm a retired Sergeant
35:59
major. Not like that type of like,
36:01
'cause there's a big difference. There are, there are veterans
36:03
out there that are like that, right?
36:06
Absolutely. There's so many out there that
36:08
are like that. But being proud of being a
36:12
veteran in the service that you gave to your country is not a
36:16
bad thing. Be very proud of the service.
36:19
No matter how small you think your piece was, trust me, I
36:22
promise you, it was the piece that needed to make it continue
36:26
while you were there, right? And be proud of that.
36:30
It took me a while to learn to understand that and and be be
36:34
proud of being a retired Marine again.
36:37
Like it was hard for me to to say that or promote that about
36:41
myself because I didn't get to go to 20.
36:44
I had to retire early. It wasn't a medical retirement,
36:47
but it still was not a 20 year retirement.
36:50
Like like what you would think of it from a retired service
36:53
member. But you know, it's, I'm finally
36:56
at a point in my life, like mentally and emotionally and
36:59
spiritually, like I'm OK with that.
37:00
Like I'm, I'm, I'm finally at a point where I'm OK with being
37:04
that, you know, it's not, it's not who I am anymore.
37:07
It's made me part of, it's part of who I am.
37:10
But it's not, that's not the end story.
37:11
That's not, that's not who I am. That's not who I'm going to be
37:14
or who who I'm supposed to be. That's just as part of what's
37:17
made me who I am, right? I mean, yeah, two years, 20
37:21
years, 30 years, every last one of them signed on the same
37:26
dotted line, but the exact same life on hold, you know, payable
37:33
up to death basically on that contract.
37:38
Yeah. I mean, everybody goes to MEPs,
37:40
everybody raises their right hand.
37:42
They all have the same oath of enlistment.
37:45
We all say, we all pledge our our allegiance essentially to
37:49
the same thing regardless of branch of service, regardless of
37:52
time, regardless of active reserve or National Guard.
37:55
We all pledge that same allegiance to our Constitution
37:59
and to our nation. And and that's something to be
38:01
proud of. We are a very small population
38:05
of the United States that that actually do it right.
38:08
It's well, when you get immersed into this with other veterans,
38:12
you know, you're like, oh, veteran, veteran, veteran,
38:15
veteran. But then when you step back and
38:17
you look at the big picture, you're like, it's like 1%, you
38:22
know, 1% the United States population is served in the
38:25
military. It's like that's an exclusive
38:29
group of people right there. You know, we've got to support
38:32
each other and take care of each other.
38:35
So and then let alone how much smaller that percentage is for
38:41
Marines, I mean, everybody wants to be a Marine, but only a few
38:44
of us could do it, I guess, right?
38:47
I mean. I'm kidding.
38:48
I mean, I'm joking. I mean, we are the, we are the
38:51
smallest branch. Well, yeah, I, I respect all
38:54
branches the same too. But you're right, we are the
38:55
smallest branch. We have the what I would
38:58
consider the, what's the word I'm trying to look for?
39:05
And this is where my brain starts kind of getting around to
39:07
me. Sometimes I have a lot of brain
39:09
farts when I'm trying to think of certain words.
39:12
But I wouldn't say prestige. Like I mean, we do definitely
39:17
have a prestige about us, but I think as a service as a whole,
39:21
we probably have the highest prestige as far as the service
39:24
as a whole. There are entities within the
39:27
other branches of service that have a prestige within their
39:30
service, right? But we are the only ones.
39:35
We are the branch that we serve. We are all Rifleman first,
39:39
regardless of MOS, right? And so like, that in itself is a
39:45
subculture of a subculture, right?
39:48
Like being a veteran or being a service member is a subculture
39:51
of the United States civilization, right?
39:54
Right. What our, what our civilization
39:57
is built on is a subculture. But then each branch has its own
40:01
subculture. And honestly, the Marines are
40:03
its own very own subculture. We come off as being standoffish
40:09
and sometimes and, and, but again, it's that's who we,
40:13
that's, that's how we were bred. And not saying it's wrong, right
40:16
or indifferent, but that's just kind of how it becomes.
40:19
And the reason I, the reason I bring that up is because that's,
40:24
that standoffishness is what, at least for me, caused me not to
40:29
want to promote myself as a veteran or a retired Marine or a
40:33
marine veteran in general. And I kind of shunned away from
40:39
interacting with other veterans for a long time.
40:42
Honestly, I didn't try to connect or like I end up having
40:46
like I've I've said here on the show before, it's like my kids,
40:50
like both my daughters do all start cheerleading and retiring
40:53
close to a Marine Corps installation.
40:56
You're going to have other parents that are either spouses
40:59
or they are veterans themselves or still even active duty most
41:03
of time Marines because I am around a Marine installation.
41:05
And so like my wife and one of the other other wives that your
41:08
mom's, they kind of forced me and her husband to get together
41:12
and start talking. And he's a Marine veteran also.
41:15
And we hit it off immediately. And we've been best, almost
41:18
pretty much best friends ever since, right.
41:20
And that, that collective has actually grown with the other
41:23
cheer, cheer dads as well. And it was just me getting
41:26
outside of my comfort zone and, and starting to be kind of like
41:29
you said, being proud of who I am and what I was, you know?
41:32
So you have to get up there and do those cheer dances too then.
41:36
That's what. We want to see here, John, we
41:38
want to see the videos of you cheering with your daughters.
41:43
We'll see what we can do to once once they go to our first conf.
41:46
So our first. Conf.
41:47
We'll see. We'll see.
41:50
We'll see what we can do. We'll see what we can do.
41:54
There's got to be some of those, So no, yeah.
41:59
Yeah, all those things. It's just embracing myself back
42:02
into like being proud to be a veteran again and again.
42:05
Like just that in itself has helped me one with embracing the
42:11
network of the veteran community online with podcasting and other
42:14
podcasters that are veterans as well.
42:16
You know, and, and regardless of what you did in the military or
42:19
what service you did, you served in, in the military like
42:22
embracing each other and having a common goal, you know,
42:26
support. What I think a lot too with, you
42:30
know, saying being that proud when you're young and you just
42:33
get out and you're single, I mean, it would be different for
42:35
you. You got married and had some
42:37
kids while you're in, but getting out and just being
42:40
single and is what it is. And then really this last how
42:45
many years with having kids and how proud they are.
42:51
You know, it's just like, you know, if we go to an event, you
42:54
know, they always say, oh, is there any prior military or this
42:58
or that, you know, and oh, stand up.
43:01
And I, I won't always stand up and my kids will like be
43:03
elbowing me. So I have to stand up.
43:05
You know, it's like, I don't, I don't need recognition from
43:08
these people. You know, I don't need
43:10
recognition from this crowd or whatever it is.
43:13
And you know, the kids will have veteran day programs or
43:16
something like that. And you'll go and they'll call
43:18
it out by service. And that's, that's the one I'm
43:21
always the most proud of because they'll call out National Guard
43:24
'cause we're a big National Guard area up here.
43:25
They'll call it Army, Air Force, Navy.
43:28
And whenever they call them Marines, first, last, middle,
43:30
whatever, I mean, it'll be a room of four or 500 people.
43:34
And if one or two people stand up with you, it's like, Yup,
43:37
that's right. You know, and they'll be like
43:39
2030 National Guard or the Army, you know, there's always a bunch
43:43
of those. But so, yeah, there is
43:46
definitely a lot of pride goes into it and it I'd say my kids
43:49
and my wife have helped me with that.
43:52
You know, like that's a Father's Day gift right there from the
43:56
kids. And I was just like, Oh my God,
43:58
that is so awesome. You know, and just a couple more
44:00
things they'll they've gotten me and stuff like that.
44:03
So, and then now with the podcast and you know, the EGA
44:08
with that and Semper try and I just, I, I, I don't know, I
44:13
might only own underwear that don't have that logo on them
44:17
yet. And that's yet.
44:18
So it's coming. But I figured why waste the
44:21
logos? Because 90% of the time people
44:23
don't see my underwear. We'll talk about the other 10%
44:27
of the time. I think this is actually another
44:30
good quick break time because when we come back, we're
44:34
actually going to talk about some some future initiatives
44:37
that that I am proud and honored to be a partner with.
44:40
So we'll come back, we'll talk about those stinks all.
44:43
Right, all right. And we'll be back here in about
44:45
a few minutes. All right, welcome back
47:38
everybody. So before the break, Bill and I
47:40
talked a little bit about some of the stuff that he volunteers.
47:43
Even when it's not veteran related, it's it's still
47:46
important to get out there and give back to the community as a
47:48
whole. You know, real quick before we
47:51
get into the next topics, I, I was, I've been surprised with
47:56
kind of our backstage crew. I was a new overlay.
48:00
So we're going to actually test it out live here.
48:01
We're going to we're going to do it live guys.
48:03
Let's see what this looks like here.
48:07
Oh, I like that. Why didn't?
48:09
You start the show with that. I didn't have it when we started
48:12
the show. I just got literally just got it
48:13
right before the break. Yeah, I like that.
48:18
Yeah, that's Yep, that's that's my new forever back.
48:20
My overlay now that's happening. That's that's.
48:23
Me too, your little local. Open the top.
48:25
Right corner if they could get, that's what highlighted a little
48:28
more so if they'd work on that because like they got the
48:30
military radio in a nice little black background.
48:33
Looks beautiful, but yeah, well, they just took your.
48:36
Logo away no. So I, I, I just did that so I
48:39
can, I can actually, I can turn that one on and off and.
48:42
So so yeah, now I could just figure out to get a little
48:44
background there so you could see that better.
48:46
That looks freaking amazing. Yeah, I'll work.
48:49
I'll work with that one. Yeah, I'll work with that one.
48:52
I appreciate that backstage. I appreciate that.
48:53
I really do. That's really awesome.
48:55
Thank you. All right, so now kind of our
48:59
our final segment closing out, we got about 10 more minutes
49:02
left of the show. Bill, if you could kind of tell
49:05
us a little bit about some future adventures or endeavors.
49:08
I kind of alluded a little bit that I am a part of some of this
49:12
in the future. But yeah, if you could go ahead
49:13
and break us out into that little.
49:16
Obviously I've had a thought that many, many other people
49:19
have had the same thought, but I think it was you.
49:23
I've bounced the idea off you. I've bounced the idea off a
49:25
couple other veterans I know that have podcasts.
49:29
Steve Mills, he does a podcast called Even Though I Walk.
49:33
He's a Navy chaplain. He was a Air Force firefighter
49:38
for 10 years and a Navy chaplain for 22.
49:41
So bounced the ideas off him. I've bounced the ideas off of
49:45
you, of course. And then another one of my
49:46
friends, Eric Monarca, another Marine Corps veteran, another
49:50
podcast host. So I guess where I was going
49:53
with this was podcast host, veteran podcast host.
49:56
And it's like we're small, you know, our voice.
50:00
Why don't we promote each other? Why don't we come with the
50:03
voices as as one when we kind of promote each other?
50:07
And so between the three of us, me, you and Eric, we kind of Co
50:13
found and there's a lot of play on words and it took a long time
50:16
to come up with the name, but we call it Vet VET voices
50:21
empowering tomorrow. So then that was that.
50:25
And then it was Veteran Podcast Network and then I had my IT guy
50:29
John here come and he goes, he goes the IT and me wants to say,
50:34
what did you say? Yeah, it's securing.
50:38
It's securing the voices for tomorrow, right?
50:42
In VPN and I even sell Internet and that one took me a half a
50:47
second, but I'm like, Yep, perfect.
50:49
So yeah, it was just kind of a thing.
50:51
I wanted to start a group. I wanted where we support each
50:54
other. We could, you know, if we ever,
50:57
you know, heaven forbid we could pay for a microphone and get a
50:59
sponsorship someday or go something.
51:02
I mean, right now you think about it, we're represented on
51:05
the East Coast in North Carolina, we're represented in
51:09
the Midwest here in Minnesota, and our friend Eric represents
51:13
us out in California. So we're kind of covering the
51:16
time zones there for you. You know, we'll whatever, But so
51:20
we're just hoping to grow and people that are kind of like
51:23
minded and you know, like helping promote each other.
51:26
So that was kind of the thing and just another network,
51:31
another group. And if you're a veteran out
51:35
there, and I've already had one reach out to me and he's like,
51:38
I've been thinking about starting a podcast.
51:41
I'm like, I have the perfect group for you.
51:44
We all three have different levels of expertise.
51:46
And I wouldn't say I'm an expert at anything, but I can tell you
51:49
a lot of mistakes I made and how not to make them.
51:52
And you know, like even talking with you and even talking with
51:55
Eric, just helping each other out.
51:57
If you're a veteran and you're looking to start a podcast and
52:01
you want to be on a podcast or you want to start one, we'll
52:04
help you. We'll help you.
52:06
We're not to the point where we can financially help you yet.
52:09
That's the end game of this is to be able to financially help
52:12
you, send you equipment, do whatever the subscriptions,
52:16
maybe we can share a subscription with you.
52:17
But right now technical, you know, support what to buy, what
52:22
not to buy, what we've tried, what worked for us, what didn't
52:24
work for us, and you'll get 3 different opinions on it.
52:27
But at least those three opinions of our opinions right
52:30
now that worked and we're hoping to add more people of stuff that
52:32
worked. And so then you can take that
52:35
information like you talk to these three people and this work
52:37
for them, all this work for two of them, that kind of stuff, you
52:40
know, so that's, that was the whole kind of goal of this and
52:45
is to grow and just get as many as we can out there.
52:48
And so, Yep, we're in the very early, early stages of it.
52:52
So that's the basis of it. How do you see it, John?
52:57
Yeah, no, I, I, I think you're, you're spot on with that man.
52:59
And like I said, we've talked about it a few times and, and
53:02
like, even before we talked, that was kind of something that
53:05
I would wanted to try to do, especially sometime next year,
53:08
was being able to do something along those lines to you,
53:10
especially like, because we all know and, and, and that's one
53:13
thing I am very grateful with partnering with, with military
53:16
broadcast radio is they, they provide us the streaming
53:18
platform to do this. They, they provide us the
53:21
destinations to be able to stream to, to get to a larger
53:24
and greater audience, you know, and, and other veteran
53:26
podcasters that we can network with as well.
53:28
It's, it's been, it's been a great experience.
53:32
And my thing is as a veteran podcaster, because the veteran
53:35
community is so, so much smaller than the rest of the podcast
53:40
community at large, network as much as you can with other
53:45
veteran podcasters. Like nobody is out here
53:47
competing with each other, you know, like that, at least the
53:50
networks that I've been had the honor of being a part of,
53:53
there's nobody that's just competing against each other.
53:55
You know, everybody's here to help each other out, give, give
53:58
advice, bring you on their shows, give you guest options as
54:03
well. Share guests between shows.
54:05
I, I've, I've been afforded the opportunity.
54:08
I'm, I've been asked to come on, be part of the oh shoot again
54:18
brain fart. I hate when this happens.
54:19
Like I'm in a conversation and like, I just can't think of
54:21
words sometimes. No, So I, I, so Maria, I had her
54:25
on, I've had her own, my own, my monthly releases.
54:28
But yeah, like she's, she's been a great resource.
54:30
She got me into Cave Arts, which is a great, just creative space
54:35
for veterans, not just podcasting, but they do writing,
54:38
they do music. Like Cave Arts is an amazing
54:41
resource. If you're look, if you're in the
54:42
creativity space period, as a veteran, Cave Arts is the spot
54:46
to go. And yeah, I mean, I've, I've.
54:51
Well, you're thinking they're, like you said, a veteran
54:55
supporting another veteran. Me celebrating your success,
54:59
John, or any other veteran out there, I'll follow you on
55:02
Facebook, I'll follow you on Instagram, reach out to me.
55:05
Me supporting your success does not diminish mine.
55:09
And I think that's the biggest message that veterans need to
55:12
get out there. If you're being successful or
55:15
you're starting to get successful, you celebrating or
55:18
following somebody else, their success, that doesn't diminish
55:22
you. Like I was just with Barry, he's
55:25
a Navy veteran. He has a Cowboys podcast.
55:28
I think he has like 35 Cowboys podcast.
55:31
This guy is just hammering it hard.
55:33
It's he's upbeat, he's entertaining, he's got it.
55:37
That's his niche and I love it, you know, and me liking his
55:42
stuff for watching his stuff doesn't diminish anything I do.
55:45
So and that goes the same for everybody.
55:47
And I think that's the biggest message that would need to be
55:50
is, you know, people like, oh, if I like that, that no, it
55:53
takes nothing from you, you know, so.
55:56
Yeah, I know you're absolutely right.
55:58
You know, and I got invited to come on Tip of the Spear, which
56:02
is a veteran round table. And we talked about anything and
56:06
everything from current events, things that are going on in the
56:08
veterans base in in the Department of War, the VA, you
56:12
know, a little bit of everything here and there.
56:14
And it's a collective of like there's, I want to say there's
56:19
almost like 18 different podcasters that are part of this
56:22
group. And we go live at every the last
56:27
Wednesday of every month, you know, and we just talk and
56:30
support each other, you know, and I've recently been asked to
56:35
come on and help out with the Cav Arts podcast as well.
56:39
And I was actually featured on one of their podcasting
56:43
one-on-one sessions, episode 13 or less than 13 of their
56:46
podcasting one-on-one sessions. And again, it's getting out
56:50
there and again, like I do this here on MB RI, have my own
56:54
monthly release that I do specifically that's only the
56:57
bunkhouse branded, you know, I'm going to be doing stuff with vet
57:00
and VPN for you guys. Like I do stuff with Tip of the
57:03
Spear, I'm going to do stuff with Cavars and that's OK.
57:06
Get out there and network. That's how you're going to get
57:08
to know people. That's how you're going to
57:09
learn. That's just how you're going to
57:11
get better and you're going to make other people better as well
57:13
just for doing it, you know? Right, 100%.
57:19
But yeah, man, any last comments or topics you want to talk
57:23
about, Bill? I don't think so.
57:25
I, I appreciate this greatly. I mean, this was awesome.
57:29
I obviously we're going to look work together a lot in the
57:32
future. I did have a thought that just
57:34
came to me and I completely totally forgot it as you're
57:36
talking, because that's my life now is forgetting stuff as soon
57:40
as I think of it. So, and I wish I had something
57:44
to blame besides old age. Right.
57:49
I blame the Gray hair. If I had hair, all I have is
57:53
Gray beer hair. So.
57:57
But no, thank you, John. I appreciate it very much.
58:00
I'm going to, as soon as we're done with this, I'm going to go
58:02
to the Legion and work some more down there instantly so.
58:06
Sounds good brother and I appreciate you joining me man.
58:08
Oh, looks like the backstage crew we got.
58:11
We got me a new logo up here in the top right hand corner.
58:15
Well, I like. Those they're I like that.
58:17
I like that. Yeah.
58:18
OK, this is now my new setup for every time I go live.
58:22
I like. This good job, guys, Yeah.
58:24
You can. I appreciate that guys work.
58:28
Hopefully I can meet some of them someday.
58:31
Oh yeah, So no matter matter of fact, if you once we once I end
58:36
the live here in a couple of minutes.
58:37
If you stay on, we still got some uploading to do once it's
58:40
finalized and I'll actually I'll, I'll make an introduction
58:42
real quick. Sweet.
58:43
Appreciate it. So yeah, make sure you promote
58:47
those military veterans. The last one, he was hard to get
58:50
information on that. Dustin Garner, all I got was he
58:53
served in the Army and all his songs are from his experiences,
58:58
you know, as and being in the military.
58:59
But either way, it's those are great songs, great stuff, you
59:03
know, supporting veterans and, you know, there's plenty of
59:06
things out there where you can support veterans or veteran
59:11
owned companies, you know, So yeah.
59:16
It's all I got, Bill, man, it's been an honor having you on the
59:19
show. I appreciate it and everybody
59:21
out there listening and watching guess I definitely appreciate
59:24
you guys viewing in making any comments.
59:26
I did have one one last comment real quick from MJ.
59:31
She said she hopes to see me some pictures with some pom
59:33
poms. I'll see what I could do once
59:34
it's your season really kicks off.
59:36
We. Know your daughters have some of
59:37
those videos. If they don't, your wife does,
59:41
so I hope they produce for us. See what we can do.
59:45
But yeah, for again, for everybody out there listening,
59:47
thank you again. Again, if you could follow the
59:49
link, tree link below and like share, comment, give me some
59:53
feedback too. Let me know make sure I'm doing
59:55
the right thing, make sure there's something else out there
59:56
you guys don't want to hear about.
59:58
All right, again, as always, be the light in someone's dark.
1:00:02
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