Latest / The City of Frankfort Podcast / Ep 21: Serving Those Who Served — Frankfort’s Veteran Resources

Transcript

Ep 21: Serving Those Who Served — Frankfort’s Veteran Resources · The City of Frankfort Podcast

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From Capitol Halls to Bourbon Balls, this is the City of Frankfurt podcast for the Frankfortians.
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We're swapping stories, spilling the tea, and celebrating the quirks that make
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Kentucky's capital the best hometown around.
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Welcome to the City of Frankfurt podcast. I'm Scott, and today I have the honor
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of sitting to chat with Frankfortian Daryl Casey and honor the service and sacrifice
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of the veterans in our community.
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Daryl Casey served our country for 33 years, three years in the United States
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Navy and 30 in the Kentucky National Guard.
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He retired in 2021 and now spends his time serving our local community in a
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lot of important ways. And we're going to hear about them today.
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Daryl, thank you for being here. And more importantly, thank you for your service.
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Truly welcome. Thanks for having me today. We're glad to have you.
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So let's start a little bit with your background. Tell us about yourself.
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Are you from Frankfurt or from Kentucky? So I'm from Kentucky.
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I'm born and raised in Shelby County.
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Graduated high school at the ripe age of 17 and was a middle of the road student, right?
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Barely at the middle of the road. Had no idea what to do. My granddad,
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kind of, who was a World War II Pearl Harbor survivor veteran,
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kind of told me, he said, Dink, you need to join the service.
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You need to grow up a little bit, see the world, kind of figure it out.
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And so I did. I joined the Navy, worked on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier,
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giving all the signals and stuff. That was me.
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I went to Desert Storm while I was in the Navy. uh,
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Primarily went to the Navy to get money for college. You know,
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it was a GI Bill. Got out of the Navy.
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Tried two semesters at UK and I quickly realized, yeah, I'm not built for this.
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I am not a college type person, right?
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Well, after I got out of the Navy, I had an obligated Naval Reserve service.
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Well, I switched it to the Army National Guard here in Frankfurt.
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And they're like, hey, we'll teach you to be a helicopter mechanic.
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And eventually could be a crew chief and flying them. I was like,
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well, that sounds pretty good.
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So between the semesters, I went to the helicopter mechanic school.
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After that second semester, I was just like, I'm not doing, I can't, this isn't for me.
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Well, they had a, they were hiring at the hangar for a full-time federal technician
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job as a helicopter mechanic. Got that job.
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30 years later, I retired from the Guard and from the Federal Technicians at the ripe age of 50.
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Oh, that's awesome, man. That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and that's a big
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responsibility, working on a helicopter.
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It was. The last thing you want is something to go wrong with a helicopter and have your name. Right.
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You can't pull over on the side of the road on the helicopter. That's the truth. Yeah.
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So, you know, 33 years military experience. What lessons would you say from
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your time in the military have stayed with you the most? Oh, gosh. Um...
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Just for me, it's do the hard things first, right?
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Life is hard. I mean, that's just it. There's no really easy days.
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But in my mind, if you do the hard things first, then it gets easier.
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I don't know where I would have been in my life if it wasn't for the service, honestly.
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You know, I had no clue what to do, where to go, what my life was going to be.
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And, you know, those were the days where they said you have to go to college to become anything.
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You have to go to college. Well, I didn't know what I wanted to do.
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I didn't know what I wanted to be.
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And the military was just a place for me to kind of figure it out.
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And then I realized I kind of like this, you know.
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And so I'm just so grateful for it, but, you know, do the hard things first,
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attention to detail, be where you're going to be when you say you're going to be there. And...
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Just be a good person. Sometimes you see that out there.
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It's so much effort to be negative, to be just a good person,
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do what you're supposed to do and things like that. No, it makes sense.
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I think that, especially just the fact that you've committed your life to service.
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I didn't serve in the military, but I served my community for 25 years. Sure.
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Same, same thing. Yeah. You know, and I think that there's something to be said
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for just to committing your committing yourself to a life of service to others.
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You know, it, you know, the world needs more of that.
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You know, always just the willingness to put others before yourself.
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And that's what you do when you commit your life to service.
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You know, you just you're just putting everybody else before you.
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You know, and the hard work for sure.
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You know, I always refer back to something that Bruce Lee said,
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which was pray not for an easy life, but for the strength to endure a difficult one.
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Because life is going to be tough. It is. You know, and I think that's something
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that definitely the military and that law enforcement has given me just not
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being afraid to do the hard work.
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And like you said, doing the hard things first and, you know,
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everything else from that point just kind of gets easier, you know.
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So, definitely respect that.
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So, that idea of service beyond yourself seems to be a common thread and it
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continues in your work today.
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Let's get into what you spend your time doing right now. So,
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I'm a member of the VFW here in Frankfort, post 4075. I was commander for a couple of years.
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And then when I left being commander, you know, I still wanted to be involved
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and engaged in the veteran population and the veteran community.
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And so we kind of started a office.
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We're all volunteers. We don't get paid. And what we initially started it for
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was helping veterans file disability claims because it can be tough.
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Right. You know, especially if you're what we call the flip phone generation.
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Right. They don't scan PDF. They don't email text kind of thing.
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So we opened up this little office.
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There's a couple of us as service officers, and we would just make appointments,
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and people would come in, and we'd kind of help them with claims,
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and we didn't really know what to expect.
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Fast forward now, almost two years since we've opened, and we're knocking on
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300 veterans that we've helped.
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Wow. Um, and the community partners we've made, you know, now if a veteran comes
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in the door, who's addicted,
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we, we have programs throughout our community where we can help them with,
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if they're homeless, we have programs in the community we can help them with.
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So we've, we've kind of expanded the, the, the parameters of what we started
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with to now we're just a one-stop shop. You know, we, we try very hard to help
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to reach out to the veteran community.
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The VFW has been a super supporter of us, you know, for whatever we need.
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We are now eight service officers. Three of them are females,
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you know, so if a female veteran comes in and doesn't want to talk to me,
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completely understand.
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We have someone who can help them.
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We've helped veterans with service dogs.
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We've helped veterans with housing.
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I mean, it's, it's, it's been really great to, to, to see the.
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Responses that we've got and the, you know, now we're getting,
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oh, I heard from a friend of mine that you, that you helped them and can you help me as well?
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And, you know, so we don't have office hours.
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We're, like I said, we're all volunteers, but we make appointments at the convenience
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of the, of the veteran or the family.
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You know, if a veteran has recently passed and the, and the Families trying
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to figure out, do they qualify for any benefits from the VA or honor guard or anything?
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We try to be there to help them through it.
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So what has that transition been like from military service to community service?
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Well, one, I got to grow my hair out, which was kind of cool.
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I had the same haircuts as I was 17.
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I don't think that's going to help me. Yeah. You may, you may not be helped,
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but I got to grow the beard, you know, which was kind of cool.
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Wife eventually came around to it. Yeah. Um.
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It's been different, you know, cause I still, I mean, I've been,
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I've been retired since 2021. Right.
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And I still feel some days like I need to be doing something.
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Right. Like if there's nothing going on, I just feel like, should I be sitting around?
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Right. Like it's hard for me to, to not do something.
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Right. Or feel like I need to be doing something. Um,
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but it, it, it, It takes a while.
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It takes a while to shift from working every day on helicopters and literally
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having people's lives in your hand when you're working on those helicopters.
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If you don't do things exactly right and that flight crew goes out and something happens, that's you.
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Going from something like that to what I do now, it takes a while,
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but I'm really enjoying it. I'm really enjoying it.
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The thing I didn't ever want to do was not do anything.
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It seems like a lot of veterans, when they retire, well, I'm just going to sit
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around the house. Man, that's the worst thing you can do.
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You have to plug into something, whether it's the VFW or the Lifehouse or the
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library or something, just to occupy your time, keep your mind active, keep your body active.
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You have to find something to plug into. And that's what.
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I'm very fortunate and thankful to have found. Yeah.
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Yeah. Well, that's good to know because I'm probably going to be retiring here.
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Yeah. Yeah. It's a couple of years.
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I keep telling my wife, she said, well, you're going to be retired. I said, nothing.
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And she said, well, you're going to get bored. I said, I can play a lot of golf.
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I do a lot of fishing. Well, see, even that's something though. Right. Right.
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Yeah. Right. There's a lot of fish out there you need to meet.
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Yeah, a lot of fish and you need to catch them, you know? Yeah.
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So we'll see because I'm sure I'll have to find something, you know,
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to keep me occupied because I'll be fairly young and as far as like life expectancy goes.
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Yeah. I mean, you know, it's, it's one thing to retire when you're 65 or something
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like a lot of folks do, but when you're 50 or, you know, however old you're
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going to be when you retire, I mean, that's a whole different ball game. Yeah.
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You know, and it's one thing to work because you have to, and it's another thing
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to go to work because you want to. If you want to.
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That's what I'll be. And then you find something that you really like,
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and you jump into it, and then it kind of walks out.
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A lot of people, really, when I probably started to get to know you a little
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bit better with the fireworks.
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A lot of people don't realize that the Frankfurt fireworks are actually sponsored
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by and do all the preparation that goes into it, the setup, the cost.
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The launching. The launching. All that is done by the VSW. Yeah, yeah.
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For 66 years so far, the VFW has launched the fireworks for the city of Frankfurt. Yeah.
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For the past 20 plus years, our main sponsor has been Buffalo Trace.
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Every dime they make from their race that morning at the distillery on the 4th
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of July, they donate that to the VFW.
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We then in turn spend every penny of it and launch fireworks for the city of Frankfurt.
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Yeah. Um, I, about six, seven years ago, I got involved with being on the fireworks
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team and, uh, you know, I've got some.
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I had a good veteran friend of mine who was not doing well with fireworks,
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and I was like, come with me on the team, and you're a part of it.
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You're controlling it, and now he's all in on to it. Shout out to you, Mark Creech.
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But he loves doing that.
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I mean, and it's really kind of, you know, we're drawing in other veterans to
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help us with that, and it's great to see them kind of embrace it and enjoy it again.
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But yeah, it's great fun. It's kind of probably a little bit therapeutic.
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It is. Exactly. It is. You know, especially when you're controlling it,
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you know, you're putting the flame to the fuse and that six inch shell goes up in the air 600 feet.
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Boom. And you're just like, wow, I did that. You know, it's great.
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Yeah. It really is. Yeah.
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You know, a lot of this work that you do is very rewarding.
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So I don't know if you can share a specific story,
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but maybe exclude some names or specifics, but do you have just like a,
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just anything that pops out that has been really rewarding from your work with
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the VRC in the community? Yeah.
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I do. So, you know, we've helped veterans from Vietnam era to today.
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The youngest veteran we've had come into the office was a 22-year-old female.
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She was in the Marines. And when you may remember when we pulled out of Afghanistan,
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there was a place called Abbey Gate that the explosion went off and the 13 service
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members lost their lives.
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Well, she was a medic and first one, dust was still coming down and she was there.
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Horrific things she saw. She came back home, was having a lot of issues, problems.
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She came to the BRC. Her uncle sent her down to us.
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We got her 100% disabled, disability, and we also got her a service dog.
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And now to see her, she's completely changed.
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I mean, she's back. Yeah. Right.
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And the thing that I've said, and I've said it to veterans, I've said it to folks here at City Hall.
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I've said, veterans don't want handouts.
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They want a hand up. you know they they they
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get knocked down in the dirt they want somebody to help pick them up kind of
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dust them off a little bit and say man that that sucked didn't it yeah well
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let's help let's get you back up and back out there and go be another be a human
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again right um so that was one great one um another one we had it wasn't,
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I didn't work the case or the situation, but one of my other veteran service officers did.
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Had a fellow who tried a long time ago to try to get some disability and couldn't
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figure it out. So he got frustrated and just quit.
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One of my other service officers got connected with him. And this gentleman
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at the time was, you know, him and his wife were living hand to mouth, right?
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Not in the best circumstances, not in the best situations.
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We got him from zero to 100% disabled, which is almost $4,500 a month.
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And then we were able to get him back paid almost half a million dollars.
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Our next call was directly to a financial counselor because we told him,
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you are not going to be a lottery fail.
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We need to set, this is going to change your life and we need to do it smartly.
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So we got him set up with a local bank here who offered a financial counselor at no cost.
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And now he's in a house, has a life again, and is back at it.
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And when you do something like that as a service officer, you know there's somebody else out there.
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Like you get that, I did it once, I bet I can do it again, right?
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And so, you know, what we never do is we never guarantee or promise that we're going to get you to that.
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Right. Because a lot of people hear, well, I heard you got so-and-so to this
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maybe, but I promise you we'll do our best.
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We're going to follow the rules, but we're going to try.
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Yeah. And that's all we can promise. Sometimes it works out. Sometimes it doesn't.
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But knowing how to navigate the VA and just because you get no doesn't mean
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no, that means not right now.
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Right. We may need more information. We may need more data, but we will always
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try until there's nothing left to try.
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And so those are two of the big wins that we've had that may not have ever been
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a win if we didn't have our little office here.
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So we're very proud of that. We're very proud of the.
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Of a lot of the quiet things that nobody knows about, you know,
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a veteran needs a needs an apartment for a few days or he needs gas money coming
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through town or something.
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You know, we we never give direct cash to anybody,
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but we will we have gift cards that are for gas only from local gas stations
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that will give them to help them through or groceries or food bank or or whatever.
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You know, we, it's a lot of the big wins are, Hey, look what we did,
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but it's a lot of the quiet things that, that nobody really knows or hears about
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that, that mean a lot to us as well. Yeah.
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Yeah. That's awesome, man. I mean, I know that, um, I'm a huge proponent for
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mental health resources, um.
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In, in, in law enforcement, um, really with all first responders,
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but within law enforcement, you know, we've.
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But just like a lot of people don't realize that just like our military sees
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and deals with trauma, our first responders do too.
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I would argue that you guys see it more because you're there every day.
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Well, and the statistics are out there.
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So a lot of military, well, there's two different kinds of trauma.
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You got to be acute trauma and you have cumulative trauma.
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Acute trauma would be an instance like with this young lady,
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this one traumatic incident.
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Uh that caused you know some um you know whatever was going on you know with her,
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uh but then you have cumulative trauma there's
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just incident multiple incidents over the years right and years and the average
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police this statistic came out several years ago the average police officer
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would see between 700 and 800 traumatic events within a 20-year career and that's
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the average police officer that's not the new york city right right that's just your average officer.
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An average department in America, I think, is between 10 and 15 officers.
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So we're talking the average police officer's seen between 700 and 800 traumatic
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events. And they don't even work 20-year careers anymore.
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Now they're 25, 30-year careers.
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So that just is going to multiply that number.
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So I'm huge on making sure that we have resources out there.
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We have peer support and different resources here at the Frankfurt Police Department
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to make sure that our guys to stay sharp, you know, and then,
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you know, cause it is, um,
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you know, it's something that, that for years was not talked about in long enforcement,
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you know, it's just kind of like, you just, you shove it deep down, same thing.
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Yeah. And you just press on, like, we still gotta, we still gotta take that
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hill, you know, or whatever it is.
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We've still got these goals to meet. So you just shove it down and you go on,
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but, you know, I'm glad to see, I think the military,
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Especially after Vietnam and then after GWAT.
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They really changed a lot of how the military was dealing with helping veterans when they come home.
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Absolutely. I think Vietnam, we saw the error in that way.
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Absolutely. You know what I mean? And then with GWAT, unfortunately,
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we learned a lot of this stuff because of error.
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Right yeah you know what i mean my dad says there's two
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ways in life you learn trauma and repetition yeah right and and and the when
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i came back from desert storm in 91 i went to va in a way it was it was a nightmare
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i came back from iraq in 2005 and that's when they were throwing pills at you
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you know and a lot of veterans got.
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The VA, you know, unintendingly got a lot of those veterans hooked on them and
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then it was a downward spiral.
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2010 came back from Iraq and it was a little different.
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15 came back from Kuwait and completely different.
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And now, you know, I would put our Lexington VA up against anybody.
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I mean, and I don't know that there's anybody out there who is as good as dealing
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with mental health issues from the military side than the VA right now.
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You know, they're saving lives up there every day. There's there's inpatient.
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I could if you were a veteran who's having issues, we could go to the VA right now.
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I could get you an inpatient treatment that fast because they recognized it.
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There's holistic approaches now where yoga and acupuncture and other things
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other than just medication, right?
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I mean, so yeah, it took them a while to figure it out, but they've got it figured out now.
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And I am so grateful to have that Lexington VA clinic just up the road here on 127.
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The director of the VA said that we in Frankfurt are going to get a community-based
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outpatient clinic in Frankfurt.
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I know that. Coming up the next. I've heard that's in the works.
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Coming up in the next few years. So we'll have a clinic here in Frankfurt,
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which is going to be great for a lot of those veterans who can't,
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you know, for drive or get to Lexington.
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So, yeah, the VA is really starting to.
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Reach out into the communities, especially, you know, our, our VFW is the third
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biggest one in the state.
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Really? I didn't know that. Yeah. We've got over almost 800 members. Yeah.
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And so once they see that, they're like, we need to put plate,
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you know, they've got some in the, these communities, they call them CBOX,
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community-based outpatient clinics.
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Um, there's one in Glasgow, there's one in E-Town there, you know,
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they're, they're spreading them out.
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There's some in Eastern Kentucky, there's some in Western Kentucky,
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because sometimes the VA is not close.
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Right. And so they're trying to put these in situational places where the veterans
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in that area can have a place to go to.
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And so, yeah, the VA is, you know, mental health has been a big thing and especially mental health.
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You know, desert storm to now, you know, like you said, Vietnam guys,
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they didn't get treated correctly.
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Whether it was a welcome home, whether it was the care that they received,
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but the lessons learned from that is now helping the veterans of today.
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Yeah. You know, the law enforcement realm, we learn a lot of things from the military.
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Right. I mean, we're not only talking tactics, but we do learn- The rest of
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the story as well. The rest of the story as well. Yeah.
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Unfortunately, a lot of the things we learn, whether it's military or first
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responders, somebody's paid the price to learn that lesson.
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Right, right. Yeah. You know, so I will just throw this out there.
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If you ever get invited to a dinner at the VFW, you better go because they're
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going to feed you and they're going to feed you well.
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So take that as a nut. Am I lying? You're not lying.
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One thing we're good at is feeding. So where do you hope to see the VRC in the next five years?
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You know, the Veteran Resource Center started as kind of a first step in a bigger vision. Yeah.
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There is a need for permanent housing for homeless veterans in this area, you know,
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and the VRC kind of started out as the first step of this giant program, of this big goal.
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Um, it, you know, a veteran housing group has kind of formed and we're working
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through the steps on how to provide permanent housing for homeless veterans.
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Um, there, there are a lot of places in Lexington and even in Shelby County
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that has transitional housing, you know, where a veteran is homeless.
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They'd get them off the street. they'll give them
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uh training on resumes
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and and job placement and things like that and
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like in for example in shelbyville there's a thing called the veterans rural
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word rural outreach where a
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veteran can stay in one of these tiny homes at no cost to themselves up to a
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year and they get all the mental care you know va let louisville comes in and
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gives them you know the care that they need there's like I said there's resume
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building there's job placement and stuff like that,
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well then what right.
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And so in Frankfurt, we're working with the VA in Lexington has a program called the VASH program.
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And that's, they help pay for housing for veterans, for permanent housing.
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So, you know, and so what we're trying to do is at the end of the day,
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create a place or something where veterans who start out on the street with
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no homes, they go through one of those transitional housing programs.
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And if there's addiction, there's programs for that.
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You know, get them cleaned up, get them out, back out, give them that hand up
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and then give them a place.
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You know, and a lot of housing for veterans is just for the veteran.
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You know, there's nothing for the families. Well, this thing that we're trying
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to build would be for veterans with families as well.
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And, you know, it's a lofty goal.
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You know, in the service they teach us, crawl, walk, run, right?
28:46
Well, we're in the crawl stage right now.
28:48
We're gathering information, you know, just came from a meeting today with the
28:53
VA and the housing authority here in Frankfurt,
28:56
how they work together and how we could potentially pay the rent for one of
29:03
these places, you know, so...
29:07
The snowball is being packed. It's up on top of the mountain and we're about
29:11
to let it loose and see it and watch it grow.
29:14
And, you know, I think that's going to be a pretty cool thing.
29:18
Yeah. You know, to something that we can do here in Frankfurt.
29:21
And we're very fortunate that the city is on board and behind us and supporting this,
29:26
you know, because that can be a major obstacle in some places is getting the
29:31
support of the government, local government.
29:34
And we have that. And, um, you know, it's, it's going to be a cool thing to
29:40
see it, to see it grow and kind of, so hopefully in, in five years,
29:44
this thing will be, this will be a living, breathing organism and, uh,
29:49
we'll get to see the benefits of that. Yeah.
29:51
So how, let me ask you this. So as a community member, maybe I'm a veteran,
29:56
maybe I'm not, you know, if, but I'm, but I'm, I'm hearing this and I'm like,
30:01
man, I'd love to get involved.
30:03
Like I see this need, how could somebody in our community get involved in any way?
30:18
It's a good question. We're kind of still in the building the foundation phase right now.
30:26
But if anybody is interested, you know,
30:29
because we're going to get to the point where if you're an electrician or if
30:34
you're a HVAC guy or if you're a builder or something, we may need to get some of those resources.
30:43
You can always call the Veteran Resource Center's phone number, 502-352-6541.
30:52
Leave a voicemail. Let us know that you're interested and we can then reach out.
30:58
This is going to be an exciting thing, especially coming from the veteran side of this thing.
31:05
And to see...
31:10
This thing come from an idea to, to happening, you know, it's,
31:15
it's, it's kind of a cool, a cool process and we're still learning, uh, things about it.
31:21
We're still trying to figure out a lot of the, the behind the scenes details,
31:24
but, um, but yeah, it's going to be a cool, a cool process.
31:29
And, uh, we're, we're really excited about it. Yeah. That's awesome. There really is.
31:35
Uh, there, I'll tell you this, this, this, this all just kind of blows me away.
31:38
You know, just, I always say, you know, people give you the money,
31:42
but they won't always give you your time. Right.
31:46
You know, and the fact that you're out here doing this, you know,
31:50
and just giving of your time, giving of yourself, you know, it's such an amazing thing.
31:56
Obviously, you're very passionate about it. And, you know, I just,
32:00
man, my hat's just off to you.
32:02
For many people, the American flag is something they see, you know,
32:07
every day, whether it's on a flagpole, wherever, at schools,
32:09
government buildings, front porches.
32:12
But for someone who served, obviously that flag can carry such a deep meaning.
32:20
So what does the American flag represent to you personally?
32:25
You know, when I, when I, when I was asked to do this, this,
32:29
this broadcast or this podcast, um, you know, when they told me about flag day
32:34
and they're kind of kicking around some questions, I was like,
32:37
don't get too emotional.
32:39
Right. Because it is, I mean, but honestly, when you're, when you are part of
32:44
the military and you go to these, you get deployed to these foreign countries
32:49
and you get there and you look up and you see the red, white, and blue flying.
32:53
And I mean, to me, a lot of it is about, it represents sacrifice, you know.
33:02
I've been away from home, from my loved ones, my wife, my family,
33:09
in foreign countries for almost five years of the time we've been together.
33:14
Right. And, you know,
33:17
but more importantly than just the time, it's the physical and mental sacrifices
33:25
that military members give.
33:32
You know, I always tell people when you join the service, you're at the best of yourself.
33:38
Right. And, you know, the military takes that and they use you like,
33:44
like a tool because you're just a little cog in the big machine, right?
33:48
You're, they grind you up sometimes and sometimes they break you and,
33:53
and you, and, and you have to figure out how to get back from that.
33:57
Um, but you know, I've, I've had friends of mine who, who we call,
34:06
we talk to each other quite a bit.
34:07
And sometimes we have bad days and we have to talk to each other.
34:10
Um, it's, it's the sacrifice that the blood that's been spilled from the time that flag,
34:17
you know, from 1776 to today, the blood that has been spilled because of that
34:24
flag representing the United States and fighting for our way of life and our beliefs in our country.
34:35
It takes on a different meaning when, you know, when I was in the Navy and in
34:41
the middle of a desert storm and I'm working 18 hour days and I look up and
34:45
over top of the island of that aircraft carrier,
34:47
you see that flag flying and you're just like, that's why I'm doing this.
34:50
You know, that's why I'm here. Or if I'm in Iraq and things are happening and
34:56
I'm missing home and I'm,
34:59
you know, you look up and you see that flag and you look down on your shoulder
35:03
and you see that flag where you're like, that's why I'm doing this for something bigger than myself.
35:09
The flag takes on a different flavor and a different purpose when you've committed your life to it.
35:22
You know, and I am grateful for the time that I spent in the service.
35:28
And, you know, um, I always encourage people, if your flag is a little bit torn
35:33
or tattered, bring it to the post.
35:36
We will see that it's retired properly.
35:39
Um, please don't fly it like that because it's, it's kind of distant.
35:44
It's a little bit disrespectful of the meaning of that flag and what it's there for.
35:49
Um, you know, I've, uh.
35:55
Yeah, I've, like when we go to a ball games, UK ball game or whatever,
36:03
and they sing the national anthem and you look around, you see veterans.
36:08
Because you can, if you're retired, if you've served in the military and you
36:12
don't anymore, you can salute the flag instead of putting your hand over heart.
36:16
And when I'm at a ball game or whatever and they play it, I look around and
36:19
I see those salutes and I get, you know, mean something a little different.
36:26
And so, yeah, just the sacrifices that have been given in order for that flag
36:33
to fly means a whole, whole lot.
36:35
Man, I have so much respect for our flag.
36:39
My grandfather served in World War II. He was over in the Pacific fighting,
36:44
you know, to preserve the American way of life.
36:50
And I mean, really, I mean, that.
36:53
You know, after Pearl Harbor, that really was about keeping Americans safe. Oh, yeah.
36:59
The world, I mean, the world, the world was in conflict.
37:03
You know, my father wasn't able to serve. He had polio when he was a kid.
37:08
So he wasn't able to serve. But, you know, just knowing even on the community
37:13
level what my family has sacrificed.
37:16
Sure. You know, for me to be able to do this for as long as I have for what
37:20
they've given up. You know, never any long deployments, but,
37:25
you know, I spent 13 years on our tactical response unit.
37:29
Sure. Absolutely. Phone ringing at two o'clock in the morning.
37:31
Yeah. You're out the door and, you know, worrying. See you when I see you. Yeah.
37:36
Well, and then worrying, you know, like, you know. Absolutely.
37:39
You know, just the things that go into that and, you know, but I do have so
37:43
much respect for a flag and I've been to other countries. I think I've been
37:48
to like six other countries.
37:50
A couple of times I was on vacation. I'm not going to lie.
37:53
Yeah, no worries about that. But other times it wasn't, but when you come home,
37:56
you know, when you come home.
37:59
I spent the summer after high school, I spent in China, and that was not on vacation.
38:07
But I was over in China that summer after high school. I mean,
38:11
when you come home and you put your feet on this soil.
38:14
It has a different flavor, a different, you know, you get that kind of good or bad.
38:22
And I love going to the ones on vacation, too. You know what I mean?
38:25
When you come home, you know you're home.
38:28
Yeah. You know, I don't know that anything spools me up more than when seeing
38:34
people step on the flag or burn the flag. I'm like, look, man,
38:37
if you want to protest, cool. I support that.
38:40
I'm the reason you, you know, the veterans are the reason you can do that.
38:44
Right. But when you start.
38:47
Bring in the stars and stripes in it, then, then we're going to,
38:51
then, then, then things kind of change. Right.
38:54
I mean, if you don't, and I don't, and I'm not trying to get political here
38:58
at all, but good or bad with our country.
39:05
I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. No. Right. Having been to some of the
39:09
places and seen some of the things that I've seen, you know, are we great?
39:13
No. Are we perfect? No. Do we have issues? Yes.
39:17
But. But.
39:20
Still. Right. Yeah. But the U.S.
39:23
Flag is absolutely a, not just a piece of cloth that's flying.
39:30
It's a symbol of all the things that are good and right with this nation.
39:34
And a lot of that is due to the service and the sacrifice of the folks who have
39:42
served in our in our military. Yeah.
39:44
And that's kind of why it means something a little different to us, I think.
39:48
Patriotism, it's it's not just something that's kind of this lofty symbol in our minds.
39:56
It's also practical and it can be done on the local level.
40:01
What would you want the younger generations in Frankfurt to understand about
40:06
service, citizenship, and community involvement?
40:11
There are a few chances you have in life to be part of something that's bigger than yourself, right?
40:20
Like, um, whether it's the police, whether it's the fire, whether it's,
40:25
um, ride an ambulance, whether, you know, something that's bigger than just you.
40:31
And it's something that, you know, whether, and I don't know that there's,
40:36
you know, speaking personally, that there's something bigger than that, than the military,
40:41
you know, the, the military, you're not, you're part of something bigger.
40:47
You know, you are the, you don't go out and do things by yourself.
40:52
You, you belong to a, a group of, of something that.
41:02
A lot of people need something to help them focus,
41:08
to help them get away from maybe their home life isn't the best,
41:15
or maybe they're in a situation where it's not great. The service gives you that chance.
41:20
Like for me, 17-year-old kid with no idea what to do for the rest of his life.
41:27
The service gave me that place to kind of figure it out.
41:32
And then I realized, hey, man, this ain't bad, right? And I made it my life.
41:38
And I am so grateful for that.
41:42
But, you know, just for those kids in high school, the sophomores,
41:49
the juniors, the seniors, you know, life is hard after high school.
41:54
Life can be a reality check very quickly. And, you know, I think now people
42:02
are understanding that college isn't for everybody.
42:04
You don't have to go to college to have a good life. You know,
42:08
you don't have to get student loans and all those things to make something of yourself.
42:15
You know, the trade schools now are getting very, I think, popular,
42:21
rightfully so, but there's also the service, you know, the National Guard, for example.
42:28
I think people need to know that if you want to go to college,
42:33
but you really don't know how to pay for it, you can join the National Guard
42:36
and they'll pay for your in-state tuition.
42:39
A lot of people don't know that, you know, it's, it's just, it's there,
42:44
right? It's always there.
42:47
And it's an opportunity for the younger folks out there to see some of the world,
42:53
to kind of grow up a little bit, to kind of get those skills in life that employers look for.
43:00
You know, I feel like I could say pretty confidently that if two people apply for a job,
43:09
both have the same kind of level, one's a veteran, one's not,
43:12
I feel pretty confident that the veteran's going to get a pretty good look.
43:17
Because of what we bring to the table, because of what we've learned,
43:21
those lessons. We love high-end buildings.
43:24
Because we know you show up, if you're on time, you're late,
43:28
so you show up a little early, right?
43:30
Because early is on time is what they beat into us, right? They beat into us.
43:35
You're part of something bigger. You're part of a team, and you live and die with that team.
43:41
And, you know, so that would be the thing that I would want the younger generation
43:47
to know is that it's an opportunity that you may not know about or you may not
43:54
think about, but it's there.
43:57
You know, and it's, it's, um, it's tough. It's hard.
44:02
It's going to be some of the hardest things you've probably ever done in your
44:05
life, but the rewards you get from it outweigh, you know, I think I said it
44:13
before, the more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war. Right.
44:15
So the harder the training is, the more that you learn and the things you do.
44:20
Teaches you lessons that you're going to use the rest of your life um and
44:24
and um so yeah that would probably be
44:27
what i would uh want people to know you know it's
44:30
funny you said uh if you're on time you're late and i
44:33
live by that but guess who
44:36
taught me that an old military guy yeah at ken
44:39
hopkins i don't know if you know ken he's retired from
44:42
the police department but he's also retired from the kentucky national
44:45
guard yeah and uh he he pounded
44:49
that into me when i was a young officer if you're on time you're
44:52
late you're on time you're late you're on time you're late well now i
44:55
mean i live like that well i've got my wife to where she's on time for everything
45:01
yeah and yeah and uh and it's so funny we went to a family dinner here a couple
45:07
weeks ago and she said we're 10 minutes early nobody else is going to be there
45:11
and i was like i'll hang in the car It's okay.
45:13
You know, I can, I won't say that I get anxiety if I'm not going to be there
45:19
early, but I get a little, I get a little twitchy. Oh yeah, I did too.
45:24
It can be two or three minutes, but I still, you know, my, sometimes my wife
45:29
enjoys being what we, I guess you would call fashionably late. Yeah.
45:33
And I have to, I have to kind of, I'm understanding that now and I'm getting
45:37
okay with it on occasion.
45:39
But I think people appreciate that, especially in a business situation. Yeah, for sure.
45:51
So we talked about this a little bit before. You've got a new career.
45:58
Kind of, yeah. Something that I guess you still wanted to have that kind of
46:04
captain title. title so yeah tell uh tell frankfurt a little bit about your
46:10
new career that you're yeah so um.
46:14
I don't really know how I fell into it, but I am so grateful that I did.
46:23
Frankfort, we have a river tourism company.
46:29
It's called Kentucky River Tours,
46:31
and it's run by Nathan and Allison Deppenbrock, who own Canoe Kentucky.
46:35
And they have a big 64-foot converted houseboat on the Kentucky River that offers tours.
46:46
And, you know, I started there as a historical interpreter, I guess you would
46:55
call it, like a tour guide on the river.
46:58
And worked there for about a year. And then, you know, Nathan Allison kind of
47:03
sat me down and said, hey, we really like the way you kind of operate.
47:07
And would you be interested in being a captain on this boat?
47:11
And I thought, well, it's something to think about.
47:14
And, you know, I kind of got into the thinking about it and talked about it
47:18
with my wife and thought that'd be kind of a kind of a cool deal.
47:22
So I had to attend a conference.
47:26
It's a Coast Guard inspected vessel, so I had to go through Coast Guard training.
47:30
I had to go to two weeks of in-house schooling in Bayou Labattre,
47:37
Alabama, at a place called C-School.
47:39
And as I said before, it was like drinking water from a fire hose.
47:44
All the navigational rules of the road and the maritime law and plotting and all these things.
47:50
Um learned that built up my time on the boat submitted all my stuff and now
47:57
i'm a coast guard certified 100 ton master mariner.
48:03
And uh am now a captain in training uh on the on the on the bourbon bale here
48:09
in frankfurt um i absolutely love the job um you know what's that like experiencing
48:17
frankfurt from the river Oh man,
48:20
it's for those folks from Frankfurt who have been on the river,
48:26
you know what it's like, right?
48:28
I mean, it's just a whole different side of Frankfurt.
48:33
It's a side that I think is underutilized, but I think it just gives people
48:39
who have been in our town, which they love.
48:42
They love the city of frankfurt but just to be able to see it from
48:45
the water um and to kind of learn about the history of frankfurt and the history
48:52
of the river and and how it all ties in and um you know the the way bourbon
48:59
is part of that history and you know.
49:03
I absolutely love the job. I, I never really had that on my bingo card,
49:09
being a Coast Guard certified, uh, captain, but I absolutely love it.
49:15
Um, you know, there's, it's pretty true. You hardly ever have a bad day on the river.
49:20
Um, you know, um, but yeah, I absolutely, uh, um, have a blast working out there.
49:27
Um Allison and Nathan
49:30
are the best people you could ever ask
49:33
to to be your bosses um and
49:36
uh I'm very very grateful yeah for to have that job and you know it's it's it
49:42
keeps you busy right it's something that keeps me from sitting around the house
49:46
work Monday Wednesdays Fridays and occasional Saturdays every once in a while
49:50
but I absolutely love it the boat this year we're going going to do have concerts on the boat. Okay.
49:57
A couple of Jerry Howell's coming out to do a little show on the boat.
50:02
Doc Renshaw is coming out to do a little show out there. You know,
50:06
we've got a concert on our website now of the concert series.
50:10
So it's just a really cool thing to see the boat and that the growing,
50:17
you know, and I'm very fortunate to be kind of there at the beginning of it and really enjoy it.
50:25
Yeah. Yeah. It's really fun. You don't have any crazy stories from the river
50:28
yet, do you? You know. That you can share.
50:32
Seeing people swimming during the week right down the river as we're coming along and it's like.
50:39
There's a person. There's a guy swimming. You know, that's kind of been interesting.
50:43
Um, uh, but yeah, it's, I'll tell you, what's really interesting is watching,
50:49
people when we get around
50:52
up to the big eddy points and where you
50:55
see the the the devastation from
50:58
the flood yeah you know a lot of people remember seeing us
51:01
as frankfurt in the news but when you can actually put that to and show them
51:07
and then you show the high level or the high marks and it just people can't
51:13
comprehend yeah what it was like living through it right because That pool,
51:18
the pool is not that deep.
51:21
No, no. You know, it's 12 feet to maybe 18 in some places.
51:26
Where we got with the flooding was insane. Forty.
51:29
Forty eight point two. Some fish. If I say it wrong, Gray Kenny.
51:33
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He'll definitely come at you. Yeah. I saw the podcast.
51:37
Yeah. Yeah. Not the right number. Yeah.
51:39
So. All right. So, Darrell, we want to thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you all.
51:46
Especially for me. Yeah. Thank you for your service. Well, I thank you for yours.
51:50
I mean, you know, it's kind of a different thing, but, you know, you do it every day.
51:55
And I would say Frankfurt is a very comfortable and a very safe place because
52:02
of what you and your brothers and sisters do for us. I appreciate that. I appreciate that.
52:08
Well, Frankfurt is better because of the work that you're out here doing on
52:14
a daily basis. at the Veteran Resource Center, you're impacting,
52:18
because it doesn't just impact the individual, it impacts the whole community.
52:23
So we're very appreciative. We like to end our show with what we call Frankfurt Rapid Fire. Okay.
52:30
All right. So as a fellow Francordian, we want to hear some of your takes on our town.
52:35
You just have to say the first thing that comes to mind. Okay.
52:38
No explanation, just...
52:41
You know. Okay. Like word vomit. All right. Ready? Let's go.
52:46
All right. Favorite bourbon sip?
52:48
Willer 12. Favorite Frankfurt landmark? Who?
52:54
Paul Sawyer's Overlook. All right. Favorite special event in Frankfurt? Oh.
53:05
Concert series. I like going down there, just hanging out, eating everything,
53:09
and seeing all the stuff.
53:11
I feel like I know the answer to this next one. Coffee or tea?
53:15
I'm a coffee dude. Yeah. You're a military guy. You got to be a coffee guy.
53:19
Favorite Frankfurt Mexican restaurant? Ooh.
53:23
So if I may explain my answer, for Mexican food, Garcia's.
53:31
I think it's the absolute best in Frankfurt.
53:36
But the best food.
53:39
Restaurant in frankfurt period i wouldn't
53:43
even it's not mexican it's honduran and shout out to
53:46
mommy machita's and a big shout out to maggie at
53:49
mommy mo's um i think mommy machita's
53:52
is the best restaurant in frankfurt yeah i
53:55
would put them up against everybody and and my uh
53:59
you know when when my wife and i are out there a couple
54:02
times a week and let
54:05
me tell you we're both pretty pro food right i mean
54:07
we're good everybody's good at something i'm really good at eating yeah and
54:11
and i would say mommy mo's is and it
54:14
so it's kind of a subset
54:18
of mexican food but it's honder and i'm definitely gonna have you got to i've
54:25
never been there uh but you know my my my step brother and his wife lived in
54:31
honduras for about 12 years um they're they're missionaries they're actually
54:35
They live over in Thailand now.
54:38
But they lived in Honduras for about 12 years. I've never had authentic Honduran food.
54:43
Because I'm guessing it's the real deal. It is not Mexican.
54:48
It's completely different. Like what you would think of. It's not chips and
54:50
salsa and that kind of stuff. It is just layers of flavor, citruses and spices.
54:56
Not spicy hot, but just, I mean. Yeah.
55:00
Okay. You give it a try. I'm going to have to go. If you don't like it,
55:03
I'll buy you dinner. How about that? Well.
55:05
Guaranteed. All right. Thanks for joining us this week, fellow Frank Fordians.
55:11
We'll catch you again next week on the City of Frankfurt podcast.
55:14
Don't forget to follow the City of Frankfurt podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
55:20
And make sure you subscribe to our show feed on Podbean to get weekly episode notifications.
55:28
Thank you so much. Thank you, sir. Appreciate you. Thank you.