Latest / Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk / The Motivated Mindset Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride_ Veterans_ Resilience & Brotherhood

Transcript

The Motivated Mindset Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride_ Veterans_ Resilience & Brotherhood · Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk

1:00
So that the kids want to not just learn, but want to.
1:06
But I think that that. Yeah, boss, I'm here say welcome
1:19
to the motivating mindset. I'm your host, Jose Florence.
1:21
Hey, check this out. I'm a BRA Latino, born in New
1:24
York City, straight out of the Bronx, raised in broken.
1:26
Yay, yay. That New York flavor, that
1:28
hustle, that grit. You feel me?
1:30
You see what I'm saying? It shaped me.
1:32
It built me. And still drive, still the look
1:34
at you. I'll go Everything I do.
1:35
I'm a combat vet. I served 30 years in the United
1:37
States Army. And before we get rolling, I
1:40
want to send a powerful salute to all my veterans, service
1:43
members, first responders listening today.
1:46
Mucho repento much respect my people.
1:49
You already know you know what I'm saying.
1:50
Now, in this new chapter in my life, I wear a few cool hats
1:53
other than this one. I'm a motivational speaker.
1:56
I'm a certified personal trainer.
1:58
I'm a certified mediator. And yes, and end of life death
2:03
doula. You know what I'm saying,
2:04
Gracia. But here's the truth behind all
2:06
those titles, right? I do what I do because I'm
2:09
called to serve. You feel me, Because I know what
2:12
struggle feels like. I know what it means to fight
2:16
for a purpose, to help others find theirs every day.
2:20
My mission is simply simple. To inspire you, feel me.
2:24
To uplift your Yuri. To challenge right.
2:28
To remind people that no matter where you started, I don't let
2:31
them pass out that you can redefine your life with heart.
2:34
Discipline, faith and relentless drive me and they and that's why
2:37
this podcast exists. You feel me?
2:40
The motivated mind says what we talk about what we talk about.
2:43
We talk about resilience. We talk about culture.
2:45
We talk about optimism, right? We talk about discipline me and
2:50
they and the courage it takes to keep in Pujando pushing because
2:54
when life swings hard, bam, we keep it real here.
2:57
Look, New York City real. See what I'm saying?
2:59
Straight talk, right? Bronx humor and 0 sugar coating.
3:04
You feel me? You're going to laugh, you're
3:07
going to reflect, right? You're going to get fired up.
3:10
Yay, yay. And maybe you may even shed a
3:13
tear like you're cutting onions. I don't know.
3:15
But I, I promise you one thing you're going to leave it
3:18
stronger than when you press that play button.
3:19
You feel me, right? Because this is isn't just about
3:22
motivation me and this is transformation.
3:25
You feeling me? You hear what I'm dropping, you
3:28
know now the Soldier rides, what we're going to talk about today.
3:31
I want I want to talk about something that became very
3:33
personal to me. It was crazy something that
3:36
honestly it changed my life in so many rays.
3:40
I recently had the opportunity to participate in Wounded
3:42
Warrior Project Soldier Ride. Now if you've never heard of
3:46
Soldier ride, let me explain. Soldier Ride is more than just a
3:50
bike ride like what I thought. It brings together wounded, ill
3:54
and injured veterans from different generations, different
3:57
branches, right? Different backgrounds and it
4:01
puts us on the road together. Junto riding, you know what I'm
4:05
saying? Connecting me and they healing,
4:08
wow, challenging ourselves and this brother was challenged and
4:12
reminding one another that our injuries, our struggles, right?
4:17
And those things we've been through do not get to define my
4:23
story, our story for us. For me, soldier, I was a life
4:26
changer. And I mean, and I've been to a
4:28
couple. I've spent 30 years wearing that
4:30
uniform, right. I've experienced deployments,
4:33
combat adversity, loss, and some of the toughest moments life can
4:41
throw at you. But they are experienced that
4:44
remind you that even after you take the uniform off the
4:48
mission, no end, it doesn't end. No, no, no, sakaba.
4:51
Sometimes, right, the mission simply changes, pivots, right?
4:56
And soldier, I reminded me of that.
4:59
I rode alongside veterans who have experienced things most
5:02
people will never see, never understand, and sometimes could
5:09
never even even imagine. But those were us right here.
5:13
We were all writing together, laughing together, struggling
5:16
together. There was some struggles
5:18
encouraging one another. And somewhere in between, as I
5:21
mean, yeah, those miles, the conversations that the the
5:24
handshakes, right? That the smiles, the the hugs
5:28
and even those moments when your body is saying, oh, hell no,
5:32
Jose, what the what are you doing?
5:34
Something powerful happens. Let me tell you, You realize
5:38
that you're not writing just for yourself, doing the end day.
5:41
You're writing for the person, for the person beside you.
5:43
You're writing for the writing veteran who's still trying to
5:46
find their way. You're writing for the family
5:49
that stood beside them. You're writing for the brother
5:52
or sister who didn't make it home.
5:55
And sometimes you're writing to remind yourself that you're
6:00
still here for a reason. That experience reinforced
6:04
something I've learned throughout my life.
6:06
Resilience isn't about getting knocked down.
6:10
It's about discovering that you still have enough strength to
6:14
get back up and maybe and just maybe Rella reach back and help
6:21
somebody else get up too. And that's exactly what the
6:25
motivated mindset is is is all about today.
6:28
I'm incredibly excited because I have several veterans joining me
6:31
today who are going to share their Soldier ride experience,
6:36
what brought them to ride, what they experienced, what it meant
6:40
to them and how it impacted their lives.
6:43
And, and I can't wait for you to hear their stories Mihente,
6:46
because every veteran carries a story.
6:49
Some stories are about combat, some about injury, some are
6:54
about recovery, some are about loss.
6:58
And some are about finding the new purpose, like I was, you
7:01
know, because after the uniform comes off, I was lost, like last
7:04
year's Easter eggs. But here's what I love about
7:06
bringing veterans together. We don't always have to explain
7:09
everything, mihente. Sometimes the person sitting
7:12
right next to you understands, you know, they've been there,
7:17
they felt it, and they know what it means when you say I got your
7:22
six. That's brotherhood, right?
7:25
That's sisterhood, right? That service Mihente and that's
7:29
what soldier ride medio RB gave it to me.
7:32
Another reminder that the uniform may come off, but that
7:35
responsibility to serve never really leaves you Miente nuka
7:40
nuka seva. So today we're talking about
7:44
service brotherhood, sisterhood, like I said, right?
7:50
Resilience, healing and finding purpose because many of us, it's
7:57
hard sometimes. And if you ever wonder whether
7:59
your hardest chapter could become the beginning of
8:01
something greater, hey, stay tuned me gente, because these
8:05
veterans are about to show us exactly what that looks like.
8:09
This is the motivated mindset with me, Jose Flores, right?
8:14
And, and before we get started, there's something that I want to
8:17
share with you because if you come on, say these, if you vibe
8:23
with, with the conversations that you're going to hear today,
8:26
right? If this conversation inspires
8:29
you, right, If you appreciate the interviews, right, the
8:33
energy. What's up, JJ, talk to me in the
8:36
message, man. I have one small favor to ask of
8:39
you, right? Support, support the YouTube
8:41
channel. I'm about to bring this thing
8:42
right up. You scanned that little thing
8:45
right there and I'm about to put this up here.
8:48
I put it in the hopefully it goes out there it goes.
8:51
I just put my YouTube channel in there and just hit like, you
8:54
know, scan it, hit subscribe on the YouTube channel and share
8:58
this episode with somebody who can need a little bit
9:01
motivation. Your your your support helps me
9:03
continue to bring powerful guests, help me from
9:05
conversations and purpose driven context straight at the that
9:10
means to you, every like matters, every subscription
9:13
matters, every share matters and most importantly, you being here
9:19
matters, ladies and gentlemen. So I want to say thank you for
9:21
being part of the motivated mindset family.
9:24
You know what I'm saying? And and just be here.
9:27
So hey, let me take this off real quick 'cause we're about to
9:30
bring on some incredible, credible people, right?
9:33
So Diamond momento, give me a minute.
9:35
I got to do some things up in here.
9:37
Yeah, you know, all this, this tech stuff, right?
9:40
So here we go. Let's make this happen.
9:42
Captain, wait a minute and we're going to do this.
9:46
Here we go, the interview of the.
9:50
Week is brought to you by Jersey Mike's, a sub above.
9:57
What's the family? How we doing?
9:59
What is up? What is up with everybody?
10:03
There we go, all. Right.
10:04
Hey, Jose. Jose, can you hear me?
10:09
Jose, can you hear me, Jose? Yes, all.
10:14
Right, all right, all right, let me see, let me see what I got
10:17
here. I got this.
10:19
That's better. There we go.
10:20
Now we can see everybody. So hey, first of all, I want to
10:23
thank you for being for being on the podcast.
10:25
This is stupendous. So we're we're going to go in
10:28
the order that I see, I see Tyler, I see Jackie, and then I
10:32
see Jose. So I'm going to start with
10:33
Tyler. You know, Tell us who you are.
10:36
You know what you do in your branch of service, please.
10:39
Yes, my name is Tyler King. I am the fitness as instructor.
10:43
I was in the Air Force, the US Air Force veteran had a great
10:49
time in my service. I was in the security force's
10:52
career field. So if you're not familiar with
10:54
that, that's the law enforcement, security, air base
10:57
defense. So we were the person that we
11:00
were the people that kept the base safe overseas and
11:03
stateside. So we had a great, great
11:06
mission, very important mission. I always say in the Air Force we
11:10
were a little different because, you know, everyone thought we
11:13
had the cushy life and job and everything, but I'm like, not
11:17
the security forces people. We did not have the cushy
11:21
experience. So that's OK though.
11:24
It's OK. I felt like I, I earned my view
11:26
and it was well worth it. And Oh my gosh, you know, just
11:30
being able to, being able to say that I served and served my
11:33
country, it just means so much to me.
11:36
It gives me so much pride and I, I'm just so glad to be able to
11:40
be alongside all of you other veterans here to meet you at the
11:44
soldier ride that we were just on.
11:45
So, so thankful. Oh well, thank you.
11:48
And how long did you serve? I served six years, so I was
11:52
enlisted for six years, made it to Sergeant, you know, got
11:57
promoted. So that was a great and
11:58
beautiful thing. And I really tell you it was
12:02
just something to be able to be in the field.
12:05
I actually had a chance to work with a military working dog.
12:09
So they that, that they have the combat arms training that's in
12:13
the security forces. So that's like another area you
12:15
can do a training into and the military working dog.
12:19
So I was able, I had a great friend, Jamar that he was so
12:23
cool. So when we were on one of our
12:25
deployments, I actually helped him with training his dog.
12:29
So that means where you put that arm on and the Yeah.
12:31
Yeah, Oh my. God jumps on you and then you're
12:34
having to like do like this with the I did that.
12:38
That was such a fun thing. Fun and scary at the same.
12:42
Time. Say and you have a German
12:45
Shepherd running at you. That's never a oh.
12:48
My goodness. Oh.
12:49
My but, but it was amazing, you know, and that's just the type
12:53
of fun that you can have. There was always opportunities
12:55
to do fun things and to really make the most of your military
12:59
experience. So I'm just so grateful.
13:01
And we got one. We got Timmy on here that says,
13:04
what's up, Beautiful veterans, Tim here, Marine vet Iraq.
13:07
Wow. What's?
13:08
Up my brother, Iraq. Yeah.
13:11
Thank you, Timothy. All right, it's in.
13:13
Iraq too, so. Yes, Oh my goodness.
13:17
My sister Jackie, tell us about who you are, Branch and
13:20
everything. Hi, I am Jackie.
13:24
I I'm also Puerto Rican like Jose, but I don't speak Spanish
13:30
much of it anyway, So I was in the Navy.
13:35
I was a corpsman for five years. It's like other branches don't
13:39
know it's a medic, but better. And so I served at Quantico, at
13:47
the OCS, help get everybody ready their shots and processing
13:53
all that. Then we did some work with the
13:56
the OCS, the candidates during their training.
14:00
Then I was on the USS Baton giant ship.
14:06
It's not a a carrier, just a little smaller.
14:09
We pretty much had a whole hospital there.
14:11
We had like multiple ORSA, huge Bay.
14:15
It was awesome. Our own pharmacy, our own X-ray,
14:18
It was awesome. And then I was at the Portsmouth
14:25
Naval Hospital, so there I worked labor and delivery and
14:31
now I'm a labour and delivery nurse.
14:33
So I used my veteran benefits. I started with my GI bill and
14:38
then I learned about the Voc rehab, which is also an option
14:42
for people. And then I I got my bachelor's
14:48
in nursing. Now I'm a labour and delivery
14:50
nurse and do a lot of travel nursing.
14:53
And yeah, so I have 4 kids and yeah, let's see, let's see I
15:01
got. A question do they deliver on
15:04
boats too? Do they have that kind of?
15:06
I have no idea. Well, not you can't really be
15:10
pregnant on the boat. I did hear though, like my ship
15:14
went to Haiti right before and they were doing the humanitarian
15:18
mission with the the earthquake and there was a baby born on the
15:23
ship. So I wouldn't say never, but you
15:26
know, not not comments. All right, well, we got to come
15:29
before I get to Jose. We got a couple of comments here
15:31
from Francis, Tyler, Jackie, Jose.
15:33
It's so good to see you guys. Who is that?
15:35
Who is that team? Who is that?
15:37
I, I can't tell by the little, but hey, it's somebody we know
15:41
because it's good to see. You guys and we got.
15:44
And then Timothy come back and get Corman up.
15:47
Cheers Doc feed. Up, yeah.
15:50
Oh, we got somebody from one of my my good friend.
15:53
This is this is Renee, she said. Yes, my fellow corpsman, we
15:55
rock. Who?
15:56
What? Yeah.
15:57
All right, all right. And we got somebody that says
16:00
that's. Great.
16:01
That's great. Thank you for our services.
16:03
Thank you, thank you for that. Cool beans and let's get out.
16:07
Let's say, let me say Jose talk. Tell us about you bro, Who you
16:10
where you from, your service and all that.
16:13
Oh, I'm from Puerto Rico and so you have to arm the Square Guard
16:19
one 35135 equity division all. Right.
16:26
And now, now you're in Puerto Rico now.
16:29
So you're in a good place. Yeah, man.
16:35
And how long did you serve? I served how to return my
16:42
American. OK, now and I will ask
16:46
everybody, but what made you join the army?
16:49
What made you join the military? Me, me to be something that
16:55
nobody can. No, no else.
16:58
No, no people can, can, can do it.
17:02
So I'm working with myself and sang with the kids.
17:06
I will be better. I will be joining the army.
17:08
I went to war, I want to fight. So I'm here now.
17:11
Now. Thank you.
17:13
My brother. Just everybody know Jose was my
17:16
roommate. We're both Jose.
17:17
So I was Jose and he was Jose B just so you know, so they can
17:21
make a difference here and we got some more.
17:26
We got let me see. Okay, So Johanna, just okay,
17:30
gotcha, Joe, thank you. Okay, this thank you for being
17:36
here. Wonderful family we had on our
17:43
trip. Oh my gosh.
17:44
Yes, Justin was the bum and and and Hannah right where Hannah
17:47
was it. Was that the name of his sister
17:49
was it? Yes.
17:50
That was his sister. They they rocked.
17:52
It was an amazing, Oh my goodness.
17:54
It was amazing having them on there.
17:56
It was awesome. Oh, somebody says who?
17:59
Who's this? Says go mom.
18:01
OK? That's my kids.
18:02
Oh, that's so funny. Oh, my goodness.
18:07
Yeah, He says, go, Mom, you know, and then somebody should
18:10
say hearts. Yes, Thank you.
18:11
Oh, my goodness, yes, yes, absolutely.
18:15
And you know what we're going to do?
18:16
We're going to take a a quick break.
18:18
And when we come back, let me see.
18:20
We're going to talk about, we're going to talk about the first
18:23
time everybody here connected with Wounded Warrior.
18:26
Let's go with that. So I want you to think about
18:28
that, but check this out. This is my favorite commercial.
18:31
This is Boombastic. Oh my.
18:32
OK, no. And let me just put it on
18:34
because I got issues and we're going to work through this.
18:36
So check this out. We'll be right back.
22:05
The station where our veterans voices are heard.
22:08
MBR talk. Hey, thanks for supporting our
22:11
channel by watching and listening find.
22:14
Us on the web at NB radio dot. Oh my goodness.
22:18
OK, before we get into OK, Tyler, we're going to start with
22:21
you. What did you think about that
22:22
commercial? Oh, that was amazing.
22:25
That was so beautiful. It, it, it's just so touching,
22:30
you know, because he hit on so many things that are so true
22:33
about the military experience and what we go through and
22:37
things that other people really, you know, unless you've served
22:40
or you've been a family member, you know of someone who served,
22:43
you know, you really, truly don't grasp and like the
22:48
sacrifice that was made and all the things that you go through,
22:53
you know, being a military member, actually, I was actually
22:56
thought it was so cool because I saw him actually perform at an
23:00
event I had. So it was just giving me chills.
23:02
Just oh. My goodness.
23:03
On that commercial, yes. How about you, Jackie?
23:06
All you. Say is.
23:08
I'm glad you have been muted because I was so interesting.
23:16
Yeah, how about you, Jose? To keep boring what?
23:24
What before? Yeah, no.
23:29
Gotcha, brother, gotcha. No, thank you for that.
23:31
So before we went on break, we want to act.
23:33
The question was, you know, what made you the first time you
23:37
connected? I think it was the moment you
23:39
first connected with Wounded Warrior Project.
23:41
What was that like? We'll start with Jackie.
23:43
Go ahead, Jackie, and then we'll work our way down.
23:45
I was trying to think back because I've done Wounded
23:49
Warrior since my girls were little and they're now 17 and
23:54
15. So I'm trying to think back
23:57
honestly to the first time. I know when I got out of the
24:01
Navy, I, I felt very disconnected like everyone else
24:06
and just, I didn't know how to be a civilian.
24:10
I went straight from high school to military, got out and I had
24:14
no idea what it even looked like to, to be a civilian.
24:19
So I got connected with my college and the veteran Resource
24:24
Center. And it was the people there that
24:27
told me, hey, you need to get connected with these events and,
24:31
and all these different organizations.
24:34
And it was then what they told me about when the warriors, I
24:38
honestly can't remember the first event, but I the ones that
24:41
stick out to me are we used to do the pottery painting with my
24:45
daughters, like I said. They were probably.
24:48
Five and and seven and now they're teenagers and I still
24:52
have these these little things that they painted when they were
24:55
little. And it was really awesome
24:59
because what, two years ago maybe we went to an event in Las
25:06
Vegas for the Super Bowl and we got to see some other wonder why
25:12
your staff that we knew from Miami when I was in college and
25:16
the the kids had grown up and they got to see them.
25:18
They remembered us and it was really awesome.
25:20
It is like a family. So that was probably the, the,
25:24
the most memorable first experience would be the pottery
25:28
painting with the kids. And it's always good to invite,
25:31
invite the kids that. Is awesome.
25:33
I know. Thank you for sharing that and
25:35
Jose, what about you Jose? Where?
25:38
Where my this is this? Is.
25:43
You know, I have the idea. I feel that nobody is telling
25:47
me. So when it's joined to to to the
25:49
program, I feel, hey, this is my people, they listen to me, they
25:54
heard me. So I feel that was when started
25:58
the hearing. The first time for you.
26:12
Oh, OK. So for me, it's I'm just like
26:15
Jackie, I can't remember exactly when I signed up.
26:19
I almost feel like there was maybe some type of advertisement
26:23
that came in the mail or something to that effect.
26:25
And I may have signed up that way and got involved.
26:29
But then there was a long period of time where I really didn't
26:31
engage or do anything with it. It was just kind of like I was
26:35
there and then I started to get these emails saying, hey, we
26:38
have this event that's near your area.
26:40
Only thing it was, it was on the other coast, so I never did it.
26:43
So at some point they brought something to my coast and that's
26:47
when I really started to get involved and have my kids get
26:50
involved with me. And they would have like movie
26:52
theater events where you could go to the movies, go to like the
26:57
zoo, things like that. And it was just amazing just the
27:01
amount of things that they have that's you can spend quality
27:05
time with your family. So I have a 16 and an 18 year
27:08
old and you know, for those years, you know, as they were
27:12
young teenagers and kids, we were able to just go and do
27:15
different events. So it was, it was really fun.
27:18
It was really fun and I'm so appreciative of it.
27:20
So that is stupendous. We got a couple of let me see,
27:23
we got a couple of comments. I want to I want to bring on and
27:27
let me see somebody me say, they say Carmela Johnson.
27:30
Hello. Hello.
27:35
Yep. Oh, great job, Jack.
27:37
That's my girl. Oh, Jack, you got you got
27:40
somebody else. My.
27:44
Mom awesome. And then oh, for Timothy, he
27:48
said, Timothy, he said I broke both my shoulders.
27:50
He had medevac, I guess, when he was in.
27:53
Yeah. So I'm glad they had some
27:54
medics. Medics.
27:56
And he also say, great song, very touching.
27:59
I agree. And this is good person I met,
28:03
she said. I couldn't agree more.
28:05
The the connections are so important for us veterans after
28:08
we take off the uniform. JJ is absolutely she has.
28:12
I think it's lean into legacy. She has a podcast too.
28:14
And I just met her this week. Great human being, great human
28:17
being. And then, oh, wait a minute, I
28:21
need to get with Wounded warriors.
28:22
Oh, yes, you do, Timothy. Yes, you do.
28:26
Am I right? Does he need to get with us?
28:28
Yes, absolutely. Yes, so we will I'll be
28:31
providing some information how you can sign up and and then we
28:36
have also from JJ, she said this is a great conversation.
28:39
I had no idea Wounded War Project provided so many
28:42
opportunities. Yes, they do.
28:44
Yes they do. And yeah, but hold on me.
28:47
That's it. That's my girl.
28:48
Hold on me, amigo. Get Paso.
28:49
You see what she said, Jackie? She say all on me amigo.
28:55
Get Paso. I'm just trying to help you with
28:56
the Spanish. Here comes the first question.
29:07
We got this question, so I'm gonna read it.
29:09
How did participating in shoulder shoulder solderide
29:12
reshape the way you see yourself, not just as a veteran,
29:16
but as a human being rebuilding strength, connection and
29:19
purpose? Yvette.
29:20
Thank you. That's my great Yvette.
29:21
Yeah. So who wants to go first?
29:24
Who wants to give their opinion? Then we'll go from there.
29:28
Oh, Jakey. Thank.
29:30
Thank you for you want to go, you want to.
29:32
Go so soldier eyed. Wow, it was unbelievable.
29:37
I can't even explain the words and for personally, like it was
29:43
just overwhelming in the best way, you know, like who shuts
29:46
down Times Square? They shut down Times Square and
29:50
got ads on the, the, the big screens like that's insane.
29:55
And I just got off the bus and I was like in tears.
29:58
I'm like, I, I don't this is crazy.
30:00
What for us? Like, what?
30:03
And then the whole fire departments are out there with
30:06
their flags and, and just, they shut down the Brooklyn Bridge.
30:10
It was just so overwhelming. And personally, I think it was.
30:17
I love spin. You know what?
30:18
I do a spin class like three days a week.
30:20
Oh, Jose and I, we Peloton together.
30:22
Yeah, so anyway, I just for me, it was a, a personal like
30:29
challenge too, because I, I had never done that many miles and
30:33
for consecutive days either. So it was, it was really great
30:37
to be able to push myself and prove to myself that I can't do
30:40
it. And, and honestly, wow, the
30:43
people around us, you know, that the tandem bike with Hannah and
30:48
what's his name, Justin, that was, Oh my goodness, incredible
30:53
to see that, that a bond, you know, and the, no matter what
30:59
they're going to push through. And then the, the amputees, Oh
31:03
my gosh, you guys, it was just incredible.
31:08
Just mind blowing. The the things that they can do,
31:11
you know, they don't nothing, nothing gets in their way.
31:15
Nothing. And today actually, I met
31:17
another veteran at another Wounded Warrior event and his
31:22
name was Dwayne. He is a veteran and he wrote a
31:27
tandem like he told me I think last year in Chicago with Walt,
31:33
the still the, the CEO of Wounded Warrior.
31:37
Him and Walt were tandem together.
31:38
I said, wow, you are so special. You know, that's incredible.
31:43
And that's the other thing with Wounded Warrior.
31:46
That man, he leads, he doesn't leave from the back.
31:50
He doesn't, he leads with you right there.
31:53
Just it blew my mind again after hearing the story with Dwayne
31:56
and him riding the bike together.
31:58
I said that what CEO of the companies is going to be right
32:02
there next to the the person on the bike.
32:04
You know, that's incredible. That does a lot.
32:07
Jackie and and somebody said, wow, that's incredible, Jackie.
32:12
You know, and we have another comment from from our people say
32:15
Wounded Warrior is an unbelievable organization.
32:18
They got us a plane when the VA wanted to send Justin home in an
32:22
ambulance. Wow.
32:24
Wow. That's that's the that is the
32:30
wow. All right, all right, all right.
32:31
Tyler, what you got? So all I can say amazing.
32:36
I, I can't get over to the Times Square either.
32:38
Jackie, I'm just like you that Times Square was such an amazing
32:43
experience to get off the bus and just see Times Square.
32:47
Now, Jose, you know, I'm like you, we, we're New Yorkers,
32:51
we're New Yorkers. So I've been to Times Square and
32:54
I have never seen anything like that.
32:56
And that's support for the veteran community and the love.
33:00
I mean, we had, we had media coverage, we had Fox friends out
33:04
there doing media coverage, getting the word out on Wounded
33:06
Warrior Project and just being able to go out there, ride
33:11
through the city. I that that was a challenge for
33:14
me. I'll just put it like that
33:15
because that was something we know.
33:17
I mean, potholes are in New York City and the roads are a little
33:19
iffy. So riding a bike through there
33:22
was like, wow, we're actually doing this.
33:24
But we did and we had so much support and we were just riding
33:29
through the city. Like like Jackie said on the
33:31
Brooklyn Bridge, we went on the Belt Parkway on the side there.
33:36
And I want to say, didn't we pass by your high school?
33:39
We passed my old school. Yes, yes.
33:42
Oh my gosh. George Westinghouse.
33:44
That was amazing. OK, Yeah, go.
33:45
Ahead Westinghouse, yes. And then I actually passed by a
33:48
old high school of mine that was like it's shut down now.
33:51
It's not it's not in operation. But I was like wow, I went to
33:55
that high school and it was just amazing.
33:58
Went through downtown. It was just amazing to see that
34:02
and the, the, the experience of when we got to, Oh my God, Coney
34:06
Island, when we finally arrived there and we were able to see
34:10
never knew about the monument and the, the, the dedication
34:14
that they have to the 9/11 firefighters and 1st responders,
34:20
the police that, you know, lost their lives during the 9/11
34:24
attack. And they had a nice wall mural
34:28
of all of them, you know, that their ranks, that who they were.
34:33
And I just was just sitting there and all looking at it and
34:36
couldn't believe, wow, I did not even know this was here.
34:39
I was at the, actually, I was in New York and was that at the
34:42
9/11 memorial a couple days prior?
34:46
So I was like, you know, fascinated with that.
34:48
But to actually see that in Coney Island and then they bring
34:52
the families once a year to actually have a memorial and
34:55
actually dedicate and remember them.
34:58
That was just something that just struck me.
35:01
You know, I, I don't know, that was something that struck me.
35:03
I don't know how y'all felt about it, but that really
35:06
touched me. You're muted.
35:11
I am I feel like I'm back at work COVID now, but anyway, but
35:16
we had the JJSAI haven't experienced currently like that
35:19
since I left the military. This conversation is giving me
35:23
hope and motive me to make an effort to get involved.
35:25
Yes yes and and look well, she's a frail.
35:30
I'd say your excitement tells it all.
35:32
Tyler. Spot on.
35:35
Absolutely, absolutely. Let's get Jose here real quick.
35:38
And then I want to show a video that I have made.
35:41
So I want to get Jose's input. Jose, tell us.
35:43
Tell us your experience. My spirit was a healing
35:46
experience. You know, I got Parkinson and
35:50
when I was there to the to the road, I forget about it.
35:54
I see people helping me, screaming, go up, keep going,
35:58
keep going. So was also good people,
36:07
wonderful people. I always go back to the day and
36:13
it's like you leave the same day again, OK.
36:16
I always do myself. I have a family meeting my
36:20
house, it's my birthday, 55, six years.
36:24
So see you my friends, the next time.
36:31
No, thank you, Jose. Thank you.
36:33
I got it. Thank you, brother.
36:34
Appreciate it. I'm love everybody.
36:37
Hey, I love you, brother. No, thank you for being on
36:38
Gracia. Gracia.
36:41
Love you, man. Love you.
36:42
Jose's an awesome guy. Awesome guy, you know, Love him.
36:45
So what I want to show now is a little bit of the video that I
36:50
have maybe just to show people some of the experiences we had.
36:53
So here we go, motivated. a war.
39:07
And the night can hold you, not in the end.
39:08
So Jeff Johnson, U.S. Army retired 20 years.
39:11
Today's ride was excellent and far exceeded my expectations.
39:15
Like I saw so much of the city that I didn't expect to see.
39:19
I didn't realize the city was so big.
39:21
My, my head was on a swivel the whole time.
39:23
Yeah, yeah. I just can't get enough of it
39:25
and I'm so happy for this opportunity.
39:27
That is cool. Why should other?
39:29
Why should vets come and do stuff with winded warrior
39:31
project man when they get out of it?
39:33
It's a good opportunity to get out and, you know, stay
39:35
motivated, connect with other veterans and, you know, just
39:38
keep up that camaraderie that you had while you were in
39:40
service and continue the fight and be out here with your
39:43
brothers and sisters. Cool beans.
39:44
Thank you, brother. Appreciate it.
39:46
Who? What?
39:51
Crowns of Hard Rain faces at the roadside, calling you by the.
39:59
Rain don't hit me. Please, please don't hit me.
40:01
Hardline control you every battle
41:31
You gotta thank you. Thank you so much.
41:33
Thank you. This is how we came in.
41:35
Thank you. Oh my God, that is awesome.
41:38
Thank you. Thank.
41:41
You thank you so much. Yeah.
41:48
Thank you. Thank you.
41:54
Thank you so much. Thank you.
41:55
Thank you. Thank.
41:58
You. Wow, still this is.
42:01
How we came in this is stupendous.
42:45
Muted. Here we go.
42:48
I'm sorry. Yeah.
42:49
No, you're going. What's your Tyler talk about?
42:52
All those little moments, then what that felt like.
42:55
That was so amazing that Babylon, when we were out there,
42:59
when we first, I'm not gonna lie, when we first pulled up, I
43:03
was like, where is everybody? We didn't see anything.
43:05
So what they did was they brought us quote UN quote
43:08
backstage, right? So we were in the back.
43:11
We were kind of hidden and getting ourselves prepped and
43:13
prepared. And then they brought us around
43:16
and Oh my gosh, if you could have just seen the amount of
43:19
people that were there cheering us on, waiting the ride.
43:24
They did a whole like presentation and all of that
43:27
stuff and getting us prepped and ready to go out there.
43:30
And we had how many people? I, I don't know, it seemed like
43:34
there were hundreds of people out there riding with us all
43:39
Babylon for those 22 miles. So I was just like, Oh my
43:43
goodness. That was amazing.
43:46
And I tell you, you know, when you talk about going from 40,
43:50
2nd St. Times Square to Brooklyn, that
43:52
took a lot. I've never seen that before.
43:55
I never, never you. Know and I don't know if I would
44:00
have done that unless I had a crew with.
44:03
Me. Like what we had with Soldier
44:05
Ride, right? Absolutely, absolutely.
44:08
You know, so we have a question from Yvette and it says here, it
44:12
says, what does brotherhood, sisterhood mean to you now
44:15
compared to when you first served?
44:18
Jackie, you want to take that one?
44:20
There, Jackie. Oh, wait a minute.
44:24
There we go. There you go.
44:26
I'll read the question. What does Brotherhood Sister
44:28
mean to you now compared to when you first served?
44:34
It's. Coming in broken.
44:55
Yeah, we can hear you. It's coming in broken.
44:57
Let's let me. Let me.
44:57
It's coming in broken. Let me go to Tyler and and get
45:00
her. Go ahead, Tyler.
45:01
Oh, sure, yeah. It meant, it means so much more
45:05
now because I think when you're in your industry, you don't
45:08
really understand like you get it.
45:11
But then I feel it more now because we've all separated.
45:16
We've had some time to be away. And to be honest with you, a lot
45:19
of us have lost that connection that we had.
45:24
So, you know, while we were, I don't know if we had a creation
45:29
for what we had, but we knew that we lost something when we
45:34
got out because we felt that lost.
45:37
We felt and we need to come back together with other veterans
45:43
events like Closer Ride with Wounded Warrior Projects and
45:46
just be able to, it just means so much.
45:49
It means so much because we're we're kind of getting back.
45:52
We're capturing back what we lost, you know, so it's
45:57
different things like we were talking about earlier, people
46:00
may have gotten out different reasons somewhere and some got
46:04
out, you know, you know, maybe didn't work out when they they
46:09
didn't get a little tired. But it didn't even matter when
46:12
we were even there. Everyone was lethal.
46:14
It didn't matter two years, everyone was both supported and
46:20
encouraging and I'm not going to lie, I feel like we had a really
46:26
unique group. We did, we did.
46:29
We had a unique. Group.
46:32
I'm not sure. If Jackie, can you hear us now?
46:36
Let me see. Are you frozen?
46:39
It must be her Internet, I think where she's at the hotel.
46:43
But I'll read some of the comments and say oh.
46:45
Sorry, I'm trying to connect. We can hear you clear now that's
46:49
not that look good. And and JJ says, oh, wow, it's
46:52
one thing to hear you talk about it, but the video really makes
46:55
you feel like you're in it with you.
46:56
Let's go. And and fridge said, please make
47:00
the video available to share. I will.
47:01
I'll put it in our chat. I'll put it in our chat.
47:05
And then he said, oh, look at the numbers.
47:08
Oh, wow. Yeah, 14 hundreds.
47:09
Yeah, that's why I said. It was hundreds, I couldn't
47:13
remember the amount. Yes, I mean, that's the first
47:16
time I ever heard of anything like that, you know, to
47:19
experience that, you know? Are you good, Jackie?
47:21
Can we hear you? Let's see.
47:24
Can you talk now? I think so.
47:25
I I got on the hotel Wi-Fi. Sorry about that.
47:28
Can you? Hear me now, OK?
47:30
OK, so say what you said before for the question that was asked
47:33
because we couldn't barely hear you.
47:35
It was what? What to take a brother
47:38
Brotherhood. That one right there.
47:40
What does brotherhood sister mean to you now compared to
47:42
where you. Yeah.
47:45
Go ahead. So I like I was saying, I feel
47:47
like when you first get in the military, you're just like
47:50
shoved in a room with people that you know, you never would
47:53
have even thought twice to be friends with.
47:55
You know, they could be from all different parts of the the
47:58
world, even like the Philippines, you know, like all
48:01
over the the world, we got different people, different
48:05
backgrounds, different interests, and somehow you guys
48:11
end up being best friends. You know, like it, it doesn't
48:14
even matter. You just because it's like
48:16
trauma bonding, you know, it's real.
48:19
You, you really do get to know these people and you, you learn
48:23
about them and you just become friends with them instantly with
48:26
it doesn't matter. And so that was like the
48:29
brotherhood sisterhood, you know, I feel like in the
48:31
military, still good friends with the people, you know, Oh,
48:36
it's still keep in contact. Now I'll say like when you get
48:41
out the the brotherhood sisterhood, you kind of got to
48:44
work harder for it. I, I feel like it's not
48:47
automatic anymore. And like, I don't know if it's,
48:50
you know, post COVID or whatever, it's harder to make
48:52
friends, you know, and they, they don't really understand
48:55
things that you've gone through or this.
48:56
And that is, so that's why it's important to me to, to do
49:01
veteran outreaches and, and just anything for the camaraderie
49:07
back. You know, how it was back then.
49:10
It, it doesn't matter where you're from or what branch you
49:12
were in or whatever, you instantly become great friends.
49:15
And, and it's actually, I don't know how to explain it any
49:19
better, but it's, it's just unbelievable really.
49:21
The the brother of sisterhood. You're absolutely correct.
49:25
And as we get down to town, I want to take this question
49:27
because this is exactly what I want to ask what what's start
49:29
with with Tyler? And the question is, what
49:33
message would you share with a veteran who's hesitant to join,
49:36
you know, Soldier Ride or Wounded Warrior Project because
49:39
they fear they won't be able to keep up?
49:42
Oh, that was me. I, I was that person.
49:46
So let me tell you, I hadn't ridden a bike in a very long
49:51
time. I would say since I was a like
49:55
before I even got into the military.
49:57
I, I don't think I've ridden a bike since then.
49:59
And I'm older and it's been a while, but I'll tell you
50:04
something. If you've ridden a bike before,
50:06
it's not hard. It when they truly say it's like
50:09
riding a bike, You, you, you get, you get right back into it.
50:12
It's the same thing. And I had a great, Oh my gosh,
50:17
Mitch actually one of the whoopsie, one of the trainers or
50:20
instructors there, he actually helped me to relearn how to ride
50:23
my bike, which was amazing. And he was so awesome, you know,
50:27
to help me with that because I was scared.
50:29
I was. Like I don't know if I could do.
50:31
This today he was like so patient with me and I was like
50:34
felt like I was a little 5 year old trying to ride.
50:37
I'm like, where am I training wheels?
50:38
What's some training wheels on here?
50:40
But no, no, no, but it was fine. I went ahead and did it.
50:43
I rode and then I, I got into it.
50:45
I got the feel of it and it was just it's like getting right
50:48
back on it and I was fine. And you know what?
50:51
The the fear of falling doesn't even happen.
50:54
It doesn't happen. I will say though, you know,
50:57
your, your, your, your bottoms will hurt.
50:59
Your bottom will hurt. OK, because that's what happened
51:04
to me. I was sitting there like, oh,
51:07
every told me in a box like, Oh yeah.
51:11
So when we got to the Hamptons, I made an Uber trip to the bike
51:14
store and I got a bike seat because I was like, this is it's
51:19
not riding 24 miles in the Hamptons.
51:21
I was like, no, no, I'm not doing that.
51:23
So. Hey, now you know why I ride
51:26
recumbent. That is a lot more comfortable
51:28
girl, you know, that is a lot more comfortable and and Jackie,
51:33
you want to answer that that one about, you know, what would you
51:36
tell somebody why they need to do Wounded Warrior Project or
51:39
anything like that? Yeah, I would say just get
51:43
involved in any any other Wonder Warrior Project events.
51:48
But like I I just went to the fitness Expo this weekend in
51:52
Pittsburgh. Amazing they go through.
51:55
It's more like a how to use resistant bands, how to eat
51:59
healthy and how to just get your body moving again.
52:03
If it's intimidating to do a soldier ride, but I will send a
52:06
soldier ride. Like like Tyler was saying, they
52:09
help you. They, those guys are insane,
52:13
incredible. I, my bike was a little too high
52:16
when we got to Times Square and I said, hey, Mitch, I need help.
52:20
I, I turned around. He already had my seat fixed.
52:23
I didn't even like get off the bike hardly.
52:24
I, I was like, oh, you're done. He fixed it.
52:27
So they're very quick, very efficient.
52:30
They're that's their job. They're real good at it.
52:33
There was some like there's different bike styles.
52:37
They had the hand hand bikes and they these are nice bikes, nice,
52:41
nice bikes. They had the recumbent which
52:44
Jose rode. It's kind of leaned back a
52:46
little. You still pedal with your legs
52:48
if you have one leg. They got them equipment for
52:51
that. If you got you know, if you want
52:53
to do we had one arm A1 arm guy riding a bike, a regular bike.
53:00
OK, Don't limit yourself. You know, if if you are
53:04
motivated and want to do it, just do it.
53:06
And we had one lady she wasn't able to finish.
53:10
She had a little, a little trouble breathing or whatever.
53:14
She, she got in the in the car, followed us and then and the
53:18
last two miles she got back in. You know, it's, it's what you
53:22
can do it. It doesn't.
53:23
You don't have to be an athlete to do this.
53:27
If that's the whole point, I think is to just get us through
53:30
it together as a team. It's not necessarily you have to
53:33
be a, an athlete. Don't be intimidated.
53:36
You know, thank you for sharing that.
53:38
And how about put this slide right here, ladies and
53:40
gentlemen, if you look on the left side, that's the Wounded
53:42
Warrior Project. For anybody, any veteran out
53:45
there that wants to join SCAN that you know, and if you want
53:48
to support Wounded Warrior Project, this is how you do it.
53:51
This is what all these stories you're hearing.
53:53
This is what it's about, you know, giving veterans, you know,
53:57
an opportunity to do something. And that picture, well, I'm
54:01
gonna take everybody off Butte here because I want, I want when
54:04
we're talking about that's that's New York right there.
54:08
And there we go. Everybody's off.
54:10
Let me see, can I get everybody off?
54:11
No, not yet. There we go.
54:12
There we go. And and and and the one, of
54:16
course, is the motivated mindset.
54:17
But I want to I want to give, you know, the ladies the last,
54:21
last anything else they want to say that if we cover about the
54:24
experience of why you should join.
54:26
So I'll start with, I'll go with with Tyler, I'll start off with
54:29
you. Any last words you want to say?
54:39
And on that Wounded Warrior Project, it, it is definitely
54:43
will change you. It will help your family.
54:46
They have resources that that help the entire family.
54:50
So you're not left out there trying to figure things out.
54:53
Even with job place, like, like you're trying to, you know, get
54:56
reestablished with a job and resumes, you know, mental health
55:01
things, they have Odyssey trips, say they have so many things
55:07
that you can do that you can really heal, You can get on that
55:11
healing process. I mean, I just went through a
55:13
meditation class and Oh my gosh, it was at the right time because
55:16
I'm going through a whole lot right now.
55:18
And I was able to take some time, you know, good 20 minutes
55:22
and just sit and meditate and really just take some time for
55:25
myself. And it just it, it was just so
55:28
right on time and perfect. So yeah, you definitely got to
55:31
join. We got one question to
55:33
highlight. If you had to describe how
55:35
Soldier I change you in one sentence, what would it be?
55:39
Oh man, it made me in one sentence it it made me believe
55:45
that I can do hard things. No, no.
55:53
Yes. I guess I would say very close
56:01
to what Tyler said, almost the same thing.
56:03
Like it's just it makes you yeah, believe in yourself.
56:07
And I, I love a good challenge, you know, and doing it with
56:12
other veterans that made it unbelievable.
56:15
And all the all the different veterans that you get to meet.
56:22
And it just how did it change me?
56:25
I get it changed me for the better.
56:26
It got me motivated to do biking.
56:29
I literally bought a Peloton when I got home, so I just was
56:34
really, really into it. Well, and what's one word?
56:38
What's one word that we had gotten?
56:40
If you had to, if you had to describe how Soldier Ride
56:44
changed you in one sentence, what would it be?
56:48
One word. Oh.
56:56
I would say motivated. I really am motivated now.
56:59
Like I, I want to ride and I signed up for another ride in
57:03
Jacksonville with the team next at the end of this month.
57:08
So I'm motivated, I'm ready. I'm I want to do more, get more
57:12
involved. Yeah, and this is cool.
57:16
I think this is for you, Jackie. Oh, yeah, that's my daughter.
57:21
See the one I'm talking about, I'm telling you there the the
57:24
opportunities that my kids have had because of Wounded Warrior,
57:29
It it helped them transition too, you know, And we didn't
57:33
have the money for anything when I got out, I was in college and
57:37
and a veteran. I hadn't, I didn't have any
57:39
money. We did like she's with surfing
57:42
lessons, she's done. We did indoor skydiving.
57:46
I couldn't tell you how many sports games we've been to.
57:53
It's unbelievable. And it's not just the fun stuff
57:56
like Tyler was saying. They have resources.
57:59
They have it if if you need help with your disability claim, they
58:03
have that if you need help with resources.
58:09
Someone told me the other day that they had had a reached out
58:13
to a Wounded Warrior and they got a, a gift card to go get a
58:17
new wardrobe for an interview. Like it's just things you don't
58:21
think of. But they have the resource team,
58:23
an actual team of just people that work there to get you
58:27
resources. So whatever you need.
58:31
That as we get down, I want to talk, I want to say thank you to
58:34
the ladies and gentlemen. Everybody's been here.
58:36
And next week, we're going to have Kelly Forster, a retired
58:39
DoD with 38 years of service, and that'll be for next
58:43
Saturday. So, but before I sign off, I
58:46
want to say thank you to everybody, to to Tyler and thank
58:50
you. And Jackie.
58:52
This has been stupendous. And more to follow.
58:55
And. So we're going to sign off and
58:58
thank you for everything. Thank.
59:00
You can I say thank you to you, Jose?
59:01
Of course. Let me tell you guys, Jose makes
59:05
the the time happy. He walked in the room and it was
59:09
kind of just quiet. And Jose came in and just said,
59:12
hey, everybody, you just made. He made the the group.
59:16
It wouldn't have not been the same without him for sure.
59:19
And he is full of resources and energy and happiness and he's a
59:23
great, great person. Thank you.
59:26
Thank you for you ladies made it memorable, but have a great
59:29
weekend and Gracia, Porto Gracia.
59:32
Thank you. Bye.
59:33
Thank you everybody. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you.
59:37
Hi, I'm Beaker with Military Broadcast Radio TV.
59:41
We're your virtual MWR bringing veterans radio, podcasts,
59:45
gaming, animation, 3D printing and a community that never
59:49
leaves you behind. Download our Roku or mobile app
59:53
today.