Latest / Drawn of History / Gary Sinise _ This Past Weekend w_ Theo Von _623(M4A_128K)

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Gary Sinise _ This Past Weekend w_ Theo Von _623(M4A_128K) · Drawn of History

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Today's guest is an actor. He's a musician and he's
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: an activist. You know him for some of his famous
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: roles like Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump and Mac Taylor
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: in CSI New York. But he's also known for his
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: work helping veterans and first responders. I had a great
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: chat today with the one and only Mr. Gary Sinise.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Shine on me and I will fight.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Thanks for having me. Yeah, thanks so much for coming in. Yeah,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: so you bought in Nashville in?
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: Well, we bought in 21 and then we moved in 23.
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  Speaker 2: Okay. So we had to do.
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  Speaker 3: Some renovating for our son and what was going on
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: with him and everything like that. But then we finally,
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  Speaker 3: I moved my foundation in 22 and then we moved
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: out in 23.
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  Speaker 1: And overall, has it been a good experience?
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  Speaker 2: Fantastic.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. I was in Hollywood for 35 years.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Wow. That's enough. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: That's a lot of service, man. You did your service.
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  Speaker 2: It was good. We raised our kids there and everything. Oh, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Gary Sinise, thanks for joining me, man.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's great to be with you, bud. I appreciate it.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: And Lieutenant Dan Band, you guys are performing at the
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Ryman Auditorium on Veterans Day? Yep.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, at the Opry.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Sorry, you guys are performing at the Grand Ole Opry
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  Speaker 1: on Veterans Day.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, that's going to be sick.
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  Speaker 1: There's more seats there, too, which is even better.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: I think it's 4,000-something seats in there. We played there
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: summer of 24. They did a really fun thing. We
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: were talking about having my band come there at some
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: point to the Opry. And it was the 30th anniversary
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: of Forrest Gump coming out that summer. So they did a,
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: Opry celebrates 30 years of Forrest Gump. And we went
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  Speaker 3: and we played and we had a bunch of people
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  Speaker 3: on the bill.
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  Speaker 2: And yeah, there we are.
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  Speaker 1: Did you guys play any songs from the movie?
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  Speaker 2: Well, everybody did.
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  Speaker 3: That's what was cool about the night is we had
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: Gary LaVox from Rascal Flatts.
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  Speaker 2: He was on the bill. Jamie Johnson. Jamie Johnson's the best. Yeah, Jamie.
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  Speaker 3: And he'll be there on Tuesday when we play. The bill,
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  Speaker 3: this Tuesday is great.
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  Speaker 2: And then when we did the 30th anniversary, it was great.
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  Speaker 3: And they had the idea that everybody on the bill
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  Speaker 3: would do songs from the soundtrack of Forrest Gump.
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  Speaker 2: That's so cool. So we all did. What a fun night.
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  Speaker 2: It was really fun.
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  Speaker 1: Does the band rehearse a lot? You know.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: I mean, I've been doing it with this band for
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  Speaker 3: over 20 years. So we will rehearse once or twice
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  Speaker 3: a year.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. And it's all about learning some new songs. Got it.
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  Speaker 3: You know, sometimes we can plug those in in our
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: sound check. We just give a little extra time for
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  Speaker 3: sound check and we wind up a song, a new
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  Speaker 3: sound song.
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  Speaker 1: But.
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  Speaker 3: And we play a lot of the same songs because
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  Speaker 3: my band is– the whole purpose of my band is
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  Speaker 3: the military veterans first responders mission. So I take the
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  Speaker 3: band on military bases and military hospitals and do all
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  Speaker 3: that kind of stuff. I don't play for money. This
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  Speaker 3: is what I do for a mission. It's a service mission.
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  Speaker 3: I have to– I have to pay the band. I
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  Speaker 3: have to pay the production costs of the staging.
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  Speaker 2: Of course.
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  Speaker 1: And that's so pricey. People don't realize it. There's, you know,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: there's costs with a fix with that. And we have
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  Speaker 1: a big band. I mean, if you look at my band, there's,
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  Speaker 1: you know, there's me plus 12. So there's 13 of us.
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  Speaker 2: It's not cheap.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: It's a, it's an expensive show, but it's a good show.
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  Speaker 2: We play a lot of, a lot of good songs.
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  Speaker 1: Were you always a musician?
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  Speaker 3: Well, um, Back in fourth grade, I got my first guitar.
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  Speaker 3: And this goes back to the 60s. So the Beach
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  Speaker 3: Boys were my band. And I started listening to them
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  Speaker 3: a lot and trying to play their songs.
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  Speaker 2: And then I.
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  Speaker 3: Got my guitar. And then in seventh grade, I got
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  Speaker 3: a bass. And I started playing bass. And then played
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  Speaker 3: all the way through high school into my early 20s.
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  Speaker 3: And then I got very busy with acting and started
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  Speaker 3: a theater company and got very busy with that. So
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  Speaker 3: I didn't play for a long time until like the
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  Speaker 3: late nineties, I started picking it up again. And now we've,
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  Speaker 3: you know, formed a band and started going on military
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  Speaker 3: bases and overseas. We've done over 600 something shows for
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  Speaker 3: the military.
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  Speaker 2: Wow.
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  Speaker 1: That's incredible, man. Thank you so much for, uh, for
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  Speaker 1: your service, uh, for supporting the people who serve. Um, I, uh, Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: whenever I was first starting out in comedy, we would
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  Speaker 1: do a bunch of, like, kind of USO-affiliated kind of
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  Speaker 1: tours where you would go. And we went to so
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  Speaker 1: many unique places that you don't even think that there's bases,
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  Speaker 1: that you don't even think that there's people. Like, little, like,
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  Speaker 1: four to operate. Like, Arif John we went to one time.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, sure, yeah. I've been there.
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  Speaker 1: We went to the Azores.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, my gosh.
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  Speaker 1: We went to, like, places in Spain. Just places you
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  Speaker 1: don't even think that there's bases and there's people there.
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  Speaker 3: You know what they're... We have– how many bases do
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  Speaker 3: you think there are that the US has.
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  Speaker 2: In the world?
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  Speaker 1: I mean I couldn't even guess.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think. It's about 800 bases.
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  Speaker 3: And the big giant ones, you know, like Fort Bragg
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  Speaker 3: or something like that, two very, very tiny ones in
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  Speaker 3: little remote areas like you said. And a lot of
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  Speaker 3: them don't get a lot of support or entertainment and
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  Speaker 3: that kind of thing.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's 750, 800 bases, something like that. What's
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  Speaker 2: that say? Oh, yeah. 750 to 877 U.S. military bases.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: That's a lot of bases. When I started out with this,
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  Speaker 2: my goal was to hit.
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  Speaker 3: Every single one of them, and then I realized, well,
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  Speaker 3: I think I'm about 25% the way there. I think
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  Speaker 3: I've played about 200 bases. Wow.
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  Speaker 2: That's cool.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, there's something about, like, I went to Qatar a
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  Speaker 1: couple of months ago.
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  Speaker 2: Sure, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: The president was doing something there, and they invited me
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  Speaker 1: to come, and And so it was just like– but
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  Speaker 1: you get there and the– Were you on that big
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  Speaker 1: Middle East tour that– I wasn't on the whole thing.
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  Speaker 1: I was just on Qatar. And it was like a
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  Speaker 1: last-minute thing. I was literally– Central command, yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And they're like, do you want to come? You have
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  Speaker 1: to get on a plane in like five hours. And
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  Speaker 1: I was like, sure.
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  Speaker 2: Of course, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And, dude, but even the best part of it was
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  Speaker 1: when you walk up, there's all these soldiers like in
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  Speaker 1: line because they're like– I don't know if it was
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  Speaker 1: mandatory that they go to this event, but I think
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  Speaker 1: a lot of them wanted to too. It was probably
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  Speaker 1: like a fun thing to do on the base that day.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, sure. Yeah. Anything to break up the day. That's
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  Speaker 2: for sure.
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  Speaker 1: And, and just to walk up and a lot of
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  Speaker 1: them were like, Hey, what's up? And just like that
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  Speaker 1: moment alone, like not for me, but for both of
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  Speaker 1: us kind of was just like that. I got to be,
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  Speaker 1: it was just awesome, man. That's what it's like.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: It was just awesome. And then, um, yeah, you see
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  Speaker 1: guys like who are away from their families. Um, and
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  Speaker 1: then you have friends who, uh, their families are away,
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  Speaker 1: just all of it, you know, I don't know, being
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  Speaker 1: close to it, you get to kind of see so
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  Speaker 1: much of what it's about. Um, did you, cause there's
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  Speaker 1: kind of this theory, I feel like with you, for
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  Speaker 1: some people that don't know that you got into like
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  Speaker 1: the Lieutenant Dan character, right. And you got into it
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  Speaker 1: so much that you were just like, I am now,
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  Speaker 1: this is like my life calling. Uh, It's kind of
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  Speaker 1: like that. Is that kind of what happened?
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  Speaker 3: No, I mean I have Vietnam veterans in my family.
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  Speaker 3: I was playing a Vietnam veteran, Lieutenant Dan. And so
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  Speaker 3: prior to playing him, I was like keyed up and
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  Speaker 3: tuned up to that because with Vietnam veterans in my family,
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  Speaker 3: I was in high school. I was a senior in
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  Speaker 3: high school when combat operations ended in Vietnam.
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  Speaker 1: Wow.
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  Speaker 3: In 1973. So I remember people coming home. And then
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  Speaker 3: I met my wife, and she introduced me to her
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  Speaker 3: two brothers who served, her sister's.
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  Speaker 2: Husband served in Vietnam.
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  Speaker 3: So I was kind of tuned up to what was
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  Speaker 3: going on with our Vietnam veterans, had a lot of
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  Speaker 3: compassion for them and what happened when they came home.
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  Speaker 3: You know, they were not treated well at all. It
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  Speaker 3: was a difficult time for our country, difficult time to
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  Speaker 3: be a soldier. And Then when Lieutenant Dan came around,
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  Speaker 3: I had the opportunity to audition for it. I very
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  Speaker 3: much wanted to get that part. I was lucky to
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  Speaker 3: get it. And then I just started– I mean I
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  Speaker 3: remember getting invited to the Disabled American Veterans Organization convention
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  Speaker 3: about five or six weeks after Forrest Gump came out.
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  Speaker 3: And they wanted to give me an award for playing
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  Speaker 3: a wounded veteran.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: And this was an organization that at that time represented 1.5
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  Speaker 3: million wounded veterans going back to World War II all
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  Speaker 3: the way up to the Gulf War because this is 1994.
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  Speaker 3: And I walk out on this stage, get introduced, and
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  Speaker 3: I walk out on the stage. Yeah, that's a picture
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  Speaker 3: of it. And they gave me their National Commander's Award.
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  Speaker 3: And the guy there, Richard Marbs, he's got one leg.
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  Speaker 3: He's missing one leg up to his hip. He's standing
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  Speaker 3: on crutches there. And I looked out into the audience,
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  Speaker 3: and I saw 2,000 wounded veterans out there in the crowd.
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  Speaker 2: And it was very, very moving.
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  Speaker 1: I can feel it right now. It's moving to me
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  Speaker 1: to even imagine this. saw that.
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  Speaker 3: And it was very impactful. And that started me supporting
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  Speaker 3: our wounded going back to that time. And then September
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  Speaker 3: 11th happened, and I just turned it into a full-time mission.
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  Speaker 2: Wow. Yeah, it was. I met a lot of.
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  Speaker 3: Interesting people over the years. I started going on USO
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  Speaker 3: tours in 2003. I started going to the bases. Qatar
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  Speaker 3: was one of the first bases I went to on
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  Speaker 3: my first overseas US tour.
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  Speaker 2: Really? Yeah. It's a beautiful base.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: We were there. We were in Iraq. We were in Kuwait.
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  Speaker 3: That was a big tour that Kid Rock was on
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  Speaker 3: and Lee Ann Womack was on that tour.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. Robert De Niro was on the tour.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, Paul Rodriguez, comedians were on the tour.
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  Speaker 2: There were a lot of entertainers. It was called Project Salute.
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  Speaker 3: And that's some footage there from that very first trip.
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  Speaker 2: That's amazing.
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  Speaker 3: Overseas to Iraq and Kuwait. This is me going out
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  Speaker 3: to a place called Camp Udari, which was right on
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  Speaker 3: the Iraq-Kuwait border. And I saw thousands of troops that day.
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  Speaker 3: And it was very impactful to go out there, see
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  Speaker 3: these people in the war zones, see what they were doing,
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  Speaker 3: shake hands with them.
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  Speaker 2: I wanted to talk to everybody.
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  Speaker 3: And I didn't have time because, you know, there were
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  Speaker 3: so many people lined up to see us.
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  Speaker 2: But we entertained. You know, I didn't do.
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  Speaker 3: Anything except I'm Lieutenant Dan and I'm waving to everybody
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  Speaker 3: and shaking hands and taking pictures.
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  Speaker 2: But Kid Rock put on a show. Oh, for sure, yeah.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: Bob's been in here. Bob's ridiculous. He lives across town.
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  Speaker 1: He's one of a kind.
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  Speaker 3: Good guy. We've known each other since that trip. He's
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: got a big heart, dude.
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  Speaker 1: He's a... Yeah, he's hilarious.
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  Speaker 2: Loves our military. Yeah.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: We spend a good bit of time together. He's a
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  Speaker 1: special guy. What's something... Yeah, because you just had... You
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  Speaker 1: had so many kind of iconic roles, and we're in
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: so many.
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  Speaker 2: Just.
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  Speaker 1: You know, films that really touch people. You know, The
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: Green Mile, I remember, of mice and men. That's crazy, dude.
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  Speaker 2: Did you see that in high school? Yeah. I remember, dude.
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  Speaker 2: Do you know how many?
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  Speaker 1: You know how many people even on the spectrum were
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: not allowed to have a pet after that movie?
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: You can't have a dog.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: You know how many of my neighbors got their pets
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  Speaker 1: taken away after that movie?
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  Speaker 2: I never thought of that. Oh, dude.
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  Speaker 1: It took like a month to get them back for
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: some of us.
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  Speaker 2: That's hilarious.
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  Speaker 1: But just so many special roles. But then it feels
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  Speaker 1: like you really kind of found this like a role
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  Speaker 1: that really like– like almost a bigger role in this
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  Speaker 1: space of service, you know, and of feeling like even
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: just showing up somewhere and giving of yourself, you know.
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  Speaker 3: With the veterans in my family and especially the Vietnam veterans,
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  Speaker 3: I have, I have World War II and World War
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  Speaker 3: I on my side of the family, Korea era. My
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  Speaker 3: dad was in the Navy during Korea, my grandfather in
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  Speaker 3: World War I, my two uncles in World War II. So, but,
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  Speaker 3: It was when I met the Vietnam veterans on my
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  Speaker 3: wife's side of the family. And that was very impactful
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  Speaker 3: because they had not been treated well. And I started
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  Speaker 3: to have a lot of compassion for them and feel very,
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  Speaker 3: very badly. So when we were attacked on September 11th
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  Speaker 3: and our, you know, young men and women start raising
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: their hand and joining the military and going off to
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: Afghanistan and Iraq and I wanted to do something to
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: support them. I just felt a lot of compassion for
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: them having veterans in my own family and having seen
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  Speaker 3: what happened to our Vietnam veterans when they went off
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: to war. And it was starting to, if you recall,
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: the Iraq war was starting to be, you know, the
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: country was starting to divide itself over whether we should be.
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  Speaker 2: There or not and all of that.
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  Speaker 3: And I didn't want our service members to get caught
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  Speaker 3: in the middle of all that. So I just started
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  Speaker 3: raising my hand and going out and supporting them where
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: I could. And that led to all these nonprofits that
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: I supported. And then I just started my own.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: And that's the Gary Sinise foundation. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah. How do you stay out of the minute? Like,
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: how do you stay out of the political side of things?
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: Right?
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  Speaker 1: Like, because I'm sure sometimes that, like you were saying
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  Speaker 1: with Vietnam, it was probably one of the first times
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: that soldiers came back and a lot of people didn't
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: agree with them being there. And it's like, it's not
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: really their fault, right? They're just signing up to protect
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: like the freedoms that we have, right? Like, like my
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: job is freedom of speech. My job doesn't even exist
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: if it's not for somebody out there protecting it, right?
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  Speaker 2: You're, you're, you're absolutely right.
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  Speaker 1: But so how do you stay out of that? Like,
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  Speaker 1: is that tough sometimes to stay out of like the
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: political side of it and just focus on the like
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: boots on the ground? Or do you like, is that,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: does that make any sense? I didn't care about that stuff.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: What I did care about was them feeling kind of
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: a negative thing coming at them from the country. And
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: we were starting to divide at that point. After September 11th,
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: everyone was sort of united. I mean, we got smacked
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: on September 11th. That was a real turning point for
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: me towards service in a greater way.
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  Speaker 3: But Our country was sort of, you know, reeling from that.
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  Speaker 3: And remember, we were all in pain. We were all scared.
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  Speaker 2: Nobody knew what was going on.
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  Speaker 3: We wanted, you know, our troops to go over there
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  Speaker 3: and do something, find this bad guy that did that
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: to us. And, you know, everybody was sort of united
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  Speaker 3: behind that. As time went on, though, you started to
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: feel like, okay, we're, you know, we don't support George
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: Bush going into Iraq. And I didn't want our troops
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  Speaker 3: to get caught in the middle of that.
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  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 3: I just said, you know, what can I do as
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: an entertainer? You know, as somebody that they recognize from
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: the movies, I can go over there and shake hands
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  Speaker 3: with them and tell them, hey.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: You know, we appreciate you.
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  Speaker 3: We don't, you know, we don't take what you're doing
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  Speaker 3: for granted. And I started doing that, and then I
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: did it some.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: More and more and more and more. And the more I.
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: Did it, the more I felt like I was having
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: a positive effect on people that were away from their families.
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: losing friends you know getting blown up ending up in
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: the hospital multiple limbs amputated all these terrible things that
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: were happening and i felt like i was bringing some
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: positive light into their world which was you know pretty
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: difficult time i mean if you're over there and you
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: lose 10 buddies and then you lose your legs you've
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: got you've got a long way uh a long road
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: ahead and I wanted to help them. I want, you know,
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: the real life Lieutenant Dan's, I wanted to help them
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: out and I wanted to help the families out who
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: were losing loved ones. And I just felt that was
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: a role that I could play. And now it's just
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: a big, big part of life.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you were right.
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: You know, um, I think so. We, we can't let
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: our service members get caught in the middle of stuff.
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: If you volunteer to serve your country, what, what do
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: you volunteer for to do what they want you to do.
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: You don't have a question, you know, and if they
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: send you into a war zone, you got to go.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: So they're just doing their duty. And I want to,
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: I want to support them and help them through the
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: difficulties of going to war and, and the things that
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: they see and the things that happened to them.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: I remember one time on a base, we were there
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: and something, I think it was in air of John,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: one of those bases near there, like, uh, and there was,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: everybody was in the hospital. Someone, something had happened. Something
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: had come into the base and somebody gotten, uh, taken
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: shrapnel or something. And they were losing a lot of blood.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: And they basically had this hallway lined up in this
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: hospital of like people literally going through and donating blood.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: It was like, I mean, there may have been a
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: hundred people in the hallway and they're like, Hey, can
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: you just kind of go through and just try to
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: boost people's spirits? And it was like, man, it was
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: just a kind of a harrowing moment. Cause you're like,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: I don't know these people, right? Like I'm not, one
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: of them, you know, I'm, I'm one of them in
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: the sense that I'm an American and I have like,
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: I have like empathy, maybe something, there's something there, like
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: a human connection. Uh, but man, that was like heartbreaking. Uh,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: and so you were just kind of passing out waters
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: and shaking hands and just like, you know, patting people
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: on the chest or trying to do anything that you
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: felt like maybe God was pushing you to do without
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: being egotistical to try and just be there and support sometimes.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: But you were there. Right. They had, they had to
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: be there. You did not.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: And so that was a special thing, the fact that
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: you took the time to go over there to do that,
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: to pat them on the back, to shake their hand,
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: to hand them a water bottle, to tell some jokes,
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: to break up their day a little bit, help them
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: through that experience. I'm sure that was profoundly impactful for you,
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: but it was also very meaningful for them. I've seen
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: it hundreds of times, and it's helpful to have somebody
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: from home show up and say, hey, thanks for what
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: you're doing.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: And the next day they found out that the guy
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: didn't make it, you know? And it was just like,
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: it was, have you had moments like that on these bases?
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: Like what kind of moments do you kind of experience
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: on some of these bases? Have you been in some
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: moments where it's, are there, have you been on bases
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: where it's a night where it's like, man, there's a,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: a lot's happened today and it might be a tough
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: night for these guys to come and enjoy some music. Like, or,
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: or what are some of the, like, what are some
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: of the things we don't see that Ray of as
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: regular civilians that Of what base life is like.
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: When you go to a war zone, you're keenly aware
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: that at any moment for any one of these folks
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: that you're meeting, any of these soldiers who are infantry
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: especially or something like that, That at any point they
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: could get called out to a mission, get in the
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: Humvee or get in the tank or whatever, go out
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: on a mission and something bad could happen to them.
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: And you're keenly aware of that. And that's happened to
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: me multiple times where I'll be taking pictures with a
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: thousand people or something like that. And I know that,
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: you know, I mean, at any minute they could get
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: called on a mission and that could be their last mission.
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: Anything could happen. So the 20 seconds that I spend
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: with them or something like that can be very meaningful.
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: I've had mothers come up to me with photographs of
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: me and their son who was, he was killed the
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: next day, you know, after, like this is the last
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: picture that was taken. And, you know, as soon as
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: he got that picture, he sent it home to the
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: family and it lit him up. And then the next
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: day he's shot by a sniper or something like that.
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: And those types of things can impact you in a
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: very profound way. And you don't forget about that. And
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: it makes you come back and do it again. I
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: thought the first time I went to a hospital, I would...
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: I remember, it's well over 20 years ago, and I
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: went to Landstuhl Medical Center in Germany.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: Landstuhl? It's called Landstuhl, yeah. And it's where... You know,
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: our service members, if they get hurt. It's the first
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: place they go, right?
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: They will go to Germany. They get stabilized. And then
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: they come home when they're okay to be transferred. And
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: that was the first military hospital I went to. So
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: you've got people that were in Iraq yesterday who got
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: blown up yesterday and flown to the hospital. And here
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: they are within 24 hours of being on the battlefield.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: And I'm seeing them.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: And that was very– I was very nervous about it.
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: I mean I remember the first time. It was kind
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: of– I tell this story about when I was a kid,
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: my grandmother dying in the hospital and it was– and
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: she was very sick and it was just very hard
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: to be in the hospital and see her like that.
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: And those were my hospital memories. And so now I'm
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: on a bus– with the USO and I'm driving to
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: the military hospital where our troops are first taken when
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: they get blown up or something bad happens to them.
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: And I'm going to see a bunch of these people
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: and I'm thinking this, I don't know how I'm going to,
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: I don't know how I'm going to get through it.
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: You know, I, I'm nervous. I'm feeling kind of nervous
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: in my stomach.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: And if one of them opens their eyes and like,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: holy shit, Lieutenant Dan, like I'm in heaven. Like where
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: am I?
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: Or they're hallucinating, you know, they're on so much medication.
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: They think they're nuts. And I walked in and I, I,
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: I tell this story about walking into the first room
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: and there were like 30 people in there and they
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: were all banged up, but they were going to get
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: patched up and sent back to the war zone. They
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: weren't injuries that would send them home. And everything was quiet.
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: And I'm, You know, I wore glasses at the time.
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: I had the funny little glasses on, little USO hat.
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: And I walk in and I'm not sure what to
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: do or what to say. Everybody's really quiet. And somebody
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: saw me and screamed Lieutenant Dan at me. And then
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: everybody jumped up and wanted a picture. And the whole
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: mood changed into something positive. And so that was, and
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: then I went to the hospital rooms and I saw
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: people that were missing limbs and people that were in
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: traumatic brain injuries and just really awful stuff. But when
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: I left there, I felt like really good that I
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: had done something positive.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: Like purposeful. Yeah.
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: You know, when I went there, it was all about
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: me and what I was thinking about how I'm going
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: to react to it. And when I left, I realized, no,
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: it's not about me and my reaction to it. It's
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: about just bringing some joy. bringing some light into a
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: dark situation and trying to lift somebody up. And that's
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: the energy you get. So that made me want to
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: go back. Two weeks later, I was at Walter Reed.
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: And then I was at another hospital, Naval Medical Center
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: at Bethesda. And then it's just now it's hundreds of
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: trips and, you know, multiple thousands and thousands of wounded
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: service members and family members we take care of. you know,
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: families of our fallen heroes. And, you know, you wrap
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: your arms around these kids that have lost a mom
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: or a dad in, in the, in the military, or
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: even our first responders, firefighters, police officers, we take care of.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: All of them.
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: And, you know, you just, you know, you're doing something
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: positive and, and it helps you get through the difficult
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: moments where, uh, some, you, you meet somebody that's really
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: been through some really bad stuff, but, I'm just there
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: to help them through. So you kind of learn, you know,
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: how it's not about you at all. It's about them
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: and what you want them to get out of you
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: giving them a hug or patting them on the back
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: or telling them you appreciate them. And that's rewarding. That
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: gives life great purpose to be able to take something.
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: You know, I'm in the movie business. I walk into
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: a room and they see Lieutenant Dan or something. But
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: it makes Lieutenant Dan so much more meaningful when he
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: can actually do something positive for somebody else.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he wasn't a character that just kind of ended
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: right there. Like he wasn't a character who just had
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: this– you know what I'm saying? Like it was– Yeah.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: No, it wasn't.
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: I realized at a certain point Lieutenant Dan is just
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: going to– he's just part of my life now because
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: so many soldiers– Relate to him. And, you know, I'd
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: go into the hospitals and I see somebody missing both
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: legs like Lieutenant Dan. And they just they want me
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: to talk about the story of Lieutenant Dan. And, you know,
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: the story of Lieutenant Dan is very positive, actually. He
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: goes through dark stuff, but it's a happy ending at
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: the end. And so what at the end, do you
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: own a car wash or something?
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: What do you do for a living at the end? No,
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: he's a shrimp guy. Oh, yeah. He's a shrimp guy.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: He makes a bunch of money.
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: He's like an early investor in Apple and they both
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: make a gazillion dollars in Apple and he's doing well.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: Look at him.
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: He's married at the end. He's standing up on prosthetic
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: legs and it's a happy ending and you pull for
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: a guy like that in a movie and you want
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: him to be OK. And so many of the other
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: movies that came out in the late 70s, early 80s
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: about Vietnam, you just– You always had this feeling that
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: the Vietnam veteran wasn't going to make it. He wasn't
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: going to be okay. Something bad was going to happen
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: to him. And with Forrest Gump, it was different. It
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: was a new look at a Vietnam veteran who came
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: home from war, processed everything, and then moved on.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: Recently, I've been on a mission to partner with more
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: companies that are based here in America. It's just important
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: to me. I had a podcast with Mike Rowe, and
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: he told me about this company called Good Ranchers. Good
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: Ranchers is unique compared to other meat companies as all
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: of their meat is born, raised, and harvested here in
• 28:08
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• 28:10
  Speaker 1: 85% of beef in the grocery store was from overseas.
• 28:15
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• 28:18
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• 28:21
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• 28:25
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• 28:27
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• 28:30
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• 28:34
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• 28:38
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• 28:56
  Speaker 1: and I cannot speak highly enough of this company. Streaming
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: November 16th on Paramount +, it's The Return of Landman,
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: TV's biggest phenomenon. From Taylor Sheridan, co-creator of Yellowstone, Academy
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: Award winner Billy Bob Thornton is back as Tommy Norris
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: and managing higher stakes than ever before. featuring an all-star
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: cast including Academy Award nominees Demi Moore, Andy Garcia, and
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: Sam Elliott. In the wake of his former boss's passing,
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: tensions come to a head as Tommy and Demi Moore's
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: Cammy Miller struggle to maintain control of EmTech's oil. And
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: with his father, played by Sam Elliott, coming back into
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: his life, Tommy must juggle both his roles as an
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• 29:48
  Speaker 1: his worlds collide. Don't miss the hit series everyone is
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: talking about, Landman. New season streaming November 16th, only on
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: Paramount +. We just had– Miles Teller was just on
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: the other day, and he and I actually ended up
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: talking about you, which is crazy because I had no
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: idea that you were going to come on. When I
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: first started this, my mom, she's had two husbands that
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: served and that passed away. But she was like, I
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: hope you could get Gary Sinise one day on your podcast.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: You've been her favorite guest, so this is– and she
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: watches every episode, so she'll be excited.
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: Please give your mom a hug for me. Oh, you bet.
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: Please do. I will give her one. Yeah.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: We started hugging finally about a year ago. Okay, good.
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: Well, give or two. It's been a long road, but
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: I'll make sure to. That's another podcast. You can tell
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: me about it.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: Miles Tucker was on, and he was talking about just
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: working with servicemen, and he was talking about just his experience.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: He had a film called Thank You for Your Service,
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: I think it was. Mm-hmm. And he said that a
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: lot of times it's like we know how to package
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: these people and get them ready to go off to war,
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: to serve, to be on the front lines, to protect
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: our freedoms. But we don't bring them home very well.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: What do you notice in your experience with a lot
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: of this, with spending time with a lot of these people?
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: Like what do you think that we can do better
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: as a country and then just as everyday people if
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: there's any– And I know this isn't judgment, but what
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: do you kind of survey? Haven't had a lot of experience.
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: Well, Miles has a point about that. And we learned
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: a lot during.
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: The Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. I mean, the military, the
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: various branches of the military did start to address that.
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: We need to fight the war on the battlefield, but
• 31:46
  Speaker 3: we have to make sure that we don't leave the
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: war on the battlefield alone. and neglect the war that's
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: going on at home when our service members return. So
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: we've been involved at the Gary Sinise Foundation in a
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: number of initiatives and a number of programs to address that,
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: coming home, transitioning from the battlefield to home, coming back
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: to your family. There was a movie that I was
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: involved in that I was executive producer on back during
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: the Iraq War called Brothers at War. And it was
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: all about that experience of going off to war and
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: then coming back and kind of reintegrating with the family
• 32:27
  Speaker 3: and how difficult that can be when you've seen people
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: blown up and seen people go through difficult things. This
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: was a buddy of mine who had two brothers that
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: were serving in Iraq. And he wasn't serving, but he
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: embedded with units over in Iraq. And he made a documentary.
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: His name's Jake Rademacher. And Jake's a buddy of mine. Uh,
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: I ended up being an executive producer on this film.
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: And then recently we decided because there's so many people
• 32:58
  Speaker 3: in the movie, uh, that we meet not just the
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: two brothers, but we meet the people that they're serving
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: with and we get to know them in that particular film.
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: We started talking, uh, you know, 10 years later after
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: the movie about like, where are those guys? What happened
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: to everybody that was in that first film? Are they
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: out of the service now? What's their transition out of
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: the service been like? So we've just done– we've got
• 33:25
  Speaker 3: a new movie out now called Brothers After War. And
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: Brothers After War– Brothers At War deals with military life,
• 33:33
  Speaker 3: what it's like to go off and serve, come home,
• 33:36
  Speaker 3: then get deployed again because many of our service members
• 33:39
  Speaker 3: would redeploy multiple times. That could be very tough on
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: the family. Just imagine a child growing up with mom
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: or dad deploying 10 times over a 12-year period and
• 33:52
  Speaker 3: they're never home and the child is growing up.
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: It's very, very difficult.
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: So Brothers After War deals with the transitioning veteran, the
• 34:00
  Speaker 3: person who's come home and now they're out of the service.
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: Most of the people that we meet in Brothers After
• 34:07
  Speaker 3: War that we met in the first movie, Brothers At War,
• 34:12
  Speaker 3: are out of the service. A few of them Jake's
• 34:14
  Speaker 3: brothers were just finishing up their service.
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: The Rademachers? The Rademachers. He had two brothers.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: Thank you for your service.
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: So you meet them. And it's a beautiful documentary. I mean,
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: both of them are very beautiful. And we use these
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: movies to help our veterans. We use the first movie.
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: Jake has done hundreds of workshops on military bases showing
• 34:37
  Speaker 3: the movie. And he hands out workbooks to everybody and says,
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: what did you feel about this documentary? When you saw this,
• 34:43
  Speaker 3: the soldier coming home, dealing with his children who haven't
• 34:47
  Speaker 3: seen him for a long time, all these and all
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: these people kind of start expressing themselves, start talking about it.
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: And we have so many service members that come home
• 34:58
  Speaker 3: and they don't talk about it.
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: Right. They they compartmentalize. They keep it in.
• 35:03
  Speaker 3: And sometimes it explodes in a very bad and damaging way.
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: And we don't want that to happen. We want to
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: combat the suicide problem that we have within the services
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: and do everything we can to be proactive to go
• 35:17
  Speaker 3: after it and provide mental wellness initiatives so that we
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: can help these people transition. That's what both these movies
• 35:23
  Speaker 3: are about. And they really are helpful. Jake is now
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: doing workshops with Brothers After War for veterans. So Brothers
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: At War and Brothers After War. Yeah, very, very positive movies.
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: Brothers After War was totally funded by the Gary Sinise Foundation.
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: And thankfully, our donors allow me to do a lot
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: of great things. And for our donors, they should know
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: that this movie is making a difference in people's lives.
• 35:51
  Speaker 3: We are helping veterans. That's Jake doing a workshop there
• 35:55
  Speaker 3: for Brothers After War. We're making a positive impact, but
• 35:59
  Speaker 3: there's so much more that we can do. Thankfully, there
• 36:02
  Speaker 3: are a lot of nonprofits out there that are focused
• 36:05
  Speaker 3: on this. We have other mental wellness initiatives. We work
• 36:08
  Speaker 3: with an organization called Boulder Crest Foundation. Boulder Crest, they
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: provide retreats all around the country for veterans to go to.
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: We've sent hundreds of veterans to these retreats. It can
• 36:20
  Speaker 3: be very, very positive.
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: Because so many of these people come home and then
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: they isolate.
• 36:26
  Speaker 3: And we don't want them to do that. We want
• 36:28
  Speaker 3: them to tell their stories. We want to teach them
• 36:30
  Speaker 3: how to share their stories and that it's okay to
• 36:33
  Speaker 3: share their stories.
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: We saw Vietnam.
• 36:35
  Speaker 3: Veterans come home from war and they had to keep
• 36:38
  Speaker 3: everything inside of them. And it was, it was not good.
• 36:42
  Speaker 3: And we don't want that to happen to anybody who's
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: serving our country. So we provide a lot of programs
• 36:47
  Speaker 3: and initiatives with Gary Sinise foundation to help them through that.
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: Well, we're going to make a donation today, Gary. So
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: thank you.
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: Oh, thanks so much.
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: We'll donate $ 10, 000 today to just to support the foundation.
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: Holy cow.
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: So, um, I know it's not the largest donation you've gotten, but, uh, we're,
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: we're happy to do that on behalf of our podcast today. Um,
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: it feels like it's falling upon the private sector to
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: take care of a lot of our servicemen and women.
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: Is that a true feeling, do you think? Or do
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: you think that the government is still doing a good job?
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: And then do you think one political party really does
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: it better than the other? Like, have you noticed any
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: of that? And if you feel uncomfortable talking about that,
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: that's okay. I don't want to put you in any
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: weird spot.
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: There's two things.
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: Just....
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: Imagine, okay, if there were no nonprofits in the military
• 37:39
  Speaker 3: and first responder community, right, that are trying to fill
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: the gaps and help, we'd have a catastrophe.
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: And if there was no VA system, we'd have a catastrophe.
• 37:53
  Speaker 3: So both of them are necessary, you know, but I
• 37:56
  Speaker 3: don't think the government can provide all the help that
• 38:02
  Speaker 3: is needed for our veteran community. It's just, it's a
• 38:06
  Speaker 3: large community. You know, we have veterans going back, you know,
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: pretty far. And some of, you know, like look at
• 38:12
  Speaker 3: our Vietnam veterans, for example, they're aging into their seventies
• 38:16
  Speaker 3: and eighties and, you know, things are, things are a
• 38:19
  Speaker 3: little tougher for them because they're aging and, you know,
• 38:24
  Speaker 3: they might have, they might have needs that they didn't
• 38:27
  Speaker 3: have 20 or 30 years ago. Is it, Will the
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: government provide everything that's necessary for all the people that
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: have served our country over the years? While they may try,
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: I don't think it's possible. I think the nonprofits play
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: a pretty significant role in this.
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: And so.
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: Take the nonprofits away and we'd have a real serious problem.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: Got it.
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: But we have to work together.
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: And so.
• 38:57
  Speaker 3: You know, the VA is just one of those large
• 38:59
  Speaker 3: bureaucracies that we have. You know, I mean, there's many,
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: many VA hospitals around the country. There are a lot
• 39:07
  Speaker 3: of hospitals that need upgrades, you know, because they've been
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: around a long time. And so we constantly have to
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: reinvest in that within the government. My dad got help
• 39:20
  Speaker 3: from the VA, you know, so that That was good.
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: I think my stepdad did for sure. I think he
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: was in Korea and he got help from the VA.
• 39:28
  Speaker 3: But now the nonprofit. play a very, very significant role.
• 39:32
  Speaker 3: And there are certain things that the VA does well
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: and there's certain things that they don't do well. There's
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: certain things that nonprofits could do better at, but there's
• 39:40
  Speaker 3: a lot of things that nonprofits do that are really
• 39:43
  Speaker 3: making a difference. And I think we have to all
• 39:46
  Speaker 3: work together constantly to to do everything we possibly can
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: to serve the men and women who have served our
• 39:54
  Speaker 3: country and protect our freedoms and keep us safe, our
• 39:57
  Speaker 3: first responders as well. We have many programs at the
• 40:00
  Speaker 3: Gary Sinise Foundation that are serving all these communities.
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: What would you say then just to any lawmakers who
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: are listening, right? Because we've talked, we've had a lot
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: of politicians on this show, like we've had a lot
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: of people come through and we've gotten to express things
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: to them about different like, Laws and things that we
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: would like to see changed. Is there anything to lawmakers
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: that you would say if there were any lawmakers listening? Like,
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: is there anything you would say to them based on
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: like your experiences that that could be done or that
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: could be different? Or is that too broad of a
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: thing to even ask?
• 40:36
  Speaker 3: Democrats and Republicans serve our country right in military uniform.
• 40:41
  Speaker 3: So do we owe them, you know, or do we not?
• 40:46
  Speaker 3: And if you're in government, I always believe we can
• 40:50
  Speaker 3: never do enough for the men and women to serve
• 40:52
  Speaker 3: our country. So, you know, let's make sure that they
• 40:57
  Speaker 3: don't get caught in, you know, in some political game
• 41:00
  Speaker 3: that's going on. You know, right now we have a
• 41:03
  Speaker 3: government shutdown going on right now. And so certain people
• 41:07
  Speaker 3: are struggling.
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: We don't want that to happen to our military service members.
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: They're going to serve. No matter what. Right.
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: And the stress of that, knowing the government shut down,
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: that has to feel weird for some of them, especially
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: some of the older ones who are going to VA,
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: like wondering if in a month they're still going to
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: be able to get if the place they're going to
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: or that they're getting housing from is still going to
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: be available. It could just be a fear. You know,
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: the stress of so much of that is crazy.
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: That's exactly right.
• 41:32
  Speaker 3: When we don't want them to fall through the cracks
• 41:35
  Speaker 3: because of some political thing that's happening.
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: And that's a political kickball that they use. And it
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: has real life. It has real life.
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: What word am I looking for? Consequences.
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: Consequences.
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: Thank you, sir. You're absolutely right.
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: Here it says on perplexity, it says the government shutdown
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: in 2025 has had a significant impact on veteran affairs,
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: although most vets, benefits, and core services continue. About 37,000
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: Department of VA employees are furloughed or working without pay,
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: affecting certain services and programs. Critical services that have been
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: suspended or halted include the GI Bill hotline, which assists
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: over 900,000 veterans, was shut down. 56 regional VA benefits
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: offices are closed to the public. So I'm not sure
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: how factual some of this is, but even just the
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: fear of this, say if I'm someone who's looking online
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: and I'm a veteran, the fear and stress caused by
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: this is a lot.
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: I know there are things going on.
• 42:31
  Speaker 3: For example, a lot of times when I want to
• 42:34
  Speaker 3: go to a military base, right, and I have a
• 42:38
  Speaker 3: foundation that provides uplifting events on military bases all across
• 42:45
  Speaker 3: the country and overseas. And many times if I, you know,
• 42:50
  Speaker 3: I will look at my calendar, which we're doing right now,
• 42:55
  Speaker 3: and I'll figure out when I can be in different
• 42:59
  Speaker 3: areas of the country. And then I'll call up the
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: general or the colonel and say, would you like us
• 43:07
  Speaker 3: to come and lift up the base with some entertainment
• 43:12
  Speaker 3: and that kind of thing. And, you know, nine times
• 43:15
  Speaker 3: out of ten, you know, if the date's available and
• 43:17
  Speaker 3: they don't have something else going on, they'll want me
• 43:20
  Speaker 3: to come. And we provide meals. We do all kinds
• 43:24
  Speaker 3: of things like that on military bases. Well, I'm in
• 43:27
  Speaker 3: the process of doing that right now, winding up 2026.
• 43:31
  Speaker 3: And a lot of the bases that I'm reaching out
• 43:34
  Speaker 3: to are saying, you know, We got a lot of
• 43:37
  Speaker 3: people furloughed right now, so we can't make any decisions,
• 43:40
  Speaker 3: but we're hoping that this is going to stop. So
• 43:44
  Speaker 3: this furlough stuff is already sort of slowing things down
• 43:49
  Speaker 3: a bit. I mean, they'll get this sorted out eventually.
• 43:53
  Speaker 3: It's not going to last forever and everything, but it
• 43:55
  Speaker 3: is kind of.
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: A roadblock for them to just get on.
• 44:03
  Speaker 3: With things on the military base and, and continue serving
• 44:06
  Speaker 3: our country. And part of what I do is just, I,
• 44:10
  Speaker 3: everything in my foundation is all about, uh, the heartbeat
• 44:14
  Speaker 3: of everything we do. I say this is lifting people up.
• 44:17
  Speaker 3: It's making them feel important, making them feel that they're
• 44:23
  Speaker 3: not forgotten, that we appreciate what they're doing, you know?
• 44:26
  Speaker 3: And so, so often somebody who's serving in the military,
• 44:30
  Speaker 3: they can just go about their, daily life in the
• 44:32
  Speaker 3: military and not even think that anybody knows what they're doing.
• 44:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 44:36
  Speaker 3: And I've found that my role as an entertainer and
• 44:39
  Speaker 3: somebody who can interact with them on military bases and,
• 44:43
  Speaker 3: you know, talk to the leaders and all that kind
• 44:45
  Speaker 3: of stuff is to kind of let people know what
• 44:48
  Speaker 3: they do. And I go to these military bases all
• 44:52
  Speaker 3: the time. I've been to hundreds of them and I
• 44:54
  Speaker 3: go there and then I come back and I talk
• 44:56
  Speaker 3: to people like you, Theo, and I tell people what
• 44:58
  Speaker 3: I see. And I've met some of the most extraordinary
• 45:02
  Speaker 3: people serving our country out there. Just some of my
• 45:05
  Speaker 3: best friends are in the military. And I'm from somebody
• 45:10
  Speaker 3: who's missing three limbs or four limbs to, you know,
• 45:14
  Speaker 3: some general who served his country for 42 years and
• 45:18
  Speaker 3: is now retired. And when I met him, he was
• 45:20
  Speaker 3: a major, you know, or something. I mean, you know,
• 45:24
  Speaker 3: so I've been doing this a long time and I've
• 45:26
  Speaker 3: met extraordinary people.
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: I want to serve them.
• 45:28
  Speaker 3: I don't want them to get caught in the political
• 45:32
  Speaker 3: games and all that stuff.
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: These are our defenders. Where would we be if nobody
• 45:36
  Speaker 2: wanted to do that?
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: Oh, if you had to sleep in fear too? I
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: mean the fact that we– I mean it's a little
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: bit scary certainly in certain neighborhoods and different places. But
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: the fact if you had to sleep in complete fear
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: and that somebody else is sleeping– is not sleeping so
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: you don't have to. It's like, yeah, the things like
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: that we don't think about. My dad would always make
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: us pray for– This serviceman when we were kids, I remember.
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: I didn't even remember that until you just said that.
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: But yeah, the fact that some.
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: Of these people... You did? Yeah. How old were you?
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: I was probably six or seven. I think when I
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: first could remember that I was praying, you know. But
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: I just remembered that he would do that.
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: But I think.
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think people used to have a different affinity
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: for maybe the military or some people did.
• 46:23
  Speaker 2: I don't know. We had a different.
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: Affinity as a country, I remember the Pledge of Allegiance
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: was like the most important thing, you know?
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: And do it every morning, yeah.
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the fact that we were all together, it was
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: one moment where it felt like we were all together
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: for something.
• 46:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: You know, if I could go back in time and
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: do one thing differently for myself, financially, it would be
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: to save. Save a little bit of money, just a
• 46:50
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• 46:54
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• 47:43
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• 47:48
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• 47:52
  Speaker 1: Potential subject to various factors such as customers' accounts, age,
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• 47:57
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  Speaker 2: Investment results will vary. Investing involves risk.
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: Acorns Advisors LLC and SEC Registered Investment Advisor. View important
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: disclosures at Acorns.com slash Theo. I'll admit that customer reviews
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: have a lot to do with whether I'm going to
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: buy a product or not. I go right online, I
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: look at those reviews, and it'll say on there, it says,
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: able to stand by itself. It said that for a
• 48:20
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• 49:01
  Speaker 1: There's no credit card or contract required, and you can
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  Speaker 1: cancel at any time. That's ShipStation.com slash Theo. Your foundation
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: does so many unique things. I saw the Snowball Express,
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: which was really cool. Is that what it's called, the
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: Snowball Express?
• 49:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a program for children of our fallen heroes.
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, tell me, there's a great photo. I think it
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: was from this year that you put up. Oh, this
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: is so great. A thousand children of fallen soldiers to Disneyland.
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: You guys all went?
• 49:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we take them.
• 49:36
  Speaker 3: I got involved with, there was a, Organization that started
• 49:41
  Speaker 3: in 2006 and they brought a bunch of kids to
• 49:43
  Speaker 3: Disneyland in Anaheim. And after they did that event, they
• 49:49
  Speaker 3: contacted me to tell me about the event and they
• 49:52
  Speaker 3: wanted to do it again in 2007. They asked me
• 49:55
  Speaker 3: to get involved and I did and started attending the event,
• 49:59
  Speaker 3: started donating my band. American Airlines is a big supporter
• 50:05
  Speaker 3: of that. They provide all the airfare. all the charter airplanes,
• 50:10
  Speaker 3: they'll provide 12 charters from all over the country to
• 50:16
  Speaker 3: fly the kids into this event.
• 50:18
  Speaker 2: Thank you, American Airlines. That's amazing. American Airlines.
• 50:22
  Speaker 3: And they've been doing it now, you know, going back
• 50:25
  Speaker 3: to the beginning. And I got involved, you know, like
• 50:29
  Speaker 3: I said, it's almost 20 years. And we eventually moved
• 50:33
  Speaker 3: it from Anaheim to Dallas, which is where American Airlines
• 50:38
  Speaker 3: is based. And so we did the event there for
• 50:41
  Speaker 3: about nine years. And I would come bring my band
• 50:45
  Speaker 3: and all of that. And then I have this great
• 50:49
  Speaker 3: relationship with Disney World. I've been narrating a show down
• 50:51
  Speaker 3: there since 2000 every Christmas time. It's called the Candlelight Processional.
• 50:58
  Speaker 3: And I would bring my family there. And I thought
• 51:01
  Speaker 3: this is the next place that we have to bring
• 51:03
  Speaker 3: the kids. It was going to cost a lot more money. Now,
• 51:07
  Speaker 3: that's the candlelight processional. I started in 2000, and I've
• 51:12
  Speaker 3: done it many, many times. I'll be doing it again
• 51:15
  Speaker 3: this year.
• 51:16
  Speaker 2: When do you do it?
• 51:18
  Speaker 3: I used to do it right— sometimes I do it on
• 51:21
  Speaker 3: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 51:23
  Speaker 3: And now I do it because we're bringing the kids there.
• 51:26
  Speaker 3: In 2018, we folded that organization, Snowball Express— into the
• 51:33
  Speaker 3: Gary Sinise Foundation, because it was going to cost a
• 51:37
  Speaker 3: lot more money to move it to Disney World. So
• 51:40
  Speaker 3: we had the ability to raise the additional money. So
• 51:43
  Speaker 3: now we take the kids to Disney World. And so
• 51:46
  Speaker 3: when we do two events, we do military kids, and
• 51:51
  Speaker 3: we will have close to 1,000 children who have lost
• 51:56
  Speaker 3: a parent in military service, plus the surviving spouse.
• 52:02
  Speaker 2: Plus hundreds of volunteers.
• 52:04
  Speaker 3: I mean, we take over an entire hotel at Disney World,
• 52:08
  Speaker 3: you know, 800 rooms and all that.
• 52:11
  Speaker 2: It's very expensive. But what you.
• 52:13
  Speaker 3: See happening to these children when they come together and
• 52:17
  Speaker 3: they meet each other and they meet, you know, other
• 52:20
  Speaker 3: children that are going through the same thing. They've all
• 52:23
  Speaker 3: lost a mom or a dad in the military. And
• 52:27
  Speaker 3: they're all heartbroken kids and they're going through all that.
• 52:30
  Speaker 3: But they meet all these other kids and they befriend
• 52:33
  Speaker 3: each other and they stay in touch with each other.
• 52:34
  Speaker 3: And then we provide year-round events in states all over
• 52:38
  Speaker 3: the country throughout the year for these families. And then
• 52:42
  Speaker 3: after we do the military event, we bring children of
• 52:45
  Speaker 3: fallen firefighters and police officers there. And we'll have, gosh,
• 52:50
  Speaker 3: we'll have 500-something kids of fallen firefighters and police officers there.
• 52:56
  Speaker 2: So we do.
• 52:57
  Speaker 3: Two back-to-back events, all expense paid. We just want them
• 53:01
  Speaker 3: to come and we want to shine a spotlight on them.
• 53:05
  Speaker 2: And we want to.
• 53:06
  Speaker 3: Just wrap our arms around these families and love on
• 53:10
  Speaker 3: them so that they know that they can go home
• 53:13
  Speaker 3: from that and know that there's a big, big, giant
• 53:15
  Speaker 3: community of people that care about them, that don't forget
• 53:18
  Speaker 3: what they're going through, that honor their hero that they
• 53:21
  Speaker 3: lost and think about them every day. And that's what
• 53:24
  Speaker 3: we do at the Gary Sinise Foundation. We have dozens
• 53:27
  Speaker 3: of corporate sponsors that love the event. And, you know,
• 53:31
  Speaker 3: like I say, we probably have 2,000 people there, you know,
• 53:35
  Speaker 3: working the event with the volunteers and the staff and
• 53:39
  Speaker 3: the Disney folks and then the families that we bring in.
• 53:43
  Speaker 3: It's a gigantic event. And, you know, I'll always send
• 53:48
  Speaker 3: them off on an airplane and, you know, I show
• 53:50
  Speaker 3: up at the airport. That's what you were seeing there
• 53:53
  Speaker 3: with me on the plane with the kids and all that.
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's amazing, you know, it's nice to be
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: reminded that there's, uh, an organization, uh, that's helping to
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: fill in the gaps of our, like the government organizations.
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: And it's not like, but that's what we need. That's
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: what we've always been. You know, it's like we have to,
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: in the end we have to count on ourselves.
• 54:12
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: Um, is there like a moment or two that stands
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: out from some of the experiences on those types of
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: weekends that.
• 54:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 54:20
  Speaker 3: I'm in hundreds and hundreds of families, you know, and
• 54:23
  Speaker 3: they're all going through some some difficult loss, you know,
• 54:28
  Speaker 3: and unfortunately each year there's a new family, you know,
• 54:33
  Speaker 3: I mean, these are, these are, you know, we, we
• 54:36
  Speaker 3: can't point to a war that's going on right now,
• 54:40
  Speaker 3: but people are serving out there.
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 54:42
  Speaker 3: Unfortunately, we lose people who take their own lives because they, they,
• 54:47
  Speaker 3: they don't know where to turn and they feel like
• 54:51
  Speaker 3: That's the only way out and that leaves the family behind.
• 54:54
  Speaker 3: We don't want those families to feel like nobody cares.
• 54:59
  Speaker 3: This is a family who served and sacrificed for our country.
• 55:04
  Speaker 3: We all benefit from the service of our defenders and
• 55:09
  Speaker 3: their families. So we have a role to play. I
• 55:12
  Speaker 3: think we as citizens have a role to play. I
• 55:15
  Speaker 3: have said this, that government does a certain amount. But
• 55:22
  Speaker 3: I don't think we can expect government to do everything
• 55:24
  Speaker 3: for everybody. And we have a role to play as citizens.
• 55:28
  Speaker 2: And if.
• 55:30
  Speaker 3: Every neighborhood, every community, every town, every city, every state
• 55:36
  Speaker 3: in the country recognize that there are veterans and military
• 55:41
  Speaker 3: families and first responders within those communities that are struggling,
• 55:45
  Speaker 3: and we reached out, took the initiative ourselves within our
• 55:49
  Speaker 3: own communities, to touch those families and take care of
• 55:53
  Speaker 3: them and let them know, Hey, we're here for.
• 55:56
  Speaker 2: You, whatever you need.
• 55:57
  Speaker 3: If every community did that in the country, the oldest, yeah,
• 56:01
  Speaker 3: this stuff that you hear about veterans falling through the
• 56:03
  Speaker 3: cracks and all that stuff, and they're waiting in line
• 56:06
  Speaker 3: for different things and stuff, you know, all of that
• 56:09
  Speaker 3: would be greatly reduced. Well, all those problems, if we
• 56:13
  Speaker 3: as citizens just recognize that, Hey, there are people out
• 56:16
  Speaker 3: there that, that protect us, they defend us. And, uh,
• 56:21
  Speaker 3: I appreciate that. So I'm not going to neglect. I'm
• 56:24
  Speaker 3: not going to take it for granted.
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: And like who in my neighborhood, who in my town,
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: who in my township, who has a family member that's
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: over there serving that I could stop by and say
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: hello or do something nice for or leave a card
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: in their mailbox or do– you know what I'm saying?
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: Just little things like that. It's like I'm even asking myself.
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: It's like how can I be a part of even
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: just my local community to help let people– People around
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: me feel recognized that their dad isn't over there in
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: vain or their mother isn't over there serving in vain,
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: that there aren't people thinking about them and praying for
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: them and making themselves available if there's something else that
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: the family needs.
• 57:01
  Speaker 3: That little thing can make a big difference. There are
• 57:03
  Speaker 3: big things that you can do, right? You can donate
• 57:05
  Speaker 3: to national organizations. You can create an organization. But there
• 57:12
  Speaker 3: are small things that you can do too. You can
• 57:15
  Speaker 3: just pat somebody on the back and say, I appreciate you.
• 57:20
  Speaker 2: You know, that's it.
• 57:21
  Speaker 3: That gesture, you know, if you're walking through an airport,
• 57:24
  Speaker 3: you see a soldier and you pat him on the
• 57:26
  Speaker 3: back and say, I appreciate what you're doing. Thank you
• 57:29
  Speaker 3: for serving our country. You don't know if that person
• 57:33
  Speaker 3: has just lost three buddies in something, if he's coming
• 57:36
  Speaker 3: home carrying a big, heavy load. And that little gesture,
• 57:40
  Speaker 3: that little pat on the back, that little acknowledgement of
• 57:44
  Speaker 3: what they're doing.
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
• 57:46
  Speaker 2: That can go a long way.
• 57:48
  Speaker 3: That can change somebody's day in a big way, just
• 57:51
  Speaker 3: those little tiny gestures. I remember, you know, the kinds
• 57:57
  Speaker 3: of stuff you hear about. And I made a practice
• 58:02
  Speaker 3: of this. If I saw soldiers or something like that
• 58:04
  Speaker 3: in a restaurant, I'd always like anonymously pick up their check.
• 58:08
  Speaker 3: I mean, this goes along, you know, this goes back
• 58:11
  Speaker 3: a long way. Well, when I started my foundation, we
• 58:15
  Speaker 3: created a program. And we call it serving heroes. And
• 58:19
  Speaker 3: now we've served well over a million meals on military bases, firehouses.
• 58:26
  Speaker 3: You know, police departments, people like that.
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: You could bring me to one of the things next
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: year if you do something.
• 58:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, sure. Well, I know you live here now. Oh, yeah.
• 58:36
  Speaker 2: Now I'm screwed. Now you're stuck.
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: I'm going to have to start learning how to march.
• 58:41
  Speaker 2: You'll be serving some heroes with us. I would love to, Gary.
• 58:45
  Speaker 2: That would fill my heart up. That's it right there.
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 58:48
  Speaker 2: So that's me.
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
• 58:49
  Speaker 2: I love macaroni.
• 58:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's macaroni and cheese or beans or whatever it is.
• 58:53
  Speaker 3: You know, we always get great food. And we have
• 58:57
  Speaker 3: multiple programs at the foundation. Now, that little program there,
• 59:01
  Speaker 3: just serving veterans at a VA or some military base
• 59:06
  Speaker 3: or something like that, that little program can make a
• 59:09
  Speaker 3: big difference. difference you know somebody like me comes out
• 59:12
  Speaker 3: and dishes out the hamburgers and beans and stuff and They.
• 59:17
  Speaker 2: Call home and say, hey, guess who gave me the
• 59:20
  Speaker 2: beans today? Lieutenant Dan's doing fine. Yeah, it could be.
• 59:24
  Speaker 2: Lieutenant Dan dished out the beans. He's doing great, dude.
• 59:28
  Speaker 2: But I've done it so many times. No, I love it.
• 59:32
  Speaker 2: You know, remember the Palisades burning down? Yeah.
• 59:35
  Speaker 3: We were there a couple weeks later. We were dishing
• 59:38
  Speaker 3: out food to all the first responders, the National Guard
• 59:41
  Speaker 3: people that were there. Serving hundreds of meals just, you know,
• 59:45
  Speaker 3: and that kind of stuff. They just saw a lot
• 59:48
  Speaker 3: of bad stuff, you know. And those types of things
• 59:52
  Speaker 3: can just help them through. Hey, I'm not doing this. Yeah,
• 59:57
  Speaker 3: that's the Palisades here.
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 2: I'm not doing– that's Joe Montagna on my right there.
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 2: Is it really? Yeah, Joe. Oh, from CSI?
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 3: On my left right there, that's John Androsik from Five
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 3: for Fighting.
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 2: And they're buddies of mine. They're both ambassadors for my foundation.
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 2: I can't stand to fly. Is that them? Yeah, yeah, Superman, yeah.
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 2: And they're old buddies of mine. We've known each other
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 2: a long time. Wow. And I said, hey, we're dishing
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 2: out food. Come on over. So they came over to
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 2: do it. And we do these all over the place.
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. I used to go to AA meetings up
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: there all the time. I go to some big AA
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: meetings up there in Palisades.
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 2: In the Palisades.
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, some pretty big ones. We'd go to them at
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: the VA over there. They had one over there.
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 2: In Westwood? In Westwood, yeah.
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: With that golf course in the back, that crazy place.
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 2: Yes. That place seems like. We've done a bunch of
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 2: those serving heroes at the VA in Westwood. I bet
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 2: you have.
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: That place, they just keep trying to repaint it to
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: make it look like it's okay, you know?
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 2: You know what I'm talking about? I told you that
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 2: some of the VAs need a little work.
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: But it also has a really cool old school feel
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: in there.
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 2: But that's a, yeah.
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: I've been over to that one a great deal just
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: to– To go to meetings sometimes, and sometimes I'll sit
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: out there and talk to some of the guys that
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: are sitting around over there. Yeah, yeah, please let me
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: know if there's something I can do, if there's something
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: I can help be a part of.
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 2: I'd love to.
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: I think this is like even just the fact that
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: you came here and are sharing this stuff with us,
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: it's important to be reminded. Sometimes you get caught up
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: in your own life so much, you forget about the
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: things that are keeping your own.
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 3: We have thousands of donors that go to the Gary
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 3: Sinise Foundation and help us do all this stuff.
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 3: You know, and I've been blessed because I've been, you know,
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 3: I had a, you know, had good years in Hollywood
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 3: and I've been able to take those resources and channel
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 3: it into doing something good and then, you know, provide
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 3: something that the American people can support and come on
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 3: board with. And now, like I said, we have hundreds
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 3: of corporate donors that help us with all kinds of stuff.
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 3: We build houses for our wounded.
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: Oh, I just heard you guys are building, you're just
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: building your 100th house or what did I hear?
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 3: On Veterans Day, we give away our 99th home in Virginia.
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 3: And then a couple weeks, just about nine days later,
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 3: eight days later, we give away our 100th home.
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 2: Let's go. And how do these homes get built? That's wild.
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 2: We have a great team of builders. These are all professionals.
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 3: You know, we don't just get volunteers and hammer the
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 3: nails and stuff. We've had a team of very professional
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 3: builders that, you know, Our work is not the only
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 3: thing they do, but they're very, very good at building
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 3: these homes. We come in. We rally the communities around
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 3: the service member. We just had just a few days ago,
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 3: we just had one of our events here in Tennessee
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 3: called Walls of Honor, which is about halfway through the home.
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 2: You can see the frame up in this home.
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 2: We will do something before the drywall goes in.
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 3: We'll have the community and corporate sponsors and people that
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 3: are part of our building. They will come and they'll
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 3: write messages on the frame. And these are messages that
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 3: are just part of the house now, these beautiful messages
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 3: of support and love and appreciation. And we just had
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 3: one of those events. I was just there just a
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 3: few days ago.
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: So you're on the go a lot with these things.
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: This is amazing. And this is– so if people wanted
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: to– if people do want to donate, they could just
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: donate to Gary Sinise Foundation and it goes to all
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: these different things?
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, unless you want to designate it to something special
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 3: or something like that, you can do that.
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 2: And they can do it right on your website? Yeah,
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 2: just GarySiniseFoundation.org. It helps us to do all the things.
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 3: And when I take my band out to a military base,
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 3: that's– the band is an initiative– of the Gary Sinise Foundation,
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 3: just one of our many, many programs that we have
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 3: at the Gary Sinise Foundation to raise spirits and lift
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 3: people up and to help them through.
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: No, it's so great because sometimes you're like, what do
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: I give to? What do I donate to? Especially these days,
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: you hear of so many charities and you don't really
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: know what's going on. And then like people will create
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 1: negative press about charities just to, you know, how evil
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: it can be in the media. But just to know firsthand,
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: to hear all these great things, it's like, man, this
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: feels like a safe place. If I want to donate
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 1: to that, I know that the finances are going towards
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: something important. So that, yeah, just because so many times
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: people don't know what to donate to. They just pick
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: something that they've heard of, which is fine. But to
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: know that this is there, that's super important.
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Thank you, man.
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much. I know.
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: You've had an interesting few years. Your son got very
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: sick in the past few years. Yeah.
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 2: Mack, his name, what was his full name?
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: Mack.
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 3: First name is McKenna, and everybody called him, you know,
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 3: we all called him Mack.
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: Oh, there he is, handsome guy. McKenna Anthony.
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Mack was, he started playing drums when he was
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 3: nine years old, and he just took to it right away.
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 3: Just an incredible, he had just a natural talent.
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: And played all the way through high school. Look how
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 1: proud he looks right there. He's pretending to look like that,
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: like kind of austere, you know?
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 2: Well, you know. Is austere a word? Yeah, it is.
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 3: After music school, he went to USC Music School. And
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 3: then he went on tour. He was touring around overseas
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 3: and around the country with different bands and whatnot.
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 2: He came to work for the Gary.
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 3: Sinise Foundation in 2017. Wow. He just was kind of
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 3: tired of the road, and I kept kind of bugging
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 3: him a little bit. Well, why don't you dip your
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 3: toe in the water and just come and work at
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 3: the foundation part-time? And he started to do it, and
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 3: he fell in love with the mission. And that's Mac
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 3: and I on one of our trips where we took
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 3: probably about 45 World War II veterans down to the National.
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 2: World War II Museum. In New Orleans? In New Orleans. Yeah.
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 3: And we take them with our program called Soaring Valor.
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 3: Mac fell in love with that program and just loved
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 3: being around the veterans. And he was just getting so
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 3: into working with the foundation. He also was a great
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 3: composer and wrote music for the foundation. And then in 2018,
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 3: he was diagnosed with a very rare cancer called chordoma.
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 3: It starts in the spine, and.
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 2: He had.
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 3: His initial tumor removed in September of 2018, but the
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 3: cancer came back in May of 2019. He stayed working
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 3: for the foundation while he was going through treatment until
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 3: the end of 2019, and then things got very, very
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 3: hard for him. And you can see him there in
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 3: a wheelchair. He was disabled by the cancer, couldn't walk anymore,
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 3: couldn't play any music anymore, wasn't thinking about music at
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 3: all for 2020, 2021, 22, in early 2023. And this
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 3: is a story that you see there that I posted
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 3: on the Gary Sinise Foundation website about six weeks after
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 3: he died. He worked for the foundation and I wanted
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 3: people to know that we lost one of our team
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 3: and people, you know, I didn't talk about this for
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 3: six years while we were going through it. I just,
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 3: we were just going through cancer and trying to fight
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 3: it and hoping we would find some drugs that worked.
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 3: And we, Mac tried 25 different drugs during a four
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 3: and a half year period and nothing worked. And it's
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 3: a rare cancer. I mean, it's, there's no cure for it.
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 2: So yeah, in early 2023 though, he said to me, Dad,
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 2: I've been thinking about this piece of music that I
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 2: wrote in college that I never finished. And I'm thinking
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 2: I'd like to try to finish it. And, you know,
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 2: he hadn't been thinking about music at all. And when
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 2: he said that, I was just like, I was so
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 2: knocked out by that. I said, yes, do it, do it.
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 3: And so he teamed up with a couple of my
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 3: band members who he knew. Mac was our number two drummer.
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 3: If my guy, Danny Gottlieb, couldn't be there, Mac would play.
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 3: He grew up around the band. He knew all the band.
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 2: Everybody loved him.
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 3: So he went to work with Dan Myers and Ben
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 3: Lewis to start fleshing out this piece called Arctic Circles.
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 3: And by July of 2023, he was in the studio
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 3: right there recording. And he also played harmonica. He picked
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 3: up harmonica in his hospital bed. He couldn't play drums,
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 3: so he picked up the harmonica and he started playing.
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 3: That's Mack playing the great American classic folk tune Shenandoah.
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 3: With a string section behind him. And you can see
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 3: that video. You can see Arctic Circles and other videos
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 3: at Mack Sinise YouTube. And here's some of this music
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 3: on the YouTube. You can also download it. And Mack
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 3: ended up after these sessions for Shenandoah and Arctic Circles.
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 3: He decided he wanted to do a whole.
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 2: A whole album.
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 3: So along with his buddy, Oliver Schnee, composing buddy from,
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 3: that's Oliver right there, from USC, they went to work.
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 3: And Mac did an album called Resurrection and Revival. And
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 3: he finished the music, was done and ready in December
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 3: of 2023, two weeks before he died. He finished the records.
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 3: And we posted up this story. That's one of the
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 3: sessions with my band for Resurrection and Revival. This story
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 3: is on the Gary Sinise Foundation website.
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's beautiful.
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: Handsome young man.
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 2: He was incredible.
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 3: You can actually see right there on his nose, that's
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 3: a tumor. And you can see his spirit right there.
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 3: And we're listening to one of the pieces played back
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 3: to us right there, and everybody was psyched out about it.
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 1: And thank you for sharing Mac with us today. Thank
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 1: you for letting us think about you with him and
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 1: think about him. Thank you for letting us speak his
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 1: name today. And, you know, it's important that I think
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 1: when we say people's names that aren't here in front
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 1: of us, that they feel it, that that's a real thing, right?
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: To me, that feels very real. Same as when we
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 1: pray for people that all those things are very real.
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: Like I think our spirits are very much alive for
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 1: a long time. And so thank you for that.
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 2: Mac was a very faithful guy.
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 1: Was he?
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Catholic faith helped him through the most challenging, difficult stuff.
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 1: And what was something that amazed you about your son
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 1: as you're watching him go through that?
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 3: You know, Theo, I never heard him say, you know,
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 3: that why me stuff or why is this happening or,
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 3: anything like that. You know, it was just, I remember
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 3: when we found out he had a tumor and the
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 3: way he dealt with it was just, oh, that's why
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 3: my tailbone's been hurting, you know, for two years. You know,
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 3: he thought it was a tailbone fracture or bruise from
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 3: a bike accident or something.
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 2: And, oh, okay. So we're going to take it out
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 2: and get on with life.
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 3: And he faced it like that. He always had this
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 3: sort of, he was what I called a graceful warrior
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 3: and such courage and such grace under fire because this
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 3: cancer was devastating. I mean, it was one thing after another.
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 3: It just kept coming at us. And I was like
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 3: the one in the family who had to Guide us,
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 3: you know, through it. I stopped acting in 2019. At
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 3: the end of 2019, 2020 became so difficult that I
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 3: just never went back to acting. And I stayed, you know,
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 3: I just stayed in the battle. And he was the
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 3: inspiration for everything. The way he courageously just faced it
• 1:13:07
  Speaker 3: and just took it on the chin and took it
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 3: in stride. And if we could keep him out of
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 3: pain and if we could keep him from feeling too
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 3: sick from the treatment and all that, he was just living.
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 3: He was in a hospital bed and we had to
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 3: hoist him up with a thing called a Hoyer lift
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 3: and you lift him out of the bed and put
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 3: him in a wheelchair or whatever.
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: Like one of those shrimp net things almost, which is crazy.
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 2: Well, it's a sling.
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 3: It's a sling that you put underneath them and then
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 3: you hook it to this arm and then you crank
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 3: it up and it lifts him out of the bed.
• 1:13:45
  Speaker 2: It's kind of cool. Almost like a stork.
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 3: I mean, that's what we had and we had to
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 3: get used to all that kind of stuff. Wheelchair vans
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 3: and treatment and, you know, radiation and, you know, he
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 3: had multiple surgeries and he went through all of this,
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 3: which was such, And the last year of his life
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 3: when he said he wanted to go back and write
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 3: that music, in some ways, even though it was getting
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 3: harder and we were running out of drug options and
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 3: all of that and his health was, you know, deteriorating,
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 3: in some ways that was one of the best years
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 3: of his entire life because he– accomplished what he set
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 3: out to do he wanted to make this record he
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 3: wanted to make this music he wanted to resurrect and
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 3: revive this old piece that he never finished and he
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 3: did it and he did all of that and and
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 3: then after he died i found all this additional music
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 3: in his files that he wrote and tucked.
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 2: Away that.
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 3: Some some he'd written in for the foundation and i
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 3: had heard it but then i found all this other
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 3: stuff oh going all the way back to his college
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 3: days and so i produced A second record, Resurrection and
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 3: Revival Part Two. That's actually a story about Resurrection and
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 3: Revival Part Two.
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 2: Go back to that picture.
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: I just want to see him.
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 2: Oh, look how happy he is, huh?
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 3: And that is, we blew up a bunch of pictures
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 3: of Mac and put them in the studio when we
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 3: were recording. And yeah, there they are. We put the
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 3: pictures around. You had the orchestra there. They're all playing.
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 3: A lot of them played on the first records. And
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 3: so we made a second record, Redirection and Revival Part II,
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 3: which is a double vinyl album. And Mac wanted all
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 3: the proceeds that came in. If people bought the vinyl album,
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 3: he wanted those proceeds to go to the Gary Sinise Foundation.
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 3: And so we've– How special, huh?
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah. How special for your son to like– Just to
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 1: make it such a family mission, you know.
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 3: You know what's cool too? You can see here like
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 3: all those messages right in the middle of the screen there.
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 3: There are thousands of messages that were posted on the
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 3: Gary Sinise Foundation website after people read this story. And
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 3: I can't tell you how meaningful that was for people
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 3: to write in and leave these messages for our family
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 3: and how helpful that was for us to read. These
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 3: are from my bandmates and some of the people that
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 3: worked for the foundation, but these are the messages that
• 1:16:32
  Speaker 3: came in from the general public and they continue to
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 3: come in. And to have this kind of support and
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 3: people sharing their own stories of loss and going through
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 3: it and reading Mac's story and listening to his music
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 3: and what listening to his music was doing for them.
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 3: That was, all of that has been so helpful to
• 1:16:53
  Speaker 3: us in our loss. It's, you know, I mean, to
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 3: lose a son is, it's, you know, it's the hardest
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 3: thing that, I've had some hard things in life, but
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 3: to watch our son go through that and to lose
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 3: him in the end was the most difficult thing in life.
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 3: But also, like I said, the blessings that we've had
• 1:17:23
  Speaker 3: with his music.
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 1: For sure.
• 1:17:26
  Speaker 2: And now I've got a third record going. I found
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 2: even more music. Of Mack's stuff? Let's go.
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's incredible. There's a third record going. He
• 1:17:37
  Speaker 3: wrote so many things that he never thought would. I mean,
• 1:17:41
  Speaker 3: you know how a musician will.
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 2: Get an idea.
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 3: They'll kind of chunk it out. throw it onto a recorder,
• 1:17:47
  Speaker 3: tuck it away over here, and then, you know, go on.
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 3: And so I found all these things that he wrote
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 3: and tucked away, and we brought a whole bunch of
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 3: those to life, orchestral music, jazz things, rock tunes, something
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 3: as big as, you know, him sitting down with his
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 3: computer programs and doing big sweeping string orchestrations to him
• 1:18:12
  Speaker 3: singing a melody into his phone that he didn't want
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 3: to forget that was in his head.
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 3: And he sings this melody. And so I've, I've taken
• 1:18:21
  Speaker 3: those melodies gone to, to my, my guys at work
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 3: with me on it and said, let's bring these melodies
• 1:18:27
  Speaker 3: to life. And so many of Mac's melodies are coming
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 3: to life now in, in the third record. It's really,
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 3: it's spectacular.
• 1:18:35
  Speaker 2: It's, it's beautiful. And all the proceeds will go to.
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 3: The Gary Sinise foundation to help our mission He loved
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 3: our mission at the Gary Sinise Foundation.
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 1: Well, it's just so amazing that he got in there
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 1: and was able to just feel the joy of being
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 1: a part of serving others.
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 2: If you get a chance, play some of that. Oh,
• 1:18:53
  Speaker 2: I would love to. It's good stuff. It's really amazing music.
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 1: I want to listen to something in just a second here.
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 1: Do you feel like there was a way that he
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 1: tried to prepare you for him passing? Or what is
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 1: that like? Is that a strange question?
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 3: No, no, it's not. I, you know what? He was preparing.
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 3: He knew he had an incurable cancer and every drug
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 3: we were trying wasn't working. And he tried like 25
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 3: different drugs during a four and a half year period.
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 2: And, uh, we would.
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 1: Was there plant medicines and stuff you tried to even?
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there were, I mean, at one point he was doing, uh,
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 3: sea cucumbers from New Zealand, you know, that were showing
• 1:19:41
  Speaker 3: some positive signs like on an immunotherapy side. And we
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 3: had a very good oncologist who was– we never got
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 3: to that point where they said we don't know what
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 3: to do.
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 2: We don't have any ideas. Our oncologist was like, Mac,
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 2: as long as.
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 3: You want to keep trying, then I'll keep looking for
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 3: something to try.
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 2: And he did.
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 3: And he kept trying to find something. And, you know, unfortunately,
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 3: we'd get to a certain point with one drug and
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 3: we didn't see enough results. So you bang into the
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 3: next one. And, you know, we had a lot of
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 3: drugs go through Mac.
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 2: At a certain point.
• 1:20:26
  Speaker 3: And it was very, you know, very challenging, you know,
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 3: to fight that. But I never saw him not want
• 1:20:37
  Speaker 3: to do it. Later on, I found videos that he made.
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 2: And when I say he was trying, he was preparing himself,
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 2: he was also leaving some things for the family.
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 3: And he wrote some things that I found. And he
• 1:20:56
  Speaker 3: left messages. And at one point in 2022, he had
• 1:21:00
  Speaker 3: to go in for very serious He was having a
• 1:21:05
  Speaker 3: very serious bladder issue. His bladder was just shutting down.
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 3: And he had to have tubes put in his kidneys
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 3: to drain the urine directly out of his kidneys. And
• 1:21:17
  Speaker 3: he was in the ICU for about 12 days. And
• 1:21:20
  Speaker 3: at that point, he thought this, you know, he was
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 3: wondering if that was going to be it, you know,
• 1:21:29
  Speaker 3: the end. So he started thinking and he started writing
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 3: and he started leaving videos and he started, and then I,
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 3: after he died, I started finding all this stuff, messages
• 1:21:39
  Speaker 3: from him, things that he was thinking and not, you know,
• 1:21:43
  Speaker 3: to be sad, you know, but I want to leave something.
• 1:21:46
  Speaker 3: He was saying, I want to leave something that people,
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 3: so people will know me a little better. And he
• 1:21:54
  Speaker 3: was thinking ahead, you know, to the time where, He
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 3: might not make it. And, you know, with everything that
• 1:22:01
  Speaker 3: was happening to him, he was realistic, you know. He
• 1:22:04
  Speaker 3: was very realistic about the fight and the uphill battle
• 1:22:09
  Speaker 3: that we had. And we weren't seeing enough progress, you know,
• 1:22:12
  Speaker 3: on the positive side to combat the cancer. So he
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 3: was preparing in a lot of ways. And, you know,
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 3: like I said, I've discovered a lot of things. And
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 3: I've discovered more about my son than anything. I could
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 3: have imagined, you know, just his talent, his wisdom, his spirituality,
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 3: a lot of beautiful things that, uh, cause I've spent
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 3: countless hours, you know, all the time digging into things
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 3: about my son and I'm working on a, you know,
• 1:22:47
  Speaker 3: something that will come out next year about him. And,
• 1:22:51
  Speaker 3: you know, so I'm, I'm, I'm spending a lot of
• 1:22:53
  Speaker 3: time and, and Mac is, He continues to help me,
• 1:22:59
  Speaker 3: and we share.
• 1:23:00
  Speaker 2: My band plays two songs. That he wrote? Yeah, two songs. Yeah,
• 1:23:05
  Speaker 2: we're playing at the Opry next week, and Mac's going
• 1:23:07
  Speaker 2: to have his Opry debut. Let's go. With two of
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 2: his songs.
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 1: He sounds like such a gift. That's what he sounds like.
• 1:23:14
  Speaker 1: Was he always like that, even when he was small?
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 1: Like when he was a child?
• 1:23:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, he was a kid, you know, like that.
• 1:23:21
  Speaker 3: like other kids, but he was, Mac was a very,
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 3: always very sensitive. His mom, I think he's got this
• 1:23:28
  Speaker 3: sensitive beauty that his mother has, and she gave him.
• 1:23:33
  Speaker 2: A lot of that. And at one point he went
• 1:23:39
  Speaker 2: off to college and he kind of, you know, was
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 2: doing the college thing and kind of went through a period,
• 1:23:44
  Speaker 2: you know, where he's a little strayed, but then he
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 2: came back to his faith in a really big way.
• 1:23:50
  Speaker 3: You know, when he, you know, a couple years out
• 1:23:53
  Speaker 3: of college, he was looking for something more than what
• 1:23:59
  Speaker 3: he had. And that's when he started kind of revisiting
• 1:24:06
  Speaker 3: his faith. And I'll tell you, the fact that he
• 1:24:11
  Speaker 3: kind of reinvested in that in 2017 in such a
• 1:24:18
  Speaker 3: profound way that was so meaningful to him. The fact
• 1:24:23
  Speaker 3: that he did that when he did was a gigantic
• 1:24:27
  Speaker 3: benefit to his fight because the following year he's diagnosed
• 1:24:32
  Speaker 3: with this terrible cancer.
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 2: And he has something inside to help support him.
• 1:24:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and the timing couldn't have been better for that,
• 1:24:42
  Speaker 3: you know, for him to have that strength. And he
• 1:24:45
  Speaker 3: always relied on that throughout the fight.
• 1:24:49
  Speaker 2: Were you so proud of him?
• 1:25:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 2: Could not be prouder of anyone. I'm proud of my kids.
• 1:25:11
  Speaker 2: Our daughters are amazing. And, you know, through the whole thing, we.
• 1:25:17
  Speaker 3: Were all heartbroken, of course, but our daughters were amazing
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 3: through it all and loved their brothers so much. And
• 1:25:24
  Speaker 3: that's the three of them right there.
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 2: Tell me about Mac's sisters if you have a minute. Yeah. Well,
• 1:25:33
  Speaker 2: there's the one picture there where they're looking back at
• 1:25:38
  Speaker 2: the camera. Yeah, that's cute.
• 1:25:40
  Speaker 3: That's my daughter Sophie on the right and then Mac
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 3: in the middle. And then, yeah, that one there. And
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 3: then Ella, the youngest. Ella's pregnant with her third child
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 3: right now.
• 1:25:49
  Speaker 1: Let's go, Ella. Somebody's knocking her up, huh? Sorry. We
• 1:25:55
  Speaker 1: know how it happens. That's terrible. I'm just trying to
• 1:26:02
  Speaker 1: make you laugh. I'm just trying to.
• 1:26:04
  Speaker 2: Make you laugh. And Sophie on the right, she's got
• 1:26:06
  Speaker 2: three kids.
• 1:26:07
  Speaker 3: She's got a big family. Mac loved his little nieces.
• 1:26:12
  Speaker 3: My wife is amazing. that's her on the right there with,
• 1:26:15
  Speaker 3: with Mac.
• 1:26:18
  Speaker 2: They, we all have a very close relationship and we
• 1:26:23
  Speaker 2: all have helped each other through, you know, this, this
• 1:26:27
  Speaker 2: very difficult time. No question about it.
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 1: Just the value of family, of having people, you know.
• 1:26:35
  Speaker 3: You know, in the beginning when you're going through a
• 1:26:37
  Speaker 3: loss like that, I mean, we've all been through terrible loss, but,
• 1:26:42
  Speaker 3: But this particular thing, in the beginning, you're all exactly
• 1:26:49
  Speaker 3: in the same place at the same time. You're all
• 1:26:52
  Speaker 3: crying every day, all the time. And then as time
• 1:26:56
  Speaker 3: goes on, you start to manage your grief a little bit.
• 1:27:02
  Speaker 1: More.
• 1:27:04
  Speaker 3: Just manage those moments. The moments sneak up on you
• 1:27:07
  Speaker 3: and stuff like that. And sometimes they'll hit me and–
• 1:27:12
  Speaker 3: you know, all of a sudden I'm in a very
• 1:27:14
  Speaker 3: emotional place and, you know, my wife will just put
• 1:27:18
  Speaker 3: her hand on my shoulder, you know, whereas in the
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 3: beginning she'd start crying herself or my daughter would start crying.
• 1:27:23
  Speaker 3: We'd all be crying at the same time. And you
• 1:27:26
  Speaker 3: kind of help each other through those moments. You just know, okay,
• 1:27:29
  Speaker 3: dad's having a moment here with Mac and we just
• 1:27:35
  Speaker 3: have to help him through, you know? And so you
• 1:27:38
  Speaker 3: learn to process your grief a little better. And The
• 1:27:41
  Speaker 3: thing I would say to anybody is those beautiful memories
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 3: that you have of somebody that you miss like that
• 1:27:53
  Speaker 3: and that you've lost, those are the things that sustain you.
• 1:27:57
  Speaker 3: And you have to hang on to them. I know
• 1:28:01
  Speaker 3: Mac doesn't want me to grieve and be sad and
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 3: depressed all day long and miss him all day long
• 1:28:08
  Speaker 3: and all of that.
• 1:28:09
  Speaker 2: He wants us to go on and live.
• 1:28:11
  Speaker 3: And anybody that we love that we lose, they don't
• 1:28:15
  Speaker 3: want us sitting around wasting a minute of time just
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 3: not making the most out of the life that we have.
• 1:28:24
  Speaker 3: And that's what we do to kind of celebrate and
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 3: honor those that we've lost.
• 1:28:30
  Speaker 2: We live on for them. And I know that Mac
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 2: is proud of me and what I'm doing with his music.
• 1:28:37
  Speaker 2: He's he's probably a little freaked.
• 1:28:39
  Speaker 3: Out about it because i'm so obsessed with it but
• 1:28:43
  Speaker 3: uh but he's also like dad you you took that
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 3: little idea and turned it into something i know and
• 1:28:50
  Speaker 3: i've and sure oliver i brought oliver schnee back on
• 1:28:54
  Speaker 3: and oliver's producing the second record Let's go.
• 1:28:56
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Oliver.
• 1:28:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Oliver's doing a tremendous job with arranging certain things.
• 1:29:02
  Speaker 3: My keyboard player, Ben Lewis, has taken a bunch of
• 1:29:04
  Speaker 3: the piano music that I found that Mac did and
• 1:29:08
  Speaker 3: woven these things together, these beautiful melodies that Mac created.
• 1:29:12
  Speaker 3: My violin player, Dan Myers, who worked with Mac on
• 1:29:17
  Speaker 3: a song called Quasi Love that's on the second record.
• 1:29:20
  Speaker 3: It's a rockin' tune, the last song that Mac wrote.
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 2: He wrote it with Dan.
• 1:29:25
  Speaker 3: Um, Dan is working on three different songs right now.
• 1:29:28
  Speaker 3: They're all came out of Mac's files. So we are
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 3: doing something pretty cool.
• 1:29:33
  Speaker 2: And I think Mac, Mac has probably just kind of
• 1:29:36
  Speaker 2: been shocked a bit, bit in shock that we're going
• 1:29:40
  Speaker 2: so crazy with it all.
• 1:29:42
  Speaker 1: Oh, well, it's like, yeah, in the end, it's like the, like,
• 1:29:48
  Speaker 1: it's just how much can we try and love, right?
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 1: How much can we try and love? How much can
• 1:29:52
  Speaker 1: we try to be there to fill in the gaps? um,
• 1:29:56
  Speaker 1: of the world, of the parts that are tough, you know,
• 1:29:59
  Speaker 1: how much can we be there for each other? Those
• 1:30:00
  Speaker 1: are the things that mean something, you know, they really are. And, uh,
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 1: and it's just, it's, it's the truest thing.
• 1:30:07
  Speaker 3: And parents, you know, we, we just, you know, spending
• 1:30:15
  Speaker 3: time with your kids and loving on your kids and,
• 1:30:18
  Speaker 3: and all of that, that's, that's precious. It's, it's precious stuff,
• 1:30:23
  Speaker 3: you know, loving our, our loved ones and, and, you know,
• 1:30:26
  Speaker 3: making sure that they know that we do, you know, that's,
• 1:30:30
  Speaker 3: that's precious because none of us know, you know, none
• 1:30:34
  Speaker 3: of us know.
• 1:30:34
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah.
• 1:30:35
  Speaker 1: Especially how you even like touch somebody or hold somebody,
• 1:30:38
  Speaker 1: you know?
• 1:30:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 1:30:39
  Speaker 1: It was like most of my life. I just wanted
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 1: my dad to like put his hand on the back
• 1:30:42
  Speaker 1: of my neck, you know?
• 1:30:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Give you a pat. Yeah.
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 1: Or just like, even like hold me like that, you know,
• 1:30:48
  Speaker 1: it's like a very like, uh, familial type of thing,
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 1: you know, there's things you, yeah, we just want to feel,
• 1:30:56
  Speaker 1: you know, connected.
• 1:30:57
  Speaker 2: We want to feel cared about.
• 1:30:59
  Speaker 1: Um, and yeah, I thank you and Mac, uh, for
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: creating such an environment that continues to just, uh, nurture
• 1:31:09
  Speaker 1: and inspire that in the world, not in an egotistical way,
• 1:31:12
  Speaker 1: but in a way of just like, Hey, we feel
• 1:31:15
  Speaker 1: like this is important. So come and join us on
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 1: this journey of, um, of being there to give out
• 1:31:20
  Speaker 1: a meal, to give out a hug, to watch a
• 1:31:22
  Speaker 1: family smile when they get to walk into Disney World
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 1: with pens of their dad or their mother on their
• 1:31:27
  Speaker 1: chest and feel like they're not alone or they're not
• 1:31:30
  Speaker 1: forgotten about.
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 2: That's exactly right.
• 1:31:35
  Speaker 3: And I know with regards to Mac, he loved the
• 1:31:40
  Speaker 3: foundation so much.
• 1:31:41
  Speaker 2: He loved the people that we serve. He wrote a
• 1:31:46
  Speaker 2: great patriotic anthem called The Rise of... It's really an
• 1:31:50
  Speaker 2: incredible piece of music. And he wrote it for the
• 1:31:53
  Speaker 2: foundation after he started going on these trips with World
• 1:31:57
  Speaker 2: War II veterans.
• 1:31:58
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 1:31:58
  Speaker 3: You know, young people, we pair young students up, you know,
• 1:32:04
  Speaker 3: like a 16 or 17-year-old with a 95-year-old World War
• 1:32:08
  Speaker 3: II veteran who survived Iwo Jima or something like that.
• 1:32:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 1:32:12
  Speaker 3: And they get to learn from them. And Mac learned
• 1:32:15
  Speaker 3: from them. And he was inspired by them. And now
• 1:32:18
  Speaker 3: we have his music to share with us.
• 1:32:22
  Speaker 2: You know what? Can I mention this? For sure. Last May,
• 1:32:28
  Speaker 2: both Resurrection and Revival and Resurrection and Revival Part 2
• 1:32:35
  Speaker 2: were among the top ten most downloaded records in America
• 1:32:40
  Speaker 2: on iTunes. And this is like Blake Shelton. Morgan Wallen,
• 1:32:45
  Speaker 2: all these guys are on the top 10. And there's
• 1:32:47
  Speaker 2: Max Sinise with two records. And Forbes, a writer with
• 1:32:52
  Speaker 2: Forbes saw that and was like, who's Max Sinise? You know,
• 1:32:56
  Speaker 2: what is this?
• 1:32:57
  Speaker 3: And so he wrote a story on it, on how
• 1:33:00
  Speaker 3: these records were among the most downloaded records in America
• 1:33:04
  Speaker 3: on iTunes. So the music is getting out there. The
• 1:33:07
  Speaker 3: music is being shared. The music is helping the Gary
• 1:33:10
  Speaker 3: Sinise Foundation. We have more music coming. We wanted to
• 1:33:14
  Speaker 3: continue to inspire people and, and, you know, sharing the
• 1:33:18
  Speaker 3: story of Mac and the foundation is something that I,
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 3: I can do all day long because it's a lot
• 1:33:26
  Speaker 3: of beautiful work.
• 1:33:27
  Speaker 1: Oh, well, just the beauty that went into it, the
• 1:33:29
  Speaker 1: life that went into it, you know, and the fact that, um,
• 1:33:32
  Speaker 1: you know, uh, that it's like Mac's life has been,
• 1:33:38
  Speaker 1: is now in it, you know, it's like, it's in it. It's,
• 1:33:41
  Speaker 1: it's giving your life to making something that's, not just
• 1:33:44
  Speaker 1: of you, you know, like you were saying, like getting
• 1:33:46
  Speaker 1: out of yourself. You know, I know when I'm not
• 1:33:49
  Speaker 1: feeling good, it's like I got to go do something
• 1:33:50
  Speaker 1: for somebody else or I need to call somebody else
• 1:33:52
  Speaker 1: and ask them how they're doing. The only solution to
• 1:33:56
  Speaker 1: me is you, you know, that's really the truth for
• 1:34:00
  Speaker 1: me anyway.
• 1:34:02
  Speaker 2: That's true.
• 1:34:03
  Speaker 1: And on the way out today, we will play a
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 1: couple of Max Tunes. We'll keep, we'll just go to
• 1:34:08
  Speaker 1: our screen card of the episode and we'll play Arctic
• 1:34:10
  Speaker 1: Circles and we'll play Maybe we play that, the veterans
• 1:34:16
  Speaker 1: at the anthem.
• 1:34:17
  Speaker 2: What is that one called? It's called The Rise. Yeah,
• 1:34:20
  Speaker 2: that's on the YouTube channel as well. Okay. So maybe
• 1:34:23
  Speaker 2: we can play The Rise. Very patriotic song. Is it good?
• 1:34:25
  Speaker 1: Well, that's perfect for Veterans Day.
• 1:34:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:34:28
  Speaker 1: And for this week. And yeah, Gary, we want to
• 1:34:31
  Speaker 1: double our donation too to you guys. Sorry for being
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: cheap earlier. Thank you. But yeah, on behalf of our
• 1:34:39
  Speaker 1: podcast and the people that listen, And just thank you
• 1:34:42
  Speaker 1: so much for your work and for just coming and
• 1:34:45
  Speaker 1: spending time with us today and for letting us spend
• 1:34:47
  Speaker 1: time with Max Life. I can even feel him smiling, dude.
• 1:34:50
  Speaker 1: I don't even know him, but I can feel it.
• 1:34:52
  Speaker 2: Thanks, Steve.
• 1:34:54
  Speaker 1: It's just so special.
• 1:34:55
  Speaker 2: I'll come back when we got that part three. We
• 1:34:58
  Speaker 2: can listen to that one. Okay.
• 1:34:59
  Speaker 1: We can just sit here and listen to it sometime, too,
• 1:35:01
  Speaker 1: if we want.
• 1:35:02
  Speaker 2: Awesome, bud.
• 1:35:02
  Speaker 1: We don't have to talk a bunch. Tell your wife
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 1: thank you so much for being supportive of you. And
• 1:35:07
  Speaker 1: I don't know what she does with the organization. She
• 1:35:09
  Speaker 1: may do a ton. But just tell her thank you
• 1:35:11
  Speaker 1: so much for being a supporter as well because I
• 1:35:12
  Speaker 1: know sometimes there's always an amazing woman behind the name
• 1:35:16
  Speaker 1: sometimes and stuff.
• 1:35:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I've got a great family supporting us, both our sons-in-law.
• 1:35:23
  Speaker 3: We got lucky and, you know, we're just very blessed
• 1:35:28
  Speaker 3: in a lot of ways.
• 1:35:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 1:35:31
  Speaker 1: Gary Sinise, thank you so much, brother. Happy Veterans Day
• 1:35:34
  Speaker 1: to you. And, yeah, let me know when I can
• 1:35:37
  Speaker 1: come and help out next year.
• 1:35:39
  Speaker 2: I will, bud. Okay, good. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
• 1:36:16
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 1:37:26
  Speaker 2: Thank you.