Latest / The Next Steps Show | Faith. Politics. Entrepreneurship. Freedom. / Next Steps Show Jan 3, 2024

Transcript

Next Steps Show Jan 3, 2024 · The Next Steps Show | Faith. Politics. Entrepreneurship. Freedom.

0:03
Mira a la izquierda, mira a la derecha, ¿qué ves? ¿Dónde estás?
0:08
In a world that seems to change daily, what will you do next?
0:13
Welcome to the Next Steps show with
0:15
Peter Vazquez, a starting point for discussion y un poco de dirección.
0:20
Music.
0:24
¡Saludos, WhatsApp! Hey, you remember that commercial, WhatsApp?
0:30
Ladies and gentlemen, soy Joe, your host, the conservative Nuyorican,
0:34
Peter Vasquez, coming to you from the WYSL studios.
0:38
Yep, another beautiful day. Man, I'll tell you, you know, I can't get over the
0:44
fact that politics, you know, politics, why?
0:47
Why does politics always have to get in the way of things? You know,
0:51
it kills me, ladies and gentlemen, because,
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I mean, here in the Monroe County legislature, We're talking about an opportunity
0:57
for the Hispanic community to take a seat that we can be as Hispanics,
1:03
the first Hispanic, right?
1:04
And also because the ones running are also women.
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So women Hispanic as the president.
1:12
I mean, come on. Why are we getting caught up in the politics of it?
1:17
Ladies and gentlemen, it's simple.
1:18
You work out the details, right? right?
1:21
You talk about what's in the best interest of our community.
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I think housing sounds pretty freaking amazing for our community to me,
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but you know, that's what we should focus.
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But no, we talk about first Hispanic and then here it is, overshadowed by politics.
1:40
Kills me. Ladies and gentlemen, 346-3000, 585-346-3000.
1:46
I want to know what you think about that, right? Right. So, hey,
1:48
you know what? Enough of that political stuff. It kills me. You know, we've got.
1:54
People loading up their cars with gas and intentionally going after, and we don't have a clue.
1:59
And then the information that we get isn't even accurate because you got one
2:03
news source saying, oh yeah, they saw a suicide note.
2:06
Another one saying, no, they didn't find anything.
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And we live in crazy times. So you know what?
2:14
Today we're going to take the time and we're going to talk about a rags to riches stories.
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No, I don't mean like, hey, we went to the store and bought a $10 lottery ticket
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and won the million dollars.
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Nor am I talking about someone who happened to, you know, be the son or daughter
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of somebody who did work hard and they had a silver spoon.
2:35
That's not what I'm talking about either. That's not the rags to riches stories.
2:38
I'm talking about the rags to riches stories from an individual that did something
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like, you know, like find balance in faith, politics, and entrepreneurship, right? right?
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Like put God first, like living in line with things like Philippians 4.13.
2:56
I can do all things through Christ who strengthened me.
2:59
So today, right here in the Next Step Show, I am honored to introduce a truly
3:06
inspiring individual born in Puerto Rico, raised in challenging neighborhoods in Chicago,
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yep, Chicago and New York.
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I think it was Dunkerque, which those of if you know the old Dunkerque,
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it's kind of like a New York style Chicago, right?
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I'm sure there's beauty there too, guys. I'm talking about the crime like we
3:27
have here in Rochester, right?
3:29
Our guest defied the odds with the support of a strong family.
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Crazy how that's been such a common theme with all my guests.
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He built a successful career in food manufacturing without without a college
3:42
degree, and served in the New York National Guard, earning recognition for her service during 9-11,
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a testament to resilience and dedication.
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Ladies and gentlemen, as we talk about God, country, and family,
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join me in welcoming my guest today, Osvaldo Vasquez, also known as Ozzy Vasquez.
4:05
And ladies and gentlemen, I don't think we're cousins, are we?
4:08
No, we're not related. Not that, yeah, although the Vasquez family with a Z is extremely large.
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It's a very common name, yep. So, bienvenido at Next Step Show, sir.
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And, of course, thank you for your service. Oh, thank you. You're welcome.
4:22
A funny thing is that when I was at your wife's swearing-in ceremony a couple
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weeks ago, I introduced myself to two or three people.
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And immediately, oh, are you related?
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Yeah. No, no, I'm not related. It's a common thing.
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Last name so that was funny we are up
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there with the rodriguez's and the cruises and and
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and other common last names in the hispanic although
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i will say though that the the z the vaz versus the vas is a little bit more
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unique from what i understand but anywho so hey you you know as i said you you
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have you have lived your life and finding balance and faith politics and entrepreneurship
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Entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship being,
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you know, ownership of yourself.
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Otherwise, we couldn't survive some of the adversities that we both grew up
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in. Because, I mean, I kind of grew up in some of those same neighborhoods.
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Not Dunkirk here in Chicago, but here in Rochester. Right. So how'd you do it?
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Tell us who you are and who you were before you found all this balance. Okay.
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I was born in Jujuy, Puerto Rico.
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And when I was like, I think. Say the name of the town again. I was wondering. Okay.
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Where is that in the island? In the mountainous region and sort of in the middle,
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like two hours from Ponce.
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So do you have to like come down the mountain in horses?
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Just kidding. Well, I moved to Chicago with the family when I was about three months old.
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So I really didn't remember, five months old.
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And we lived in Chicago in the south side for about three years.
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I'm not exactly sure about the neighborhood, but I know if you watch the show
6:04
Good Times from the 70s and they lived in South Chicago, it was in that area.
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Interesting. A lot of gangs, a lot of shootings back in the 70s. It's still now too.
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It's even worse now. We rival them. So it was pretty bad. So my mom,
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as a little girl, lived in Dunkirk, New York, because my grandfather lived there.
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Worked at a power plant there. And they moved away back to Puerto Rico.
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And then I was born there.
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But as a little girl, my mom lived in Dunkirk, New York.
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And while we were living in Chicago, we're like, man, this is pretty rough.
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Shootings and gangs. My siblings got beat up on the way to school.
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So we decided, well, let's move to Dunkirk.
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Dunkirk was a nice little city there. So the whole family packed up.
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We moved over there when I was about three and then I was raised there.
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I had great parents, great family. Dunkirk was a little rough.
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It was just like any other city with, you know, drugs, crime, things like that.
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But, you know, with parents that are focused on making sure you go to school,
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making sure you stay out of trouble.
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I was raised, you know, in a loving family and graduated high school and joined
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the military and started my food career.
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And the rest is history. The rest is history. I moved to Rochester about 10 years ago.
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OK. And continued my food manufacturing career there, here in Rochester.
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And it keeps going. So what do you think about Rochester in comparison to both Chicago and Dunkirk?
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Or Dunkirk, because you said you were smaller in Chicago. Yeah,
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well, Dunkirk is a very small city.
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Rochester, I always liked Rochester.
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There's crime in every city, but for a small city, Dunkirk had an issue of crime.
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In Rochester, there's a murder every 3.5 days.
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If you don't mind me asking, and obviously not exactly where,
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but generally, where do you live in the city?
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When I first moved to Rochester, I lived in the Greece area, in Dewey Avenue.
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And then I moved to the Park Avenue area on Harvard Street.
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And I met my girlfriend, and we moved to Fairport. and we've been there ever since.
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Fairport's great. You got the electricity. I love Fairport.
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Electricity is great. It's Spenceport. Yeah. So you get that whole,
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I mean, what's your bill? Like a hundred bucks for the whole year?
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I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm just wondering. I remember that being something
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like that for my brother who lived in Spenceport with that Spenceport Electric in the town.
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So you joined the military. I'm assuming you just one day got tired of what you were seeing.
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I mean, I joined the military, joined the army when I was 17.
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I was a knucklehead. I was a teen parent, grew up here, you know,
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in all the neighborhoods that we talk about now.
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And very much like you, I had a really good home. My father didn't have a college
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degree from Puerto Rico, from the mountains.
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But he would always do things in his broken English, like leave me a little
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dime and said, here goes a dime if you go to school today.
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Needless to say, I took his dime and didn't go to school all the time.
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But, you know, he still loved me, though. So, and that had been the common theme
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with everybody that I've had to show, whether it was a mom and dad or just mom,
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but that family component, oh my gosh, it's so.
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Support. It's huge. And so, so when I see things like, like the manifesto from
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BLM, for example, that says right on their front, on its front page,
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that says their intent is to
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destroy the, the, the Western family unit or something along those lines.
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And we see that happening. the number of fatherless homes. Ladies and gentlemen, 346-3000.
10:04
Give us a call. So National Guard, the military. I'll tell you.
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That I didn't want to join the military. Oh, no? I have two older brothers,
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and my oldest brother joined the Army Reserve as our artillery soldier down in Fort Silt.
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And he served for about three, four years. Wow. And then my middle brother joined the Marines.
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He went to Parris Island, and he was in infantry.
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And I got a partial scholarship to Alfred State College as a senior.
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And I had a CAD CAM program set up, and I was all set up for that.
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And they wanted me to—my two brothers were arguing with me.
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Oh, you're not going to college, you're going to the military.
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And we were arguing for a while, and finally I gave in and joined the National
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Guard and drove a tank for eight years.
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And the funny thing is my two brothers only did two three years and i i didn't
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want to go and i end up doing eight years ah that's funny i you know i have
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to say that i enjoy well there's not a day that goes by that i don't miss wearing
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the uniform i've almost gone back in a few times,
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but you know what though i was a single dad when i got out
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and then my wife and i so i figured you know i did my time in uniform i'm going
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to focus on working here domestically and as you can tell there's plenty domestic
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to protect against so you were at the World Trade Center yes I didn't know you
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were in the military I was talking with your son about the Marines Solomon Vasquez my son yes yes.
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So 9-11, I joined back in 1997, went to Fort Knox and graduated armor school there.
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And basically went all over the country. My last duty station was Fort Irwin, California.
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And what we did there after 9-11 was getting armor units ready to go back to
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Iraq for the second Iraq war.
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And Fort Irwin is like tank country. Fort Irwin is a desert,
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Mojave Desert, where it's almost like the sands of Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Very much so. So my oldest son, Pierre, was born in Victorville Hospital,
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and we spent quite a bit of time in Barstow right outside of Fort Irwin.
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And I can't remember the Marine Corps base that was closer to Camp Pentleton
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yet. You know, it always amazed me the amount of cars that were lined up at
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the entrance of all the people that got the DWIs on post and couldn't drive anymore on post.
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Anyways, ladies and gentlemen, you are listening to a guy who made it happen.
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A guy who decided that it just wasn't going to be a victimhood for him.
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And he's decided he's going to make a difference. You're listening to your conservative
13:02
Nuyorican, Peter Vasquez, on the WYSL stations.
13:06
No te atraves, no te atraves, cambiale ese dayo, right? We'll be right back.
13:10
Music.
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15:01
Call 346-3000 to advertise today.
15:04
Peter Vasquez and Next Step Show on the WYSL stations.
15:13
Welcome back to the Next Step Show, Peter Vasquez, y aquí tenemos al señor Ozzy Vasquez.
15:20
Yeah, and we're pretty sure we're not related, by the way. There just happens to be a lot of Vasquez.
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Interesting. Hey, Keith, thanks for calling the Next Step Show, sir.
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Uh yes uh i really wasn't going
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to call but then i got to thinking as the two of you were going on especially
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with his military background so i'm going to be right up front here i'm thinking
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of a magazine article newspaper article i read back in the autumn that said
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in the near enough future future,
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70% new homeowners are going to be of Hispanic background.
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So I wanted to know from what I'm politely me, a non-Hispanic referring to you
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two gentlemen as responsible Hispanic Americans, certainly with his military background.
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I've never been in the military, but without I'm not about BSing anyone. I do think military.
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That makes sense. So I was wondering, with the up-and-coming demographics,
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because of the old maxim that demographics are destiny,
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what pray tell, and whether it has to do with foreign policy or anything else, but just with,
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let's say, Hispanic Americans moving more into the American mainstream,
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extreme, where do you see a country going and so far as.
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Just the influence of your culture. Whatever I say here, don't take offense.
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I am a direct speaker, but like when Mr.
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Vasquez at the beginning there plays the noticeably Latin music from my family,
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Germanic and Anglo origin,
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it has to be confirmed or admitted that your music is different than ours, to say it. Do you like it?
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It's different. I think I would use the phrase, sometimes I don't understand
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it, sometimes I like the rhythm and the beat, but certainly with my roots in the Mid-South,
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even though there are Hispanics there, people in the audience should know that
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Hispanics fought on both sides of the Civil War, the war between the states. Yep.
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White dominant culture is exactly that, always predominated.
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Other cultures, black, Hispanic, and anything else you can think of have always been there.
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So without me going long here and bringing this full circle,
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what do you two gentlemen make
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of our country's future with the noticeably growing Hispanic influence?
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Will we still be America so far as how Hispanics think the world should be run
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and what place our country will have in that?
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What do the two of you say in all of that?
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Ozzy? Well, when I was growing up, I really didn't think about that kind of stuff.
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And I just wanted to serve because I loved my country. I was interested in the
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military, and I didn't think about the Hispanic population growing at that time.
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I didn't really think about the future. I just wanted to serve.
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And so I served. And right now, I can't really control what's going on unless you vote.
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Yeah, unless you vote, right? And I'm glad you said that because,
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you know, Keith, are you still there, Keith, by chance?
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Yeah. And I'm glad you called because I know one time you thought I was picking
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on you and I wasn't Because it's questions like this that truly helps close
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this gap and truly deal with this racial issues that many politicians like to use to stay in control.
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Because the reality is, for the most part, I believe we're growing because,
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I mean, we just kind of do what we got to do.
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I guess we don't get caught up. I asked once, you know, I wonder,
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you know, during slavery, for example, you know, where were the Hispanics?
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Because you have your really dark Hispanics and you're really light-skinned,
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pale, almost as pale as Bob Savage, as I mentioned before, Keith.
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So no one knows. So that just goes to show, though, that, yes,
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we are, by all accounts, I believe, scheduled to be the largest minority group,
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as they put it, in the nation.
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I don't think that that's going to change the landscape of America,
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because if you surveyed, I believe.
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Puerto Ricans, Cubans, even, I mean, just many Hispanics, especially those that
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fought to come here legally, they'll tell you, this is my country and I serve this country.
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My father always told me, son, you know, be secure in flying your Puerto Rican flag.
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Absolutely. But never fly it above the American flag because we are Americans.
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My heritage, our heritage is Puerto Rican.
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And I'm not an American Puerto Rican. I'm just a freaking American.
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And I believe, Ozzy, you feel the same way, correct? Absolutely.
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You know, check this out, Keith. In the military, I met people that have never
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seen a Hispanic or a black person ever. And I even met a real cowboy.
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And I mean the big cowboy hat with the boots, with the spindles,
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with the whip, with everything.
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And you know what? We all became drinking buddies.
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And that's where I learned that, darn, as a Hispanic, I can drink a cowboy under
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the table. Well, back in my younger days.
21:25
Keith, I really appreciate it. Oh, Keith, hey, actually, I got a question for you, if you don't mind.
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Go ahead. Because this is, I mean, what we're seeing over in the county legislature
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right now with all this nonsense, we have an opportunity here in Rochester to
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have a first female Hispanic as president of the legislature.
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Both of them running are, but they're so caught up in the politics of things
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and all that other nonsense behind things that it's overshadowed by politics.
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What do you think about what's going on there? What would you say to them?
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First, quickly, I never felt that I was being picked on, so discard that.
22:06
I never felt that. And I want to give you a compliment. complement this is
22:09
the type of show we need where people from diverse backgrounds can
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feel at ease and call in
22:16
maybe with ticklish questions that people might
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say back to me oh keith you uh you really shouldn't be asking those in public
22:23
and you want to talk in private but a lot of people get henchy about uh questions
22:27
about race but this is a good program on this liberty station you mr vantez
22:33
if you could open it up and so far really getting a response from different
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audiences and constituents.
22:39
We need your type program to bring people together so they can talk where they
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before might feel at ease.
22:48
In direct response to your question, I guess, I don't know.
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Let me ask you, is she a conservative? I'm very, very conservative.
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I want a conservative in there, so you tell me if she's, yeah, conservative.
23:01
Well, you know what? That's a great question because one of them is not.
23:05
One of them is very progressive.
23:06
Okay, so they're both Democrats. Remember, we lost the ledge.
23:11
I believe there is one Republican, if I remember correctly, that they did nominate
23:16
for the president, a female, and then the other two are Democrats, right?
23:22
So, but Democrats have control. So the Republican, I mean, they're at a gridlock
23:26
now, probably doesn't have a big chance because I'm sure that they're dealing on the Democrat side.
23:30
But one of the Democrats, Mercedes Vasquez, who happens to be my cousin.
23:35
Again, the whole conservative stuff, I don't know. But I know this, Keith.
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I know that she believes exactly the way I believe in the sense that it's always
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community first, regardless of the R or the D.
23:48
Well, I'll leave you with this final comment for me for now.
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The worst entity created in our country's history, even hands down, the Democrat party,
23:57
a lot of dismal failure there brought on for all groups, horrible that our founding
24:04
fathers did not even want a party system a George Washington even strenuously
24:10
warned against having parties but,
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Democrats have been god-awful for our country, and at the very least,
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in closing, I wish every Dem would re-register as an independent.
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How does that sound? If you can't go full-blown conservative.
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Register independent, and start thinking about how drastically you of any group,
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the Dems, have drastically knifed you in the back and hurt all the American people,
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the Democrat party is is god awful absolutely keith thank you for calling and
24:43
ladies and gentlemen the thing is this even malcolm x agrees with keith and
24:49
i when he said that the that the white liberal is absolutely,
24:54
trying to racist or whatever and so is a conservative right but he made it clear
25:00
this is malcolm x very liberal said the liberal will lie to you the conservative
25:06
well you know what They'll just be like, hey,
25:10
you do you. We all just need to make money here.
25:13
Okay, I'm definitely oversimplifying, but you get my point.
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Hey, we'll be right back in the next step show with Ozzy.
25:20
We're going to know and learn what and how his experiences were at the World
25:25
Trade Center and his career choice in the food industry.
25:28
We'll be right back with your conservative New Yorker in the next step show.
25:33
Peter Vasquez and next step show on the WYSL stations.
25:40
Welcome back to the Next Step Show with Peter Vasquez.
25:43
Y todavía aquí tenemos al señor Ozzy Vasquez. Ladies and gentlemen, 585-346-3000.
25:51
Give us a call.
25:53
I'd love to hear from you. So, you were at the World Trade Center.
25:58
Yes. Tell us all about it. You've got some cool medals here that you got from
26:02
Patek. You were showing me there's a piece of the building here.
26:05
Right. But I'm going to start the whole story from scratch. Okay.
26:10
When the planes hit the towers, I was getting ready to go to work.
26:16
I worked at a juice factory in Dunkirk.
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And I saw on the news that I was getting ready for work, the chaos about the
26:25
planes hitting and stuff. And I'm like, wow, that's crazy.
26:28
You know, everything's crazy. But I went to work.
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And during work we would hear stuff,
26:37
from the employees oh they just shut Fredonia State down Fredonia State College
26:41
just shut down and sent all their students home this got shut down that got shut down so so.
26:51
Towards the end of my shift, my sergeant called me and says, we got a call.
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Go pack your bags and we're going to meet in the armory tomorrow morning.
27:00
Nice. Hey, hold that thought for a quick second because Hector just called in.
27:03
Hector, welcome. Thank you for calling the Next Step Show.
27:07
Hey, how are you, Peter? I assume you talk a little bit of Spanish,
27:12
although I think you've been on my show once or twice.
27:16
Yes, sir. I've had the privilege to have been on your show. Thank you for the
27:19
opportunity yet again. and being able to be in your show.
27:23
So what's up, Baba? No, sorry. I just, you know, your previous caller,
27:28
you know, he made a very astute question as to the direction of the nation itself.
27:33
And the reality of it is, is that the course of the nation depending on its
27:38
people right now, when I came to this country at age 16, I didn't come here to change the culture.
27:45
On the contrary, I came here to assimilate to it because I understood at 16
27:49
years of age that this great nation afforded me an opportunity that I couldn't have anywhere else.
27:56
So because of that, I saw the opportunities that were offered to me by this nation.
28:02
I enlisted in the United States Marine Corps.
28:05
By the way, it is the Semper Fidelis.
28:08
So, you know, I just wanted to serve this great nation of ours.
28:12
I quickly realized that America isn't culture or ethnicity per se.
28:18
It's a mixture of individuals from different backgrounds, different religions,
28:23
cultures coming together, striving to be a better people, striving to be a better nation.
28:29
You know, and this whole idea of voting for an individual because they're Puerto
28:34
Rican or Asian or black, whatever your flavor is, it's insane to me. And I'll explain that.
28:43
If truly me voting for a Puerto Rican because it will be better for me,
28:48
better represent that, I would have never left Puerto Rico.
28:51
Exactly. Because in Puerto Rico, 98% of the people are Puerto Rican.
28:54
That's true. And I dare say my Mexican brothers, if they felt that that were
29:00
a true statement, they would have never left Mexico. You know,
29:02
your parents, your grandparents, your great grandparents, when they came here,
29:05
they left their country, right?
29:07
Where the majority of individuals were of their same nationality,
29:11
dare I say even ethnicity, and left it to come to this nation to build a better life.
29:16
So I've never understood that idea that because somebody happens to share my
29:22
background or my culture or my religion, it would be better for me.
29:26
If that were the case, I say it again, I would have stayed in Puerto Rico.
29:29
But I came here because I knew and understood that this nation afforded me a better life.
29:36
That it did. That it did. And the thing is, even today, we've got people leaving
29:40
Puerto Rico to come here for a better life. And it's 2024. 2024.
29:45
Crazy stuff. And here's the thing, right? America's got plenty of issues, and it's always that.
29:50
Just like any other nation has that issue. The reality is it's not the issues,
29:54
it's the opportunities that are in this nation that are greater than in any other country.
29:59
And if that wasn't the case, why are we still having people marching from all
30:04
the way in South America to come up here?
30:06
Yep, yep, yep. Risking their lives, going on floats and all that other stuff.
30:10
Hector, I appreciate the call, Papa. I truly, I truly do. Man,
30:14
you know, he hit it on the nail. This is exactly the success story.
30:18
People, you know, people leave where they are to come to this country.
30:22
And the thing is this, I do believe when they come here, they love the change
30:28
in their life that they too want to protect it.
30:31
And that's how we don the uniform, right? That's why we end up doing and having
30:36
stories like the one you were sharing.
30:39
Sorry. Oh, okay. Sorry.
30:43
All right. So going back to the story, basically in a nutshell,
30:48
I watched the planes hit on TV and I went to work.
30:51
Later that day, my platoon sergeant had called me from the National Guard and
30:55
said, pack your bags and meet at the armory that night.
31:00
And two days later, we boarded charter buses and two days later, we're at round zero.
31:07
So I spent several months there. I seen a lot of horrible stuff. I seen good stuff.
31:14
I seen the worst of humanity, the best of humanity.
31:18
While I was there, I had like a little diary that I wrote. And I want to share
31:24
some of that stuff with you right now.
31:26
The first thing I wrote is called Tears of October because I wrote it in October. Okay.
31:34
So Specialist Vasquez, 3rd Platoon, A Company, 127th Armor, Task Force Rainbow,
31:40
42nd Infantry Division.
31:45
Actually, the Air Force, the Air Guard and the National Guard,
31:50
when they joined forces and became Task Force Rainbow, to go to the Trade Center.
31:57
So it was 8 October 2001, 0945.
32:02
Having been here at Ground Zero for close to four weeks now,
32:06
I have gotten used to the 12-hour shifts and the work routine.
32:10
I miss my family. I wish I was home.
32:13
My platoon has been pulling security detail all this week.
32:18
A welcome change from searching for survivors on the pile.
32:22
This is a breezy yet sunny fall day. I haven't ate anything since breakfast
32:27
back on the Navy hospital ship USS Comfort.
32:31
Which was docked at the pier next to the command center.
32:36
Finally, my platoon received notice that we are relieved from another unit so we could take a break.
32:42
So my squad breaks up and goes into different directions.
32:48
Well, I decide to stay back with my battle buddy and walk towards Battery Park,
32:54
cutting through the debris of Ground Zero.
32:57
We were both tired and hungry. With the sun barely shining through the dust
33:02
and smoke, we seen two firemen struggling on the debris pile.
33:07
And my battle buddy and I stopped for a minute to see what was going on.
33:11
And after two minutes, we decided to help.
33:13
I was shocked to see that they were struggling to pull a dead fireman out of the rubble.
33:19
Though I was hungry and tired, I lent a hand, digging and helping them pull
33:24
the fireman out. It would be another forty minutes till I finally see the ambulance
33:29
whisk the young fireman away.
33:32
That was one of those stories. Another story.
33:36
These are diaries that you kept, right? While you were there.
33:40
I mean, like, this is firsthand. This is what I saw. Yep, very nice.
33:44
This one's called the Defensive Liberty Medal.
33:47
Now, there's two ways to get the Defensive Liberty Medal.
33:52
Everyone who served, who got deployed to the World Trade Center,
33:56
gets the Defensive Liberty Medal. But there's an attachment called Gold WTC
34:05
device, World Trade Center device.
34:07
And you only get there if you are actually in the red zone, which is ground zero.
34:14
So this is like a timeline. So the first arrival of my A company was at the
34:20
Emergency Operations Command Center in Upper Manhattan.
34:24
The USS Comfort Navy hospital ship arrives after several days of 12-hour shifts.
34:32
Alpha companies move to Battery Park with several other units,
34:35
making Battery Park into a small military base.
34:38
Sleeping on a park bench for two days, I miss my family.
34:43
Alpha Company from Dunkirk teams up with Delta Company to establish a 12-hour rotation.
34:50
A&D companies are moved to Governor's Island along with other units.
34:54
Military personnel are now numbering in the thousands.
34:59
Weeks of riding the Staten Island Ferry from Governor's Island to Ground Zero become the norm.
35:05
State police have become my new family as I have been assigned to them for weeks.
35:10
I got used to the 12 hours on and 12 hours off.
35:15
Several units along with Alpha Company are moved to Fort Hamilton Army Garrison Base in Brooklyn.
35:22
I will stay at Fort Hamilton for the remainder of my deployment.
35:26
Alpha Company switched from 12-hour days to 12-hour nights.
35:30
Five weeks later, I am processed out at Camp Snet near West Point,
35:35
and I arrived home from Ground Zero.
35:38
So in total, it was about six months that I was there.
35:42
And right where you weren't at the airport or you were there?
35:47
No, right there. Wow. Ground Zero doing different things.
35:51
Very interesting. Like I said, I saw a lot of bad stuff. I saw a lot of good stuff.
35:57
I was just happy to be part of history. It's something I could tell my grandchildren.
36:04
And I just have a lot of memories. Question for you. You know,
36:09
just kind of in light of the race discussion a little bit.
36:12
While you were there, did anyone, including yourself, flick around and say,
36:17
wow, there's 10 black people and four white people and 700?
36:21
I mean, was there ever a count of how many people based on race came to help? No.
36:27
One of the first things that happens when you join the military is they teach
36:33
you that racism doesn't work in the military.
36:36
They say you all have to work as a team or, you know, it won't work at all.
36:42
That's one of the first things they do is they make you colorblind.
36:47
And they have to, because when you got bullets flying over you,
36:49
listen, there ain't no color.
36:53
There ain't no color. Anywho, wow, what an amazing story.
36:57
Thank you for sharing that. I want to know when we get back, we got one more segment.
37:02
I want to talk about the food industry.
37:04
But I want to talk about the myth behind it, because they're always like,
37:08
mira, mira, look at all those Latinos ahí trabajando at McDonald's,
37:12
because that's all they can do.
37:14
I mean, I grew up being told that. Psalms 1829
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For by you I can run against the truth And by my God I can leap over a wall
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Ozzy Vasquez We'll be right back.
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Next Steps with Peter Vasquez on the WYSL stations.
39:33
Welcome back to the Next Steps show with your conservative New Yorker.
39:38
See, hey, Ozzy, you left the military phenomenal accounts for what you saw at Ground Zero.
39:47
You know, I stayed at the hotel. There was a Marriott right across the street
39:50
that was still standing. I stayed there like a few years before that. It's interesting.
39:55
Wow. So to see it still standing. But you left the military and got into food service industry.
40:00
Actually, I was in the military and working in the food industry at the same
40:04
time. The National Guard. Ah, gotcha.
40:07
But there seems to be this myth.
40:10
And I say this because this is kind of things that I grew up hearing.
40:14
You know, go work at McDonald's. That's where you belong. You know,
40:17
go work. These are the jobs that politicians say that they create.
40:21
No careers, no real advancement, but they keep pushing us into social work, food service.
40:28
And I know I'm being broad here, but for the most part, we see that.
40:31
But you have a different experience.
40:33
Right. Well, I started in the food industry in Dunkirk because Dunkirk only
40:38
had, they had a steel plant and they used to make locomotives there.
40:43
It was the locomotive capital of the world at one time.
40:46
But Dunkirk had a handful of food
40:50
factories and that's all you had was beside McDonald's
40:53
and Burger King food factories had ice cream
40:56
juice Nestle Purino is their dog food just food factories everywhere bakeries
41:03
uh condiments ketchup everything you could think of so I uh right after high
41:08
school I started working an ice cream factory and the thing is I didn't have any experience.
41:15
I was right off the street, no work experience, and.
41:21
Just working there, your first job, you get the experience and over time going
41:27
from, you know, here's the thing.
41:31
You have to stick to one thing. You just can't go from like the food industry
41:35
to the car industry to computers to you have to stay with one thing.
41:40
That's the only way it's going to work. What a concept. Right.
41:43
Right. So I stuck with the food industry and I've been in it about 20,
41:48
25 years. And over the years, I have, so to speak, climbed up the corporate ladder.
41:55
And I want to tell the listeners how you could do it, too.
42:01
Rochester has a bunch of food factories in the Rochester area.
42:05
And if you're just a worker there, don't just be a worker.
42:11
Improve yourself. Get the knowledge and skills to improve yourself and make
42:16
yourself an asset to the company.
42:18
And they look for that, and when it's time to cut employees or lay off employees,
42:26
they see, well, this guy has this, this, and that. Because you added value. Right.
42:30
And the thing is, you're going to have to want that for yourself.
42:35
You can't just have people do it for you.
42:39
Some of it costs money, but through my experiences and all the food factories,
42:44
most food factories pay for all of these certifications for you. Some of them are free.
42:50
So I want to talk about some of the certifications that you could get if you're
42:56
working in the food industry and how to climb the corporate ladder.
42:59
The first one is called Six Sigma.
43:02
The website for it is SixSigmaCouncil.org. There's five levels.
43:08
The first one is free. Just getting the first free level is a big step in a
43:14
lot of companies nowadays look for this Six Sigma certification.
43:21
Another website is called ifsqn.com.
43:28
Those cost money, but usually, like I said, the food factories will pay for these certifications.
43:36
Another website is called 360training.com. Oh, I've used that one before.
43:42
Yeah, it has a wealth of certifications.
43:46
One of my favorites is AIB International.
43:50
Whatever certification is under the sun, you could get an AIB International.
43:58
A big one that will boost you ahead of your co-workers and your peers is the
44:05
Bloodborne Pathogen Certificate.
44:07
I looked it up yesterday.
44:10
There are several types of websites where you can get one.
44:15
The one I chose is only $9.95, and it doesn't expire.
44:21
It's good for life. And you get this Bloodborne Pathogen Certificate.
44:25
And like I said, when companies look to downsize, they look at what you have
44:31
and they see that, okay, you have this, this, and that, they'll most likely
44:37
retain you and get rid of the people that don't have that.
44:41
So you're saying that anybody don't even need a college degree to get involved.
44:47
But can you just tell me real quick, what is food factories?
44:51
Because, I mean, I always thought like food grows on trees. I mean,
44:55
obviously the steak has to be cut and all that stuff, but factory implies something
45:00
being made. Food manufacturing, there is...
45:03
There's all kinds, there's meat, there's condiments.
45:08
So these are career jobs, not the minimum wage, McDonald's. No,
45:13
people I've seen were in food factories for 20, 30 years and they retire there.
45:20
Some of them make six figures.
45:23
Some of them don't. The more you stay in there, here's the key.
45:28
The more knowledge and certifications you get, the better chances you are of
45:33
climbing the corp ladder and making that six-figure income.
45:38
It's doable. I did it. I have to assume that the company pays for this with
45:43
the intent of you staying there.
45:44
But if for whatever reason the company was like, well, we don't want to treat
45:48
our employees nice anymore, you can take that certification or all those certifications
45:53
with you. Right, right. Right.
45:55
Most of these certifications that I have were back from Dunkirk or back from other factors.
46:00
They stay with you like luggage and they don't expire.
46:04
So you could take that to the next job and say, look what I have.
46:08
And instead of getting a position at the bottom, like when I started,
46:14
they look at all that and they will put you in a higher position.
46:18
Nice. Nice. Okay. So what are you now? What's your position now? Wow.
46:22
If you can say, because I know some companies. I'm a food safety professional.
46:26
I want to stay anonymous because I don't have permission from that company to put a plug.
46:32
But a food safety professional, it sounds to me like it's something that you
46:37
could put in the bank and retire with. Yes.
46:41
Now, why didn't they put it in that perspective when they were telling me to
46:46
go get jobs in food service industries? Well, like I said, it was part of circumstance
46:51
because when I started, that's all you had was food factories in Dunkirk.
46:56
Interesting. That Lean Six Sigma certification is huge.
47:01
And if I remember correctly, you can get green, yellow, orange,
47:06
black, and master black.
47:09
But the first few are like not free, but inexpensive. The first one's free.
47:13
The second one, I'm working on my second one, is about $75.
47:18
Come on, that's a couple lunches. Right. I appreciate your time, sir.
47:23
I'll have to have you on again so we can get even deeper. I want to hear more,
47:27
and I'm sure our listeners do want to hear more, especially from your journal.
47:32
Ladies and gentlemen, remember, it's not parties nor politics that enhance your quality of life.
47:37
It is values and the faith in those values that do.
47:41
Hey, you've been listening to The Next Step Show right here on the WYSL stations.
47:46
Que tengan una semana bendicida Until tomorrow And nunca te olvides.
47:51
Music.