Latest / Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk / From Pain to Purpose

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From Pain to Purpose · Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk

0:01
This entire military is 1 cohesive dedicated force and the
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We don't want war. But if you want war with the
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United States of America, there's one thing I can promise
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will raise your sons and daughters.
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Military broadcast radio, the station that's giving veterans a
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voice. Find us on the web at MB Radio.
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Dot US. Lift your head.
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So my answer to going to college was join the Army. 1992 my life
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changed. Forever.
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PCs to Germany with with my two boys and really try to take
1:44
advantage of the opportunity to travel learn another language.
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The culture it was it was to me the dream coming true that
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everything that I've been going through was worth it because I
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was seeing another part of the world that I wouldn't have had
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the opportunity if I hadn't been in the military.
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Planned on getting out in 2000 and that was really kind of a
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part of a joy in my life and getting married for the second
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time and I looked forward to the future ended up kind of becoming
2:22
disillusioned and that was the whole housing bubble thing where
2:27
the mortgage jumped from bank to bank to bank.
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My kids were counting on me to to take care of them, to ask for
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that kind of help I've done to help other women is make sure
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that they know what their resources are.
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It it's. For a.
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Long time I didn't understand that my service in the military
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counted as a woman veteran, but nobody told me, hey Eva, you're
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a veteran too until I had that light bulb moment and said my
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service counted too. And I can tell you it's been a
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long road to learn how to dream again.
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The community was the solution, be it churches, be it
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nonprofits, be it veteran service organizations or just
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people like myself. We are the resources.
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We are the solution to help keeping women off of the street,
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our women veterans housed and having the resources they need
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and not living in a car city of the work that grows us as
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leaders for our second service. After the military to serve
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other people in our communities. Hi everybody, welcome to the
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From Pain to Purpose radio show. I am Eva Fulton, I am your host
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today and every other day and I really appreciate the honor to
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be able to be on. This is my third show today.
4:11
Earlier I was on with Red Skelton at Red's Round Table and
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we had a bunch of us host on and really just, you know,
4:22
celebrating our anniversary with MVR and how much we've grown.
4:29
And also, you know, celebrating as a tribute to Armed Forces Day
4:35
to all of the women and men and men and women who are serving in
4:40
the armed forces now. And we thank you for what you're
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doing to keep our nation free. Today is Saturday, May 17th, the
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year of our Lord 2025. And you know, what we talked
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about on the propane to Purpose show is really kind of a
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plethora of different topics, but literally we are, you know,
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transforming people, at least that's my goal.
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We're transforming people. But we're we're exploring the
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stories that our guests have that are talking about their
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journeys of resilience and healing and transformation and
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sitting down with individuals and leaders in our communities
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who face unimaginable struggles and turn their pain into power,
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heartbreak into hope, and their challenges into meaningful
5:35
change and finding new purpose in life.
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And it's through these kind of candid conversations, inspiring
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stories that we uncover how pain, whether physical, mental,
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emotional or spiritual. And you know, you know, you guys
5:50
know that I've talked about using the four legs of a chair
5:55
for pain. And, you know, you get any of
5:59
those four legs that are, you know, start shortening up
6:03
because we're not balanced in in our lives and having a stable
6:09
platform to sit on that, you know, we start having some
6:14
issues and, and we've got to have these kinds of candid
6:17
conversations to have the type of profound growth and deeper
6:21
sense of purpose that we need. And so I'm very excited to be
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able to have a guest on the show today.
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You know y'all, y'all will be surprised how people come into
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my life. And you know, the stories that
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you, you share on Facebook and I reach out to people.
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Hey, would you please come on my show?
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And I think that you've got something meaningful to share.
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And I have a gentleman that I contacted out of the blue like
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this because he shared something that he's doing with the
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Facebook group. So let me enlarge this so I can
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read it a little bit better. And so he started a Facebook
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group called Pathway of Memorial and Honor.
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And this is a group where he has These are those who have served
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and sacrificed their lives in combat and abroad are remembered
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and honored. And the red bricks have names of
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these soldiers and also those who have served honorably who
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wish to have their time and service recognized.
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So here. The interview of the week is
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brought to you by Jersey Mike's, a sub above.
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Chris Dunham, welcome to the From Pain to Purpose radio show.
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Thank you for having me. So I, I, I looked on your
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Facebook profile, you know, it's amazing things that you can
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find, ask you a little bit of question, you know, a few
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questions. You served in the Army for eight
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years and you're also a Desert Storm veteran.
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So I love that you're on my show.
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We, we Desert Storm vets have to stick together.
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And let's say you served ours on an artillery crew and did some
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finance clerking as well and started this Facebook group.
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That sounds very interesting. So, you know, go ahead and take
8:32
it away and tell us. You know your little intro
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there. Yeah, I'm a, I'm like I say, I'm
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a Desert Storm veteran. I got out after about a year
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after my deployment back. I wasn't quite the same.
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I won't go into detail but had to go and get seen medically.
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But it it was years after the fact that I went and seek help.
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And when I did seek help this I needed some some something that
9:02
taken and be an outlet for me as far As for healing purposes what
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not. So I, I started this little
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group, it was originally just family and it was started out
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just originally just pathway memorial of honor.
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And I just said, yeah, I just want to something build
9:23
something small to remember my and honor my, my father, my
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father-in-law, my great grandfather, you know, the
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people within my family that that served my uncle, he's World
9:35
War 2 POW during Battle of the Bulge also had his name in
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there. But it started out small, made
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me it made me focus upon that memorial.
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And the more I focused upon it, the more I wanted to reach out
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to not only family, but other people that have, that have lost
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a loved 1 during combat or PTSD, you know, upon return.
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And it's a, it's a group that I started back in 2017, start,
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start up slow. And it really blossomed into a
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fairly large group, people from all, all throughout the United
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States, as well as if there's a few from Puerto Rico and Hawaii.
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And it's, it's a, it's just a place where we can get together
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and unite as one and and bond as one share, share life stories.
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If there's any time anyone needs to talk with anybody directly or
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indirectly, you can do it through messenger.
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You can find, you can find one another within this group very,
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very easily. And like I say, it's, it's
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called the path, it's called pathway and memorial of honor.
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So there's no, there's no the in front of just pathway and
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memorial of honor. And if you type that in all
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alphabetical are all capitalized, you'll be able to
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anybody on on Facebook or on the Internet can see that.
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I'm going to. I I found the group, I'm going
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to pop the link in. Let's see, I'm going to pop the
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link into into the chat for everybody.
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OK. You all should be able to find
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it. I hope you you may get a lot of
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requests. We'll see how that works for
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you. So who are the people that
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typically want to join your group?
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I would say the majority of them are people that are those have
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lost their their sons and daughters.
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I have quite a quite a few of them probably 3 to 400 maybe
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that are that have that have lost their loved ones are member
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are members of the group and any anyone can join the group.
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The only thing I ask of people is there, you know, I, I speak
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of no, no political, no ethnic, no religious.
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It just because once you once you start talking about that,
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you know, then, you know, everything gets kind of blown
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out of proportion and people start talking about that versus
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what this actually group is meant.
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This group is meant for which is to to gain camaraderie within
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the group, amongst those of us that have similar losses in
12:58
their lives, Right, Right. But you do this you So let's
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walk people through what what is I know you said you started it
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out with your family, but it has grown into other other people,
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obviously, right? So what?
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Tell, tell us about the bricks. The bricks I, I have on on, on
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the bricks I usually have, I normally start out with the
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first name, middle initial last name and then what branch of, of
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service that they served in and then where they were deployed,
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whether it be Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Korea, Vietnam, World War
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2, wherever, wherever it may have been.
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I have that placed on the brick. And like I said, I send that's
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the only cost of, of this in this group or within this group
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because of the fact that I do hire that out.
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I heard the bricks out to get engraved and it cost for
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shipping naturally. So by the time the shipping and
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they may they make it, they mail and then I I install it it.
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It also helps me with the upkeep of the pathway and the
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surrounding area, the memorial around the area.
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So is this is this memorial in your town?
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This memorial is actually on my property, but it's it's
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accessible to the public. My neighbors know that they,
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they respect it. And the only thing I ask of
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people is when they, when they do come, if they come, whether
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they come at night or during the day, it doesn't matter.
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At night, it's, it's illuminated, illuminated at
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night to where I believe, I believe that all veterans, all
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soldiers deserve to remember, to be remembered not during only
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dark times, but also in light. So the purpose of that, of my
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illuminating the walkway and illuminating the the memorial at
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night is to make sure that, to let people know that they are,
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they're always remembered. They're always there with us.
15:22
So. Right, right.
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It makes perfect sense. Well, we'll get into some more
15:29
of, you know, finding, helping people find some inspiration
15:33
from this. I'm going to go ahead and go to
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our first video. Actually, We've got to talk
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about the we'll do the cruise video and then I'll move it into
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the Mr. Red, White and Blue patriotic song.
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Radio dot US. So that was Mr. Coffee with Mr.
20:29
Red, White and Blue. I am Eva Fulton, the host of the
20:33
From Paint to Purpose radio show, and I have the guest on
20:37
today, Mr. Chris Dunham, and he's telling about he's telling
20:42
us about what his what his new purpose has been since 2017.
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I think you said right, 2017 was that right?
20:53
That's correct for pathway and Memorial of Honor.
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And I'm sharing my screen for those of you who may be joining
21:01
on the audio side. And that way you can see what I
21:08
guess I could close that out and expand this a little bit.
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Let's see. Hopefully that works sometimes.
21:18
You know, I have a Mac. I know it's one of the things
21:21
that our, our, our producer doesn't really like.
21:27
I have a Mac, but I think he's kind of finally getting into it.
21:30
But you know, there, so you have these bricks and actually I have
21:33
seen some of these bricks in the Dallas Fort Worth area.
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I don't know how many companies do this, but I haven't seen it
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done to the extent where you've got some beautiful decorating
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that you've done with these planner boxes and let's see
21:54
these planner boxes. That's really pretty.
21:58
Did you think we able to get it all filled in?
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A lot, lot of time, lot of lot of finance out of pocket, but it
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was it was well worth every, every penny.
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And look at all those statues. That is amazing.
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Yeah, I have. I have statues within that
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memorial, within the pathway and memorial that run the average
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between a foot and 1/2 for the small ones.
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And then there's a large one in the background there of a single
22:36
soldier by by another flagpole that is real close to 5 foot
22:41
tall. Wow, So this has been a labor of
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love to put it right. Correct.
22:53
I can't imagine how long. I mean, I know that this started
22:59
out as an idea for you, but what steps did you take to to
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actually get it going more and finding somebody that makes the
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bricks with, you know, the the people's names on it?
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The hardest, the hardest thing I had was to find a person to do
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the bricks for me. That was that was quite the
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chore. I did a lot of lot of soul
23:29
searching, a lot of searching online and whatnot and I finally
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found someone that that does it for me.
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And it, it's my, it's, it's my way of healing, if you will, my,
23:44
my way of giving back to the, the community, to the veterans,
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to their families. Like I say, everything I do
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within this group is, is there's no cost to it.
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Like I say, except for the, the cost of the brick.
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But other than that, everything, everything else is a lot of
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blood, sweat and tears went into this memorial.
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My my son assisted in the laying of the concrete around the the
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patio and also the pathway leading up to the memorial.
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The the memorial. The bricks are incorporated as a
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it's a flag. It's in the shape of a United
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States flag. 3 foot by 5 foot standard flag, normal error.
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It's a little bit bigger than through by 5 on the red bricks.
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Like it's like I mentioned before, are those names of
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soldiers, past and present that have served.
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A lot of them have sacrificed. And like I say, it just gives me
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the opportunity to I find comfort within helping other
25:07
people and through my through the pain, through what I've
25:13
I've, I've would would stood on my tour over and across the the
25:20
waters. It's, it's just my, it's my,
25:26
it's my honor and privilege to to do this for, for those, for
25:30
those folks, as well as the healing process for me.
25:35
For sure. So I think, I think for me and
25:41
just thinking how is this something that people can reach
25:47
out to you and do a brick? I think that's one thing that
25:53
I'm thinking of because maybe they don't have this kind of
25:57
park or garden in their local community.
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But there's also that other side that I think I want to ask also.
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So if somebody is looking at starting a local Memorial Park,
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how would they do that? So let's go for the first
26:17
question on, you know, how, how can they reach out to you if
26:22
they've lost somebody? How can they reach out to you to
26:25
get their their loved one's name on the brick?
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They they can reach out to me on on Facebook.
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They can look me up on Facebook. It's Chris Dunn Dunham and it's
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it's a picture of myself and my wife with a heart, red heart.
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It's been like that for, for a few years now and I, I don't
26:48
intend on changing it. They can look me up that way.
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They can once they look me up, they can either shoot me a
26:56
message. Everything, everything is, is
27:00
discreet, totally discreet. And that's because of you know
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what, I used to be a nurse practitioner assistant back
27:11
years ago and I was always taught that, hey, you know,
27:15
let's, let's keep, you know, I want to keep it, you know,
27:18
between US. And that's exactly what I do.
27:21
I, you know, if, if someone wishes to contact me
27:25
individually and wants to, to vent or to share their story, I
27:33
keep that all confidential unless they, they want, if they,
27:38
if they want to share it, that's fine.
27:40
But I I never share anybody's story unless they they they,
27:45
they approve of it. Right.
27:47
But there are resources for them to be able to talk to somebody,
27:52
grief counseling or whatever. There are, there are, there's,
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there's various sources that a veteran can, they can, they can
28:03
go through, they can go through the their local American Legion
28:09
Post. They can also reach out to their
28:12
local VFW, Veterans of Foreign Wars or Gold.
28:16
Star Wives or Gold Star Mothers? Gold Star Mothers and Gold Star
28:21
Families. They can look out, look look for
28:23
their their sites online. They can also go to the Disabled
28:31
American Veterans and they they could, they assist with a quite
28:37
a bit of it. You also, we also have numerous,
28:40
numerous groups of riders groups that ride motorcycles that, that
28:46
are veteran oriented and the American Legion has one that's
28:51
it's the American Legion riders, which I'm, I'm also a member of
28:55
that. I, I tried to help out with them
28:58
as much as possible through their, they do quite a few
29:04
escorts to the funerals. They also do the rifle volleys,
29:09
which I do. I do that quite a bit.
29:13
So like I say, there's various organizations throughout the
29:18
each community normally would have at least one of those
29:24
businesses or organizations that they can contact if need if need
29:29
me. Right, right.
29:32
But, but you so far, you're not a nonprofit, you're not a 501C3
29:38
or anything like that. So you're doing this out of
29:42
really started out as your own therapeutic healing, which I
29:47
really love because I, if you know, me and my people
29:51
gardening, I, I got lots of therapy pulling weeds out of the
29:56
yard. A lot of people may, you know,
29:59
like, you know, put the poison down, but it's really good
30:04
therapy getting down on your hands and knees and, you know,
30:08
really praying. I, I think I did a lot of
30:10
praying to God and crying while I was pulling weeds.
30:14
And you know, it's, it's amazing what you can do in healing,
30:20
doing that kind of stuff. And, and it really starts
30:24
transforming you. So if if you were to do this all
30:29
over again and do this in a public setting, let's say in a,
30:33
you know, your town, I don't know if you thought about doing
30:37
that. But if you had a recommendation
30:39
for somebody to do that, do you have any recommendations how
30:43
they would begin, you know, design concepts or you know,
30:49
stuff like that? I, I do and I came, I did, I did
30:53
exactly that. I went to house, went through my
30:58
local VFW and they get they, they open their arms and let me
31:03
in wholeheartedly. I not only join the, the VFW,
31:10
but I was, I was there. I still am with the VFW.
31:14
I'm black member of them, but I was the junior vice adjutant and
31:21
adjutant of the VFW at the time. And they asked me what, you
31:27
know, what we could do with the bricks from the old post home.
31:31
Their, their old post home had bricks similar to what I, what
31:35
I've done. And I told myself, why not, you
31:38
know, maybe have it in the cemetery leading up to the
31:41
statue of Jesus. And it's actually right down the
31:47
street. I mean, it's kind of comical in
31:50
a way, but it just kind of worked out that way.
31:53
But it's, it's within a mile from here from my, my house.
31:58
And they have, they have bricks that they can order and that
32:05
that's through the VFW. If anyone wants to wanted to
32:10
order one that's locally that they they have that option as
32:15
well here in Manhattan, KS. OK.
32:19
I think I've seen different places where they put up the big
32:23
monuments in different cities. Some of them have already
32:28
passed, but some of them, a lot of some of these cities, they're
32:32
putting up the, excuse me, putting up these big monuments
32:38
for anybody that is served right.
32:40
And it's just a matter of, you know, submitting a redacted
32:46
DD214 or some kind of documentation because we don't
32:52
want to give honor to somebody that didn't, you know, didn't
32:58
make that sacrifice or didn't serve, you know, stolen, stolen
33:02
valor type. We don't want to, but somebody
33:05
was stolen valor in in there and have have a remembrance that
33:10
didn't actually serve. So is she interesting?
33:16
See on on my on my pathway memorial, then the memorial it
33:22
has it's consisted of the majority of them have given her
33:27
life. However, I do have a few in
33:30
there and, and I, I'd like to make that known is that I do
33:34
have people that have served that, that want to be recognized
33:40
as served saying Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, whatever the
33:46
case may be that they served honorably and they, they wanted
33:50
a brick. I have no, no problems doing
33:53
that. But I, I, I did want to specify
33:58
that, yeah, not everybody within the pathway is gone.
34:02
I would say I would say 3/4 of them are gone because due due to
34:09
due through PTSD, they took their own lives that way and
34:17
through combat. So the majority of more hard
34:21
that, but there are a few exceptions and I've I've I've
34:26
let people know and let that they're, they have an option to
34:31
to choose to have a brick as long as they were deployed and
34:37
they are they're honorably discharged and they want to be
34:40
honored. Then I have I have no, I have no
34:45
complaints about that. As long as they have ADD 214 or
34:50
they, they, they can tell me that show me that they they've
34:53
served. Right, that makes perfect sense
34:58
because sometimes you need to. Sometimes in a way that brick is
35:03
going to serve as the validation.
35:05
I've been there, done that, right.
35:07
I got, I got a brick for it. And I am not, not trying to say
35:12
that lightly, because for somebody it's, it is a, it is a
35:20
powerful tool that says somebody else recognized that I served,
35:26
you know, and, and because you may not get that validation at
35:31
home, but you are a total stranger who is looking at a
35:35
document and says, you know, I, I know that you're there in
35:42
Kansas. But somebody, like I said, from
35:45
Kalamazoo or Hawaii or, you know, Puerto Rico, you said
35:49
you've got, you know, you got bricks in there from Puerto
35:51
Rico. Some somebody has served there
35:55
that or from there that you know that that still can.
36:00
If somebody is struggling that their service and their name
36:08
being on that brick could be a powerful message to them that
36:12
they matter. Does that make sense the way I'm
36:16
saying? And you're, and you're
36:17
absolutely right, I and I, I, I do go live on Facebook
36:22
occasionally and I let just to base basically check in on, on
36:27
folks to see if everybody's doing OK and, and to let him
36:33
know that, you know, it is, it isn't an open group where if
36:36
they want to share pictures of their loved ones or memories,
36:41
that's, that's what it's there for.
36:43
Right, right. Wow, this is pretty incredible.
36:47
You know, I, I would hope that other people find some
36:51
inspiration by what you've been doing and, you know, want to
36:57
join or support your group or maybe even start their own.
37:01
What if there is other pathways and, you know, honor groups in,
37:08
you know, a different city and state that they could do
37:12
something very similar. And you know, I could just
37:15
imagine that, you know, you might get somebody reaching out.
37:20
Where did you get the statues? Where did you you know what,
37:24
what planners did you use? Because you I think you put
37:29
together a very beautiful garden that spoke to me and I knew
37:34
that, you know, it certainly fit the pain to purpose.
37:39
You know, story of things that there are great things that can
37:43
come out of the stuff we do. Is there anything you want to
37:48
share about your own story that we haven't already covered?
37:54
Yeah, I'll share a little bit. I won't go into detail or
37:57
anything about my traumas, but you know, we, you know, when,
38:02
when people are deployed, a lot of people that aren't deployed
38:06
wouldn't know the first thing about what you want when I'm
38:08
going to are about to say, but being deployed versus not being
38:14
deployed, it I've noticed through my own experiences that
38:21
being deployed, especially in a indoor combat combat zone or a
38:27
combat ready zone, is that your, your focus is you're, you're
38:34
extremely focused on the, who's the, where's the, what's the
38:39
whys, the knots about your surrounding areas about what's
38:44
around you. And I I, I did things and seen
38:50
things while deployed that most people that are deployed never
38:56
see and don't have to make decisions at a moment's moment's
39:04
notice that that can be life changing for either that
39:11
individual or the individuals from the other country.
39:22
And not and. And your teammates as well.
39:26
That that is correct. Yeah.
39:30
So is, has that been a difficult transition for you to not have
39:37
those on the spot moments? And I mean, I, I think for me
39:43
and my military service and, and making the transition from
39:47
active duty to a civilian, I got out in 2000.
39:52
So pretty, you know, several, many years, eight years after or
39:57
nine years after Desert Storm ended.
39:59
But I had a difficulty with, I'm going to use a simple analogy of
40:04
going to the grocery store versus going to the commissary.
40:07
I had way too many choices for cereal.
40:10
I I mean. You know, you go, you go to the
40:13
grocery store. I don't care if it's Walmart or
40:17
whatever. You know that it's a it's an
40:19
aisle and a half almost too, you know, both sides of an aisle
40:24
with all this cereal and food products.
40:26
You know, all this just, it was too much compared to you go to
40:30
the commissary or whatever is convenient, you know, when
40:34
you're overseas and you know, it's half, you know, maybe half
40:38
an hour, the, the your choice selection was narrowed down for
40:42
you. And have you have you
40:45
experienced something similar to that as well?
40:49
You're nodding so. I wouldn't.
40:52
Just as an analogy. You know, yeah, I, I wouldn't
40:57
say as far as I wouldn't say was the same as that.
41:02
My, my, my main ordeal or situation was when at when
41:07
whenever I go to stores and if the the more crowded it is, the
41:15
more people that are around them, the more my anxiety
41:18
increases. And it's most of it was due to
41:25
my hyper vigilance. I was hyper vigilant.
41:27
I was going around, around, around me and for for a lengthy
41:33
period of time when I was deployed, you know, you didn't
41:39
have all those people around you, you know, and most of the
41:43
time you're either by yourself or you only have one or two
41:46
people around you. And for doing that for I would
41:53
say I was close to six months over there deployed.
41:57
And when I when I came back, I was AI wouldn't say I don't say
42:04
it in a comical way, but I was how how would I say it?
42:13
My my anxiety was real. It went from a zero to A to an 8
42:18
within a matter of minutes when I walked into a store versus if
42:24
I if I was somewhere where there were very few people around then
42:31
my anxiety wouldn't is bad. Right, right.
42:38
It makes sense. And probably even like going
42:41
into the restaurant and sitting where you're facing the door and
42:45
you don't ever put your back to the door.
42:47
That a lot of those things, you know, even even for me, that
42:50
doesn't change. I mean, unless I'm with a guy
42:53
like my dad and dad's dad's got guard and you know, but I'm sure
43:01
that that for many people that's all pretty much the same.
43:04
And a lot of it I think is, you know, we just learned
43:07
operational security and they're just some of those things that
43:11
are been trained and and is not going to go away.
43:14
We are going to be vigilant to a degree.
43:18
And you know, the stuff that we see on the news, I think is also
43:22
going to influence on how much do we turn up that vigilance
43:26
versus not, you know, well, I'm going to go ahead and move to a
43:32
commercial and and we will be right back.
43:37
Let's see which one am I going to do?
43:38
I think this one. Hi everybody, I'm back.
47:39
This is Eva Fulton with the Campaign to Purpose radio show
47:43
and I think it looks like we lost our guest.
47:47
I don't know where Chris went. I'm not sure if he had a
47:51
connection problem or what. So maybe he will get him back
47:54
and he can say goodbye. You know, I wanted to really
48:00
kind of recap some things that he said because I think that
48:04
it's, you know, really important to remember that a lot of what
48:10
we do, not just within VR, but within the veteran community in
48:16
general, the way we're going to be able to survive as a
48:21
collection of all of us, both as the military and, and veterans
48:28
and family members is it's the connection amongst each other,
48:33
right? It is it is US who are here, the
48:37
community and I I even, I think I mentioned that pretty well in
48:42
my documentary From Pain to Purpose, her second service
48:46
story that it's the community is the answer.
48:49
And we were the answer when we were in the military, serving
48:54
and supporting each other, the family members supporting each
48:58
other. And now as a collective
49:00
community. And now that we're out, we are
49:04
still, we still have the answer in, in my opinion, and serving
49:08
and and supporting each other. And, you know, I'm very honored
49:13
and privileged to be a host on MBR military broadcast radio
49:18
because it is it is the place where we get to have a voice.
49:25
Oh, OK, sorry. He said that his phone started
49:28
to overheat. So no problem.
49:30
Thank you for letting me know. So that's what happened to
49:32
Chris. His phone overheated.
49:35
So, you know, thank you. Thank you Chris for sharing your
49:41
story on what you've been doing because to me that is a huge
49:45
pain to purpose story. And I again, I think that's why
49:51
us having our voices matters and inspiring somebody else to maybe
49:57
replicate and do the same. Reaching out to Chris and
50:00
getting a brick with their loved one's name on it and, you know,
50:06
putting it in his garden. Or maybe you want to, you know,
50:11
you feel inspired and you want to start your own garden in your
50:16
local community and working with a veteran service organization
50:20
and you know, for each of us to have our voice and that's just
50:26
obviously 1 instance. You know, I think that we're
50:31
going to hear lots of other pain to purpose stories.
50:35
I was very inspired with being on Red's show earlier today and
50:41
the different reasons why each of these hosts are on MB RI
50:46
think is phenomenal that, you know, we each have our unique
50:51
stories. And if it's, you know, if we're
50:55
saving one life, then that's what matters the most that we
51:00
are we are thriving and doing exactly what God wants us to do
51:05
by by being here and using your voice and saving somebody else.
51:10
And you know, I got to spend a lot of time with Jose yesterday
51:16
from the motivated mindset and was on his show while ago and
51:23
hearing I didn't I and I missed part of the, you know, having a
51:27
great conversation with us that we're going to have to figure
51:29
out how we can meet and go hiking together.
51:33
And I may have to start a veteran hiking group.
51:36
I don't know if it's going to come out of this, but I feel
51:39
very inspired that more people are finding that the outdoors,
51:43
ours is the place to be and that gets us grounded.
51:47
I have my grounding mat that I always have down here.
51:50
I love sitting here while I'm on air and I have my feet on the
51:54
grounding mat because I I miss going outside.
52:00
And I went hiking the other day with my daughter and that was
52:04
beautiful, but it wasn't long enough and I didn't get, you
52:07
know, a super sweat on and, you know, get my 10,000 steps in.
52:12
I got a few steps in, but I need some more.
52:17
But you know, the cool things though.
52:19
Yesterday we were at this event and I'm terrible looking.
52:25
Pull up, pull up the picture. So I can tell you it was the
52:31
Veteran Success Resource group in DC.
52:34
And I'll do another shout out to Livia Nunn for letting me be on
52:39
a panel and with the my, the two other panelists, we were just,
52:45
you know, had a phenomenal time sharing how we, you know, how do
52:51
you be, how do you, how do you get on air and do this?
52:55
And I would love to have a Co host.
52:58
So if you're interested and feel free, I'll be happy to, you
53:03
know, help show you the ropes and get you on.
53:07
I have, you know, produce some of these shows.
53:10
I think it's what I'm doing is helping produce by helping push
53:14
buttons on the side because it's red show or it's Jose show.
53:19
You know, I can help help you navigate and help you learn the
53:23
the process on doing all this. It, it is fun.
53:27
I didn't have this on my bingo card last year.
53:31
Oh, let me be a radio show host. I, I didn't have this.
53:36
I have used my voice to write a book and I'm thrilled that it is
53:42
moving into the distribution phase.
53:44
So welcome to my people garden is I'm excited that that is
53:50
moving into the next phase of the distribution.
53:54
So more to follow on it. And I'll probably be putting out
54:00
some links and hopefully become a sponsor on MBR and with some
54:05
of the sales so I can make it win, win for all of us and grow
54:10
our people garden. And let's see what else.
54:18
You know, I've been working on my dissertation others Chris is
54:23
coming back. I've been working on my
54:27
dissertation. So I don't know if you know this
54:29
Chris, I I'm in a PhD program and I've been working on my
54:33
dissertation. So I've been studying, studying
54:39
and doing research on female combat veterans.
54:42
You know, you were you aware that even with us in in Desert
54:49
Storm, we were the first females to have been recognized as
54:54
having been in combat theater compared to previous wars and
55:01
conflicts. They were there, but they were
55:04
seen as volunteers. We were the first ones who were
55:07
paid to actually be there in theater, even though we were not
55:11
in combat roles. I still was issued a gun.
55:15
I, you know, I had an M16 and we had, you know, magazines that
55:21
the enemy doesn't know, you know, didn't know then who was a
55:26
woman and who was a man. They just see somebody's in
55:29
uniform. Anybody was just as liable to
55:33
be, you know, shot at as, you know, the next person, you know.
55:37
Anyhow. So you have any parting words?
55:41
We've got about 3 minutes for the closing segment.
55:47
Do you have any parting words on what you've been doing and an
55:51
encouragement for somebody else to start their own garden?
55:54
Yeah, I would I would highly encourage it to anyone that
55:58
wants to do something something similar to this at the most.
56:03
I mean, you know, I, I get, I get what I, when I get out of
56:09
it, I get in, I get, I get in twice or two fold or twice,
56:14
twice as much. And it, it is time consuming and
56:20
it does cost me a, a little bit of cash flow on the side.
56:24
But that if you, if you're willing to do that out of out of
56:28
out of your own pocket as well. I mean, it is very, very
56:32
therapeutic. You have a tendency of having,
56:38
you know, meeting so, so many, so many veterans, so many
56:42
veterans families and some of which become almost like, almost
56:48
like family did because you have so much in common.
56:53
I bet just relating and sharing, you know, sharing.
57:00
There's a certain kinship. I think, you know, my, my uncle
57:05
was a homeless veteran in Austin and I, and we're pretty sure
57:09
that I was the last one to see him, but I didn't know who he
57:13
was. He was because I wasn't
57:16
expecting to see him in an alley in Austin.
57:20
And that was in November. I deployed.
57:24
I, you know, I went from Missouri to active duty and
57:27
deployed in December and he passed away in January.
57:32
He froze to death in his car. He was homeless.
57:37
And my dad, we finally tracked down, my aunt had tracked down,
57:43
they had found his remains of obviously.
57:46
So he was in an unmarked grave and my aunt had found it on a,
57:50
you know, cemetery registry. And dad built him, He designed
57:56
a, you know, marker for him in the cemetery in Austin.
58:03
So it's, it's important, you know, to say their name.
58:07
And I, and I say this because we know that Memorial Day is right
58:10
around the corner. Lots of veteran service
58:13
organizations are making preparations.
58:16
I got an e-mail from the VFW because I belong to the one in
58:22
Arlington, VA. And, you know, they all need
58:26
help. So if you're looking for a
58:29
service opportunity, get involved.
58:31
And, you know, you'd be surprised about the
58:36
relationships that you make, both for military members, but
58:41
also family members who need that connection as well.
58:46
You know, I think it's a big deal.
58:48
It's it is a big deal. And don't forget the Gold Star
58:52
wives and families as well, you know, mothers.
58:56
So thank you so much for joining me today, Chris.
58:59
I'll be watching your, you know, watching your pages and seeing
59:03
what you do. Feel free to reach out if you've
59:08
got updates or things to share. Feel free to tag me, You know,
59:12
be happy to see what you're doing.
59:15
OK, I I do have 111 last thing to say.
59:18
Oh, OK. For those that aren't a member
59:23
of the group member yet, that around Memorial Day is one of
59:28
the that's one of the biggest seasons that our biggest times
59:33
of the year that I do commemorate and and remember
59:38
those fallen because it is it is about them and it's not about
59:44
it's not about us that just came back, you know the pieces.
59:49
It's more about the those that gave their lives and Ron, Ron
59:54
Memorial Day is when I, I normally decorate and it takes
59:59
it takes me about a day and a half to two days to get it
1:00:01
right. So, you know, if you log in and
1:00:05
you want to, you feel free to feel free to join.
1:00:08
You can always, you know, decline later if you want, but
1:00:11
come on in and see what we're about.
1:00:13
We're we're about the veterans, about their families and about
1:00:17
making making sure that their legacies live on.
1:00:20
OK thank you so much. There's another show that has to
1:00:23
start. Y'all have a great day and be
1:00:26
blessed. Thank you.
1:00:30
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for tuning in to Military
1:00:35
Broadcast Radio. As we wrap up today's show, we
1:00:40
want to remind you that the podcast of today's episode will
1:00:44
be available right after we go off the air.
1:00:47
So if you missed any part of the show or want to listen again, be
1:00:52
sure to check it out. And remember, we're here to
1:00:56
support and honor our veterans. Your stories and experiences
1:01:02
matter, and we are committed to giving you a platform to share
1:01:06
them. That's right, we're here to give
1:01:10
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