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The H-Train Show- Ozzie Gonzalez Photography · Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk

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The station where our veterans voices are heard.
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MBR talk. Hey, thanks for supporting our
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It's RED Friday. Remember everyone deployed, We
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We begin on the tracks, rails stretching beyond the horizon,
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each tie a memory, each rail a promise of where we might go.
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In the early years, our first logo appeared, a pioneer
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stepping onto the platform of possibility.
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forward. The whistle of opportunity
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sounded and we boarded the train of time.
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others lasting. Our logos change too, not just
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emblems, but mile markers of evolution.
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stepped off, leaving their legacy on the rails behind us.
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And still, the journey continues.
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The tracks ahead stretch into the unknown, familiar yet full
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travel with purpose, with grit, with heart.
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Because the journey matters, the movement matters.
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And the legacy of those logos, every year, every show, lives on
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in the rhythm of these rails. So here we are once again, all
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aboard. The whistle blows, the tracks
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call together. We ride.
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We are the H train show showing veterans programs beyond the VA
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since 2015. Fighters.
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Hey, ladies and gentlemen, it is not only 5 minutes past the hour
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and everybody that is part of the MBR family package.
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Hey, you guys just got some cartoons sent to you also
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advertising the best show that we've got planned for you today,
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None other than our very own Ozzie Gonzalez's photography.
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We're going to be talking to him a little bit about, you know,
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how he does his photography and you know him and him too.
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They kind of live off grid. So we're going to find out how
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they kind of use that to their advantage or disadvantage,
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right? So, Amber, we have missed you,
5:48
girl. I know I've been out and about
5:51
doing all kinds of things and then you've had a fabulous Co
5:55
host so it's all worked out. Yeah, yeah.
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You know, and I'll tell you what, we recently we, we, we
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partnered with another company and another ad company and we
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have some ads going all over the Denver metro area.
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And we're going to have we're we're, we're going to kind of do
6:14
like a contest. So what's going to happen is we
6:18
don't know which elevator it is, but you're going to help us find
6:21
that elevator. In fact, when you go to one of
6:23
these elevators and you check the display screen, if you see
6:28
that QR code and you activate it, not only will you activate
6:32
it by, you know, helping a veteran connecting with
6:37
resources or with another veteran, you know, to interview
6:40
them, but you're going to run some cool beaker gear.
6:44
We're going to start selling beaker gear.
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We've got beaker soap coming up. We've got beaker chocolate
6:51
coming up and we've got even beaker like woodwork and and
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stuff like that that. So we have tons of things, you
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know, you know, with anything good things come slow.
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So we'll keep you updated. Just keep on tuning in and you
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know, we'll, we'll, we'll lead the way.
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We promise. Ladies and gentlemen, if you're
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just now joining us, I want to take a quick, quick intro, real
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quick to let you guys know that you're listening to the H train
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show. But here our Ola mission, me and
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Amber's Ola mission is a show of veterans and the men and women
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all over the world. And there are more programs out
7:28
there beyond the VA. My name's H.
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Hello, I'm Amber. There you go.
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Sorry. That's that's all right, that's
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OK. And then the our or the guy that
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makes everything sound good, the man behind the glass, or I
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should say behind the screen. We got HG and.
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Salutations. And he, he's, he's what?
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What happened? What?
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Do you mean? I got the tick.
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Tock. OK, all right.
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OK, stupid tick tock cutting us off all our time anyway.
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So. Well, hey, while he works on
8:13
that, if you want, I, I can, I, I, I can control this brother
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while he works on that. It is that time how we always do
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it. Ladies and gentlemen, it's mail
8:26
call time. I, I, I, I I can do this, I
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promise. Guys, he's a little rusty.
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All right, today's mail call, ladies and gentlemen, is coming
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to us from I, I believe it's Texas.
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But anyways, so Sergeant Major Rick David, service didn't end
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when his uniform came out. All right, everybody, it's time
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for this week's Soldier Spotlight.
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And this week I want to tell you about a veteran.
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Oh, and you know what? We forgot to hit the intro.
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That's what we forgot to do. We we brought that up, but we
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forgot to hit the intro. I'll, I'll find it sooner or
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later. Man, you're really good at this.
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I can't. Oh, there we go.
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Attention milk off. Oh my God, welcome to Mail Call
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Your Soldier Spotlight Powered by Work Simple highlighting
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those who serve and inspire. All right, so let's try this
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again. Sorry about that everybody.
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TikTok has been restored as well.
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OK, perfect. I want to tell you all about
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this veteran who serves Day. And when he took off the
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uniform, his name was Sergeant Major Rick Davila.
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And there's one sentence that really sums up this man's story.
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He spent 34 years making sure other veterans received their
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final military honors. Then it was his turn.
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Rick Deville has served his country for more than 33 years
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in the United States Army and the Army National Guard.
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Think about that, 33 years wearing that uniform.
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For most people, that would be more than enough to say I've
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done my part. But apparently Rick Duvalia
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didn't look at service that way. No, because after his military
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career ended, his service to veterans continued for another
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34 years. Rick volunteered with the
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memorial service detachment at Fort Sam Houston National
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Cemetery in San Antonio, TX. Their mission is one that
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deserves recognition itself. They're there when a veteran
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reaches their final resting place.
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Think about that. They're there to provide the
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dignity, the respect of the military honors that veterans
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earned through their service. And over the years, the
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detachments has participated in nearly 49,000 Funeral services.
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Just stop and think about that number nearly 49,000 times.
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You know one thing that we do when we're in the service, we,
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we find ourselves kind of starting over, kind of starting
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over. You know, you, you get, you get
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out wherever you decide to go, chances are you, you can go back
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home or you know, you got a, you got a job from an uncle or an
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aunt or something like, you know, it gives you the foot way,
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you know, the foot in the door. Either way, you have to
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transition, you know, and with transitioning and then trying to
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find a purpose, something that you can do, it doesn't
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necessarily have to be money. It, it could be volunteering,
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you know, doing funeral honors. It could be volunteering, doing
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a broadcast. It could be the volunteering by,
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you know, you know, training service dogs.
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Yeah. No matter what.
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And it doesn't matter if you're a veteran or not.
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Everybody has to have a purpose. Once you find that purpose and
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once you're good at it and once you perfect that purpose, well,
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then the Sky's the limit. Ladies and gentlemen, that is
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the secret to life's success. Finding a purpose that you can
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success at it. And if you're trying to earn
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money, earn money that way, We salute you, Sergeant Major Rick
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Davilia, for you giving not only your your service to your
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country, but giving your service to your fellow brother and
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sister and your veterans. Because a lot of people don't
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realize this, but there's a lot of veterans out there that do
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not have family. I cannot stress that enough.
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Yeah, cannot stress that enough. OK, so now with that being said,
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that kind of rolls us in to our top news story and I'll let you
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I'll let you get the the controls now and.
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Got it. All right.
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Is it too much for you, Joel? Oh.
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No. No, I'm just messing with you
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trying. To there we go.
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We can review. Next stop we can review.
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All right, everybody. So with this being said, this is
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the top story now. I haven't, I haven't had a lot
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of veterans actually reach out to me and said, dude, come on,
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come on, make this simple. You know, because everybody
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doesn't know which way I'm going to turn.
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They don't know which way I'm going to go.
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But let me tell you this, there's a situation right now,
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and this isn't the first time Everybody acts like this is the
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first time this has happened. This is not the first time and
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it's not going to be the last. From 2003 to Jessica Lynch story
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to this right here. OK, it's and and let let's let
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me put it this way. This is not a party issue.
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This is a leadership issue. In fact, I have this thing.
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There we go. All right, So I want to get our
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top story today. And this is one that really
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caught my attention, especially as a veteran.
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Defense Secretary Pete Higson said Thursday that the United
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States Navy has the ability to maintain its naval blockage of
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Iran indefinitely. Indefinitely.
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OK, Now, me and Amber, we were in the military for, you know, a
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minute, OK. And one thing that we know is
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the magnificent word moatard. What is the definition of a
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moatard? A definition of a moatard is a
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motivated dummy, OK? Just because it says good, just
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because it's green on the paper doesn't mean that it's actually
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green in her life. OK, we'll get to that.
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Think about that word for a second.
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Indefinitely. The argument from the Pentagon
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is pretty straightforward. We have the ships, we have the
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equipment, and we can rotate ships in and out of the region
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as necessary. And from purely military
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standpoint, maybe that is true. the United States Navy is the
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most powerful Navy in the world. We all know that we've got
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aircraft carriers, we've got destroyers, we've got
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submarines, we've got logistics ships, and we've got aircrafts.
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We've got the ability to move tremendous amounts of military
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power all around the world. But here's my question.
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What about the people? Because ships don't don't
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operate themselves. AI doesn't operate them,
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aircraft don't launch themselves, weapons don't
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maintain themselves, and naval blockage doesn't enforce itself.
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There are sailors and marines aboard these ships.
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They're human beings underneath those uniforms.
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And there's another story coming out this week that becomes
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extremely important. the US Abraham Lincoln deployed back on
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November 21st, 2025. This deployment was reportedly
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expected to end around May. Well, May came and went, but
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Lincoln remained deployed. Well, we're in August now.
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The carrier and roughly 5000 sailors and Marines this week
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have raised, oh, I'm sorry, I think I went a little, went a
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little too far here. The the Marines aboard have been
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deployed for more than eight months and reports this week
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have raised some extremely serious concerns about what
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those men and women are going through.
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OK, now I'm going to pause for a second and let everybody know
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that, you know, I was in Iraq. A usual deployment in Iraq is 18
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months that that's arming now. I was, I was schooled while I
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was in Kuwait because, you know, I, I, I, I was the jealous
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private, you know, I went over and I'm like, you, you guys are
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in civilian clothes. Why aren't you guys?
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Why you guys don't have uniforms?
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No, no, because we're airmen or because we're semen, you know,
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or, or, or sailors, you know, and I'm like, that just doesn't
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make sense. Marines in the Army have a
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uniform. Well, we're not held at the same
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accountability as the Army of Marines.
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Keep that thought. Keep that thought as I, as I go
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through this. Great Times reported that family
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members say multiple sailors aboard the Abraham Lincoln have
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attempted to go overboard during this extended deployment.
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Now I want to be very careful here because the Navy has not
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publicly provided a precise number of sailors who have
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attempted to go overboard or engage in self arm.
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OK, you have speculation, you have families, but the Navy
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hasn't came out and said, right. So the Navy also says the
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leadership aboard the Lincoln is continuously assessing the
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psychological readiness of its sailors and its counselors,
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Chapel, medical professionals and other resources are
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available. Well, so I'm not going to sit
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here and tell you that every allegation we're hearing has
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been independently proven because it hasn't.
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And I'm not going to tell you that being in the military that,
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you know, we, we, we have those little, we have those little
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gripes and squabbles. You know, some sometimes we
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would reach out to our parents and have our parents fight our
20:17
battles. And then when the commander
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brings you in the office, hey, do you really have an issue of
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deployment? No, for a start, you no, that's
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a motivated. It's hard.
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OK, that's a motivated. It's hard.
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All right, because even though the way you think or the way you
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feel, you ain't going to tell that to the chain of command.
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You're not going to. So I'm not going to tell you
20:42
here that everything has been independently proven because it
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hasn't. That's not what we're going to
20:47
do on this show, but I'm not. Also, I'm not going to ignore
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military families who are saying something is wrong because I've
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worn the uniform and if anybody's served understand
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something that doesn't always show up on the, on the
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Pentagon's Pentagon's readiness report.
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There's a difference between whether a unit can continue a
21:15
mission and whether the people performing that mission are
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being pushed too far. OK, now I want to pause that for
21:23
for a second because I, I want to kind of explain that since
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the last two or three days I have been on TikTok and social
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media and I hear past, you know, past veterans suck it up, you
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know, just, you know, just just just just driving it, OK, just
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driving it. I have people over here that's
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saying, hey, they need to suck it up.
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I've got people over here that have been on aircraft carriers
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and they talk about hey, you know, we've been through war,
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blah, blah, blah. And you know, we always had a
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hot meal, you know, always had Mr. As, etcetera, etcetera.
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I have no idea what's going on in this situation, but right now
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from what I'm hearing from families is the food is not very
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good portions. There's there's some bathrooms
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and showers that are broken, which, you know, me, me and
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Amber can both agree that that that's the Army in general.
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OK, That's the Army in general. Military in general.
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That is. But I will say this, I am.
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When I was in the Army, I didn't hardly get any sleep.
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But I guarantee you I got fed, I got fed.
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Everybody gets fed. They've and there's a way there,
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there, there's a will, there's a way.
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All right. But I, I would like to see the
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conditions that the first Sergeant and the commander of
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this aircraft carrier, I like to see what their status is.
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I like to see the way they're living.
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You, you see where I'm going with this.
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OK, now the Lincoln has reportedly gone around 2 days
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without a port call. All right, that's that's that's
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a long time, OK. Even the Army after six months,
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we have usually like a they call it a four day pass in Qatar
23:28
where you have a little bit of relaxation before, you know,
23:32
before you go on two weeks leave.
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Because remember, the Army deployed 18 months.
23:37
Yeah. All right.
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Now, normally, according to the reporting from the Stars and
23:42
Stripes carrier, crews may see port visits approximately every
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30 to 45 days, although obviously combat operations and
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mission requirements can change that.
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But we're talking about months here.
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We're talking about months without stepping off that ship,
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That that's the key thing. Remember that.
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Months away from their spouse, months away from their kids,
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months. The same walls around Four
24:10
Corners. You know, you've heard of the
24:13
thing called cabin fever. It's, it's, it's a real thing.
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Months away from your kids, months away from passageways,
24:22
workspaces, operational pressure, day after day.
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You know, I'll tell you, I was in, when I was in Iraq.
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I, I, I remember one day I was on that 240B and I was praying
24:38
to God that he would just take me.
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Because, you know, we got extended.
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We didn't know the extend date, you know, and just like that
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purpose that we was talking about earlier, you know, a
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veteran, a soldier, a Marine, they have to have some kind of a
24:54
date or some kind of goal line to work towards.
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They have to. It's a morale thing, OK.
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And now families and lawmakers are raising concerns about
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morale, mental health, supplies, living conditions.
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Just how long have these sailors can reasonably be expected to
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keep doing this? Well, defensive Secretary Hexis
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says reports describing port conditions aboard the Lincoln
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have been misrepresented. OK, that's important to to that,
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that that's important to include, too.
25:35
We should hear both sides of this argument.
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There's an important development in the USS George Washington,
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who's reportedly being sent to the Middle East to replace the
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Abraham Lincoln. Officials say that the rotation
25:51
was already planned. And actually that supports part
25:56
of Hex's argument because when he says the Navy can maintain
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the blockade indefinitely, he isn't necessarily saying keep
26:06
the same soldiers out there indefinitely.
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He's saying ships can rotate, crews can rotate, 1 carrier can
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relieve another, and that's how the military sustains
26:19
operations. Fair enough, right?
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But here's where I still have a problem.
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When we rotate them. Because if you're telling me
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that we're capable of, you know, rotating forces, but at the same
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time we've got families publicly begging someone to pay attention
26:41
to what's happening to their sailors, then we need to ask
26:46
whether those rotations are happening quickly enough.
26:53
They're saying everybody's who serves has heard in one form or
26:56
another. Mission first, people always you
27:00
have to complete the mission. I understand that sometimes the
27:04
military is going to ask you to do things that suck.
27:07
Sometimes you're going to go and miss Christmas, miss birthdays,
27:11
miss anniversaries. Sometimes you're going to sleep
27:14
somewhere you don't want to sleep, you know, out in the, you
27:20
know, eat something you don't want to eat, work longer than
27:23
humanly possible because, you know, according to army reigns,
27:29
you only need 4 hours rest. You don't even need 4 hours
27:32
sleep. Just something to think about.
27:35
That's military service. Yeah, it's normal.
27:38
Nobody, nobody promised us a cruise ship.
27:41
But there's a line, and leadership has a responsibility
27:45
to know when their people are approaching that line.
27:52
And leadership has the responsibility to know when
27:55
their people are readiness and military readiness.
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Morale is military readiness. Fleet matters.
28:05
Food matters. Communication with family
28:07
matters and then sailors are reaching to the point where
28:11
they're experiencing serious mental health crisis.
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We don't we don't get to dismiss that simply because the ship
28:20
itself is still operational. So when the Pentagon says we can
28:25
maintain this blockade, and definitely my response is to
28:29
find we are you talking about the ships?
28:34
Are you talking about the weapons or are you talking about
28:38
America's logistical capabilities?
28:42
Or are you including the 1819202122 year old sailors who
28:48
are actually standing those watches while you're at your
28:54
desk? Because they're part of the
28:57
equation too. And that's why I think the
28:59
situation aboard the Abraham Lincoln deserves attention,
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regardless of how anybody feels politically about what's
29:05
happening with Iran. I'm not sitting here arguing
29:09
today that the blockade is right or wrong.
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I that that's, that's not my opinion.
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Doesn't matter on that. I'm asking something much
29:22
simpler. Are we taking care of the people
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we're asking to carry it out? And here's another group we
29:32
can't forget the families. When you're deployed and your
29:35
family is serving alongside you in a different way, they're
29:39
waiting, they're watching the news, they're raising kids,
29:43
they're handling problems back home.
29:46
And imagine believing your husband, wife, son or daughter
29:49
was coming home in May. Their them plans change.
29:54
I'd be pissed. OK, well, military families,
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you've dealt with that before. Yeah.
30:00
Then they've extended it in again, and now you're watching
30:04
reports about deteriorating morale.
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Sailors trying to go overboard. Imagine being a mother.
30:12
Imagine being a father. Imagine being that spouse.
30:17
You can't just drive over and check on them.
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Hell, they're thousands of miles away aboard an aircraft carrier
30:25
in the military, in the middle of military operations.
30:29
That's why I don't think we should dismiss these families.
30:32
Investigate their concerns, find out what's true, find out what's
30:37
exaggerated, find out what's wrong, and fix what needs to be
30:42
fixed. Because there's actually some
30:45
good news in the story. the US George Washington is indeed
30:50
replacing the Abraham Lincoln. Then somebody's coming to
30:54
relieve these soldiers. That's good.
30:55
Bring them home. Let somebody else take the
30:58
watch. That's how it's supposed to
31:00
work. But going forward, if the United
31:03
States intends to maintain this blockade for months or
31:07
potentially indefinitely, then the Pentagon needs to make sure
31:13
indefinitely the mission and the deployment of the individual
31:18
soldiers, they're completely different things.
31:21
They have enough aircraft carriers, enough destroyers,
31:26
enough aircraft, enough weapons. Every military operation
31:31
ultimately comes down to people, and people have limits.
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Recognizing those limits isn't weakness.
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Taking care of troops isn't weakness.
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Rotating exhaustive forces isn't weakness.
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That's leadership. If I could interject you, yeah,
31:50
I mean, there's 1000 year old book about this, The Sun SU's
31:56
Art of War. Most of it's just about taking
31:59
care of your troops. Yes.
32:01
And like, yeah. And you think it's, it's
32:02
incredibly when you read it, you're like, well, this seems
32:05
kind of obvious, but you see, historically it, there are so
32:10
many cases where you know, armies fail because initially
32:16
they start strong, but the leaders, they don't, they just
32:20
forget to do the most important thing, which is take care of
32:23
your troops, right? Sure, they have enough food.
32:26
Make sure they're they'll, they have their, their morale stays
32:29
high, but they have supplies because you're only as good as
32:32
your soldiers. And most definitely, most
32:35
definitely when I was a team leader, I always told them I'm
32:39
never going to make my soldier do something that I wouldn't do
32:42
in the 1st place. And that's what I think is going
32:45
on here. I think that that I think they
32:49
have a leadership on that, that boat that's in the mind range of
32:54
I got mine and they're not taking care of their soldiers.
32:59
That's what I think. I think there's just a bunch of
33:01
cocky attitudes. Right.
33:03
And you know, when Pete Hagler says, hey, you know, they're,
33:07
they're, you know, they're, they're misrepresenting, you
33:10
know, the ship and stuff. OK, Can you take pictures then
33:15
show us you do an inspection every Monday and every Friday
33:19
show us, you know, tell us, you know, bottom line is if any
33:26
veteran or I shouldn't say veteran soldiers, any soldiers
33:30
or airmen that's on the ship, I think they they need some mental
33:38
health help. Apparently they're not getting
33:41
that because if they had mental health help, they wouldn't be
33:44
trying to go overboard. And if they're trying to get
33:48
overboard, somebody, some squad leader, some team leader is not
33:52
doing their job. Yeah, but unfortunately also we
33:57
also have to admit that in every situation like this, there's
34:01
going to be people who have mental health issues.
34:04
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I, I mean, I see it all the time
34:07
when I was in the military, you know, people would call the,
34:11
the, the attorney general or I forget what they used to call
34:16
it. It was like something like, you
34:20
know, GI complaint or something like that.
34:23
And they thought, you know, things would fix.
34:27
It's just like HR company, They don't fix.
34:30
It just makes things worse. You know, I will say this, I
34:33
will say this to all the to all the soldiers, airmen and any
34:39
military personnel on that carrier.
34:41
If they're listening to this right now, I would strongly
34:47
encourage you not to complain to your parents, not to complain to
34:51
your family members, because you know, ultimately it's not going
34:56
to end well for you. You know, it's not going to end
34:59
well for you. And you're just making your
35:01
family worry about you, OK? And there's nothing that we can
35:06
do. But what I would strongly
35:08
encourage you is, hey, get that pen and paper out.
35:13
Write down dates and stuff. It starts with your team leader
35:18
and it goes up. If you have an issue, work it
35:22
with your team leader. If you have an issue with your
35:25
team leader, then work it with your squad leader.
35:28
Bottom line is if you really want things to get better and
35:34
you want to resolve an issue, don't go outside the house.
35:40
Keep it inside house and get it fixed.
35:44
Yeah, because sooner or later, just like a checkbook, yeah,
35:48
it's the the truth is going to come out.
35:51
You don't have to go looking for that checkbook.
35:54
OK, so in in theory, the last thing I want to say is, you
35:59
know, maybe the United States Navy can maintain the blockade
36:03
indefinitely, but we're going to make we're.
36:06
But if, if we're going to make that claim, then let's make sure
36:10
that damn claim is equally committed to taking care of the
36:15
the sailors and the Marines that were asking to maintain this
36:20
ship because accomplishing the mission matters.
36:25
But so does bringing our people home.
36:29
And ladies and gentlemen, that is my top story.
36:33
So as you were going through that, it reminded me that things
36:39
have definitely changed because I've, I spent a lot of time with
36:43
my husband's grandfather who was a World War 2 vet and he was
36:49
also Navy and he served in the South Pacific.
36:54
And he was, he was well known to just sit and laugh at you.
37:03
Whatever you told a story about how rough you had it or
37:07
whatever, he would. Just he.
37:09
Would just be like ha ha ha. Oh, I don't think anybody has
37:13
not had a grandpa. Oh, excuse me, I don't think
37:17
anybody has ever had a grandparent that hasn't said,
37:20
oh, well, I was your age. I was walking to school, battle,
37:24
fighting in the snow. Yeah, I mean, and for the most
37:28
part, it is true, you know, I mean, because times change, you
37:31
know? But yeah, it just reminded me of
37:36
sitting there with Grandpa and telling him different stories
37:39
or, or different things in the news that would come on.
37:42
And he'd just start laughing. And he'd just be like, yeah, he
37:48
was a man of little words, but he, he communicated very well
37:53
how he felt just by his laugh. Right.
37:57
No, I mean, you know, that's the that's the thing.
37:59
And I've, I've, I've, I've, I've heard, I've heard a lot of, I've
38:04
heard a lot of veterans point of view.
38:06
And that's just it like, you know, even though I'm a veteran,
38:10
every veteran is going to have their different point of view in
38:12
this aspect, OK? Like my, my theory of who a
38:16
veteran is, is, is completely different than what Magic Mike's
38:22
theory is. Like Magic Mike's theory, you
38:24
know, he, he goes by the dictionary definition that a, a
38:28
veteran is somebody that has seen combat.
38:31
If you haven't seen combat, then you are a soldier, always a
38:36
soldier. Once a soldier, always a
38:38
soldier. You're not a veteran.
38:40
Like I said, there's many different definitions out there.
38:44
It just depends on who you talk to.
38:47
Me myself, huh? I was just going to say then
38:51
maybe they should change it from Veterans Administration to
38:55
something else. Exactly.
38:57
And that's, that's a good point. You know, a long time ago I was
39:01
taught something and you know it, it goes with the
39:05
Constitution, it goes with anybody and everybody.
39:10
And that is sometimes people interpret the translation of the
39:17
language differently than you do.
39:19
Doesn't mean you're right, doesn't mean they're wrong.
39:22
It means that we need to come from compromise and come
39:26
together and honor their opinion.
39:31
At the same time, they should honor your opinion.
39:34
No. And like, for instance, for me,
39:37
I only served a year. It was really hard for me to
39:40
call myself a veteran. But being in the Veterans
39:44
Administration for now, what, 27 years, I've been in the Veterans
39:51
Administration for 27 years. And so it gets just kind of
39:56
awkward, you know? And so sometimes, you know, I
40:00
embrace the title veteran and other times I feel very awkward
40:03
about the title veteran. Well, you know the reason why
40:06
you feel awkward? Is it?
40:08
It's it's whoever you align yourself with, like the group
40:13
that you're with or who you're like, you know, you're standing
40:17
right by. And that's why people always
40:20
say, you know, look at who you hang out with and that's going
40:25
to tell everybody and anybody where you're going to be in five
40:28
years. Because if you know, 'cause if
40:31
you're, if you're with a group that that's going to challenge
40:34
you on like TikTok or, or something like that, then
40:39
you're, you're going to excel. Yeah, no, definitely you are who
40:42
you hang out with. But my my hang up specifically
40:47
is, is I grew up in a military town with veterans all around me
40:51
and active service. And so the connotation of the
40:58
word veteran, that holds a lot of weight and the fact that I
41:01
did not graduate basic training, I got hurt, and I did spend a
41:06
whole year in the Army. But still, you know, to me that
41:11
just feels weird when I talk to other veterans, you know, So I
41:16
don't feel like like that veteran status sometimes is a
41:21
lot heavier depending on the situation I'm in.
41:25
Right. Depends on who you're talking
41:26
to. Yeah, I, I know.
41:28
I I, I told you, I told you. You know, we have this.
41:31
We have this term in the civilian life of, you know who
41:39
soldiers that have gotten out, they've kind of lost their
41:43
identity. And they are, they're they're,
41:46
they're still latching on to this identity, as you know.
41:51
Oh, you know, you're you, you why, why, why, why are you not
41:55
shaved? You're wearing your Class A's,
41:57
dude. Give it a rest.
42:00
We're retired. You know, it's not like he's
42:03
burning the flat. Like, there's some things out
42:05
there that military people are doing that is far worse than,
42:11
you know, showing up in Class A's and having a mustache that's
42:14
not, you know, 1/4 inch, you know?
42:16
Yeah, and it even extends into oh shoot, I just lost my brain,
42:24
my train of thought, never mind brain fart.
42:27
That's all right. All right, Ladies and gentlemen,
42:29
before we before we lose any more time, we have a special
42:35
treat, ladies and gentlemen, it is the what the segment.
42:49
All right, so after this after this, we'll probably go on a
42:53
break. We should have probably went on
42:55
a break for the top news, but you know, it it I I think it was
43:00
a pleasure to talk. Now check this stuff out,
43:04
customers at the gas station in upstate New York.
43:06
Were able to get 20% off their purchases, including gas, in
43:09
exchange for dancing. The gas station posted a video
43:12
on Facebook showing some of the dancers, including some regulars
43:14
at the gas. Station.
43:15
They did their big one. According to ABC News, the
43:17
discount was offered all day July 30th and applied to all
43:20
purchases except lottery tickets.
43:22
Alcohol. And nicotine again, would you do
43:24
this for a discount on gas? This is an indicator of
43:26
something, but I would do a backflip if it meant that I
43:28
would get my gas discounted. Discount.
43:32
All right, so with that being said, all right, now you know
43:37
me, me, me and the me and amber ain't gonna tell you our our
43:41
name, our, our, our, our birth dates, OK, but we will tell you
43:46
that this this rings a bell the the Klondike bar.
43:50
You know what would you do for a Klondike bar now?
43:58
Would you dance for a discount on gas?
44:02
1 Station has been turning a routine stop into something
44:07
whole lot more fun. Customers are being offered a
44:10
discount when they're willing to bust a move at the register.
44:16
Some people are definitely taking them up on it.
44:19
With the price hitting everybody's wallet, would you
44:23
swallow your pride and dance for a deal?
44:26
Question of the day. How much of a discount would it
44:31
take for you to get your dancing going at the register?
44:37
Amber, because you are the perfect person to ask this
44:41
because Amber, is she, she, she's outspoken, but she's shy.
44:48
She's she's kind of shy. I love your cat, Shy.
44:54
My childhood friends and yeah, most people would not say I'm
45:00
shy at all. I'm more reserved.
45:04
I used to be extremely the class.
45:08
I used to be a class clown, the big goofball, probably because I
45:13
didn't get any attention at home, but I definitely would
45:19
dance a jig at the gas station. And it's so funny because last
45:23
night Laura put some show on. It's called Nathan Does
45:27
Something. I can't remember what it is, but
45:29
it's like this reality show where this guy goes out and
45:31
tries to help small businesses with like, yes, yes.
45:36
And so he went to this gas station and he, he, he asked the
45:41
guy, he said, we'll offer the gas for $1.75 a gallon, but then
45:47
they have to redeem it. And the the redemption process
45:51
is that they had to go all the way up to a mountain, stay the
45:55
night on the mountain and do all these ridiculous things.
45:59
So get the money. You get a rebate on gas, but the
46:02
to get to the rebate box is on top of the highest peak in
46:06
California and it's like you have to like stay overnight on
46:10
the mountain. Then he like leads like a hike
46:13
of all these people that want to claim their rebate.
46:15
We, we, we got Cadillac on TikTok saying hey yo, 50% and
46:21
I'm dancing. I'm down, my husband said.
46:25
He doesn't get any attention. Oh, I'm sorry, honey.
46:32
Maybe that's why I'm so goofy, because I don't get any
46:36
attention at home. He's been goofy his entire life.
46:41
Holy cow, that dude. I have no idea.
46:44
Honestly. And seriously, sometimes I have
46:47
no idea if he's being like serious or not.
46:49
Oh. I know, I know he has that face
46:52
sometimes that he looks like he's joking, but he, he, he's
46:56
not, he's being serious, you know, like.
46:58
So imagine that times five with his whole family and then add my
47:03
children on top of it. I never know what's going on
47:09
half the time. So, so, so, so sometimes I feel
47:14
for you a Laura or not a Laura, but sometimes I feel for you,
47:17
Amber, especially my I, I, I, I like a Laura a lot.
47:24
But yeah, she doesn't like my driving.
47:26
So I, I feel for you on that one.
47:28
I feel for you on that one. Well, I don't like her driving
47:31
either. So nobody does.
47:34
All right, everybody, we are way past the time, but that's OK.
47:38
We're going to go on a music break.
47:40
And when we come back off of that music break, we're going to
47:45
hit the drop, the date. So whatever you do, stay with
47:50
us. Don't go away.
47:51
You listen to the show, the highlights, all the nonprofit
47:53
programs out there beyond the VA.
47:55
You listen to the 8th St. show here on Stationless, letting
47:58
veterans be heard. NPR, stay with us.
55:53
The station where our veterans voices are heard.
55:57
MBR talk. Hey, thanks for supporting our
56:00
channel by watching and listening.
56:11
All right, everybody and we're back and you listen to the sort
56:14
of highlights all the non pro programs out there before the VA
56:19
and before we run out of time before we go to our interview,
56:24
we have dropped that date. Today in history.
56:37
All right, Lady Joe, today is August 14th, 1945, the day the
56:42
American Herb, the war was ending.
56:45
All right, everybody, it's time today we're dropping this.
56:50
We're thinking about this for a second.
56:52
You've been at war for years. You've watched your friends
56:56
leave home, put uniform on. Families have spent years
57:00
wondering if their daughters, husbands, fathers, brothers,
57:04
sisters were ever coming home. Rings a bell, right?
57:08
Well, Germany had already surrendered in Europe, but also
57:14
across. Oh, sorry about that, I left my
57:18
phone on. Evidently, Germany had already
57:21
surrendered Europe. But across the Pacific, the
57:24
fighting continued. American service members were
57:27
still dying. Families were still receiving
57:30
those dreaded telegrams. Nobody knew exactly how much
57:34
longer this war was going to go. And then came August 14th, 1945,
57:40
President Harry S Truman announced that Japan had
57:43
accepted the Allies surrender terms.
57:47
The war was finally coming to an end.
57:49
Now imagine being an American service member somewhere in the
57:54
Pacific when you heard that news.
57:58
Think about that. Those words meant it wasn't just
58:02
another headline. It meant maybe I don't have to
58:05
fight another battle. Maybe I'm going to survive this.
58:10
Maybe I'm going home. And back here in the United
58:14
States, America erupted. People poured into the streets.
58:19
Car horns were going off. People were dancing.
58:22
Strangers were hugging each other.
58:25
Service members and civilians celebrated together.
58:28
And one of the most famous celebrations happened right in
58:32
Times Square, New York City. Yeah, you've probably seen the
58:35
photograph. Thousands of people packed in
58:37
the streets celebrating something Americans have been
58:41
waiting years to hear. The war was ending.
58:45
Now here's something interesting.
58:47
You might hear different dates when people talk about V&J Day.
58:54
You hear August 14th, you'll hear August 15th, and sometimes
58:59
you'll hear September 2nd. So what's going on?
59:03
August 14951945 was when the announcement of Japan's
59:09
acceptance of the surrender terms reached the American
59:12
public. Because of the time difference,
59:14
it was already August 15th in Japan, which is why August 15th
59:19
is recognized as V&J Day in many parts of the world.
59:24
Then on September 2nd, 1945, Japan formally signed the
59:28
surrender documents abroad the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
59:34
That's when the World War 2 officially came to an end.
59:37
But here's the part of the story I don't ever want us to forget.
59:42
When we look at those old black and white photographs, it's easy
59:46
to see the celebration. What we don't see is the
59:50
sacrifice behind it. More than 400,000 American
59:53
service members lost their lives during World War 2.
59:57
Think about that. Those aren't just numbers in the
59:59
history book. Every single one of those
1:00:02
numbers represents a person. Somebody's son, somebody who's
1:00:06
daughter, somebody's husband, somebody who's father, somebody
1:00:10
who's brother, somebody who's best friend.
1:00:12
And while millions of Americans were celebrating on August 14th,
1:00:16
their families were celebrating with an empty chair in their
1:00:20
home. Their loved ones wasn't coming
1:00:22
back. There were also millions of
1:00:25
veterans preparing to come home, caring experiences that would
1:00:29
stay with them for the rest of their lives.
1:00:31
That's something we understand a little bit differently here at
1:00:36
NBRA. War doesn't necessarily end for
1:00:39
somebody just because the shooting stops.
1:00:42
Sometimes veterans bring part of that battle battlefield home
1:00:46
with them, and that's why we remember.
1:00:48
August 14th is simply about celebrating a victory.
1:00:52
It's about remembering the people who made that victory
1:00:55
possible. It's remembering the service
1:00:57
members who fought, the families who waited, the people who
1:01:00
sacrificed, especially those who never made a home.
1:01:04
I keep thinking about these service members in 1945 who
1:01:09
heard that announcement. Some of them probably convinced
1:01:13
themselves that they were going to make it home and suddenly,
1:01:16
for the first time in a long time, they they could think of
1:01:20
going home. 3 simple words. But for somebody who's who's
1:01:24
been fighting a war for thousands of miles away from
1:01:27
their families, those might have been the sweetest 3 words they
1:01:32
could have possibly heard at the time.
1:01:36
So when you look at the calendar, remember what happened
1:01:38
81 years ago, remember those streets filled with people's.
1:01:43
Remember the celebration. Remember the families.
1:01:46
But most importantly, remember the men and women that have made
1:01:49
the celebration possible. To every World War 2 veteran
1:01:54
still with us today and to every family member carrying the
1:01:57
memory of somebody who served, thank you.
1:02:01
We haven't forgotten you. And as long as we're behind
1:02:04
these microphones at MBR, we're going to keep telling your
1:02:07
stories. So August 14, 1945, victory was
1:02:12
announced and nation celebrated and a generation finally became
1:02:18
coming home. And that, my friends, is today's
1:02:22
drop the Date. And with being said, we're going
1:02:26
to drop off, instead of us going on a music break, we're going to
1:02:31
go on a station identification real quick.
1:02:34
And when we come back from that station identification, we're
1:02:39
going to be talking with Ozzy Gonzalez, the photographer, the
1:02:44
photographer with a heart. Stay with us.
1:02:51
Keep on pushing. Through dreams in my mind and
1:02:54
not. Know what I kind of do from the
1:02:56
streets to the stage? It's.
1:02:57
A churning It's a flake every night.
1:02:59
Every day got to keep my calls. Whenever things get.
1:03:02
Rough or it feels like you're at the edge.
1:03:04
Remember this storms. Pass Tough times don't last, but
1:03:10
tough people do. Every Friday at 10 AM Eastern.
1:03:17
Climb aboard the H Train Show on military broadcast radio.
1:03:21
Since 2015, we've helped veterans discover fresh
1:03:23
opportunities, nonprofits and resources beyond the VA.
1:03:27
All aboard ready for the H Train Show.
1:03:30
It's coming live this Friday at 10 AM ES.
1:03:33
T. The station where our veterans
1:03:44
voices are heard. MBR talk.
1:03:48
Hey, thanks for supporting our channel by watching and
1:03:50
listening. All right, And we're back here.
1:04:02
Everybody just tuning in. You have just tuned in to death
1:04:07
row? No, just he's in the A strange
1:04:09
show. We're here.
1:04:11
Me and Amber's only mission is show veterans and our men and
1:04:14
women in uniform all over the world.
1:04:16
And there are more programs out there beyond the VA.
1:04:20
And yeah, we so far, we have a great show lined up and
1:04:26
everybody's, everybody's like tuning in and on TikTok, they're
1:04:30
waiting. They are waiting for the man,
1:04:33
the myth, the legend of the hour.
1:04:35
Ladies and gentlemen, it is the interview of the week.
1:04:55
All right, ladies and gentlemen, thank you once again.
1:05:00
It's a it's a pleasure to see you.
1:05:03
Ozzy, how are you? Pretty good buddy, how you
1:05:05
doing? Thank you for having me.
1:05:07
Oh, you know, thank you for being with us.
1:05:10
I'm, I'm trying to get it so that all of us can be on the the
1:05:15
same thing here. And I for some reason I can't
1:05:19
edit the, the, the the photo. You might try that HG while
1:05:25
while I'm talking with Ozzy. So tell us a little bit about
1:05:31
yourself. You know, I, I keep saying this
1:05:34
word, Captain, was was you in the military?
1:05:37
No Sir, man, I was OK. I was a boat captain for over 20
1:05:41
years for sport fishing vessels. I did a lot of other stuff, but
1:05:46
sport fishing vessels, basically what I did mostly OK, took care
1:05:50
of of boats, went out fishing, started off at the age of 12 on
1:05:55
the charter boats, washing boats, you know, learning,
1:06:00
keeping my mouth shut, why all the captains used to yell at me.
1:06:03
And then at the age of 18, I decided to head on down to Saint
1:06:07
Thomas. I didn't tell, even tell my
1:06:08
parents where I was going. I just decided to go, you know,
1:06:12
on a, on a boat called the Black Gold.
1:06:15
So I went down there. You know, I was just saying, but
1:06:17
that's pretty normal because I remember my grandfather telling
1:06:20
me during World War 2 that, you know, he, he grabbed my grandma,
1:06:25
took her to get married. She didn't even know that they
1:06:28
were getting married at the time.
1:06:30
So you know it it it does happen, continue.
1:06:33
Yeah, so my dad and I got to Saint Thomas.
1:06:36
I called my father and and my dad's like, you know, where you
1:06:38
at? You know, you've been gone for a
1:06:39
couple days now and you know, I know you're 18 and all you
1:06:42
graduated high school. I said, well, you know, Dad,
1:06:44
I'm, I'm here to Saint Thomas. I'm going to fish the season
1:06:47
over here, which is the moon. You know, he goes the moon.
1:06:50
I don't think so. You get better.
1:06:51
Get on a plane. You better come home.
1:06:52
I go, Dad, I'm 18 years old. I could do whatever I want at
1:06:55
this point. So he goes, when you get back,
1:06:57
we have to, we have to talk. Seriously.
1:06:59
I said, OK, not a problem. So when I got home after those
1:07:03
three months, he gave me an alternative of saying, you know,
1:07:06
please, either you finish school, at least get your
1:07:10
associates back then it was a big deal to have your associates
1:07:13
and or if once you finish school, I will get your
1:07:19
captain's license. If you don't want to continue
1:07:21
going to school. Well, guess what?
1:07:23
I ended up being a captain, well, kept on running around as
1:07:27
a mate. I did have my credentials, but
1:07:29
I, I was still a mate at that time, a fishing mate and
1:07:32
traveled basically all over the world fishing, experiencing a
1:07:36
lot of different stuff. And as the years went on, I
1:07:41
didn't want to do it anymore. You know, I didn't want to
1:07:43
travel anymore. I found the, the woman that I
1:07:45
wanted to be with and I really just wanted to stay home.
1:07:49
And we started an airboat business and in between all this
1:07:52
airboat business and that, and that was what I was doing.
1:07:56
I took up photography. But before that, let me back it
1:08:01
up a little bit. During my my airboat times, I
1:08:04
used to give workshops. I was a driver for the workshops
1:08:07
for Robert Chaplin. And he would take me and I would
1:08:11
listen to him talk and I would take photos with my phone using
1:08:15
the settings that he was talking about for the guys that he would
1:08:18
have on the boat with the major cameras.
1:08:20
OK, well, I was actually taking pretty decent pictures when I
1:08:25
was showing it to him. He looked at he goes, when are
1:08:27
you buying a camera? I said, Nah, I'm not going to do
1:08:29
that. What for?
1:08:30
I got my phone, you know, just like everybody else.
1:08:32
Well, it comes down to the point that I ended up buying a smaller
1:08:36
camera. I didn't even buy a full full
1:08:37
frame. I bought a a regular compact
1:08:39
camera. Well, I squeezed everything I
1:08:41
could out of it. And then he goes, well, Are you
1:08:42
ready now for a full full size camera?
1:08:44
And I said absolutely. So from that point on, it just
1:08:48
took off. It took off immensely.
1:08:52
You know, so here I am now. I moved out of Florida as, as we
1:08:57
all know where I lived down up in Pennsylvania and a lot of
1:09:01
things happen between here and then.
1:09:03
But I'm, I'm super happy up here doing what I do.
1:09:07
You know, the pictures that I take, the people that I deal
1:09:10
with back home, tell you the truth, I really don't even like
1:09:14
back home anymore. I just.
1:09:16
I just like the the picture taken back then and that's what
1:09:19
I what I what I want to go back to, but I don't want to spend 40
1:09:23
days like I did last year last last winter.
1:09:26
No I I agree. I lived in Florida for 21 years
1:09:30
and I am so thankful I'm gone. Yeah.
1:09:34
Yeah, the the humility is no joke.
1:09:38
It is no joke. So I I totally have to.
1:09:41
All right, So you, you was in Florida with your wife and you
1:09:46
guys have moved to another region.
1:09:51
From what I understand, you guys have moved back to your your
1:09:56
your stomping grounds kind of. Well, her stomping ground, you
1:10:01
know, I was born and raised in Florida.
1:10:03
I was born and raised in Miami, so I didn't know anything
1:10:06
different, so this was a big shock change for me.
1:10:09
OK, I was getting ready to ask you like what, what, what, what,
1:10:14
what shaking up between you being in Florida and and you
1:10:17
being here because I know that, you know, you have a, you have
1:10:22
a, an amazing business. I've, I've seen the pictures,
1:10:27
you know, we're, we're going to have the pictures on a website,
1:10:30
you know, very, very soon. A lot of these pictures are,
1:10:35
yeah, they're, they're really breathtaking, you know, and they
1:10:38
are for for you to be able to have that that keen eye on
1:10:43
what's going to look good and you know, what's what, what's
1:10:48
going to catch people's eye. I really think that that takes
1:10:52
an art. I really think that that's a
1:10:55
skill. Tell us how being a caregiver
1:11:01
with with your wife, tell us how that's affected with the your
1:11:06
your photography business. Well, I'm going to tell you that
1:11:10
being a caregiver, this is back from even from Florida, even
1:11:13
when I was fishing, I I didn't want to be around the world
1:11:16
anymore. I didn't want to be out of town
1:11:18
anymore because I was taking care of her.
1:11:20
Let's start off, you know, down from the nitty goody.
1:11:23
I just wanted to take care of her and I did.
1:11:26
I basically stopped everything that I was doing and I took up
1:11:29
basically wood art at that point and I was building trophies,
1:11:34
fishing trophies. Since I was in the fishing
1:11:36
industry, I was fishing trophies for all these tournaments.
1:11:40
Well, in between there, I didn't have to go anywhere.
1:11:42
I could just be at home and just take care of her.
1:11:45
Well, I learned a lot of different skills doing that and,
1:11:48
and it just carried on and carried on.
1:11:50
Every time she would go down, I would basically stop what I was
1:11:52
doing, take care of her and and give her the help that she
1:11:57
needed. As she got better, you know,
1:11:59
that she got to, you know, riding a car or, you know, I
1:12:02
would put the window down just a little bit just so she could
1:12:04
stick out her head out, you know, and, you know, so I could
1:12:06
drive her around. But I would take her down to the
1:12:10
Everglades. Even when she couldn't really
1:12:13
even walk when she was still in a Walker, I would still go take
1:12:15
her out to the Everglades so I could go take some pictures out
1:12:18
there. And that really brought up her
1:12:20
spirits. Taking care of her has been a
1:12:24
big, huge part of my life, huge part of my life.
1:12:28
Giving a, being a caregiver to her, you know, it's, it's
1:12:31
actually, you can't even describe it because at the end
1:12:34
of the day, you're taking care of somebody you love and
1:12:37
somebody that gave up their life for the military to what she
1:12:43
what she did, you know. So I completely understand.
1:12:46
I respect all you guys so much. And I, and I do, I try to do as
1:12:50
much as I can for the veterans that it, it just tickles,
1:12:55
tickles me and inside to take care of her and to offer my
1:12:59
services, whatever I can to the military and to the and to the
1:13:03
veterans. So let's, let's talk about these
1:13:06
services. We're we're, we're going to,
1:13:08
we're going to give you a shallow plug here.
1:13:11
So tell everybody what you can do virtually 'cause we, I, I saw
1:13:18
something that we posted a couple of days ago.
1:13:21
I thought it was pretty neat. You have a, have a little bit of
1:13:24
a training session, you know, I don't know if that's, you know,
1:13:28
virtual or if you have to, to be there in person, but you're,
1:13:34
you're a little bit of a skill. Go ahead and explain that and
1:13:41
and what you have going on here in in the very near future.
1:13:45
Well, we have a program called the Look up program that I have
1:13:49
here on our property. We bought 54 acres up here and
1:13:53
it's pure darkness where we live at the at night time.
1:13:56
I love night time photography. When I say night time
1:13:59
photography, that's taking pictures of the stars, star,
1:14:03
trailing moons, Milky Ways. I can do, I can do virtual, but
1:14:12
I prefer if they actually show up.
1:14:15
I don't care that if if you are in a wheelchair, I could still
1:14:19
take care of ya. We have plenty of ways of doing
1:14:22
that here. And I just, I'd like to give
1:14:26
back to the veterans. Be honest with you.
1:14:31
I I don't think I would even charge them to do this.
1:14:34
I would give my services there on the House like I did when I
1:14:37
did when I was doing Python hunting.
1:14:40
We would take out veterans to do that.
1:14:43
That's cool. Yeah, my thought, I mean, it's
1:14:46
best I yeah, it was snipe hunting and I failed at that
1:14:50
shit. Everybody does.
1:14:54
Snipes really exist. No, I'm just kidding.
1:14:58
These are beautiful pictures. Very.
1:15:01
Beautiful. Thank you.
1:15:02
Yeah, that's from, that's right from our property.
1:15:04
That's that other picture there is from a place called.
1:15:09
I can't remember the name of the of the of that lookout, but that
1:15:13
you can look over. I don't know how many towns on
1:15:15
that picture there, you know, and that you know when you don't
1:15:18
have any clouds, you got to be as creative and that's the
1:15:22
creativeness right there, you know.
1:15:24
Have you ever tried infrared photography?
1:15:28
No, I've never done infrared photography.
1:15:32
I went to a art show recently and saw some and I was just so
1:15:36
amazed at at what they did. Wow, I got to look into that
1:15:40
because I've never tried that. You know, I, I specialize.
1:15:43
I love, like I said, I love my nighttime stuff.
1:15:46
Oh, that's. Beautiful.
1:15:47
Yeah. You know, and, and, and putting
1:15:50
your art flair into it is where it counts.
1:15:53
You know, I might take, you know, there there's days that I
1:15:56
take, you know, 100 pictures. Out of those 100 pictures I
1:16:00
might get 2 that are worth anything.
1:16:01
That's a cool one. I really like that one A.
1:16:06
Little little snapping turtle. What I what I see is I, what I
1:16:09
see is like holiday cards. So you can you can take these
1:16:14
pictures and you can literally use them as like holiday cards.
1:16:19
I'm thinking of a calendar. Or a calendar, yeah.
1:16:23
You know the Everglades National Park, I don't know if you if
1:16:28
they, they used one of my shots for their passport.
1:16:32
When you when you get your passport, when you go into
1:16:34
Everglades National Park, you can pick up a password picture.
1:16:39
And that's what that was. So HG, real quick in my Facebook
1:16:44
Messenger, there's a picture that MJ sent.
1:16:48
It looks like it's a like a seasonal pass or whatever.
1:16:52
That's what she was talking about.
1:16:56
People send me the stuff and I'm and I and I and I, it's, it's
1:16:58
almost like 3D printing. There's not very good
1:17:01
instructions. I, I kind of have to put two and
1:17:03
two together and, you know, be in the TBI guard.
1:17:07
That's a dangerous settlement. OK.
1:17:09
I was wondering what you meant by passports.
1:17:11
I was like, huh, I've been to a lot of national parks, so.
1:17:15
That's good to be each. Each National Park has one of
1:17:18
these for the park. OK, and I got chosen for that
1:17:23
passport picture. That's cool.
1:17:26
Yeah, it's, it's really an honor.
1:17:27
You know, working, working with the park was really, really
1:17:30
neat. You know, at the Everglades
1:17:33
National Park and Biscayne National Park, you know, of
1:17:36
course veterans get in for free when they get in there.
1:17:39
They also, if you go to the gift store, you also get like a 10%
1:17:42
off there. I don't know about all the other
1:17:45
parts. Excuse me?
1:17:47
I say you don't have to dance for it, they'll just give you
1:17:49
10%. Right.
1:17:50
Yeah, that's it, Yeah. You don't have to dance for it,
1:17:51
man. You know, I mean, last time we
1:17:53
had that happen, you know what, you know, not a good thing.
1:17:56
A lot of not a lot of good things happen there, you know?
1:18:03
These are gorgeous, man. They really are.
1:18:05
Thank you. Yeah.
1:18:07
You know, it's, it's, you know, it's funny because my wife tells
1:18:10
me all the time, you know, we'll be driving.
1:18:11
She goes, Oh my God, that would look so good on your camera.
1:18:14
And I and I look at the at the shot, I'm like, oh, honey, take
1:18:16
it with your with your phone. That's the best shot right
1:18:19
there. That is the best shot right
1:18:21
there. Yeah, you know, that's a Oh my.
1:18:25
God, that was kind of scary, but yeah.
1:18:29
That's all Turkey hunting there, you know.
1:18:32
So honestly, let me ask you this, you know, you've had a lot
1:18:36
of experience to take care of. Thank you.
1:18:39
Your wife and you've had a lot of experience, you know, and
1:18:43
the, and the service, you know, service department and being
1:18:46
police officer and stuff. What is your, what's the biggest
1:18:53
thing that you've learned? Like what's, what's your
1:18:56
greatest accomplishment that you think that you've you've learned
1:19:00
since you've met MJ and and today where you're at?
1:19:05
What like what? What?
1:19:07
What has it taught? This, this is going to sound
1:19:09
really crazy, but patience, patience is what she's actually
1:19:12
taught me because I was 100 miles a minute at all times. 100
1:19:18
miles a minute. I mean, I never.
1:19:19
Like that, that's the reason why we can't multitask.
1:19:22
Look at the definition on that picture though.
1:19:25
It almost looks like an orange or an eyeball.
1:19:28
Yeah, yeah. No, it's, it's it's pretty
1:19:31
intense. You know, I'm not looking at
1:19:33
that picture. I'm not really a big fan of of
1:19:35
full full moons and the reason why?
1:19:38
Because it looks like a pancake. Yeah.
1:19:41
Yeah, it does it really. Does, and that's me.
1:19:43
I, you know, I, I criticize my own work all the time.
1:19:45
And she says that's one of my biggest downfalls, you know, but
1:19:49
I, I love experiencing this. You know, when I was a kid, my
1:19:52
mom used to say, son, try to see as many sunsets and sunrises as
1:19:56
you can because you don't know when your last one's going to
1:19:58
be. Now what is that?
1:19:59
Is that just? It's called *.
1:20:01
Trailing OK. Star trailing is that's that's
1:20:05
about 100 and that picture there, I think it was 181
1:20:08
pictures all put into one. OK.
1:20:12
You know, I, I stack them is what I do.
1:20:15
People think that the stars are moving and it's not the stars,
1:20:17
it's us. You know, as we all know, we
1:20:20
rotate. The stars don't rotate and it.
1:20:24
Really just puts into perspective how fast the earth
1:20:28
is spinning. Absolutely, absolutely.
1:20:31
And if you know, there's some in there that that are in a big
1:20:34
swirl and that's pointing at Polaris, that's the North Star.
1:20:39
And that's just unbelievable. The, the colors and, and the
1:20:44
perception that you can get when you look at these pictures, you
1:20:48
know, when you're taking them, you know, you're sitting there
1:20:49
looking at the, the camera just going off every second.
1:20:52
It's taking a picture every one second at just shooting and
1:20:55
shooting and shooting and shooting.
1:20:58
When you think that you have enough, you stop it.
1:21:00
That one, I believe the clouds started moving in.
1:21:03
That's why I had to cut it early.
1:21:04
But most of the time I'll take up to 300 shots.
1:21:07
Wow, that's amazing. And stack them all together.
1:21:09
Yeah, You know, I mean, it takes some time and then it takes
1:21:13
skill to. There you go.
1:21:16
And you see the pink behind it. That's the royal borealis behind
1:21:20
it. Oh, wow.
1:21:21
Yeah. So I got lucky.
1:21:23
And to the left side of the picture, that's our house.
1:21:26
So I'm I'm doing everything right here from from our
1:21:29
property. I don't have to go anywhere, you
1:21:31
know. So when ioffer my services to
1:21:33
the veterans and to other people, I want to come
1:21:37
experiences. We don't have to go anywhere.
1:21:39
You come here at the comfort of my own home.
1:21:41
If you're tired, you could take a nap while you're while you're
1:21:44
while you're, you know, while your camera's working.
1:21:47
Or you could just sit there and just enjoy the night and watch
1:21:50
all the watch all the all the star star trailing going on
1:21:55
right in front of you. That's cool.
1:22:00
So obviously maybe there's a veteran watching this as we
1:22:03
speak, you know, and right, you know, he's, he's interested in
1:22:07
photography, but you know, he's, he's maybe maybe he's scared
1:22:12
because a lot of veterans, I think they're not lazy.
1:22:15
I think they're scared of, you know, they don't really know the
1:22:19
navigation. They don't know where to start.
1:22:22
You know, you're like, OK, I, I know not to go to Walmart and
1:22:26
buy a $20 camera because that that's not exactly starting to
1:22:30
somewhere, you know, but like, what would be your advice to
1:22:34
somebody that's just, you know, looking at this, doing a pingo
1:22:40
for it? My, my advice, if you're going
1:22:42
to get, if you want to get into photography, my advice is to
1:22:46
please give me a call, you know, don't be shy.
1:22:49
Send me an e-mail, give me a call, send me a text, something
1:22:52
and I will guide you the right way without spending a ton of
1:22:55
money. I mean, my camera, believe it or
1:22:58
not, it's an expensive camera, but it's not what people think
1:23:01
it is. You know, I got all my, all my
1:23:04
buddies that I shoot with back in Florida and I love the group
1:23:08
that I shoot with. They're called the Sunshine boys
1:23:10
that I hang out with. And they all have, you know,
1:23:13
they're, they're, they're just the camera bodies are all 567000
1:23:17
dollar body cameras. Mine, I have $1000 body camera
1:23:22
that does everything that they do everything.
1:23:25
The only thing that they got me beat on is how many shots per
1:23:29
second I could take versus them. They could take up to 30.
1:23:32
I take 1518 depending where where my camera's loading at,
1:23:36
you know, but the clarity is all the.
1:23:39
Videos that you take, is that depending on the person or is
1:23:42
that depending on the camera you just put?
1:23:45
Well, it depends on on the person on the eye.
1:23:48
Because once, once I cut you loose, it's up to you for you to
1:23:51
do something with it. You know, you will get all the
1:23:55
lessons from me and you will know where to start.
1:23:58
And it's it's and you have to start somewhere, you know, and
1:24:01
the best way I could think of. You.
1:24:05
If you hang out with somebody that takes pictures, you're
1:24:07
going to learn really, really fast because that's how I got
1:24:10
into this whole thing. Robert Chaplin took me
1:24:13
underneath his wing and. And by the time you know it, you
1:24:18
know, it got to the point that he had to let me go, You know,
1:24:21
he had to open up that wing. Go ahead, man.
1:24:23
Go experience it. You know, take pictures, send
1:24:25
them to me and let me see what you got going on.
1:24:27
And he would critique it down to the nitty gritty.
1:24:30
And I got pretty thick skin. So it doesn't matter to me, but
1:24:34
he would critique it to the point that, you know, you would
1:24:37
actually, if you're a soft person, you would actually cry
1:24:42
sometimes because you think you got this beautiful shot.
1:24:44
And he would go, OK, this, this, this, this, this.
1:24:47
And it just makes you a better photographer, honestly.
1:24:51
And then, you know, little by little, you start gaining that
1:24:53
confidence and boom, by the time you know it, you got that
1:24:56
beautiful, award-winning shot, you know, which is really cool
1:25:00
to have. Yeah, this is it, Ozzy.
1:25:07
I, I I've known you for quite some time.
1:25:10
Yes, Sir. And when I saw these photos,
1:25:14
this just goes to show sometimes you don't know a person well
1:25:19
enough until you kind of step out of your comfort zone and
1:25:23
kind of look at, you know, what they enjoy.
1:25:25
And like I, I didn't, I did not know this part of you, you know,
1:25:30
until MJ, you know, invited me in.
1:25:34
And you know, these, these shots and stuff, they, they truly are
1:25:38
amazing. You have a, you have a gift,
1:25:41
which you know, I'm, I'm unfortunately, our time is about
1:25:45
ready to end. But it is that time.
1:25:48
It is your time to shine. Yeah, you know, just so you guys
1:25:54
know, you know the not to back it up, but I work with a group
1:25:59
called the the Swamp Apes. Hold, hold that sounds.
1:26:02
Go ahead. We, we, we've been, for some
1:26:16
reason, we've been having some like Internet buffering, like
1:26:19
you, you press on a thing and it takes 5 minutes for it to load.
1:26:24
We apologize for that. Go ahead, Oz.
1:26:26
All right, there's a there's a group that that's back in
1:26:29
Florida. If if any of these veterans are
1:26:31
down in Florida and they want to really get and you know, that
1:26:33
are drilling going, there's a group called the Swamp Apes
1:26:37
that's on Florida. This this gentleman by the name
1:26:40
of Tom Rahill takes him out. He only takes out veterans out
1:26:44
on these Python hunts that he just won the big Python
1:26:50
challenge back in Florida. You know, but if it's incredible
1:26:56
how many veterans actually get together to do this and it's a
1:26:59
way of actually releasing whenever they need to get out
1:27:04
and do something. It's a great way for them to
1:27:06
release their their, their anxieties out with him, you
1:27:10
know, to get a hold of him. It's real
1:27:12
simpleswampapes.org.org and just send him an e-mail and he'll set
1:27:18
you right up, you know? Cool, that's amazing.
1:27:22
That is amazing and real quick to give you more of even a, a, a
1:27:28
better plug. You have an event going on in
1:27:33
the very, very near future. You want to tell us a little bit
1:27:37
about that and like is, is there, is there a cost?
1:27:42
Where is it at? You know what will?
1:27:45
What will you be teaching during that session?
1:27:48
Well, I'm, I'll be teaching. I got, I got some star trailing
1:27:53
that I'll be doing here real, real soon because the moon's
1:27:56
almost about to start coming up here at A, at a very indecent
1:27:59
hour for me. I don't like that.
1:28:02
But yeah, it's the cost for the veterans.
1:28:05
There's no cost for it. They want to come down, they
1:28:07
want to plug into me, come on down.
1:28:10
I would even donate my camera to them, you know, not to give it
1:28:13
to them, but to, for them to shoot.
1:28:15
And then they can have their pictures and they can learn.
1:28:17
And maybe that might get them a little bit further into it.
1:28:21
You know the cost is basically $99.00 for anyone that's not a
1:28:25
veteran, but if you are a veteran, I'll be more than glad
1:28:28
to put you underneath my wing. And if you're not sure about all
1:28:31
this, I'll be more than glad to show you, OK?
1:28:34
I love it. I, I, I absolutely love it.
1:28:36
You know, there, there's a, there's a while on TikTok where
1:28:41
there's this guy that he was, he was doing like Keemer pictures
1:28:45
and he was showing all these like neat pictures and like
1:28:48
showing how to do it. Like, you know, putting the, the
1:28:53
sticking the phone in the sand, like right towards the, the
1:28:57
beach as the water's like coming through, you know, and then
1:29:00
taking, you know, all, all these different, these different stand
1:29:04
things. So that's one thing that
1:29:06
intrigues me about the photography feel, is there's
1:29:11
never the same kind of picture, like there's always something
1:29:15
different. Yep, Yep, you know, real fast on
1:29:18
this it there could be. When I used to go shoot with all
1:29:22
with all the boys down there in Florida, it would be three of us
1:29:25
shooting at the same time and at the shooting at the same exact
1:29:28
thing. And all our pictures were always
1:29:31
completely different completely. There's not one picture.
1:29:35
The general idea was there, but the the details were completely
1:29:39
different. And that's what I love about
1:29:40
photography. I got my own style.
1:29:42
I got my own art that I put into it.
1:29:45
My buddy Lee Smith has his own way of doing this.
1:29:48
Oscar Lopez has his own way of doing things, you know, And
1:29:52
it's, it's really, really, really neat how we all develop
1:29:56
our own style, but we all come together at the end and put all
1:30:00
our pictures together and, and send them out to the public.
1:30:04
Awesome. Yeah.
1:30:05
Well, I as soon as I moved to Missouri, it was a completely
1:30:11
different atmosphere than I'd ever been in because I grew up
1:30:16
in southwest Oklahoma, then moved to Florida and lived there
1:30:20
for a long time. So Missouri with all the
1:30:22
mountains and just beautiful trees and just everything that's
1:30:27
just so beautiful in the architecture.
1:30:29
I bought a couple of cameras. I even bought an old camera just
1:30:33
to kind of play around with. I have no idea what I'm doing,
1:30:36
but now you've inspired me to go find somebody around here to
1:30:41
teach me. Well, you know, you have any
1:30:44
questions, you could always give me a holler.
1:30:47
You know, I mean, you get hold of me through MJ or just give me
1:30:51
a call right on my phone and I could even zoom with you and I
1:30:55
could, you know, and I could show you what what to do with,
1:30:59
with different, different opportunities.
1:31:01
I'll be more than glad to teach ya.
1:31:02
And I'd I'd love to see the progression on people and tell
1:31:05
you truth. My high is when a person takes
1:31:08
one of my one of my students takes a picture is bringing it
1:31:13
to life, like bringing it to life.
1:31:15
You print it when you hang on the wall, it just becomes boom,
1:31:19
there it is there to go. You know, you're like, wow, that
1:31:23
talking around inspiration, that inspiration.
1:31:26
Yeah. Yeah.
1:31:28
Well, I may hit you up on that. You know, and I'll tell you
1:31:32
what, it sounds like MBR might have another outlet coming up
1:31:36
like next year or whatever. Maybe we need a maybe we need a
1:31:39
photography server to where, you know, we have a place where
1:31:44
veterans can come together, put their pictures together, you
1:31:47
know, learn stuff. Because I'm sure that there's a
1:31:51
veteran out there that maybe they're not he man, or maybe
1:31:56
they're not, you know, science man or, you know, good at their
1:32:00
hands, but they're good with their eye.
1:32:02
So photography could definitely be an outlet, something that we
1:32:07
might have to look into. Ozzy, you know, I kind of wish
1:32:12
we had a little bit more time because I find it fascinating to
1:32:15
talk to you. You've supported and helped MBR
1:32:19
you and MJ for, for for many years.
1:32:23
And I just want to say thank you for everything that you guys
1:32:28
have done and thank you for you guys, what you continually
1:32:33
doing. And and you know, my my friend
1:32:38
Tim, he's he's he's tuning in. And you know, it was it was very
1:32:44
interesting Tuesday during the Tracer show that I asked Tracer.
1:32:50
I'm like, hey, and Tim, do you know who he is?
1:32:53
And both her and Amber were like, I don't know.
1:32:56
I'm like, oh, you know, we, we, we helped him and we helped him
1:33:01
in Florida, you know, get, get his stepping stone, getting him
1:33:05
back up. And like, I mean, now he's doing
1:33:08
amazing. Last time I heard he, he lost 25
1:33:11
lbs, which, you know, I don't know if that's a good thing or
1:33:14
not because you got to go buy a new wardrobe, you know, so I
1:33:18
don't know about that. But Tim is a perfect example of,
1:33:24
you know, we're not just here broadcasting.
1:33:28
You know, when you donate to MBR, you're, you're, you're
1:33:31
helping, you're helping these veterans.
1:33:34
Absolutely. Being heard preventative action,
1:33:38
you know, we talk about all the time.
1:33:40
Hey, you know, we, you know, we put Facebook posts on there.
1:33:44
Hey, you know, if, if you're, if you're in trouble, you know,
1:33:47
9988, I, I guarantee you somebody is going to listen to a
1:33:53
broadcast before they read into something and then and then call
1:33:58
the 9AA because I've learned with my service dog, people
1:34:02
don't know how to read. So take it as you will.
1:34:06
Ozzy, thank you so much for being.
1:34:07
With us, I really appreciate you.
1:34:10
Thank you for all your services and to all the veterans out
1:34:12
there, honestly. We appreciate it.
1:34:14
Thank you, Ozzy. Ladies and gentlemen, once
1:34:17
again, Ozzy Gonzalez. I say that pronounce it because
1:34:24
I, I know I pronounced that right.
1:34:27
Photography. If you are in need of a
1:34:30
photographer or you're in the Pennsylvania area, reach out.
1:34:36
He, he can do cars, he can do calendars, he can do, he can do
1:34:41
spots. And not only are you helping a
1:34:43
small business, but you're also helping a veteran Co owned
1:34:49
business as well. Ozzie, thank you so much for
1:34:52
being. Here.
1:34:52
Thank you guys. Thank you for having me.
1:34:54
Thank you. All right, Well, everybody else,
1:34:59
you know, before we before we go to tribute to troops like this
1:35:05
is rings true. Sometimes you sometimes you know
1:35:09
somebody, but you don't really know them.
1:35:11
Like when I saw these pictures, I was mesmerized.
1:35:16
Like, I mean, there's some some amazing pictures and I'm not,
1:35:20
I'm, I'm not a nature person, you know, that Amber, I, I don't
1:35:23
care about mountains and, and, and skies and stuff like that.
1:35:26
But his, his, his pictures made me pause the other day when I
1:35:32
was getting ready to like make this website, you know?
1:35:35
And yeah, that's just that that that takes a skill that takes.
1:35:41
A skill No, it's beautiful, beautiful work I, I was
1:35:45
extremely impressed and all I could think about was there's
1:35:49
these fields out here around me that during the spring it's just
1:35:54
all purple, purple flowers in the field and purple flowers on
1:35:58
the trees and just these beautiful rows and rows of
1:36:03
fields. And I just want to capture that.
1:36:05
But I want to capture it, you know, it's what it really is.
1:36:11
And when I saw his photography, I was like, oh, it is possible.
1:36:16
It's possible to capture that. So.
1:36:20
Well, I know that next time MJ comes and visits and and Ozzy is
1:36:25
with her, I'm going to make sure that we, we utilize the skills
1:36:30
because MBR could definitely need some portraits.
1:36:33
But but for everybody else, we're going to go on our Tribute
1:36:38
to Troops. And when we come back from the
1:36:40
Tribute to Troops, well, we've got a brand new segment called
1:36:45
The Story behind it. You're going to like this one.
1:36:48
So whatever you do, stay with us.
1:36:49
Don't go away. You're listening to the show
1:36:51
that highlights all the nonprofit programs out there
1:36:54
beyond the VA since 2005, I don't know, 2018, we'll say
1:37:02
2018. You're listening to the H train
1:37:04
show on the station that's just being heard.
1:37:07
Stay with us. Detail attention.
1:37:17
First call. The service member's name is
1:37:19
called out loud in the context of a unit.
1:37:22
This is meant to ensure all are present and accounted for.
1:37:26
Second call. The name is called out again
1:37:29
louder to confirm that the service member is indeed absent.
1:37:33
Third call. The name is called out for a
1:37:36
final time, followed by a statement indicating that the
1:37:39
service member is not present and accounted for, signifying
1:37:42
their death. The final roll call serves as a
1:37:45
symbolic gesture to respect and remember their service.
1:37:54
Sir, I do. I do not tell the story.
1:37:56
Well, you got You tell. You tell the people what you can
1:37:59
do here. You tell them how my troopers
1:38:01
died. Hey everyone, thank you for
1:38:29
tuning in to NBR today as we pay tribute to United States Navy
1:38:33
Senior Chief Cryptologic Technician Shannon M Kent, age
1:38:37
35, of Pine Plains, NY. Kent was born on May 11th, 1983
1:38:42
in Oswego, NY to Stephen Smith and Mary Fulber Smith. made-up
1:38:46
of fine plains, Shannon grew up in a deeply service oriented
1:38:50
family. Her father, Stephen Smith
1:38:52
dedicated his life to law enforcement and continues to
1:38:55
serve as a Colonel in the New York State Police Department.
1:38:58
Her uncle, Benny Rover is a retired FB and Y firefighter.
1:39:03
Shannon's commitment to service was woven into her upbringing,
1:39:07
and the September 11th attacks became the defining moment that
1:39:10
inspired her to enlisting the moment.
1:39:12
Shannon entered the Navy on December 11th, 2003, determined
1:39:16
to serve her country at the highest level.
1:39:19
She deployed multiple times to Iraq and Afghanistan, earning A
1:39:22
reputation for brilliance, grit, and unwavering dedication.
1:39:26
In 2007, she volunteered for her first deployment, supporting
1:39:30
Celtine Tent in Blaat, Iraq. The work there earned her
1:39:34
recommendation, citing her direct role in the capture of
1:39:37
hundreds of enemy fibers. She later joined Cryptology
1:39:42
Warfare Activity 66, based at Fort George G Meade, Maryland,
1:39:47
when the command was established in 2018.
1:39:50
On January 16th, 2019, while conducting operations in Manvij,
1:39:55
Syria, Kent was killed in a suicide bombing attack along
1:39:59
with three other people. Shannon became the first US
1:40:03
female service member killed in combat against ISIS since the
1:40:06
coalition began its operations in 2014.
1:40:09
Her work in cryptologic warfare and intelligence was
1:40:12
exceptional. Shannon was recognized
1:40:15
repeatedly for her impact, earning 2 Joint Service
1:40:18
Commendation Medals, Navy Marine Corps Commendation Medal, Army
1:40:22
Commendation Medal, Joint Service Achievement Medal, Iraq
1:40:26
Campaign Medal, and Sea Service Deployment Medal.
1:40:29
She was also a graduate of the Defense Language Institute in
1:40:34
Monterey, CA, a testament to her intellect and capability in high
1:40:39
stakes intelligence operations. She was fluent in Spanish,
1:40:43
French, Portuguese, and six dialects of Arabic.
1:40:47
Her commanding officer described her as a rock star and an
1:40:50
outstanding leader, and a chief Petty Officer whose drive and
1:40:54
tenacity were infectious. In recognition of her service
1:40:58
and sacrifice, the Navy posthumously promoted her to
1:41:02
Senior Chief Petty Officer. Shannon is survived by her
1:41:06
husband, Joseph Kent, a retired U.S.
1:41:09
Army Special Forces soldier, and their two young sons, Coulter
1:41:14
and Josh, her parents, and her brothers and sisters and moms.
1:41:18
We here at MBR would like to thank you, Senior Chief Petty
1:41:22
Officer Shannon and Kent, for your service and dedication to
1:41:26
our country. You'll leave a legacy of love
1:41:29
and courage. Our prayers are with your
1:41:31
family, friends and those who served alongside you.
1:41:35
You are truly missed. Every set back is just a setup
1:46:00
for a comeback. Keep cracking forward. 90% of
1:46:03
what we worry about in future never happens.
1:46:06
Whenever things get rough or it feels like you're at the edge,
1:46:10
remember this. Storms pass.
1:46:14
Tough times don't last, but tough people do.
1:46:24
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back.
1:46:27
You listen to the show, the highlights, all the nonprofit
1:46:29
programs out there beyond the VA.
1:46:31
You're listening to the H Train show.
1:46:34
And once again, our mission here is to show the trends and all
1:46:38
the men and women in uniform all over the world, all the programs
1:46:42
that are out there beyond the VA.
1:46:45
We have a brand new segment Amber, because, you know, it
1:46:51
just wasn't the same without you, you know, doing the factory
1:46:56
cap and you know, and you know, it's it's sometimes it's kind of
1:47:01
hard finding those factory caps. You know, you got to wait for
1:47:04
that video. But one thing that isn't hard
1:47:08
is, you know, you can pick anything.
1:47:11
You can pick a Doctor Pepper can, you can pick up a
1:47:16
cigarette, you can pick up an MRE, and there's always, that's
1:47:22
our new segment. There's always a story behind
1:47:26
it. In the field wasn't always easy.
1:47:39
They needed a meal ready to eat anywhere.
1:47:42
In 1981, the MRE was born. Today fuels readiness wherever
1:47:46
the mission leads. So the story behind it, why do
1:47:51
we call it an MRE? OK, All right, everybody.
1:47:55
It's it's time for a brand new segment here on the 8th Train
1:47:58
show. We're calling us the story
1:48:00
behind it. The idea is pretty simple.
1:48:04
We see things every single day and we use them, we eat them, we
1:48:07
carry them. Sometimes we don't give them a
1:48:10
second thought. But almost everything has a
1:48:13
story behind it. And today, we're starting with
1:48:17
something. Just about every restaurant
1:48:20
knows the MRE. Now, if you've served in the
1:48:23
military, I probably don't even have to explain what one of
1:48:28
these are. But here, right here is my
1:48:33
question. Why the hell do we call it an
1:48:36
MRE? Well, MRE stands for Male Ready
1:48:42
to eat. So straightforward, right?
1:48:45
But see, the MRE wasn't always what American troops carried
1:48:50
into the field. Long before today's plastic
1:48:53
pouches, American troops were eating all kinds of field
1:48:59
rations. During the World War Two, you
1:49:03
have things like K rations and C rations.
1:49:08
Later came the meal combat individual commonly associated
1:49:14
with the old C rations, and those meals did their job.
1:49:19
But there was a problem. Cans are heavy.
1:49:24
Think about that being a soldier carrying your weapon,
1:49:27
ammunition, water, and everything else you need, and
1:49:30
then adding several cans of food.
1:49:33
The military needed something lighter, easier to transport,
1:49:38
and capable of surviving some serious rough conditions.
1:49:43
And that's where the idea of the MRE really starts taking shape.
1:49:48
Development work on what became the MRE was underway by 1970.
1:49:55
By 75, they have been officially tight classified.
1:49:59
Full scale production began in 1980, and the first production
1:50:05
of MRE started reaching troops in 1983.
1:50:09
Instead of relying on those heavy cans, the foods could be
1:50:13
sealed inside lightweight, flexible pouches.
1:50:17
But here's something else that's interesting.
1:50:19
Those things had to survive conditions.
1:50:23
Your lunch at home never to worry about.
1:50:28
Yeah, they had to have a long shelf life.
1:50:32
They had to survive extreme temperatures.
1:50:35
They had to be transportable. They had to be airdropped.
1:50:41
And most importantly, they had to provide enough nutrition to
1:50:46
keep somebody's operating in the field.
1:50:49
Now there's one other little problem.
1:50:52
Soldiers actually have to want to eat the damn things.
1:50:58
And anybody who's eaten some of those Mres knows that.
1:51:02
Apparently, that part took a little longer to figure out.
1:51:07
In fact, troops have come up with plenty of their own
1:51:11
meanings for MRE over the years. You've probably heard of them
1:51:16
meals rejected by everyone. Or maybe you'll heard some
1:51:20
version that probably is better off not saying on the radio.
1:51:25
But here's where the story gets really interesting.
1:51:28
During Desert Shield and Desert Storm, troops were weren't
1:51:33
exactly given the Mr. ES Five star reviews.
1:51:36
Now the Army got the message. And according to the Army Combat
1:51:40
Feeding Directive, after Desert Storm General Colin Powell
1:51:44
summoned officials involved with combat feeding to the Pentagon.
1:51:49
He held up an MRE and essentially gave them a very
1:51:52
simple mission fix it. And they did.
1:51:57
The military started a continuous improvement program.
1:52:00
Eventually the number of menus went from 12 to 24.
1:52:04
More variety was introduced. Vegetarian options came along.
1:52:07
Commercial food products started showing up.
1:52:10
And then came out the greatest invention ever given to a hungry
1:52:14
soldier? The flameless ration heater.
1:52:18
You put a little water in there and chemical reaction generates
1:52:23
enough heat to warm your entree. No fire, no stove, no microwave.
1:52:30
Just when did that start? And, and a lot of people, they
1:52:34
use urine instead of water. Just just just letting you know,
1:52:38
just chemistry and the MRE kept evolving.
1:52:41
Think about how far we've come. At one point, we're talking
1:52:46
about soldiers carrying canned rations.
1:52:49
Today, there's a pizza MRE. Believe it or not, making
1:52:53
shelves stable pizza was actually a serious scientific
1:52:58
challenge, because the army needed the bread, the sauce, the
1:53:02
cheese and pepperoni to survive together inside a package for
1:53:05
years without refrigeration. So the next time you see that
1:53:10
brown plastic bag or you're sitting there trying to train
1:53:14
somebody, you're entree for their snacks, jalapeno cheese,
1:53:19
it's a sensitive item. Just just just giving you a tip.
1:53:22
Remember, you're holding decades of military history, food
1:53:26
science, engineering, and lessons learned from generation
1:53:31
of American service. What was your favorite thing in
1:53:36
the Emory? Mine, I would say chili Mac.
1:53:41
And the reason why I, I like the chili Mac is because I tend to
1:53:47
like things that I could eat cold.
1:53:50
I would eat cold shit in the breakfast and then I would warm
1:53:55
it up for dinner because usually we have, you know, some kind of
1:54:00
a ration or whatever for lunch or, you know, either way, they'd
1:54:05
swap it either hot for lunch or hot for dinner.
1:54:09
But yeah, I hate the peanut butter.
1:54:12
And peanut butter came in everything, Everything.
1:54:15
Oh. I don't like peanut butter
1:54:17
either. And, and for the soldiers out
1:54:19
there that don't know, that chewing gum, yeah, that chewing
1:54:22
gum. There's a reason why you chew
1:54:25
that gum after the MRA. It has ex lax in it.
1:54:29
Just just so you guys know OK it.
1:54:32
Does really? It does it, it's, it's meant to
1:54:35
clean you out once you get done because I believe the MRE is
1:54:39
like 2000 or 3000 calories. It, it's, it's enough to fill
1:54:46
you, empower you for the whole day.
1:54:49
Do we do that? No, no, no.
1:54:51
What typically happens is we call a rat screwing and we, we,
1:54:56
we RIP up the MRE, we take the goods out and then we throw the
1:55:01
other crap away. Kind of like charms.
1:55:04
Don't, if you're a soldier, don't, don't get caught eating
1:55:07
charms 'cause when you eat charms, it's supposed to rain
1:55:10
and you'll get your butt kicked. So.
1:55:12
Wait, what are you talking about?
1:55:14
Eat charms. Yeah, so in Mres there's these
1:55:17
candy charms. Oh, you're not supposed to eat
1:55:21
those because whenever you eat the the myth is it's going to
1:55:25
rain when you eat charms. Oh, I never heard that before.
1:55:29
Yeah. So my favorite thing was the
1:55:32
oatmeal bars. Oatmeals bars, good pound cake.
1:55:40
I love pound cake. Lemon pound cake.
1:55:43
I love pound cake. My cousin's husband opened up
1:55:46
for Afroman this last weekend. Well, that's interesting.
1:55:53
OK. Sorry, you said pound cake, so I
1:55:56
was just. That brought up a pulley
1:56:01
splatter. Boy, that's that's funny.
1:56:05
But yeah, ladies and gentlemen, you know, that is the story, the
1:56:09
final thoughts. We're going to go into the final
1:56:14
thought time. At Project ML, our mission is
1:56:28
simple, to give motorcycles to veterans who need the kind of
1:56:31
peace and freedom that only a ride can give.
1:56:34
We sponsor charity events and rides to generate donations on
1:56:37
the acquisition of the likes. While direct donations make up
1:56:40
the rights, we seek to provide a little motorcycle healing to
1:56:43
capable vets. And if you know a veteran or
1:56:47
you're a veteran yourself, you can go to their website and
1:56:51
nominate for a free motorcycle. They give one every single year.
1:56:57
Before I forget, next week we have Brianna from every Journey,
1:57:02
Joyful One. She will be in the studio doing
1:57:07
the interview talking about what they're doing for the
1:57:11
Westminster community and what they're doing for veterans.
1:57:15
And, you know, that's that time. Oh, shoot, HG, you forgot to
1:57:21
remind me. Your, your, your sports report.
1:57:24
Oh. It's all right.
1:57:27
You give, give us your give us your sports report real quick.
1:57:30
We, we, we can extend it a little bit.
1:57:33
Yeah, we're. OK.
1:57:34
All right, I'll give you the the real quick.
1:57:36
OK. So we'll start in the WNBA.
1:57:39
The Minnesota Lynx and Las Vegas Aces are the first two teams to
1:57:43
secure a post season berth. 2 teams that they're real close to
1:57:48
securing another post season berth as well.
1:57:50
The Valkyries with their league leading defense only allowing 77
1:57:54
points per game two nights ago got a stifling victory over the
1:57:59
Chicago Sky, only allowing 2 Sky players to score in double
1:58:03
digits in the 91 to 71 route. Then the Atlanta Dream, another
1:58:08
playoff hopeful that could secure his position soon, was
1:58:12
led by their backcourt duo of Alicia Graham, Ryan Howard, each
1:58:16
scoring 29 and combining for 9 made threes as Atlanta
1:58:21
dismantled Connecticut one O 4 to 69.
1:58:25
The MLB brought back the Field of Dream games for the first
1:58:28
time in four years as the Phillies destroyed the Twins 7
1:58:34
to 1. Kyle Schwarber blasted two home
1:58:37
runs into the cornfields of Iowa, bringing his league
1:58:41
leading total to 37. A very interesting dispute
1:58:47
between Jayden Daniels and the the LSU.
1:58:52
They he sent them a cease and desist leather.
1:58:54
They have an ongoing dispute. He's not happy that they're
1:58:57
allowing sophomore quarterback DJ Pickett to wear his old
1:59:01
number. 5A Little military Sports News Army has just
1:59:06
extended their second most winningest coach and program
1:59:10
history. Jeff Munkin inked a new five
1:59:13
year deal to stay at West Point. He's been 89 and 63 in his
1:59:18
career at the Black Knights. He is 6 and four against Navy in
1:59:22
their last 10 matchups and LED the Black Knights to their first
1:59:25
ever 12 win season back in 2024. A number one overall pick for
1:59:32
Nanda Mendoza made his NFL debut last night against Arizona
1:59:36
Cardinals. He went 10 for 16 with 97 yards
1:59:40
and the touchdown does look like Kirk Cousins will probably be
1:59:43
the the veteran quarterback will be the star of the though They
1:59:46
had them play one drive. He was absolutely phenomenal on
1:59:50
that one drive though, 5 or 6 or 50 yards and a touchdown to open
1:59:53
the game. And we also saw third overall
1:59:57
pick Jeremiah Love make his debut, put up 58 yards on 11
2:00:01
carries, but showed off some of that elite athleticism that made
2:00:04
him a standout in the Heisman candidate at another day of
2:00:07
hurtling a defender on his longest run of the night.
2:00:11
That's your sports report. Week thank you so much, HG.
2:00:16
You know one thing that I think we all learned today was never
2:00:23
judge a book by its cover. Get to know the person.
2:00:26
There's things that you'll you'll find out that you never
2:00:30
knew. So I kind of, I can't share what
2:00:34
we all learned today. And before we leave, ladies and
2:00:36
gentlemen, Beaker has a few words to say to you.
2:00:39
Stay smart, stay safe, be legendary.
2:00:42
Know before you go don't drink and drive and don't drive
2:00:46
distracted there we go so Joan, that is your weekend safety
2:00:52
breath. We are out of here.
2:00:55
We want to say thank you so much to not only Amber for showing
2:00:59
up, we want to thank you HG for being behind the screen and
2:01:04
helping us. Without you, we couldn't do
2:01:06
this. We want to thank Ozzy for coming
2:01:09
on and showing us his gift and his skill.
2:01:13
And we want to thank you everybody that's listening and
2:01:17
everybody's viewing because we know you have a choice of who
2:01:19
you in the morning and you gave us 5 minutes and we really
2:01:24
appreciate that. So from everybody here at MBR,
2:01:28
we're here to remind you we're not here for us, we're here for
2:01:34
you. We all said have a great one
2:01:40
everybody. Bye.
2:01:40
Bye, have a blessed week. Hi, I'm Beaker with Military
2:01:45
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