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Tracer Rounds with Army Veteran Lino Roldan · Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk

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you are on target. MBR giving veterans a voice.
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And welcome back to Teresa Rounds.
1:10
And you're on military broadcast radio, where we're giving
1:12
veterans a voice. And tonight's guest is Army
1:16
veteran Lano Roldon. Roldon, if I say it right, Yeah,
1:22
welcome. You've got a very storied past.
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I was reading a little bit about your bio and I have to tell you
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that I was like, man, this guy has been and everywhere.
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So we are so interested to hear more.
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So can you tell us a little bit? I know I already said you were
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an Army veteran, but can you tell us why you joined and and
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maybe how old you were when you joined and just some highlights
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of your career? OK, first, thank you for having
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me on, having been on the show. My name is Lino Rodan.
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My radio name is Taino. I'm from Puerto Rico.
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I, I was drafted. I was drafted.
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I was coming from high schools in one day, one day in 1969,
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December 1969, and I saw, I saw this guy.
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I remember there was a huge Dodge car that the one that
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recruiters used back then was big cars.
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And I didn't know what the GS mean on the, on the plates.
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Now I do, but back then I didn't know anything I said and I, I
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heard my mom argue with him and saying you're not taking him in
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Christmas, blah, blah, blah. I mean, she was, she was mad.
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So I, I was 17, yeah, 17 1/2. And when I got the, the letter
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and then I, I went in there and I asked him what's what's going
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on? And he, he introduced himself.
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I'm a, I'm a, I'm a recruiter. You you've been you've been
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selected for the draft and I was getting that was about a month
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to be 18 years old around that remember exactly.
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But anyway, I say yeah, well, I, I no one asked me.
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Do you want to join? Do you want what are you?
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No, no, nothing. Just just my mom say my mom say
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you're not going to be a nut. You're not taking him to
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Vietnam. I didn't know what Vietnam was
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like. I don't know anyone about that.
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So anyway, I got the letter, but I never got drafted officially
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drafted because I coming from a from a military family.
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My my uncle was a POW in Korea for five years.
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My dad was in the army. My uncles were the whole Korean
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Another uncle there was a Vietnam and they were they were
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Korean soldiers, all of them. So I used I just follow the
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steps. You know, when I talked to my
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uncle one day and on the lake fishing will he was he was
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telling me things that veterans tell all the veteran.
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I wasn't a veteran yet, but he told me all that because I was,
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you know, I was with him all the time.
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So that he kind of inspired me to to say, yeah, instead of the
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draft, I'm going to go ahead and join.
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So I, I, I, it was ARA or USI switched from US to RA, you
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know, volunteer, which added another year.
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So I joined for three years from Puerto Rico.
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I took the initial step in for, for, for Brooks in Puerto Rico,
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which is now in the area of Fort Buchanan.
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And then they gave me a little bit of shopping bag and a little
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sandwich and they sent me to Fort Jackson, SC Never been in
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the state. That was my first visit to the
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state. I came and I remember I stopped
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in Miami, in Miami to for Jackson, SC and I got in there
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in winter snow. It was snowing.
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And I said, well, my English was really rough, but I they put me
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on fire guard back. They was shoveling charcoal, you
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know, coal, coal really it was big mouth and a coal.
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I go there and put him on the to keep every everyone warm in
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there. So I think that was my first
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fire guard. We gone fire guard.
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So I took basic in Fort Jackson and then from Fort Jackson I
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went to Fort Benning, GA for AIT, the infantry and then
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airborne. And when the, the drill side,
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you know, and we call him the Black Cat, the airborne
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instructor, they were issuing orders to, to the, to us, you
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know, so and so Germany, Korea. And when they say PSC, I, I came
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in as a PSC because I, I, I did good in the test and I did good
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in the PT test. And then he said, PC roll down
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you, you got, you going to RBNI didn't even know what RBS stands
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for. And you look at me, he said,
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don't look at me like that. You going to be a nun.
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That's Republic of Vietnam. So I said, wow, I didn't even
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tell my mom when I got a chance to call, I went, I went back
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home and leave before. So it's going to be a nun.
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So I told her, well, obviously she started crying.
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But you know, my dad told, hey, you know, it's OK, we all went
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to war. So it's just another war.
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You know, he'll be back. And I say, yeah, I'll be back.
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And I went, I flew to Vietnam. And when I flew to Vietnam, they
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I got in Vietnam at night time and it was kind of nice because
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in Vietnam night time was what we're calling.
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They sent me to the the border, Cambodia border, a camp, base
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camp called Tainan with a 25th infantry.
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And then my welcome there was rocket fires another night.
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I didn't even have my weapon yet.
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So I, I just jumped in the in the fox of there until I stayed
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there until for a couple hours, but I got a bad reaction.
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Give me time to adjust and say I I don't have time to to waste.
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I adjusted this and and go on. So I I I started the in tanin.
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I stayed there the whole year in Tanin, and then we went out to
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different places, you know how in the field duties and all
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that. And one thing that we did on the
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weekend, I remember I went to to an orphan.
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It was an orphan in the village and across from that base camp.
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We, a group of us, always go there together around around
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noon to bring a cookie candy to the orphans.
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And it was, it was well protected by the Vietnamese Army
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and by U.S. Army.
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But it's very close to the across the street.
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You gotta walk in there. And it was good.
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And then after that when I got ready to redeploy back, I came
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to Fort Campbell, KY with the 173rd Airborne Brigade.
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They deactivated in full campus and they, they, they attached me
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to the one O first i.e. TSI left the Army and said at
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the M71, I went back to Puerto Rico.
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I went to school, I used my GI Bill, I went to school for a
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Tuland I maker school. And and then one day I was
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already graduate from the school and everything.
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It was a three-year school. And I, I asked, I just, I saw
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the recruiter. I just, hey, I asked him what do
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I need to do to go back? And he said give me your social
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and I here's the sources number, Social Security number.
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And he said, you want to go now? You want to leave now, tomorrow.
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I said no, I was already married and I got two kids.
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So I said give me, give me some time.
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He gave me like I think he gave me like a month, you know,
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prepare myself. And then I came back to to the
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Army again and I came to for Leno with Missouri, they call it
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a Minutemen training, two weeks training, you know, to practice
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16, all that and PT test. I stay.
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I was in shape, very I was being in shape like that.
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And then I had to repeat infantry and airborne again.
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And then and for Benin again, I got orders to Italy, which it
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was. It was great.
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I got sent to Italy where I stayed for six years in Italy,
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in, in Vicenza in the northern part, and then in the South, in
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Ken Darby near the Pisa Tower. And then, yeah, being being
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Hispanic, I learned Italian very fast.
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Then I took some advanced courses with the Maryland
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University on post. You know that they have a, they
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have a college on post. You take classes at night.
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And then I became a translator for Italian and I love it so
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much. So I, I, I keep standing there
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with 10, six years and we love it.
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My wife love it there. My kids love it.
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And then from there we just keep moving with PCs.
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We have money and duty station to Fort Seward, Georgia and then
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Fort Polk, LA. Back then I was no longer
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airborne. So I, I switched my, my military
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occupation, the MOS for chemical defense.
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So I went from I went to Fort Polk and Fort Polk I went back
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to, I went to Germany, which I stayed six years in there.
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So I did overseas. I did 12 years almost
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back-to-back. And then from, from, from
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Germany, I was in, I was in a combat engineer unit.
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I deploy to to Desert Shield Desert Storm.
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It was we deployed very early. We deployed in October
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19/8/1990. It wasn't even nothing
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mentioned, but been in Germany. This we were like an advanced
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team tight. I was in the call individual
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deployment just myself. No, my unit deactivated and I I
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went up there by myself. I said chemical Recon, NCO non
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commissioned officer and with 77 Corps, 7 Chemical Corps, in, in,
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in, in, in Saudi. And then we went to Kuwait and
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from there I came back to Germany and they say you got
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orders to 4 Seal Oklahoma. I said, where's Oklahoma,
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where's 4 seal 'cause I always been in, in station in the East
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Coast. And they say, they say, so you
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go into a desert, 4 seal, they take a picture of Oklahoma like
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wow. And then I say I was already a
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career sold. I got six years left.
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So I say I'll go. And then I called DA, you know
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my friend say, hey, can you send me to Korea instead of four
12:13
seal, I say, no, you go in there as an instructor.
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So that's a six month, six years tour.
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So it was great. I love it for two reasons.
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We, we came and I was in the brigade training with the
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teaching the, the new recruits about chemical defense.
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And also I at the same time I enrolled in college and I was, I
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was actually full time at the same time the six years that I
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was there. And I did the four year college
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when I was in active duty. And then I retired in 1995, same
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day, June 1st, same time. I, I graded the next week after
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that. I got away from college with a
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concentration in sociology and that's when, when I was in
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fourth Seal the I mean back to the all the places that I've
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been. I love all of that really.
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I, I love, I love the Army. I still do because I volunteer,
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but I love the the old Army type.
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It was so close the camel area between especially Vietnam
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Veterans and we we stay in Oklahoma and we are now from 4th
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year. We move northeast to Tulsa, OK
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and we are actually Oakies Oakies for live now we're not
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moving here. And then I told my wife my next
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PCs is going to be to wherever the nearest PA cemetery because
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I'm not moving anymore. So I, we are, we are here in
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northeast in Tulsa, in South Tulsa, OK and in a city called
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Jinx. It's right next.
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It's part of Tulsa County and I love, I love it here.
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When I was in Lawton, the Fort Seal I that's what I was in, in
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Italy. I was, I started DJing in Italy
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and then in Germany and every place I go I work for MWR as a
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DJ in the in the community clubs.
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So I came with a good resume and then came to Fort Seal.
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And while I was still in the Army in 91, I went to all the
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radio station there. There's a lot of here, but most
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of them are country. They had top 40s and all that,
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all these and all that contemporary music.
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And I asked, hey, I have experience.
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I had the music. I wanted to do a show on the
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radio and Spanish, Spanish music show.
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The first time they, everybody's telling me we're not interested
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in Spanish music. So I'm, I'm a firm believer that
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this door is closed. You got to find a way in.
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So I always remembered that that that that that thought that was
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given to me in Vietnam by what an officer when he say goodbye
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to me, say eliminate no and impossible from your vocabulary
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and your door is closed. Find a way in.
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There's a way in. So I keep asking and then I went
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around the business and I say, if you, if I do a radio show,
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will you sponsors it? A lot of them say, yes, I have
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about 10 or more sponsors, no radio show.
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So I went back to the radios and then one radio station, it was
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AM. They say, yeah, let's do it.
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And I say I'm going to bring all the sponsor with me.
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And I did. And then, but my, my, my goal
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was an FM station. I think three years, three years
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AM. And then I moved to FM and I did
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18 years on the FM. So I was, I was the program
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director for the Spanish show and the host.
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And it was not only not only music, I did a lot of cultural
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things, historical things for every Hispanic country
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celebration type, you know, like Cinco de Mayo, all this stuff.
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So I was educating the public on that doing three years and that
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which I love, I still love it. And, and then after that, I
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remember my friend, he was in college, he would, he was
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studying computer programming. And he say, let's do this on
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the, on the, on the Internet. There was no Internet before
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that. It was Myspace, Myspace, we got
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a, we this song, we bought a tuner, a radio tuner.
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And we look at at home and my wife at exactly at 10 AM, she
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flipped the switch and the radio came through Myspace and people
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were listening to it. And then, yeah, after that the
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Internet came in jumping right away.
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And I think it was like 2006 when I, when we got into the
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Internet, you know, my first website was a very, very poor
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one. But if it was done quickly and
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then people would listen. We got a large audience and
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people were listening in Korea, in bases in Korea, people were
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listening. So in Europe, all over, wherever
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there was a person that knew that I was doing it, they
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connected from whatever they were either deployed or in
17:30
different places. And I remembered in Korea, in a
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large group of Puerto Rican soldiers, they would listen all
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the time. So I what I did, I, I knew them.
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I called their wife and I put him on the air and they would
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listen to, you know, saying, yeah, hi, all that.
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I think that they brought tears to my wife and I really, and
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some of them. And then everyone was doing
17:55
that. People in Germany and even when
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they went when the war broke up in in Iraq and all that, there
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was people in Baghdad. There was the they are musicians
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now and they're one of them. The first song it was it's the
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one in office that retired now. His first song was the route to
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the road to Baghdad. That was first son.
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I played for him and now we're good friends and we played his
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music all the time. But that was the interesting
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thing about that on the on that on that particular while I was
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doing when I was in in the Army, I volunteered to the Red Cross
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and then I took training as AI became an instructor for CPRAED
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first aid disaster services. They call the reaction, the
18:42
reaction team. There's a fire.
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We go there and assist and and then during during that time
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they opened a center in four SEAL.
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There's armed forces emergency center in in the military base
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where we send message that we down rain to the command deploy
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regarding the death in the family or or illness or
19:04
emergency that to bring the soldiers back.
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We were in charge of that. And I, I retired from that pay
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job and Red Cross as a senior caseworker and a translator for
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Spanish, Italian. I translate everything.
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One thing I learned is that when you got an accent, you can
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learn, you can catch other country, other people from other
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country try and they're broken English.
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And I, I translated few times as people coming from calling from
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Europe, from France, from Africa for the soul that was in the
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Army. So I, I really love that's one,
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that was one job that I love. And then after I retired from
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that, I went to back to the Army as a civilian working in one of
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the brigade in Fort Siegel as a family readiness coordinator.
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They used to have that program. So I I was the brigade
19:58
coordinator and. I have four other under my
20:02
supervision. That was a job that I love too,
20:05
because it was contact with people and I love people.
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That's what I studied, study sociologists.
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I just love talk. I just love talk to people
20:14
everywhere. And I am right now, I'm doing my
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own radio show, it's called Visa Tropical Tropical Breeze.
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I play salsa music, tropical music, including Latin jazz and
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cumbias and boleros, you know, slow music.
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I play that. I play that every day.
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I go live every day. I, I volunteer at the local VA
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in, in Tulsa. I've been there almost 3, almost
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four years now as a volunteer. We held all the veteran I belong
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to. They got me in a program that's
20:49
called CCC is Compassionate Communication Corps, in which
20:54
they assign a veteran with PTSD or he lives in insulated in the
20:59
woods in the country and we call him and talk to him just normal
21:06
veteran to veteran. And the one I have is a Vietnam
21:10
veteran. So we talk with the week talk
21:13
and we talk things that we don't talk to other people.
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We talk things. He loves fishing.
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We talk about things. So we spend like an hour talking
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and that I do that every every week.
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I, I call him and it's a great, it's a great opportunity to
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contact them. And still, it's still volunteer
21:30
with the Red Cross. And last Sunday I did ACPR class
21:34
in our church. So it's it's that type of thing
21:37
that I do and I love. I will always love that when I
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do. Yeah.
21:41
You are pretty busy and you keep service in the forefront.
21:46
It seems like, you know, you never really took off the
21:49
uniform because you're still serving community, the veteran
21:53
community and the community at large by, you know, helping do
21:56
different things. So what inspired you to start
22:01
the radio station? Why did you want to DJ?
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What did you just love music or why?
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Did you start? I love, I love music since I
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born with around music. I was born around music.
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I grew up with music, the music that I play now.
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I grew up with that music and I during the all the 23 years in
22:22
the army, I accumulated so much, so, so much music on LP's.
22:28
I'm going to start LP's even 8 track away from 8 track all the
22:32
way to MP threes and Waves now. But I accumulate.
22:36
I guess I accumulated enough knowledge about the artist that
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one day say, well, instead I was still working in clubs and
22:45
especially military clubs. And I say, well, I got all this.
22:50
I got the music, I had the equipment.
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I don't, I don't, I can just do this.
22:55
And I, that's what I went to the radio and they, I brought my, my
23:02
back then I was just using CDs, you know, CD players because the
23:06
station had those. And that inspired me, you know,
23:11
that my love for the music and my love to communicate to others
23:17
about talking about things because I, I also talk about
23:22
like now close to the fall, getting your car ready for
23:26
winter, getting your home ready, you know, maintenance capsules
23:30
and health capsule. I do that all the time.
23:33
I receive a press release from BA and even DoD and I, I analyze
23:40
them and say I think it's important I put it out to the,
23:43
to the military or veteran community because I belong to a
23:46
lot of, I'm a life member of the DAV American League on the VSO.
23:52
So I'm a life member of all of them.
23:54
So I, I work with them on there. I invite them to, to a show when
23:59
they have anything that and, and that is my my hobby now that
24:05
volunteer and that and, and working on on cars, working on
24:08
Volkswagen. I had that from all the way from
24:11
Italy and Germany. So that is my hobby and fishing
24:15
and the outdoor. So I, I think it might think
24:19
that he's so busy, but I'm not not really this.
24:22
I always the way you take the time to do things.
24:26
You always accommodate, you know, to, to do everything
24:30
because we travel and everything.
24:32
We just got back from overseas on for a cruise for say 14 days,
24:37
so. Oh.
24:38
Wow. We, we went back to the, to
24:39
Pisa, Italy, to the, the apartment that we used to live
24:43
right next to the Pisa tower. So it's, it's, it's really, it's
24:49
really, I really love what I do. Yeah, Speaking of your wife, you
24:54
said that you've been married for 54 years. 54 year when I
25:00
went about when I was in Puerto Rico on leave to go to Vietnam,
25:06
I I met her before that I used to ride a bicycle making looking
25:12
like an idiot in front of her house.
25:14
You know that thing, I, I, I, I think like, like, like the
25:19
stories of Tom Sawyer, you know, something like that.
25:21
But I, we went to a we went to a dance and in, in the town and I
25:27
went there and we were both very shy, but I, I was able to ask
25:32
her if you wanted to be my girlfriend.
25:34
She never said yes. She never say a word, but I
25:38
deploy, I deployed about 3 weeks later, 2 weeks later.
25:43
And then she's she's she's still around.
25:46
She stayed around with my mom. She visited my mom.
25:48
He wrote letters to me and all that.
25:50
And when, when I got back, I say one more year for camel.
25:56
But then I, I got out and that's when we got married in 72.
26:00
And I still today I, I joke with her say, you know, you still
26:04
never say yes to me. And she say, well, what if you
26:07
didn't come back? You know, but we've been
26:11
married. But now 54 years, she's been
26:14
she's. I consider her my veteran
26:16
because she, when she was in Italy, I deployed to exercise
26:22
and she didn't know much English back then.
26:25
And she took care of the house and the kids and financial.
26:29
She did the same thing in Germany when I deployed to get
26:31
the store and she was with me all those, the, all those 20
26:36
years. So it was, it was great because
26:38
she knew, she know how she knew how to do it.
26:40
She knew how to do everything. Right.
26:43
I I consider her this is my older veteran.
26:47
Well, I mean, she served too, because if the.
26:49
You're. You're married to someone
26:51
serving. You're part of that whole
26:53
military family, and you're moving and you're going and
26:57
you're stepping up when the service member has to be away.
27:00
And so, yeah, you definitely are part of that big, big Army or
27:06
big Air Force or whatever branch you're in.
27:09
Yeah, the mission starts at home.
27:12
That that is the fact the mission starts at home.
27:15
And because if you you're not doing good at home that your
27:18
mission is, it can, it will not be accomplished the way it's
27:21
supposed to be. So it's it's is that the way I
27:24
believe it is? Yeah, yeah, that's true.
27:27
I mean, and that's why family support family readiness, which
27:29
you said it was so important because having family members
27:33
understand what's going on and having them read into, you know,
27:37
what their service member is facing and doing it can help
27:41
support the family member that's a service member that's having
27:44
to deploy or having to just go and do missions because having
27:49
the family have support too, because the family needs
27:52
support. So having that them be part of a
27:55
bigger group and then having someone in charge of that doing
27:58
activities and just checking on people is very important.
28:02
Because if, if you like you say, if your family isn't ready for
28:05
you to deploy or for you to, to be away, it can really play a
28:11
havoc on a service member's mind and just they won't be focused
28:15
and wouldn't be really your head wouldn't be in the game.
28:18
So it's super important to have families understand what's going
28:23
on so that they can be supportive, so the service
28:26
member can go do the job they need to do 100%.
28:30
Yeah. I did family support in Tulsa,
28:32
too. Yeah, I did.
28:36
For my unit, I did some family support work.
28:39
So yeah, I know how important that can be and how difficult it
28:42
can be too. Because it can.
28:44
Be a challenge because. Especially.
28:47
With reserve units too. I know you were active duty, but
28:50
with. Reserve.
28:51
Units, a lot of the family members weren't local to the
28:54
unit, so they were in other states or they were our way.
28:58
So it made it kind of a challenge to get everybody on
29:01
the same page or at least support those that weren't local
29:04
to the installation or to the unit just because of where they
29:09
live. Because like, I was living in
29:11
Texas and I still live in Texas, but I was living in Texas at the
29:15
time. So, you know, my family's here
29:18
and I'm there. So no one was here in Texas to
29:23
support this end of it. So it's a challenge.
29:27
Right. Yeah.
29:28
For. Sure.
29:29
Yeah, yeah. Wow.
29:32
So what was your favorite assignment, would you say?
29:35
I I know you said that you liked all of the assignments and you
29:38
liked where you were. Sent, but what's your?
29:40
Favorite out of all? Lives.
29:43
My favorite assignment was it was both Italy and Germany.
29:47
And the reason for when I was in Italy, we belong to the NATO
29:51
unit. We got 2 changes coming in.
29:53
So when we go out to the field in Italy, we go out with a
29:56
friend with Italian, with all of the NATO countries.
30:00
So we, we met a lot of them. And even though when I went when
30:04
I was in Germany, we did the same thing.
30:07
It was a NATO unit too. And then I was, I was an
30:10
instructor for chemical defense at the NATO native school in
30:14
Germany, in, in, in over, over Argamo in Germany.
30:18
And, and then I was instructed. I, I saw soldiers from the,
30:24
from, from the other country like Greece, Italy, coming to
30:28
the school and they, they met, they saw me and said, wow, look
30:31
at that. So it was, it was very good
30:34
experience, but I love it because first back then it was
30:39
not a rule. It was the Italian lira and the
30:43
and the German mark and it was very the dollar was.
30:46
Very high. Yeah, it was very high and so we
30:50
traveled a lot and but I love it.
30:52
I love it in there because and I and my wife love it.
30:55
She loved it Italy and Germany so much, the food, the people
30:59
and everything. So I love Europe.
31:02
Really. It was, it wasn't for because
31:04
the everything. Now I would probably be living
31:08
in Italy. Oh, really?
31:09
I I love it there. But yeah, all the, the, the
31:13
other places that I was in the States, it was like for a short
31:17
time, it was the only except for, for four seals there was
31:20
the last six years, but all the places was like a year, 2 years.
31:24
So it wasn't that many, you know, good, good memories, a
31:28
good friend that we still in touch today.
31:30
It's like like here in in Oklahoma, we have a lot of
31:34
people that I I see and that when I go to PA as a volunteer,
31:39
I see a lot of people to they were with me and the Army in
31:42
four scale all the places and they they from here and they say
31:46
wow, even from Vietnam. We met a guy that was in Vietnam
31:50
same place and same time. We didn't met in Vietnam, but we
31:53
were there at the same time. So right.
31:55
It was. But I guess if I'm going to put
31:58
it in one select one, I would say Italy was my first the best
32:02
beauty station. Yeah, yeah.
32:03
That would be the. Best I bet.
32:05
That was really nice. Where were you in Germany?
32:07
What? What base?
32:10
I I was in one of the small battalion in the inside the
32:15
Kasern. It's called El Ellington in
32:18
Karlsruhe by the is the by the French, French, French border.
32:25
It's South, it's the South of Germany and it's it's very
32:30
beautiful. Germany is so beautiful.
32:32
It is everything. I I still I got a friend.
32:35
He's there now. I said make sure you eat a
32:37
Jaegers nizzo. He's in there with that.
32:40
He can be there for the Oktoberfest.
32:42
Oh yeah, yeah, I have some pretzels and some.
32:46
Dress. Yeah.
32:47
Everything. Everything is good, yeah.
32:50
Yeah, I was in Swineford. Yeah, that's what the Sneezer
32:55
Factory is fine for, is it? Yeah.
32:59
Downtown is a is a there's a restaurant called Sneezer
33:02
Factory. The GI couldn't give him give
33:04
him that name because we used to go there for lunch and dinner.
33:09
Yeah, Yeah. Oh.
33:11
Very nice. Everything in in Germany or
33:14
Italy that you eat is great. Fresh and good.
33:18
Good taste. Well, in Germany too, at least
33:21
when I was there, all the drinks had lemon in them too.
33:25
Like. Pepsi.
33:27
Everything had. Lemon, yeah.
33:29
Yeah, the Sprite, you know everything.
33:31
Yeah. Everything had some lemon in it.
33:34
And so it was kind of different than to, you know, than here,
33:38
'cause you, you don't put lemon in everything.
33:40
Right. And then, and then the pizza was
33:42
a plate size and you didn't eat it with your hands, you ate it
33:45
with a fork and a knife. Fork.
33:47
Exactly. You eat, you nip.
33:49
Isn't in Italy. Let's see you eating a pizza
33:51
with a we're like, like we do in here and wait, look at that.
33:58
It was good pizza. Right.
34:00
They wonder about you if you're doing it that way.
34:04
And we use one when I was in Italy, I work at the Roman at
34:09
the embassy as a translator. And it was great because during
34:12
lunch I used to go to the Patty can, all the Coliseum and all
34:16
that area. Used to walk around there and it
34:18
was great. I had a little muppet.
34:20
I had a little Muppet. I took your business.
34:23
I just ride there instead of taking a train.
34:26
Wow. So it was great.
34:27
Yeah. I can't imagine just seeing that
34:30
every day. I mean, you only see it in
34:31
movies and in pictures, you know, for most of us, you know,
34:34
not everyone's going to make it over there to see it.
34:37
And so just being in that same space and seeing that every day
34:40
in that history that, you know, went on there is pretty amazing.
34:43
Yeah, that's a good thing about some.
34:46
Still some people talk about the military, but no, the military
34:49
take you to place it, that people pay $6000 or more just to
34:54
go there. And we were just there.
34:56
We live in there from our balcony with the pizza towel
35:00
right next to us. Yeah, well.
35:04
Yeah, I, I agree with you. You know, you travel a lot in
35:06
the military and some some places you don't really want to
35:10
go to. That isn't your first choice.
35:12
But I mean, but the experiences you gain and you get out of
35:16
military service and the places and the people you meet, you
35:20
know, just can't. There's no comparison to that,
35:23
that you just, you know, those opportunities are once in a
35:27
lifetime and we're just fortunate to be able to take
35:31
advantage of those. You know it's.
35:32
It's yes, Yes, that's true. It's definitely, you know,
35:37
military service has its perks, has its downsides, but it has
35:42
its perks. You know, just getting to see
35:44
what the rest of the world lives like and you really come to an
35:48
appreciation of what you have when you see what others are
35:53
facing or dealing with or they don't have.
35:56
You know, we're very blessed. And sometimes we forget that
35:59
because, you know, we feel like we deserve more or should get
36:03
more. And then we see what others
36:05
happen. You're like, we have a lot we
36:06
don't really need. Anymore even even in Vietnam, I
36:09
took 14 days R&R to Bangkok, Thailand.
36:14
So you see places that you you never thought you were going to
36:18
be there so. Right.
36:20
Yeah. You didn't see yourself as a 17
36:22
year old going to Thailand. Did you?
36:24
That's right. Yeah.
36:27
Yeah, that's true. So how was it being that young?
36:31
I know you said that you got right into like your first
36:35
experience getting to your assignment and you know you're
36:38
already getting rocket fire and you said, well, it's.
36:40
Just. But how was that being a 17 year
36:44
old and just landing there and just learning what you know,
36:48
what you were supposed to be doing and how and all that?
36:51
What was that like? You learn fast we when they see
36:57
you coming in and you have brand new fatigues, you know, shiny.
37:02
I'm not going to say a word, but it's we call it FNGFNG new guys
37:09
and then well, you're doing that as you your fatigues are brand
37:13
new and then they kind of look at that look, I am sure the
37:17
short timer they started doing this to you.
37:19
Hey, I'm leaving next month. You got here.
37:23
But for me, you have to learn fast.
37:27
You have no choice. The area that I was, it was a
37:30
small base camp and the 25th was there, the first cap, another
37:36
aviation unit. But I was AI was a dog handler.
37:41
I work with dogs. And so when I first saw you and
37:46
I asked, I need short people for volunteer for to work with dogs.
37:50
So I thought I was going to become an MP and I raised my
37:53
hand and say, yeah, I'll be at the gate all the time.
37:56
But that wasn't that wasn't the truth.
37:59
They sent me to a dog canine course and I never saw a gate.
38:04
I was always outside with, with the unit, you know, doing
38:08
patrols and things like that, but I have a big black German
38:11
shepherd named King beautiful dog and it won't let me bring it
38:15
to the state. They, they for recent, you know,
38:18
department of growth and all that back then.
38:21
Now they can. But we, we learned that the, the
38:26
places they, the first thing I was told is that they, they call
38:30
this base camp Rocket City. And you're going to see that
38:34
soon. Exactly about two hours later
38:38
when it start dark, they start rockets come in.
38:41
And actually we were, we never slept on.
38:45
We call them hooch the hooches, the little, little barracks that
38:49
made out of sink and and wood and we never slept there.
38:54
We, we, we bury a Conex, a metal Conex.
38:57
We bury that one. We, the guys engineers came in
39:00
and dig a big hole. We put a nail and covered up
39:03
with the with with sandbag and then we put a door to from from
39:09
the from the hoods from the back small back.
39:12
We go down is very deep down there.
39:15
So we were we slept down there. But during the day sometime we
39:20
got some incoming round and sniper fires and things like
39:23
that. But it was my I was issue an
39:27
M14, which I consider the best weapon in the world.
39:32
M14 is about a tall, it was about taller than me, but I, I
39:37
was I one day when the M16 came in, they give us a choice to
39:40
keep it. So I I choose to keep it, keep
39:42
mine. And I was with that all the
39:46
time. And we, we learn fast and we
39:49
became seasoned in soldiers real fast.
39:55
And we, we soon we, our fatigue were all where else.
40:00
So we were now. We were now.
40:03
Not the new guy anymore. No, no, we know.
40:05
We call the other new guy. Hey, look, we're laughing about
40:08
that. So when they tell us go to the
40:11
gate and pick out that those new guys that came in.
40:14
So we go in there and say, wow, you got we we did the same
40:18
thing. The other people kind of joke
40:20
around then actually one one guy when I was in basic training and
40:25
for for Jackson, there was a through Sergeant named Cook back
40:29
then E5 were this Sergeant too. And he he dug me out.
40:34
I mean, this guy, he, he, he got me all of back then that the
40:39
basic training that put sand in your on your pan and make you
40:43
walk around the marching unit, they would treat you back.
40:47
Now they can't do that. But back then it was different.
40:51
When they say you go to the gate and pick up the new guy, guess
40:54
who was one of those new guy? The real science cook.
40:59
He. He recognized me and I
41:01
recognized. I never forgot your face until
41:04
now because the way it's been. But I I just welcome him, say we
41:09
are now here together. We're brothers now.
41:11
So we became very close friends. And then and then every day we
41:15
joke. And remember when you did to me,
41:17
when you did to that. Yeah.
41:18
But it is the Army lives, you know, it's despite the good
41:21
things. How did things develop in the
41:24
Army? You know, how do we, how we
41:26
treat each other, you know, because in Vietnam it was so
41:29
different. Vietnam, we were close, very
41:32
close. It was issues.
41:34
Yeah, it was issues like like now in some places, but we were
41:38
very close and and that can be an example of that in the when
41:44
when we walk around. One thing I love about Oklahoma,
41:47
Texas, New Mexico, those three States and Alabama, Alabama too.
41:53
Is that how welcome how we are in welcome in those states we as
41:59
veteran of military, but especially better.
42:02
We went down and now they see our ass and they little kids
42:06
come to you and say hi thank you for your service or we start
42:09
talking. You know, we all the better when
42:12
why why shopping in the mall, how you sit there and wait and
42:15
someone will come and talk to me and that's the I love that part
42:19
in this especially in Oklahoma. The way treat that in some areas
42:24
the East Coast is different, how long I'll go to New York and
42:27
other places that I would have had and no one say anything.
42:31
Not that I'm looking for attention, but I always wear the
42:34
hat. Right.
42:36
In the, in the West is different in the West and the South
42:39
Louisiana is like that too. It's different.
42:43
They treat you well. They, they, they welcome you.
42:46
Because when I got back from Vietnam, we flew to for, for to
42:50
to New Jersey, to Newark. And hey, Timothy, hi.
42:57
And we got we landed in in New Jersey and they had to escort us
43:02
in the bus to a bus to for, for for Dicks, because there was a
43:07
peace demonstration outside. That was our welcome home.
43:11
So in the opposite in desert stone.
43:15
It was welcome all over the place.
43:17
You know, yellow ribbon that we we Vietnam veteran.
43:20
So that that different and it I didn't, it didn't bother me
43:24
because I'm home anyway. So I didn't pay attention to
43:29
those students. Some of them probably in the
43:32
Congress now they were politicians, but again, students
43:35
in college protesting about the war.
43:38
I even told the guy in the boss says just put U.S.
43:41
Open, put us in the plane, send the back to Vienna.
43:44
We've got friends out there. But that that happened and I
43:50
erased that in my mind quickly. It didn't bother me at all.
43:54
So what did, besides the terrain, obviously, what
43:58
difference did you see between serving in Vietnam and serving
44:02
overseas in Desert Storm Shield? What, what did you see as a
44:05
difference? Obviously the equipment's
44:07
different, the terrains different, the uniforms are
44:09
different. But but like military wise, you
44:12
know, strategy wise, what differences did you really
44:15
notice between serving in Vietnam and serving in Desert
44:20
Storm? I'm just curious.
44:22
In Vietnam we were we were we going out, out in mission.
44:28
We have our team platoon or squat and everybody was very
44:33
tight, you know, very tight because there was no desert.
44:37
There was no, no sand. It was rice bodies, water or
44:42
jungle, you know, so we, we have eyes all over.
44:45
We really have our back, our six, our three, our 12:00.
44:51
We, we protect each other in there.
44:54
It was it was it was kind of weird because when we got to to
44:59
that's a storm I found about Wow, about 5 Vietnam Veterans.
45:07
Two of them were in were in basic with me.
45:11
Oh wow. And they, I met one in the plane
45:14
we landed, we stopped in Rome for the for stop and I went to
45:19
the bathroom airplane and I look at this guy said no way.
45:22
He recognized me and said, well, we embrace each other and
45:26
everybody was looking in the plane, all these men looking at
45:30
two men, 2 grown men hugging car.
45:33
And I said don't get a wrong idea.
45:35
We are brothers from them. So that that was and then we
45:38
start talking. You know when we got when we
45:41
landed in Saudi Arabia, we saw the sand camel walking around
45:46
the area. But when we got to Kuwait and it
45:48
was different being out there in in the sand.
45:52
And then we start talking. Wow.
45:53
You remember we were deep in here.
45:57
One of my friends said we don't have to worry about leashes here
46:00
because there's a sand in Vietnam.
46:02
You have to pour diesel on your skin because the leashes that
46:07
stick with you, and either that or the bigs, the bigs that you
46:12
put on the ointment, we keep that to keep them away.
46:16
But in we had the sandstorm in, in, in, in, in in Saudi Arabia
46:23
close to the Kuwait border. And when they like the, the, the
46:29
fires, you know, the petroleum, the oil fire, we were at noon,
46:33
we were covered with sand and, and petroleum really oil.
46:39
It was raining oil in Vietnam was raining yellow rain, they
46:43
call it as you know, right now. But it, it was that different,
46:47
you know, we, we talk about that, but it, I would think the,
46:51
the, the, the camera camaraderie in Vietnam was closer than the
46:58
one in, in desert stone. Maybe because the, the youth, we
47:03
were young in Vietnam too, but here was different.
47:07
We became, we have a choice. We had to became experienced
47:12
holders or, or we die. And Desert Stone it was, it was
47:16
more into the technical part. We, there was no going, not many
47:21
going out in, in patrols. It was mostly done for Air Force
47:25
attacks really. And I, I was in a vehicle.
47:28
There was, my vehicle was air conditioned because there was a
47:31
German Recon vehicle for chemical defence.
47:34
We borrowed from Germany because the Army didn't have much, it
47:37
was air conditioning inside. And so it was great.
47:40
So it was different, very different in that my job was
47:44
when they the line up to move, we got two week or one-on-one
47:48
side and the other one testing for chemicals and thanks God, we
47:52
never we never detect anything except for the smoke from the
47:58
home bees and things like that. And it turned the MA alarm came
48:02
on, you know, because that but the chemical guy, we were really
48:08
especially, especially in vessel stone, because they knew they we
48:13
had to be prepared in there. But it was the different it
48:16
would say the away from the from the the rain and all that and
48:22
and the monsoon, the rain season in Vietnam and all that.
48:27
It was a very different. But in in the in the mission
48:32
type, it would be they will go out in Vietnam and explain to
48:35
you day by step on right there on the sand.
48:38
We do. We're going to go here and here
48:40
and there and then we go, you know, and here it was different.
48:44
We got GPS, we got all the good stuff and back then we didn't
48:47
have anything. Right.
48:49
Yeah, that's. We the only the only thing we
48:52
got it was at the radio that every time I call Mom, I keep
48:55
telling my mom, you have to say break after say something, you
48:59
have to say break. We use that hard telephone
49:02
thing. You have large radio.
49:04
Yeah, but it was it was good. I I don't complain.
49:08
Right. Well, so I didn't realize there
49:11
were dogs in Vietnam. What was the mission set?
49:14
Of the dogs in. Vietnam 'cause I didn't really
49:16
remember hearing about that. I mean, maybe, maybe I, maybe I
49:20
knew I just forgot. I don't know.
49:23
It was Kik Carson. They call him canine unit, Kik
49:25
Carson unit. We had dogs and we go out to
49:29
the, we do points, we go out in front of the troops or in the
49:34
back. We just go out there and those
49:37
dogs, they were great. I, I slept when I slept on the
49:42
outside in the field when we were there, I slept on he that
49:45
dog was my, his belly was my pillow because every time he
49:50
sends some, I can feel it and, and the dog we sometimes we go,
49:55
we never go down in tunnels, but we go, we found the tunnels
49:59
there and the dog would not go down there.
50:02
We did with a couple times we went down with the rope.
50:05
The only thing that scared me to death until today, I'm scared as
50:10
a snake because I saw the first snake there.
50:13
It was a cobra right in a corner in front of me and I, I froze
50:18
and I pulled my rope and they Get Me Out of here.
50:21
But they thought they thought they did a good job.
50:24
And on the perimeter area, we we guard, we go out to the we call
50:29
them a second and third concertina wire.
50:33
We go out there and we to see because they have they become
50:38
snappers and snipers. They come in silent, they go
50:43
inside. They they that happen a lot.
50:46
They go inside the the, the base, they do their thing, they
50:50
do things and they go out. So our our job was kind of
50:55
detect them and they were pretty good.
50:56
They they, they, we, we found a lot like that.
50:59
But they were very important that anyone who who is a dog
51:04
handler, he knows how how the dog is even now.
51:10
I love dogs now, yeah. Yeah, I mean, dogs are the most
51:14
loyal and you can treat them bad and then are like, say
51:19
something, two of them. And then the next day they're
51:22
still just like, yeah, we're friends, don't you remember?
51:24
Like they forgot all about the bad stuff.
51:27
They're they're already ready to make up.
51:29
It does. They don't care.
51:31
They just want to be close to you and they just want to help
51:34
you, you know, and, and sometimes we don't deserve dogs
51:37
because they're so good to us and we're not as good to them as
51:40
they are to us. Right.
51:41
That's true, yeah. Yeah, The Heart of the Beast is
51:45
a good show, if you haven't watched it yet, with Brad Pitt
51:48
and and his. 9 and he's a retired.
51:51
Special force a certain major yeah, that's a good movie, but
51:55
maybe bring Kleenex potentially if you.
51:58
Watch it. But it is good.
52:01
Well, we've got about 8 minutes left.
52:02
So I want to talk more about your show and I want to talk
52:06
about, we're hoping to bring you on to military broadcast radio
52:09
on Saturdays on our radio side. And we're still working out the
52:13
technical difficulties. But tell us about some of the
52:17
work you've done around your music there.
52:19
You've met artists, you've you interview veterans.
52:22
Can you tell us a little bit about your show and just give us
52:24
kind of a a rundown of what you're doing and what you're
52:28
going to be bringing to MVR? Yeah, I I play like you're
52:34
familiar with tropical music such as salsa music.
52:38
Bachata is merengue is from Dominican Republic.
52:42
We got cumbia from Colombia, other rhythm from Panama and
52:48
Mexico, and that's the music I play.
52:52
Plus Latin jazz. I love jazz and I play Latin
52:55
jazz and one thing I do I, I, I have a lot of musicians and
53:01
singers. They were veterans.
53:03
They were, they were some of them were active duty with me
53:07
and some of them career soldiers down a lot of them.
53:11
And they from all over the country.
53:13
I, I invite them to the show to talk about their how they
53:16
started in, in the music, even when they were in the Army.
53:21
I have I do a show every on every six months.
53:26
I do a show called Veteran Talk to Veteran.
53:30
This show, I invite my, my friend, he's an Air Force
53:34
retired retiree neighbor. He we come here, he come here.
53:39
We, we, we, we show. We invite someone from the DAV
53:43
or from any of the organization. We have invite someone from the
53:49
from the Vietnam Veterans of America, the national about
53:54
update about things about how to do things, how to submit your
53:58
claim and how not to spend 100 or thousands of dollars and
54:04
attorneys to do you claim when you had a free service from
54:08
American Union, DAV and all these trusted organization who
54:13
are certified by VA. And I'm a I'm a VA, I'm AVAVSO,
54:19
so I help. I don't chart.
54:21
I just do it for free. I tell him what to do the way I
54:24
did it and how to do it. You know, you go here, you go
54:27
there and make sure you got everything in in that order.
54:32
And one thing I always emphasize to the when I talk to the
54:35
veteran and the wife, I say make sure you are prepared because I
54:41
we have held veteran who who never told the wife where the
54:46
214 are, where the the VA benefits papers everything.
54:52
So we have to go there. A friend of mine, two of them
54:54
pass away. We have to go there, start
54:56
digging in in in the area there looking for those document.
55:00
We were lucky to find them and she she both of those two
55:05
winner. Now they receive the DIC now
55:08
from from the from VA. But I tell them every veteran to
55:12
be prepared, be prepared. Have a have a a folder when
55:16
everything in that order label and put a index.
55:20
This, this happened to me. This is what you do first call
55:23
here, call here, call here. And that's it.
55:25
It's, it's. And I even show in mind the way
55:28
I did it and even do a video and do it by videos.
55:31
Leave that video there somewhere and and play that.
55:34
Yeah, but it's good to have a plan.
55:37
Yeah, sadly, I have a plan. And the music I love the music I
55:41
play. I play music. 11 good thing that
55:45
I played a long time ago when I was still working on FM radio.
55:49
Gloria Stefan she found out that her father it was a Vietnam
55:54
veteran. He died due to the Asianori and
55:57
she found out that I was a veteran and she called me and
56:01
she did she sent me about two drops.
56:04
You know about Hey, you listen to recent tropical with Taino.
56:08
I'm Gloria, Steven, blah blah, blah and I play, I've been
56:10
playing the music all the time and famous artist like Marc
56:14
Anthony, all his greatest one and and jazz players all over
56:19
the world and I play music that they sent to me by the artists,
56:24
especially the independent artists.
56:26
They don't nowadays, they don't have much of the the record
56:30
label that support them. They had to do it on their own.
56:35
Yeah. That's true.
56:36
And yeah, I get, I receive a lot of music from Europe, from from
56:41
South Central America, Europe, the, the music that I play is,
56:46
is all over it. And not only we got listeners
56:49
that are Hispanics, you know, they, I got listeners who are
56:53
from non Hispanic, you know, they don't even know the
56:56
language, but they love the music.
56:58
And basically when I play Latin jazz, they love the music and,
57:02
and all that type of things. Yeah.
57:05
Well, you know, I find that you don't really have to even know
57:08
what the words mean. It's just the.
57:10
Beat and just the rhythm and the melody that comes through.
57:14
I mean, that really is what you need.
57:15
And then if you eventually learn what the lyrics mean.
57:18
That's. A bonus, but I don't really
57:20
think you have to know what it what they're saying.
57:23
You just know the music's good and that you you're enjoying it.
57:27
It's getting you. Movies.
57:28
It's changing your mood. So, you know, I listen to a lot
57:31
of different genres and I listen to a lot of Spanish.
57:34
Me too. Songs because I just enjoy, you
57:37
know, the music and I enjoy the artist and I don't have to know
57:41
what they say, but you know, every now and then I'm like, OK,
57:43
I got to know what that means. And then it's get you to looking
57:45
it up and, and finding out what it means.
57:47
And so it's kind of. Fun.
57:49
I tell people that basically new DJs, I you, I tell you need to
57:54
don't, don't stay with just Latin music.
57:57
You need to listen to country, R&B, all the type of music
58:02
class. Today I was on my car, I was
58:05
listening to classical music. I mean, I used, it's a way to
58:09
use when you listen to different genres of music, you become an
58:13
expert, not not as expert in 100%, but at least you can, you
58:18
can, you can avoid a conversation on board about,
58:24
about who is this? Who's that?
58:26
Especially when I talk about jazz, I always, I always do my
58:29
research. I'm going to talk about an
58:32
artist. I look, I look who is he or who
58:35
is she? And, and, and talk to them about
58:38
that, you know, and that's how I think.
58:40
That's how I've been survived all this year, 36 years on the
58:43
radio, because that's. A long time.
58:46
Yeah, you. You don't just play a song
58:49
without mention the artist, the the the singer, the composer and
58:53
the arrangement. That who did the arrangement?
58:56
Those three, those three are the the key for the for that music,
59:00
for that particular song. Yeah, yeah.
59:03
Definitely. So here's the here's the
59:06
website, your website. If anybody wants to find out
59:10
more about the show or listen to your radio show or any of that,
59:15
here is the address to to do that.
59:17
And hopefully pretty soon, hopefully maybe even this next
59:20
Saturday, we'll get yeah, Daniel live on our platform and we'll
59:25
get him playing some Latin music.
59:28
So it's been such a pleasure to have you on tonight and tell me
59:31
more about your story. And so thank you so much for
59:34
coming on the show and really giving our audience a
59:37
perspective of somebody from Puerto Rico that has served all
59:40
over the US and other countries and your perspective on those
59:45
different deployments that you had.
59:47
It's really interesting to hear your take on your service and
59:51
just your perspective of never been into the United States and
59:54
then seeing all these different places.
59:57
It's fun to. Hear it's been an honor to to
1:00:00
have me you in the show and been an honor for me and and a good
1:00:04
salute for all the veterans and wife and spouses.
1:00:08
They are the veteran. Just keep the family tight.
1:00:11
Absolutely. Well, let's just trace around
1:00:14
signing off. Hi, I'm Beaker with Military
1:00:18
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