Latest / Brian Thomas / Hamilton County Veterans Services

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Hamilton County Veterans Services · Brian Thomas

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Speaker 1: Cincinnati and iHeartRadio station guaranteed Human fifty five krc D
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Speaker 1: talk station.
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Speaker 2: I heard radio.
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Speaker 1: It's seven o six here at fifty five KRCD talk station.
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Speaker 1: Very happy Wednesday to everyone. Bottom of the hour. Donald
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Speaker 1: Neal returns he does every Wednesday, State Director a FP
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Speaker 1: Action Ohio. The rise of socialism on the left, very
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Speaker 1: very prominent topic of late. We'll hear from Sherry Pulling
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Speaker 1: from the Board of Elections eight oh five, Judge of
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Speaker 1: Paulaitano at eight thirty and in studio. And what an
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Speaker 1: honor it is to have Glenn Welling. No cribbage, Mike.
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Speaker 1: He's not the president of the Hemilon County Veteran Services.
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Speaker 1: He is the executive director of the Hemilon County Veteran Services. Glenn,
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Speaker 1: thank you so much for coming in today.
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Speaker 3: Welcome Morton Brian, thanks so much for having me in.
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Speaker 3: A shout out to my shipmate there for the great introduction.
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Speaker 1: Yes, and for your service ar country. You're a career
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Speaker 1: Navy man like Mike was. Yes, sir, you weren't on
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Speaker 1: a sub though, like Mike.
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Speaker 3: No, My job was to chase them, So you're in
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Speaker 3: an aircraft. I was the P three to Orion at
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Speaker 3: the time. It's been replaced by what's called the P
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Speaker 3: eight Poseidon now, but it was the pre eminent anti
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Speaker 3: submarine aircraft.
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Speaker 1: And so you served during the was it the Cold
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Speaker 1: War or.
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Speaker 3: It was I began my career in nineteen seventy nine
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Speaker 3: and ended it in twenty sixteen.
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Speaker 1: Holy cow, And you opened my eyes to your career choice,
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Speaker 1: your decision to go into the Navy before we get
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Speaker 1: to and it's very important we talk about the third
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Speaker 1: annual Hemlin County Veterans Appreciation Day and the opportunities that
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Speaker 1: my veteran friends will have in the listening audience. I
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Speaker 1: want you to talk about your decision to enter the
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Speaker 1: Armed Services and how profoundly it impacted your life for
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Speaker 1: the better. This is kind of it's a little bit
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Speaker 1: of marketing for Armed Services for young people out there
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Speaker 1: who don't have a direction and not sure what they
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Speaker 1: want to do do. Maybe their scholastics aren't as great,
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Speaker 1: Maybe the idea of even going to get a four
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Speaker 1: year degree or even a two year degree in college
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Speaker 1: is just not within their realm of possibility financially. Maybe
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Speaker 1: intellectually doesn't matter, but that doesn't sound like a good
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Speaker 1: path tell them about your story if you don't mind,
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Speaker 1: because I think it's important.
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Speaker 3: Not at all, And I like sharing it because, as
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Speaker 3: I said, everything that I value in life, from my family,
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Speaker 3: my career, my education, my lifelong friends, I owed to
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Speaker 3: my decision back in nineteen seventy nine to join the Navy.
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Speaker 3: I graduated from Anderson High School in nineteen seventy five
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Speaker 3: and was floundering. I ended up getting a job at
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Speaker 3: the General Motors assembly plant in Norwood, and so I've
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Speaker 3: since said, when you take immaturity and irresponsibility and add money,
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Speaker 3: it's like the fire triangle. So I was making the
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Speaker 3: same money that grown men were raising families.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, a union bank.
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Speaker 3: Right, it was just and my life was on a
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Speaker 3: very treacherous path. Let's say, did you realize it at
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Speaker 3: the time. I didn't. I was working second shift and
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Speaker 3: partying until the day up and going home, going to bed,
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Speaker 3: and waking up in time to be there again to
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Speaker 3: you know, recycle.
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Speaker 1: But you and when the whistle blew, you and the
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Speaker 1: guys after work would head straight to the bar.
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Speaker 3: Exactly is that is exactly right?
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Speaker 1: Drink the paycheck.
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Speaker 3: One day, a friend of mine that I had hired
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Speaker 3: in with came to me and he talked about thirty
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Speaker 3: years in the gold Watch per se, and it just
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Speaker 3: scared me to death, and I thought I probably won't
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Speaker 3: make it that long. Oh my next younger brother had
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Speaker 3: joined the Air Force a few months prior, and so
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Speaker 3: I'd always had an interest in oceanography. So that's what
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Speaker 3: kind of folksed me toward the Navy. The only thing
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Speaker 3: that got me through high school was my ability to
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Speaker 3: take a test and somehow pass, and so I took
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Speaker 3: what's called the ASVAB, which is kind of the sat
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Speaker 3: for joining the military, and scored well enough to be
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Speaker 3: offered a number of things, including they wanted me to
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Speaker 3: go nuclear submarine, and I didn't have any desire to
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Speaker 3: do that, but the recruiter said, well, we've got this
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Speaker 3: other thing where you can fly around. I said, I
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Speaker 3: can do what chasing submarines, And of course the submarines'
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Speaker 3: environment is the ocean, and you learn a lot about
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Speaker 3: oceanography and sound propagation and those types of things. So
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Speaker 3: that's what I did for twenty five years.
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Speaker 1: That is just absolutely amazing. But you reflect on you
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Speaker 1: said it it changed your whole dynamic about how you
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Speaker 1: look at life generally speaking, and family and all that.
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Speaker 1: In what way did the military service transform you in
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Speaker 1: that regard?
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Speaker 3: Well, the first thing it did was provided some structure
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Speaker 3: in my life. You needed it that I did not have,
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Speaker 3: and that was clearly evident, you know. But with the
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Speaker 3: way my with the way I was carrying on before
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Speaker 3: I joined the Navy. But I think the most important
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Speaker 3: thing that it did for me was helped me realize
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Speaker 3: that I did have the ability to be successful. It
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Speaker 3: brought out my self confidence and allowed me to pursue
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Speaker 3: what previously would have been unforseeable opportunity that I never
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Speaker 3: thought I could achieve. But the Navy brought all that out.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, And that's the kind of point that I'm happy
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Speaker 1: that you brought out on the air, because I think
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Speaker 1: when some people think about military service, like me, for example,
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Speaker 1: it maybe view it as static. You know, I'm going
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Speaker 1: to go in and I'm going to serve in this
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Speaker 1: capacity and it isn't going to lead to anything else.
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Speaker 1: It isn't going to be expanding personally speaking, intellectually speaking,
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Speaker 1: or maybe a career opportunity expanding. But you, in your
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Speaker 1: life and your service, you've proven that not is not
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Speaker 1: at all.
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Speaker 3: A case completely the opposite. You know, we talked a
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Speaker 3: little bit about obviously there's quite a bit of structure
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Speaker 3: and discipline association.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, and I told you that's the part I couldn't
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Speaker 1: deal with.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, But what that does, that provides each individual
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Speaker 3: with the foundation because ultimately, particularly in combat, you're going
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Speaker 3: to find yourself in a situation where you're going to
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Speaker 3: have to react to the situation that presents itself. And
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Speaker 3: it's all that structure and discipline and that self confidence
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Speaker 3: and your ability to think on your feet under very
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Speaker 3: stressful conditions that allows our military to be so successful well.
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Speaker 1: And as a consequence of your service to your country
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Speaker 1: DD two to fourteen discharge, I'm certain you got you
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Speaker 1: were able to get your VA benefits which you earned
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Speaker 1: as a consequence of your service, and so you get
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Speaker 1: medical care for you.
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Speaker 3: That's exactly right. And I'm at that age now where
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Speaker 3: I'm on Medicare and so that combined with my via
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Speaker 3: medical care, try care for life, it's just a wonderful,
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Speaker 3: wonderful benefit.
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Speaker 1: And you continue to serve your country in your capacity
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Speaker 1: as the executive director of the Hamilton County Veteran Service Commission,
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Speaker 1: which I again truly appreciate you doing that because what
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Speaker 1: I've learned, and you know Steve Belza from the Great
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Speaker 1: Good Morning Steve's out there, there's one in every single county.
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Speaker 1: And I had asked you because he's been pushing the
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Speaker 1: idea they have transportation now to get veterans to their
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Speaker 1: medical appointments. You do that in Hamilton County for Hamilon
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Speaker 1: County veterans as well, right.
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Speaker 3: We absolutely do. We started that in twenty twenty five.
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Speaker 3: We now have two vans and we'll actually be increasing
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Speaker 3: that number. We give about eighty rides per month. I've
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Speaker 3: continued to grow. We will take a Hamilton County veteran
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Speaker 3: from their home to their VA medical appointment and back
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Speaker 3: home free of charge. And I mentioned too that you
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Speaker 3: know there's some satellite facilities over in Claremont County outside
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Speaker 3: of Hamilton, over in northern Kentucky, and there's no restriction
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Speaker 3: there if you're a Hamilton County resident wherever your VA
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Speaker 3: medical appointment is, or if the VA assigns you to
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Speaker 3: a civilian doctor, and they will do that occasional, Yes, sir,
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Speaker 3: we will provide your transportation to those appointments as well.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, and my understanding of that. Please correct me if
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Speaker 1: I'm wrong, Glenn. If you can't get into a VA
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Speaker 1: facility right away, then you're allowed to go to a
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Speaker 1: non VA provider outside you are.
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Speaker 3: The VA will make that connection for you. That's absolutely right.
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Speaker 1: And of course that's something the Veterans Service Commission will
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Speaker 1: help facilitate.
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Speaker 3: Right, absolutely, and will help.
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Speaker 1: Facilitate getting you on your VA benefits. It's not that
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Speaker 1: difficult understanding. The online government website is sometimes a little
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Speaker 1: challenging for folksticularly folks who aren't necessarily Internet savvy, but again,
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Speaker 1: another resource for the common county or the regular Veteran
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Speaker 1: Service Commissions. There's one in every single county, and I
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Speaker 1: can only hope that they meet the standards of Hamilton
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Speaker 1: County and Claremont County, which we've learned about here on
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Speaker 1: the Morning show. Yes, all right, so and financial assistance
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Speaker 1: as well. I'm just trying to give you the thumbnail
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Speaker 1: sketch of everything that's there. The website so you can
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Speaker 1: go and find out for yourself is HCVSC dot org.
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Speaker 1: Heilin County Veteran Service Commission dot org HCVSC dot org.
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Speaker 1: So myke he Th couinty veteran friends, you haven't got
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Speaker 1: your benefits yet, you maybe need some financial assistance. Just
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Speaker 1: go and check out all the services that they are
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Speaker 1: more than happy to help you with. And salute to
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Speaker 1: all the folks that are helping out at the Veteran
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Speaker 1: Service Commission. Now we'll pause and we'll bring Glenn Welling,
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Speaker 1: executive director back to talk about why.
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Speaker 2: He the talk station.
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Speaker 1: Seventeen fifty five KRC The talk Station Bran Thomas with
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Speaker 1: Glenn Welling. He is the executive director of the Hemilon
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Speaker 1: County Veteran Service Commission HCVSC dot org. I'll help you
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Speaker 1: with VA disability claims, veteran benefits and healthcare resources, employment
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Speaker 1: and community service support services, family support programs, temporary financial
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Speaker 1: system assistance. It's all there for you. And before I
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Speaker 1: get to and you just gave me more information there, Glenn.
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Speaker 1: Over the break there, we're going to talk about the
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Speaker 1: third annual Veteran Henlon County Veterans Appreciation Day coming up
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Speaker 1: this Saturday. Real quick, adopt a class. You just told
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Speaker 1: me about this program, and I think in going back
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Speaker 1: to young people and the military being a viable option
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Speaker 1: for them. You mentioned adopted class. Real quick, tell my
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Speaker 1: listeners what this is all about, because it sounds like
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Speaker 1: a fantastic IDEA.
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Speaker 3: Well, adopt A class is just an incredible organization that
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Speaker 3: was started a number of years ago by a gentleman
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Speaker 3: named Bill Berwinkle, and they now have expanded to serving
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Speaker 3: The last number I saw was over fourteen thousand students
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Speaker 3: in the greater Cincinnati area from K through eight. And
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Speaker 3: when I was at Xavier, we were mentoring a class
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Speaker 3: at the Academy of World Languages over in Evanston, and
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Speaker 3: it was seventh and eighth graders, and we were there
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Speaker 3: to talk about what opportunity that the military provides because
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Speaker 3: being able to get to these young boys and girls
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Speaker 3: before they make life decisions that could negatively impact their ability,
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Speaker 3: whether it's you know, drugs, drugs, not performing well in school,
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Speaker 3: not becoming physically unfit, those types of things. Less than
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Speaker 3: ten percent of our population between seventeen and twenty four
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Speaker 3: a meet the criteria to join the military for those reasons.
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Speaker 1: Less than ten percent of the seventeen to twenty four
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Speaker 1: year old Let that sink in. They couldn't join the
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Speaker 1: military if they were in their current condition correct, and
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Speaker 1: only one percent serve.
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Speaker 3: Less than one percent of our US population serve in
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Speaker 3: the military.
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Speaker 1: All right, well, young people need to get the word out.
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Speaker 1: This is a great opportunity for you. You want to go
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Speaker 1: career Army, career, Navy, career military period, you can do that.
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Speaker 1: He is a great illustration here, Glenn, is of how
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Speaker 1: great your life can turn out. Now pivoting over the
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Speaker 1: gift that keeps on giving. Service in the military will
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Speaker 1: also gives you an opportunity to show up the third
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Speaker 1: annual Hammlin County Veterans Appreciation Day Saturday at TQL Stadium
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Speaker 1: between ten am and two pm. The information is right
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Speaker 1: there on the Hamilton County Veteran Service Commission's website ACVSC
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Speaker 1: dot org, right on the front where you can register
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Speaker 1: r SVP. Right there, Glenn, why might they want to
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Speaker 1: show up?
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Speaker 3: Well again again our third annual event, and I want
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Speaker 3: to emphasize that this is a free event for every
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Speaker 3: veteran and their family here in Hamilton County. Families included,
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Speaker 3: Families included. Absolutely. This is first and foremost a celebratory
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Speaker 3: event recognizing the tremendous dedication and commitment of our service
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Speaker 3: members and their families. You know, families serve too, and
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Speaker 3: that's that's somewhat of a cliche. But I can tell
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Speaker 3: you from my experience in Iraq, I knew what my
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Speaker 3: experience and circumstances were every minute I was there, But
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Speaker 3: my wife and my kids back home didn't totally in
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Speaker 3: the dark. Completely. And of course you tend to perhaps
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Speaker 3: think the worst.
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Speaker 1: Oh you project so I mean you watch the news,
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Speaker 1: Oh my god, there's bomb flowing up, there's IEDs on
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Speaker 1: the roadside. Is my husband involved in that? Yeah? I
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Speaker 1: can see that all.
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Speaker 3: So absolutely, families make a commitment to so I want
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Speaker 3: to emphasize that. But again, we have it's a free event,
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Speaker 3: free for anyone to attend. We're going to have free food,
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Speaker 3: free parking, We're going to have entertainment, there's a kid zone,
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Speaker 3: and we have one hundred service providers across a wide
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Speaker 3: range of services that our veterans could take advantage of.
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Speaker 3: And you know, many folks either don't realize what benefits
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Speaker 3: are available to them. And one thing that we often
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Speaker 3: have to help our veterans overcome is the thought that
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Speaker 3: if they apply for benefits, they're somehow taking benefits away
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Speaker 3: from a more deserving veteran. And nothing could be more
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Speaker 3: than more than inaccurate. You earned that, and so come
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Speaker 3: down and enjoy some time some camaraderie with your fellow
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Speaker 3: Service Amendment members, your brothers and sisters and arms, and
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Speaker 3: explore all the benefits and opportunities that are they're available
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Speaker 3: for you.
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Speaker 1: You're worthy of those benefits. I mean they have, our
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Speaker 1: elected officials have set the table for you to come
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Speaker 1: and sit and feast on the large ass that they
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Speaker 1: have understood that you are in need of. I've been
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Speaker 1: hearing that, Glenn for years and years, and I understand
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Speaker 1: the place where those veterans come from and say, no, no,
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Speaker 1: I don't want to take away from someone who is
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Speaker 1: maybe more worthy or more needy than.
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Speaker 3: Me, and that nothing could be further from the truth.
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Speaker 3: You earned it, you deserve it, and you mentioned elected officials.
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Speaker 3: I want to give a shout out to a couple
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Speaker 3: of our partners, starting with the Hamilton County Boarder County Commissioners.
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Speaker 3: Actually it was Commissioner Aliciavaries who approached my predecessor three
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Speaker 3: years ago with this idea and they have just been
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Speaker 3: such amazing help and sponsors of this organization, along with
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Speaker 3: the dav National headquarters right over in northern Kentucky Duke Energy.
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Speaker 3: And again, as I said, we're going to have one
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Speaker 3: hundred service providers there. So just an amazing event.
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Speaker 2: It is.
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Speaker 1: Again I love the word free, Glenn. I mentioned that
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Speaker 1: all the time here in the Morning show. But free food,
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Speaker 1: free parking, family friendly kids are invited. Everyone's there to
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Speaker 1: celebrate the American veteran plus the resources that are there
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Speaker 1: for my veterans' friends and their families.
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Speaker 3: And it's r if I could, but there's one more thing,
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Speaker 3: of course, it's America's two hundred and fiftieth care looks
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Speaker 3: loose sight of that. So just prior to the event,
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Speaker 3: we're going to do the ribbon cutting at nine to
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Speaker 3: fifty and the gates open at ten, But just prior
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Speaker 3: to that, we're doing an Honor America parade. We're going
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Speaker 3: to start from Washington Park, which is just a couple
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Speaker 3: blocks away the Northwest corner right there at ELM and fourteenth.
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Speaker 3: We're inviting any veteran and their family member who would
14:30
Speaker 3: want to participate in that parade. We're going to form
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Speaker 3: up around that's a good military term, form up, and
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Speaker 3: we are going to depart that Northwest corner at exactly
14:39
Speaker 3: nine point thirty to be at TQL Stadium on time,
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Speaker 3: come and celebrate America's two hundred and fifty with.
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Speaker 1: God bless you. Glenn. Thank you so much, not just
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Speaker 1: for your service to our country, but for spending time
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Speaker 1: this morning and providing maybe some listeners out there with
14:53
Speaker 1: maybe at eighteen twenty year old smoking dope in the basement.
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Speaker 1: Get the dope out of your system, young man or woman.
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Speaker 1: They take a month, but you'll then be eligible to
15:01
Speaker 1: at least try to enlist. But seriously, though, a great
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Speaker 1: career opportunity for some young people who may be a
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Speaker 1: little lost in where they might want to go, or
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Speaker 1: true patriots out there who want to serve their country
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Speaker 1: proudly like Glenn. Glenn, thanks again, man, keep up the
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Speaker 1: great work, and a salute everybody over the Veteran Service
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Speaker 1: Commission here in Hamilton County for the work they're doing.
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Speaker 1: Saturday ten am at TQL Stadium. Show up a little
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Speaker 1: bit earlier in northwest corner of Washington Park and joined
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Speaker 1: the parade. Glenn, I hope you have a fantastic turnout.
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Speaker 3: For the thank youavention. Thank you, I appreciate it.
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Speaker 1: Keep up the great service to our country,