Latest / Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk / The H-Train Show Mike Richman—Journalism, Veterans & Washington Football History

Transcript

The H-Train Show Mike Richman—Journalism, Veterans & Washington Football History · Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk

• 0:08
  The station where our veterans voices are heard.
• 0:12
  MBR talk. Hey, thanks for supporting our
• 0:15
  channel by watching and listening.
• 0:24
  Morning and welcome to the show it's RED Friday.
• 0:26
  Remember, everyone deployed, we hope you wore red today.
• 0:30
  Thank you for joining us and supporting our.
• 0:31
  Troops. We begin on the tracks, rails
• 0:34
  stretching beyond the horizon, each tie a memory, each rail a
• 0:39
  promise of where we might go. In the early years, our first
• 0:44
  logo appeared, a pioneer stepping onto the platform of
• 0:48
  possibility. Through seasons of growth,
• 0:52
  change and challenge, we moved forward.
• 0:55
  The whistle of opportunity sounded and we boarded the train
• 0:59
  of time. The view changed with every
• 1:03
  mile, Some stations brief, others lasting.
• 1:07
  Our logos change too, not just emblems, but mile markers of
• 1:12
  evolution. Along the way, seats filled with
• 1:16
  teammates, mentors, veterans, and friends.
• 1:19
  Some stayed for the ride, others stepped off, leaving their
• 1:23
  legacy on the rails behind us. And still, the journey
• 1:27
  continues. The tracks ahead stretch into
• 1:30
  the unknown, familiar yet full of new promise.
• 1:34
  What matters most is how we travel with purpose, with grit,
• 1:39
  with heart. Because the journey matters, the
• 1:42
  movement matters. And the legacy of those logos,
• 1:47
  every year, every show, lives on in the rhythm of these rails.
• 1:51
  So here we are once again, all aboard.
• 1:54
  The whistle blows, the tracks call together.
• 1:58
  We ride. We are the H train show showing
• 2:03
  veterans programs beyond the VA since 2015.
• 4:58
  Freedom Fighters, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen,
• 5:01
  welcome and it's Red Friday, September 25th.
• 5:06
  And hey, good morning. Welcome to the show.
• 5:09
  Before we get to mail call, let's give you a quick look at
• 5:15
  what we're what we got coming up today.
• 5:18
  We're we've got soldier spotlight, then our top story
• 5:21
  looking at what's really happening with the VA contract
• 5:25
  cuts, HG and caveman, We'll have their week sports snapshot.
• 5:31
  We've got what? Then we'll have the drop the
• 5:34
  date, then you know the what the and back in the history of
• 5:39
  journalism, our interview of the week is journalist and author
• 5:43
  Mike Richmond. We also pay tribute to the
• 5:45
  troops with Captain Rosemary Bryant Mariner.
• 5:49
  And later we'll find out the story behind it, why we ended up
• 5:53
  with books, newspapers and magazines.
• 5:57
  Why so many options. Then I'll wrap everything up
• 6:00
  with final thoughts. But first we've got a few
• 6:02
  announcements to take care of and then we'll get to mail
• 6:07
  called. First thing I want to do before
• 6:08
  I forget is go ahead and play that Thrive.
• 6:12
  This is your 5 minutes and I I created a menu as well.
• 6:17
  Thrive handles the numbers. Thrive handles the numbers so we
• 6:21
  can focus on the mission from all of us at.
• 6:24
  MBR. Thank you, Thrive.
• 6:28
  All right, ladies at MBR, thank you, Thrive.
• 6:34
  It's OK. It's at JPEG.
• 6:39
  Here we go. All right, so that's that's what
• 6:41
  we have going on. Welcome.
• 6:45
  I wasn't expecting you to next week.
• 6:47
  This is a. Treat, I know I drove all the
• 6:50
  way from the map. Holy.
• 6:51
  Craps. Holy craps.
• 6:53
  I love it. I love.
• 6:53
  It I was late, yeah, I was right on time.
• 6:57
  It was right on time, it was right on time.
• 7:00
  But so just real quick, a couple of announcements that I've got
• 7:05
  to make. So MJ kind of motivated me to do
• 7:09
  this. So we, I, I've been working on
• 7:11
  this for two or three weeks. That's the reason why I haven't
• 7:14
  called you. I've been really busy.
• 7:16
  But I do, I do want to announce that October 27th, it's a
• 7:22
  Tuesday from 7:00 AM to 8:00. AMI will be at Infamous Pie at
• 7:30
  145 Nickel Ave. in Broomfield. I will be doing a 3D 3D printer
• 7:38
  presentation demo where I will show you the basics and I will
• 7:44
  teach you a short lesson while I'm demonstrating at the Rotary
• 7:49
  Club in Broomfield. That's exciting.
• 7:52
  Yeah. So just wanted to let everybody
• 7:54
  know and I'll, I'll try to take video, you know, but the video
• 7:59
  isn't exactly my first priority. So, you know, we'll go.
• 8:03
  To printing. It right exactly learn how to
• 8:05
  print right and you know and a lot of people are learning that
• 8:09
  3D printing yeah you know when when you think 3D printing you
• 8:13
  think oh man that's like 3004 thousand No, it's more
• 8:17
  affordable now OK in fact computers have actually went up
• 8:22
  really and 3D printers have went down yeah look if you go and buy
• 8:26
  a computer you're buying a piece of crap if you're not paying at
• 8:30
  least $1000 because just the RAM alone is almost like 500 bucks.
• 8:37
  You're speaking a language I don't understand.
• 8:39
  Well, maybe my listeners understand random bases.
• 8:44
  Trust you, whatever you say. And I'm like, OK, I believe it.
• 8:49
  But today, before we get started, let's let's hit it.
• 8:54
  It's mail call. Mail call.
• 9:04
  Attention mail call. Oh, my God, You got the mail.
• 9:09
  Welcome to Mail Call Your Soldier Spotlight.
• 9:12
  How For Chambers warrant officers Casey Frankoski and
• 9:18
  John Gracia the Second and Border Patrol agent Chris Luna,
• 9:22
  who died in the crash. We honor their service, their
• 9:25
  families and the crew who carries their memory forward.
• 9:32
  All right, Thank you, Beaker. And now, now we we get the real
• 9:36
  voice to talk about why we're spotlighting the soldier today.
• 9:41
  All right, everybody. It's time for a soldier
• 9:44
  spotlight. For a helicopter crew chief, the
• 9:47
  sound of rotor blades can mean a lot of things.
• 9:50
  It can mean another mission. It can mean your crew is ready.
• 9:53
  It can mean you're going back to the place where you know exactly
• 9:56
  what to do. For New York Army National Guard
• 9:59
  Sergeant First Class Jacob Pratt, that sound became
• 10:03
  something he wasn't sure he would experience from the crew
• 10:06
  chief SEAL again. On March 8th, 2024, Pratt was
• 10:12
  aboard the UH72 Lakota helicopter patrolling near the
• 10:16
  Texas border when it crashed. 2 New York Army National Guard
• 10:20
  aviators, Chief Warrant Officer to Casey, Casey Frykowski and
• 10:26
  chief Warrant Officer to John Gracia the second, and Border
• 10:33
  Patrol Agent Chris Luna were killed.
• 10:36
  Pratt survived with severe injuries that left him using a
• 10:39
  wheelchair. I want to pause there because
• 10:42
  this is also a story about three people who did not come home.
• 10:46
  We remember Casey from Kowski, John Gracia and Chris Luna as we
• 10:50
  recognize Jacob Pratt today. Pratt went through months of
• 10:55
  medical treatment and surgery, and after 12 years of service,
• 10:58
  he was medically retired from the Army in April 2025.
• 11:03
  He had served in Afghanistan and built a career in Army aviation.
• 11:07
  Now he was facing a very different kind of mission,
• 11:10
  recovery, change, and figuring out what life would look like
• 11:15
  next. Anyone who has had their life
• 11:18
  changed in an instant knows that a date on a retirement document
• 11:23
  doesn't settle everything inside of you.
• 11:26
  You can leave the service and still miss your crew.
• 11:28
  You can be grateful to be alive and still grieve the work you
• 11:31
  loved, the people you lost in the future you expected to have.
• 11:38
  His fellow aviators understood that flying was part of who
• 11:41
  Pratt was, so on September 17th of this year, they brought him
• 11:45
  back to the Army aviation Support Facility in Latham, NY,
• 11:50
  for a final flight aboard the UH-60 Blackhawk.
• 11:54
  A final flight is an aviation tradition that marks the end of
• 11:57
  a military career. Pratt already had been medically
• 12:00
  retired, but his colleagues wanted him and his family to
• 12:04
  have that moment together. He helped choose the people who
• 12:07
  would fly with him, who had made a difference during his career,
• 12:10
  and supported him. Think about what it must have
• 12:13
  taken to return to an aircraft after a crash that changed so
• 12:17
  many lives. I can't tell you exactly what
• 12:20
  Pratt felt as those rotors started.
• 12:23
  Only he can tell that story. But he did tell the Army that
• 12:27
  once they were in the air, the flight felt familiar.
• 12:31
  He said it was the closure he needed for his military career.
• 12:35
  The flight lasted about 45 minutes when the Blackhawk
• 12:38
  returned the trucks. The fire trucks at Albany
• 12:42
  International Airport marked its final arrival with an arc of
• 12:46
  water. Fellow aviators were there to
• 12:48
  welcome Pratt back, and his family was there, too.
• 12:51
  His sister Olivia had moved to Texas to support him through his
• 12:55
  recovery, and at the flight ceremony, the aviation community
• 12:59
  recognized her for everything she had done alongside of him.
• 13:03
  And I'm glad that they did. When a service member is hurt,
• 13:07
  family members often take the difficult work for the rest the
• 13:13
  rest of us never see. And there's a part of Jacob's
• 13:15
  story that really speaks to me. He and Olivia now Co host a
• 13:19
  podcast called Squeaky Wheels where they talk about the
• 13:22
  challenges of living with a disability.
• 13:25
  This is what we mean at military broadcast radio when we say that
• 13:28
  the voice can carry somewhere, someone into a new chapter.
• 13:33
  A microphone doesn't erase what happened.
• 13:36
  A conversation can't bring back the people who were lost.
• 13:39
  But telling the truth about a hard experience can help someone
• 13:42
  else feel less alone in theirs. Jacob Pratt's final flight
• 13:47
  honored the aviator he had been. His podcast gives him room to
• 13:50
  talk about the person he now is, and both matter.
• 13:54
  The people he served with made space for that moment in the
• 13:57
  air, and Olivia has stood beside him through the work of
• 14:00
  recovery. So today, we recognize Sergeant
• 14:03
  First Class Jacob Pratt, an Afghanistan veteran, a crew
• 14:08
  chief, a survivor and a broadcaster finding his voice in
• 14:12
  a new way. We also remember Chief Warrant
• 14:14
  Officer Casey Frankowski, Chief Warrant Officer John Gracia the
• 14:19
  second, and Border Patrol Agent Chris Luna.
• 14:22
  Their names belong in this story.
• 14:25
  To Jacob and Olivia, thank you. Thank you for speaking openly
• 14:30
  about the road you're on. And to the crew who brought
• 14:33
  Jacob back to the Sky One last time, thank you for showing what
• 14:37
  it means to stand by one of your own.
• 14:40
  I'm MJ and this has been your SOLDIER SPOTLIGHT keeping their
• 14:45
  stories alive. Awesome, awesome energy.
• 14:49
  It's so good to have you back. I feel the energy.
• 14:53
  Are you ready to eat today, HG? That kind of choked me up, this
• 14:56
  story, right? Yeah.
• 14:59
  Well, ladies and gentlemen, it is that time.
• 15:01
  Before we go on break, we're going to hit the top story.
• 15:05
  Welcome back to our weekly news broadcast.
• 15:08
  I'm your host and we have some massive updates today.
• 15:11
  Let's dive right into our top story.
• 15:16
  All right? Top story, everybody.
• 15:18
  It's time for it. And this one matters to veterans
• 15:23
  because we're talking about the Department of Veteran Affairs,
• 15:28
  taxpayer money and more than a billion dollars worth of
• 15:32
  government contracts. But before we get into this, I
• 15:35
  want to make something very clear.
• 15:37
  I'm not interested in making this a Republican story or
• 15:40
  Democrat story or any any side. OK.
• 15:44
  The reason why I'm bringing this up is I'm interested in what the
• 15:48
  VA said happened, what the VA Inspector General looked at, and
• 15:54
  what the Inspector General said actually happened.
• 15:58
  Getting good. Because those aren't exactly the
• 16:02
  same thing. Back in the early 2025, the
• 16:05
  Department of Affairs became reviewing thousands of contracts
• 16:10
  as part of the effort to reduce spending on contracts the
• 16:13
  department considered duplicative of the non mission
• 16:17
  critical. At the time, the VA announced
• 16:20
  that it was moving to terminate hundreds of contracts.
• 16:25
  Department said that the goal was pretty straightforward.
• 16:28
  Stop spending money on outside contracts for work that was
• 16:32
  unnecessary, duplicated somewhere else, or could be
• 16:36
  performed internally. Redirect the money towards
• 16:40
  veteran healthcare benefits and services.
• 16:45
  On March 23rd, 2025, the VA announced plans to terminate 585
• 16:52
  contracts. The department said those
• 16:55
  contracts had a total value of approximately 1.48 million
• 16:59
  billion sorry, and estimated that after accounting money
• 17:05
  already spent, roughly $900 million could be redirected
• 17:10
  towards service for veterans. the VA also said mission
• 17:14
  critical contracts were supposed to be protected.
• 17:17
  According to the department, contracts directly supporting
• 17:22
  veterans or providing services the VA couldn't perform itself
• 17:28
  were not supposed to be eliminated.
• 17:31
  Now, now we Fast forward to September 22nd, 2026. the VA
• 17:39
  Office of Inspector General released a review looking at
• 17:43
  what actually happened during the contract cutting process and
• 17:48
  this is where the numbers start getting interesting.
• 17:51
  The Inspector General examined 2210 contract actions that have
• 17:57
  been reviewed for possible elimination.
• 18:02
  Out of those 2210 actions, the OIG found that 435 contracts
• 18:11
  were actually terminated for a convenience.
• 18:15
  Those contracts were valued at approximately $1.1 billion.
• 18:20
  The rest were either reinstated or ultimately never terminated.
• 18:24
  So when you hear different numbers associated with the
• 18:28
  story, 585 contracts, 435 contracts, 1.8 billion dollars,
• 18:36
  1.1 billion, or 900 million, those numbers aren't necessarily
• 18:42
  describing the same thing. Some numbers came from the VA
• 18:46
  original announcement, others reflect that the Inspector
• 18:50
  General later determine actually happened.
• 18:54
  And that distinction matters. The Inspector General also
• 18:58
  looked at something even more important than the number of
• 19:01
  contracts. Did the Did the VA have
• 19:04
  safeguard in place to keep important veteran services from
• 19:09
  accidentally getting caught up in these cuts?
• 19:12
  According to the OIG, the VA did not put a review procedures in
• 19:17
  place to review that risk. The Inspector General found that
• 19:21
  the VA generally followed federal contracting requirements
• 19:25
  when terminating contracts for convenience.
• 19:29
  Now, that's important because this wasn't an Inspector General
• 19:32
  report saying the entire process was reckless or that hundreds of
• 19:37
  critical veteran programs were simply eliminated without
• 19:40
  review. But the report did identify
• 19:43
  another problem communication. The Inspector General found
• 19:48
  inaccuracies and inaccuracies and information that the VA
• 19:53
  provided to Congress in May and July of 2025.
• 19:58
  According to the OIG, part of the problem was unfamiliarity
• 20:03
  with the federal contracting terminology.
• 20:07
  That that that shocker. That may sound like government
• 20:11
  paperwork, but think about why it matters.
• 20:16
  There's a big difference between a contract that somebody
• 20:18
  considered terminating, contract somebody recommended
• 20:23
  terminating, a contract that was temporary targeted and later
• 20:28
  reinstated, and a contract that was actually terminated.
• 20:33
  If all of those get thrown in the same bucket, suddenly the
• 20:39
  numbers are being reported to Congress and eventually to the
• 20:43
  American people. I can give you a very different
• 20:47
  picture of what actually happened.
• 20:49
  The OIG says that the VA eventually provided Congress
• 20:53
  with an updated and clear list in April of 2026.
• 21:01
  And here's another detail worth mentioning.
• 21:04
  Also, the Inspector General made zero recommendations for
• 21:07
  corrective action in this report.
• 21:10
  That's significant because OIG reports often include
• 21:14
  recommendations telling an agency what needs to be fixed.
• 21:19
  I get that from my doctor every time I leave the hospital.
• 21:22
  This one didn't. the VA executive director of
• 21:28
  procurement also agreed with inspectors general findings, so
• 21:34
  that should. So what should veterans take
• 21:37
  away from all of this? Like, am I babbling here?
• 21:41
  No, the VA really did terminate hundreds of contracts.
• 21:46
  The Inspector General final count was 435 contracts action
• 21:51
  valued at approximately 1.1 billion.
• 21:54
  Second, the original numbers announced while the process was
• 21:58
  happening did not perfectly match what ultimately occurred.
• 22:04
  Some contracts considered for termination was reinstated or
• 22:08
  never terminated. 3rd, according to Inspector General, the VA did
• 22:13
  have a review procedures designed to reduce the risk of
• 22:16
  eliminating critical services. And 4th, the VA did make
• 22:20
  mistakes on how some of the information was reported to
• 22:24
  Congress. That's part I think deserves a
• 22:28
  little bit of attention because when we're talking about
• 22:31
  Department of Affairs, numbers aren't just numbers behind those
• 22:35
  controls. It's healthcare, it's
• 22:38
  technology, it's administration, benefits, protective support
• 22:42
  services, and ultimately the people who depend on the VA
• 22:47
  every single day. At the same time, veterans
• 22:50
  should absolutely expect the VA to look for waste.
• 22:55
  If taxpayers are paying for duplicate services, unnecessary
• 23:00
  contracts, or something VA employees can reasonably perform
• 23:03
  themselves, we should want something asking why we're
• 23:08
  paying for it. But veterans should also expect
• 23:12
  transparency as well. If you tell Congress and the
• 23:16
  American public that you've cancelled certain number of
• 23:20
  contracts and saved a certain number of money, those numbers
• 23:25
  need to be exactly what you say they mean.
• 23:30
  That's why independent oversight matters. the VA makes its case.
• 23:36
  The Inspector General checks the work.
• 23:41
  That's just a long story, and congregate asks questions, and
• 23:45
  then the rest of those get to look at the evidence and decide
• 23:49
  what to think. You don't have to turn every
• 23:52
  government story into a Republican versus Democrat
• 23:56
  versus liberal, whatever you believe.
• 23:59
  Sometimes the better question is much simpler.
• 24:03
  What did they say that they were going to do?
• 24:06
  What did they actually do and how much money was actually
• 24:09
  involved? And most importantly, and this
• 24:13
  is for everybody here, did veterans lose service because of
• 24:18
  it? On this particular review, the
• 24:20
  inspection general found problems with the accuracy of
• 24:24
  some of the information reported to Congress.
• 24:27
  But it also found that the VA had implemented safeguards and
• 24:31
  generally followed federal requirements during the
• 24:35
  terminant process. That's the complete picture.
• 24:38
  Not a headline designed to make one side look bad.
• 24:41
  Not one design to make you look good.
• 24:45
  Just what the general inspector found.
• 24:49
  And when we're talking about agencies responsible for serving
• 24:52
  American veterans, that is exactly the kind of
• 24:56
  accountability we should demand. And this is my top story.
• 25:02
  And one thing that I'm just going to just going to end this
• 25:05
  and then we're going to go to the sports report.
• 25:08
  OK? One thing I really want to
• 25:10
  clarify is a lot of veterans, we go to the VA hospital and we get
• 25:15
  so irritated with like the healthcare and everything.
• 25:19
  You know, remember, there are people out there that don't have
• 25:23
  healthcare at all. So we are blessed in that.
• 25:25
  So remember, we didn't serve for anything.
• 25:29
  We didn't ask for anything. They provided for us.
• 25:33
  Remember that. But do remember this, we know
• 25:37
  that Benefits doesn't talk to healthcare.
• 25:40
  So if Benefits doesn't talk to healthcare, then how in hell do
• 25:45
  you expect them to talk to the government and be precisely,
• 25:50
  exactly correct every single time if they can't even do it at
• 25:55
  home? That's what my that's what I'm
• 25:59
  trying to say. So don't be too surprised and
• 26:04
  don't be too upset because this is very common.
• 26:08
  Hell, I'll talk about later in the program, but it's very
• 26:12
  common for us to have miscommunication with friends
• 26:18
  and family as well. It's just life.
• 26:20
  So Please remember that and HJ now.
• 26:25
  I was just going to say you made an excellent point when you said
• 26:27
  take Republican, Libertarian, Democrat out of it, because this
• 26:32
  issue is about funding. It's about our government and
• 26:36
  how our government votes and how important it is for us to come
• 26:40
  together despite the parties. Because I know as a healthcare
• 26:44
  worker, veterans have been affected right by this.
• 26:47
  Right. And, you know, and what this
• 26:49
  report says it does, it makes sense, you know?
• 26:53
  It does. And, and I think the government
• 26:55
  makes it very difficult for agencies like the VA to get
• 26:59
  funding and to help our veterans.
• 27:02
  And so if we can come together and call our congressmen and our
• 27:05
  lawmakers and demand better health care for veterans, right?
• 27:11
  Oh, I agree. I agree.
• 27:13
  And you know, I made AI made a quote earlier this week and it's
• 27:17
  just the truth. And think about it, everybody
• 27:20
  has an issue. Everybody OK, We want the
• 27:25
  government to quit overreaching and getting in their business.
• 27:30
  But yeah, we want them to support us.
• 27:33
  Well, they should support us because we pay our taxes.
• 27:36
  They work for us. Right.
• 27:37
  I mean, what's the point of having a government if they
• 27:40
  don't? Take or yeah exactly work for us
• 27:43
  that exactly that's what I mean. But you you can't we we know
• 27:48
  this in relationships. You can't expect to get
• 27:51
  something from somebody without giving something.
• 27:53
  Well, we gave up our votes well, right.
• 27:56
  No, but I'm just saying. Right now in our country, people
• 27:59
  are more concerned about how they're labeling themselves
• 28:03
  politically, right, rather than focusing on the actual tasks at
• 28:08
  hand and what our veterans need and what our communities need
• 28:12
  that they're losing sight of what these programs were
• 28:15
  designed for, right? I mean, we're in this political,
• 28:19
  you know. And I agree, I'm just I'm.
• 28:21
  Just I know you agree. I mean, we preface everything we
• 28:24
  don't. Care about I'm just, I'm just
• 28:26
  saying it, it just, it just sucks because it's kind of like
• 28:29
  the rule of thumb. You know, you, we, we, we want
• 28:33
  this government to support us, but yet you know there anytime
• 28:38
  you support anybody, there's always going to be a contractor
• 28:41
  stipulations or anything. Absolutely.
• 28:43
  And HJ as as a younger, you're from the younger generation, how
• 28:46
  do you see this? How do you see our government?
• 28:49
  What's your perspective? It's kind of bleak.
• 28:53
  I don't really think we that our government at any level really
• 28:58
  works for the people. We've it, it's, it doesn't
• 29:04
  really matter what the political party is.
• 29:06
  IA lot of our institutions have just failed.
• 29:10
  And we seem to be so caught up with the idea that we need to
• 29:14
  oh, it's, it's, we just need to put the right people in charge
• 29:16
  of them. But it's the the institutions
• 29:19
  themselves are just so broken that we need to, we need to
• 29:23
  change them. Is it disheartening as a as
• 29:26
  someone who's in a younger? Generation, it just more and
• 29:29
  more every day you just see such a disconnect from what the
• 29:33
  general public wants to what politicians, whether it be in
• 29:36
  Washington or just in local towns are doing.
• 29:39
  Like what? Like how everyone wants.
• 29:44
  Like I think it's a very common opinion that everyone wants this
• 29:47
  war with our land to be over so we can get the straight reopen,
• 29:51
  bring gas prices down and that just won't stop.
• 29:55
  And then like I see it at like a local level where you'll have
• 29:58
  like entire towns of people show up to a town hall and, you know,
• 30:04
  make their voices heard and demand like, Hey, we'd like we
• 30:06
  don't want this data center being built here.
• 30:08
  We or we don't want this done. And it doesn't, it doesn't
• 30:11
  matter. Like they just, it just goes at
• 30:14
  go. They just go ahead and do it
• 30:15
  within. Government's gotten too big for
• 30:19
  their bridges. Well, you know, it's the
• 30:22
  government is very good with loopholes.
• 30:24
  It's, it's the, the, oh, don't get me started.
• 30:29
  You know what a good friend of mine told me once that you know
• 30:32
  what, everybody interprets the Bible differently.
• 30:36
  And I, I really do believe, and it's just my belief.
• 30:41
  I really do believe that people, they interpret the Constitution
• 30:46
  in their own translation. I really do believe that.
• 30:50
  And I think maybe it might be because a kind of like mixed
• 30:53
  language, you know? I don't know.
• 30:55
  The Constitution's pretty straightforward.
• 30:58
  I was thinking about that this morning.
• 31:00
  I'm joining. I'm going.
• 31:02
  I started the process for the Daughters of the American
• 31:04
  Revolution. Oh yeah, I'm.
• 31:06
  Not yes. My 5th grade grandfather was on
• 31:08
  the Congressional Congress and he, he fought the Revolutionary
• 31:12
  War. He, he actually signed the
• 31:14
  Constitution. Yeah.
• 31:15
  So yeah, you brought. That that's awesome.
• 31:19
  It really is before we go break because I don't want I don't
• 31:23
  want to screw HG you you've got the a quick sports update for
• 31:27
  us. I do.
• 31:32
  All right, let's get into it. A sports report and we got a
• 31:36
  couple of post seasons about the start.
• 31:38
  We're going to start with the WNBA because the official
• 31:40
  playoff bracket is set. I got a breakdown of each match
• 31:44
  up. Some strengths a week.
• 31:46
  This isn't who I think is going to win.
• 31:47
  So the one eighth match is actually a rematch of the finals
• 31:51
  from two years ago. It's going to be between the
• 31:53
  Minnesota Lynx and the New York Liberty.
• 31:56
  NY has struggled at points this year to find some consistency,
• 32:00
  but they're a veteran team with plenty of playoff experience.
• 32:03
  They are somewhat lacking in depth on the bench.
• 32:07
  And while Brianna Stewart is coming off another great C and
• 32:10
  then John Quail Jones has been an anchor for that team at the
• 32:13
  five spot. Sabrina Ionesque, who's coming
• 32:16
  off a career low and three-point percentage.
• 32:18
  So that's something that they're gonna hopefully they hope she
• 32:22
  can get the jump up in the postseason.
• 32:26
  On the flip side, the Lynx are another team.
• 32:28
  They've got plenty of vets that have played in big games, the
• 32:33
  big post season series and they've been extremely
• 32:35
  consistent all league, all season long.
• 32:38
  They've entered the playoffs with the best record in the
• 32:40
  league and they're tied for first with the best point
• 32:43
  differential in the league, their top five and most major
• 32:47
  statistical categories. Few weaknesses as small as they
• 32:51
  are rookie star Olivia Miles might you know you can put the
• 32:56
  pressure on her have her struggle to deal with the extra
• 32:59
  intensity and pressure of the post season to greatly affect
• 33:03
  the efficiency of Minnesota's offense.
• 33:07
  And another strange note. They have a worst record at home
• 33:11
  and that's the one seed you're going to have home court
• 33:13
  advantage throughout, but they've been better on the road
• 33:17
  as a team. However, with all that being
• 33:19
  said, my predictions Minnesota sweeps the 2 seven matches are
• 33:23
  going to be between the Dallas Wings who are coming out of the
• 33:25
  rebuild mode and kind of in that first year of being a playoff
• 33:28
  contender again. You've got young guards,
• 33:30
  Pagebeckers and as he Fudd as well as vets like Erika
• 33:33
  Goombawala and Jessica Shepherd who has propelled this team for
• 33:36
  their best regular season record and team history.
• 33:40
  They do lack some size in the front court and rely pretty
• 33:42
  heavily on Page touching the ball each possession.
• 33:46
  Their opponents are the second year team that the Golden State
• 33:50
  Valkyries. They enter the post season with
• 33:52
  a league best scoring defense that's just been stifling
• 33:55
  opponents all year, led to A32 win season.
• 33:59
  It's his second best record in the league.
• 34:02
  They can generate a lot of points off of turnovers, force a
• 34:06
  lot of missed shots. They're also, you know, top.
• 34:10
  They're like the top three team and all of the opponent shooting
• 34:13
  percentages and simultaneously they're one of the best teams at
• 34:18
  protecting the basketball. They've got really great play
• 34:23
  championship DNA because they play exceptional defense.
• 34:28
  Where they might have some weaknesses is they don't really
• 34:32
  have like a clear cut superstar. And if they are having a bad
• 34:37
  game defensively, they do have a really their offense isn't very
• 34:43
  good. It's also the second worst in
• 34:45
  the league, but they've just gotten by and playing great
• 34:47
  defense all year. With all that being said, my
• 34:51
  prediction is Golden State in three.
• 34:55
  The three sixth match up is going to be I think the best of
• 34:58
  the first round. It's the Las Vegas Aces versus
• 35:01
  the Indiana Fever. The fever with the best front or
• 35:05
  back court duo in the league versus the best player in the
• 35:09
  world, Asia Wilson. Asia is likely on the way to
• 35:11
  winning her fifth MVP wants to add her 4th title to her Hall of
• 35:16
  Fame career. She's going to be aided by a
• 35:18
  phenomenal veteran guard duo Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young.
• 35:23
  These most 3 have been together for a long time.
• 35:25
  They've won number of championships, playoff games,
• 35:28
  all of that together. They've got plenty of
• 35:31
  experience, but they are going to be without an important star
• 35:35
  there in Melissa Smith, which does leave a lot of work for
• 35:39
  Asia in the front court. On the flip side, Caitlin Clark
• 35:42
  and Kelsey Mitchell are both an MVP caliber players this year,
• 35:46
  leading the best offense in the league.
• 35:49
  And while Clark has been absolutely phenomenal with her
• 35:53
  assists this year, second most in the league, she has had some
• 35:56
  turnover problems as well. She has really cleaned it up
• 35:59
  down the stretch, something that they're going to want to avoid,
• 36:02
  but when the because that has sort of derailed the fever in
• 36:06
  some games, but if they can avoid those, they will be a very
• 36:09
  tough team to get out. My prediction is still Vegas in
• 36:13
  three. Another 4-5 matchup is between
• 36:15
  the Mystics of Washington and the Atlanta Dream.
• 36:20
  The Mystics are a very young team.
• 36:22
  They're a bit ahead of schedule that have made it this far
• 36:25
  behind the really great defense. It's the second best in the
• 36:29
  league. The dream have an elite back or
• 36:31
  dour and they're so dangerous to most of the fast break, fast
• 36:34
  break and pick and roll. And this match up I got to go
• 36:38
  with Atlanta sweeping just cuz the dream.
• 36:40
  I got a very young team and I don't don't trust them as much
• 36:45
  with their inexperience in the post season.
• 36:47
  Over to the MLB. The playoff field isn't quite
• 36:51
  set, but we did have three more teams clinch playoff spots last
• 36:54
  night. The Guardians have secured their
• 36:57
  third straight playoff berth. A shutout and 12K night from the
• 37:00
  bullpen help them achieve A1A victory over Boston and clinched
• 37:04
  that spot. Kyle Teal scored three times,
• 37:08
  including giving his team's only home as the White Sox crush the
• 37:11
  Royals 9 to 1. And now after three straight 100
• 37:16
  plus loss seasons, 324 total losses over that span of time,
• 37:21
  the White Sox are in the postseason and Pete Crow
• 37:24
  Armstrong just became the third player to join the 4040 club.
• 37:27
  That's forty home runs and 40 bases stolen as the Cubs take
• 37:31
  down the Marlins to the one and officially earned their spot in
• 37:35
  the Pennant chase. Good news for Yankees fans.
• 37:38
  Aaron Judge himself said he intends to be ready for the
• 37:42
  postseason. There was a bit of a mix up.
• 37:44
  His manager, Aaron Boone, said that his hamstringer is a little
• 37:48
  serious, casting doubt on whether he'd be ready to go for
• 37:52
  the first Wild Card series. But Judge said he's going to be
• 37:56
  good. And if they're projected
• 37:58
  opponent, the Boston Red Sox, if that actually holds up and is
• 38:02
  their opponent, they might be without their All Star first
• 38:05
  baseman Wilson Contreras, who says he still can't swing a bat
• 38:08
  without paying a week after being hit in the hand with a
• 38:12
  pitch. Lucas Spence became the third
• 38:15
  player ever that hit his first three career home runs in the
• 38:18
  same game as he helped the Astros win 7 to 5 to keep pace
• 38:21
  in their race. And so then there's the
• 38:23
  breakdown of our remaining races in the MLB.
• 38:27
  We've got the AL West. Looks like the Astros and
• 38:31
  Rangers are tied right now, but the Astros do have the
• 38:34
  tiebreaker, the AL Central. The Guardians lead the White Sox
• 38:38
  by one game, but the White Sox do hold the tiebreaker should
• 38:42
  they catch up in tie for records.
• 38:44
  And then our final and a wild card spot.
• 38:47
  The Phillies lead the Diamondbacks by two games.
• 38:50
  Phillies final series is against the Rays.
• 38:52
  The Diamondbacks have the Padres over the college football.
• 38:57
  Some injury news and things like that going around the league.
• 39:01
  Deion Sanders says he removed several players from the team
• 39:05
  for conduct that was detrimental to the team but did not discuss
• 39:08
  close who those players were. This was follows a 41 to 7
• 39:12
  trouncing that they received at the hands of Northwestern.
• 39:15
  Penn State's going to be without their star wideout Kobe Howard
• 39:19
  for some time as he deals with a knee injury.
• 39:21
  No timeline is available as of now, but Penn State about to get
• 39:24
  into Big 10 place. That's a big blow for them.
• 39:27
  And Louisville lost a key piece on defense as linebacker Antonio
• 39:31
  Watts is going to be done for the season.
• 39:35
  And then we also got some new words from the CFP committee
• 39:39
  that I just think also just screams more SEC bias.
• 39:42
  As they said, they're going to now examine strength of
• 39:44
  conference when determining who gets in to the College Football
• 39:51
  Playoff. Some big matchups to watch for.
• 39:56
  Well, dude, we're, we're, we're, we're past the segment.
• 39:59
  We got to go commercial. OK, I'll go.
• 40:01
  I'll just skip over the big matchups.
• 40:03
  We'll go to the on THE PHONE news and get out of here.
• 40:05
  NFL Joey Porter Junior, who's in the middle of a contract hold
• 40:08
  out with the Pittsburgh Steelers, says he will play this
• 40:10
  season, but the timeline is still TBD.
• 40:12
  Sam Darnell is eyeing a return this Sunday for the Seahawks as
• 40:15
  they take on the Commanders. No official word then if you'll
• 40:17
  actually play yet. The NFL handed out some fines to
• 40:23
  Kyle. You Kyle's use check and Matt
• 40:25
  Gonclaves for celebrations imitating chugging a beer, which
• 40:29
  is in my opinion, stupid when you have so many beer
• 40:32
  sponsorships, but whatever. And then finally we'll go over
• 40:35
  our fantasy starts and sits of the week we've got Justin
• 40:38
  Herbert is one of is my start of the week at quarterback.
• 40:42
  I know he's had a bad match up at the Bills defense has been
• 40:44
  pretty bad this season. Third worst in past yards
• 40:46
  allowed in the fifth worst scoring defense or two games
• 40:49
  quit. Sean Jenkins is going to be
• 40:51
  going up at the Carolina run defense who's been the worst in
• 40:53
  the league this season. He's the start.
• 40:55
  Josh Downs is now the wide receiver one in Indianapolis and
• 40:59
  the Houston Texans defense has given up two big performances.
• 41:01
  The wide receiver ones against the Bills and the Bengals.
• 41:05
  Travis Kelsey's going to be the start of the week against the
• 41:07
  poorest Miami defense who's given up a touchdown to the
• 41:10
  tight end one each of the first two games this season.
• 41:13
  My start of the week at defense is the Vikings.
• 41:15
  Tampa has had a huge ball security issue and Baker's been
• 41:18
  very bad against the blitz. Nobody blitzes more than Brian
• 41:21
  Flores. My sits of the week, Baker
• 41:23
  Mayfield, it's going to be the sit of the week just for the
• 41:25
  reason he's playing the Vikings. I think he's going to turn the
• 41:27
  ball over a lot. My sit of the week at running
• 41:30
  back DeAndre Swift is going to be going up against the Eagles
• 41:34
  with his third string quarterback.
• 41:35
  You're going to see a lot of stacked box looks is there.
• 41:37
  I don't think the Bears offense is going to be very efficient.
• 41:40
  Stefan Dicks has been great the past two weeks, but he's going
• 41:42
  to be in my sit with a backup quarterback playing against a
• 41:45
  very good Seattle defense. Jake Ferguson.
• 41:48
  I know it's tempting to start them after coming off A2
• 41:50
  touchdown games, but the are going to be in Brazil.
• 41:53
  Keep going, keep going. What's the bigger part?
• 41:57
  The Cowboys are going to be on Brazil and a crappy field
• 41:59
  against the better defense. This whole matchup has the
• 42:02
  matchings of a very sloppy game and then my sit of the week is
• 42:07
  the Steelers defense with how bad their offense is and the
• 42:10
  improvement of the sensei defense.
• 42:12
  I'm seeing a lot of short fields for the Bengals and the Steelers
• 42:15
  being on the field a lot, which does not bode well for posting a
• 42:18
  good defensive score. Thanks HG.
• 42:24
  Dude, 9 minutes, 9 minutes you did 9 minutes, 5 minutes.
• 42:34
  We we got cut the interviews. We got cut the interview with
• 42:38
  rich early because of it. Hey, everything's fine.
• 42:42
  Let's go on a music break quit music break.
• 42:44
  And when we come back here, gentlemen, we're going to be
• 42:46
  hitting the what the we'll try to make that quick because we
• 42:50
  have a we have a real deep on on the drop the dates.
• 42:54
  So whatever you do, stay with us.
• 42:56
  Don't go away. You listen to this show, the
• 42:57
  highlights, all the nonprofit programs out there beyond the
• 43:00
  VA. You listen to the A Strange show
• 43:02
  right here on Letting Our Veterans Voice Be Heard station
• 43:05
  in BR. The station where our veterans
• 50:25
  voices are heard. MBR talk.
• 50:29
  Hey, thanks for supporting our channel by watching and
• 50:31
  listening. All right, and we're back.
• 50:43
  Ladies and gentlemen, once again you listen to the show, the
• 50:46
  highlights, all the non profit programs out there beyond you
• 50:49
  listen to the H train show on the MBR and with me sitting in
• 50:57
  Amber had a appointment today so she couldn't be with us.
• 51:00
  So it was a treat one week early and she's going to be here next
• 51:05
  week. Also, MJ sitting with me and HG
• 51:10
  behind the glass sort of speak. But ladies and gentlemen, it is
• 51:17
  the what? The segment.
• 51:18
  What the WTF? This is going completely off the
• 51:24
  rails strain. Help me out here.
• 51:29
  I'll try to beaker or what the did it not come up as a video
• 51:36
  there? Yeah.
• 51:37
  Also, there's just no sound. Oh, that's kind of weird.
• 51:43
  OK, well. It says.
• 51:46
  US. Yeah, so.
• 51:47
  Portable urinal so. I guess now in boot camp, if
• 51:51
  you're a woman, they are issuing you a wizard, a shiwi.
• 51:57
  A shiwi. Yes, yes.
• 52:01
  So and then. What the WT?
• 52:04
  Fox. Exactly.
• 52:06
  Tell me about. That is that why?
• 52:08
  Hell, they don't even issue tampons during CF Why would they
• 52:11
  issue something like this? So this is what this commander
• 52:15
  is reporting and we have some of the the comments there if you
• 52:19
  want to read those. MJ, since you have a bit better,
• 52:21
  you can't. See it HJ?
• 52:23
  We're gonna, I'm gonna revert to him.
• 52:25
  Oh, OK. I can't so we got 1, user says.
• 52:28
  I thought you were supposed to take the white plug out so you
• 52:31
  can point the stream away from. You wait, Wait.
• 52:33
  What is a she We? Hold on.
• 52:35
  I need to know what a she we is. Nothing right there.
• 52:39
  Oh, it looks like a funnel. Code.
• 52:41
  Yeah. It's like a funnel.
• 52:43
  You put it over there and then you boom.
• 52:46
  Oh, that's so weird. Keep going.
• 52:48
  All right, What else do they say about this?
• 52:51
  Got one that says Nah, I'll just do the squat.
• 52:54
  Somebody else said. I was issued in 2007.
• 52:58
  Oh that means I came pre installed.
• 53:02
  It's called the Huey. Oh the Huey I I miss this whole
• 53:06
  funnel. Why does it look like there's
• 53:08
  like a whole of a handle on both?
• 53:11
  Ends that's OK, so I am don't I'm speechless right now now
• 53:16
  that I've seen what this thing looks like and then it has that
• 53:20
  little funnel cup what do you do with?
• 53:22
  That right is that. Supposed to go somewhere.
• 53:25
  Right. I don't like it.
• 53:30
  Somebody said, I'm pretty sure I got one of these AutoZone.
• 53:37
  So somebody said use this on my first deployment and saved me so
• 53:41
  many times. Way better than trying to squat
• 53:43
  in full gear and then. So you can wear this in your
• 53:49
  pants. Yeah, and it won't play.
• 53:52
  It has no sound. That's weird.
• 53:55
  I mean. It's just muted.
• 53:59
  It won't even give me like an option to unmute it.
• 54:02
  OK, I'm bewildered right now. All right, well, it.
• 54:05
  Literally looks like something you would get from Pep Boys from
• 54:09
  the auto store to change your brake fluid.
• 54:11
  Right. Yeah, like a wall change or
• 54:14
  something. Wow, you just worried about
• 54:17
  cleaning your canteens, people. Now, women, not only do you have
• 54:22
  to clean the canteens, but you have to clean your wizard.
• 54:26
  All right. Well, that is our what the that
• 54:32
  is our what the segment and now it is that time for MJ to give
• 54:37
  us a history report. I have more questions.
• 54:42
  Today in history. OK everybody, it's time for Drop
• 54:56
  the Date, where we take today's date, go back in history and
• 54:59
  find out why it matters. And since today's guest is Mike
• 55:03
  Richmond, who is a journalist, I wanted to see if September 25th
• 55:09
  had anything to do with journalism.
• 55:11
  And boy did I find one. HGH, I said, HG, it's OK.
• 55:18
  All right, so today we're going back more than 300 years before
• 55:22
  the United States was even the United States.
• 55:25
  I probably need more. On this date in Boston, the
• 55:29
  first issue of a newspaper called the Public Occurrences,
• 55:32
  both foreign and domestic, was published.
• 55:35
  It's generally recognized as the first multi page newspaper
• 55:39
  published in American colonies. Now think about what journalism
• 55:43
  looked like in 1690. There was no television, there
• 55:48
  was no radio, and there was definitely no TikTok, Facebook
• 55:53
  or somebody sitting in their basement arguing with strangers
• 55:57
  on the Internet about she wheeze.
• 55:59
  Probably, you know, if something happened somewhere else, you
• 56:03
  couldn't just pull your phone out and find find out about it 5
• 56:07
  seconds later. Information traveled slowly, and
• 56:10
  rumors could travel right along with it.
• 56:13
  Publisher Benjamin Harris had an interesting idea.
• 56:17
  Collect important information, put it into print, and give
• 56:20
  people something they could actually read and discuss.
• 56:24
  Does this sound familiar? That's journalism.
• 56:28
  But here's where the story really gets interesting.
• 56:30
  The newspaper lasted exactly 1 issue.
• 56:34
  That's right, one issue. The colonial government wasn't
• 56:38
  happy about the newspaper being published without its approval,
• 56:41
  and authorities ordered the publication suppressed.
• 56:44
  And just like that, America's first attempt at continuing the
• 56:48
  newspaper was finished almost as quickly as it started.
• 56:52
  Think about that for a second. More than three centuries ago,
• 56:56
  journalists were already dealing with questions we still argue
• 57:01
  about today. Who gets to tell the story?
• 57:05
  Who describes what's true? How much freedom should
• 57:08
  journalists have? And what happens when the story
• 57:11
  being reported makes somebody powerful uncomfortable?
• 57:15
  Those questions didn't begin with cable news or social media.
• 57:19
  We've been wrestling with them since journalism first started
• 57:22
  taking shape in America. And September 25th has another
• 57:26
  connection to journalism. September 25th, 1929.
• 57:31
  That's the day Barbara Walters was born.
• 57:35
  Walters would become one of the most recognizable broadcast
• 57:39
  journalists and interviewers American television history has
• 57:43
  ever seen. She interviewed presidents,
• 57:46
  world leaders, celebrities, and some of the most influential and
• 57:49
  controversial people of our time.
• 57:52
  And whether you're talking about somebody printing a newspaper in
• 57:56
  Boston in 1690 or Barbara Walters sitting across from a
• 57:59
  world leader centuries later, there's something connecting
• 58:02
  them, the question a journalist has to be willing to ask one.
• 58:08
  Sometimes it's a simple question and sometimes it's an
• 58:11
  uncomfortable question, and sometimes the answer becomes the
• 58:15
  story. That's what makes today's Drop
• 58:18
  the Date fit our show especially well because our guest today
• 58:22
  spent his own year, years and career telling stories.
• 58:27
  Journalist Mike Richmond has covered sports veterans and the
• 58:31
  history surrounding Washington football.
• 58:33
  And we're going to talk about what he's learned from years of
• 58:36
  researching stories, interviewing people, and
• 58:39
  documenting history. Because here's something I've
• 58:42
  learned doing this show. History doesn't always announce
• 58:45
  itself when it's happening. Sometimes somebody has to
• 58:49
  recognize the story, ask the questions, and write it down to
• 58:52
  the rest of us. Don't forget it From one
• 58:56
  newspaper. Published on September 25th,
• 58:59
  1690 to Barbara Walters. To journalists like Mike
• 59:03
  Richmond, the technology has changed tremendously, but the
• 59:07
  mission hasn't changed nearly as much as you might think.
• 59:13
  Find the story, ask the question, Get the facts and tell
• 59:17
  people what happened. And that, ladies and gentlemen,
• 59:21
  is today's Drop, the date September 25th.
• 59:25
  All right, And with that being said, thank you for the MJ.
• 59:28
  We're going to go on another music break.
• 59:31
  And once we're off that music break, we'll be talking with
• 59:34
  Mike Richmond at the top of the hour.
• 59:37
  So whatever you do, stay with us.
• 59:38
  Don't go away. You're listening to show the
• 59:40
  highlights, all the nonprofit programs out there beyond the
• 59:42
  VA. You're listening to the
• 59:43
  instruction. But I keep on pushing through.
• 1:02:55
  we're back. Ladies and John, we're back and
• 1:02:59
  you're listening to the show, the highlights, all the
• 1:03:01
  nonprofit programs out there beyond the VA.
• 1:03:03
  You're listening to the AIDS train show and today, today my
• 1:03:10
  guest. Today is a.
• 1:03:11
  Journalist and an author, Mike Richmond.
• 1:03:15
  Mike has spent years documenting Washington football history and
• 1:03:19
  his newest look, Washington Pro Football Encyclopedia, Redskins
• 1:03:24
  and Commanders, has just hit the shelves.
• 1:03:28
  Mike also is the responsible for the VA article that was posted a
• 1:03:35
  while back. You know, I, I, I should have
• 1:03:38
  read that article, but that's a long article.
• 1:03:41
  But you know, one of the reasons why I wanted to bring him on is
• 1:03:45
  because sometimes in life we forget, just like we forget
• 1:03:51
  about teachers, you know, teachers, I respect teachers a
• 1:03:57
  whole big bunch because they are the reason why I'm able to read
• 1:04:01
  today, you know, And that's the reason why Mike's job is so
• 1:04:07
  incredibly important because he took a little nonprofit that
• 1:04:12
  just did radio and it was just introducing, you know, talk
• 1:04:17
  radio and what we do and that you know, and we ain't talking
• 1:04:22
  about 6 fish, we're talking about we got 12 fish.
• 1:04:26
  And in three years we have now 34 active shows.
• 1:04:32
  Now there's only two live shows here in the NBR studio.
• 1:04:35
  And that that's OK. You know, that bothered me at
• 1:04:38
  one time. But you know, not having the NBR
• 1:04:41
  studio here, it's almost like a goal for veterans and 1st
• 1:04:46
  responders that do broadcast. They're interested, they have
• 1:04:50
  that experience to come to a real broadcast.
• 1:04:54
  You know, might not be 104 through the fan or night news or
• 1:04:58
  something like that. But you know what, at least you
• 1:05:01
  get the opportunity and you get the chance to broadcast.
• 1:05:06
  Some people don't even get the chance to have one game in the
• 1:05:09
  NFL. That's the way I look at it.
• 1:05:12
  And ladies and gentlemen, yes, and ladies and gentlemen, so I,
• 1:05:16
  it gives me great pleasure to present the interview of the
• 1:05:21
  week, the interview of the week. Is brought to you by Jersey
• 1:05:26
  Mike's, a sub above. Video.
• 1:05:35
  All right, all right. Welcome.
• 1:05:37
  Mike, thank you for thank you for having a cup of coffee with
• 1:05:42
  us this morning. Oh, I, I am excited to be here.
• 1:05:45
  Joel, and thank you for that amazing, amazing introduction.
• 1:05:49
  You know, thinking back to that article that I wrote while I was
• 1:05:53
  at the VA and I was working in the Veterans Experience office
• 1:05:56
  at the time, and I had conceived of a, of a program and a pay a
• 1:06:01
  web page that it housed many PS as on the importance of programs
• 1:06:07
  and benefits for veterans. But I, I also looked at the
• 1:06:10
  different broadcast outlets around the country such as yours
• 1:06:13
  that were so important in getting the message out to
• 1:06:16
  veterans about their what, what's, what's going on that can
• 1:06:21
  help them and music as well that they would enjoy listening to
• 1:06:27
  and other types of news that they need to hear.
• 1:06:29
  So I was, I was very happy to, to feature military broadcast
• 1:06:33
  radio. And I was so flattered yesterday
• 1:06:36
  when you told me that I had made an impact.
• 1:06:39
  Well, I didn't even really know it that I had made an impact on
• 1:06:43
  so many people because of that article.
• 1:06:45
  And it just made me so happy to hear that.
• 1:06:49
  And I don't think a lot of people.
• 1:06:52
  Realize how important journalists did because that,
• 1:06:56
  that article, Mike, that, that, that, that, that impacted the
• 1:07:00
  world. I mean, that impacted a lot of
• 1:07:02
  veterans. So yeah, most definitely.
• 1:07:05
  Thank you. And you should definitely feel
• 1:07:07
  proud. MJ, this is Mike Richmond.
• 1:07:10
  Mike Richmond, this is MJ. She is the my here's my Ike and
• 1:07:16
  the Co host for the day. And we have a few questions.
• 1:07:20
  I'm gonna ask first question. I'll let her ask the next one.
• 1:07:24
  Before we get into the football aspect of it, tell me about your
• 1:07:28
  career and the Department of Veteran Affairs.
• 1:07:31
  Like what did you do there and what did the chapter of your
• 1:07:37
  career, what did that chapter of the career mean to you most?
• 1:07:42
  Sure. Well, let me back up a little
• 1:07:44
  bit. So I've been a journalist
• 1:07:46
  throughout my entire career. I've written for many, many
• 1:07:50
  different newspapers and other types of outlets.
• 1:07:54
  And I first started working for the federal government in 2001
• 1:08:00
  for the Voice of America. VOAI was a what was called an
• 1:08:04
  international multimedia broadcaster.
• 1:08:06
  There mostly a writer of news copy, but I also voiced a lot of
• 1:08:12
  radio and TV scripts. And I was there for 15 years.
• 1:08:16
  And from there I took my journalistic skills to the
• 1:08:19
  Department of Veterans Affairs and there I was strictly a
• 1:08:22
  writer. I was in the research office,
• 1:08:27
  Office of Research and Development, and I was a writer
• 1:08:29
  for the publications there, and I also did broadcast work.
• 1:08:34
  We had a very good podcast where we interviewed VA researchers
• 1:08:38
  and I wrote about issues that were of great importance to
• 1:08:41
  veterans, health related issues such as PTSD and traumatic brain
• 1:08:46
  injury. Those were two of the really,
• 1:08:49
  really the primary ones that I focused on.
• 1:08:52
  But there were others. Prostate cancer, such a major
• 1:08:57
  issue within the veteran community.
• 1:08:59
  I wrote about that other health related issues that affected
• 1:09:02
  veterans. And it so happened that when you
• 1:09:06
  and I met, I was on what's called a detail with the
• 1:09:10
  veterans experience office within the VA.
• 1:09:12
  So the whole time that I was with VA, the nine years I was
• 1:09:17
  there, 10 years I was there, I, I applied my journalistic skills
• 1:09:20
  in one way or another, whether it was writing as, as I did in
• 1:09:24
  your case or in a broadcast capacity.
• 1:09:27
  And so, and I, I was, you know, I knew that I was doing
• 1:09:31
  something great there for veterans.
• 1:09:33
  You know, it was, it wasn't really tangible.
• 1:09:35
  I couldn't put my finger on it necessarily, but I knew that
• 1:09:39
  getting the word out, whether it was through written material or,
• 1:09:42
  or broadcasting, I was broadcasting these 62nd PS as
• 1:09:47
  that were very, very key to veterans health and and other
• 1:09:55
  right. I'm.
• 1:09:56
  Glad to hear that. Yeah, I mean, so all of the
• 1:09:59
  work, again, I like I say, it was, there wasn't necessarily a
• 1:10:03
  way I could put my finger on saying that, hey, this is making
• 1:10:07
  an impact on the veteran community.
• 1:10:09
  But I, I was hoping in one way or another that it would really
• 1:10:13
  affect veterans in a very positive way what I was doing.
• 1:10:18
  So, So, Mike, I'm wondering. Was there a specific time in
• 1:10:24
  your life when writing and journalism became something very
• 1:10:28
  special? Or was there a moment in time
• 1:10:31
  where you thought, OK, this is it.
• 1:10:33
  I need to be a journalist. I'm going to pursue this.
• 1:10:36
  This is serious business. Well, that this, that's a very.
• 1:10:40
  Very interesting question. And you know, I may be in the
• 1:10:43
  minority thinking this way, but as early as 6th grade, I the
• 1:10:49
  idea was there. I wrote a class paper was a
• 1:10:52
  bound project and it was called an amateur who played like a
• 1:10:57
  pro. It was about a football player
• 1:11:00
  at Ohio State University who later starred in the Rose Bowl
• 1:11:05
  against USC. And at that time I also had it
• 1:11:07
  in mind that I wanted to sports was a a.
• 1:11:11
  Great interest of mine. Starting in my youth and so
• 1:11:15
  maybe someday being a sports writer, so I knew at that point.
• 1:11:19
  But then as time went on, I wrote for my high school paper.
• 1:11:22
  I wrote for my college newspaper at the University of Maryland,
• 1:11:25
  the Diamondback. I got to do some wonderful
• 1:11:27
  things there. Travelled across country
• 1:11:28
  covering the rugby team which played in the national
• 1:11:31
  championship in California. And one thing led to another.
• 1:11:35
  Make great contacts and worked for various outlets, mostly as a
• 1:11:41
  sports writer. But being here in the Washington
• 1:11:44
  area, I did political type reporting as well.
• 1:11:47
  Regulatory issues, legislative issues.
• 1:11:49
  Hey, I may be the only one in the world who has written a book
• 1:11:52
  about an NFL team and as well was an author of a book on
• 1:11:56
  nuclear power plants. It is pretty interesting, Mike.
• 1:11:59
  I have to. Say I'm a speech language
• 1:12:01
  pathologist and I rehabilitate brain injuries.
• 1:12:04
  So you're quite interesting. And at one point in time, I
• 1:12:09
  wanted to be a journalist. I was actually the editor of my
• 1:12:13
  high school newspaper. So really, really intriguing.
• 1:12:16
  Yes, your. Story's intriguing.
• 1:12:18
  And we have we have a picture. Of a collage of all of his books
• 1:12:24
  that you know that we can share there as well and you know as
• 1:12:27
  you talk about each individual one HG has it so that he can
• 1:12:32
  bring up each individual one. If you have something that you,
• 1:12:35
  you know, you want to talk about, you know what inspired to
• 1:12:38
  do that? I think you're doing the Veteran
• 1:12:42
  affairs, you know, PTSD and the, the TBI, the writing and stuff.
• 1:12:47
  I mean, that greatly reflects what you're already dealing with
• 1:12:51
  with football and CTE, because it's the same thing, right?
• 1:12:55
  Can you walk us through? How?
• 1:12:58
  How this LED? Go ahead.
• 1:13:01
  But let me just touch on that point by Joel.
• 1:13:03
  That that's, that's very, very interesting and important.
• 1:13:05
  So early on when working in the Office of Research and
• 1:13:09
  Development at VA, I wrote an article for we had a, an
• 1:13:13
  arrangement going with with Army magazine where they published
• 1:13:17
  some of our articles. So I wrote a piece on that very
• 1:13:21
  issue comparing CTE, traumatic brain injury in professional
• 1:13:26
  sports, primarily football, but I also touched on hockey to an
• 1:13:31
  extent, professional hockey, but and also comparing it to what
• 1:13:36
  could happen in the battlefield, the traumatic brain injuries
• 1:13:40
  from, you know, in combat situations.
• 1:13:43
  And the conclusion that I made was that it was the repetitive
• 1:13:48
  nature of the hits when you're in professional sports, in
• 1:13:52
  football, the constant hits that one engages in on the football
• 1:13:57
  field. Whereas in in a combat
• 1:14:00
  situation, it's not actually constant, but it may be the
• 1:14:05
  magnitude of the explosion is much greater.
• 1:14:08
  So which thus effects of the person in that combat situation.
• 1:14:14
  So that, but that's a I'm glad you touched on that, Joel,
• 1:14:17
  because that I, you reminded me of that article.
• 1:14:20
  And I did make that, that comparison in that, in that
• 1:14:23
  piece. But, and I also wanted to touch
• 1:14:27
  on the point that, you know, and I referred to this diversity in
• 1:14:32
  journalism is very important. And I, you know, I have prided
• 1:14:37
  myself in that not only being able to write about sports
• 1:14:40
  related issues, but to have the ability to, to touch on, on
• 1:14:45
  different things. Like I was mentioning, you know,
• 1:14:47
  politics and all the different things that I wrote about when I
• 1:14:50
  was at the Voice of America, we were writing about international
• 1:14:53
  issues, you know, things going on around the world in India and
• 1:14:57
  Pakistan and, and you know, elsewhere in Europe.
• 1:15:00
  So, you know, having that diversity is very important as a
• 1:15:03
  journalist and as they say in journalism, you know, so you're
• 1:15:07
  the first draft of history. So I take pride in that as well.
• 1:15:13
  I hope that. Touched I I hope I wasn't too.
• 1:15:15
  Too. No, no, you're great.
• 1:15:18
  I. I I'm very impressed.
• 1:15:20
  Now you know we we, we have a collage.
• 1:15:22
  Of books here and you know, you've written several book
• 1:15:25
  chronicles. Washington football.
• 1:15:28
  This is where HG is really going to get into it.
• 1:15:30
  But walk us through them. You know how each project LED
• 1:15:36
  you to the the next. I can't even write the story of
• 1:15:41
  my life, not alone different like subjects of of Washington.
• 1:15:48
  I don't know. Do I call the Washington Redsons
• 1:15:50
  or do I call it the the Washington Commanders?
• 1:15:54
  It's it's it's actually a tricky situation.
• 1:15:58
  I mostly refer to them as the Redskins, but I do have a
• 1:16:02
  relationship with the, the current team, the Commander.
• 1:16:05
  So I've been calling them commanders more often or more
• 1:16:10
  more frequently than in the past.
• 1:16:12
  But it's, it's, it's a tricky situation.
• 1:16:14
  A lot of people today will not accept the commanders.
• 1:16:16
  They they are die hard Redskins fans and they will only know
• 1:16:21
  them by the Washington Redskins. But I'm also holding out hope
• 1:16:24
  that the, the name Redskins will come back someday.
• 1:16:28
  And I there's been a trend in recent months where the
• 1:16:33
  organization has recognized its Native American tradition from
• 1:16:37
  the past, such as reinserting Braves on the warpath back into
• 1:16:41
  the its fight song. So there's various things going
• 1:16:44
  on. And I do have a source very
• 1:16:47
  close to the action that told me to just, you know, sit tight,
• 1:16:52
  buckle, buckle up is what he said in terms of the name coming
• 1:16:54
  back. But back to your other question.
• 1:16:57
  So sports writing, I mean, I, I had engaged in a lot of that and
• 1:17:02
  a lot of sports writing over the years.
• 1:17:04
  And I, you know, I'm become so familiar with, you know.
• 1:17:08
  Writing. About, about football and all
• 1:17:11
  many other sports, I, there's a certain terminology that goes
• 1:17:15
  into it. And so I just, I knew of that.
• 1:17:18
  And in the 1990s, I became, I was working for The Associated
• 1:17:23
  Press. And around 1999, when Dan Snyder
• 1:17:27
  bought the Washington Redskins, I was on site at training camp
• 1:17:32
  in Frostburg, MD and, and Snyder at the same time, he laid off a
• 1:17:36
  lot of people in the front office and I was there.
• 1:17:39
  And so I had my, I got my foot in the door with the team in
• 1:17:42
  writing for their internal publications.
• 1:17:44
  They had a team newspaper, game Day magazine.
• 1:17:48
  They had a deal with Sports Illustrated magazine that I I
• 1:17:50
  wrote the editorial content for about the Redskins history.
• 1:17:54
  So having that type of a pedigree it, it enabled me to
• 1:17:59
  get in the door as well with various publishers.
• 1:18:02
  My first publisher was Temple University Press, which
• 1:18:06
  published my first book, The Redskins Encyclopedia, in 2007.
• 1:18:10
  And I was already writing about Redskins history for the team
• 1:18:15
  itself and had a lot of the interviews already completed.
• 1:18:19
  And I had to engage in a lot more for The Redskins
• 1:18:21
  Encyclopedia, but so that was published in 2000.
• 1:18:27
  I actually have a question because your newest book.
• 1:18:30
  Is called the Washington pro encyclopedia Redskins and
• 1:18:35
  commanders how is this book different from your previous
• 1:18:39
  books so very good question so the Washington.
• 1:18:43
  Pro Pro Football Encyclopedia is an update of the Redskins
• 1:18:48
  Encyclopedia. The original Redskins
• 1:18:49
  Encyclopedia published in 2007, so and it's called the
• 1:18:54
  Washington Pro Football Encyclopedia Redskins and
• 1:18:56
  Commanders because the Red, they were known as the Redskins for
• 1:19:00
  nearly the 1st 90 years of the franchise.
• 1:19:02
  You cannot escape that. And it's actually disrespectful
• 1:19:05
  in my opinion to be calling former players like John Riggins
• 1:19:09
  and Joe Theismann and other Redskins greats.
• 1:19:12
  You cannot call them commanders. You have to refer to them as the
• 1:19:15
  Redskins. So, but we, we titled it
• 1:19:18
  Redskins That Command just so it's an update of that first
• 1:19:21
  book. There's 20, nearly 20 more
• 1:19:24
  seasons of season summaries, player BIOS.
• 1:19:28
  There's there's new player BIOS in there of players who've been
• 1:19:32
  around over the past 20 years, greats of the franchise, new
• 1:19:37
  sidebars. I wrote.
• 1:19:40
  I also went back to the original encyclopedia.
• 1:19:43
  I read through the entire original manuscript and I
• 1:19:48
  believe I've become a much better writer.
• 1:19:51
  Tighter writing, You know, being concise is very important in
• 1:19:56
  journalism. And how difficult was it for you
• 1:20:00
  to decide? With a franchise that has so
• 1:20:03
  much history, we're talking 90 years name changes.
• 1:20:07
  How did you decide which information to put in your new
• 1:20:10
  book? Well, for I.
• 1:20:13
  Had to take the Let's just. The expansion of the first book,
• 1:20:17
  it's nearly 20 years since then, so it's the past 20 years of
• 1:20:22
  season. So there's been been season
• 1:20:24
  summaries in the book starting in 1932 when the franchise began
• 1:20:30
  and that so the original book went through 2006.
• 1:20:34
  And so the update is 2007 to the present in terms of the season
• 1:20:39
  summaries. And then there's new player BIOS
• 1:20:44
  of those who have played since since 2006, 2007 that have
• 1:20:49
  starred for the team. There's new sidebars, such as
• 1:20:53
  the death of the murder of Sean Taylor, who was a great Redskins
• 1:20:57
  player from like 2004 to 2007. He was murdered in his home in
• 1:21:02
  in Florida. He was in route to a Hall of
• 1:21:05
  Fame career. I wrote a large sidebar about
• 1:21:08
  him. Friends of mine held a vigil for
• 1:21:11
  him by the day he was shot, and then the next day he passed
• 1:21:16
  away. So there were two different
• 1:21:17
  vigils. I wrote a sidebar about him,
• 1:21:20
  wrote a sidebar about Alex Smith, the Redskins quarterback
• 1:21:23
  who made a miraculous comeback from a double compound fracture
• 1:21:26
  injury in 2018. He came back to play in 2022,
• 1:21:31
  years later after getting a special dispensation to rehab at
• 1:21:36
  an Army facility in Texas. I should say so.
• 1:21:41
  So that, that was a lot of the new information that updated the
• 1:21:44
  book. But like I said, I went back
• 1:21:46
  through the original manuscript. I tightened a lot of the
• 1:21:51
  original wording and sentences and made it flow a lot better.
• 1:21:56
  So I and I added a few things here and there in the original
• 1:22:01
  manuscript too that I didn't have.
• 1:22:04
  I mean in the I added them to the update that I didn't have in
• 1:22:08
  the original manuscript, such as I want to, I want.
• 1:22:12
  To say I want to. Note that the original owner,
• 1:22:15
  George Preston Marshall, he had this fascination with Native
• 1:22:20
  Americans. He wanted to honour them in
• 1:22:22
  every way he could and so on the a lot of their teams game
• 1:22:26
  programs throughout the years, he had drawings of famous Indian
• 1:22:32
  leaders and Indian chiefs, one of whom was Osceola, who was on
• 1:22:36
  the of the cover of a 1953 Redskins game program.
• 1:22:39
  So I I added something like that to the to the update as well.
• 1:22:44
  That's amazing. That is, that's.
• 1:22:46
  Interesting, Mike, I, I. Think we can sit here?
• 1:22:48
  And talk all day I. Mean even even then they pointed
• 1:22:51
  it out that we have so many questions still to ask, but our,
• 1:22:55
  our, our segments ending. But that's OK.
• 1:22:58
  We have one last question. And this question, it's called
• 1:23:03
  Your Time to Shine. It is Time to Shine is brought
• 1:23:21
  to you by. Dunkin' Donuts When we have a
• 1:23:23
  show every morning, I provide Dunkin' Donuts and Dunkin Coffee
• 1:23:30
  here at the show. So veterans have something in
• 1:23:34
  the afternoon. We, we, we provide Jersey
• 1:23:37
  Mike's. All right, well, so Mike, I just
• 1:23:40
  wanted to say thank you so much for coming on.
• 1:23:42
  I really appreciate it. You know, this is your two
• 1:23:46
  minutes time. Maybe we didn't cover something
• 1:23:51
  that you really wanted to talk about.
• 1:23:56
  Maybe we didn't write, ask you the right questions, set you up
• 1:23:58
  for the right answers. This is your two minutes.
• 1:24:03
  And before I let you go, I want you to be sure to tell everybody
• 1:24:07
  where they can find you, where they can, you know, most
• 1:24:11
  importantly, where they can get an autographed copy of the new
• 1:24:14
  book. You know, especially after
• 1:24:17
  putting together something as comprehensive as this
• 1:24:20
  encyclopedia, you know, where do you go from here?
• 1:24:24
  You know, this is your two minutes.
• 1:24:27
  Time to shine? Sure.
• 1:24:29
  Well, where I go from here is I'm currently.
• 1:24:31
  Working on another book. It will be my 6th book and I am
• 1:24:35
  I could say I'm building my own empire.
• 1:24:38
  I'm working on a book right now, a biography on Sonny Jorgensen.
• 1:24:42
  He passed away earlier this year.
• 1:24:44
  Great, great Redskins quarterback.
• 1:24:46
  He's in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.
• 1:24:49
  He also is known as a just a total DC icon because he after
• 1:24:55
  retiring, he went into a broadcast career and he was part
• 1:25:00
  of the Redskins Radio network for nearly 40 years.
• 1:25:03
  He is arguably the most popular sports figure in the history of
• 1:25:09
  the nation's capital. And so I'm writing a biography
• 1:25:11
  on him right now as we speak. And that book is due out in
• 1:25:16
  2028. Anybody can go to my website.
• 1:25:20
  Mike Richmond journalist dot com to get an autograph copies of my
• 1:25:27
  current five books. They're all there.
• 1:25:29
  Mike Richmond journalist.com I'm on Twitter or exit at MSR under
• 1:25:36
  score journalist. I'm on Facebook as Mike
• 1:25:39
  Richmond. LinkedIn is Mike Richmond, but
• 1:25:43
  the my website is the primary place where you can find out
• 1:25:46
  about my books, find out about me, find out about all the
• 1:25:49
  things I've written about and all the things I can do for you
• 1:25:52
  beyond just be just the fact that I've written books, but I'm
• 1:25:57
  capable of doing other things as a contractor and writer and
• 1:26:03
  broadcaster. Outstanding.
• 1:26:06
  Outstanding. Well, ladies and gentlemen.
• 1:26:08
  I definitely appreciate your work and bringing.
• 1:26:11
  Awareness to brain injuries. I rarely do.
• 1:26:15
  Well, thank you both. Thank you both very much for
• 1:26:18
  your service as well. And I tried to to get the word
• 1:26:22
  out about those who have served. And a friend of mine is doing a
• 1:26:26
  a bike ride in a few days. So we're going to go, he's going
• 1:26:29
  to go through the Allegheny Passage, but it's for Operation
• 1:26:32
  Second Chance and very, very important 'cause obviously.
• 1:26:37
  Awesome. Thank you, Mike, ladies and
• 1:26:39
  gentlemen. Once again, we have the
• 1:26:41
  privilege to drink coffee today with journalist and author Mike
• 1:26:47
  Richman. Mike, thank you very much.
• 1:26:49
  Have a fantastic weekend and happy Red Friday and thank you.
• 1:26:55
  Thank you to both of you Joel and MJI really appreciated.
• 1:26:58
  This I appreciate you. Thank you.
• 1:27:02
  Have a great weekend. Thank you.
• 1:27:06
  Bye. All right, So.
• 1:27:07
  Now before we go. Tribute to troupe I do have.
• 1:27:12
  I do have a tip. So recently, you know that
• 1:27:17
  you've got AI, you know that you've got these meta glasses,
• 1:27:21
  you know you got Ray Ban and all that stuff, right?
• 1:27:24
  Well, I just found out that it is.
• 1:27:28
  I just found out that any veteran that has some kind of
• 1:27:33
  vision issues, if you go to bva.org and you look it up, they
• 1:27:41
  even have a form that you fill out.
• 1:27:44
  You can get the Ray band. I I believe it's Ray Ban meta
• 1:27:49
  glasses. They're going to give those to I
• 1:27:53
  think it's 135 million veterans. They're giving those free.
• 1:27:57
  All you have to do is go on there, fill out that form.
• 1:28:00
  So with that tip, make sure you share it.
• 1:28:03
  And with that being said, we're going to go on our next kind of
• 1:28:06
  break. I know Timothy Hendricks is here
• 1:28:10
  and he. Said we can officially start.
• 1:28:12
  OK, I don't know. Thank God, yeah.
• 1:28:16
  Timothy. Good morning, Timothy.
• 1:28:19
  He's gonna be on next week. You know, he's he's an inspiring
• 1:28:23
  veteran that he he he was homeless and he.
• 1:28:28
  NPR is just kind of followed him and supported him and helped him
• 1:28:33
  and helped him with a little bit of navigation.
• 1:28:35
  Now he's rocking like a rock star.
• 1:28:38
  So we're going to talk to him next week for sure, but lays it
• 1:28:41
  down. We're going to go on Tribute to
• 1:28:43
  Troops. And when we come back, it's
• 1:28:45
  going to be the behind the story of journalism and final
• 1:28:50
  thoughts. So whatever you stay with this,
• 1:28:51
  don't go away. You're listening to show the
• 1:28:53
  highlights, all the nonprofit programs out there beyond the
• 1:28:55
  VA. You're listening to the Eastern
• 1:28:57
  show right here on the station that's letting our veterans, at
• 1:29:00
  least you heard MBR from the streets to the street detail
• 1:29:05
  attention. First call the service members
• 1:29:13
  name is called out. Loud in the context of a unit.
• 1:29:16
  This is meant to ensure all are present and accounted for.
• 1:29:20
  Second call. The name is called out again.
• 1:29:23
  Louder to confirm that the service member is indeed absent.
• 1:29:27
  Third call. The name is called out for a
• 1:29:30
  final time, followed by a statement indicating that the
• 1:29:33
  service member is not present and accounted for, signifying
• 1:29:36
  their death. The final roll call serves as a
• 1:29:39
  symbolic gesture to respect and remember their service.
• 1:29:48
  Sir, I do. I do not tell the story well.
• 1:29:51
  You got to tell. You telling your people what
• 1:29:53
  they? Can't do here.
• 1:29:55
  You tell them how much Hooper died.
• 1:30:24
  Hey everyone, thank you for tuning in to NBR today.
• 1:30:27
  As we pre tribute to captain Rosemary Bryant mariner, United
• 1:30:31
  States Navy age 65 of Norris, Tennessee Rosemary was born on
• 1:30:36
  April 2nd, 1953 to Cecil James Bryant and.
• 1:30:41
  Constance Boland. Bryant in Harlingen, TX Rosemary
• 1:30:45
  grew up in San Diego, CA where her love of aviation began as a
• 1:30:49
  young girl watching aircraft soar over Miramar Naval Air
• 1:30:52
  Station. Her family service ran deep.
• 1:30:55
  Her mother served as a Navy nurse in World War 2, and her
• 1:30:58
  father flew as an attack pilot in the Army Air Corps during
• 1:31:02
  World War 2 and later in the Air Force during the Korean War
• 1:31:06
  Tragically, he was killed in a plane crash in 1956 when
• 1:31:10
  Rosemary was just three years old, a loss that strengthened
• 1:31:13
  her resolve to fly. Rosemary earned her pilot's
• 1:31:17
  license at age 17 and graduated from Purdue University at just
• 1:31:21
  19. In 1973, she joined the Navy,
• 1:31:25
  becoming part of the first class of women selected for naval
• 1:31:28
  flight training. By June of 1974, she earned her
• 1:31:32
  wings, one of the first six women in history to do so.
• 1:31:36
  She went on to break barriers across naval aviation.
• 1:31:40
  She became the first female pilot to fly a tactical jet,
• 1:31:44
  mastering the A4 Skyhawk and later the A7 E Corsair 2, flying
• 1:31:50
  frontline strike aircraft at a time when women were still
• 1:31:54
  barred from combat roles. She moved to the Naval Weapons
• 1:31:57
  Center in China Lake, then Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 5
• 1:32:02
  for sea duty. In 1982, she reported aboard USS
• 1:32:07
  Lexington, where she qualified as a surface warfare officer.
• 1:32:11
  She later became the first woman to command an operational Naval
• 1:32:15
  aviation squadron, leading VAQ 34, including during the era of
• 1:32:20
  Operation Desert Storm. Over her distinguished 24 year
• 1:32:25
  career, she logged more than 3500 flight hours in 15
• 1:32:29
  different aircraft and helped shape national policy on women
• 1:32:33
  in the military. She attended the National War
• 1:32:36
  Call in Washington, DC, earning a master's in National Security
• 1:32:40
  Strategy. Her final military assignment
• 1:32:43
  was as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Chair in Military
• 1:32:47
  Strategy at the National War College before retiring in 1997.
• 1:32:52
  After retirement, she continued serving her country through
• 1:32:55
  teaching, mentorship, and defense policy work.
• 1:32:59
  Captain Mariner passed away on January 24th, 2019 after a 5
• 1:33:04
  year battle with ovarian cancer. The Navy honored her with his
• 1:33:08
  first ever all female missing man fly over, a tribute
• 1:33:12
  befitting a pioneer. Who?
• 1:33:13
  Broke barriers with grace, grit and unwavering dedication.
• 1:33:18
  We remember Captain Mariner not only for her historic
• 1:33:22
  achievements, but for her courage to step into a role no
• 1:33:25
  woman had held before and to excel.
• 1:33:28
  She proved that skill, leadership and patriotism knows
• 1:33:32
  no gender. Her legacy lives on in every.
• 1:33:36
  Woman who takes. To the skies and service of our
• 1:33:39
  nation. Captain Mariner is survived by
• 1:33:42
  her husband of 40 years, retired Navy Commander John Mariner,
• 1:33:46
  their daughter Emily, and her brothers and sisters in arms.
• 1:33:50
  We here at MBR would like to thank you, Captain Rosemary
• 1:33:54
  Bryant Mariner, for your service and location to our country.
• 1:33:58
  You'll leave a legacy of love and courage.
• 1:34:01
  Our prayers are with your family, friends, and those who
• 1:34:04
  served alongside you. We honor you.
• 1:34:07
  We speak your name. We remember your sacrifice.
• 1:38:46
  The station where our veterans voices are.
• 1:38:49
  Heard MBR talk. Hey, thanks for supporting our
• 1:38:53
  channel by watching and listening.
• 1:39:03
  Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back.
• 1:39:04
  Welcome back. We are listening.
• 1:39:06
  To the AIDS train show right here on military broadcast
• 1:39:11
  radio. And this is the final part of
• 1:39:14
  the story. Well, I have some interesting
• 1:39:18
  stuff to talk about. So the story behind it today,
• 1:39:26
  you know MJ, I've. Thought about it and you know I
• 1:39:28
  I could. Talk about behind the story.
• 1:39:30
  But, you know, some of the stuff is is is really incredible.
• 1:39:34
  You know, in fact, the story behind it.
• 1:39:39
  I want to take something that we see or use all the time.
• 1:39:42
  And I want to ask a simple question.
• 1:39:44
  Why does this even exist? Today's guest, Mike Richmond, is
• 1:39:48
  a journalist, and he got me thinking about something.
• 1:39:51
  You know, we have books, we have newspapers, we have magazines.
• 1:39:55
  You know, we talked about drop the date, you know, But why if
• 1:39:59
  books were already? Around why did?
• 1:40:02
  Somebody decide we needed newspapers, and once we had
• 1:40:05
  newspapers, why did we turn around and invent magazines?
• 1:40:09
  Well, we didn't just stick with one.
• 1:40:12
  The answer is pretty simple. They weren't created to do the
• 1:40:16
  same job. Let's start with the oldest of
• 1:40:19
  the three books. Here's a whole story long
• 1:40:23
  before. Newspapers or.
• 1:40:24
  Magazines human needed to a way to preserve information before
• 1:40:29
  writing knowledge. It depended heavily on people
• 1:40:32
  remembering it and passing along writing change that now.
• 1:40:37
  Religion, law, history, science, discoveries and stories could
• 1:40:42
  survive long after the person who originally knew them was
• 1:40:46
  gone. Eventually those writings became
• 1:40:49
  books, and books were weren't about telling you what happened
• 1:40:54
  5 minutes ago, they were about preserving something worth
• 1:40:57
  keeping. Then along came printing, and
• 1:40:59
  suddenly books could be reproduced and much faster,
• 1:41:03
  eventually became available to far more people.
• 1:41:07
  But there was still a problem. Suppose something important
• 1:41:10
  happened today. You're not going to write.
• 1:41:13
  You're not going to read an entire book or write an entire
• 1:41:16
  book about every battle, election, you know, ship
• 1:41:21
  arriving in port, new law crying.
• 1:41:24
  People need something, something faster.
• 1:41:27
  Well, and then that's when newspapers became.
• 1:41:30
  Here's what happened when newspapers filed a completely
• 1:41:34
  different need. People wanted current
• 1:41:36
  information happening in the government, happening on the war
• 1:41:40
  business, my community. A newspaper wasn't designed to
• 1:41:45
  sit on your shelf for the next 100 years.
• 1:41:48
  It was designed to tell you what was happening right now.
• 1:41:52
  And that's what's really interesting is when you think
• 1:41:55
  about a book with something, you might keep a newspaper with
• 1:41:59
  something that becomes outdated almost immediately.
• 1:42:03
  Today's newspapers, even the show was valuable because it
• 1:42:08
  contained today's information. Tomorrow, well, you need another
• 1:42:13
  one. But eventually there's another
• 1:42:14
  problem. Sometimes people wanted a more
• 1:42:18
  basic news. Maybe they don't want to know
• 1:42:21
  what happened. Maybe they just want to
• 1:42:23
  understand it, or maybe they're interested in something.
• 1:42:27
  Why Pacific Politics. Science.
• 1:42:30
  Faction, Sports. Entertainment.
• 1:42:33
  That's where another form of publishing found its place.
• 1:42:36
  Magazines. That's why it's interesting
• 1:42:39
  because magazines landed somewhere between books and
• 1:42:42
  newspapers. They didn't necessarily have to
• 1:42:45
  tell you what happened this morning.
• 1:42:47
  They didn't have to give hundreds of pages of to explore
• 1:42:50
  one subject. No, instead they could collect
• 1:42:53
  stories. They could essays, interviews,
• 1:42:56
  photographs, opinions, information about subjects that
• 1:43:01
  readers cared about. Eventually magazines became
• 1:43:05
  incredibly specialized. Sports, magazines and the list
• 1:43:10
  goes on. You name interest and somebody
• 1:43:13
  probably created a magazine for it.
• 1:43:15
  So we're basically got three different jobs.
• 1:43:19
  The book says here's the whole story.
• 1:43:21
  Newspaper says, well, here's what happened.
• 1:43:24
  And magazines, why it's interesting.
• 1:43:27
  And the story didn't stop there. Technology just kept changing.
• 1:43:31
  And every time we did, we found another way to communicate.
• 1:43:35
  Then came radio. Radio essentially said you don't
• 1:43:38
  have to read the news anymore. Well, tell you, for the first
• 1:43:42
  time, huge numbers of people could hear news, entertainment
• 1:43:45
  and information coming directly into their home.
• 1:43:48
  Then television came along. Why didn't we hear about it?
• 1:43:52
  We can show it to you now. We actually have history
• 1:43:56
  happening. And then the Internet came
• 1:43:59
  along. And then ChatGPT came along.
• 1:44:05
  You know, television doesn't eliminate radio.
• 1:44:08
  The Internet doesn't eliminate television.
• 1:44:10
  The podcasts haven't eliminated any of them because each one of
• 1:44:16
  them was changed. It wasn't our desire for
• 1:44:21
  information. It was how quickly we wanted it
• 1:44:24
  and how deeply we wanted to understand it and how we wanted
• 1:44:27
  the story delivered. For thousands of years,
• 1:44:30
  technology has changed. The delivery system has changed,
• 1:44:35
  but human beings really haven't. We still want to know what
• 1:44:38
  happened, why did it happen, and what's the story behind it.
• 1:44:43
  And ladies and gentlemen, since I'm sitting across the
• 1:44:46
  journalist today, Mike and MJ, I've got to ask you, with social
• 1:44:52
  media, podcast, YouTube, instant news anywhere, do you think
• 1:44:58
  newspapers and magazines will still be around 50 years from
• 1:45:02
  now? And that is the story behind it.
• 1:45:06
  Well, I think so, Timothy. Hendricks wants to know if
• 1:45:10
  anyone's figured out how to properly use threads yet.
• 1:45:13
  Man, I don't think people have properly.
• 1:45:16
  Utilized X, you know, I hear you.
• 1:45:21
  Yeah. Cursive.
• 1:45:22
  Writing is coming back, so we were talking about that.
• 1:45:25
  We're talking about that. We're talking about.
• 1:45:27
  That I mean, I've worked in. Education for.
• 1:45:29
  Almost 3 decades. Now.
• 1:45:31
  And so Cursive is coming back and I don't think you can
• 1:45:35
  properly learn. How to read or learn how to
• 1:45:39
  write? Unless you teach cursive, that's
• 1:45:43
  just my opinion. You are on to something it has.
• 1:45:47
  Taken away technology has removed fine motor skills that
• 1:45:54
  students need. And when you're writing and
• 1:45:56
  you're moving and you're looking at something, you're hearing,
• 1:46:00
  you're using all of your senses, so you do tend to absorb the
• 1:46:06
  information. But you're right.
• 1:46:10
  Most definitely. Most definitely.
• 1:46:12
  Hey. We wanted to real.
• 1:46:13
  Quick say a quick shout out to Cassie to everybody that's
• 1:46:20
  watching TikTok and I, I don't know HG, how many, how on the
• 1:46:25
  screen, how many followers say we have since we've got 6 new
• 1:46:30
  followers. There we go.
• 1:46:31
  There we go. I.
• 1:46:32
  Don't think that newspaper. Is going to be around in 50.
• 1:46:34
  Years. I don't think so either in New
• 1:46:37
  Orleans. My dad used to get a.
• 1:46:39
  Newspaper all the time. And the Times Picayune right
• 1:46:42
  after Hurricane Katrina, right? Kind of went down and they
• 1:46:45
  decreased and now there's like 2 newspapers like, I don't know,
• 1:46:49
  Well, I mean, every day. We don't even use VHS.
• 1:46:52
  Anymore or this changes, you know, I mean, you know, but it's
• 1:46:57
  OK because I watched beta so my grandparents built.
• 1:47:01
  My grandparents used to own drive in movie theaters, so we
• 1:47:04
  used to get the beta tapes when they started coming out.
• 1:47:07
  So I'm talking 1980, I was watching that The Shining.
• 1:47:12
  I watched the Shining. Oh man, such a beta.
• 1:47:16
  Such. A good book and then I'm scares
• 1:47:17
  the. Shit out of me.
• 1:47:18
  And then when I watch it, all right.
• 1:47:20
  And Weezy did too, ladies. And gentlemen joke.
• 1:47:25
  We. We are.
• 1:47:26
  We're coming. On our.
• 1:47:28
  Last part of our show, I just want to say thank you everybody
• 1:47:31
  for watching us. It is now time for the final
• 1:47:35
  thoughts at Project. ML.
• 1:47:47
  Our mission is simple to give. Motorcycles to veterans who
• 1:47:50
  need. The kind of peace and freedom
• 1:47:51
  that only a ride can give. We sponsor charity events and
• 1:47:55
  rides to generate donations by the acquisition of the likes,
• 1:47:58
  while directing donations make up the rest.
• 1:48:00
  We seek to provide a little motorcycle healing to capable
• 1:48:03
  vets. All right, ladies and gentlemen,
• 1:48:07
  so now my. Final question for you too.
• 1:48:12
  HJ will go with you first. What did you learn today?
• 1:48:20
  A lot more about the. History of the.
• 1:48:23
  Washington commanders, Yeah. Wasn't that interesting that
• 1:48:26
  they had pictures of native? Indians on like the programs and
• 1:48:30
  stuff yes that's like I didn't I didn't even know that well, I
• 1:48:33
  love that he clarified that the original.
• 1:48:35
  Owner honored Native Americans, and I love that he shed light
• 1:48:41
  on, Yeah, maybe that's where it went South.
• 1:48:43
  Well, I. Think people are too particular
• 1:48:47
  these well and you know and I'm and I for my.
• 1:48:51
  Final thought, I'm, I'm going to, I'm going to address that
• 1:48:54
  too. You're, you're yeah, you're
• 1:48:56
  going to love, love. My final thought.
• 1:48:57
  I haven't scripted, actually. MJ, what did you learn today?
• 1:49:03
  Oh well, I mean I just talked about learning.
• 1:49:05
  About the Redskins and how they were actually honoring Native
• 1:49:08
  Americans. And I don't know, I'm kind of in
• 1:49:13
  a silly mood today. I'm still thinking about George
• 1:49:16
  and Weezy. OK, Joel made.
• 1:49:19
  Joel made a joke on the. Elevator to a young.
• 1:49:22
  A younger person who has never seen The Jeffersons, that tells
• 1:49:26
  me she's too young for her and. I had to bring them back to
• 1:49:30
  reality. Right, and explain how she was.
• 1:49:33
  Moving up like George and Weezy? HG Well my my.
• 1:49:38
  My, my, my final thought is before we get out of here, I
• 1:49:43
  want to leave you with something to chew on for this weekend.
• 1:49:47
  When you get home and you jump on social media, remember this.
• 1:49:51
  People like to use words like family and tribe, but if the
• 1:49:57
  minute you disagree with somebody, you're unfriended or
• 1:50:01
  you're blocked or you're thrown out of the group, that's not
• 1:50:04
  much of A family or a tribe. When belonging requires
• 1:50:09
  everybody to think exactly the same way.
• 1:50:12
  We've got a problem. We're we're giving way too quick
• 1:50:15
  to judge each other, get angry, and simply cut people off.
• 1:50:21
  Sometimes we need a little bit of patience.
• 1:50:26
  We need to remember that there's human beings on the other side
• 1:50:32
  of that disagreement. Remember when, when, when we get
• 1:50:37
  mad, we want the other person to pay that toll because we're so
• 1:50:42
  mad. And that's not how it should be.
• 1:50:46
  Sometimes we need to remember that, look, we're, we're 40 now.
• 1:50:54
  It's hard to make friends when as it is when you're 40 or over,
• 1:51:00
  you know we don't need to keep throwing the good ones away.
• 1:51:04
  You're young because we disagree on.
• 1:51:07
  Well, you. Know we disagree on something,
• 1:51:10
  so chew on that for this weekend.
• 1:51:14
  Reach out to a friend you haven't heard from in a while.
• 1:51:17
  Check on somebody, they may also be going through just as much as
• 1:51:22
  you are and you might be that person that they needed to hear
• 1:51:26
  from. You might be that person to
• 1:51:29
  light a fire up in their ass and they get their life together.
• 1:51:34
  Next Friday, Timothy Hendricks joins us with his testimony.
• 1:51:39
  We've been helping, supporting and following him on his
• 1:51:43
  transition journey. With that being said, have a
• 1:51:46
  fantastic weekend everybody. And once again, for everybody
• 1:51:52
  here, on behalf of everybody here at the H Train show and
• 1:51:56
  military broadcaster, remember we're here for you, not for.
• 1:52:01
  US. Our veterans, a voice.
• 1:52:05
  We'll see you next week, everybody.
• 1:52:07
  Thank you, HG. Thank you, MJ, and thank you.
• 1:52:09
  Beautiful people watching. Thank you, everybody.
• 1:52:12
  Have a nice week. Hi, I'm beaker with military
• 1:52:15
  broadcast. Radio TV We're your virtual MWR,
• 1:52:20
  bringing veterans radio, podcasts, gaming, animation, 3D
• 1:52:24
  printing and a community that never leaves you behind.
• 1:52:28
  Download our Roku or mobile app today.