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11-11: What's The Best Way To Thank A Veteran? 3 Ideas. · Wicked Radio with Bill Adams

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Well, if nobody said it to you, yes. Hope I'm
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the first to say it then in that case. Happy
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Veterans Day. And thank you to all our veterans, as always.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: That should be every day. And you know what? We
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: actually can say Happy Veterans Day on this one. Not
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: like Memorial Day. That's not Happy Memorial Day. That's about
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: fallen soldiers. Nothing happy about that. That's, you know, gratitude.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: But Veterans Day, this is one we can say Happy Day,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: and we should be happy for everything they have given.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Some gave all, as we all know. But I think
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: this is a day, should be every day, where we
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: appreciate anybody that sacrificed for our country. So this is
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: one of the questions that I've always asked, and I've
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: heard other people ask many, many times. It's kind of
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: one of those things you want to say out loud,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: but I will, because that's what I do. I say
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: things out loud, and I ask questions. What's the best
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: way to thank a veteran? It sounds like a simplistic,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: dumb question, but it's truly something that's probably crossed your
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: mind today. here or there, in the past, you don't
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: want to embarrass somebody, you don't want to embarrass yourself,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: you want to show sincerity because you really do care
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: and you want to thank our veterans, you want to
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: show appreciation. What's the best way? I'll give you three
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: ideas that I've discovered over my time and actually some
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: more information I found this morning that I think would benefit.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: But it's just a time to reflect and honestly appreciate
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: everything that we have. Thanks for being here. Happy Veterans
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Day and happy midweek. Thanks for finding Wicked Radio, the
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: live stream, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. Eastern time-ish, on
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: X and YouTube and Facebook. Most of you find it
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: on the replay on those same networks, though, and a
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: lot of you have found it on the audio podcast
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: and sharing that along, which is always available. Your favorite
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: audio podcast platforms, every one of them, shortly after the
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: live stream. Let me take a step back in time here.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Did you ever stop to wonder when Veterans Day as
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: a holiday, as a nationally recognized day came to be?
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Because it'll fall on a random day in the middle
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: of the week most often, not dedicated towards a weekend
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: like President's Day or becomes something else. Why is it
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: the 11th? Why is it? That number is very important,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: as it turns out, because here's a little bit of
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: history of the actual day and the recognition. And who
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: finally turned it into Veterans Day instead of Armistice Day?
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: That's the history of it. The 11th hour of the
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: 11th day of the 11th month, 1918. That's how far
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: back we have to go. The guns in Europe went
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: silent that morning. America has kept that date ever since.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: This is why we're doing it today. And it began
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: as Armistice Day, like I said. In 1954, Ike, President Eisenhower,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: signed the law that renamed it Veterans Day to honor
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: every American who has worn the uniform in war and
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: in peace, which I think is always important to recognize.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: I think a lot of us think that Veterans Day
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: is just for fallen soldiers, and it's not. A big
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: part of it, but it's not. Now, the VA accounts
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: about 17.3 million living U.S. veterans this year. They stood
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: the watch when a lot of us didn't. Today is
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: for them. Thank you for your service, as always. So
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: it's got a history to it. That's why it's in
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: the middle of the week. That's why it's on the 11th.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: That's why it's in November. So there is a reason
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: for it. And going back, there's a couple of, well,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: there's a few different speeches from various presidents throughout history
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: that I think kind of stood out. Everybody seems to
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: have their favorite Veterans Day speech, or at least some.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Ones that were remarkable. This one always stood out to me.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you've ever heard JFK's Veterans Day speech,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: the one he gave in 1961, which would have been
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: his first one. This always stood out to me because
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: he made a special mention to talk about fallen soldiers
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: and hoping that no more would be falling in the future.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: I look back at this now and I always think
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: this is kind of eerie because of what was about
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: to happen in Vietnam, what was already starting to escalate.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Did he know? Was he trying to de-escalate that thing?
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: Ramp it up? I don't know. This is 1961. This
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: one is often brought up by people as one of
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: the most remarkable.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Veterans Day of 1961. Wow. On this day of remembrance,
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: let us pray in the name of those who have
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: fallen in this country's wars, and most especially who have
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: fallen in the First World War and in the Second
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: World War, that there will be no veterans of any
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: further war Not because all shall have perished, but because
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: all shall have learned to live together.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: That was about to change a couple of years later.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: We know that with what happened in Vietnam. You know,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: that's a whole different topic for a different day. Another
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: one that stood out, the Reagan speech for Veterans Day
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: was remarkable, too, because I think that's where he dropped
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: that line, you know, freedom is just no more than
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: a generation away. I'm paraphrasing there, obviously. But I will
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: tell you, and I'm sure some of you are going
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: to get mad at me for this, I honestly think
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Trump's speech, recorded, Last year in 2025 in Veterans Day,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: I haven't heard his yet today. It's early. Maybe you're
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: watching or listening on replay and you've heard it already.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: I thought this was remarkable. I truly did in one
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: of the most recent ones because he uttered a phrase
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: here that has kind of stuck with me for a
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: year now. Never quite thought of it this way. And
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: this is what he said. Put aside personal feelings and
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: just listen to this one for a second. You know
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: what the phrase is that stuck out to me?
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: I don't know if it did for you, too. I
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: don't know if you ever heard that one from last year.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: Birthright of freedom.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: I have thought for now....
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: That we're on Veterans Day 26. I have thought about that,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: and that has stuck in my mind throughout all the
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: crap that we've gone through recently with all the political
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: crap and the divisiveness and what the media is trying
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: to do and all that crap. I have stuck with
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: that phrase for now a year since he uttered that. Amazingly,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: in my 50-plus years, okay, 56, I'd never heard anybody
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: say birthright of freedom, or at least I had heard it,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: but now I'm starting to actually think about it. And
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: it's true. We do have a birthright to freedom in
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: this country as Americans. as American citizens. There's not a
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: lot of other people of citizens of the world that
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: actually say that, that will walk around thinking that in
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: their head. It's not part of their mindset that they have,
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: you know. How many English citizens in the UK, for example,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: actually have as part of their being and their character saying,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: I have a birthright of freedom? I don't think they do.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: I'm fairly confident as Americans that we do. We have
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: as American citizens, and hopefully patriotic American citizens, a birthright
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: of freedom. Think about that phrase for a second and
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: keep it in your head. I do now. It changes
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: how you think about things. It truly does. It's changed
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: me for a year. And it should change for all
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: of us. You may be the most grateful, patriotic person
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: on earth. You start thinking about that birthright of freedom phrase,
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: you start to thank your veterans even more and appreciate
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: them because we have it because of them. That's what
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to get at. We have our birthright to
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: freedom in America because of everybody that has served. So
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: we get back to the original question. What's the best
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: way to thank them, right? I've asked a buddy of
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: mine that had actually served a couple of tours this
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: very same question. You know, I'm like, you know, people
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: are always embarrassed. It's like, you know, how do you
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: say thank you for what you've done? And he honestly
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: said the very first thing, and there's a couple of
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: ideas here. And I've heard this time and time again.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: He said, honestly, just say thanks for your service. It's
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: always appreciated. So I've always tried to do that for
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: somebody that's obviously a veteran. At Veterans Day events, you
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: obviously know who the veterans are. But every once in
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: a while, they'll say some, especially some older guys that
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: have like, you know, Korea War veteran hat or Vietnam
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: or God knows there aren't too many World War II
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: veterans around anymore. But I will tell you this, and
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: I'm sure you do it too. I have never said
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: thank you for your service to a veteran of any
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: kind of any age where it wasn't appreciated. Honestly, where
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: it's like you say thank you to a veteran, they're like, oh,
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: and they don't want to hear it. I truly think
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  Speaker 1: it's the most obvious and practical way to say thank
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  Speaker 1: you is to say thank you. But beyond that, what
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: can you do? Well, I'll tell you, I think the
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  Speaker 1: best way to thank anybody that served in this country
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  Speaker 1: is to tackle the biggest problem not only our veterans
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: face in our country, in my opinion, I think it's
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: one of the biggest problems we face in our country.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about homeless veterans, the homelessness problem for people
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  Speaker 1: who have served our country. Just uttering that to me,
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  Speaker 1: is so freaking bizarre. The fact that we have anybody
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: of any condition, of any age, from any generation that
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: are homeless in this country that gave service of any
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: kind is preposterous. A lot of reasons behind that, obviously,
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: but this isn't the day or time to think about that.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: How can we tackle it? Now, this is always, I
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: had always been talking about this issue before for the
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: past few years. I'd always hung on to that 25,000
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: homeless veterans number because that's what they had given us.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: I looked it up today just to be accurate, and
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: I looked up in two different sources of what the
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Department of Veterans Affairs puts that number at for homeless veterans.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: You know what it is? It didn't get better. It
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: got worse. Their estimate, and understand these are just estimates
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: because it's hard to quantify this number. They put the
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: number of homeless veterans at 30,000 now, a solid. They're
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: confident in saying 30,000. I just can't. I can't. Until
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: we fix that problem, truly, of veteran homelessness, I don't
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: know how we go on to anything else. I truly don't.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: That is preposterous that that actually happens. So how do
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: you thank a vet? And a lot of them will
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: tell you. A lot of them that actually do work
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: in Veterans Affairs Services will tell you, you want to
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: thank me? Do what you can do to help out
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: with the homeless veterans problem in this country. So how
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: do you do that? A couple of different ideas. There
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: are organizations that help. One of the first ones that
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: always comes up is the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: It's a national voice. They do a lot of the
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: media stuff, and they're a resource hub that's dedicated to
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: ending veteran homelessness. There's a couple of different things here
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: on helplines where you can help out, and the site
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: is nchv.org, nchv.org. They have community providers. They do a
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: good job, an umbrella organization, to help out and work
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: with local organizations that know who these homeless veterans are.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: So the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans is one if
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: you wanted to kind of help them out in any
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: way you possibly could. U.S. Vets is another one. This
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: is the United States Veterans Initiative. This is the largest
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: nonprofit for direct services. I would imagine that this is
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: shelter and food, I would say. The site there is usvets.org.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: Another good one. I've actually talked to before and interviewed them.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: Veterans Community Project. They actually put boots on the ground
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: and they help build small, they call them villages of
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: little tiny homes for transitional housing for veterans who are
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: in need of that. And actually they can find to
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: get into the program where they can get some shelter
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: and something, some sort of property of their own to
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: go forward and try to build up their lives. And
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: I've talked about these folks all the time, as you know,
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: The amazing work that Frank Ziller and his people do
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: with Tunnel to Towers. You probably saw Gary Sinise, the actor,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: doing the commercial spots for their work, too. It's incredible
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: what they actually do, if you haven't heard of them.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: I'm sure you've seen their commercials. They operate and expand
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: veterans' villages. Once again, that housing issue. And they build them.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: They help temporary lodging, move-in costs, and a lot of
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: disabled veterans here, and first responders, too, which is what
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: the name implies. They help them build homes... and communities
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: that actually work for them. So if you were to
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: volunteer or donate or work with or promote those organizations,
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: that's a big way to help them as well. So
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: there is stuff we can do. We're never helpless in
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: helping out veterans and what they can do. But a
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: lot of these are larger organizations. And the third idea
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: I have is if you didn't have the money to give,
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: and not everybody does, but if you wanted to volunteer
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: some time, everybody in every community, no matter where you
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: live in the country, Every community has some sort of
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: a smaller local organization that helps out veterans in one
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: way or another. The one that I've done a ton
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: of work for personally and, you know, on the air
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: and off the air, we've been to their site. It
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: just happens to be in my area. So, you know,
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: locally doing local yoga radio is very familiar with Forgotten
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Heroes Outreach. That was mine. And what they did, their
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: focus was putting together, and they still do it, putting
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: together care packages for soldiers overseas anywhere in the world.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: Care packs, stuff, just stuff from home. And every once
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: in a while you'd get letters, correspondence back, or see
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: some of these veterans that got these care packages. It
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: was amazingly appreciated. That's one example with Forgotten Soldiers Outreach
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: that was just happened to find in my local community.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: But you've got one in yours too. So there's some way,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: some way, somehow to thank a veteran is the way
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: to actually do it. There's all kinds of ideas. So
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: we all walk around and we're like, well, how can
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: I actually? Maybe you're like this. I didn't even serve,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: so how would I say thank you? That. Being aware,
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: number one, of that ridiculous homeless veterans issue. That has
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: to be fixed in those organizations. And I'll list them
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: here in the comments to be able to find them.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: And I'll repeat them again here in a second. That's
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: one way to do it. To give or to give
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: some time. Or your local organizations as well, like the
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: one I mentioned there. Somewhere, wherever you live in the country,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: there's some local organization that helps out veterans. And The
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: third one, honestly, don't discount how important this is in
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: a one-on-one interaction, as long as it's sincere, and it's
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: coming from you, so I know it would be. I'll
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: say it again. I've never once said thank you for
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: your service to a veteran with a sincere thank you
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: where it wasn't appreciated. Never once, and I try to
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: do it every chance I possibly can. Don't discount how
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: important that is, not just today on Veterans Day, but
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: all year round. It does matter. I just want to
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: repeat those again because there's a lot of people who
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: just joined in again for the ridiculous homeless veterans problem.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: And still, I can't get over the 30,000 number. That's
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: the official estimate now from the Veterans Affairs Department. That's
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: just ridiculous. National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, the site there
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: is nchv.org, usvets.org, veteranscommunityprojectvcp.org, And you probably heard of Tunnel
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: to Towers, which is T2T. org and all the great work
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: they do. But sometimes, not all of us can give
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: money or time. Sometimes it just takes a thank you.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: But regardless, thank you, veterans. That birthright of freedom that
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: we have, think about that phrase, and it's because of them.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: It's because of you for serving. Thank you again. Happy
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: Veterans Day. Make it a wicked awesome one. I'll talk
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: to you tomorrow.