Latest / Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk / The Bunkhouse Live _ Ira Hearen on Bravo Mission Radio_ Finding Your Tribe & Serving After Service

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The Bunkhouse Live _ Ira Hearen on Bravo Mission Radio_ Finding Your Tribe & Serving After Service · Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk

0:08
There were times I was looking at myself in the mirror like,
0:10
dude, why are you putting on khakis?
0:16
Where? Gunny Holly, who was blown up
0:19
and killed, who had two children.
0:21
I lived in a reality for about, I think 15 years that it should
0:26
have been me. Your source of strength has
0:31
never been you. It has always been from
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somewhere else. It's just my belief that mine is
0:35
from God and I, I choose to rely on God.
0:38
I'm far from perfect. I screw up all the time, but my
0:42
life is at peace. I found it in past the storm
0:46
where I am at peace. When things got really bad,
0:53
which they will, we all are going to have times in our life
0:55
where we just can't handle some things.
0:58
To know that reaching out for help is an option.
1:00
It's the same as going to the doctor.
1:02
When you you can't get over the common cold and it's turned into
1:05
something crazy, sinus infection, you got to go to a
1:08
doctor and get medicine. It's the same with your mental
1:11
health. Hey everybody, and welcome back
1:33
to the Bunkhouse here on military Broadcast Radio where
1:36
we give veterans a voice. We're here every Monday night,
1:39
6:00 PM Eastern Time. Before we bring my guest on
1:42
tonight, if you could go to my link tree down here, scrolling
1:45
at the bottom. Find me on your podcast
1:47
platforms that you like to follow, YouTube, Instagram,
1:50
TikTok. Go ahead and hit those follows,
1:52
show me a comment, let me know you like it, see if you want me
1:55
to talk about something else and go ahead and share it out there
1:57
as well. Also, one thing I want to get
1:59
out before we get into the show is if you or anybody you know is
2:04
having any issues or feel like they're alone or struggling with
2:06
something, please know that there is always help out there.
2:09
You're not alone on call 899988 for the crisis line and you can
2:15
dial dial 1 for the veterans line to get to the Veterans
2:19
crisis line. So again now before we bring our
2:22
bring our guests, here's a quick little note from Military
2:25
Broadcast Radio. Hi, I'm Beaker with Military
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2:52
All right, everybody, now let me.
2:54
I want to go ahead and bring on my guest.
2:57
Please welcome Ira. Ira, welcome to the show,
3:00
brother. Oh, I can't hear you.
3:08
You're muted. I feel like it was that 2020
3:11
COVID zoom zoom thing again, Sir, You're on mute.
3:15
You're on mute. But no thanks for having me on,
3:18
John. This is I think, the second time
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I've been on the show, first time live streaming with you.
3:21
So it's going to be some good stuff, man.
3:23
Thanks for having me. Yeah.
3:26
Absolutely, man. Yeah.
3:27
So for everybody out there listening, if you want to hear
3:29
the complete back story of IRA, please go ahead and move over to
3:33
your podcast platforms. Find me and listen to episode
3:38
12. You'll find his whole back story
3:42
and everything. So real quick, if you could just
3:44
give everybody that's out there listening and watching, if you
3:46
could give everybody a little bit of background about yourself
3:48
and kind of what you're into. Oh.
3:50
Outstanding. So 20 year Air Force veteran did
3:54
20 years, three months and 28 days.
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You know, every veteran knows that number.
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It's on that 214 that we all carry in our back pocket, right?
4:02
Grew up in the some small Sparrow fart little town out in
4:06
Southern California farming community.
4:08
Didn't have the right name. So I was like, you know what?
4:12
Cool When the Air Force, I think my dad tricked me because we're
4:16
outside playing catch. One day he's like, what are you
4:17
going to do after high school? I was like, I don't think about
4:20
the Air Force. Like 2 days later he's like ah
4:22
come on, we're going to go eat dinner.
4:23
We got to stop somewhere real quick.
4:24
That stop was the recruiter's office.
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I was like, oh, I guess I'm doing this.
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So interdelayed enlistment, you know, enlisted almost a year
4:33
later in 97 and then spent the next 20 years bouncing around.
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Start off in Guam, 2 tours in Pope Air Force Base, North
4:41
Carolina, 3IN Korea, 1 here and Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.
4:47
And then eight years over in Germany doing aerial port and as
4:52
well as AirDrop stuff. So spent 20 years loading planes
4:56
in the air transportation career field, the port dogs, you know.
4:59
So I got all the injuries, head, shoulders, knees and toes blown
5:02
Outback all kinds of you know how it is brother.
5:05
You know, all the all the good. Yeah.
5:07
Yeah, so retired, oh man, it's been almost nine years.
5:12
So beginning of 2018, I retired and spent the next eight years
5:17
wondering who the heck I was, you know, so bounced between a
5:20
few jobs, got a corporate job, which John, we've talked, you
5:24
know, I'm not corporate at all. And this guy, this guy does not
5:27
pull off a blazer. Well, So after that got out, you
5:32
know, corporate world had to make some cuts.
5:35
So I was on the chopping block, got out and then talking to
5:38
brother Chaz, you know, coach Chaz over on the on our podcast,
5:41
we're it's like a 32nd conversation and Bravo Mission
5:45
radio was born. He's like, hey, what do I want
5:46
to do? He's like, let's do our podcast.
5:48
Well, let's do it on veterans and their transition.
5:51
Let's call it Bravo Mission Radio.
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The next thing you knew is like a podcast in 30 seconds.
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So we did that. We started recording and
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launching that in January, getting a nice little following,
6:01
getting our feet, you know, getting our feet wet, all that
6:04
stuff. So it's on it's full bore now
6:07
and like your show of transition, focus on that
6:09
veteran transition that we all deal with and the highs, the
6:12
lows, victories, mysteries and the struggle.
6:14
So I mean, that's actually how we met was in one of the
6:17
podcasting forums on Facebook. So, yeah, just doing the veteran
6:21
thing, man, you know, giving back to the veterans.
6:23
So that's where I'm at. That's what that's basically
6:26
what I'm into. It's, it's like go to college
6:27
and do a podcast, you know, and. You can't ask for a better
6:31
retirement life, right Like. No, I'm reverting to my early
6:34
20s, man, going down to going down to, you know, spring break
6:37
somewhere. I'll be, I'll be, you know,
6:39
you'll see on MTV. They don't do that anymore.
6:43
I don't think they, I don't actually.
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Actually, I don't think they do like the spring break stuff
6:47
anymore on MTV, to be honest. No, that's horrible, man.
6:50
They used to be so good. Yeah.
6:51
It was, yeah. I wouldn't last very long.
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I'd be the guy napping on a on a lounge chair somewhere, you
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know? Yeah, so, but yeah, dude, it's
6:59
just college and podcast right now.
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That's awesome, man. So do you think since starting
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your podcast and kind of finding that new purpose, do you think
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that's kind of helped you with kind of like your mental health
7:11
journeys as well? Oh, most definitely.
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You know, I always, I always joke around and, and tell people
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I, I kind of feel guilty because all these guests that we have on
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and the subject matter we talk about, like to me, that's my
7:25
therapy that is like hands down better than any mental health
7:29
provider I've been to. And I still do see, you know, a
7:34
psychologist for the stuff and things up there.
7:37
But just getting out with the veteran community and talking
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and realizing, wow, I wasn't the only one going through this, you
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know, the, the loss of identity, the loss of purpose.
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Yeah, my, my mental health has gone way up.
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Emotional health, you know, which of course plays into the
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physical and the spiritual health as well.
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The four wellsprings we talked about on on our show.
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And, you know, you get so many great zingers from everyone,
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dude, like growing into your peace and coming to a full stop
8:06
if you have to let your purpose find you.
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Those are just three of the things I've found from our
8:11
guests. And there's so much more.
8:13
And then, of course, bouncing around, you know, our, our, you
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know, the show itself is, is fun to be on.
8:19
You know, me and Chaz just have a blast.
8:21
Do, and I get to do it with my best friend, you know, Coach
8:24
Chaz Higgins. And it's just a great time,
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dude. And it's, it's become my
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therapy. So yeah, it definitely helped my
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mental, my mental health a lot. That's good.
8:34
I'm glad. But yeah, with that and starting
8:39
up, so can you kind of give us a, a, a background on what the
8:43
what the mission of Rob Emission Radio really is all about and,
8:48
and kind of what you guys truly lean in on?
8:52
So our mission is very simple. We just want to give back to the
8:56
vet fam by letting them know they are not alone, right?
9:00
Because you and I and all the veterans out there, we've all
9:03
been through that struggle. Whether you've been in for, you
9:08
know, if even if you didn't make it through basic or boot camp,
9:10
you still raised your right hand, you're still a veteran.
9:13
Those who say anything different can contact me or Chaz.
9:16
He's bigger. So contact Chaz.
9:19
But we just want the vet fam to know they're not alone.
9:21
And and when we say vet fam, we're not just talking about the
9:24
guys who and gals who wore the uniform, you know, spouses
9:28
served, military kids, you know, the military brats they served.
9:33
You know, you missed mom and dad's anniversary like 10 years
9:36
in a row. You miss Christmases with your
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brothers and sisters. They all served.
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So when we talk vet fam, we mean everyone in the vet fam.
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And that's our mission is just to make sure, hey, if we reach
9:48
110 or, you know, a million, if one veteran wakes up on the
9:52
daily and sees some social media stuff or logs into the show and
9:55
it helps them, that's our mission set right there is just
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make sure they help. They get the help they need,
10:01
they find their own purpose beyond uniform, and then they
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pay it forward, right? Because that's what we do as
10:04
veterans. You know, we do, we do something
10:07
great, we pay it forward. So that's our mission, you know,
10:12
in a nutshell. It's just that's, that's what we
10:14
want to do and we stick fast to that man.
10:19
You know, the back and forth on the shows driven by the veterans
10:22
because it's their story. Kind of like what we're doing
10:23
now, exactly like we're doing now.
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Like, we've got the same kind of show, really, but there's so
10:29
many veterans out there, it's like we're not in competition.
10:31
As a matter of fact, I think I've referred people to your
10:34
show and you've referred people to mine.
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That's what we. That's what the vet fam does,
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right? That's that tribe mentality.
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And that's that's just what we want to foster man is just
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letting those veterans know and their families that hey, yeah,
10:47
it's going to happen if it hasn't happened already.
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And when it does, do it on your own timeline.
10:52
You know, mine took eight years. I've seen people bounce back
10:54
after six months. I, you know, we just had a guest
10:58
on who got out in O5 who is still dealing with not being
11:03
able to fully retire and get his flag because he's rolled out by
11:06
the Army and he's still dealing with that.
11:10
So there's no timeline for getting over your transition.
11:14
No, you're absolutely right. I matter of fact, a couple few
11:17
weeks ago I had a Vietnam veteran on my show on, on the
11:21
live and still the same thing even today.
11:25
Like he's he, he is now in the clerical profession.
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So he's, he's a pastor now, but he went through a lot of rough
11:34
times. And even still, it's like
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finding that community back in the veteran community is still
11:41
especially like there's a little bit as hard sometimes and, and
11:46
still dealing with some of the stuff from the VA and some of
11:48
the stuff just from transitioning in general.
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So, yeah, I mean, you're right. There are, there is no timeline.
11:54
There's no era of veteran that that it pertains to it, it, it,
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it, it encompasses us all in, in, in that journey, right?
12:02
And we all the better the more we come together, the better
12:05
it's going to be for everybody in the and better for the next
12:07
generation because, because like you said, we're not out here
12:10
competing with any of our shows, right?
12:13
This is we're building a network, building a family, you
12:16
know, and I think that's probably the biggest thing that
12:19
I've noticed since starting my podcast back up this year,
12:23
right, is just how willing everybody is to help each other
12:30
share, share resources, share guest, you know, like get on
12:34
each other's shows like you know what I mean?
12:36
So like just that in itself, building, building that family,
12:40
you know, building that community up is, is one of the
12:42
key things I've found that that helps me.
12:45
And I think we've talked about this a few times, it's like
12:47
it's, it almost feels selfish sometimes, right, to do that
12:51
because you're 'cause you do a lot of it to help yourself, but
12:54
at the same time you're also helping others.
12:55
Like the primary focus is to help others, right?
12:59
But deep down inside, you know, it's helping you too.
13:02
So you get to feel a little bit selfish, but I think that's a
13:04
good feeling of selfish 'cause you're taking care of yourself
13:06
when you do it. Oh, yeah, And you definitely got
13:09
to take care of yourself 1st. And that's something we're not
13:12
used to in the military. It's always mission first, you
13:16
know, your troops first, you know, whoever you got to do, get
13:19
it done, you know, you're out there doing what you got to do
13:22
to push the mission out. Very little time, you know,
13:25
especially when you reach certain ranks, right?
13:27
CW two, I was an E7. You know, you got to worry
13:31
about, I mean, you got to be what I used to call a Swiss Army
13:33
Sergeant, right? You got a young troop out there
13:36
you got to worry about, you know, is he getting his hair
13:39
cut? Is he taking care of his
13:40
finances? Is he getting the training he
13:42
needs? Oh, by the way, is he married?
13:44
How's his family doing their first time overseas?
13:48
And compound that by how many airmen you've got?
13:50
I had 40 people at one point in one of my duty sections.
13:54
That's that's a lot, a lot of cats to herd, bro.
13:57
It really is. And so there was no really me
14:01
time because then you got to take care of your own stuff and
14:03
make sure you pass PT and make sure you take care of your own,
14:06
your own finances. And every once in a while get 5
14:09
minutes to breathe. And when you get out, we still
14:13
run on that. We get so hard wired to just
14:17
have to be necessarily, you know, we have to be doing
14:20
something because if we're not, we feel we're letting something
14:24
or someone down. We're not pushing the mission if
14:26
we're just staying idle. And so when we get out and we
14:31
and people sit here, you put yourself first.
14:33
It's like, well, I've got my family and I've got, you know,
14:35
my new job and I've got this and that.
14:39
Well, you can't take care of them if you don't take care of
14:43
yourself. Yep, you know, so you've got to
14:45
take care of me first. And it doesn't have to be, you
14:51
know, a week long vacation somewhere.
14:52
Sometimes it's just a give me 30 minutes a day to like watch Ted
14:56
Lasso or just we're just sitting.
15:00
You know, I was painting my walls a couple weeks ago and I,
15:02
I literally sat there and watched paint dry.
15:04
One day I stopped for like 15 minutes.
15:06
I just sat there and like stared at the wall.
15:09
And dude, I got done with that and it was, I was refreshed,
15:12
ma'am. Got got run with, you know, got
15:14
done with the rest of the day. But that hard wiring we get in
15:17
the military is just, it's insane, dude.
15:21
It is, and we all go. Through it.
15:25
I I've noticed for myself at least, there's been times where
15:31
I, I felt myself kind of almost reverting back to that after
15:34
making progress and not trying to be so rigid and not so
15:37
constrained to a, a structure and personal life.
15:42
You know what I mean? And, and, but I think that's OK.
15:46
Also, I think that that's another thing I know I talked
15:48
about on my show and I think you've talked about it too.
15:51
Is it every it's it's OK to fall back some because that's part of
15:57
the process is being able to identify those things and then,
16:01
you know, identifying that and then finding the ways to get
16:04
over that set back right and making sure that that set back
16:08
isn't as far back as it was the time before, you know, yeah,
16:12
most. Definitely.
16:15
So, yeah, so example of that is, you know, I had that that spine
16:18
fusion in February and this was the first surgery.
16:21
I was like, Hey, I'm going to do all the protocols.
16:24
I'm going to follow all the medical because let's be honest,
16:26
in the military. Hey, stuck it up, buttercup.
16:29
Then you go to the clinic, then you get a surgery.
16:32
Oh, by the way, you're back to work in six weeks wearing steel
16:35
pour boots, working in an environment that's loud and full
16:38
of exhaustion and there's no time to heal.
16:41
Oh, and by the way, after six months, you got to take APT
16:43
test. Like I had a spine fusion when I
16:46
was in and that was the the routine.
16:48
So you had to push this time, dude, it took me.
16:52
I'm still I am six months out as of the 24th of this month, still
16:59
in healing but I'm taking my time and this is the best
17:01
recovery I've ever had. That's awesome.
17:04
Dude, just by. Putting myself that, that part
17:07
of myself first and foremost, yeah.
17:11
And it's, and it's played out well with all the other stuff,
17:13
you know, the physical, mental and spiritual stuff.
17:17
So it, it, it's tough to go, I mean, you make 2 steps forward
17:21
and there were days man, I was like, I did great yesterday.
17:25
I'm in a lot of pain today. So you know, I think I spent one
17:28
day watching like 8 episodes of CSI just because I wasn't
17:31
feeling it and hey, I could give a damn right?
17:36
So. Yeah, dude, yeah.
17:38
Definitely. You know, that's the weird thing
17:40
about when we get out is we're taught to always stay in motion
17:44
and moving forward, that when you do fall back, it's like, oh,
17:49
what did I do wrong? Yep, you didn't do anything
17:52
wrong. You're just hardwired that way
17:53
now. Rigid flexibility though, right?
17:57
You know, so, but that's, that's my take on it.
18:01
That's that's what I got to say on that to anyone on a social
18:03
level, just take your time, use that DD214.
18:08
That's your permission slip to take it easy bro.
18:11
It really is. I mean, if you, if you're sick
18:16
or if you need need a day, call it in, take a day of PTO or just
18:24
call in scared or just call and say, hey, it's a beautiful day.
18:28
I'm not coming in today. Wouldn't it be great if we could
18:30
have done that in the military? Like, oh man.
18:33
Hey boss. I wish.
18:35
It's beautiful weather, sunshine and the birds are out.
18:38
I'm not coming in. I don't want to fuck this up,
18:40
you know? I wish I know, right, I, I will
18:45
say that's one thing I do love about being retired and, and,
18:48
and having 100% remote job like, and I will say this, this also
18:55
that it, it comes down a lot to your leadership as well and how
18:58
invested they are in your mental health and your well-being as an
19:02
employee, because not all you don't, you don't always get the
19:05
best leadership, even outside the military, right, like that's
19:07
just just how it is. But I have a really good boss
19:11
and there's, there's been a few days like where I've been like
19:14
really sick and have not felt good at all.
19:16
I could barely open my eyes. I'll log in on team, shoot him a
19:20
message like, hey, boss, like I'm not feeling too hot today.
19:23
I'll make like the meetings that I absolutely have to be at, like
19:26
the big project meetings. And I'll do as much as I can.
19:30
And then he'll literally come back and say, Hey, don't worry
19:32
about it. We'll reschedule him for like
19:33
later in the week when you're feeling better, right?
19:34
He's like, oh, take care of yourself.
19:36
And in the military, even when people tell you to go take care
19:40
of yourself, you feel so guilty when you do it right because
19:44
they make you feel guilty after they tell you to go take care of
19:47
yourself a lot of times. Like it is the honest truth,
19:49
right? Like it is.
19:51
It is unless. You get that one Unicorn that
19:53
like genuinely steps in and you know, I, I lucked out and had a
19:58
couple of those that hey, they, you know, they take your place
20:01
out on the flight line and go push cargo for you if you were
20:03
needing to go home or yeah. You know, but then, yeah, then
20:07
you had those Boo boos, man. That would be like, oh, oh, your
20:10
wife had a kid. Cool.
20:11
See you tomorrow. Yeah, you know.
20:14
Before the paternity leave came in, Like, yeah.
20:16
Exactly. They were like, hey, your
20:17
paternity leave doesn't start for another two days.
20:19
Sorry, bud. So I see you tomorrow, right?
20:21
Like, yeah, but no, it's, and I will say that type of stuff is a
20:28
lot better outside, at least from my experience in the, the,
20:31
the leadership that I've had, the places I worked has been a
20:33
lot better. So I, but again, it's accepting
20:40
that and allowing yourself to take care of yourself on that
20:44
level is one of the, in my opinion, probably one of the
20:47
hardest things to do once you get out because you're so used
20:52
to not being able to truly take care of yourself, you know, So
20:57
it's, it's, it's accepting and, and, and taking action to
21:01
actually take care of yourself. And that's where your fellow
21:06
veterans, you know, we talk big on mentorship when we're in
21:10
active duty, right in the uniform.
21:12
Why do we, why do some people stop when they take it off?
21:16
Like you and I both talked about this.
21:18
We, you know, with Chaz and with Abby and with Amber, it's I feel
21:23
we have a right and almost a responsibility to those people
21:27
entering the veteran status to reach out and say, hey, how are
21:30
you doing? Or hey, are you set up to get
21:33
out? It's going to be a bumpy ride.
21:37
I've got a couple people they don't want to get short Itis and
21:39
I'm like you're, you're leaving the military.
21:42
Now is the time to get short now.
21:45
Now's the time to say out to the VA.
21:47
Now's the time to pick out some clothes.
21:50
Because you know what? I was horrible with that.
21:53
I went corporate and I had, man, I swear to God, dude, I owned
21:57
like 2 suits, tan and black, weddings and funerals, and that
22:01
was it. You know, I didn't know what a
22:03
blaze. I didn't know there was a
22:05
difference between a blazer and a Sport coat.
22:06
But what I do, I reached out to a fellow veteran and they gave
22:10
me, they got me spun up on it. And we can't be afraid to do
22:14
that. And we can't be afraid to reach
22:15
out to those we know are getting out and say, hey, how you doing?
22:19
You've been out for a month, you've been out for six months
22:22
or a year. There's no time limit on it.
22:25
But yeah, that's and unfortunately a lot of people
22:30
forget that, that they can reach out.
22:34
Yeah, no, absolutely. And actually this, I think this
22:37
is going to be the perfect time for a break because when we come
22:39
back, that's exactly what we're going to talk about is building
22:42
that tribe, building that community back up and figuring
22:44
out, giving some tidbits on how to do that and what that truly
22:47
means for our growth. All right, So yeah, we'll be
22:50
back here in about. Yeah, exactly.
22:51
Let's go hit the smoke pit, everybody, you know?
22:54
All right, see you guys in a few minutes.
22:56
Yep. Hey, everybody, and welcome back
27:14
to the Bunkhouse here on military broadcast Radio where
27:17
we give veterans a voice. So before the break, my guest
27:20
IRA, we were talking about Mission Bravo, Mission Radio,
27:24
what they've been doing and what it means to really to kind of
27:29
transition issues and kind of getting back into the network
27:32
and getting really kind of building your community back out
27:34
and some of those struggles getting back into that.
27:37
But before we get on to the next topic, we do have a question in
27:40
from Bill Lowe off of Facebook. Bill, he's actually a he's a
27:44
podcast host himself. He hosts A Semper Try podcast.
27:47
So his question is, Ira, what would your advice be to someone
27:51
looking to join the military? Oh wow, I actually just had this
27:55
conversation with my son a few months ago.
27:58
He, he wants to know if, when he's 17, if I'll sign him over.
28:02
And you know, coming out of a, of a, of an 20 year enlistment,
28:08
right during, at which time 16 of those were at war and seeing
28:14
what that did to this generation of veterans coming out.
28:18
I told him I was like, I'm not going to encourage or discourage
28:20
you. I'm going to give you all the
28:21
facts and let you make a grown man decision because that's what
28:27
that's ultimately what it is. It's their decision.
28:31
I will give all the facts I can on the Air Force and the DoD
28:34
writ large and then say if it's not for you in the Air Force, I
28:38
got a Marine buddy who can talk to you.
28:40
I got an Army buddy, Navy, Coast Guard.
28:43
You know, I don't know anyone in Space Force really, but I just
28:47
tell them do your homework because the last thing you want
28:50
is a new Airman to get over stationed overseas and be
28:54
homesick and, you know, not being able to work or just being
28:58
down the dumps. Just do your homework, talk to
29:02
all the recruiters, find out which one is the best fit.
29:05
Family legacies are great. If your family's in the Marine
29:08
Corps, cool. But if you want to go Army, we
29:11
had a wayward son in our family who went into the Marine Corps.
29:14
We're all Air Force. He went Marine Corps and he
29:16
loved it. But you know that.
29:20
That's the advice I would give anyone.
29:21
Just do your research. As a veteran, just give the
29:26
facts. I will not encourage or
29:27
discourage anyone because it's not my place.
29:31
I can tell you all the good times I had, but I can also tell
29:34
you all the bad times I had and all the ones in between.
29:38
So great question though, Bill. Awesome.
29:41
Can't wait to get that guy on my show.
29:44
Yeah, he's awesome guy. I mean, I'll link you guys up
29:46
this week so you guys can get so you guys can talk.
29:49
Yeah, I think. He friend requested me on
29:51
Facebook so we're we we go way back.
29:53
Yeah, like 20 minutes, man. All.
29:57
Right. So, yeah.
29:58
So now let's, if you could, let's because I know a lot of
30:02
what you do and what you kind of promote is building your tribe.
30:06
Could you real quick tell us what that means to you?
30:11
Just creating a family, dude. You know veterans.
30:14
We have this uncanny sense of when another veterans in the
30:17
room, mannerisms, haircuts, I mean, just the hat, you know,
30:25
the, the retired Gwat vet or Vietnam era veteran or, you
30:29
know, whatever. I got one of those and I wear it
30:30
in the airport all the time. It's Air Force retired.
30:33
I wear it in the airport and I've I've had countless
30:36
veterans. We just sit there and start BS
30:38
ING. It's just that family
30:40
environment that we want to create on the show and, you
30:44
know, with our viewers and, and you know, our followers and
30:46
everything is just be comfortable with who you are.
30:51
No one understands veterans more than veterans do or their
30:53
families. You know, the, the spouses they
30:55
have to put up with us and the kids who bounced around the
30:58
world. And so when we say tribe, like I
31:02
said, we're not talking about just the, the, the folks from
31:04
the uniform. We're talking about all the
31:06
people who supported them. And again, it comes back to just
31:10
making sure no one in the tribe thinks that they're alone in
31:15
what they're doing. You know, if they're getting
31:17
ready to transition out, if they've been out for a day or 10
31:20
years, you know, let us know what you got.
31:25
And we can, we can do whatever we can to help out.
31:27
We got, we've had guests from the VA that have gotten, you
31:31
know, a lot of good advice for us.
31:33
We've got resources. We've got, you know, just a
31:39
tribe to us is, is everything. It's supporting your family.
31:43
And that's what we're trying to do.
31:45
And that's it. It's, it's very simple.
31:47
It's it's so simple. It sounds complicated to some
31:50
people like, but you're doing this.
31:52
Why? Because it's the right thing to
31:56
do. Like, yeah, you know, so that's
31:59
pretty much it, man. And it's so easy.
32:01
Like I said, you know, we we met on a Facebook podcast and he was
32:04
like, hey, you're a veteran. I'm a veteran.
32:06
You want to go? Do you know I'm gonna go do
32:08
karate in the garage? You know, that's so much room
32:11
for. Activities.
32:12
How much more? And never go with the movie
32:13
quotes, right? You know, that's how you can
32:16
tell another veteran is you can have an entire conversation,
32:18
nothing but movie quotes and song lyrics, you know, and
32:24
that's, that's just it, man, is especially the network that you
32:27
and I have created. We're we've kind of got our own
32:29
little orbit going. We've got some, some of the same
32:32
players going on. And that's the tribe.
32:35
And it's, that's a tribe in itself, you know, And because,
32:40
like I said, so many veterans out there that got so much stuff
32:42
going on, there's enough for everybody at the table, you
32:45
know? Absolutely.
32:47
Yeah. So that's that's our view on the
32:48
tribe. That's is just a big family
32:51
environment where everyone free from judgement.
32:54
No politics. We don't do politics at all.
32:56
Because no, I'm, I'm not going to start that, but it's just
33:03
being a family, the family environment, dude, just keeping
33:07
it loose, letting the viewers or the the guests guide the show
33:11
and get their stuff out there. That's awesome, man.
33:16
Yeah, I mean, like you said, like when I was relaunching, I,
33:20
I joined as many Facebook groups as possible that was around
33:23
podcasting. And what I will say is there's
33:25
quite a bit of veterans in those groups now too, which is good.
33:28
Like, that helped me, that made me a little more comfortable.
33:30
Help me out too and kind of throw in my, my, my network.
33:33
And then man, like there's some that you meet and you just
33:36
instantly hit it off like me and you like, we instantly like
33:39
connected and like hit it off. And we're, we're, we talk on a
33:43
regular basis and not just about podcasting, right?
33:46
Like we, there's other things that we work on together and
33:49
other groups that we've kind of built and, and kind of really
33:53
tied into. And then and, and, and my thing
33:57
is like building a tribe or building a community, like you
34:00
don't have to just stick with one group only either.
34:03
Like that's the best part about building your, your, your
34:05
community online and the, the network, like the veteran
34:07
network is find folks that are local in your area that you can
34:11
actually hang out with too. Like I think that's a big
34:13
important part of building that tribe is having somebody local.
34:16
Like there's, I know we've talked about this before, like
34:19
my, my daughters, they do All Star cheerleading and being in
34:23
the Camp Lejeune, NC area, either the cheer dads are going
34:27
to be either active duty Marines or Navy or they're going to be
34:31
veterans, right? A lot of them are veterans.
34:33
So I was very standoffish. I was very isolated.
34:37
Like I was, I was the, I was the veteran cheer dad just kind of
34:40
sit in the corner to himself, cheered on my daughters.
34:42
And then like, that was about it, right?
34:44
And most of the other cheer dads were about the same, especially
34:48
the ones that were veterans also.
34:50
And my wife and his wife kind of forced us to started talking
34:54
together at, at the, at the competitions and we instantly
34:57
clicked, right. We instantly hit it off.
34:59
And now we plan monthly poker nights that a group of us have.
35:03
We go to the same church. Like there's a whole bunch of
35:05
stuff that like we just, it just building that community, having
35:09
somebody that you can just kind of sit with, shoot the shit
35:12
with. They're just talk through things
35:13
with, you know, it's key. And so building not just like
35:18
your online community, but having a community that you have
35:21
locally that you could just go out, hang out with, even if it's
35:25
just going to, I don't know, a park somewhere or just sitting
35:30
at one another's house and just having a good nice glass of
35:34
bourbon, playing some cards, you know, whatever the case may be.
35:36
Like, yeah, I mean, that's, that's part of it, man.
35:40
And. I'm, I'm in a very veteran dense
35:43
area, you know, a majority of it's Air Force and the, and the
35:48
cool thing is, is the, the cul-de-sac I live on, there's 8
35:50
houses and I want to say five of those have veterans and there's
35:55
about nine of us. Yeah.
35:57
On, on this exact same cul-de-sac of various, you know,
36:00
lengths of service and, and ranks and service service
36:04
branches. And, you know, like my buddy
36:07
Bill lives right across the street.
36:08
There were times we'd, I'd go over to his house and we'd do
36:10
nothing but talk about the old times.
36:13
And we've talked about this a couple times is we're not trying
36:16
to recreate our service. We're just celebrating it,
36:18
right? So every once in a while, yeah,
36:20
you get together with the boys. You you talk about that one time
36:23
that a dude you know did something stupid at work tried
36:27
to spinning heel kick off at ISU 90 and broke his leg.
36:31
True story. Kandahar, Afghanistan.
36:33
A guy did that off one of the big ISU 90 connexes.
36:36
Oh man broke his. Leg in three places to include
36:39
one in his femur. Like dude you jumped off a 96
36:43
inch tall platform bro. Spinning heel kick and just it.
36:50
So yeah, but see, you know, right there, that's just
36:54
something to celebrate is, well, not his case, but just something
36:58
cool to talk about. And I've heard the military is a
37:03
subculture. No, it's not.
37:05
It's its own culture. It's not a subculture of
37:07
anything. It is its own culture.
37:10
Now service branches are subcultures of that.
37:13
Yep, but. But at the same time, we're all
37:16
family. So how many times have we made
37:19
comments about Marines and crayons and the chair force and
37:22
Army grunts and, you know, the Coast Guard, military or not,
37:28
you know? Is.
37:29
There a war going on then yes, they are peacetime drug
37:34
interdiction. Cool.
37:35
But we can say that about us. I've seen a civilian do try to
37:38
do that and it doesn't work out right.
37:40
It does. Not even if they're friends with
37:42
veterans, they still can't really do that, right?
37:45
Like I've seen that, like, yeah. Like, no, bro, you need to sit
37:49
this one out and you go, go stand in the corner.
37:52
You're at the kid table now. You know, it's, it's, it's just,
37:56
it's fun to be a veteran and have that community of veterans
37:59
around you. And unfortunately that's not
38:01
like that for everyone. I was recently in a, in a
38:05
program called veteran or Warrior Scholar project, where
38:09
as a veteran student, you go to a university setting for a week
38:14
and you study one of their courses.
38:17
You live in their dorms, you eat in their bear or their chow hall
38:20
cafeteria is what they call it. I got to go to Princeton for
38:24
mine, which was awesome. And you're taught by like the
38:28
fellows, which are, are all veterans.
38:30
They come on and they talk to you about study habits and you
38:34
know your identity as a student veteran, excuse me.
38:37
And then you're taught by actual Ivy League professors on one of
38:40
the subjects. That's cool.
38:43
And so you get in one week, you get a whole semesters worth of
38:46
knowledge thrown at you. And there was a couple of folks,
38:51
there's one dude, he former Marine and he retired or he
38:59
rolled up to Montana, not a big veteran presence, none of that.
39:03
So he didn't really have. But while he was there, man, he
39:05
was, he was in hog heaven, dude. He was loving being around
39:08
veterans and, you know, just shooting a shit with us and
39:12
hanging out. And but it's important, you
39:14
know, sometimes when you look at where you want to go when you
39:18
get ready to separate or retire, you know, for us, me and my
39:23
wife, it was a given. We want to be around where
39:25
there's VA and there's a veteran presence.
39:27
Yep. And it worked out well for us.
39:29
Some people, they don't want that, but they should also, you
39:32
know, have that sanity check if am I going to miss this?
39:35
Is there a Legion or a VFW there?
39:38
Because once you once you get out, Uncle Sam DOL seen your
39:41
Christmas card anymore, they just tell my troops of like
39:45
your, your uniform has an expiration date on it.
39:48
And the day you get that blue ID card is the day they pretty much
39:53
say, hey, man, thanks for your service.
39:56
Have a nice day. And we're all we got sometimes,
39:59
right as veterans, right? Like it, it really is.
40:02
And that's one thing like that. I think that's one thing that
40:05
like for me, that was I think the hardest piece and especially
40:10
me retiring out of the Camp Lejeune area and staying here
40:13
and still knowing people around kind of like you did it like
40:16
like in Germany, it's kind of the same way, right?
40:18
Like, but again, it's like they're like, oh man, it's not
40:22
going to change. I'm still going to hang out with
40:23
people. They're still going to check in
40:24
on me. I'm, I'm closed, I'm local.
40:26
And then that is not the case even at all.
40:29
Like not even a little bit. It's like as soon as that day
40:32
comes and you have that DD214 your hand, it's slow.
40:35
No longer like you no longer exist anymore.
40:37
It's almost right. Like that was probably the
40:40
hardest part for me is because you made you make so many good
40:44
friends, like close friends, like, and you guys talk about
40:48
anything and everything on a regular basis.
40:49
And, and all of a sudden there's it's there's nothing.
40:53
And the only time that you talk is if you reach out to them and
40:55
very and it's not even immediate.
40:57
It's like the three or four day later before they respond back
40:59
to you, right? Like.
41:02
Yeah, because they're still hitting the grind.
41:03
They've still got their troops, they still got their mission,
41:06
they still got their family and then their own time that they've
41:09
got to squeeze in amongst their volunteering and their schooling
41:12
and their intramural sports. And military is a busy, busy
41:15
industry, man. It really is.
41:17
And when you get out that void, we don't know what to do with
41:21
that void of time. And we don't know what to do
41:23
with our voice because now no one really has to hear us.
41:27
Yeah. And that those bullshit sessions
41:30
in the smoke pit are gone. You know, feedbacks with your
41:35
with your troops gone. Just the, you know, when we were
41:39
loading planes, we'd be talking smack all the time.
41:42
Gone. You're not looking down and
41:46
seeing US Air Force next to your name.
41:48
All that's gone. All that identity, all the
41:50
purpose, the mission. And they don't really prepare
41:54
you for that. They don't and and.
41:56
Quite honestly, I, I, I, I have mixed feelings on that, that
42:01
they should prepare you a little bit better, but same time it's
42:03
like they do they have the time for that and do they have the
42:07
money when I come from a career field that, Hey, we couldn't
42:11
afford boots at one point, steel toes for, you know, or gloves,
42:15
you know, So it's kind of a fine line, but but that again, that's
42:21
where this veteran community comes in to create that tribe
42:23
and pull them in and say, Hey, you are going to miss all of
42:27
these things you, because what is it?
42:29
The first 3 weeks I watched all the Marvel movies, drank a lot
42:33
of coffee, started college and took a lot of naps.
42:36
And then one day it was like, Oh, I'm supposed to be coming
42:40
off leave and putting on a uniform.
42:43
Shit, I just, and I've told you this story a couple times.
42:47
I just stood in the kitchen there in Germany.
42:48
Like, like, who am I? Well, like, was I ever really me
42:56
because I came in when I was 18, still with the cerebral frontal
42:59
cortex area developing? Yeah.
43:02
I didn't know who I was out of the uniform.
43:04
Yeah. Didn't know I could reach out to
43:07
other veterans. They took, they showed me how to
43:09
retire. They showed me how to, you know,
43:12
apply for jobs, but none of them said, hey, when you get out,
43:16
Master Sergeant Heron is just going to be IRA.
43:20
And. That's it.
43:22
Like so there's no requirements for anything to be done.
43:25
It was just kind of silent. And we don't we're not used to
43:28
that. So again, that's where other
43:31
veterans need to take that right and responsibility to reach out
43:34
and mentor, especially if it's your buddies, dude, if it's your
43:37
battle, Boo, let's get ready to get out.
43:39
And you know that dude's getting out.
43:41
Like, you should do everything you can to prepare that guy.
43:45
I got a couple of those in the pipe right now that I'm like,
43:48
dude, you, you got to let yourself get short because
43:52
you're retiring and they don't call you if something goes
43:56
wrong. Yeah.
43:59
You know, so start. Start.
44:01
Stepping back now, right like that, that's what you have to
44:04
do. Let's start letting the reins go
44:06
now and start stepping back and, and letting somebody else step
44:11
up for you, like in your place, because that's what's going to
44:13
happen on that day. And because nobody's going to
44:15
care that you're gone, You know, like, I mean, and that's, and
44:18
that's the brutal truth of it. And I and I think, and I really
44:23
think the more people are honest with folks about those types of
44:28
things. When he went about transition,
44:31
the less surprised they'll be. And I think it'll be easier to
44:34
start building that tribe once you're out if they already know
44:38
ahead of the time to be prepared for something like that.
44:40
Because I wasn't prepared for that at all.
44:42
Like nobody told me those things like like at all.
44:45
Like I was not prepared for that type of transition to where you
44:49
pretty much did not exist anymore.
44:51
I was not prepared for. Staying in your local area like
44:55
you did, like I did because my wife was still active duty.
44:59
So I'd be, you know, at the, at the PX or at the, you know,
45:03
commissary and CPA. Man, you want to go?
45:05
No, I got to go back to work. Like, oh shit, that's right.
45:09
You have a job, you know, and it's rough.
45:13
But again, we know it's rough. So we, we reach out, we do our
45:18
podcasts, we do our social media work to make sure no one feels
45:22
like that. So absolutely.
45:29
Let's go ahead and take a quick break.
45:30
Again, it's going to be a little bit shorter.
45:32
And when we come back, we're going to talk about some things.
45:35
If there's anything coming up next for Bravo Mission Radio
45:39
where I can find a listen to Bravo Mission Radio and what it
45:43
means to give back to the community.
45:45
Outstanding. I can't.
45:47
Wait, all right, everybody just give us two more minutes and
45:50
we'll be right back. All right, everybody, welcome
48:51
back to the Bunkhouse here on Military Broadcast Radio where
48:53
we get veterans of voice. Before the break, we were
48:55
talking, Ira and I were talking about building that veteran
48:58
tribe and what that really meant and how important that really
49:02
is. I think.
49:03
And we both like, and that's probably the settlement I get
49:05
from a lot of veterans is building that tribe, building
49:07
that community and network after you get out.
49:09
That helps settle in a lot of things, a lot of unknowns
49:13
because like you said, we we all share experiences.
49:17
A lot of us have the same things that we're dealing with, just
49:19
from different experiences that's caused these things, you
49:23
know, and I think that's one of the biggest thing is, is getting
49:25
back into that better networking and building that tribe.
49:28
And so with that is so real quick.
49:33
Is there anything coming up next for Bravo Mission Radio?
49:36
Any new things coming up? Any new initiatives for the
49:39
show? So we are actually going to go
49:43
to a live stream format for Bravo Mission Radio Live.
49:49
So that's going to be our main COA course of action.
49:52
You know acronyms, Chaz and I actually talked about it.
49:56
We had a strategy session a couple weeks ago.
50:01
You know, the live stream is where we want to go.
50:03
That's going to be on Sundays. And what we're going to do with
50:09
Bravo Mission Radio recording is we're actually going to start
50:13
doing educational podcasts. So we've got a finance guy
50:20
coming on who's going to talk for 30 minutes, 45 minutes to an
50:25
hour about, hey, if you're, you know, get out at four years and
50:28
you've got 20 grand to put in, here's how you do it.
50:32
Or, hey, you retired and you were a Boo Boo with your
50:35
finances. Yeah.
50:37
Here's how. You can kind of bounce back or
50:39
hey, you thrived and your TSP is outstanding.
50:43
What do you do with that million bucks so it doesn't sit
50:45
stagnant, right? So we've got them coming on.
50:49
We've got a veteran caretaker we're we're talking to now to
50:54
see if she can come on and talk about how she takes care of
50:57
veterans. Let's see who else we got.
50:59
We got a couple of folks lined up.
51:01
Man, that that's the kind of stuff veterans need to hear.
51:05
Is that that stuff like that? You know, we've got and we're
51:10
and we're bringing on a couple of civilians as well just to
51:13
show the vet fam that hey, got an alcohol problem.
51:17
This civilian here can tell you how to get through it without
51:20
the, the ties to the military. He's going to be on the show
51:25
talking about his experience. We've got a woman who lost her
51:31
husband 11 years ago, civilian, but she went through her five
51:37
year period of adjusting to life as a single mom with three kids
51:41
and wrote her own book, The Widowers.
51:44
The widowers got to bouncing back.
51:50
Not, not military, not veteran affiliated whatsoever, but has
51:54
that experience. So we've got those coming up.
51:56
We're getting our website built up here soon so that we can
52:00
have, you know, all of these cool things, these podcast
52:04
links, links to your show, links to any other, the podcast going
52:08
on out there, a repository of all of this information that
52:12
we're getting out and then just having fun with it, dude,
52:16
because that's what it's all about, right?
52:20
You know, we can get on here and we can, you know, be Debbie
52:21
Downer talking about this and the other.
52:23
But at the end of the day, if you walk away from a podcast and
52:28
you're and you're feeling down and you're a veteran, it's like
52:31
you need to tune into the bunkhouse or Bravo Mission radio
52:34
and and see what a good tab is, right.
52:36
So we're just going to keep doing what we're doing.
52:38
We're just, we're going to do it more live and then have those
52:41
educational snippets going on that we launch as we film.
52:45
I'll do it quick editing because, you know, I don't edit
52:47
anything. Yeah.
52:49
I don't either. Yeah, we keep it raw, dude, the
52:51
authentic raw. Unless you come down and say,
52:54
hey, let's take out that joke about me doing the thing I did,
52:57
like, OK, I'll make it into a reel instead.
53:01
Yeah, you know, But yeah, those are the couple things we got
53:05
going on. Those are our initiatives.
53:06
So just trying to get more, you know, get more info out to the
53:10
vet fan. That's what it's all.
53:11
About dude, that's dude, that's awesome, man.
53:13
Like I, I, I love the fact that you guys are not scared of
53:17
pivoting and trying something new.
53:19
I think that is so amazing because like, like again, that's
53:23
kind of what I did when I, when I, when I partnered with
53:26
military broadcast radio was the first time I ever did any lad
53:28
never really did a live session ever before and jumped right in.
53:32
And, and I'm not going to lie, like I enjoy doing lives like
53:36
it's great because it's, they're more dynamic.
53:39
You have a lot more conversations about different
53:42
things, you know, and so like I, I enjoy the lives I, I plan on
53:46
continuing to do these for a lot longer.
53:48
You know, I'm still going to do my pre recorded releases every
53:51
month that I always do, but I do I, I think that's awesome.
53:54
I think that's part of you're like that's, that's, that's
53:59
testament to your growth as as a member of the community that
54:04
gives back, right? Finding better different ways
54:09
and not even better ways 'cause if you're giving back or
54:11
providing in any fashion, that's outstanding just in itself,
54:14
right? But finding different ways to
54:16
give back different, different areas of expertise to share
54:19
information. Because you're right, 'cause
54:22
there's not a lot of people out there sharing the those types of
54:25
like kind of really knowledge, right?
54:28
Like that's, and again, like they say they teach U.S.
54:33
financial management while we're in and when we're transitioning,
54:35
but they really don't teach financial management at all.
54:40
Mine was an. Excel spreadsheet with a budget.
54:43
Yeah, and the guy didn't. Even look at it, he was like,
54:45
well, you're retiring, so you're much set.
54:47
I'm like, then why did I make this thing, man?
54:50
Yeah, He's like. No, you're absolutely right.
54:52
It's like, cool, you're filling it out.
54:53
They didn't really see what you actually put.
54:55
And they're like, all right, cool, you filled it out.
54:57
Sweet. Thanks.
54:58
Like, yeah, yeah. But you know it's.
55:02
When you find your purpose beyond the uniform and this this
55:06
being mine and you know, and then you've got a great bro host
55:11
with Chaz like you. You've been on the show, man.
55:13
You know me, Me and Chaz. Yeah, dude, that's Ebony to my
55:15
ivory bro. Yeah, watching.
55:18
Love you bro, boom mad hearts to you.
55:22
But when you get to like do something like that and give
55:25
back so seamlessly in an altruistic manner, like it's
55:31
like the greatest feeling in the world, it is it.
55:33
Really is. It truly is, I find.
55:36
Peace in it. I find when we're on the air or
55:39
when I'm working on something that that self growth, that
55:43
personal growth mindset kick in. And it's just, I mean, there's,
55:48
there's no better way to describe it than you're just in
55:51
the zone. You know, it's your purpose.
55:54
Like, like it's all consuming for me, you know, and it is for
55:59
you because I know you, you've put in a lot of work on your
56:01
show and you know, and everyone, I think veterans as a whole, we
56:06
just have that service, service mentality that when we find
56:10
something with a community, you know, you got guys that are
56:14
devoted more than anyone else to like the Legion or the VFW or
56:20
to, you know, to Toys for Tots program or CVMA, right?
56:26
The, the combat veteran motorcycle Association, stuff
56:29
like that. We're in such a mindset of
56:32
giving back to any kind of community that if it becomes
56:35
your purpose and your taking care of your own community in
56:39
the veteran, the veteran community, especially the vet
56:41
fam, dude, win. Win for everybody, man.
56:45
It is man, and and that's one thing like I truly enjoy is
56:51
meeting all of these different people that have like all these
56:54
different veterans that have so many different initiative.
56:57
And and it's a lot of them are. And what I've noticed especially
57:03
like the grass roots organizations, like not, not,
57:07
not your in the limelight type of organizations, but like I
57:11
love getting the grassroot podcasters, the grassroots
57:16
organizations. I love getting them out in front
57:19
and be able to tell their story, tell what they do as a service,
57:22
you know, because those are the ones that in my opinion, are
57:25
going to help the everyday average better and out more than
57:28
anything. Because, and again, that's just
57:33
my opinion and my experiences. A lot of the the larger
57:36
organizations, they have a they have some pretty rigid
57:41
requirements to get some of their services.
57:43
You're right. And they market to what I would
57:49
consider like the high profile veteran, right?
57:52
Oh yeah, you. Know it's their business.
57:54
It's it is. I get it big.
57:56
Box foundations is what I call them.
57:58
Yeah, I I get it and I don't break grudge them for that
58:02
because they they can give millions of dollars a year that
58:05
I can't. Exactly how are they going to do
58:08
it? You know, they may have the
58:11
shizzle chested Navy SEAL on the commercials, but they're given
58:15
they're giving back to like the two year combat veteran who, you
58:20
know, had to get medically rolled out at the same time.
58:22
So I don't fault them for that. But like you, yeah, dude, I love
58:26
the small veteran business owners, the guys who are writing
58:30
books, the guys who are building media companies and a lot of
58:38
coaches, right? I say the best part of one of
58:40
the best parts of the job is I don't pay for coaching.
58:43
I just, I have so many guests that are coaches.
58:45
I just kind of pick and choose who I want to talk to.
58:50
And I like putting. I like you.
58:51
I like putting those folks up front.
58:55
Because because they don't have, they don't have the budget for
58:58
massive marketing, you know, to get their name out there,
59:01
they're using all the free tools, which don't get a lot of
59:04
like a lot of view ship at all, you know, And so that's one way
59:09
I try to give back with my show is every guest that I have on if
59:12
they have a service or if they've written a book or if
59:15
they hosted a podcast or whatever, I, I want them to
59:19
selfishly promote themselves, right?
59:20
That's why I brought, I wanted to bring you on my life is so
59:23
you could talk about Bravo mission Radio, right?
59:25
Like that's what I wanted, like, you know, and, and that's,
59:29
that's part of what a lot of us do.
59:33
And, and especially like what I would consider the grassroots.
59:36
A lot of us, that's, that's how we network.
59:38
That's we promote each other. It's, there's, there's no
59:40
competition whatsoever. It's all working together as a
59:42
team and a family. We are coming up on time.
59:46
So real quick, if you could tell everybody where we could find
59:49
Bravo Mission Radio, where we can listen, where we can watch.
59:52
Outstanding. Well, we are on Spotify and
59:55
YouTube for our episode launches every two weeks for now.
59:59
Like I said, we're about to start going live every Saturday
1:00:02
unless someone doesn't want to be live, then we'll pre record
1:00:05
and then it'll just be me and Chaz or we might call you like,
1:00:08
hey, in 30 minutes we're going on air.
1:00:09
You want to join us, you know, live stream a little bit and you
1:00:12
probably would too. You'd be like, I'm a pilot, I
1:00:14
can fly. Name that movie.
1:00:18
You know, Independence Day, right?
1:00:20
Randy Quaid. I'm a pilot.
1:00:22
I could fly favorite. Movie favorite?
1:00:25
Movie line of all time and then we can be found on on YouTube.
1:00:30
Let's see, we're on Instagram, Bravo Mission radio, all one
1:00:33
word. We are on Bravo Mission radio
1:00:38
hotline is our Facebook group. Bravo Mission radio is our page,
1:00:42
my own personal Ira Heron Facebook.
1:00:45
Everything you find on the other two is on there.
1:00:46
I can be reached there as well. LinkedIn small presence on there
1:00:51
just under my profile. And then that's pretty much, I
1:00:55
think those are the social media platforms we fall under.
1:00:58
And if anybody wants to be on the show or has any ideas on
1:01:00
topics, they can e-mail us directly at
1:01:03
bravomissionradioalloneword@gmail.com. Awesome, man.
1:01:09
Or hit up John. Or hit up John.
1:01:11
And get his info and he'll he'll steer you in the right
1:01:13
direction. Yeah, no.
1:01:14
Absolutely. Again, that's that's that's what
1:01:17
we do as a community man. We help each other out.
1:01:19
So again, if you reach out to me, you can e-mail
1:01:21
info@thebunkhousecast.com and trust me, if it's about any show
1:01:27
or any guests that I've had on my show, I promise you I will
1:01:30
get you in touch with them or at least link you up with them and
1:01:33
get you to get their information over to to them.
1:01:35
So again, Ira, thank you again for coming on.
1:01:38
Man. I love what you guys are doing.
1:01:40
I'm definitely going to have, we're going to have to do some,
1:01:42
some collaboration and do some, some Co show.
1:01:46
And so we both go live at the same time and, and we just, we
1:01:49
both have a show, man, you know. Yeah, well.
1:01:51
You know, we got our 20th episode anniversary, so I've
1:01:53
told you about that. Oh, yeah, I, I, I told you.
1:01:56
I'll be there. I'll be there, man.
1:01:57
The wheels. The wheels.
1:01:58
Are turning on how we're going to approach that because we we
1:02:01
try to do that on a Friday night because, yeah, none of us really
1:02:05
drink anymore. So what else are you going to do
1:02:06
on a Friday night? I'm gonna hang out with veterans
1:02:08
online. Yeah.
1:02:09
Exactly. So yeah, we.
1:02:11
Got that coming up. But man, thanks for having us
1:02:13
out here. Absolutely, man.
1:02:15
One safe round I got is veterans.
1:02:19
If you're out there and you're feeling down, you're going
1:02:22
through the funk, make sure you reach out to someone, another
1:02:25
veteran myself, John, you know, anyone in the veteran community,
1:02:29
reach out to him. And if you're a veteran who's
1:02:31
been through it, if someone crosses your mind, like, oh,
1:02:34
man, I wonder how old boy's doing from, you know, O3 when I
1:02:38
was in Kandahar, just reach out. We've got so many social media
1:02:41
platforms and you can still use a cell phone to call people.
1:02:45
Did you know that, John? Not just for texting anymore,
1:02:48
Really. Is that right?
1:02:51
You can actually dial the number pack and.
1:02:53
So I know we're a little over time, but it's funny, I just saw
1:02:56
a commercial. I've actually seen this
1:02:57
commercial quite a few times where it's almost like the, it's
1:03:00
like an Uber pick them up, right?
1:03:02
And their Uber driver notices they're scrolling on their phone
1:03:05
and he looks in the rearview mirror and says if you have time
1:03:07
to scroll, you have time to call.
1:03:09
And so like, like, no kidding. Like, yeah, yeah, you.
1:03:15
Know so that's my safe round for your show man like and that's
1:03:18
awesome that and just take care of yourself.
1:03:22
Put yourself 1st every once in a while and take care of your Take
1:03:26
care of your veteran family, your vet family, your tribe.
1:03:30
Absolutely, man. No, I appreciate it, brother.
1:03:32
And for everybody out there listening, thank you for joining
1:03:34
in tonight and get out there, build that tribe, stay connected
1:03:39
to the veterans. Trust me, I promise you, it will
1:03:42
help you in the long run, I promise and stuff.
1:03:45
Build that tribe up. And as always, be the light in
1:03:47
someone's dark. Hi.
1:03:49
I'm beaker with military broadcast radio TV.
1:03:53
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1:04:02
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