Podcasts about vsos

In this powerful and motivational episode of the VET S.O.S. Podcast, we're joined by JJ Hardy, a highly accomplished leadership coach, veteran advocate, and founder of Victory Leadership Coaching. With nearly two decades of military experience, JJ has dedicated his post-service life to helping veterans and civilians alike build resilience, develop leadership skills, and excel in their personal and professional lives. JJ opens up about his unexpected transition out of the military due to medical reasons, sharing the ups and downs of navigating the process with a shortened timeline. He provides practical advice on leveraging resources such as TAP, VSOs, and local veteran networks, emphasizing the importance of community, mentorship, and persistence during the transition to civilian life. We dive deep into JJ's impactful work with Victory Leadership Coaching, where he focuses on empowering leaders through principles of empathy, emotional intelligence, and effective communication. JJ introduces us to programs like the Warrior Leadership Coaching Certification, designed to equip executives with coaching skills that foster workplace success and build thriving teams. Beyond coaching, JJ discusses his role as a board member for the Veterans Liberty Center, a local organization that supports homeless veterans and those overcoming substance abuse. From peer-led PTSD groups to hands-on skill-building in wood and auto shops, JJ highlights the center's transformative impact on the veteran community. JJ also shares insights into his podcasting endeavors, including the Victory Leaders Lounge, where he spotlights veteran success stories and entrepreneurial journeys, and Warrior Leadership, a unique collaboration exploring the intersection of leadership and therapy. Plus, he previews his efforts to expand veteran-employment networking programs, connecting veterans with employers through innovative monthly events. Whether you're a transitioning service member, an aspiring leader, or a veteran looking for ways to give back, this episode is filled with actionable insights, inspiration, and resources. JJ's passion and dedication shine through as he reminds us all of the power of perseverance and the importance of “doing the hard things” to achieve greatness. https://www.linkedin.com/company/jjhardy81/ https://www.victoryleadershipcoaching.com/en-us/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/victory-leaders-lounge-podcast/ https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/leaderslounge #vetsos #VeteranLeadership #MilitaryTransition #VeteranSupport #LeadershipDevelopment #EmpowerVeterans

Welcome to The Veterans Disability Nexus, where we provide unique insights and expertise on medical evidence related to VA-rated disabilities.Leah Bucholz, a US Army Veteran, Physician Assistant, & former Compensation & Pension Examiner shares her knowledge related to Independent Medical Opinions often referred to as “Nexus Letters” in support of your pursuit of VA Disability every Wednesday at 7 AM.Leah explains the VA Clothing Allowance, a benefit for veterans whose clothing is damaged by prosthetic or orthopedic devices or topical medications related to service-connected disabilities. She details eligibility criteria, such as the requirement for a service-connected disability and the damage caused by approved devices or medications, and highlights the annual application deadline of August 1. The benefit provides up to $999.51 per year and can be a recurring payment under certain conditions. Leah also shares resources for filing, including VA forms, prosthetic departments, and free assistance from veteran service officers (VSOs). She advises veterans to consult VA resources or their prosthetic department to confirm eligibility and encourages engagement with her content for further support.

Show SummaryOn today's episode, we're replaying a PsychArmor Conversations with Caregivers featuring how VSOs can support Caregivers. This conversation was recorded in June of 2023 and featured the host, PsychArmor Trusted Advisor Shaina Purser, having a conversation with Madison Moore, VP of Programs & Partnerships at The Elizabeth Dole Foundation, and Michael S. Figlioli, Director of National Veterans Services at the VFW. Provide FeedbackAs a dedicated member of the audience, we would like to hear from you about the show. Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts about the show in this short feedback survey. By doing so, you will be entered to receive a signed copy of one of our host's three books on military and veteran mental health.  About Today's GuestsShaina Purser is a dedicated social worker, specializing in mental health and community advocacy. With a passion for supporting underserved populations, Shaina has spent several years working in various settings, including non-profit organizations and community health initiatives.Shaina holds a strong belief in the power of education and collaboration, working alongside colleagues and community members to develop sustainable solutions that promote well-being and equity. Through her ongoing dedication to the field, she continues to inspire and uplift those around her.Madison Moore is a Senior Advisor at the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, where she plays a pivotal role in advancing the foundation's mission to support military caregivers. With a robust background in nonprofit leadership and advocacy, Madison is dedicated to improving the lives of those who care for wounded, ill, and injured veterans.Before joining the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, Madison held various leadership roles in organizations focused on veteran services and community engagement. Her commitment to serving military families is deeply rooted in her own experiences, driving her passion for advocacy and empowerment.Madison is a sought-after speaker and expert in military caregiver issues, frequently sharing her insights at national conferences and forums. She holds a degree in Social Work and has contributed to numerous publications highlighting the challenges and strengths of military caregivers.Michael Figlioli is the National Service Officer for the Veterans of Foreign Wars. As NVS director, Michael is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the program, which ensures veterans, service members and their families have access to their earned benefits through the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Defense and Labor. The scope of his role also includes overseeing the VFW's network of more than 1,950 VFW Accredited Service Officers located around the world and on almost two dozen military installations, to ensure they have the necessary training and resources to provide the best possible service to their veteran clients.Michael got his start serving veterans, service members and their families as a senior family program specialist at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, from 2005 to 2007, where he was responsible for the welfare of the families of soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, and the formation and training of family support groups assigned to the 94th Regional Readiness Command, which encompassed the entire Northeast Region. He was then appointed as VFW Service Officer for the VFW Department of Massachusetts in 2008. In 2011, he was hired by the Washington Office as a pre-discharge claims representative for the National Capital Region. Since then, he has served in various positions with NVS to include associate director for field operations and assistant director for veterans benefits policy. He became NVS deputy director in March 2016 and has helped guide the program for the last seven years.Links Mentioned in this Episode VFW National Veterans ServiceElizabeth Dole FoundationPsychArmor Resource of the WeekFor this week's PsychArmor resource of the week is the PsychArmor Conversations with Caregivers series. This is a series of moderated discussions that are available on YouTube, and features topics such as Working while Caregiving, Resilience and Recreation, and Caring for Veterans through End of Life.  You can find the resource here:  https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8CpUgKU1Rmt7v_bTpTbZhN_yRNNd0Lwe&si=zK8ox5KBCLz47Uog Episode Partner: Are you an organization that engages with or supports the military affiliated community? Would you like to partner with an engaged and dynamic audience of like-minded professionals? Reach out to Inquire about Partnership Opportunities Contact Us and Join Us on Social Media Email PsychArmorPsychArmor on TwitterPsychArmor on FacebookPsychArmor on YouTubePsychArmor on LinkedInPsychArmor on InstagramTheme MusicOur theme music Don't Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families.  You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com  

Welcome back to Season 5 of the Road Home Podcast! In this episode, host Jae is joined by Robert "Bob" Looby, Past State Commander of the American Legion of New Jersey, to explore how Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs) are evolving to address the housing needs of veterans.

We're thrilled to announce the return of The Road Home Podcast, presented by the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. This Fall, join us for a powerful new season focused on the theme of Partnerships. Every week, we'll dive into the innovative collaborations that are shaping the future of veteran housing, from healthcare alliances to partnerships with builders, tribal entities, VSOs, and beyond. In a year marked by challenges—rising veteran homelessness, a troubling Supreme Court ruling, and increasingly unaffordable housing—our commitment to collective action has never been more crucial. This season, we'll explore how our shared efforts are driving real progress in housing the over 35,000 veterans experiencing homelessness on any given night. Join us as we speak with experts who are leading the charge, using creativity and cooperation to tackle some of the toughest issues facing our veterans today. Whether you're a longtime listener or new to The Road Home, don't miss this season's inspiring stories of collaboration and impact. Brought to you by the Home Depot Foundation, who made this podcast possible, The Road Home Podcast returns this Fall. Stay tuned!

RED FriDALY BRIEFing I did a thing. Hint: I joined another Veteran Service Organization and here's why I think doing the same would benefit you and the community. I also belong to other veteran groups like Team Red, White & Blue and Team Rubicon , and I really want to start an LA chapter of the Veterans Beer Club. This video is specifically about the big legacy VSOs. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dalydose/message

TROLL PATROL Ashley and Stacy clarify a misunderstanding about service officers from Grunt4Life. There are 16 billion reasons why The American Legion has the backs of all veterans. Even you, Grunt4Life. ZERO CHAT THIRTY We've scheduled an appointment with America's Top Doc – U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy. Dr. Murthy talks about prioritizing mental wellness and identifying loneliness and isolation as predictors of depression and suicidal ideation. He stresses the importance of connection and camraderie. “What we really need more of in the world is to show up for one another, to check on one another and to remind each other that we're, in fact, not alone.” THE SCUTTLEBUTT Finding help for veterans facing homelessness Coast Guardsman to Receive Distinguished Flying Cross for Daring Vessel Boarding and Rescue Special Guest: Dr. Vivek H. Murthy .

This Week we discussed Veterans Service Officers (VSOs), complance, accredition and more. 

This week we talked with Jason Berger, VSO of Eastern Hampden District, Ally Rodriquez, VSO Taunton MA, and Kim Emerling, VSO of Salem, MA.  We get their propective as VSOs and learn what they do in their communities. 

Shawn Welsh recently retired from the US Army after serving in the intelligence field, but he started his transition years prior. Using his intel skills, Shawn took advantage of 26 military transition programs and obtained 7 different certifications. He currently works in business continuity and is the host of the VET S.O.S. podcast, which he launched in May of 2022.Shawn teamed up with a fellow transitioning service member, and together they explored different events and programs in the months leading up to his retirement. One of the most beneficial events for Shawn was experiencing a Who Ya Know Show Career Summit. This event allowed Shawn to understand what civilians are looking for in a new hire. The Who Ya Know Show encouraged Shawn to start his own podcast. As a result, the VET S.O.S. podcast launched with their support and sponsorship. Through LinkedIn, Shawn connected with others who recommended programs like FourBlock, Vets2Industry and Veterati. The tagline for the VET S.O.S. podcast is Don't drown in the sea of transition; grab the S.O.S. lifeline. With thousands of transition resources available, the amount of information can be overwhelming to navigate, not to mention time consuming to research. To help service members organize their military transition, Shawn hosts different organizations each week on his podcast and allows them 30 minutes to showcase their services.Shawn recently presented at the VET Summit and shared his tactic for organizing the 40,000 VSOs to a more manageable number. He narrowed down his top 3 VSOs to Vets2Industry, The KEY Community and 50strong. Vets2Industry hosts virtual events that bring in 200 attendees and dozens of vetted recruiters and organizations. After the event, a summary is emailed to all the attendees for their reference. The KEY Community and 50strong also offer virtual events and networking opportunities.  Of the 26 military transition programs that Shawn participated in, Veterati ranks in his top 5. The informational interviews with the mentors at Veterati helped him figure out what he didn't want to do. Another organization that Shawn used was American Corporate Partners (ACP). The mentor he was given was such a good match that they continue to regularly talk. FourBlock hosts companies and recruiters that are interested in hiring veterans. The COMMIT Foundation and Leader Transition Institute round out his top 5. Shawn was methodical in his transition preparation. He and his wife had many conversations about finances, moving and career paths. After settling on a location, he networked and conducted informational interviews to help him find his focus. From there he used Hire Our Heroes to find an internship in business consulting. The internship became his current full-time job. You may be wondering how Shawn was able to use so many resources during his transition and still fulfill his military duties. It's not that he had leadership that just let him stop coming to work. Instead, he planned ahead and started 2 years prior to his retirement. Little by little, he slowly went through the programs and earned certifications. He fit in informational interviews when he could and took advantage of virtual opportunities.Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://tinyurl.com/llforvets22Connect with Shawn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnwelsh00/ Listen to the VET S.O.S. podcast at https://vetsospodcast.com/SUBSCRIBE & LEAVE A FIVE-STAR REVIEW and share this with other veterans who might need help as they transition from the military!

Knowing how to effectively use your veteran benefits is a key part of post-military success. On this episode, we uncover how to navigate your benefits with help from Dr. Paul Lawrence. As a businessman, author and passionate veteran advocate, Dr. Lawrence served as the Under Secretary for Benefits at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs where he was in charge of the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) and led a team of 25,000 people with an operating budget of $4 billion. Each year, he administered $120 billion in benefits to veterans. Dr. Lawrence wrote Veterans Benefits for You: Get What You Deserve, an easy-to-read, how-to guide, that was released on July 4, 2023. Paul served in the U.S. Army, having completed his ROTC requirement as an Airborne-qualified Captain. You can learn about the different benefits to which you are entitled by visiting https://www.va.gov, attending the Transition Assistance Program, utilizing veteran service organizations or by reading Dr. Lawrence's new book. The only way to initiate any veteran benefit is to apply for that benefit. While some applications are easy to navigate, others can be complicated. Dr. Lawrence advises veterans who think they don't deserve additional benefits to understand that benefits are not an entitlement, they are earned through one's service. For those seeking disability compensation, remember that as you age, conditions will get worse. It's easier to start the disability compensation process earlier, rather than later, because you often don't have the documentation you need, or the conditions can get more problematic. Even if a person applies for a benefit and is denied, there will still be a record on file. This is helpful when science advances and conditions can be attributed to exposure to certain chemicals for example. As a person ages, they can file a claim for increase. Dr. Paul encourages people to review their conditions every 3-5 years. One of the most utilized benefits is the GI Bill, a benefit that is not just for college. It can also be used for technical training and certifications. In addition, it is a benefit that can be transferred, while on duty, to a dependent. Many states have additional education benefits for veterans and their dependents. The home loan guarantee is another popular benefit. Veterans can purchase a home with no money down.  A benefit that is often underutilized is a safety net benefit called pension. If a veteran's assets and income fall below a certain level, and the veteran served during periods of war, then that person may qualify for a small pension. The veteran does not need to have served 20 years. It's not a lot of money, but it may be enough for someone on the cusp of homelessness. Another benefit that could be useful is life insurance. For those that are service disabled, it may be difficult to obtain life insurance for certain amounts. The VA has an insurance portfolio that should be considered. If someone is having issues accessing their benefits, reach out to a VSO. Many organizations will help you find a VSO, including Wounded Warrior, DAV, VFW or American Legion. Each state also funds VSOs.Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://tinyurl.com/llforvets22.    You can connect with Paul on LinkedIn at:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/drpaullawrence/Order Veterans Benefits for You: Get What You Deserve at: https://www.amazon.com/Veterans-Benefits-You-What-Deserve-ebook/dp/B0BGYD2B3KSUBSCRIBE & LEAVE A FIVE-STAR REVIEW and share this with other veterans who might need help as they transition from the military!

For most veterans, starting a VA Disability claim or finding out the benefits you're eligible for is daunting. There are a lot of moving parts, information, and nuances in almost every aspect of the process. It's hard to know where to put your first step.  In this episode, Dr. Paul Lawrence is back to break down what you need to know about filing or refiling for disability benefits, how the VA and VSOs help in the process and the other benefits you should take advantage of.  Paul is a businessman, author, and passionate Veteran advocate. He has 35 years of experience solving management problems in large, complex organizations. As a private sector executive, he was a consulting Partner at two Big-Four accounting firms and a Vice President in two Fortune 500 companies.  For almost three years, Lawrence served as Under Secretary of Benefits at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, unanimously confirmed by the Senate on April 26, 2018. As Under Secretary, he was in charge of the Veteran's Benefits Administration (VBA) leading a team of 25,000 people with an operating budget of $4 billion, administering $120 billion in benefits annually. He implemented proven business practices, streamlined the bureaucracy, and created a public presence rebranding VBA as an organization successfully supporting Veterans. The show notes can be found here: https://laceylangford.com/podcast/Veteran-Disability-and-Other-Benefits

Frank Molinar is a leading authority in Financial Readiness training to those with a military mindset. Through his work with the Dept of Defense, Arizona's Attorney General, the AZ Dept of Veteran Services, and multiple VSOs he has personally logged over 4,000 hours counseling service members and veterans from all ranks, stages, and issues, and he has spoken to tens of thousands on the principles of financial readiness. A prolific speaker, storyteller, Certified Financial Planner™, and seasoned business owner, his book, keynotes, and workshops are consistently rated 5 stars for being relevant, educational, and motivational. Frank is based out of Phoenix, AZ. Connect with Jon Dwoskin: Twitter: @jdwoskin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jonathan.dwoskin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejondwoskinexperience/ Website: https://jondwoskin.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jondwoskin/ Email: jon@jondwoskin.com Get Jon's Book: The Think Big Movement: Grow your business big. Very Big!   Connect with Frank Molinar: Website: https://www.financialdominancebook.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frankmolinarcfp/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankmolinar/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frank.molinar

Shane graduated from the United States Military Academy, but early in his military career, he took a blow to the head in hand-to-hand combat training that resulted in two torn retina, a concussion, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and PTSD. After three surgeries, he was unexpectedly medically separated and had to fight for disability benefits using two VSOs and an Attorney. He then struggled with learning how to build a business around his residual capacity and with his formerly unemployed military spouse. We had to learn the power of professional networking. For the past 10 years, we've helped numerous startups and established businesses grow through networking and the intent of RebootVA.org is to coach Veterans in financial need through these tasks, so they can build successful businesses of their own – like we had to do over 20 years ago.

Welcome to The Veterans Disability Nexus, where we provide unique insights and expertise on medical evidence related to VA-rated disabilities.Leah Bucholz, a US Army Veteran, Physician Assistant, & former Compensation & Pension Examiner shares her knowledge related to Independent Medical Opinions often referred to as “Nexus Letters” in support of your pursuit of VA Disability every Wednesday at 7 AM. In this episode, Leah emphasizes the importance for veterans to seek assistance from accredited agents, attorneys, or Veteran Service Officers (VSOs) when filing VA disability claims. She points out that every county has a VSO, which is a free resource for veterans to help with initial claims or appeals. While VSOs vary in quality, veterans are not limited to those in their county and can find one that suits their needs. Additionally, Leah highlights that accredited agents and attorneys, unlike VSOs, usually charge a fee for their services, which is regulated by law. These professionals, who have undergone specific training, mainly assist with appeals rather than initial claims. Leah advises veterans to use va.gov to search for and verify the accreditation of agents and VSOs. Take control of your medical evidence related to your benefits and visit https://www.prestigeveteranmctx.com for more information and support.#veterans #va #medical

IN THE NEWS Jeff and Ashley talk about the new video game release from Steam Games. “Company of Heroes 3″ takes on a new facet of WWII history, and brings players into the battle between U.S. Forces, British Forces, Wehrmacht, and Deutsches Afrikakorps that ensued during campaigns in Italy and North Africa. THIS WEEK'S GUEST HillVets founder and CEO Justin Brown tells the origin story of how a networking event for veterans working in the Capitol has evolved into a veteran and military community helping one another in their pursuit of continued service in government. Justin explains the leadership and fellowship programs, and how HillVets works with other VSOs to accomplish their mission. RAPID FIRE I'm a U.S. Marine turned Hooters girl - people thank me for my service... of their wings Wisconsin post provides proper send-off to deploying commander African Americans in USCG Special Guest: Justin Brown.

This week we welcome Jim Lorraine, President and CEO of America's Warrior Partnership.  Jim served in the U.S. Air Force as a Flight Nurse with nine combat deployments and retired as the Deputy Command Surgeon for the United States Special Operations Command after 22 years of service.  After serving as the founding director of the United States Special Operations Command Care Coalition and as a Special Assistant for Warrior and Family Support to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Jim has stepped up to lead America's Warrior Partnership.  AWP partners with communities to prevent veteran suicide.  Their programs accomplish this by starting at the community level and understanding the unique situations of veterans and their families.  They utilize an upstream approach to veteran empowerment by connecting, educating, advocating for, and collaborating with veterans, their families, caregivers, and the communities that support them.  AWP provides veteran-serving organizations with the tools to implement a customized program that is responsive to local veterans, families, and caregivers.  At the same time, they provide VSOs with a connection to national resources when a veteran's request cannot be met locally.  This episode is all about fixing a national problem from the community level up, so sit back relax an enjoy this week's interview.For more information about America's Warrior Partnership go to https://www.americaswarriorpartnership.org.Please join our efforts in raising money to provide multi-cancer screening for at risk veterans.  We have set up a fundraiser with Fund the First, all proceeds will go to the  HunterSeven Foundation to purchase Galleri® Multi-Cancer Early Detection Test for veterans identified as high risk through their Immediate Needs Program.  To make a donation or to find out more about our fundraiser go to https://fundthefirst.com/campaign/multi-cancer-screening-kits-for-veterans-3eiblv

A little more than a month has passed since the landmark legislation of the PACT Act was signed into law by President Biden at the White House. It was a much-celebrated win for many of the VSOs and for veteran advocates who worked hard for so long to get a bill passed in Congress to finally award veterans the benefits and care they need after suffering for so long with the effects of toxic exposure during their military service.   Recently, Host Rob Couture had the unique opportunity to host and moderate a discussion on the PACT Act with Director of National Legislative Service, Pat Murray, Assistant Director of National Legislative Service Kristina Keenan, and veteran advocate and comedian Jon Stewart. Jon Stewart, veteran advocate, comedian, and host of Apple TV's The Problem with Jon Stewart, Pat Murray, Director of National Legislative Service, and Kristina Keenan, Assistant Director, National Legislative Service   Jon shares his thoughts on 9/11 and the brave men and women who continue to be affected by the event. [2:31]   Jon answers Rob's questions about the unity and focus of Americans since 9/11. [5:40]   Kristina was surprised at the time it took to tackle toxic exposure issues for veterans from Vietnam to today. [7:24]   Along with an inspiring grassroots effort by veterans, Pat was instrumental in solidifying multiple pieces of toxic exposure legislation into the PACT Act. [10:12]   Jon, Kristina, and Pat describe how the advocates circumvented the processes in place designed to delay or deny what veterans needed. [28:15]   Kristina and Pat share the emotional release felt when the legislation finally became law. [38:15]   What the VFW can do to ensure the bill is implemented swiftly and correctly. [45:29]   Kristina shares her final thoughts on toxic exposure legislation. [47:53]   For more information or to continue the conversation, please visit: Veterans of Foreign Wars Website VFW Podcast Page @VFWHQ on Twitter VFW on Facebook @RobCoutureVFW on Facebook VFW Unmet Needs Program Call 1-888-JOIN-VFW Text “NEEDS” to 20222 to donate to the Unmet Needs Program Today's VFW — Share Your #StillServing Story National Veterans Services — Claims Help  

Frank Molinar is a leading authority in Financial Readiness training to those with a military mindset. Through his work with the Dept of Defense, Arizona's Attorney General, the AZ Dept of Veteran Services, and multiple VSOs he has personally logged over 4,000 hours counseling service members and veterans from all ranks, stages, and issues, and he has spoken to tens of thousands on the principles of financial readiness. A prolific speaker, storyteller, Certified Financial Planner™, and seasoned business owner, his book, keynotes, and workshops are consistently rated 5 stars for being relevant, educational, and motivational. Frank is based out of Phoenix, AZ. Connect with Jon Dwoskin: Twitter: @jdwoskin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jonathan.dwoskin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejondwoskinexperience/ Website: https://jondwoskin.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jondwoskin/ Email: jon@jondwoskin.com Get Jon's Book: The Think Big Movement: Grow your business big. Very Big! Connect with Frank Molinar: Website: https://www.financialdominancebook.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frankmolinarcfp/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankmolinar/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frank.molinar

After spending 27 years in the USAF on active duty and in the reserves as an intel officer, Brian Niswander continues using his background in data and analytics as the founder of Military-Transition.org, an organization that uses data analytics and visualizations to assist with the transition process For 21 years, Brian worked in both the public and private sector in market research and supply chain management within the consumer goods industry. During this time, he noticed trends among transitioning service members. With a passion for ground truth and a quest to dispel rumors and myths, he created Military-Transition.org. as a resource for the transitioning service member and military spouse.Brian discusses the 5 key takeaways from 2 decades of working with TSMs, veterans and spouses. 1) Transitioning will be difficult and challenging because you are transitioning into the unknown. There are ways to reduce the confusion and uncertainty before, during and after the transition process.2) Education and awareness are critical. Vets tend to make the same mistakes as those who have gone before them. Using data, we can study the past to avoid those mistakes. We can learn how to replicate success.3) Transition is personal. Although there are many one-size-fits-all solutions offered across various resources, individual plans tend to be most effective. You must take personal responsibility for your transition.4) Utilize the full range of options and services available to you such as TAP and VSOs.5) Your past does not define your future both in terms of rank and position. Don't feel constrained by your job in the military. Start early to get the education you need to be successful in a new role in the civilian workplace. Do not feel entitled in the civilian sector based on your rank in the military. Data from Military-Transition.org shows 5 actions that veterans say are important for transition success.1)  Start early.2)  Have a transition plan. The process starts with self-reflection. Ask yourself, “What do I want to do? Where does my family want to live?” 3) Build your network through LinkedIn, informational interviews and organizations like Veterati and ACP.4) Learn how to translate your hard and soft skills both on your resume and during an interview.5) Be patient. Your transition will not happen overnight.Brian has published several FREE books that can be found on Military-Transition.org. The transition guidebooks are 20-24 pages in length and are meant to offer information backed by data. A goal of his organization is to be the first point of contact for a transitioning service member. To close out this session, Brian shares a significant analysis of veterans and his discovery of 3 groups of members that transition. No matter what category you fall into, Military-Transition.org has resources to aid in your transition. Please head to the Lessons Learned for Vets YouTube channel at https://tinyurl.com/llforvets22 to hear more from Brian about the importance of self-reflection before starting your transition. You can connect with Brian Niswander on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/bniswander/You can learn more about Military-Transition.org and access the FREE guidebooks at https://military-transition.org/ebooks.html.SUBSCRIBE & LEAVE A FIVE-STAR REVIEW and share this to other veterans who might need help as they transition from the military!Connect with me on LinkedIn and check out our website at www.llforvets.com.

Applying 35 years of military experience to the country's largest Veteran Service Organization. The long-term responsibility we have to help warriors heal. Why veterans are civic assets.Wounded Warrior Project CEO Lt. Gen. Mike Linnington discusses how military leadership translates to nonprofit leadership, the importance of having good people, and the tremendous impact VSOs can have when they work together.CONNECT with The Resilient Life Podcast:Instagram SUBSCRIBE Get the latest video podcast on YouTubeGet the latest audio podcastCONNECT Ryan Manion on Social Media:Facebook - Twitter - Instagram - LinkedIn  LEARN about Travis Manion FoundationMEET Lt. Gen. Mike LinningtonMike Linnington WebsiteMike Linnington LinkedInMike Linnington FacebookWWP Instagram

We are back this week for Part 2 with Tyrone Hewitt. This is where Tyrone's in-depth knowledge truly shines, in the topic of veteran benefits. There are thousands of Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs) and a diverse array of veteran benefits. Much like a Las Vegas buffet, where you likely won't eat one of everything, you don't need to use all the resources that are available to you. Tyrone gives some insight into how to determine which resources are best for you. -          Start with your local transition center to assess what courses are available to you. Speak with your transition rep to assess your needs and determine what resources you can tap into.-          Ensure your resources align with your personal and career goals. Where you are in your career and where you want to go next will determine what resources will be best suited for your goals and career path.-          Don't overload yourself and cause additional stress by trying to use all the resources, gain all the certifications and education – even if they are not what is best for you. -          Don't feel like you have to follow the same transition path as others. Don't fall victim to the “comparison killer.” Own your transition and make it work for your unique situation. Remember that your resume should be targeted and focused. Too many different certifications and credentials can make you look unfocused. Align your resume content with your career path.Tyrone goes through some of the commonly overlooked veteran benefits such as disability and education. He talks about the difference between compensated and non-compensated disability benefits. Pursuing the service-connected disability benefits can pay dividends, both through compensation and healthcare benefits down the road.  Remember there are both federal benefits such as the VA as well as state benefits such as tax benefits and saving on other state-related fees. Research the state where you want to live to determine what benefits are offered as part of your decision making process of where you want to live after your military career.  Tyrone goes through some key resources: SkillBridge programs: You must communicate with the command staff who will have to approve your paperwork early in the process and create a staffing plan to cover your responsibilities while you will be gone to do SkillBridge. Take the initiative to handle this issue and remove this obstacle before it arises. Employment: Just because you are a senior military leader and/or have a degree, you are not guaranteed a job. You will have to work to find the right place for your skills and your background. Also, just because you have always been in the same career field in the military, you don't have to stay in that same career field.  VA Disability Claim: You must be prepared and you have to get seen by a doctor for your disability claim. There is a diverse array of disabilities that can be service connected, but you will never know if you don't see a doctor, get your issues documented and file a disability claim. You don't have to do your claim alone, there are several VSOs that will help you successfully navigate this process. You can connect with Tyrone Hewitt on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyrone-hewitt-mhs/SUBSCRIBE & LEAVE A FIVE-STAR REVIEW and share this to other veterans who might need help as they transition from the military!Connect with me on Facebook and LinkedIn! Or check out our website at www.llforvets.com

Frank Molinar is a leading authority in Financial Readiness training to those with a military mindset. Through his work with the Dept of Defense, Arizona's Attorney General, the AZ Dept of Veteran Services, and multiple VSOs he has personally logged over 4,000 hours counseling service members and veterans from all ranks, stages, and issues, and he has spoken to tens of thousands on the principles of financial readiness. A prolific speaker, storyteller, Certified Financial Planner™, and seasoned business owner, his book, keynotes, and workshops are consistently rated 5 stars for being relevant, educational, and motivational. Frank is based out of Phoenix, AZ. GET HIS BOOK: https://www.amazon.com/Financial-Dominance-Frank-Molinar/dp/1737056607/

On this episode of the FourBlock Podcast, we are honored to be joined by former Under Secretary for Benefits in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and U.S. Army Veteran Dr. Paul R. Lawrence. In conversation with FourBlock Founder Mike Abrams, Lawrence generously shares details of his background and upbringing, his military career and transition, and his post-military career in the private sector before giving us a behind the scenes look at his time as the Under Secretary for Benefits at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Lawrence talks about the priorities that he focused on as Under Secretary, including getting veterans the benefits they earned in a manner that honors their service, fiscal stewardship, and collaboration -- working more with veterans' stakeholders like VSOs, nonprofits, and others who wanted to help. A businessman, author, and passionate veteran advocate with 35 years of experience solving management problems in large, complex organizations, Lawrence also shares what he continues to do to advocate for veterans today. As a private sector executive, Lawrence was a consulting Partner at two Big-Four accounting firms and a Vice President in two Fortune 500 companies. He is a government management thought leader, having written several books on the subject. For almost three years, Lawrence served as Under Secretary of Benefits at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, unanimously confirmed by the Senate on April 26, 2018. As Under Secretary, he was in charge of the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) leading a team of 25,000 people with an operating budget of $4 billion, administering $120 billion in benefits annually. He implemented proven business practices, streamlined the bureaucracy, and created a public presence rebranding VBA as an organization successfully supporting Veterans. Prior to becoming a political appointee, Lawrence was a Vice President at Kaiser Associates, a Partner at Ernst & Young, a Vice President at Accenture, a Senior Director at the MITRE Corporation, a Vice President with IBM, and a Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He has written extensively on management, government, and technology. He is the co-author of Succeeding as a Political Executive: 50 Insights from Experience, What Government Does: How Political Executives Manage, Paths to Making a Difference: Leading in Government and the co-editor of Transforming Organizations and Learning the Ropes: Insights for Political Appointees. He serves on the Board of Directors of Vets2Industry, a non-profit organization helping Veterans pursue a career in the private sector. He is also a Senior Advisor to Search & Acquire, a non-profit focused on helping Veterans become CEOs via Entrepreneurship through Acquisition. He was selected three times by Federal Computer Week as one of the top 100 public service leaders. In 2019 he was recognized as Government Executive of the Year by Service to the Citizen. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. Lawrence earned his Master of Arts and Ph.D. in economics from Virginia Tech. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. He is an Army Veteran. He completed his ROTC requirement as an Airborne-qualified Captain. Find Paul Lawrence on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/drpaullawrence/. Lawrence's book, “Transforming Service to Veterans: How I Pursued Performance Excellence at the Veterans Benefits Administration in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is available here: https://www.amazon.com/Transforming-Service-Veterans-Performance-Administration/dp/B09DMQZN4N/   ABOUT US Welcome to the FourBlock Podcast, a show that examines veteran career transition and the military-civilian divide in the workplace. General Charles Krulak coined the term "Three Block War" to describe the nature of 21st-century military service defined by peace-keeping, humanitarian aid, and full combat. But what happens next? Veterans are often unprepared to return home and begin new careers. We call this the Fourth Block.  FourBlock is a national non-profit that has supported thousands of transitioning service members across the nation in beginning new and meaningful careers.  Mike Abrams (@fourblock) is an Afghanistan veteran, founder of FourBlock, and author of two military transition books. He represents the military transition perspective. Lindsey Pollak (@lindsaypollak) is a career and workplace expert and New York Times bestselling author of three career advice books. Lindsey represents the civilian perspective of this issue.  Veterans, explore new industries and make the right connections. Find a career that fits your calling. Join us at fourblock.org/ Sponsor our program or host a class to equip more of our veterans at fourblock.org/donate. Follow FourBlock on Social Media  LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter Podcast episodes are produced and edited by the Columbia University Center for Veteran Transition and Integration.  

This is a must listen episode for every military member and veteran!  This week we welcome Frank Molinar CFP, author of Financial Dominance:  Your Battle Plan for a Richer Life.  Frank is a leading authority in Financial Readiness training to those with a military mindset. Through his work with the Dept of Defense, Arizona's Attorney General, the AZ Dept of Veteran Services, and multiple VSOs he has personally logged over 4,000 hours counseling service members and veterans from all ranks, stages, and issues, and he has spoken to tens of thousands on the principles of financial readiness.  Frank's mission is to clear the financial clutter and chaos that handicaps the lives of too many service members and veterans.  Financial Dominance breaks down the core tasks of personal finance by engaging principles of combat, the military's vernacular, and powerful visuals to bring these lessons home in a way that easy to remember and hard to forget!  We discuss everything you need to know to change your financial outlook, and provide for your family for generations to come.  So back away from the Mustang that you are about to buy with a 20% APR loan, and enjoy this week's episode.To learn more about Frank, and to purchase Financial Dominance:  Your Battle Plan for a Richer Life, go to https://www.financialdominancebook.com. This week's highlighted veteran owned business is Savage Tacticians.  Savage Tacticians (SavTac) is a USMC Veteran-owned brand. They are purveyors of quality-made lifestyle goods.  Selling everything from  shirts and hats, to reversible woobie jackets, SavTac has your six when it comes to badass patriotic gear.  For more information go to https://sav-tac.com.Support the show and get your Bulletproof Veteran apparel at https://amzn.to/3BA3dx9 or see all the available shirts at http://bulletproofveteran.com/apparel

It has been a hell of a 2 year stint representing the Irreverent Warriors with our weekly podcast! But, as all good things come to an end, so too has our time with IW. We have had a great run and made a lot of important connections with politicians, celebrities and various VSOs, large and small, who have come on the show and shared similar missions. We have connected so many IW hikers with resources and made relationships that will further the goal of preventing veteran suicide. We had a lot of laughs but I hope we saved a few lives in the process too. 

Mission Roll Call is a nonpartisan movement to help provide veterans with a powerful, unified voice that is heard by our nation's leaders and communities. On this episode, we're joined by MRC Director Patrick Griffith, who talks about how their team uses digital messaging and polling to collect the views, experiences, and insights of veterans and delivers them directly to national and community leaders in an effort to enact positive change. Patrick discusses how his organization uses storytelling to educate and activate their audience, and how Mission Role Call can work with traditional VSOs like The American Legion. Special Guest: Patrick Griffith .

On today's special episode, we have our intermittent highlight of veteran non-profits series. Sometimes it's nice to take a break from advocacy cases and highlight VSOs that are out there, killing it every day. Supporting our veterans today: Crystal Laramore. She is the founder and executive director for Wheelchairs for Warriors. We are excited to learn all about her non-profit and the good work she is doing for veterans.

On today’s special episode, we have our intermittent highlight of veteran non-profits series. Sometimes it’s nice to take a break from advocacy cases and highlight VSOs that are out there, killing it every day. Supporting our veterans today: Crystal Laramore. She is the founder and executive director for Wheelchairs for Warriors. We are excited to […]

When Navy Veteran Al Kovach woke up after spinal surgery, he asked the nurse if he was still alive. She answered affirmatively, and he immediately began to plan for his future as a paralyzed Veteran.Kovach, a former Navy SEAL, Paralympian and two-time LA Marathon champion, joins Borne the Battle to discuss his career as a disabled athlete, his time as President of the Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), and the impact and challenges of PVA.The SEALs recruited Kovach out of nuclear power school due to his swimming career at Indiana University under legendary swim coach Doc Counsilman.A parachute jump in 1991 went wrong, ending with Kovach undergoing surgery but never walking again. A member of PVA came to the hospital after he woke up to help him with his paperwork and transition to life as a paralyzed Veteran.Living as a paralyzed Veteran allowed Kovach to return to competitive sports. He trained and competed in marathons, winning the LA Marathon twice and representing the USA in the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta. He also completed a transcontinental triathlon.Kovach found a new community within PVA and became actively involved in the VSO. Paralyzed Veterans of America is a congressionally chartered Veteran Service Organization (VSO). There are many Veteran nonprofits, but a Congressional Charter recognizes VSOs that are experts in their field. Congress and VA recognized PVA’s expertise as leaders in medicine and care for paralyzed Veterans. PVA was founded in 1946 when, as Kovach explains, medicine advanced enough to save paralyzed Veterans’ lives.In this episode, Kovach discusses his athletic career, PVA’s congressional advocacy, and the changes he and other members of the PVA fight to improve quality of life for all disabled Americans.Borne the Battle Veteran of the Week: Army Veteran Ben Kuroki Additional Links: Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Borne The Battle #160: Benefits Breakdown – Assistive Technology Program. Borne The Battle #157: Ursula Draper, Army Veteran, Occupational Therapist, Assistive Technology Professional. Former Navy SEALAl Kovach: Lessons I Learned From My Military Experience about How To Survive And Thrive During A Time Of Crisis. Veteran eligibility and access to VA home loans expanded VA launches Veteran Rapid Retraining Assistance Program VA and SBA jointly support restaurant recovery  Join ‘Fans in the Stands’ to virtually cheer on Veteran athletes VA accepting walk-ins for COVID-19 vaccinations nationwide VA releases report detailing efforts to address COVID-19 pandemic VA stands up commission to recommend new Under Secretary for Benefits 

Since opening the doors at Mt. Carmel Veteran Services Center five years ago, a partnership with El Paso County Veteran Service Officers (VSO) has been instrumental in ensuring thousands of veterans, and surviving spouses, receive the support they earned through service to our country.  Hear directly from three VSOs who are honored to continue serving our nation’s heroes.

Age Smart's Chris Fulton, shares her insight into veteran benefits that will be helpful to anyone and veterans at the end-of-life. Our main takeaway, how to organize veteran papers and prepare for the end-of-life, is this quote, "Originals can be in the safe deposit box, BUT have a copy at home! Emergency's don't occur at 10 a.m. on a Wednesday morning when you can easily stroll into the bank go to your safe deposit box. And tell people where they are!" Reach out to your local VSOs for more resources. 

Real VA Claims Insider client Barney Roffe shares his success story and the struggles he faced working VSOs and other service organizations. Is VA Claims Insider legit? Listen to a real VA Claims Insider clients story and you decide for yourself! Are you finally ready to get the VA disability rating and compensation YOU deserve? If you need some help with your VA disability claim, join VA Claims Insider Elite TODAY and get started on your VA disability claim for FREE: https://vaclaimsinsider.com/elite-mem... ***Video Timestamps & Resources*** ⏩ 00:00​ VA Claims Insider Introduction ⏩ 05:25​ If you don't have the medical evidence, Go Get It! ⏩ 07:20​ Document everything! ⏩ 11:45​ Your C&P exam starts as soon as you arrive ⏩ 14:00​ You have to be uncomfortably vulnerable ⏩ 18:10​ Without Documentation you have no case ⏩ 22:45​ Google Your DBQ before your C&P Exam ⏩ 26:30​ No one will ever be more vested in your claim but you ⏩ 40:35​ You only know what you know ⏩ 42:45​ Your physical disabilities could exasperate your mental ones ⏩ 48:00​ Do you know your true disability numbers? ⏩ 49:40​ Breaking down VA ratings ⏩ 54:00​ At VA Claims Insider we teach the SEM method ⏩ 55:30​ Q&A With Brian and Brandon ⏩ 01:18:00​ What is the difference between a Nexus and IMO ✔️Join VA Claims Insider Elite, get instant access to the ELITE Experience Portal (EEP) and $13,119 worth of proprietary VA claim resources TODAY, and obtain an Independent Medical Opinion (IMO), Disability Benefits Report (DBR) and Medical Nexus Letters: http://www.vaclaimsinsiderelite.com​

Today we are joined by SFC Andrew Stamp, the program director for Project JANUS, an initiative designed to help Soldiers transition from military service. In SFC Stamp's experience he has seen Soldiers have 2 years to transition, and others with only 4 months. In SFC Stamp's experience, the more time the better, because it allows the Soldier to receive more help from JANUS; resume assistance, survivor benefit plans, life insurance options etc. SFC Stamp and his team are committed to helping the Service Member find their footing by connecting them with any of the 40,000+ Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs). The VSOs cover a wide range of occupations and help ensure the Service Member can start a new career they are passionate about. This podcast is not just for service members but is also a great resource for family members supporting a retiring or transitioning Soldier.

The functions of a Veteran Service Officer are to deliver essential services to the veterans and dependents residing within the municipality.  The VSOs provide outreach services by providing referrals and assistance to, veterans and their dependents regarding available benefits and services, including G.I. Bill benefits; educational assistance; home purchases; tax exemptions; pensions; reemployment rights; civil … Continue reading Veteran Services Officers – A Community Resource for all Veterans →

Our recent guest is a Junior Enlisted Rep who shares with us staggering statistics about the Junior Enlisted community and their separation. Tyler Hoskins joins us from Hire Heroes USA and shares with us how and why they created a Junior Enlisted Program geared to seeking out junior enlisted separating sooner than the 36 month benchmark that they have noticed from their own statistics.Tyler, a Veteran himself, and one who experienced some of the same hardships he is now trying to prevent.They noticed, as many other VSOs have noticed, that senior leadership tends to start retirement 12 months out and sooner, but the junior enlisted community staggers into their midst way too late and many don't even know that these VSOs are available to them.That is why, we here at the Weekly J, felt it important to have the guests on the show that we do. Connect and engage with Tyler Hoskins today if you, or someone you know is in need of transition assistance or will be transitioning soon and they need to start preparing. Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyler-hoskins1Email: thoskins@hireheroesusa.orgWebsite: https://www.hireheroesusa.org/ Connect and Engage with Jason C. (Boom) Scott today for more education about your VA Home Loan Benefit. Jason C. Scott (NMLS: 1160791)Phone: (808) 798-9054Web: https://www.rate.com/jasonsLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncboomscott

Get connected to military community resources. Listen to LTC Olivia Nunn speak with co-founder of Bourbiz, Scott Davidson. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Veteran Success Resource Group (VSRG) partners with BOURBIZ to host expos in cities across the United States. Free of charge to veterans and their families, each expo connects hundreds of veterans with dozens of businesses, universities, government agencies and veteran service organizations (VSOs) in a casual environment. BourBiz designs events that reach junior enlisted members, both current and former. These men and women make up the bulk of our armed forces, but can be some of the most difficult to connect with resources. By offering an environment with live entertainment, prize giveaways, business competitions, celebrity appearances, camaraderie and spirits, BourBiz creates events that engage these veterans.  

Andy is a soon to be retired Army LTC and is currently serving as a Mental Performance Coach for the Colorado Rockies Major League Baseball team, a Professor of Practice at Texas A&M University’s Coaching Academy, and a Management Consultant with several companies. His expertise is in the evidence based best practices of Sport and Performance Psychology and applied Behavioral Science Disciplines. Over his 20 year career he’s served in a variety of leadership positions highlighted by multiple combat tours, five years with two Special Forces units and teaching Psychology and leadership at West Point and the Air Force Academy. He has been married to his wife Katie for over 17 years and they have four children. He also contributes to several VSOs that help Veterans and their families successfully reintegrate and transition to the civilian sector and he is a published author. On this episode we discuss: • the difference and overlap of mental health and mental performance • Army vs Navy!! • sports psychology • military transition • bouncing back and growing from adversity • coaching academy at Texas A&M • The book he coauthored, Deliberate Discomfort Find Andy by checking out the hashtag #coachingmatters, connect with him on LinkedIn http://linkedin.com/in/andyriise, and on www.mission6zero.com. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/veteranspath/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/veteranspath/support

Do you find yourself talking to the same people about bourbon every day and realize you talk to them more than your best friends? In fact, maybe they are your new best friends. We're all in that situation now and that's what today's episode is all about. Bourbon has a magical element that seems to bring people together across every demographic to share a common bond. Perhaps you're getting started and want to figure out, how do you find your bourbon people? We sit down with Jeremy Mandel, he's an admin and founder of a few online communities and one of our Patreon supporters. We go through what it takes to find connections with other like minded individuals that can be done online with people around the world or perhaps in your own backyard with meet-up groups, bourbon societies, and much more. You'll come away at the end of this realizing you probably followed some of these same steps without realizing it. Show Partners: The University of Louisville has an online Distilled Spirits Business Certificate that focuses on the business side of the spirits industry. Learn more at uofl.me/bourbonpursuit. At Barrell Craft Spirits, they spend weeks choosing barrels to create a new batch. Joe and Tripp meticulously sample every barrel to make sure the blend is absolutely perfect. Find out more at BarrellBourbon.com. Receive $25 off your first order at RackHouse Whiskey Club with code "Pursuit". Visit RackhouseWhiskeyClub.com. Show Notes: This week’s Above the Char with Fred Minnick talks about money. How did you get into bourbon? What was your introduction to the online bourbon communities? Do you ever have events with your bourbon friends? Do certain groups create more bonds than others? What about your local society? Do you think raffle groups encourage camaraderie? What did you think of the Bob Dylan whiskey? Would you rather go to someone's house to drink bourbon or a bar? Can these bourbon networks get bigger? How can people find a bourbon community? What relationships have gotten you a really good bottle of bourbon?   0:00 Are you interested in pairing your expertise on the distilling process with key business knowledge such as finance, marketing and operations, then you need to check out the distilled spirits business certificate from the University of Louisville. It's an online program that can be completed in as little as six courses. The program is taught by both UVL business faculty and corporate fellows. So you are getting real experience from experts at the most renowned distilleries, companies and startups in the distilling industry. We're talking leaders from Brown Forman beam Suntory, jack daniels and more. get enrolled to this online program at U of l.me. Slash bourbon pursuit. 0:39 My dad's famous line is nothing I said is on Episode One is if you're if you're drinking beer, you're watching the party. If you're drinking bourbon, you are the party 1:01 This is Episode 243 of bourbon pursuit. I'm Kenny, one of your hosts. And how about some pursuit series news. Now, we don't want to use this as a self serving platform. But lots of people want updates on what's happening. So here's the latest. Last week, Ryan and I visit our barrel broker where we get to do what's sort of unusual in the bulk source market, where we get to actually hand select every barrel. Now, we've talked about this before, and you're going to hear about it more, but this time we tasted through 22 barrels and wound up choosing three barrels of 10 year Tennessee bourbon, and then we also selected two barrels of a special ride. We've got a few months until the Ryobi bottled, but this stuff blew our minds at only four years old, because it had such fruity and bubblegum flavors that I think it's gonna take everybody by surprise. We've also purchased four more barrels from Finger Lakes distilling, and we'll be releasing more of those relatively soon. We've got other things in the works as well. And you can get all those updates for upcoming barrels in our Patreon community. 2:00 Lastly, we have finally touched down in Georgia and more specifically in Atlanta, where there are select retailers with limited amounts of Episode 21 and it tastes just like candied pecans. Next week we have two more barrels going up for sale to our Patreon community first before they are released to the general public. And one of these barrels is our first ever 15 year old bourbon release. It might just be one of my favorites because you know, I love that oak. Alright, let's get on with the industry news. Right now Corona virus is on everyone's radar and we all know the travel industry is hurting because events held worldwide are being canceled. But what does that mean for the spirits industry? Chinese consumers are really tailored more to scotch and cognac and buys you where it's going to be hit hardest. biagio has already cut its full year 2020 profit forecast by up to 260 million as bars and restaurants and Greater China remain empty. beams and Tory said that the coronavirus situation is 3:00 Creating challenges in key Asian markets and its 2019 full year results. For no record anticipates the outbreak will have a severe impact on its China and travel retail business and cut its guidance for organic growth in profit from reoccurring operations for fiscal 2022, two to 4% from its previous expectations of five to 7%. In response to the industry demand for greater clarity during global threats, I Ws our drinks market analysis, which is the leading authority on data and intelligence on the global beverage alcohol market has revealed plans to launch the AWS our Corona virus risk assessment model, also known as cram. The tool will quantify and forecast the impact of key global events, giving industry leaders data driven insights and situational forecasts to navigate the situation and manage risks. To commemorate the celebration of its hundred and 50th anniversary pulled forcers opening the first ever whiskey row retreat. It's going to be a huge 4:00 immersive bourbon apartment experience. one lucky winner and a guests will be invited to stay at whiskey row retreat during National bourbon day on June 14, and the entire guest experience at the whiskey row retreat will center around unprecedented access to the production of the bourbon, the brand and the people behind old forester. The contest winner and a guest will be invited to partake in special activities at the old forcer distilling company, including experiencing the process of creating a barrel. Joining Jackie's I can in a single barrel selection and custom cocktail classes, such as learning how to make the brain signature perfect old fashioned to enter the whiskey row retreat contest fans 21 and older can enter by sharing an essay on why they think they should be chosen to win and stay at the whiskey row retreat. And you can do this by visiting old forester.com slash whiskey row retreat. The entry for deadline is April 20 of 2024 roses small batch select is expanding beyond 5:00 2019 initial launch of only being in five states. new markets were small batch select will be available in the coming months include Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Washington and Wisconsin. 5:18 independent state company and the Boswell family who you might remember Brad Boswell the CEO back on episode 185 are giving $1 million to the university Kentucky to further spirits research at the James been Institute for Kentucky spirits. The gift will fund a new maturation facility that will allow the dean Institute to experiment with barrel aging spirits produced in its research distillery, the only one of its kind in the United States. This new warehouse will have a 600 barrel capacity and become an interactive classroom and laboratory where students and scientists can tackle real life industry issues. Do you find yourself talking to the same people every day about bourbon and real life? 6:00 You talked to them more than maybe some of your best friends from school. think we're all in that same situation now. And that's what today's episode is all about. bourbon has a magical element to it that seems to bring people together across every demographic and share a common bond. But perhaps you're getting started and you want to figure out how do you find your bourbon people. We sit down with Jeremy Mendell, he's an admin and founder of a few Facebook communities. And he's also one of our Patreon supporters. We go through what it takes to find connections with other like minded individuals that can be done either online with people around the world, or perhaps it's in your own backyard with meetup groups, urban societies, and much more. You'll come away at the end of this realizing you've probably followed some of these same steps already without even realizing it. And hey, if you want to be a part of another community, join us on Patreon where you're 700 plus members strong and growing every single week. As a final reminder, we are doing our 2020 bourbon pursuit audience survey and we want to know more 7:00 More about you, our listeners. So if you've got 30 seconds to spare and I promise it's only 30 seconds, please visit bourbon pursuit calm slash 2020 survey. Alright, it's time for the show. Here's Joe from barrel bourbon. And then you've got Fred minich with above the char. 7:18 It's Joe from barrel bourbon, myself and our master distiller a triple stimpson spend weeks choosing barrels to create a new batch. We meticulously sample every barrel and make sure the blend is absolutely perfect. Next time ask your bartender for barrel bourbon. 7:33 I'm Fred MiniK. And this is above the char money. Oh, we talked about it. It's the root of all evil. And we wish we had more of it and people tell themselves that money can't buy you happiness. Well, you know, money is very, very, very important. And right now you have distillers from Washington to Florida and from Texas to South Dakota. 8:00 All scrambling going to banks, venture capitalists, private investors, Angel share people, friends, family. Hell, you might even just randomly run into someone on the airport, you're hitting them up for money. There are so many people looking for money in this space. And people just don't understand whiskey. I sometimes wonder what the world would look like in the distilling business. If mainstream businesses understood what this world encompassed, that in fact that bourbon is its own audience. bourbon is as big as a sports team or NFL franchise or even a sports league. It's bigger than a lot of TV shows. And if people would actually just kind of wake up and look past the alcohol aspect. We may be hearing about brands that you never even knew about, but because somebody can't get the money 9:00 That they need to start the distillery of their dreams. We're not going to hear about them. 9:06 And there are people like Cedar Ridge and Iowa where the farmer, the winemaker, he leverages his house, everything that he owns his land. I mean, I think he might even leveraged a kid near to just to start the brand Cedar Ridge. He kept believing in it, he kept believing in it, and he kept believing it and then finally he got a big big break. And that is just it. Everybody needs a break in this business. But it all starts with the money. And I'll be damned if there's just not enough of it to go around. 9:43 And that's this week's above the char. Hey, did you know that I have got a new podcast. It's in the music interview section. So help me become the number one music interview podcast on Apple. Go over there and search for my name the Fred MiniK show. 10:00 Then we'll have the number one bourbon podcast and the number one music interview podcast. Go check it out. Until next week, cheers. 10:11 Welcome back to the episode of bourbon pursuit, the official podcast of bourbon. Kinney, Ryan and Fred here talking about a fun cultural topic. You know, this is, this is something that even this podcast wouldn't have started if it wasn't for the type of pot or the topic that we are actually talking about tonight. And it's kind of really, I guess, you could say it's a way that you you branch out a little bit you end up growing, we've all had friends that we get through school and college or work or anything like that, and then you end up finding Oh, I can find brend friends and other things such as hobbies, and, and really, bourbon is one of those things that we talked about all the time. It's what brings people together. And that's kind of what brought this podcast together. I mean, Ryan was 11:00 Really on the idea of Hey, let's start a bourbon podcasts. And I think I know this guy named Kenny. Yeah, we weren't really friends. And so we were we were we were acquaintances at that point Really? Well, we, ironically enough, we both liked etn. Before, before bourbon, so that was the introduction. And then the bourbon kind of brought us together. But yes, bourbon has definitely like, I'm amazed at how many people and how vast my network has become just because of bourbon. And like, it's crazy. Like, it's just nuts. It's it's a cool, very cool thing, and very humbling thing. So yeah, I'm excited to talk about it. Because it's, I've been so blessed to meet so many fortunate people, Fred included. 11:42 Not just doing your yard. We're now friends. 11:46 I feel we were actually friends before that, too. Yep, exactly. So yeah. I feel good because we're rep Fred and I were you know, we're Facebook official friends. So I feel like I made it. Yeah. Good. Good to see everything that's happened in our person. 12:00 So wives and kind of grown since they're now and now we're going to the point where I think is there a day that goes by we all don't text each other. 12:09 I don't think there is actually. Yeah, so it's like it's like texts like part of our dinner as long frightened as text chain started like 6am Kenny challenges in about 10am 12:22 Yeah, you already get started way too early. I don't know how you do it. It's not my choice. Yeah, I got a five year old elbowing me in the back. Daddy Get up, gotta get out. 12:32 So our guests just chimed in there. So let's go ahead and introduce them and kind of really start talking about the meat of this subject. So tonight we're joined by Jeremy Mendell, Jeremy is a member of our Patreon community and came to us with this topic. So Jeremy, welcome to the show. Thank you guys. been listening to you forever. Really happy to be here. Hopefully we're making a dream come true. Tonight. We're on bourbon pursuit. Thanks for putting up with us all these years. For I can't even tell you how long 12:59 Yeah, 13:00 dum dum meet your idols 13:02 Yeah, it's terrible and you were laying 13:05 So Jeremy let's hear your kind of coming to age tale of bourbon. How did how did you really get into it was their first sipar some sort of introduction rolling up 13:17 I had a you know like I would imagine a lot of people do just in high school. I guess I shouldn't say that but I'm pretty sure it's common we've amassed even master distillers say they started yet but we had a little poker room with some friends and there was we would always try and get a bottle of something for our games and 13:38 we found because then it truly was finding we were fine. We found a bottle with a nice little horse on the top and it was around little ball and 13:48 my goodness it was delicious. 13:51 So that was back when you let go into a store and buy some blends. 13:56 But that kind of kicked it off went through college. 14:00 Then, 14:01 probably two, three years after graduating college and went to the University of Arizona 14:08 was talking to a buddy of mine, Tori Levy, who was in my fantasy football league. He beat beat all of us. And when I sent him the money, he sent me a picture of him cracking a Pappy 15 and I had read about that, but I'd never had it or even knew anyone that could get it. So I said, How the heck did you get that thing? 14:33 And then he showed me oh my goodness, there is bourbon on the internet. 14:39 So it was just kind of a spiral from there. 14:43 But you know, from there, you meet a whole bunch of people, which I'm sure we're going to talk about, kind of create a little bourbon community and that's kind of how this whole series of cardboard boxes behind me came to be. Yeah, we're about to say that that kind of justifies your your level of music 15:00 But to this I think I think all of us have a room in the house or a closet of something that just has boxes of herbaceous ages cardboard boxes stacked with inside each other commitment so much as it's a level of cheapness. 15:17 I certainly don't want to pay $4 for a box. So my goodness. Yeah, yeah. Every time I get an Amazon package, I'm like, is this gonna be good for future use to ship something? Well, it gets it gets the point now where you can train your significant other when they understand what the right size boxes and they'll be like, honey, I save this for you. Yeah, my wife said, you know, this is the perfect box to get some of those little stupid bottles that you do with the stupid bottles. The two ounce the two ounce stamp. Gotcha. Yeah, little bit. It's perfect for your little stupid bottles. 15:54 She's supportive of the hobby. That's great. I'm supportive in that this is existing, but she 16:00 Certainly gives me crap all the time. Oh, yeah. Well, is it isn't that her job though? To give you a little shit? I think so. Yeah. Just join the club at that point. So you're fine. 16:11 So I guess let's go ahead and kind of talk about, you know, we can each share some of these stories of how we got introduced to it. And Fred, I don't know if we've ever heard your story, like kind of how were, you know, did did somebody introduce you to bourbon and sort of how did that that process? Yeah, I've man I was drinking bourbon. And 16:36 you know, I didn't actually drink in high school like that. So I was not, you know, the only times that I had drank in high school definitely was wasn't bourbon. He was smoking when I 16:48 was doing hard drugs. He's doing those Double Dragon drinks. 16:52 So when I went to college, I became a big, you know, beam drinker. And you 17:00 My first legal drink was you know, Jim being white and I remember going into the liquor store at that time and there there was like old Fitzgerald and well I mean think I've all I've thought about this a lot I wish I could travel back in time to Stillwater Oklahoma when I was you know just turning 21 which would have been 2000 and and just like clean those shelves out because they were loaded loaded with stuff that now I would you know, have spent four or 500 to 1200 dollars on so it's 17:34 I definitely was not drinking well, but when I when I was drinking 17:38 bourbon it was always Jim Beam white label if I was like, you know, wanting to you know, live high on the hog and getting Maker's Mark, but, but who's who's the person introduced you like you did? Did you actually just go into the store and say like, I think I feel like drinking or you ever been to a fraternity party? I have. Yeah. So who gave me the bottle 18:00 I don't know. 18:02 You know, I will say probably the moment that I fell in love with it, it was it was probably on a fraternity bus on our way to New Orleans from Baton Rouge. We were there for like some kind of convention. Man, it just it just felt it was very tasty. I love the taste of it. And then I found myself like ordering jack or Jim 18:30 instead of beer, or sometimes both. And you know at that at that young age, and then when I was when I was in Iraq, I you know, we couldn't 18:42 you know, was against the our general orders to, to have, 18:47 you know, to have liquor or have anything, so I would have friends, you know, pour out Listerine bottles and fill it with Jim Beam or jack daniels at the time and 19:00 Those are your stupid bottles. Yeah. 19:03 If you were if you were, if you compare like a traditional bottle of Listerine next to like beam or jack, they had the same color. So the MPs couldn't, couldn't crack it open, you know, because they couldn't, you know, they wouldn't necessarily, you know, think to look at that but so that's how I used to do it. And I actually did have there was a unit 19:27 that would go into like northern Iraq in our bill and they would buy cases of liquor and occasionally like the South African contingent that was there, they would break it out. So like bourbon is, in my adult life. bourbon has always played a role in terms of like, where I really fell in love with it. Be honest with you is with my wife, you know, because she's, she's a big bourbon drinker, like you know, and I started, you know, I was just drinking it was I appreciating it prior to her 20:00 Probably not. But I don't think I appreciated many things until my wife. No. I want to make sure she gets that sound bite. What about you, Ryan? We're I think we talked I think this is actually episode one right episode. One of verbiage suit is where we talked about ours, but let's go ahead and rehash yours. Yeah, so thinking back down memory lane. It was in Bardstown As you may or may not know where I'm from, but no. Yeah, definitely for that, man. That's all I know. You get like bourbon. royalty DNA in your blood. Yes, analog connections. Yes. Throughout. But now the first time it was like at a field party and my buddy, his name's Pikey. I know weird name. But uh, he had Evan Williams and coke. 20:50 And I was like, let me try that it was first time I kind of return I was like, all this tastes like sweet nectar. Like this is this is amazing. And then from there, yeah, just 21:00 drank so much Jim Beam white label in college. Oh my god, I can't even drink it now. Like, I can't even look at it, because it brings back so many bad memories, but good memories, but uh, I didn't really like start getting serious till I don't know, after college. I mean, my dad does a lot of work for the bourbon industry. He's a machinist. So he does tool and our pair and I would deliver parts to him or for him to the different distilleries. And I remember you know, just seeing the bottles they would always give them stuff and then I would take it to 21:35 and so I vividly remember taking like some alijah correct 20 ones and Noah Mills 15th and taking them to college parties and like, totally mixing them with coke or ginger ale and like, just had no clue what you know what I had, and so, yeah, just kind of progressed from there and then like, really start appreciating when I went I went to school at Rutgers and New Jersey. Kind of 22:00 Nobody there really knew it. So I kind of preached the gospel of there and kind of started really diving into it. 22:09 And then I met Kenny and then found out there's this whole world of collecting and trading and flipping and collecting, you know, all this stuff and then so you go down that rabbit hole and then I'm like, why don't we? I can't just like have the hobby I gotta start a business about it. You 22:25 can't just leisurely enjoy bourbon with friends. So like, let's start a podcast but yeah, it's, it's and now you know, I I'm no one's a stranger to me. And so like, I've just reached out to anybody that has the same interested in me. I'm not afraid to talk to them and reach out to them. So 22:45 I've met so many people that enjoy bourbon and it's been like, crazy and it's cool because I'm from there. And when I grew up, no one gave a shit about it. And now everybody gives a shit about it. And you know, just seeing the towel. 23:00 flourish and stuff it's pretty cool. Yeah, absolutely we'll touch more on like meeting new people and stuff with instead of bourbon all kind of recap mine I know I've probably said it before. I have the same sort of coming of age tale is Fred over there. So I joined a fraternity and university Kentucky's campus. And I mean, I remember back it was $10 for a 24 pack of Natty light and being an undergrad. Yeah, you always just get you have 10 bucks you give it to one of the juniors or seniors within the fraternity they'd run out you come back and like that's your that's your that's your drinking for the evening. However, I remember hanging out with some of the older upperclassmen in there, they were all sitting around drinking bourbon and coke and back then, our drink of choice was Kentucky tavern. That was that was our go to. And that was kind of like my first introduction that they were actually known as an attorney was actually known as one of the biggest bourbon drinking fraternities on campus. I don't know if that was a good thing or bad thing at the time. 24:00 Time, but because everybody knows what happens if you get a little too bourbon drunk when you're a little young and stupid, but back then it was, it was a it was a way to kind of get an introduction to it. So of course mixing the bourbon and coke. However, at the time, you know, this was also a time when you're drinking, not to sit there and enjoy your drinking to consume and have a good time. And, you know, all that aside, you don't feel as bloated when you have a few bourbon and cokes after you do try to have like eight to 10 eight to 1012 beers so it actually made you feel a little bit better going throughout the night. And now you're interrupting my dad's famous line is and I think I said this on Episode One is if you're if you're drinking beer, you're watching the party. If you're drinking bourbon You are the party. 24:50 So I've always loved that line. But anyways, so let's go on to the next t shirt. Yeah. 24:56 But yeah, I mean that's that's sort of how it started for me And ever since I did that. 25:00 Like I was always one person that was kind of like preaching like always do bourbon and cokes. During college, it just seemed like the easiest way to do it. And not only that is me and my roommate at the time we became social chairs. Social chair is a nice word to say party planner for back in college in the fraternity days. And so our biggest Actually, this is what I truly miss about college is that your biggest worry is where we're going to party on Thursday and Friday night. And that's that's what you had to set up. And so back then UK was a very dry campus and you couldn't have any alcohol with inside the fraternity houses at all. So our goal was to say how do we have house parties and still serve liquor? And so what we did is we get we got those massive Gatorade jugs that you see on the sidelines of football stadiums, and we filled those and it was one handle a Kentucky Tavern two to two liters of diet coke and so 26:00 Everybody drink bourbon and coke at the parties. And that's how we we continued that to flourish for a while, but after after college then is kind of when the appreciation started. I didn't stop drinking bourbon, it was still bourbon and cokes and that's where the progression starts where you start getting rid of the coke, you start getting rid of the ice and you start learning to drink it neat. Old forester became a staple for me. Every once in a while splurging on small batch. You know, Fred, you talked about going back to the store and, and thinking of all those bottles that you could have had my God even I went to the liquor store and when I was there buying for parties, I would buy, probably, gosh 10 cases of six or 1.75 liters of Kentucky Tavern every single week. I don't think I even looked at any other bottles on the shelves. I always looked at figure out where could I get the cheapest premiere like it's overpriced. 26:57 I mean, that was didn't really know any better at the time. 27:00 And be honest even when I even after college, I didn't really know any better either. I was drinking for as a small batch I didn't know limited limited editions even existed until I was working at a company and I there's a guy that worked there and we talked about bourbon all the time. You know, we we'd sit there and talk about bottles we come together and and he's the one introduced me to limited editions. And this was 2012, late, early 2013 timeframe, something like that. And he's like, Hey, I got a few extra things. I'll just sell them to you at cost because I'm just overflowing and and so he sold me a four roses hundred and 25th anniversary, an old rip squat bottle. 27:42 Jefferson's I think it was 21 maybe it was and they were all at retail at the time. I was just like, Oh gosh, like 27:54 80 bucks a bottle like you sure about this. And, and so that's that's kind of what got me on to that. 28:00 Train. And then of course, as as Jeremy said, you find out about online forums and then the whole world of different things start opening up to you if things that you never even knew existed. Yeah, and that's, I think that's really where the rabbit hole starts for most of us. And I think that's kind of where the conversation keeps going for a lot of us here because the online community is really where a lot of the relationships are built. It's also where a lot of relationships go to die and 28:30 let's be honest, there's a lot of butthurt that happens out there. 28:34 So feelings journals for the bourbon world, what are you talking about? Yeah, right. You mentioned one thing and then all of a sudden you get people either hating on your loving Yes. So Jeremy kind of talk about your introduction into like the the bourbon online communities. So my buddy Tory said, hey, yeah, I got this happy 15 years I finally found a good use for Facebook. So I 29:00 got invited to one of those deals. saw that, you know, my first love bourbon was was Blanton's. And I got on there and within five minutes 29:10 I saw somebody was selling a blends. It was dated in like 1988. And I didn't realize that whiskey existed before I drank it. 29:22 So bought that 1988 Blanton's and still have about a quarter of it. 29:28 And really from there, it's sort of just went into a networking you can almost fall into this accidentally and I'm sure that you all his experiences are very similar. 29:38 But you know, you find some people that you've got good relationships with. And now I'm a part of a few groups that I really proud to be a part of, and it's been really cool. And you know, I've got a network, really across the country coast to coast and actually even out of the country, just from those stupid Facebook groups. Can you enlighten me 30:00 Major towns if you needed to sleep on someone's couch, he would do bourbon. I'm going to Florida for business on Friday and I am crashing in the spare bedroom of a bourbon friend that night. No way. It's awesome. We're going to be drinking. Well, have you met him before in person? Yes, a couple times. Actually, he and I have not picked a barrel together. But we got to take part and what to me is my favorite part about a lot of this stuff is the charity component. 30:30 And there was a guy in Florida who 30:34 had a really terrible cancer diagnosis and young guy about 21 years old 22 maybe. And without getting super deep in the details of it. I went down there last year because we raised him about 17 18,000 bucks. And I went down there to 30:54 to go with him to present the money to him and his family. And that was the first time that I cracked 31:00 His little No I didn't crash his place but we met that time. 31:03 Like here's a here's a check by the way Can I stay in your spare bedroom 31:11 This is actually the first time crashing his house but we have met before but that's that's always a lot of fun and of course you know my wife thinks it's ridiculous but you know we're in this city I gotta go see this guy. 31:25 So, but yeah, you get you get this network and I'm sure you guys are all the same in that regard you got kind of people all over the country that you know from random, you know, this guy helped me find this thing I was looking for. And of course, my my wife would say well, why are you looking for that in the first place? You have 200 something 300 31:47 but this sounds all too familiar. 31:50 Never heard that before, right? Yeah, but But yeah, it's you know, you form these communities. We've we've been able to do a lot of good. 31:59 We've been 32:00 able to do a lot of bad too but but it's a lot of fun and it's this whole kind of separate world that you get to be a part of all around this brown water stuff that we all like to bring 32:13 up good. I was gonna ask you know like you talked about like meeting up like with it with individuals but do you ever like, like throw get togethers where your your buddies that you've met online or whatever you guys go to a house or you go to a bar Do you all have like special events or anything like that? So nothing that's terribly scheduled but 32:36 one of the bourbon groups I'm in is called karma. And we did the first one was, it's kind of always centered around barrel pics. So about a summer of 2017 we all got together did a four roses pick and not Creek pick a couple other things that I'm not remembering right now. But you know, there was a good 3035 of us they got together. Remember, we all 33:00 Went to Haymarket one night and that was a blast. And it's all these people who I recognize from one single picture. 33:08 But it was really cool. So we we've done that a couple of buddies. We Ribeiro, the whole bunch of Nashville number one, I think it was from Buffalo Trace and we threw it up in a barrel at a buddy's farm in Tennessee. And we all got together about two months ago, to see if it sucked. 33:31 And fortunately, it didn't suck. 33:35 So we had a weekend at an Airbnb on a on a river or lake or somebody of water. And it's a it's a great time and so and those people end up becoming some of your best friends. It was really, really bizarre but actually ends up happening that way. Every time I go meet my bourbon or internet friends, my wife's like, what are you doing going to meet your internet friends, you're going to be on dateline one of these times. 34:00 The barrel pick that I went to my wife was convinced I was going to be raped and murdered. She was. 34:07 Yeah. 34:09 Oh, gosh, I think we all get that, that every once in a while I think my wife is getting a little bit more tuned to it. Because of course, you know, through our community through Patreon, we get emails all the time, and we try to make it when we can have people saying, you know, we'd love to just come and meet up for a drink and, and sometimes we can make it happen and, and, and she's always kind of like, Alright, well just make sure you text me at the table in case you need. 34:33 Yeah, I remember one time I was going to meet with Kenny and doubled Patreon guys and I got the Uber and to me, it's like, text me as soon as you get there and like make sure as soon as you leave text me and I'm like, Okay, I'm promise I'm gonna make it home. They're not going to kill me. Or a tag team. We can we can take anybody. Yeah. But back to cut it. Go. Go ahead, Jeremy. I'll see you say you guys looked up so you could take them now. Yeah, Kenny's not. 34:59 Well, 35:01 I haven't worked out in a while you gotta he doesn't wire your wire sorry. Yeah, I am. So let's kind of back to the you know the community aspect of this. You know, you had mentioned karma. I mean, are you are you in in with other groups and stuff like that where you kind of find those ends? And I guess are there are there certain types of groups that create more bonds than others? 35:29 What do you get if you mix Seattle craft, Texas heritage and Scottish know how that's to bar spirits to our spirits traces its roots to a ranch in rural Texas run by the founder, Nathan Kaiser his family for six generations. Nathan grew up on the ranch was stories of relatives bootlegging moonshine, and after moving into Seattle, he wanted to keep the family tradition alive and he opened to bar spirits in 2012. They're very traditional distillery making everything from scratch and each day starts by milling 1000 pounds of grain their entire plant 36:00 product lineup consists of only two whiskeys, their moonshine and the only bourbon made in Seattle. Both bottles are being featured in rack house whiskey clubs next box. rack house whiskey club is a whiskey the Month Club, and they're on a mission to uncover the best flavors and stories that craft distilleries across the US have to offer rock house ships out to have the feature distilleries finest bottles, along with some cool merchandise in a box delivered to your door every two months. Go to rack house whiskey club.com to check it out and try some to bar for yourself. Use code pursuit for $25 off your first box. 36:37 What's up everyone? i'm john Henderson, your admin over at the bourbon pursuit Discord server. As a coordinator for the Christmas fundraisers held by the bourbon pursuit. I'd like to thank everyone who contributed. I couldn't be more proud of this community. One perk of joining the bourbon pursuit on Patreon is that you get access to real time chat with other members along with Kenny Ryan and Fred through discord from photo sharing and sample swaps to 37:00 events where ultra limited releases like willet bottles are exchange. There's always something going on. Right now over 300 members of the Patreon community have joined and are connecting over our passion for bourbon. If you're not on Patreon, now's a great time to join us and get involved with the community in a whole new way. Come check it out for yourself and be part of the behind the scenes chat photos and video calls. We'd like to have you join us on a live virtual board where we all discuss a pursuit series release just 37:28 are there certain types of groups that create more bonds than others? So community wise, I'm a part of two groups that really are my bourbon community, I would say. One is karma. That was a cost plus shit group which I'm sure we'll talk about what that is. 37:47 But essentially, it's, you know, I because of that I feel comfortable that if there's ever anything I want to try from some what's a good example? I'm up 38:00 Four roses, that four roses my top of the line, particularly the Oh, so recipe, and liquor barn had a Oh yeah, so barrel a month ago or so 38:13 I got two bottles over there. But I'm down in Texas and that's because of the connections I've made my cost call ship group karma. 38:21 That's been a great deal you meet all kinds of great people. 38:27 Then I'm also a part of a barrel picking group called 21 kings. And I've made a bunch of great connections there. I'm going actually I'm going to be up in Kentucky a couple weeks to pick a four roses barrel and willet ride barrel. And that's really it started more as a we want to be able to pick barrels and not share it among 200 people kind of thing. But you know, you make these connections with you. There's, it's really interesting. There's not a lot that I've experienced in the world that Bond's people together like picking a barrel of bourbon. Just 39:00 I don't know what the secret sauce in there I know what the sauces but 39:05 the common denominator. Yeah. 39:09 You pick a barrel of somebody, your pals, 39:14 you know, talk talk the whole thing through it's a painstakingly excellent process if you do it right. And I've been really lucky to get to do it a few times and I'm really excited to get to do it again here in a couple weeks. But it's been a really cool experience, you know, you get to get really, really good bourbon or rye or whatever it is you're picking, and you get to, you know, make connections with people that you wouldn't do, at least for me, certainly I never would have made those connections otherwise. Now I'm totally with you. And I guess that that also kind of thinks about you know, really where does the relationship start and how does it build and it I have the same things with with two other buddies that really 40:00 We we knew each or we didn't really know each other and then we've kind of found each other through bourbon and then their their personal lives. You start knowing about their children you know about their vacations, you know about you know, where they're buying a how their IRAs. Yeah, everything getting 40:19 better. I mean that's that's kind of like how it kind of blips like that where you it's just a really kind of snowballs where you kind of have this common foundation. And then from there, you start talking to them more than you did. The people that you went to school with years ago. And and they become something because it seems like bourbon is like an everyday thing. It's constantly changing and the people that care about it are always in tune with it. Yeah, absolutely. The you know, 40:47 it's really nice. You know, aside from just the personal connections, it's just great to have a network of fellow dorks that we can talk about that stuff with. 40:55 You know, there's I live in San Antonio, which is 41:00 You know, it's got a good bourbon community here, but it's sort of 41:04 from a maturity level. It really only became a big thing down here in the past three to six months. 41:12 So, you know, I always thought the Esquire bar had a really nice bourbon. So I guess choir is fantastic. And you know, they do the San Antonio cocktail conference down here. Yeah, I come every year was in the back of the room last time you did one. You can stay on this couch next time. Yeah, that's right. Do you mind? I mean, St. Anthony's expensive. Yeah, if you don't mind golden retriever sniffing around Yeah, you can always got a couch here. 41:40 But 41:42 there there's a few people here in there but like as compared to say like Houston with Houston's I mean, you guys know you guys had 41:51 the Houston bourbon society on a while back. That's been a big deal for a few years now. 41:57 So like, just as a 42:00 An example and I mean, no disrespect in saying this, but in the San Antonio group, the old Ezra seven year is a big damn deal right now. 42:09 And it's a good, it's an excellent drink. I really like it for what it is. But if you've been into the hobby really deeply for five plus years, then you know, you're you're drinking other stuff too. 42:24 So it's locally it's not as far down the line as say like a Houston or obviously anywhere in Kentucky, 42:33 which made the online community is a really great thing for us. And I guess another question with that is, are you seeing a lot of I mean, so you have your local society, and that's another place where a lot of people can go in and find some of those those bourbon connection those bourbon friends that live they live in your local area. Most of the time, you might find it on, you know, the the local page or the San Antonio page and then you see each other and me 43:00 And then all of a sudden things can happen through there. Yeah, the it's funny I'm hosting. And you know, Ryan, you joked about IRAs but that's 43:10 that's what I do for a living and I can't tell you how many times one of my bourbon friends would send me a text message or an emails like hey, do you mind if I ask you about this thing? So actually do know about a lot about the IRAs of some of my bourbon friends 43:23 have ESP gift but yeah, you end up I just right before we got on here, my buddy Josh Hayes gave me a call I talked to him for about a half hour and bourbon didn't come up. 43:40 So yeah, it's it's really cool to have connections like that. 43:44 You know, another thing that we kind of talked about earlier, too is and we'll kind of keep this train going with the kind of online community theme is we talked about raffles and and how these these kind of groups that are based off raffles, it also kind of creates a little bit of camaraderie. 44:00 Because you've got people that either they all try to play the same number and they fight each other for they get to know each other through there, or there's somebody that consistently win somebody else's raffle all the time. And so you have you have this also built into even though it's an expensive hobby, but it's something Yeah, we like in, in karma, my cost ship group the stupidest thing in the world, but when when mega ball went from 15 numbers to 17 or 19, or whatever the number is not 15 anymore. We were all very upset because that diluted our chances of winning stuff. 44:39 So we had to create our own weekly drawing, which is I got a bingo machine back there some somewhere did our own damn drawing because we didn't want to split a bottle 17 ways I want to split it 15 ways. 44:54 But yeah, you end up particularly in some of those secondary raffle sites you can lose just 45:00 an absurd amount of money if you don't really check yourself. Yeah, hey, Kenny for introducing me to raffles and risky whiskey in particular. Yeah, well, after a while, you figure, you know, that's the reason I'm doing it. I had to delete social media during the week. Thanks a lot. 45:17 But after a while, you end up as we were talking earlier, you kind of put planned but, you know, back to the, the community aspect of this, you know, we look at it as as an opportunity as as well to branch out, you know, my myself gotten to know people through these communities. And, and, you know, Jeremy, as you mentioned, you'll travel you go somewhere, you know, I've got connections now and a lot of states and so you can you can travel somewhere and know that you can confide in somebody and you can hang out and have a good time. You don't have to go and meet up at a bar somewhere to go and, and hang out. And ultimately, I don't know about you all, I'd actually rather go to somebody's house and dig into their collection. 46:00 Try something unique and I would just rather meet up at a bar. Well, it's funny we, my buddy Craig Lyman was here probably six months ago and there's three guys here locally they're a part of the karma group that we're that we're all a part of. And 46:18 we went out to a bar at all meet up and about halfway through my trying that Bob Dylan whiskey. 46:26 We all that stuff. I hate to break off on that, but what did you think of the Bob Dylan whiskey? I wasn't a tremendous fan of Oh, it's gross in it. 46:37 Like it like it all. It was bros about it. So there is a Okay, so it's, it's it's decal, and they got like the bottom of the barrel of the decal barrels. Because it's just it's like metallic. You know, there's like there's like this crazy like weird metallic note in there. Yeah, there was something to it that I had not tasted in bourbon. 47:00 before and I don't mean that in a good way. 47:03 And it inspired us we were 47:07 you Fred, you mentioned the Esquire we were down the road from the Esquire so maybe that was our problem. 47:13 But we all 47:15 that that drink inspired me to tell her because the best bar in San Antonio for whiskey is at each of our individual houses. Can we please just go there? 47:24 So that's what we did a lot better than the Bob Dylan whiskey. Yeah, I'm sorry, I interrupted you, but I had to ask your opinion on it. No, I don't totally remember where I was going with that. But you're absolutely right. That's up stuck by you, Fred. I mean, Fred, if you if you had enough connections now when you go somewhere that you'd rather not go to a bar and you'd rather go to somebody's house and dive into a you know, well, or gold vein or William Lou Weller, some old dusty Kentucky Tavern or Evan Williams or something like that. I've had you know, I've had some weird expense. 48:00 SS 48:03 please do share it out. Yeah, I've had some weird ones. But I'm you know it, I'll say that I still like to see what's going on in the town five years ago, I was like, I don't want to go to a whiskey bar because I have everything and I don't want to spend that kind of money. And I'd rather just kind of go hang out and see something else. 48:26 Now, I'm kind of going back to the, I feel like these, these bars are working hard to, you know, promote my culture, what I love, and you know, I gotta throw them a bone, I gotta, I gotta go in there and pay my respect to what they're doing. So that's kind of how I think of it now is like, I don't think of it as like, you know, look at them and their prices is just what they are if they're price gouging, you know, be very vocal about that, but 49:00 Often to like I end up correcting spelling errors and menus. I mean, for God's sake, why can't people spell will it correctly? It's true. 49:10 But I feel like I have, I have a purpose. And I'm supposed I need to be visiting these great temples that are bastions to whiskey. And you know, if they invite me and I'm going to go on a show, you know, check it out, but indeed do I like going to someone's house and going down in the basement and seeing seeing the collection? I mean, that's like to me that just doesn't get better than that. Now, what's weird is when like, you know, I come in the house. 49:45 And then the guys wife's down there, and I'm like, oh, oh. 49:53 And did you like she's like, who's this guy in the ass guy? 49:57 Oh, man, just ignore 50:00 Weird. So I didn't sleep on their couch. 50:04 Like I'm gonna go till now. 50:07 Yeah, well, I mean, it's, it's, it's fun to look at this and look at the relationships that you do build over time. Because it does seem like a lot of these hopefully will stand the test of time you never really know. Because it I don't know, maybe this is another kind of question is, 50:27 you know, as bourbon becomes more prolific and becomes more scarce and it's even harder to find these things and, and really, I don't know how much bigger these networks that people are creating right now can actually get, 50:42 you know, can they get bigger or you feel like, you know what, I don't have any more room in my life for new friends. We're just going to kind of keep it where it's at. For me and we I don't know if we actually call the episode this but you said the term finding your bourbon people 51:00 For me, selfishly, I found my bourbon people. 51:04 My biggest group of people that I care about is about 150 people and that's about as big as it needs to be and we're all having 51:13 like, 51:15 I don't know when this is going to air but right now there's this whole bsm bourbon secondary market thing going on Facebook, we couldn't care less. And it's been incredibly entertaining for us because I know because I've established my community. There's not really anything that's going to come out that if I really want to try it, I can't try it. from a store pick that comes out to got a buddy with a bottle of Red Hook ride that I'm going to see if I can't finagle announce it Oh yeah, battle. If you can find your your community then these groups of 50 some thousand people really don't matter all that much. So I guess another question is is so you found your people we've already decided three's enough. We're not bringing on a fourth co host 52:00 So we've got our people but how do you what would you say is is a good way for people to start getting introduced and sort of like find their you know, find their because you say they're missing connections they're getting to the gangs of the bourbon community. To me every every good bourbon connection I've come into is because somebody was doing something nice for somebody else. 52:25 You know, whether it's you know, there's last year almost city liquor here had a fantastic Elijah Craig pick, bought a bunch of it and help some friends that otherwise wouldn't have been able to get it. 52:38 Get it and they became good friends and that favor is I've been on the receiving end of that favor, you know, from different places all over the country. 52:50 And great bourbon connections for me rarely come from trying to price gouge somebody on a whatever store pic of 53:00 The month it is. 53:02 But if you, you know, just be cool with people and treat everyone this is you know, I guess cliche but 53:11 treat people the way you'd want to be treated. 53:15 You'll end up knowing some really cool folks and that's what's in that's what's happened to me. And that's the advice that I typically give people on between karma and 21 Kings I really don't need to know anybody else. Be able to know you guys 53:28 can be your friend. 53:31 Give me your card. Jeremy. One of my favorite things is like I get you know, when when I travel I do often like just kind of connect with someone who's a listener or reader just like or, you know, follows me on Instagram. I really do try to make an effort when I'm out to like, go hang out with people. And my favorite thing to do is like learn about their jobs. You know, because I find that we have 54:01 in people's pleat people's beliefs, because what I have found is is that bourbon is not. It doesn't attract as one race or one occupation or one political or religious belief. I mean, it attracts everybody. And to me that is what's so beautiful about this category is that I could be in a room with a staunch democrat and a staunch republican and they absolutely hate each other politically. But they'll just sit there and talk about how beautiful a new riff barrel pick is. And I'll talk about that now. They have three they might get into some, some fighting but once they cross the threshold, but it's kind of like, you know, Henry Clay, you know, the great Kentucky statesman, he said he wants said that bourbon was used to lubricate the wheels of justice. 54:59 It's like this 55:00 Great like, door opener for conversation? Well, I think even if you have the three drinks if you have committed commit each other from a place of respect, I mean, one of my, one of my good friends that I've met Andrew Goodman is a very far left person I am not. 55:17 And he lives in New York City. I was there for a business meeting. We went to one of the bars there. He bought me some vintage 17 rye, or no finish 21 rye. 55:30 And we talked politics for a good hour. And we walked out of there not hating each other and it's magic how that happens nowadays, you practically can't do it. Yeah. What problems you solve? I want to know down can 55:46 we solve the problem of how to get more Oh, yeah, so four roses, but we really solve any, any national issues, although that's become a national issue. 55:56 For sure. But you know, it's it's a conduit for 56:00 A really good conversation to like that, that I never would have had otherwise. And we continue to have it frequently. And then when it gets to be too, 56:08 too much we both saying I, you know, we don't want to fight with each other. Let's agree. 56:13 So I had kind of talked about it earlier, you know, with with my connection, pretty much my my mentor taught me that these are what limited edition releases are and he was able to, like I said, he gave me it at cost. So just to make sure that I'm not dealing with a story like this. I want you all to kind of talk about what are what are those relationships that you formed, that you've gotten, like a really, really good bottle of bourbon out of it just because of fostering relationship like that. I've had a lot. I've had a lot of guests. 56:48 And 56:51 the gentleman, you know, the gentleman passed away unfortunately he was his name is Dale Hamilton. And he 57:00 He was like the last. He was the guy who like got cola approvals for states of Weller. And he was like the last, you know, last guy from United Stiller's, the you know, for, you know, before they close, that's a Weller. And so he has this, you know, he had an incredible collection. And I helped him figure out what some things were, what some bottles meant. And, you know, we just and he came to my legend series at the Kentucky Derby Museum and we just we just became friends. I would visit him at Christmas. You know, he would come and we'd have lunch, he'd play with my kid. And he gave me a 1935 bottle of Weller. 57:46 And that was like a green Green Label blend. And it was fantastic. And the first time I opened it, I cracked it open with Tom Colicchio. From 58:00 Top Chef has just that right after my Top Chef appearance. And I wanted to celebrate with them and so I cracked it open with them. So I had like two, two really cool friends. You know that that that bottle kind of connected me to, you know, coming out of the gate strong here. Yes. Right Ryan, I think you should follow that. Well, I've had some great connections and relationships with people like Bill Thomas was kind enough to invite me to his house and stayed the night crashes. We didn't crash his couch. We had a room but but just his collection like we were at his bar and he's like, Guys, let's just go to my house. It's so much better here. And he had a green, you know, Green Label or not green or green bottle Van Winkle raw one early ditions it's one of the best bottles I've ever had. Drew Cole's been grew up with him from Willits. I mean, he's, he's one of the kindest, generous people he shares a ton of stuff for me, but the one the person I remember the most is probably my 59:00 Brother in law 59:02 I won't name any names but he works at heaven Hill and 59:06 he likes bourbon but he knows how like obsessed I am with him and he always goes out of his way to give me like a Parkers or an old fits release that just came out like he always is just finding ways to give me something and I'll always cherish that so it's all it means a lot to me. That's that's a relationship by blood that's hardly fostered over birth. 59:31 But we grew up friends before you know, brother in law's we were friends before so but yeah, those those are the bottles that are that need the most to me. Absolutely. In my case, it was really about people knowing what my tastes are. And as I kind of grew up in the hobby and grew up in the community, I would have people that would know the things that I enjoy and would suggest that I try something and oftentimes the suggestion would come with a 1:00:00 two ounce bottle of it showing up at my doorstep. And that's how I figured out that I love national distillers products. 1:00:08 Some I was telling somebody kind of the things that I liked about certain things that were my favorites and then before I knew it, there was a bottle of 1960s old granddad bonded 1:00:18 that showed up at my doorstep and 1:00:21 I guess I should be upset with them because it's caused me to lose a whole lot of money after that. 1:00:27 It sounds like that sounds like Ryan Ryan went on a huge old granddad kick for a while. Oh, gosh, you know it for me any of that old nationalist killer stuff is really just killer. It kind of hits me right in whatever my sweet spot is, for whatever reason, I'm telling we're Barban friends now. Hey, 1:00:44 I got some stuff to send you. 1:00:47 But 1:00:48 that, for me is the big is one of the cooler parts of the community is, you know, people who know you and I know other people's tastes and if I see something for 1:01:00 example I got a buddy who was a big q lover at four roses, and I'm not. And anytime I see a really good q i know exactly who it's going to a CPA office in Indiana. 1:01:15 Because I just, I know that somebody that will appreciate it for more than I. That's where we go. Yeah, it really is. I mean, and I think that's a good way to kind of start wrapping this up because we, you know, we really hit on a lot of things of, really, how do we how do we find your bourbon people? Right? I mean, it all starts by a friend or somebody introduces you to bourbon. It's very rare that any of us just stumble it on our own or, or maybe maybe you do get turned on to it by social media or for the general Media TV or purposes and stuff like that. But for the majority of us, there's somebody that gives us that introduction, and I think that we have all been in 1:02:00 situation to, and I know anybody that's probably listening to this podcast, you know, you're, you're one of the you're one of the geeks out there, you're one of the people that truly hone in on this craft, and you really appreciate it. So odds are is that you're sharing the love of bourbon with somebody else. And so that's just how everything continues to flourish and grow. And then from there yet, then it becomes like, oh, add me on Facebook, we add you to a few groups. And then at that point, you you've just you're all in and as, as Jeremy had mentioned earlier, the boxes just start showing up on your front door and, and your PayPal account gets a little lower, but that's just how it works. 1:02:39 That's just how it works. So, gentlemen, and Jeremy, thank you so much for joining tonight. This is again, a fun topic. And you know, I'll go ahead and kind of let you kind of say what you're gonna say there. I don't think I was gonna say anything. 1:02:55 To Are you 1:02:58 looking at me 1:03:00 You 1:03:01 know, it's it's the rule of thumb is just, I mean, I guess it's the rule of thumb for more than just the bourbon community, but don't be an asshole. 1:03:10 Yep. So you know, if you if you just be a nice guy, it's amazing what kind of connections you're come up with. And 21 Kings is picking up a barrel of will it right here in a couple weeks, and I'm fortunate enough to be one of the people doing it. And I never would have gotten the chance to do anything like that. Had I not been able to be a part of these communities. And it's really cool. It's some of the coolest experiences I've gotten to have and really thankful for that. You know, I guess the other bad thing about being in these communities too, is I didn't realize for years, I could just drive down to willet and just go pick up bottles in the gift shop and 1:03:47 I could have been doing it. I could have been doing it all along. And I just I just didn't know. So 1:03:53 that's the that's the bad part of it. But it's, it's also a good thing because you add a lot more appreciation for what you do have so 1:04:00 Again, everybody, thank you so much for joining tonight. Jeremy, do you have any kind of social handles or anything like that where people can find out more about you? Anybody who wants to I guess I'm around on Facebook Jeremy Mendell Twitter at Jeremy Mendell, Instagram at Jeremy Mendell, if you want to talk to me for some strange reason I'm available. Never know, I know where to send. If I see I know he so I know who to call and all of your VSOs to me, and I'll figure out some way to repay you that you'll be happy about. Very interesting. Very interesting. I know you kind of want to just go pick a whole barrel of Oh, yes. Oh, now just get out of them. I actually did I like I'd have one. It was from my pics from the icons of whiskey when I picked those fucking which was at the 17 or 18. 1:04:53 Yeah, we had all the recipes. It was I think that was a 1:04:59 I think it was like a 1:05:01 11 year old Yeah, that was I think the 2017 one that was really good and it's incredibly dorky that I can just pull out of my head 1:05:13 so that was when I was with whisky magazine and yeah that we did that. And that was like the one of the only times you saw all the all the recipes and that was back when four roses. I think they brought out 40 barrels from for us to taste and guide you lucky forget for now. So it's the way the world now. Alright, let's go. Let's go ahead and we'll sign off. So again, Jeremy, thank you so much for coming on tonight. It was a pleasure talking to you. And seriously, thank you so much for bringing this topic up. Because it's it's fun to kind of, you know, really take a retrospective look into really kind of how we all got here and why many people are still actually listening to this podcast because they all have some sort of coming of age tale that's probably very very similar. So 1:06:00 Make sure you check out Jeremy and all those social handles, make sure you check out bourbon pursuit as well as spread MiniK on the Twitter, the Facebook and the Instagrams. And if you're like Jeremy, and you want to help support the show, he's part of our community, you can be part of our community as well. patreon.com slash bourbon pursuit. So thank you, everybody. That is a part of it. And thank you, everybody that joined into the chat and watch us live. Another perk of just being a part of the community is you can be a part of these things as they're happening and be able to just chat along with us. So with that, thank you, everybody, and talk to you all next week. Transcribed by https://otter.ai

==) Watch my free webinar training here: http://www.vaclaimsinsidersecrets.com Need more medical evidence to service-connect and get rated at the appropriate level? Join VA Claims Insider Elite and have us get started on your VA disability claim for FREE: http://www.vaclaimsinsiderelite.com Brian Reese, The VA Claims Insider, breaks down everything you need to know about VSOs and Accredited Representatives. You’ll also learn how to file your own VA claim online, for FREE. This training is specific to Veteran's who want to learn about CVSOs, VSOs, VSOs near me, veteran service organizations, and disabled American veterans benefits. Learn more about Brian Reese and VA Claims Insider at: http://vaclaimsinsider.com If you found this episode valuable, please give it a like. If you know someone who needs to see it, share it. Leave a comment below with your thoughts. Have questions about your VA disability claim? We can help you win, service-connect, and get a higher VA disability rating from the VA. Please reach out to us at VA Claims Insider, and we’ll get you the VA disability compensation YOU deserve. Check out The VA Claims Insider YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/brianreesevaclaimsinsider Check out our website at VA Claims Insider here: http://vaclaimsinsider.com Get the medical evidence you need from licensed medical professionals of fellow disabled veterans inside VA Claims Insider Elite. Start now for FREE: http://vaclaimsinsiderelite.com

Col. Mikel Burroughs (ret) US Army is now the Director of Military Debt Acquisitions and Relief for RIP Medical Debt.  This 501c3 non-profit raises money to buy and then extinguish medical debt.  Over $500 million of medical debt has been abolished and $60 million was for veterans.  One of the founders of RIP Medical Debt, Jerry Ashton, is a Navy Veteran and also passionate about helping veterans.  Mikel explains to host Jim Fausone how the process works and how VSOs, clubs, churches, and businesses can help by raising funds to further the work.  

Mark Bilosz Director of Veteran Benefits Administration Winston-Salem North Carolina Regional Office has a conversation with us about important veterans benefits issues that affect veterans. In addition, he shares how his regional office is making significant strides to reach veterans within the community. Thank you Mark for sharing your passion with us–serving veterans.  I'll attach important links below. If you have benefits questions please get in touch with the VBA in Winston Salem, NC.    Outreach Events Outbased locations on Camp Lejeune and Fort Bragg, a full list of locations and hours is available at Veteran Service Organizations and VA Outreach personnel can assist with claims: Information on VSOs is available on Kernersville Health Care Center has VBA Public Contact personnel available full days on Wednesdays and Friday afternoons

Highlights - Healers of WW1 March Preview - Roundtable with Dr. Edward Lengel, Katherine Akey & Theo mayer | @02:15 Spoils of War from Russia - Mike Shuster | @13:10 Medicine in WW1 - Charles Van Way, George Thompson & Sanders Marble | @18:30 New VSO WW1 support site @ ww1cc.org/veteran | @26:00 African American nurses in WW1 - Dr. Marjorie DesRosier | @27:35 100C/100M project from Raymond WA - Gordon Aleshire | @33:25 Women Physicians in WW1 - Eliza Chin, Keri Kukral & Mollie Marr | @36:50 Speaking WW1 - “Archie” | @43:10 WW1 War Tech - The Browning Machine Gun | @45:05 WWrite Blog on Brest-Litovsk Treaty | @47:10 American War Artist and his curator - Katherine Akey | @48:10----more---- Opening Welcome to World War 1 centennial News - episode #61 - It’s about WW1 THEN - what was happening 100 years ago this week  - and it’s about WW1 NOW - news and updates about the centennial and the commemoration. Today is March 2nd, 2018 and our guests for this week include: Dr. Edward Lengel, Joining Katherine Akey and I in a March preview roundtable. Mike Shuster, from the great war project blog with an update on the fallout from the Russian defeat on the Eastern Front Charles Van Way, George Thompson, and Sanders Marble on Medicine in WW1 and their new website at the Commission Dr. Marjorie DesRosier on the struggle of African American Nurses in WW1 Gordon Aleshire, telling us about the 100 Cities/100 Memorials project in Raymond, Washington Eliza Chin, Keri Kukral and Mollie Marr telling us about the short documentary At Home and Over There: American Women Physicians in World War I Katherine Akey, with a special report on an amazing French WWI photography curator A great lineup -- today -- on WW1 Centennial News -- a weekly podcast brought to you by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, the Pritzker Military Museum and Library and the Starr foundation. I’m Theo Mayer - the Chief Technologist for the Commission and your host. Welcome to the show. [MUSIC] Preface Last month we did an experiment. Dr. Edward Lengel, Katherine and I sat down together - as we often do in our editorial meetings - and talked about the upcoming month of February. We got great feedback from you so we are going to do it again, here at the top of March! I put a sidecar on our centennial Time Machine so we’d all fit as we roll back 100 years to the war that changed the world! World War One THEN 100 Year Ago This Week [MUSIC TRANSITION] Overview Chat with Ed, Katherine and Theo Ed, Katherine - welcome to early March 1918. [Ed & Katherine make some comment] So guys - I understand that this is our last chance to take a breather - Starting this month, the action gets pretty hot and heavy with the Germans getting ready for their big Spring offensive. [Katherine - you use the term Kaiser Schlagt or Emperor’s Strike. Is that the same thing as the “spring offensive?”] [Ed - this is going to go on for months going forward - can you give us an overview and what the German’s have in mind?] [Quick change of subject - As we get into the military action we keep throwing around all these names of military formation like division, corps, regiment, brigade -  and I’ll wager 80% of our audience has no idea of what all that means - so let’s do an overview - We sent over a Field Army - that’s the big one - the American forces] [Ed - can you break it down for us - sort of big to small and tell us about how many soldiers are in these various formations?] [Force building in Europe - March - April - May - June etc…] [Now that we have a clear idea that there are ARMIES on the ground - As the German offensive starts - Our US General Pershing needs to integrate with the French and the British commands - How does all that lay out?] [Flu begins] That was Dr. Edward Lengel and Katherine Akey as we talked about an overview for the upcoming month of March, 1918 and even looking forward a bit more than that. Next week we will be back to our regular 100-years-ago this week format including our regular feature ‘America Emerges - Military Stories from WWI” [SOUND EFFECT] Great War Project Now on to the Great War project with Mike Shuster - former NPR correspondent and curator for the Great War project Blog…. Mike’s recent   posts have told us of the devastating suffering of the German people in the fatherland, But…. the Kaiser and his Generals are feeling hot and empowered by the total defeat of the Russians on the Eastern front. They think they are going to win this thing! The spoils-of-war from that campaign include vast territorial gains, massive stashes of captured arms, repatriation of huge numbers of soldier all now available to put the big wallop on the French and Brits -  hopefully before the Americans can really join in the fight. So Mike the details of the Russian collapse are really monumental, aren’t they!? [MIKE POST] Mike Shuster from the Great War Project blog. LINK: http://greatwarproject.org/2018/02/25/german-attack-in-west-is-imminent/ [SOUND EFFECT] The Great War Channel The Great War Channel on Youtube is hosted by Indy Neidel. Here is Indy. [Hello WW1 Centennial News Listeners - I’m Indy Neidell, host of the Great War Channel on Youtube. American troops are about to experience their first major battle of the war-- the Kaiserschlacht. Join us every Thursday for a new episode to follow this massive German offensive as it unfolds. Find us on Youtube and follow us on Facebook.] This week’s new videos from the Great War Channel include:   Operation Faustschlag - Germany advances in the east again Amphibious Landing Craft The Czechoslovak Legion’s Odyssey through Russia To see their videos by searching for “the great war” on youtube or following the link in the podcast notes! Link:https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar World War One NOW OK… time to  fast forward into the present with WW1 Centennial News NOW - [SOUND EFFECT] In this section we explore what is happening NOW to commemorate the centennial of the War that changed the world! Commission News Medicine in WW1 Website We have a lot to unpack here so let’s get going with Medicine in WWI! We have three guests with us today who not only know a whole lot about the subject - but they have also bundles that know-how into an amazing new website on the Commission’s server at WW1CC.org/medicine - all lower case. Charles Van Way, a retired Army Colonel, Professor Emeritus at University of Missouri–Kansas City George Thompson, Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of the History and Philosophy of Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center, and Sanders Marble, the senior historian with the Army Medical Department Center of History and Heritage. These are the three men responsible for this website. And they did a masterful job. It may be one of the most authoritative, in-depth, well illustrated and concise subject sections on our site. Welcome, gentlemen! [greetings] [Gentlemen: At the very top of your website you put a statement.. It reads: A century ago, American Medicine went to war! I love that - it’s very illustrative.] [How did the three of you come together to undertake making with wonderful resource?] [What was the biggest impact of the war on American Medicine? Charles, let’s start with you.] [OK - a round table question - with a one phrase answer - what was the single most important innovation in medicine coming out of this war - ] [Sanders --- George --- Charles----] (talk about how they agree and disagree) [We just had a question come in from a member of our live audience: When influenza cases started to appear on the in-transit troop ships - what kind of isolation units were set up on these overcrowded transports to lower the contagion rate? ] [Quickly about the website - It is really comprehensive - You could do a semester course with it. Charles, could you give us a high level overview of what all is there? Gentlemen - thank you for introducing us to the subject of Medicine in WWI - but most of all - thank you for the huge effort you put into building the scholarly, in-depth and well thought web site at ww1cc.org/medicine! [they respond] [goodbyes] Charles Van Way, George Thompson, and Sanders Marble are the curators of Medicine in WW1, the amazing new resource at ww1cc.org/medicine. Link: www.ww1cc.org/medicine Remembering Veterans New Veterans Landing page To kick off our Remembering Veterans Section this week, let’s talk about VSOs - that stands for Veteran Service Organizations. Organizations like  the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars or VFW, The Daughters of the American Revolution or DAR and a whole lot of others. These organizations are very important partners for the commission with closely aligned goals and missions. Many of you listening today are in fact members of a VSO, but if you are not, let me give you an overview of who they are. First of all - they are amazing - and amazingly dedicated organizations focused on the men and women who served and sacrificed for our nation. And although they have national organizations, for the most part - they are very grassroots by nature with thousands of local posts or chapters all around the country that do all the real hands stuff. For example - When my dad, who was a Marine Corps Pilot in WWII passed away, a local American Legion post provided an honor guard for his funeral - because he served his nation! And they won’t forget one of their own. And I’ll never forget how they honored him - even though he was not a member of their post. VSO’s have been deeply involved in many of our commemoration programs including 100 Cities / 100 Memorials, centennial commemorations with States, and they have been key financial contributors to the national WWI Memorial project in Washington DC. But as I said - it is all about the local level - so for the local posts and chapters -  we just published a special landing page on our website just for them - it’s a landing page with a series of “subject and activity tiles” that make it easy to see how to get involved with the centennial commemoration of the war that changed the world. It’s actually not a bad resource for anyone - at ww1cc.org/veteran all lower case and of course you can always follow the link in the podcast notes. Link: www.ww1cc.org/veteran African American Nurses Staying with veterans, wrapping up African American History Month and leading us into Women’s History month, this segment is about the experiences of African American Nurses. Joining us again is Dr. Marjorie DesRosier (de-roh-zuhr), who was on a few weeks ago. Dr. DesRosier is an international nurse historian and independent scholar. She, herself is also a Registered Nurse and former clinical professor from the University of Washington School of Nursing, in Seattle. Welcome back, Dr. DesRosier! [greetings] [The story of African American Nurses in WWI is fascinating - To start, could you tell us about how an African American woman would go about becoming a Nurse in that era? ] [What kinds of resistance did these women encounter?] [How did these women respond? Especially to the Surgeon General’s policies?] [Did it work?] [Where can people learn more about this?] We’ve posted some links in the podcast notes for our listeners - Dr. DesRosier - thank you for coming back on the show to bring us this story. [goodbyes] Dr. DesRosier is an international nurse historian, independent scholar and registered nurse  - Follow the link in the podcast notes to learn more about African American Nurses in WW1 and Dr. DesRosier’s work. link:http://desrosierhistory.com/ http://history.amedd.army.mil/ancwebsite/articles/blackhistory.html http://www.edwardianpromenade.com/african-american/african-americans-in-the-great-war/ http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/4046-honoring-african-american-women-who-served-in-the-army-nurse-corps-in-wwi.html 100 Cities 100 Memorials Moving on to our 100 Cities / 100 Memorials segment about the $200,000 matching grant challenge to rescue and focus on our local WWI memorials. This is a perfect tie-in to the VSO story we told you about earlier -  because this project is being done by --- Veterans of Foreign Wars post 968 in Raymond, Washington. With us tell us about their city and the project is Gordon Aleshire, Adjutant of VFW Post 968. Welcome Gordon! [greetings] [Gordon - you live in a beautiful - and pretty remote part of the country - tells us about Raymond, Pacific County and the areas roll in WWI?] [I have seen the before and “in process” pictures of your memorial. It really needed help. Tell us about how the post decided to take this on.] [Did the 100 Cities / 100 Memorials project come along for you before or after you took on the challenge?] [What are your rededication plans?] Gordon - Thank you and post 968 for the great work you are doing in remember our WW1 doughboys! [goodbyes] Link: www.ww1cc.org/100cities Project support link:  https://www.gofundme.com/ww-i-memorial-restoration Gordon Aleshire, is Adjutant of VFW Post 968 in beautiful Raymond Washington Spotlight in the Media As we mentioned - March is Women’s History month - So This week for our Spotlight in the Media -- We’re joined by Eliza Chin, Keri Kukral and Mollie Marr. They are the team that researched and produced a documentary called: At Home and Over There: American Women Physicians in World War I. [greetings] Welcome to you! [Eliza: You are the executive Director of the American Medical Women’s Association - Briefly - what is that? What does the organization represent?] [Keri: You are the founder and CEO of Raw Science TV - again briefly what is that?] [Mollie: you know this was coming - I know you are a student at the Oregon Health & Science University - but you’re also the Executive Chair of the American Medical Women's Association branch at the school - how does that work at a university?] [Alright - So the three of you came together to create this wonderful documentary - AND I have to add - impressive companion online web exhibit - How did this come together? Eliza can you tell us? [Keri-- the film has a 3D component to it. Tell us about that - What was the intent?] [Mollie would you please tell us how you researched the subject - anything particularly surprize you?] [Eliza -- If someone would like to book the film for a local screening or WWI event -- how do they do that?] Thank you all for joining us today and telling us about this great project! [goodbyes] Eliza Chin is Executive Director of the American Medical Women's Association -- Keri Kukral is the CEO of Raw Science TV -- and Mollie Marr is an MD/PhD student at Oregon Health and Science University. You can learn more about their project: At Home and Over There: American Women Physicians in World War I and how to access the documentary for your WWI event by following the links in the podcast notes. link:https://www.amwa-doc.org/ https://www.amwa-doc.org/wwi-exhibition/ https://www.amwa-doc.org/wwi-film/ [SOUND EFFECT] Speaking WW1 And now for our feature “Speaking World War 1” - Where we explore the words & phrases that are rooted in the war  --- During WWI as planes flew over the front - little puffs of smoke appeared in the sky… Well - actually each one of those puffs was a deadly expanding ball of shrapnel designed to mangle planes and pilots! True to British humor this deadly deterrent for fliers got a silly nickname - which is our Speaking WWI word for this week. “Archie” -- was the British nickname for anti-aircraft fire-- and it has two contested origins. Origin #1:  A pilot in the Royal Air Force, Vice-Marshall Borton, who, upon encountering enemy anti-aircraft fire, apparently quoted a lyric from a popular music hall song of time: “Archibald certainly not!” - a popular contemporary cultural exclamation of defiance. [*play song*] Origin #2: The training grounds for RAF pilots back in England at --- Brooklands in Surrey -  neighbored a “sewage farm” -- The Archibald sewage farm. Apparently the farm, which processed sewage to irrigate and fertilize the land, had notoriously difficult air currents above it, creating a wafting turbulence the pilots found quite similar to that of the anti-aircraft weapons. Either way, Archie! an humorous and very English term for the explosives that trailed and tormented pilots as they flew over the front in WWI. -- See the podcast notes to learn more! link: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/301554/why-is-german-anti-aircraft-fire-called-archibald http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/11156904/The-slang-words-that-defined-the-First-World-War.html http://mentalfloss.com/article/58233/21-slang-terms-world-war-i Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZkyKLZghUc https://languagesandthefirstworldwar.wordpress.com/2017/06/06/archibald-certainly-not/ [SOUND EFFECT] WW1 War Tech Browning Machine Gun For WW1 War Tech -- this week, we’re taking a look at  The Browning Machine Gun. It got a lot of press this week 100 years ago because apparently on February 27, 1918, in the vicinity of Congress Heights in Southeastern Washington D.C, it sounded like the War in Europe had suddenly spread to America. This is because they were test firings of the new Browning at the U.S. Government’s shooting range. The guns, the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) and the Browning M1917, were being demonstrated to a crowd of American politicians, foreign army officers, and the press. The firearms were being touted as “the finest gun in the world”. The machine guns were the brainchild of John Moses Browning, a man known as “the father of modern firearms” whose weapons designs, including the pump-action shotgun. When the Army sent out a request to all American inventors asking for new firearms designs in 1917, Browning personally traveled to the capital to present his new prototypes. The Ordinance Department demanded these weapons be put to the test by shooting 20,000 rounds of ammunition. When the test was performed at the Government Proving Grounds in May 1917, Browning’s gun fired the 20,000 rounds with no complications, then fired another 20,000 only breaking a single part. Besides reliability, another impressive feature was a design so simplistic,  the officers who demonstrated the weapon could take it apart and put it back together while blindfolded. This made such an impression on the War Department that the “blindfold test” soon became an essential part of military training. Mass production began soon thereafter, with the first Browning guns arriving in France on June 29, 1918. Though only 1,168 Brownings saw combat, the general design proved so useful the Browning M1917 was an essential part of the American arsenal all the way until the Korean War. Read more about the Browning at the links in the podcast notes. Links: http://www.sadefensejournal.com/wp/?p=358 https://www.militaryfactory.com/smallarms/detail.asp?smallarms_id=785 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/gun-designer-john-browning-is-born http://www.firstworldwar.com/atoz/mgun_bar.htm http://www.firstworldwar.com/atoz/mgun_browning.htm https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/02/27/103191974.pdf https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/02/28/109328811.pdf http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/educate/places/official-bulletin/3329-ww1-official-bulletin-volume-2-issue-244-febuary-27-1918.html Articles and Posts WWrite Blog This week for the WWrite Blog, which explores WWI’s Influence on contemporary writing and scholarship, the post reads: “Brest-Litovsk: Eastern Europe’s Forgotten Father” The post was  written by Adrian Bonenberger In his lifetime, the world-famous Polish dancer, Vaslav Nijinsky, might have also claimed Russian, German, or Ukrainian nationality. The future of Nijinsky's Europe–and his identity–was decided on March 3, 1918. Veteran author, Adrian Bonenberger, calls the event "the moment" when "the old world falls apart, and creates space for the new to arise." In this week's WWrite post, Bonenberger gives us a rich overview of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty and its implications for the former Soviet bloc countries! Read the story at the Wwrite Blog. Ww1cc.org/w w r i t e or follow the link in the podcast notes. Link: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/articles-posts/4094-brest-litovsk-eastern-europe-s-forgotten-father-2.html Waldo Peirce Changing formats a little - Katherine Akey is going to close out this week with a story about an article we posted on our website at ww1cc.org/news about American painter and ambulance driver - Waldo Pierce - but her report is equally about the Corine Reis - the author of the article and a dedicated French curator of WWI stories and images. [Katherine - you were the one who came across Corine that led to the article maybe we should start with her - her curated images are truly  AMAZING!!!] Hey Theo -- yeah, the project Corine has been working on is something else. Published on our website, and included in our weekly email dispatch, is an interview with Corine. She’s a French citizen historian -- and the great-niece of American painter and ambulance driver Waldo Peirce. He was one of the many students voluntarily leaving their lives at home-- for him, his studies at Harvard-- to aid the French years before America joined the war. Corine meticulously, and with a great sense of storytelling, curates and shares his photographs, artwork and writings on her Tumblr and Facebook pages, chronicling his experience throughout the war. Her interest and personal connection to Waldo grew over time, expanding to include the American Volunteers of WW1 at large. In the interview, Corine discusses her passion, the incredible archive left behind by her great-uncle Waldo, and her plans for documenting the lives of volunteers during WW2 as well. Additionally to reading the interview, I’d really, really encourage you to take the time to scroll through her Tumblr, which can be found embedded in the interview at WW1cc.org. To say that Corine is a dedicated storyteller is a understatement of the highest order. Through this project, she has gathered photographs and excerpts from collections all across the world, creating a single body of stories that is unlike most we encounter when researching World War One. I first came across her Tumblr during my weekly search for photographic content for the Commission, and was really surprised at how few of the images were familiar to me. So much of what she has rediscovered and shared with the world is quiet, quotidian, and somehow spectacular: An image of a woman ambulance driver holding a kitten and casually wearing the Croix de Guerre; an over-the-shoulder shot of a young British officer staring longingly at a photo of a woman tucked inside his hat; an image of a man sitting in the midst of a dense, unspoiled French forest as sunbeams glance through the trees; a crowd gathering around a deep, shearing hole in the Parisian street, the result of a recent German air raid. The collection Corine has assembled -- and continues to assemble-- is exceptional. The hours of work -- as well as her very artful eye and deep passion for the subject-- are evident in every post. We’ve included links in the podcast notes to the interview we did with her, as well as to her Facebook and Tumblr pages. Links: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/4082-waldo-peirce-goes-to-war-is-a-remarkable-new-wwi-tumblr-blog.html https://waldopeircegoestowar.tumblr.com/ https://www.facebook.com/waldo.peirce Thank you Katherine - Outro Thank you for listening to this week’s episode of WW1 Centennial News. We also want to thank our guests... Dr. Edward Lengel, Military historian and author Mike Shuster, Curator for the great war project blog Charles Van Way, George Thompson, and Sanders Marble, the curators of the new Medicine in WW1 website Dr. Marjorie DesRosier, nurse, author and historian Gordon Aleshire, Adjutant of VFW Post 968 Eliza Chin, Keri Kukral and Mollie Marr, the production team behind the documentary At Home and Over There: American Women Physicians in World War I Katherine Akey, the commission’s social media director and line producer for the podcast Thanks also to our intern John Morreale for his great research assistance. And I am Theo Mayer - your host. [MUSIC] CLOSING The US World War One Centennial Commission was created by Congress to honor, commemorate and educate about WW1. Our programs are to-- inspire a national conversation and awareness about WW1; this podcast is a part of that…. Thank you! We are bringing the lessons of the 100 years ago into today's classrooms; We are helping to restore WW1 memorials in communities of all sizes across our country; and of course we are building America’s National WW1 Memorial in Washington DC. We want to thank commission’s founding sponsor the Pritzker Military Museum and Library as well as the Starr foundation for their support. The podcast can be found on our website at ww1cc.org/cn   on  iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn, Podbean, new this week on Stitcher - Radio on Demand --- as well as the other places you get your podcast --  even on your smart speaker.. Just say “Play W W One Centennial News Podcast.” Our twitter and instagram handles are both @ww1cc and we are on facebook @ww1centennial. Thank you for joining us. And don’t forget to share the stories you are hearing here today about the war that changed the world! [MUSIC] Archie, Veronica and Jughead - Three types of deadly munitions from WWI - Not true…. Just kidding… So long! So long!

Live Your Dash to the Fullest and Live a Life of AbundanceMen, it's always great to catch up with old friends. And when I say old friends, I'm referring to friends we've know for a long time. Not that they are old. Because that would make us old as well. In any case, you get the rare chance of listening in on a conversation between myself and a fellow Army Combat Medic. Tim excelled in the military. And obviously, that was just a warm up. Tim has taken Abundance to a whole new level. I hope I don't get in trouble for this. But I really wanted to share the poem, Tim was taking about. So here you go. I also shared the Ted Talk video for you below.  The Dashby Linda EllisI read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend. He referred to the dates on the tombstone from the beginning…to the end. He noted that first came the date of birth and spoke of the following date with tears, but he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years. For that dash represents all the time that they spent alive on earth. And now only those who loved them know what that little line is worth. For it matters not, how much we own, the cars…the house…the cash. What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash. So, think about this long and hard. Are there things you’d like to change? For you never know how much time is left that can still be rearranged. If we could just slow down enough to consider what’s true and real and always try to understand the way other people feel. And be less quick to anger and show appreciation more and love the people in our lives like we’ve never loved before. If we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile, remembering that this special dash might only last a little while. So, when your eulogy is being read, with your life’s actions to rehash… would you be proud of the things they say about how you spent YOUR dash? Reference: http://www.linda-ellis.com/the-dash-the-dash-poem-by-linda-ellis-.html Meet or Feature GuestTimothy Stroud is a former combat medic in the United States Army. He served his country on active duty with deployments to Kosovo, Kuwait and Iraq, though Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). During these years, Tim learned volumes about team building, leadership, and camaraderie and was quickly promoted to a Non Commissioned Officer. He also sought out a mentor during his transition back into civilian life and began a seven-year relationship with leadership expert Mr. Paul J. Meyer. While stationed at Ft. Hood, Tim build an Army Wall of Fame to showcase 500 celebrities who support the military. It is still on display on the largest military post in the U.S. Tim excelled as a non-traditional student at Grand Canyon University, finishing his education by utilizing his Post-9/11 GI Bill. Graduating with Academic Honors on both the Dean's and President's List, Tim secured a Bachelor of Science in Applied Management from the Ken Blanchard College of Business in May 2011. He completed his Masters in Leadership from the same program in December of 2013. Volunteering in the community, Mr. Stroud worked in collaboration with the State of Texas, NAMI, SAMSHA, and BEITZ to better understand the early signs of Post Traumatic Stress and how to successfully get veterans and family members connected with resources. This led Tim to become one of the first Peer to Peer Support Facilitators in Texas and helping start the support groups in Central Texas. Mr. Stroud lobbied Texas Congress, alongside the VSOs that he supported for more education benefits in Austin, TX and San Antonio, TX to the Veteran Affairs and Military Installations Committee (Senator Leticia Van de Putte, Chair). Tim worked with Dr. Suzanna Gratia Hupp at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission on finding viable solutions for veterans that face mental health issues. This resulted in a mobile application that ties veterans into a Military... Support this podcast

See background information at www.commonthreadpodcast.com/washington-dc. Adrian Atizado is a veteran of the Persian Gulf War. He has spent the last 17 years working for Disabled American Veterans, a veterans service organization (VSO) dedicated to advocating for veterans injured during their service. After recounting his path to his current position––Deputy National Legislative Director––he helps us deconstruct the history and role of VSOs in Washington DC, dating back to the First World War. He then helps us understand in more specific terms some of the legislative fixes he sees as necessary to making the system work better for our former service members. We also address Gulf War Illness, a difficult-to-diagnose condition observed in veterans of that war that is often difficult to claim benefits for.

On today's special episode, we have our intermittent highlight of veteran non-profits series. Sometimes it's nice to take a break from advocacy cases and highlight VSOs that are out there, killing it every day. Supporting our veterans today: Crystal Laramore. She is the founder and executive director for Wheelchairs for Warriors. We are excited to learn all about her non-profit and the good work she is doing for veterans.