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Militarily Speaking, season two, episode
15, America's Warrior Partnership
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This episode we talk with Jim Lorraine
with America's Warrior Partnership
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Welcome to Militarily Speaking,
brought to you by Armed Forces Bank.
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This is T-Mac and Jodi Vickery,
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JV.
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Okay.
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J-Vic.
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Tom McLean.
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I'm the military retail exec for
Armed Forces, and Jodi, Jim, get
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this, Jodi is a chief digital officer.
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Oh.
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So if y- you know, you go to, you have
your marketing consultant person that
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you have, if you need anything digital
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this is the one.
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Well, as a nurse, the chief digital
officer means a lot of other things, too.
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That's true.
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Ah.
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It just basically means I'll
work for food and snacks.
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Yeah.
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As long as it's the right snacks.
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As long as it's the right kind of snacks.
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And coffee.
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And co- and I'll actually work for coffee.
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So again, welcome to our show.
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We're excited to have you
listening and learning all
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about our guest, Jim Lorraine.
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Jim, I am gonna take just a second and
let the audience know all about you.
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Jim is the president and CEO of America's
Warrior Partnership, an Augusta,
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Georgia-based not-for-profit organization
that partners with communities to
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improve and save the veterans' lives.
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Each year, AWP engages with over 10,000
vets and their families across the
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nation to holistically improve their
lives so that suicide is not an option.
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Prior to his current duties, Jim
served as the founding director of
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the United States Special Operations
Command Care Coalition, a wounded
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warrior advocacy organization recognized
as the gold standard in supporting
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special operations force wounded,
ill, or injured, and their families.
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During his six years as the director
of the Care Coalition, he also
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served as special assistant for
warrior and family support to
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the
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Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff.
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In this role, he created a document
transforming the chairman's Sea of
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Goodwill concept into a strategy.
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He served 22 years as an Air
Force officer and flight nurse.
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I wanna say thank you for
that service very much.
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Yeah.
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That service included operations
in Saudi Arabia, Central America,
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Somalia, Haiti, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
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As a staff officer, Jim served as a fellow
to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and lastly,
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as the deputy command surgeon for the
United States Special Operations Command.
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His awards in the military include
the Bronze Star, Secretary of Defense
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Outstanding Civilian Award, United
States Special Operations Command
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Outstanding Public Service Medal, the
Defense Meritorious Service Medal,
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and the Chairman Joint Chiefs of
Staff Exceptional Civilian Award.
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He's a Syracuse University graduate and
a 2015 Presidential Leadership Scholar.
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He's testified both to the House and
Senate Veterans Affairs Committees
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regarding the future and potential
of veterans programs, and we couldn't
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be happier to have him here with us.
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So welcome, Jim.
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It's an honor to have you on our show,
and I would like to just give you the
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floor right out of the gate to tell our
audience at least big picture, a little
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bit about America's Warrior Partnership,
and where it began and how it got started.
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Sure.
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Well, first, thank you for having us on.
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It's important to get America's
Warrior Partnership the word out,
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and you talked about my bio, but it's
not about me, it's about everyone
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else and our great team that works
at America's Warrior Partnership.
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How we got started, yeah, my wife,
she retired from the Air Force.
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We were living in Tampa.
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I was working for the chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, flying back and
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forth from Washington, DC, to Tampa all
the time, and I came home from work one
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night, late, late one night, and there
was a for sale sign in front of our house.
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And, uh, and I said, "There's,
there's so many more to talk about."
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Hello.
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She said, "I don't know about you,
but I'm moving back to Aiken, South
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Carolina," which is where her family's
from, "and I'm not sure what you're
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gonna do." And I said, "I'm, I'm moving."
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I like her already.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Jody.
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And again, my wife's a badass.
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She, she was in the third class of women
to go through Jump School back in the
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'70s, but she's, she's pretty tough.
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Oh, wow.
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That's awesome.
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Anyways, so I moved.
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I left federal service, the
federal government in SOCOM, moved
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back to Augusta, Georgia area.
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A friend of mine had called me and said,
"Hey, I've got an underlap. Would you
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mind taking over this local program
in Augusta for a little bit?" And so I
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took over, and I saw what was happening,
and what, basically what I learned
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w- within Special Operations Command,
I applied it to the local community.
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And I'll give you an example.
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At the time, there were 159
homeless veterans in the greater
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Augusta area, about 13 counties.
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Hmm.
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And I said, "Let's go after homeless
vets." And I had a small team.
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And so what we did was we went out
and found every homeless vet that we
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could find, built a relationship with
them, got to understand who they were.
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We understood what they needed and where
they wanted to go in the future, and then
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we connected them to local resources.
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And then because of my experience
working at a national level with
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serving wounded, ill, or injured, I
also knew national programs that we
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could bring to provide their services
in Augusta when they needed it.
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So what happened was that effort,
we took 159 homeless veterans down
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to 7- Wow … in about 18 months.
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And from that work, we
had a great nonprofit.
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This was back in 2012.
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It's Wounded
Warrior Project, and
they said, "Hey, we love what you're
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doing. We want you to replicate that
in other communities." And so we went
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to work in the other communities.
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What we were doing was where they
had offices, they were hoping that
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we would stand up communities where
they didn't have offices, in the
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in-between, in the flyover areas.
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And so we started to replicate our model.
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We did it in nine communities
throughout the United States.
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Four of them are still up and running
today and, and affiliated with us.
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The others either didn't stay affiliated
with us or they closed down, but
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those four are, like, Orange County,
California, Charlotte, North Carolina,
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Greenville, South Carolina, and Buffalo,
New York, and then Charleston is
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the other one that was there, added.
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Anyways, we stood that up, and
then from there we grew it, and
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we went into five more communities
where the employees worked for AWP.
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What that meant was that while they
lived locally, they worked for us, and
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that's Alaska, the Permian Basin of
Texas, the Navajo Nation of Arizona,
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New Mexico, and Utah, Panhandle of
Florida- And Indianapolis, Indiana.
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And so that's how we got
started at the community level.
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And then what I noticed was, I recognized
that the communities knew who to serve,
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but they didn't have all the resources.
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And national government, non-government
programs had all the resources,
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but they didn't know who to serve.
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So we stood up a program called The
Network, and what The Network does is
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it's really a bridge between community
resources and national resources.
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Veterans can contact us directly, and
once we understand who they are, we'll
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reach down and back to their community and
see if we can solve the problem locally.
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And if the local program doesn't have the
resources that they need, we reach to our
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partners nationally and basically bundle
a solution for the veteran who, and their
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family, who are trying to move forward.
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That's America's Warrior Partnership.
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We are based out of Augusta, but we
have impact all over the United States.
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No, I love that.
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I think one of the things we've learned
in our podcast journey is that there
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are a lot of people- Yeah … that
want to help, but some of that hard
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work in the middle there is connecting
the people that need it with the
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people that have the resources.
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Yeah.
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You know, I had a old boss that
used to say, "Don't confuse
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enthusiasm with capability," and-
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I may steal that.
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Yeah.
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Pete Schumacher, General Schumacher.
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But don't confuse
enthusiasm with capability.
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What I mean by that is, you know,
12% of the veterans that come to
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us for help- screen positive for
having thoughts of taking their life
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within 30 days of the phone call.
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And so when you have that conversation and
you meet someone and they screen positive,
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you can't be an amateur at that point.
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You have to really know how to navigate
it, what's the right conversation to
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have to ensure that the veteran or their
family get to a place where they're safe
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and where they feel like, what I strive
for is that they feel like somebody
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has their back, that they always have
somebody who's gonna take care of them.
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And so that's one piece of it.
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The other piece of it is you have
organizations, and they do something.
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Let's say they do housing
really, really, really well.
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And then they say, "We're
gonna do employment." And I'll
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say, "Do you do employment?
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Do you really do employment?"
They go, "No, we don't, but
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we do housing really well."
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And I say, what I tell them
is, "Stick with housing."
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Yeah.
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"
Here's this group over here.
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They do employment really, really well."
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Mm-hmm.
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"
And if the two of you
work together," you know?
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We have a, a motto at America's
Warrior Partnership, which
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is,
together we can do better.
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And so for us, the only thing that
we do is we focus on the relationship
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with the veteran and their family.
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Yeah.
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All the other services are provided
by somebody else 'cause there's
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plenty of services out there.
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Once we get somebody connected, we go
from being an educator to an advocate,
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and then we become an advocate to make
sure that they receive the services
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that the nonprofit or the government
program says that they'll provide.
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Yeah.
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Yep.
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No, loves
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that.
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So a little bit of a conduit play for
the right resources to put a solution
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in place for those that are coming
through your funnel, I guess, right?
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Yeah, exactly.
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It's really, you know, the other thing,
the other term I use is we're a broker.
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Yeah.
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The intermediary for it, yeah.
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Yeah.
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But with, Jim, with 45,000
nonprofits, it's tough to
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identify where you want to align-
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Yep
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and maybe what vetting you might
have to do before you say, "100%
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go to this organization 'cause
they'll take care of you." But
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maybe that comes with experience.
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Well, it does.
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It's, you know, I call it an
experiential survey, right?
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So-
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Yeah
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…
you partner with someone.
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They say, "I do X," and you send them
Five people to do X and they do maybe
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one or they can't do any of them.
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I'm gonna then have a conversation with
them and probably pivot to somebody else
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who's doing it, doing the same thing.
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There are so many resources out
there, like you said, the 45,000.
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Yeah.
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There's so many resources out
there that we don't really wait on
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the ones that aren't productive.
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That's a good point.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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It's just, if you're not gonna do…
You know, when I, when I first came to
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Augusta, we had a meeting and there were
60 organizations around this table, and
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I listened to all of them talk about
what they did, and they all told a story
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about a person that they had served.
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And having worked in the space for,
at that point, about seven, eight
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years, I said, "Hey, without HIPAA,
just write the initials of the person
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you served on a piece of paper."
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And they all wrote it down and I
said, "Keep it face down." And I
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said, "Okay, now turn it face up."
And what it turned out was that 70%
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of them were serving the same person.
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Huh.
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And they were just- Wow … duplicating
services over and over again.
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And I said, "Okay, this is
where we need to come together.
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We need to share information.
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We need to understand the journey
without duplicating what each
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other are doing." Within a year,
those 60 really shrunk to 12.
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It was 12 core groups that
were really moving the needle
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in getting the work done.
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00:11:05,719 --> 00:11:09,912
The others that didn't wanna participate-
Some of them died on the vine.
236
00:11:10,032 --> 00:11:11,516
We just wouldn't refer people to them.
237
00:11:11,516 --> 00:11:12,592
There was no sense in it.
238
00:11:12,832 --> 00:11:15,862
And I felt like it was doing more
harm than good to refer them, because,
239
00:11:16,182 --> 00:11:19,162
you know, with veterans, if they go
to one person and they wrong them-
240
00:11:19,172 --> 00:11:22,672
Yeah … or they don't, they don't
fulfill their promise, it's really tough
241
00:11:22,672 --> 00:11:23,981
to get them to go to somebody else.
242
00:11:24,082 --> 00:11:24,412
Yeah.
243
00:11:24,542 --> 00:11:26,842
And I do- I just didn't
wanna lose that opportunity.
244
00:11:27,382 --> 00:11:30,151
Jim, shifting gears to programs and-
245
00:11:30,331 --> 00:11:30,671
Yeah
246
00:11:30,841 --> 00:11:34,352
…
you can correct me if I'm wrong, Operation
Deep Dive, Corporate Veteran Initiative,
247
00:11:34,352 --> 00:11:35,841
Warrior Serve, Mission Roll Call.
248
00:11:35,851 --> 00:11:37,662
I mean, some of the
things that you offer and-
249
00:11:37,841 --> 00:11:38,231
Yeah
250
00:11:38,311 --> 00:11:40,762
…
why don't you tell our audience
your website first, if you don't
251
00:11:40,762 --> 00:11:43,142
mind, and then we'll talk about
some of the programs you offer.
252
00:11:43,322 --> 00:11:43,831
Yeah, sure.
253
00:11:43,842 --> 00:11:46,601
So our website is
americaswarriorpartnership.org.
254
00:11:46,861 --> 00:11:50,032
We have that, by the way, as
our email and my staff hate it.
255
00:11:52,192 --> 00:11:53,842
They said, "Can we go back to
AWP?" I learned the lesson from my
256
00:11:53,851 --> 00:11:55,172
friends at Wounded Warrior Project.
257
00:11:55,201 --> 00:11:59,141
They still have the long… They said,
"We want everybody to know that that's
258
00:11:59,141 --> 00:12:00,631
who we are, not just an acronym."
259
00:12:00,761 --> 00:12:03,232
And don't change a letter, 'cause
it might go to Amazon, right?
260
00:12:03,732 --> 00:12:04,361
Th- there you go.
261
00:12:04,442 --> 00:12:04,911
That's right.
262
00:12:04,971 --> 00:12:05,171
Oh,
263
00:12:05,241 --> 00:12:05,311
yeah.
264
00:12:05,732 --> 00:12:06,291
That's right.
265
00:12:06,391 --> 00:12:06,811
That's right.
266
00:12:06,891 --> 00:12:07,421
Yeah, true.
267
00:12:07,482 --> 00:12:08,101
True story.
268
00:12:08,631 --> 00:12:09,121
Yeah.
269
00:12:09,141 --> 00:12:10,431
So that's our organization.
270
00:12:10,751 --> 00:12:12,672
Let me just talk about
Operation Deep Dive.
271
00:12:12,921 --> 00:12:14,121
That's a research study.
272
00:12:14,121 --> 00:12:15,501
It's not really a program, but it-
273
00:12:15,581 --> 00:12:15,921
Okay
274
00:12:16,051 --> 00:12:19,031
…
it drives our where, how we
do outreach and engagement.
275
00:12:19,212 --> 00:12:24,232
And so let me really quickly, we partner
with Duke University School of Medicine.
276
00:12:24,752 --> 00:12:29,812
We focus on deaths of despair, and
deaths of despair are all forms of
277
00:12:29,812 --> 00:12:35,142
suicide, and then overdoses by drug
or alcohol that are self-inflicted.
278
00:12:35,142 --> 00:12:39,251
So we look much bigger than just suicide.
279
00:12:39,642 --> 00:12:44,961
What we know is from a lot of research
that coroners and medical examiners will
280
00:12:45,072 --> 00:12:50,131
sometimes, 60% of the time, if there's
a suicide, it may be categorized as a
281
00:12:50,161 --> 00:12:53,671
accident or undetermined, especially
in rural areas where they usually
282
00:12:53,671 --> 00:12:57,111
know the family, there's a financial
issue, or there's a stigma issue.
283
00:12:57,502 --> 00:13:02,361
And so what we decided to do was not
just focus on how they were categorized,
284
00:13:02,401 --> 00:13:06,611
but what was the mechanism that
the person used to take their life.
285
00:13:07,300 --> 00:13:13,550
And so the idea was the way that the study
works is that states provide us a listing
286
00:13:13,560 --> 00:13:17,719
of everyone who died in the state over
the last 15 years with their name and
287
00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:21,110
Social Security number and identifiable
information, but more importantly,
288
00:13:21,119 --> 00:13:22,370
information about their death.
289
00:13:22,650 --> 00:13:26,140
All forms of death, natural causes
of death and self-inflicted.
290
00:13:26,420 -->
00:13:29,870
And then what we do is we send the names
and Social Security numbers to DOD.
291
00:13:30,029 --> 00:13:34,699
DOD then sends back the military
history of everybody who's on our list.
292
00:13:34,980 --> 00:13:38,749
Very detailed military history like, you
know, where did they join the military?
293
00:13:38,759 --> 00:13:39,760
Where were they stationed?
294
00:13:39,769 --> 00:13:41,699
How long did it take to get recruited?
295
00:13:41,979 --> 00:13:44,029
Who was promoted and who was demoted?
296
00:13:44,069 --> 00:13:45,479
It-- Their whole promotion.
297
00:13:45,690 --> 00:13:48,299
It's really amazing what
you can get from it.
298
00:13:48,609 --> 00:13:55,120
So the idea of, of merging this data
together and knowing, combining deaths
299
00:13:55,120 --> 00:13:58,879
of despair with military service was
that I could look… And I'll use
300
00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:01,699
the state of Massachusetts 'cause
we just finished a report there.
301
00:14:01,979 --> 00:14:05,319
We can look at the state of Massachusetts
and say the veteran who's gonna take
302
00:14:05,319 --> 00:14:10,060
their life in Western Massachusetts, most
likely to, to take their life in Western
303
00:14:10,060 --> 00:14:14,469
Mass, is an older veteran who served four
years, usually in the Army, and they're
304
00:14:14,470 --> 00:14:15,760
gonna take their life by a firearm.
305
00:14:16,139 --> 00:14:16,869
And so-
306
00:14:16,970 --> 00:14:17,240
Hmm
307
00:14:17,309 --> 00:14:18,679
…
that's like a high level.
308
00:14:18,779 --> 00:14:23,349
In the Boston area, it's a different
person, but most likely by overdose.
309
00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:23,610
Hmm.
310
00:14:23,709 --> 00:14:28,210
In Massachusetts, the number one
cause of deaths of despair, number
311
00:14:28,210 --> 00:14:30,869
one mechanism was overdose by drug.
312
00:14:31,109 --> 00:14:33,929
Sixty percent of those
overdoses are fentanyl.
313
00:14:34,019 --> 00:14:34,349
Mm-hmm.
314
00:14:34,429 --> 00:14:37,599
And then, uh, the second cause
was strangulation, suffocation,
315
00:14:37,599 --> 00:14:39,150
and then the third was firearm.
316
00:14:39,679 --> 00:14:43,709
Massachusetts is a pretty
stringent firearm law, but they
317
00:14:43,709 --> 00:14:47,350
also represented almost one of the
higher rates of death that we saw.
318
00:14:47,539 --> 00:14:51,449
And now I'll give you an example of the
impact of overdose relative to suicide.
319
00:14:51,819 --> 00:14:55,489
In Massachusetts, there's just as
many self-inflicted overdose deaths
320
00:14:55,489 --> 00:14:57,679
as there are suicides, by any cause.
321
00:14:57,690 --> 00:15:02,919
So when you look at it broadly like
that, the idea was, Massachusetts,
322
00:15:02,919 --> 00:15:06,399
your strategy on the Cape and your
strategy in Boston are different.
323
00:15:06,690 --> 00:15:10,939
Your strategy in Boston and your strategy
in Western Mass are different 'cause it's
324
00:15:10,940 --> 00:15:14,829
a different population, it's a different
mechanism of death, it's a different
325
00:15:14,839 --> 00:15:18,179
message, so let's get to the people.
326
00:15:18,209 --> 00:15:19,009
Let's target.
327
00:15:19,289 --> 00:15:22,529
I use the term, let's stop fishing
for those who are gonna take their
328
00:15:22,529 --> 00:15:24,680
life and start hunting for those
who are gonna take their life.
329
00:15:24,989 --> 00:15:27,779
That was the idea around
Operation Deep Dive.
330
00:15:27,789 --> 00:15:33,099
So it's really to arm ourselves
and, and AWP and communities with a
331
00:15:33,099 --> 00:15:36,750
tool to really target those people
who are at the greatest risk.
332
00:15:36,779 --> 00:15:39,719
And to that-- By the way, Jim, to
that point, I saw that since twenty
333
00:15:39,719 --> 00:15:42,509
twenty-three, nine hundred and
fifty-six warriors have screened
334
00:15:42,510 --> 00:15:44,269
positive for suicidal risk.
335
00:15:44,599 --> 00:15:44,899
Yep.
336
00:15:45,239 --> 00:15:48,305
So it's almost like you're- You're
going out, like you said, hunting-
337
00:15:48,545 --> 00:15:48,825
Yep
338
00:15:49,016 --> 00:15:51,065
…
and trying to stop it before
it even gets to that point.
339
00:15:51,136 --> 00:15:56,065
86% of the people that came to us that
were at risk for taking their life, 86%,
340
00:15:56,305 --> 00:15:57,976
their issue was financial insecurity.
341
00:15:58,165 --> 00:15:58,376
Hmm.
342
00:15:58,496 --> 00:15:58,636
Wow.
343
00:15:58,976 --> 00:16:03,545
The minority of people came to us looking
for mental or behavioral health support.
344
00:16:04,086 --> 00:16:08,085
They were depressed, but the depression
was secondary to the fact that they
345
00:16:08,086 --> 00:16:12,075
were in such a financial hole, and
they just didn't see a way out.
346
00:16:12,116 --> 00:16:16,188
There was no solution for
them That's a big piece of it.
347
00:16:16,328 --> 00:16:17,267
So that's the study.
348
00:16:17,267 --> 00:16:19,978
OpDD is a study that's doing this.
349
00:16:20,418 --> 00:16:23,877
The Corporate Veteran Initiative is
really working with corporations.
350
00:16:24,438 --> 00:16:26,648
70% of veterans are in the workforce.
351
00:16:27,088 --> 00:16:30,928
So if you wanna do outreach and
engagement, you wanna find the veterans,
352
00:16:31,167 --> 00:16:32,487
you have to go to the workforce.
353
00:16:32,617 --> 00:16:32,877
Yeah.
354
00:16:33,188 --> 00:16:36,578
And so we talked about our good
friend Sean Passmore at Wells Fargo.
355
00:16:36,827 --> 00:16:39,367
We're the veteran serving
nonprofit for Wells Fargo.
356
00:16:39,367 --> 00:16:44,167
If you're a military-connected employee
at Wells Fargo, you have a QR code.
357
00:16:44,387 --> 00:16:47,207
They put it on their employee
assistance program sites.
358
00:16:47,257 --> 00:16:50,877
They make it very well known that if
you're military connected and you work
359
00:16:50,877 --> 00:16:54,677
at Wells Fargo, you can come to America's
Warrior Partnership,
and we'll work with
360
00:16:54,677 --> 00:16:58,048
you to help improve and save your life.
361
00:16:58,048 --> 00:17:02,417
And improving life, you know, a lot of
the time, like, like I said, it's, it's
362
00:17:02,438 --> 00:17:04,067
financial insecurity is a big piece.
363
00:17:04,068 --> 00:17:07,177
But if you're working for a bank and
you're a teller, you have a problem with
364
00:17:07,177 --> 00:17:10,907
your car that you can't afford to fix,
gives a barrier for you to go back and
365
00:17:10,907 --> 00:17:14,397
work, well, then we'll work with you to
figure out how to get your car fixed.
366
00:17:14,837 --> 00:17:18,637
You know, our goal is to get you back
into the workforce and have you secure.
367
00:17:18,637 --> 00:17:20,678
And in the end, it helps the companies.
368
00:17:20,877 --> 00:17:24,397
And we do this with Amazon, we do
it with Wells Fargo, we do it with
369
00:17:24,778 --> 00:17:26,847
a gov con company called Peraton.
370
00:17:27,197 --> 00:17:29,027
We do it with a company called Forterra.
371
00:17:29,127 --> 00:17:31,467
UBS Bank, we do it with them.
372
00:17:32,017 --> 00:17:32,638
It's easy.
373
00:17:32,697 --> 00:17:35,657
It doesn't cost a penny for
the company to work with us.
374
00:17:35,907 --> 00:17:39,907
It's a way for us to do outreach and
engagement and to provide education.
375
00:17:40,208 --> 00:17:44,017
Part of the Corporate Veteran Initiative
is also to, we have programs where
376
00:17:44,017 --> 00:17:47,957
we do educational programs about,
like, what's the PACT Act, you know,
377
00:17:47,958 --> 00:17:50,267
the PACT Act and, and who's eligible.
378
00:17:50,337 --> 00:17:50,547
Yeah.
379
00:17:50,678 --> 00:17:52,287
How do they navigate the system?
380
00:17:52,737 --> 00:17:56,727
And then we do that, and on the other
side of it, if people wanna come to
381
00:17:56,727 --> 00:17:57,728
us for help, they can come to us.
382
00:17:58,057 --> 00:18:01,517
So if companies are listening to
this and they wanna engage with
383
00:18:01,517 --> 00:18:04,577
you about having that same kind
of initiative as an employer-
384
00:18:04,727 --> 00:18:04,967
Yeah
385
00:18:05,267 --> 00:18:08,718
…
to offer and make it available to people
that are connected to the military,
386
00:18:09,087 --> 00:18:10,547
they too could set up a QR code.
387
00:18:10,547 --> 00:18:12,667
It's not exclusive,
like you said, to Wells.
388
00:18:12,927 --> 00:18:13,157
No.
389
00:18:13,377 --> 00:18:14,638
But it's open for people.
390
00:18:14,638 --> 00:18:17,317
Would they reach out through your
website or to you or somebody else?
391
00:18:17,397 --> 00:18:19,727
Yeah, like Armed Forces
Bank and Academy Bank.
392
00:18:19,888 --> 00:18:21,238
Yeah, like companies like that,
393
00:18:21,238 --> 00:18:21,627
Tom?
394
00:18:21,727 --> 00:18:22,087
Yeah.
395
00:18:22,087 --> 00:18:23,347
Easy, easy, easy.
396
00:18:23,347 --> 00:18:25,447
I don't know if you know anybody
there, but, I mean, the answer- We'll,
397
00:18:25,618 --> 00:18:26,818
we'll work on that for you, Jim.
398
00:18:27,398 --> 00:18:28,368
I, I know a guy.
399
00:18:28,568 --> 00:18:29,548
I know… Yeah.
400
00:18:29,978 --> 00:18:30,248
Yeah.
401
00:18:30,557 --> 00:18:33,688
But really, it's really to do how,
how do we do outreach and engagement?
402
00:18:33,758 --> 00:18:36,458
And it's really just getting the
word out that, that we have that.
403
00:18:36,458 --> 00:18:38,888
So that's the Corporate
Veteran Initiative.
404
00:18:39,368 --> 00:18:43,057
It's all based-- Everything we
do, we have a service arm, and
405
00:18:43,057 --> 00:18:44,497
then we have a heavy outreach arm.
406
00:18:44,777 --> 00:18:46,787
No one ever helped
anybody they didn't know.
407
00:18:47,288 --> 00:18:50,278
And so for us is we have
to get to know someone.
408
00:18:50,688 --> 00:18:54,618
We also have a program which is really
our big outreach piece, which is called
409
00:18:54,618 --> 00:18:57,448
If You Know a Veteran, Tell a Veteran
About America's Warrior Partnership.
410
00:18:57,648 --> 00:18:58,298
And it's easy.
411
00:18:58,298 --> 00:18:59,467
You sign up.
412
00:18:59,808 --> 00:19:04,118
So Tom, let's say you signed up, and
you'd get your own QR code that was yours.
413
00:19:04,208 --> 00:19:04,508
Right.
414
00:19:04,548 --> 00:19:09,537
And what we would ask you is just tell
five or 10 friends, get them to sign up.
415
00:19:09,837 --> 00:19:12,398
Everybody said, "Oh, it's a
pyramid scheme." It, it is.
416
00:19:12,897 --> 00:19:16,018
I call it a, I call it a
pyramid of purpose, right?
417
00:19:16,067 --> 00:19:16,407
Yeah.
418
00:19:16,448 --> 00:19:21,877
So you tell 10, they tell
100, they tell 1,000.
419
00:19:21,877 --> 00:19:26,737
The point is is that of that 1,000,
they're probably gonna refer maybe
420
00:19:26,737 --> 00:19:31,740
200 to us, which is great You know,
I, I went on Fox News a few months
421
00:19:31,740 --> 00:19:38,259
ago, and we had 312 people sign up
for Know a Vet, Tell a Vet, but we had
422
00:19:38,289 --> 00:19:44,010
172 people get referred to us through
that QR code to have a conversation.
423
00:19:44,130 --> 00:19:44,650
That's great.
424
00:19:44,699 --> 00:19:46,410
So, and to get help.
425
00:19:46,449 --> 00:19:49,970
So Know a Vet, Tell a Vet is our
way of doing outreach engagement.
426
00:19:49,980 --> 00:19:51,079
We've gamified it.
427
00:19:51,460 --> 00:19:54,040
So let's say you get to 1,000 people.
428
00:19:54,230 --> 00:19:58,229
You can say, "You're connected
to 1,000 people. Because of you,
429
00:19:58,499 --> 00:20:03,259
we know 1,000 people." Of those
1,000, they've referred 200 people
430
00:20:03,259 --> 00:20:04,970
to us, and then we break it out.
431
00:20:05,129 --> 00:20:09,479
Of those 200, you know, 5 were
at risk for taking their life.
432
00:20:09,859 --> 00:20:11,439
This many needed benefits.
433
00:20:11,439 --> 00:20:16,269
This needed healthcare, education,
employment, housing, others usually
434
00:20:16,269 --> 00:20:17,889
emergency financial assistance.
435
00:20:18,289 --> 00:20:21,329
But you can look at it yourself
and say, "I'm making a difference.
436
00:20:21,369 --> 00:20:22,479
Look at the impact I make."
437
00:20:22,629 --> 00:20:23,499
Oh, no, I love that.
438
00:20:23,989 --> 00:20:26,049
He has a plethora of ideas about…
439
00:20:26,219 --> 00:20:28,369
You know, every time he s- he say
something, he comes up with this
440
00:20:28,369 --> 00:20:30,379
phrase that he's thought of in his
life and applies it to real life.
441
00:20:30,379 --> 00:20:30,530
I know.
442
00:20:30,530 --> 00:20:31,740
I was trying to write
down an acronym- I know.
443
00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:33,119
I can't keep up with all of
it … to see if it spelled, spelled
444
00:20:33,119 --> 00:20:34,770
an acronym or anything, so yeah.
445
00:20:34,950 --> 00:20:36,559
No, Know a Vet, Tell a Vet is-
446
00:20:36,609 --> 00:20:36,879
KAVTAV
447
00:20:37,689 --> 00:20:43,020
it came out of, I was watching a, a
show, and a farmer's insurance commercial
448
00:20:43,020 --> 00:20:45,619
came on, and he said- Da, da, da,
da … "You know, we know a thing or
449
00:20:45,619 --> 00:20:46,879
two 'cause we've seen a thing or two."
450
00:20:46,910 --> 00:20:47,300
Yeah.
451
00:20:47,619 --> 00:20:48,019
Yeah.
452
00:20:48,019 --> 00:20:48,301
There you go.
453
00:20:48,301 --> 00:20:49,400
Well, you know a vet, tell a vet.
454
00:20:49,789 --> 00:20:50,209
Yep.
455
00:20:50,529 --> 00:20:51,040
Yep, yep, yep.
456
00:20:51,069 --> 00:20:51,949
About AWP.
457
00:20:52,029 --> 00:20:55,660
But the, the whole thing is, I don't
know if you know this, there's 18
458
00:20:55,669 --> 00:20:57,329
million vets in the United States.
459
00:20:57,779 --> 00:21:01,889
The VA has 9 million enrolled,
so there's half the vets in the
460
00:21:01,889 --> 00:21:03,999
United States don't touch anybody.
461
00:21:04,149 --> 00:21:04,469
Right.
462
00:21:04,639 --> 00:21:06,609
They don't have access to services.
463
00:21:06,950 --> 00:21:10,829
They don't have access to benefits that
they've earned that could improve their
464
00:21:10,829 --> 00:21:13,349
quality of life, and it drives me nuts.
465
00:21:13,599 --> 00:21:16,709
Like, I have a friend that I'm
wor- working with right now.
466
00:21:17,149 --> 00:21:18,519
Actually, it's two ends of the spectrum.
467
00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:20,109
I have a friend who I'm
working with right now.
468
00:21:20,270 --> 00:21:21,579
Her husband passed away.
469
00:21:21,739 --> 00:21:22,970
He was Agent Orange.
470
00:21:22,970 --> 00:21:23,799
He had died.
471
00:21:23,889 --> 00:21:27,719
He was Vietnam era, had been
in Vietnam for multiple tours.
472
00:21:28,069 --> 00:21:29,679
Never applied for his VA benefits.
473
00:21:29,689 --> 00:21:30,450
She has nothing.
474
00:21:30,590 --> 00:21:31,000
Oh, wow.
475
00:21:31,300 --> 00:21:31,390
Nothing.
476
00:21:32,020 --> 00:21:36,339
And then on the other hand, I have,
my son serves in
the Ranger regiment,
477
00:21:36,689 --> 00:21:38,689
and he had a buddy of his come to me.
478
00:21:39,119 --> 00:21:43,099
He had been out for a year, didn't know
that the Veteran Benefit Administration
479
00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:46,810
wasn't connected to the Veteran Healthcare
Administration, that he was eligible
480
00:21:46,810 --> 00:21:51,939
for his free VA healthcare, that he was
eligible for other educational programs.
481
00:21:52,568 --> 00:21:56,078
He went through TAP, you know,
the Transition Assistance Program.
482
00:21:56,238 --> 00:21:56,738
Mm-hmm.
483
00:21:56,918 --> 00:21:57,168
Yep.
484
00:21:57,518 --> 00:21:59,278
And his mind was not on TAP.
485
00:21:59,318 --> 00:22:02,088
His mind was, how does
he get out-processed?
486
00:22:02,378 --> 00:22:04,978
How does he get his
household goods packed?
487
00:22:05,248 --> 00:22:07,428
How does he get settled
in a new community?
488
00:22:07,567 --> 00:22:10,967
It wasn't anything about…
Anyways, don't get me started.
489
00:22:11,238 --> 00:22:11,977
No, I feel you.
490
00:22:11,978 --> 00:22:15,487
I mean, and, and you go through that
process so fast, and then there are some
491
00:22:15,488 --> 00:22:19,017
choices that you make in that process
that once you make it, you can't undo it-
492
00:22:19,308 --> 00:22:19,708
Yeah
493
00:22:19,788 --> 00:22:20,857
next week, next month.
494
00:22:21,187 --> 00:22:21,377
Yeah.
495
00:22:21,417 --> 00:22:24,227
Six years from now when
you are wiser and older.
496
00:22:24,688 --> 00:22:27,157
I said to him, I said, "Did you
sign up for your Veteran Group Life
497
00:22:27,157 --> 00:22:30,617
Insurance?" He said, "No, but I think
I need to." I said, "Yeah, 100." Okay.
498
00:22:30,617 --> 00:22:30,848
"Pay it."
499
00:22:31,038 --> 00:22:31,308
Yeah.
500
00:22:31,488 --> 00:22:31,608
"
It's gone."
501
00:22:31,678 --> 00:22:31,968
Yeah.
502
00:22:32,028 --> 00:22:32,528
Done for.
503
00:22:32,638 --> 00:22:32,838
Yeah.
504
00:22:32,838 --> 00:22:32,988
Yeah.
505
00:22:32,988 --> 00:22:33,778
Yep, yep.
506
00:22:33,817 --> 00:22:36,277
And then the other piece on the
Veteran Group Life Insurance,
507
00:22:36,468 --> 00:22:37,547
this is a financial…
508
00:22:37,547 --> 00:22:41,397
I don't know if you… I, I haven't
talked much about this, but when you
509
00:22:41,398 --> 00:22:45,828
sign, when you approve it, you sign
up for a term life insurance policy.
510
00:22:46,238 --> 00:22:50,968
There's a small print that says you
can go, you can convert that to a whole
511
00:22:50,968 --> 00:22:57,628
life policy so that when you turn 65,
your term insurance isn't $700 a month.
512
00:22:58,287 --> 00:23:02,588
But when you turn 65 on an SGLI
whole life, it's whatever you set
513
00:23:02,588 --> 00:23:04,337
it up as when you were younger.
514
00:23:04,507 --> 00:23:04,887
Anyways.
515
00:23:05,017 --> 00:23:05,277
Yeah.
516
00:23:05,687 --> 00:23:05,957
Hmm.
517
00:23:06,187 --> 00:23:07,657
I'm just saying, there's a lot.
518
00:23:07,878 --> 00:23:10,387
There's so much detail and
so many things to know.
519
00:23:10,990 --> 00:23:11,360
Yeah.
520
00:23:11,430 --> 00:23:14,430
And it's so much that people
think it's too complex, right?
521
00:23:14,530 --> 00:23:14,830
Yeah.
522
00:23:14,890 --> 00:23:15,400
It's easy.
523
00:23:15,660 --> 00:23:16,320
It really is.
524
00:23:16,330 --> 00:23:18,450
Once you know it, you go,
"Okay, you gotta do this."
525
00:23:18,580 --> 00:23:19,910
Yep, nope, totally agree.
526
00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:20,420
Been there.
527
00:23:20,510 --> 00:23:21,160
Been through that.
528
00:23:21,669 --> 00:23:24,050
So we've sprinkled it in a
little bit, but I don't…
529
00:23:24,140 --> 00:23:27,949
I'd, I'd love to know if you have summary
kind of results that you could share.
530
00:23:28,070 --> 00:23:31,380
I know the team's been at this
for a very long time, the number
531
00:23:31,380 --> 00:23:34,289
of veterans you've served, the
partners that you're connected with.
532
00:23:34,289 --> 00:23:35,579
We've named a few of those.
533
00:23:35,810 --> 00:23:39,239
How do you measure success as an
organization outside of the obvious
534
00:23:39,250 --> 00:23:42,859
human connection, which I think is
probably dominant there, but how do
535
00:23:42,859 --> 00:23:46,889
you measure success if you had to from
the, the brass tacks numbers of it all?
536
00:23:47,159 --> 00:23:49,370
Number one is the number
of people that we serve.
537
00:23:49,510 --> 00:23:50,959
That's the intake, right?
538
00:23:51,369 --> 00:23:54,179
A- are we successful in getting
people to come to us, number one.
539
00:23:54,650 --> 00:23:59,629
On the backside of the service,
we ask shortly after we finish a
540
00:23:59,629 --> 00:24:02,869
case and get somebody set, we'll
ask them quality of life questions.
541
00:24:02,869 --> 00:24:06,719
You know, like three questions, do
you feel better than you did before?
542
00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:07,729
Are you more hopeful?
543
00:24:07,869 --> 00:24:08,449
Blah, blah, blah.
544
00:24:08,819 --> 00:24:12,889
And then once a year we, we ask the
people that we serve to take a survey.
545
00:24:13,349 --> 00:24:14,300
It's a hope scale.
546
00:24:14,449 --> 00:24:17,560
It's how you measure hopefulness,
hopelessness to hopefulness.
547
00:24:17,899 --> 00:24:20,770
It was developed at the University of
Kansas, matter of fact- Oh … back in
548
00:24:20,770 --> 00:24:23,059
the '70s by a, a guy by the name of Dr.
549
00:24:23,060 --> 00:24:26,779
Snyder, and it's been
proven and, and documented.
550
00:24:27,109 --> 00:24:29,569
But we're one of the few
organizations that use it.
551
00:24:29,570 --> 00:24:35,429
It's a 12-question assessment that
basically very easy questions like,
552
00:24:35,929 --> 00:24:39,340
do you feel like you're able to get
out of problems when you face them?
553
00:24:39,740 --> 00:24:44,949
Do you feel like your past experiences
have prepared you for future barriers?
554
00:24:45,369 -->
00:24:46,409
Things like that, you know?
555
00:24:46,420 --> 00:24:46,439
Mm-hmm.
556
00:24:46,439 --> 00:24:48,649
So you can say how hopeful are you?
557
00:24:48,649 --> 00:24:49,730
How hopeless are you?
558
00:24:49,999 --> 00:24:50,950
I'll give you an example.
559
00:24:50,950 --> 00:24:55,309
We did that, we do it annually, and what
we noticed was that the veterans who were
560
00:24:55,310 --> 00:25:01,310
asking, who were seeking transportation
because they lack the mobility, you
561
00:25:01,310 --> 00:25:05,280
know, to get around, they're the, the
lowest level of hope, the most hopeless.
562
00:25:05,869 --> 00:25:09,559
So the most hopeless veterans were not
the homeless veterans, they weren't
563
00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:13,639
the unemployed veterans, they were the
veterans who lacked transportation.
564
00:25:13,639 --> 00:25:14,039
Hmm.
565
00:25:14,039 --> 00:25:17,420
They couldn't get to school, they couldn't
get to the grocery, they couldn't get to
566
00:25:17,719 --> 00:25:20,759
work, they couldn't get to healthcare.
567
00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:22,669
They lacked transportation.
568
00:25:22,710 --> 00:25:23,539
They were hopeless.
569
00:25:23,999 --> 00:25:28,879
And so we focused on that, and it's…
We see it a little bit the same.
570
00:25:28,889 --> 00:25:33,149
The other piece that we see amongst
veterans, so you're, you're asking about
571
00:25:33,150 --> 00:25:37,190
what are the outcomes, I wanna see hopeful
veterans, but the other thing that we're
572
00:25:37,190 --> 00:25:39,559
seeing more and more is isolated veterans.
573
00:25:39,850 --> 00:25:43,099
People who are extremely
isolated have very low hope.
574
00:25:43,726 --> 00:25:45,436
They don't think anybody cares for them.
575
00:25:45,436 --> 00:25:46,726
They don't think they matter.
576
00:25:47,006 --> 00:25:51,746
What I wanna see is everybody
that we serve feels more hopeful
577
00:25:51,986 --> 00:25:53,316
tomorrow than they did today.
578
00:25:53,365 --> 00:25:53,806
Mm-hmm.
579
00:25:53,806 --> 00:25:53,816
I
580
00:25:54,006 --> 00:25:55,906
think we look at some of the data too.
581
00:25:56,285 --> 00:26:00,716
I'm stealing Jim's thunder, but like
80,000 veterans served, 7,300 cases,
582
00:26:01,056 --> 00:26:06,695
95% client satisfaction, 82% success
rate, 90 cents for every dollar
583
00:26:06,706 --> 00:26:08,195
goes to support programs serving…
584
00:26:08,195 --> 00:26:11,086
I mean, all those, those are
quantifiable and that's impactful.
585
00:26:11,646 --> 00:26:11,956
Yeah.
586
00:26:12,325 --> 00:26:12,625
Yeah.
587
00:26:12,886 --> 00:26:15,955
One of the things, we have an
information system called Warrior Serve.
588
00:26:16,066 --> 00:26:16,316
Yeah.
589
00:26:16,445 --> 00:26:17,535
We measure everything
590
00:26:21,856 --> 00:26:22,236
Hey, everyone.
591
00:26:22,236 --> 00:26:25,426
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financial flexibility to take the
592
00:26:25,426 --> 00:26:29,246
family on a vacation, tackle that home
renovation, or just get through the ups
593
00:26:29,246 --> 00:26:32,515
and downs of military life, we've got some
great news for our military listeners.
594
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595
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that are perfect for handling life's
596
00:26:37,256 --> 00:26:41,446
unexpected expenses, consolidating
debt, or even making that big
597
00:26:41,466 --> 00:26:42,766
purchase you've been thinking about.
598
00:26:43,216 --> 00:26:46,726
And with our fast approval process,
you can get the funds you need quickly
599
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and easily without all the hassle.
600
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At Armed Forces Bank, about 75% of our
team is affiliated with the military,
601
00:26:53,325 --> 00:26:54,805
so we understand your unique needs.
602
00:26:55,166 --> 00:26:58,596
We've been supporting military families
for over 100 years, and we're here to
603
00:26:58,596 --> 00:27:00,255
help you take control of your finances.
604
00:27:00,666 --> 00:27:04,846
Whether you're active duty, a veteran,
or a reservist, we're committed
605
00:27:04,846 --> 00:27:08,666
to offering you flexible terms and
competitive rates, making sure you
606
00:27:08,666 --> 00:27:10,745
get a loan that fits your life.
607
00:27:11,135 --> 00:27:14,726
So if you're ready to take that
next step, head over to afbank.com
608
00:27:14,765 --> 00:27:15,985
or visit a branch near you.
609
00:27:16,376 --> 00:27:18,516
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serving those who serve.
610
00:27:18,755 --> 00:27:19,565
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611
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612
00:27:20,435 --> 00:27:21,435
Origination fee applies.
613
00:27:21,486 --> 00:27:22,815
Direct deposit relationship required.
614
00:27:22,876 --> 00:27:24,196
Loan terms are based on loan amount.
615
00:27:29,806 --> 00:27:32,766
And I came out of a community
that, you know, if you didn't
616
00:27:32,766 --> 00:27:34,126
measure it, you didn't do it.
617
00:27:34,366 --> 00:27:35,156
And- Jody?
618
00:27:35,156 --> 00:27:37,186
That's, that's my love
language right there.
619
00:27:38,346 --> 00:27:38,866
Yes.
620
00:27:39,655 --> 00:27:40,626
Yeah, yeah.
621
00:27:40,626 --> 00:27:45,486
I, I have-- my co-founder is a social
worker, and her mantra is, "If you didn't
622
00:27:45,496 --> 00:27:46,846
document it, it, it didn't happen."
623
00:27:47,255 --> 00:27:48,096
It never happened.
624
00:27:48,165 --> 00:27:51,146
Yeah, so we're very diligent
about documentation.
625
00:27:51,146 --> 00:27:53,105
We're very diligent about gathering data.
626
00:27:53,675 --> 00:27:58,175
Again, our real focus is, how do we
maintain the relationship with the veteran
627
00:27:58,675 --> 00:28:02,976
so that they feel that somebody has
their back long after we've served them?
628
00:28:03,376 --> 00:28:07,205
And so we use technology to stay in
touch, whether it's text messages
629
00:28:07,205 --> 00:28:13,055
or emails,
to stay in touch so that
people know that they're not alone
630
00:28:13,396 --> 00:28:14,505
and that somebody has their back.
631
00:28:14,685 --> 00:28:17,575
This will be just a soft plug for
marketing, too, 'cause I know you've
632
00:28:17,576 --> 00:28:22,436
been promoting AWP through Fox News
and the most highly touted podcast
633
00:28:22,436 --> 00:28:23,906
in America, militarily speaking.
634
00:28:24,425 --> 00:28:24,795
That's
635
00:28:24,795 --> 00:28:25,065
right.
636
00:28:25,716 --> 00:28:26,945
But other, other avenues?
637
00:28:26,945 --> 00:28:29,375
'Cause it, I mean, it takes a
while to build your brand, build
638
00:28:29,376 --> 00:28:30,716
your name, build your reputation.
639
00:28:30,725 --> 00:28:33,186
You're 4.0 on Charity Navigator.
640
00:28:33,795 --> 00:28:37,485
The reviews out there are very favorable,
both from an employee perspective of
641
00:28:37,486 --> 00:28:43,128
AWP and- people that have used your
services or your connections and
642
00:28:43,528 --> 00:28:45,598
other ways that you're promoting?
643
00:28:45,758 --> 00:28:47,458
Yeah, you know, I've got a TikTok.
644
00:28:47,608 --> 00:28:48,388
Yeah.
645
00:28:48,488 --> 00:28:52,148
I tell you, if a nonprofit is not
using TikTok, they're missing out.
646
00:28:52,148 --> 00:28:56,318
177 million vet- people in the
United States are on TikTok.
647
00:28:56,458 --> 00:28:57,617
Jodi's on TikTok.
648
00:28:57,618 --> 00:28:58,347
I am on TikTok.
649
00:28:58,347 --> 00:28:58,387
Are you?
650
00:28:58,387 --> 00:28:58,517
I
651
00:28:58,788 --> 00:29:00,877
don't have any followers,
'cause I don't do anything on
652
00:29:00,878 --> 00:29:03,268
TikTok, but I stalk my teenager.
653
00:29:04,618 --> 00:29:05,828
You're a TikTok
654
00:29:07,068 --> 00:29:07,118
voyeur?
655
00:29:07,128 --> 00:29:09,487
Oh, I s- I'm a, I'm a voyeur of my
teenager's account is what I am.
656
00:29:09,487 --> 00:29:09,527
That's
657
00:29:09,567 --> 00:29:09,797
right.
658
00:29:10,567 --> 00:29:11,137
There you go.
659
00:29:11,178 --> 00:29:13,257
I did that when my son was a teenager.
660
00:29:13,267 --> 00:29:13,518
I- That's a
661
00:29:13,677 --> 00:29:14,027
front.
662
00:29:14,197 --> 00:29:14,437
Yeah.
663
00:29:14,497 --> 00:29:14,907
Yeah
664
00:29:15,118 --> 00:29:16,267
…
I knew everything he was doing.
665
00:29:16,287 --> 00:29:18,297
But we started with TikTok.
666
00:29:18,697 --> 00:29:20,568
We have a great relationship with them.
667
00:29:20,917 --> 00:29:25,187
We have a number of influencers who've
really increased our number of followers,
668
00:29:25,188 --> 00:29:28,968
but the point is, it's a whole different
demographic than you get on Facebook.
669
00:29:29,057 --> 00:29:29,327
Yeah.
670
00:29:29,397 --> 00:29:31,898
Or on, you know, LinkedIn is LinkedIn.
671
00:29:32,307 --> 00:29:36,928
Facebook is really, you
know, 40, 50 and older.
672
00:29:37,197 --> 00:29:38,877
The younger are on TikTok.
673
00:29:39,057 --> 00:29:41,007
There's
Instagram somewhere
in the middle there.
674
00:29:41,357 --> 00:29:45,407
But TikTok has really helped
us amplify our message.
675
00:29:45,608 --> 00:29:52,748
We started with TikTok and we went from
zero to, um, you know, about 140,000
676
00:29:52,778 --> 00:29:55,027
people coming to us on a regular basis.
677
00:29:55,367 --> 00:29:55,807
Wow.
678
00:29:56,037 --> 00:29:58,747
Just like reels and, I mean,
they gotta be pithy, right?
679
00:29:58,748 --> 00:30:01,867
They gotta be memorable, and
the attention span of the human
680
00:30:01,867 --> 00:30:04,417
being th- is, like, 12.9 seconds.
681
00:30:04,577 --> 00:30:09,887
It's why my team never puts me on TikTok,
'cause I am as unappealing as … Oh, no.
682
00:30:10,208 --> 00:30:12,017
I'm seeing, like, a dance
video in your future.
683
00:30:12,017 --> 00:30:12,432
I don't know.
684
00:30:12,432 --> 00:30:12,778
I do.
685
00:30:12,778 --> 00:30:13,158
No.
686
00:30:13,167 --> 00:30:13,548
It'd be catchy.
687
00:30:13,548 --> 00:30:14,718
No, that's not gonna happen either.
688
00:30:14,748 --> 00:30:14,888
Yeah.
689
00:30:14,888 --> 00:30:14,918
But-
690
00:30:15,598 --> 00:30:15,797
You gotta
691
00:30:16,178 --> 00:30:18,517
If you make it so bad,
people will follow it.
692
00:30:18,757 --> 00:30:19,187
Yeah.
693
00:30:19,428 --> 00:30:20,018
Yeah.
694
00:30:20,217 --> 00:30:23,847
We have a guy, his name is Viva
La Vargas, Johnny Vargas, and
695
00:30:23,848 --> 00:30:25,617
Johnny is stationed out in Texas.
696
00:30:25,617 --> 00:30:29,257
He's a active duty sergeant first
class, and he promotes us like
697
00:30:29,257 --> 00:30:33,317
crazy, which is great, because he
sent his friends to us, and we've
698
00:30:33,318 --> 00:30:34,487
helped him, and he's like, "I'm in.
699
00:30:34,627 --> 00:30:36,487
Whatever you guys need, I'll promote you."
700
00:30:36,687 --> 00:30:37,337
That's awesome.
701
00:30:37,717 --> 00:30:38,077
Yeah.
702
00:30:38,278 --> 00:30:42,338
The statistics, I love your, your
little… We're, we've really focused
703
00:30:42,357 --> 00:30:44,197
on our successful closure rate.
704
00:30:44,217 --> 00:30:49,447
Our success closure rate right now
is 90%, so it's up from 82 to 90.
705
00:30:49,548 --> 00:30:50,178
Excellent.
706
00:30:50,278 --> 00:30:55,057
That's another metric I look at to, you
know, are we successful in closing it?
707
00:30:55,317 --> 00:30:59,418
And again, we only close it, this
is just another plug, if there's
708
00:30:59,418 --> 00:31:03,007
any nonprofits out there or any
veteran service, military service
709
00:31:03,007 --> 00:31:06,267
organizations, and they're not partnered
with us, we wanna partner with you.
710
00:31:06,517 --> 00:31:10,967
You can come to us, and what we'll do
is we'll feed people to you so you can
711
00:31:10,968 --> 00:31:13,418
provide services and raise awareness.
712
00:31:13,667 --> 00:31:14,137
Very good.
713
00:31:14,438 --> 00:31:18,327
So we're looking for not only partners,
but also people to come to us.
714
00:31:18,778 --> 00:31:21,127
And we work with, like,
Student Veterans of America.
715
00:31:21,197 --> 00:31:21,427
Yeah.
716
00:31:21,438 --> 00:31:25,048
If there's a Student Veterans in one of
their 1,700 chapters, and they're a great
717
00:31:25,048 --> 00:31:29,717
organization, and the student veteran is
having issues with, you know, access to
718
00:31:29,718 --> 00:31:31,847
benefits, well, SVA doesn't do benefits.
719
00:31:32,526 --> 00:31:35,476
They send them to us, we then take
care of them and serve them back.
720
00:31:35,776 --> 00:31:38,786
Same with hiring our heroes
and- Mm-hmm … 4Block and Hire
721
00:31:38,786 --> 00:31:41,165
Heroes USA, we do the same thing.
722
00:31:41,386 --> 00:31:46,175
If they send us somebody who has a barrier
to employment, we clear the barrier and
723
00:31:46,176 --> 00:31:47,646
then push them back into their program.
724
00:31:47,726 --> 00:31:49,805
We do some work with Raymond James.
725
00:31:49,985 --> 00:31:52,365
Raymond James has a great
program called Valor.
726
00:31:52,395 --> 00:31:54,295
They have a golf tournament down in Tampa.
727
00:31:54,305 --> 00:31:57,725
They raise funds, and then they
distribute those funds, and it's
728
00:31:57,725 --> 00:32:01,286
a part-time job 'cause they're
full-time employees at Raymond James.
729
00:32:01,286 --> 00:32:01,536
Yeah.
730
00:32:01,596 --> 00:32:03,906
And they said, "Can you
vet the organizations?
731
00:32:03,906 --> 00:32:07,255
Can you review them and tell us who
are the best, who we should fund?
732
00:32:07,625 --> 00:32:11,045
And then whoever we fund has to work
through you." Hmm. And then at the
733
00:32:11,046 --> 00:32:14,265
end of the year, I provide Raymond
James back with, "Hey, these are
734
00:32:14,265 --> 00:32:15,566
the people that we worked with.
735
00:32:15,825 --> 00:32:17,765
This is how many cases
I sent to this group.
736
00:32:18,136 --> 00:32:22,235
Here's what the outcome was," and
they're, "Keep going." Or on the other
737
00:32:22,235 --> 00:32:23,735
side of it is, "Here's who we sent.
738
00:32:24,175 --> 00:32:25,285
Nothing happened.
739
00:32:25,655 --> 00:32:26,525
Just letting you know." Hmm.
740
00:32:26,825 --> 00:32:27,165
Yeah.
741
00:32:27,515 --> 00:32:28,405
Why we serve.
742
00:32:28,535 --> 00:32:29,116
Why we serve.
743
00:32:29,116 --> 00:32:29,325
I know.
744
00:32:29,325 --> 00:32:32,065
I wanna hear about why we serve
and that part of your organization.
745
00:32:32,085 --> 00:32:33,475
Good segue, Thomas.
746
00:32:33,475 --> 00:32:33,915
You're welcome.
747
00:32:33,965 --> 00:32:36,826
So there's information about it obviously
on your website, which I wanna say
748
00:32:36,826 --> 00:32:39,535
again is americaswarriorpartnership.org.
749
00:32:39,655 --> 00:32:40,336
No apostrophe.
750
00:32:40,526 --> 00:32:41,425
No apostrophe.
751
00:32:41,566 --> 00:32:42,285
Very good, Tom.
752
00:32:42,536 --> 00:32:46,646
But can you describe why we serve
and how that
comes to life, and how
753
00:32:46,655 --> 00:32:49,645
that's really just been realized
over your team over the years?
754
00:32:49,865 --> 00:32:50,155
Yeah.
755
00:32:50,176 --> 00:32:53,635
Our team, especially the folks who
are dealing directly with the clients,
756
00:32:53,996 --> 00:32:56,176
they see the impact on a regular basis.
757
00:32:56,176 --> 00:32:58,986
And then on marketing, one
of the things that we are is
758
00:32:58,986 --> 00:33:00,405
we're a really tight family.
759
00:33:00,505 --> 00:33:01,946
We work closely together.
760
00:33:02,215 --> 00:33:04,966
When something happens,
everybody feels it.
761
00:33:05,185 --> 00:33:08,925
We see success, and
sometimes we see tragedy.
762
00:33:09,276 --> 00:33:09,675
Mm-hmm.
763
00:33:09,935 --> 00:33:10,835
Not very often.
764
00:33:11,105 --> 00:33:12,955
So why we serve, everybody knows.
765
00:33:13,325 --> 00:33:16,075
The majority of our staff
are veterans or mil spouses.
766
00:33:16,225 --> 00:33:17,465
What's your percentage?
767
00:33:17,605 --> 00:33:18,966
Military to non-military?
768
00:33:19,206 --> 00:33:22,955
Or, yeah, how many do you have a
military connection and work for AWP?
769
00:33:23,325 --> 00:33:25,035
Military connection's 80%.
770
00:33:25,355 --> 00:33:25,655
Good.
771
00:33:25,925 --> 00:33:26,615
Well done.
772
00:33:26,695 --> 00:33:27,075
Yeah.
773
00:33:27,295 --> 00:33:28,355
I love mil spouses.
774
00:33:28,425 --> 00:33:29,015
We do too.
775
00:33:29,316 --> 00:33:32,425
And then on our board,
military connected is, uh,
776
00:33:33,305 --> 00:33:33,725
100%. Nice.
777
00:33:33,945 --> 00:33:34,265
Yeah.
778
00:33:34,386 --> 00:33:38,405
I have an incredible board of directors,
which I'm extremely fortunate,
779
00:33:38,725 --> 00:33:40,505
but it trickles from them down.
780
00:33:40,625 --> 00:33:44,245
When I get them to come to Augusta
and we all meet here in Augusta, the
781
00:33:44,246 --> 00:33:46,046
board spends more time with the staff-
782
00:33:46,365 --> 00:33:48,575
than they do in the
boardroom, which is fantastic.
783
00:33:48,815 --> 00:33:49,165
Yeah.
784
00:33:49,425 --> 00:33:53,685
But, you know, why we serve is to improve
the quality of life for all veterans.
785
00:33:53,865 --> 00:33:54,915
We used to be pigeonholed.
786
00:33:54,925 --> 00:33:56,305
We had Operation Deep Dive.
787
00:33:56,305 --> 00:33:59,165
Everybody said, "Oh, you're a suicide
program." And I said, "No, we're not.
788
00:33:59,195 --> 00:34:03,155
We're a quality of life program,
and the outcome of improved quality
789
00:34:03,155 --> 00:34:05,055
of life is a low suicide rate."
790
00:34:05,065 --> 00:34:05,415
Mm-hmm.
791
00:34:05,545 --> 00:34:08,415
I don't see suicide prevention
as a program in itself.
792
00:34:08,765 --> 00:34:12,565
It's too complex to be a singular program.
793
00:34:12,985 --> 00:34:17,285
It needs to be something that is
holistic, needs to be integrated with
794
00:34:17,345 --> 00:34:22,336
other resources that
are there, and it
needs to be a one size fits one approach.
795
00:34:22,565 --> 00:34:26,435
You can't just have a cookie cutter
approach on suicide prevention,
796
00:34:26,856 --> 00:34:28,665
'cause again, it's too complex.
797
00:34:28,875 --> 00:34:32,876
It's too complex, whether it's
relationship, financial- Behavioral
798
00:34:32,876 --> 00:34:34,476
mental health, you name it
799
00:34:34,735 --> 00:34:35,005
Yeah.
800
00:34:35,045 --> 00:34:36,626
You're getting at the root cause of it
801
00:34:36,996 --> 00:34:38,076
But I think it shifts.
802
00:34:38,226 --> 00:34:42,575
I think that the root cause shifts over
time depending on what's happening.
803
00:34:42,826 --> 00:34:45,766
Right now, the root cause, in my
opinion, is financial insecurity.
804
00:34:46,206 --> 00:34:46,376
Mm-hmm.
805
00:34:46,396 --> 00:34:50,255
You guys both worked for banks, and
I've, I've said to banks, I said,
806
00:34:50,346 --> 00:34:53,175
"You know, you guys are the canaries
in the coal mine." You know when
807
00:34:53,175 --> 00:34:54,705
somebody misses their first payment.
808
00:34:54,975 --> 00:34:55,245
Yeah.
809
00:34:55,335 --> 00:34:57,806
But you sit on it, you
help work with them.
810
00:34:58,036 --> 00:35:01,545
You may restructure their loan,
but they still are in the hole.
811
00:35:01,766 --> 00:35:05,425
And I've said to banks, "If you let these
people know that they can come to us,
812
00:35:05,936 --> 00:35:09,675
maybe I can get them enrolled in their VA
for healthcare, VA healthcare for free."
813
00:35:10,175 --> 00:35:11,785
They, they don't need private insurance.
814
00:35:11,785 --> 00:35:13,066
They could get their VA care.
815
00:35:13,285 --> 00:35:16,705
They can increase their VA disability
if they've never, ever applied.
816
00:35:17,116 --> 00:35:18,195
They might be eligible.
817
00:35:18,436 --> 00:35:21,535
They could use their GI Bill to
get an education to get better.
818
00:35:21,745 --> 00:35:23,845
They could use a lot of things.
819
00:35:23,936 --> 00:35:27,005
There's so many resources that
are available to improve your
820
00:35:27,005 --> 00:35:29,735
quality of life, but if you
don't know how to navigate it…
821
00:35:30,165 --> 00:35:32,675
You know, when you're in a loan
and you can't pay your house
822
00:35:32,706 --> 00:35:36,675
payment and you can't pay your car
payment, we have so many programs.
823
00:35:37,075 --> 00:35:39,675
We have so many people that
come to us, and they just,
824
00:35:39,796 --> 00:35:41,155
financially they're in a jam.
825
00:35:41,616 --> 00:35:43,985
And I have a great
partner called Pure Talk.
826
00:35:44,535 --> 00:35:48,915
Pure Talk is a discount phone
company based outside of Atlanta.
827
00:35:49,285 --> 00:35:53,216
They started out doing a roundup for us
and they, they're a great donor for us,
828
00:35:53,705 --> 00:35:58,856
but then they came back and they said the
owner was a Vietnam-era special operations
829
00:35:58,885 --> 00:36:03,015
guy, and he
said, "Listen, I think it's
great what we're doing on the roundup,
830
00:36:03,025 --> 00:36:06,225
but I wanna do deeds not words." Right?
831
00:36:06,336 --> 00:36:07,325
"I wanna do something.
832
00:36:07,325 --> 00:36:08,345
I just don't wanna talk about it.
833
00:36:08,345 --> 00:36:12,835
I wanna do something." So what they
said to us was, "If somebody comes to
834
00:36:12,836 --> 00:36:17,565
you and they're a veteran or a family
member and they're, and the situation
835
00:36:17,565 --> 00:36:19,946
they're in isn't, it's not self-inflicted-
836
00:36:20,075 --> 00:36:20,395
Right
837
00:36:20,616 --> 00:36:24,235
…
and th- and they're working their
way out of it, but there's no one
838
00:36:24,235 --> 00:36:27,625
else who can help them, there's no
other way out," then they'll write
839
00:36:27,625 --> 00:36:29,335
a check and help pay for the thing.
840
00:36:29,335 --> 00:36:33,325
So I've had people who are
upside down on their car payment.
841
00:36:33,546 --> 00:36:37,235
They're gonna lose their car, and by the
way, to get a car out of repossession
842
00:36:37,395 --> 00:36:39,185
is more expensive than buying a new car.
843
00:36:39,265 --> 00:36:39,515
Hmm.
844
00:36:39,565 --> 00:36:43,075
And so what they do is they
provide us with the funds.
845
00:36:43,315 --> 00:36:46,225
Now, if somebody comes to me and they
say, "I haven't paid my car payment in
846
00:36:46,226 --> 00:36:51,565
six months, and I'm now I'm $7,000 in
the hole," it's a little bit tougher.
847
00:36:51,565 --> 00:36:54,765
But if they come to me in the first
month, I can take care of it like that.
848
00:36:54,976 --> 00:36:55,286
Yeah.
849
00:36:55,535 --> 00:36:55,755
Yeah.
850
00:36:55,755 --> 00:36:57,775
There's things that we can all do better.
851
00:36:57,916 --> 00:36:59,105
I think we could do it better
852
00:37:00,216 --> 00:37:01,436
I'm gonna fast-forward a little bit.
853
00:37:01,676 --> 00:37:05,146
It's good to talk about what your future
event is, so make sure people know that-
854
00:37:05,156 --> 00:37:09,275
Mm … in early August when you have the
symposium, the 13th Annual Symposium.
855
00:37:09,446 --> 00:37:09,866
Yes.
856
00:37:09,876 --> 00:37:09,886
I
857
00:37:10,006 --> 00:37:12,526
think that'd be a good message
to broadcast to people.
858
00:37:13,265 --> 00:37:13,906
Yeah, no.
859
00:37:13,906 --> 00:37:17,255
So our symposium, 13th Annual,
we started doing it when I was
860
00:37:17,255 --> 00:37:18,516
at Special Operations Command.
861
00:37:18,745 --> 00:37:22,015
We would bring all of our partners
together so that they could not only
862
00:37:22,015 --> 00:37:25,276
meet each other to get to learn to
work together, but they could also
863
00:37:25,276 --> 00:37:26,646
get to know a little bit about us.
864
00:37:27,075 --> 00:37:27,876
That's the goal.
865
00:37:27,975 --> 00:37:33,475
The goal of the symposium is to bring
local community programs together.
866
00:37:33,645 --> 00:37:37,786
We bring national nonprofits and
government programs into the same
867
00:37:37,786 --> 00:37:42,336
room, and literally, I spend my
whole two days being a matchmaker.
868
00:37:42,445 --> 00:37:42,475
Yes.
869
00:37:42,485 --> 00:37:45,465
"Hey, you need to talk to this person.
You need to talk to that person,"
870
00:37:45,845 --> 00:37:50,795
to get them to work together to
maximize the success that they have.
871
00:37:51,026 --> 00:37:54,395
In partnership with the US
Chamber of Commerce, they have a
872
00:37:54,395 --> 00:37:55,935
program called Hiring Our Heroes.
873
00:37:55,956 --> 00:37:56,915
We work with them.
874
00:37:56,936 --> 00:37:57,146
Yep.
875
00:37:57,355 --> 00:37:59,425
It's at a great venue
at the chamber building.
876
00:37:59,845 --> 00:38:04,645
But the goal is, is that we bring
people together to get them to
877
00:38:04,645 --> 00:38:09,115
understand that they're not alone,
and that together we could do better.
878
00:38:09,206 --> 00:38:10,576
We can have better success
879
00:38:11,560 --> 00:38:14,410
We're gonna be winding up
in a few minutes, Jim, and-
880
00:38:14,490 --> 00:38:14,859
Yes, sir
881
00:38:15,060 --> 00:38:17,890
I think this could be a, a four-hour
episode, but again- Yeah … Jodi's
882
00:38:17,899 --> 00:38:19,370
time is too valuable for that.
883
00:38:19,379 --> 00:38:19,640
Stop.
884
00:38:20,080 --> 00:38:20,180
But
885
00:38:20,180 --> 00:38:21,339
well, Jodi's the best.
886
00:38:21,410 --> 00:38:22,619
I mean, you are, too, Tom.
887
00:38:22,709 --> 00:38:24,469
Well, why don't we just say, is there-
888
00:38:24,769 --> 00:38:25,660
We're recording that part
889
00:38:25,720 --> 00:38:25,910
…
maybe
890
00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:27,379
we just talk about- I'm just
gonna make that my ringtone
891
00:38:27,410 --> 00:38:28,580
for when you call me, Tom.
892
00:38:28,689 --> 00:38:29,519
Jodi's the best.
893
00:38:29,519 --> 00:38:29,559
Jodi's the best.
894
00:38:29,559 --> 00:38:29,599
Jodi's the best.
895
00:38:29,599 --> 00:38:30,329
Jodi's
896
00:38:30,329 --> 00:38:30,349
the best.
897
00:38:30,349 --> 00:38:30,680
Jodi is the best.
898
00:38:31,879 --> 00:38:34,039
Jim, why don't you give out your
cell number to the audience?
899
00:38:34,069 --> 00:38:37,649
'Cause then people- … people can call
you directly if they have a problem.
900
00:38:37,649 --> 00:38:38,390
No, no, no.
901
00:38:38,390 --> 00:38:38,749
Get Jodi.
902
00:38:39,109 --> 00:38:42,399
No, let's talk about just a story
or two, maybe since in your journey
903
00:38:42,399 --> 00:38:44,389
of a decade plus, decade and a half.
904
00:38:44,950 --> 00:38:45,859
Gosh, how'd you even pick?
905
00:38:45,859 --> 00:38:46,669
I bet you have a million.
906
00:38:46,709 --> 00:38:47,330
I know.
907
00:38:47,399 --> 00:38:47,649
Yeah.
908
00:38:47,649 --> 00:38:49,840
But there's w- gotta be a story
that's gonna hit home with
909
00:38:49,840 --> 00:38:51,690
people, and people have arrived.
910
00:38:51,929 --> 00:38:54,080
Yeah, there's a
couple,
but some stand out.
911
00:38:54,089 --> 00:38:56,799
O- one is the local Augusta program.
912
00:38:57,379 --> 00:38:58,769
We met Virginia.
913
00:38:59,019 --> 00:39:00,630
Virginia was living in her car.
914
00:39:00,889 --> 00:39:04,209
She was evicted from her
apartment because she was…
915
00:39:04,249 --> 00:39:04,989
She got sick.
916
00:39:05,009 --> 00:39:08,869
Usually what we find is that people
who get sick and have to pay for their
917
00:39:08,869 --> 00:39:11,179
healthcare don't pay for something else.
918
00:39:11,259 --> 00:39:11,469
Yeah.
919
00:39:11,540 --> 00:39:12,419
So she was sick.
920
00:39:12,450 --> 00:39:14,629
She had to pay for her healthcare bills.
921
00:39:14,639 --> 00:39:16,209
She got evicted from her apartment.
922
00:39:16,440 --> 00:39:17,709
She was living in her car.
923
00:39:17,809 --> 00:39:18,660
We met her.
924
00:39:18,899 --> 00:39:21,879
We got her stably housed
through a government program.
925
00:39:22,059 --> 00:39:27,219
We got her into using a GI Bill
program to get her education.
926
00:39:27,580 --> 00:39:30,090
While she was in her education,
we got her an internship.
927
00:39:30,449 --> 00:39:34,899
When she completed her education, she had
a job, and then two years later she bought
928
00:39:34,919 --> 00:39:37,249
her own house using her VA home loan.
929
00:39:37,639 --> 00:39:41,209
And then her issue became,
how do I furnish my house?
930
00:39:41,449 --> 00:39:43,599
We had a person that said, "I'll donate.
931
00:39:43,870 --> 00:39:44,479
I'm moving.
932
00:39:44,479 --> 00:39:46,889
I'll donate all my furniture
to Virginia." So we-
933
00:39:46,959 --> 00:39:47,509
Oh, wow
934
00:39:47,720 --> 00:39:49,810
…
trucked it to her house
and filled out her house.
935
00:39:49,810 --> 00:39:52,309
But to this day, Virginia is thriving.
936
00:39:52,559 --> 00:39:55,749
She tells everyone what she's
doing, you know, about her success.
937
00:39:56,010 --> 00:39:57,289
That's one example.
938
00:39:57,449 --> 00:40:03,599
The other story would be a young woman,
female vet, served in the Army, was in her
939
00:40:03,609 --> 00:40:06,479
job out in Boulder, Colorado, hit a deer.
940
00:40:06,879 --> 00:40:10,899
The insurance repaired her car,
but when they, when she left,
941
00:40:10,999 --> 00:40:12,099
her power steering went out.
942
00:40:12,099 --> 00:40:15,039
It was secondary to the accident, but
the insurance didn't wanna cover it
943
00:40:15,576 --> 00:40:17,435
Well, the car dealership kept her car.
944
00:40:17,435 --> 00:40:20,955
They fixed it, but they, until
she could pay, they kept her car.
945
00:40:21,265 --> 00:40:24,435
Well, in that time she couldn't
drive to work, so she lost her
946
00:40:24,435 --> 00:40:26,225
job, she lost her apartment.
947
00:40:26,236 --> 00:40:28,656
She moved in with a
friend, was couch surfing.
948
00:40:29,075 --> 00:40:30,176
Heard about us.
949
00:40:30,426 --> 00:40:31,485
We paid for the car.
950
00:40:31,486 --> 00:40:32,736
We c- I remember calling her.
951
00:40:33,165 --> 00:40:36,336
I was with the person who called
her, and our employee said to
952
00:40:36,336 --> 00:40:37,955
her, "We paid for your car.
953
00:40:37,986 --> 00:40:39,145
Go over to the dealership.
954
00:40:39,145 --> 00:40:41,986
It's all ready for you to pick
up." And she said, "Are you kidding
955
00:40:41,986 --> 00:40:43,025
me?" And she, we said, "No."
956
00:40:43,195 --> 00:40:45,205
We, we never pay the veteran directly.
957
00:40:45,216 --> 00:40:47,895
We always pay wh- whatever
the root cause is.
958
00:40:48,215 --> 00:40:51,135
And so from that, she got her car back.
959
00:40:51,516 --> 00:40:53,655
She went back and got a better job.
960
00:40:53,945 --> 00:40:57,485
She was able to move off her
friend's couch, live in an apartment.
961
00:40:57,546 --> 00:40:58,516
She came back.
962
00:40:58,775 --> 00:41:03,225
She not only did that, she was struggling
with some mental health issues, which
963
00:41:03,225 --> 00:41:06,535
she didn't realize that the VA could
help her, so she went and improved it.
964
00:41:06,705 --> 00:41:10,005
But more importantly to me,
those two stories, those people
965
00:41:10,015 --> 00:41:11,265
still stay in touch with us.
966
00:41:11,345 --> 00:41:11,625
Yeah.
967
00:41:11,755 --> 00:41:14,245
And that's one of the things
that we really strive for.
968
00:41:14,245 --> 00:41:17,975
I… That 12% that screen positive,
they take a separate track.
969
00:41:18,195 --> 00:41:18,425
Yeah.
970
00:41:18,425 --> 00:41:22,705
And the track is meant so that we stay
in touch with them over a long period of
971
00:41:22,705 --> 00:41:27,305
time so that I know that they didn't take
their life, that they still are with us.
972
00:41:27,615 --> 00:41:29,555
Yeah, I, th- those are
a couple of stories.
973
00:41:29,795 --> 00:41:31,465
I have thousands of them, but I mean-
974
00:41:31,755 --> 00:41:32,875
I'm sure you do, yeah.
975
00:41:33,146 --> 00:41:34,966
Testament to what you're doing, yeah.
976
00:41:35,125 --> 00:41:35,645
Well, thanks.
977
00:41:35,775 --> 00:41:36,796
But it takes us all.
978
00:41:36,886 --> 00:41:40,775
If it wasn't for you sharing this
out, we wouldn't get the word out.
979
00:41:40,775 --> 00:41:41,945
So it's not me, it's you.
980
00:41:42,585 --> 00:41:43,715
You're making the difference.
981
00:41:43,985 --> 00:41:44,415
Thank you.
982
00:41:44,915 --> 00:41:46,386
No, thank you for doing it.
983
00:41:46,585 --> 00:41:47,386
You wanna play a game?
984
00:41:47,805 --> 00:41:48,926
I like to play games.
985
00:41:49,176 --> 00:41:50,185
Okay, I'm up for it.
986
00:41:51,325 --> 00:41:51,636
Well, it's
987
00:41:51,636 --> 00:41:52,035
Jeopardy.
988
00:41:52,036 --> 00:41:52,365
So brave.
989
00:41:52,386 --> 00:41:52,546
No,
990
00:41:52,546 --> 00:41:52,725
it's-
991
00:41:52,735 --> 00:41:52,965
You're so
992
00:41:52,966 --> 00:41:53,875
brave … it's spelling.
993
00:41:53,975 --> 00:41:54,535
No, what do you
want?
994
00:41:54,566 --> 00:41:54,729
What do you wanna
995
00:41:54,729 --> 00:41:54,775
play today?
996
00:41:54,775 --> 00:41:55,695
No, it's not spelling.
997
00:41:55,695 --> 00:41:59,065
I have a bad spelling bee experience
in my past I'll tell you about later.
998
00:41:59,085 --> 00:42:01,106
What, what word did you- What, what…
999
00:42:01,106 --> 00:42:02,525
I'll tell you what word I lost
when I was in eighth grade.
1000
00:42:02,525 --> 00:42:02,725
I'm
1001
00:42:02,725 --> 00:42:03,525
not gonna tell you.
1002
00:42:03,595 --> 00:42:04,585
It was iridescent.
1003
00:42:04,755 --> 00:42:06,015
Well, there's that.
1004
00:42:06,085 --> 00:42:06,765
What was your word?
1005
00:42:06,816 --> 00:42:07,635
I'm not gonna tell you.
1006
00:42:07,725 --> 00:42:08,045
Was it the?
1007
00:42:08,475 --> 00:42:10,115
I'm not gonna tell you- What was
your- … on a recorded podcast.
1008
00:42:10,115 --> 00:42:10,762
A. It
1009
00:42:10,762 --> 00:42:12,045
was A. The.
1010
00:42:12,045 --> 00:42:12,155
It
1011
00:42:12,355 --> 00:42:12,885
was the.
1012
00:42:13,245 --> 00:42:13,586
I.
1013
00:42:14,965 --> 00:42:18,305
It wasn't quite that bad, but I was
young, so there's, there's that.
1014
00:42:18,325 --> 00:42:19,695
So yes, I do wanna play a game.
1015
00:42:19,695 --> 00:42:21,585
I wanna play a game called
the Military Minute.
1016
00:42:24,574 --> 00:42:28,024
It is a lovely little trivia
game we like to play, and we
1017
00:42:28,024 --> 00:42:29,414
have a couple of questions today.
1018
00:42:29,414 --> 00:42:32,554
The first one you can totally
answer if you know the answer-
1019
00:42:32,604 --> 00:42:32,934
Okay
1020
00:42:32,984 --> 00:42:36,424
…
which would be pretty impressive, I
think, 'cause Tom likes to find- Weird-
1021
00:42:36,744 --> 00:42:40,453
odd questions with- Yeah … answers you
have to really dig deep to figure out.
1022
00:42:40,454 --> 00:42:41,624
And then sometimes the
answers aren't right.
1023
00:42:41,624 --> 00:42:44,354
And then the second one- Yeah … we're
gonna ask for today's podcast, so
1024
00:42:44,354 --> 00:42:46,684
you can't answer it 'cause we're
gonna tee it up for our audience.
1025
00:42:46,724 --> 00:42:50,393
So last episode, our Military
Minute question was about the Purple
1026
00:42:50,394 --> 00:42:54,604
Heart, and it was, "What was the
original name of the Purple Heart,
1027
00:42:54,633 --> 00:42:59,103
and in which city and state is the
National Purple Heart Hall of Honor?"
1028
00:42:59,264 --> 00:42:59,484
Yeah.
1029
00:42:59,674 --> 00:43:00,184
I know.
1030
00:43:01,524 --> 00:43:01,574
Google.
1031
00:43:01,644 --> 00:43:02,374
I told you- Google … Tom's
kind of a weirdo.
1032
00:43:02,713 --> 00:43:03,043
Yeah.
1033
00:43:03,043 --> 00:43:03,674
Yeah, Google.
1034
00:43:03,674 --> 00:43:03,874
Google.
1035
00:43:03,874 --> 00:43:05,894
I'm not, see, I'm put-
putting my hands up.
1036
00:43:05,894 --> 00:43:06,254
Even though
1037
00:43:06,264 --> 00:43:06,554
I'm not
1038
00:43:07,104 --> 00:43:07,284
on
1039
00:43:07,284 --> 00:43:07,428
my iPhone.
1040
00:43:07,428 --> 00:43:07,573
Fair game.
1041
00:43:07,573 --> 00:43:09,843
If you'd have known it-
Siri … that would've been super-
1042
00:43:09,843 --> 00:43:09,883
Tell me- … super impressive.
1043
00:43:09,883 --> 00:43:13,973
So if you were in our audience and
you answered that the original name of
1044
00:43:13,974 --> 00:43:19,063
the Purple Heart was Badge of Military
Merit, and that the city and state of
1045
00:43:19,064 --> 00:43:22,874
the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor,
which is also hard to say five times real
1046
00:43:22,874 --> 00:43:28,203
fast, is in New Windsor, New York, then
you are one smart cookie to start with.
1047
00:43:28,244 --> 00:43:32,903
And two, watch for your name to be dropped
as the lucky winner of $50 for yourself
1048
00:43:32,903 --> 00:43:35,173
and $50 to a charity of your choice.
1049
00:43:35,203 --> 00:43:37,593
And Tom, you're dying to interrupt,
so what do you want to say?
1050
00:43:37,943 --> 00:43:40,243
I was just gonna talk about
the New York connection.
1051
00:43:40,324 --> 00:43:40,604
Oh.
1052
00:43:40,773 --> 00:43:41,793
That's, but now forget it.
1053
00:43:41,814 --> 00:43:42,883
New York, New York.
1054
00:43:42,964 --> 00:43:43,154
Yeah.
1055
00:43:43,163 --> 00:43:43,193
Okay.
1056
00:43:43,233 --> 00:43:43,754
It's unique.
1057
00:43:43,894 --> 00:43:45,644
I watched the New York
Knicks lose t- last night.
1058
00:43:45,703 --> 00:43:46,753
We can talk about that later, too.
1059
00:43:46,833 --> 00:43:47,073
Good.
1060
00:43:47,543 --> 00:43:48,243
He said, "Good."
1061
00:43:48,243 --> 00:43:48,944
Did he say, "Good?"
1062
00:43:48,944 --> 00:43:49,174
He did.
1063
00:43:49,753 --> 00:43:50,103
I know.
1064
00:43:50,104 --> 00:43:51,973
I had a bet with my daughter
the Knicks were gonna sweep.
1065
00:43:52,023 --> 00:43:52,383
Nope.
1066
00:43:52,583 --> 00:43:52,953
Yeah.
1067
00:43:53,074 --> 00:43:54,833
72% of the country wants New York.
1068
00:43:54,854 --> 00:43:56,954
Now we're gonna have to edit this
out, Jim- I know … 'cause you just-
1069
00:43:56,964 --> 00:43:57,724
Knicks in five.
1070
00:43:58,363 --> 00:43:58,663
Anyway.
1071
00:43:58,714 --> 00:43:59,603
No, no.
1072
00:43:59,604 --> 00:44:01,543
I, I'm watching- … I'm watching the, uh-
1073
00:44:01,564 --> 00:44:02,023
Spurs in seven
1074
00:44:02,023 --> 00:44:02,153
I'm
1075
00:44:02,163 --> 00:44:04,023
watching the Vegas Knights and the, um-
1076
00:44:04,034 --> 00:44:04,964
Oh yeah, tonight Oh
1077
00:44:05,034 --> 00:44:05,364
…
later.
1078
00:44:05,364 --> 00:44:05,723
Tonight.
1079
00:44:05,723 --> 00:44:06,013
Yeah.
1080
00:44:06,073 --> 00:44:06,463
Nice.
1081
00:44:06,543 --> 00:44:09,363
I grew up in, right in the middle of
North, right in the center of New York
1082
00:44:09,363 --> 00:44:11,033
State, so I'm a, I'm a hockey guy.
1083
00:44:11,073 --> 00:44:11,744
Yeah, that makes sense.
1084
00:44:11,744 --> 00:44:12,153
Yeah.
1085
00:44:12,153 --> 00:44:12,483
That makes
1086
00:44:12,483 --> 00:44:12,563
sense.
1087
00:44:12,564 --> 00:44:16,153
And my neighbor in Tampa,
Tom, was John Tortorella.
1088
00:44:16,643 --> 00:44:17,273
No.
1089
00:44:17,323 --> 00:44:18,523
Who's now the coach-
1090
00:44:18,583 --> 00:44:19,874
Of the Vegas Knights
1091
00:44:19,924 --> 00:44:20,833
that is Kevin Bacon.
1092
00:44:20,833 --> 00:44:22,474
That's less than six
degrees of separation.
1093
00:44:22,523 --> 00:44:22,813
That is.
1094
00:44:22,813 --> 00:44:22,823
Yeah.
1095
00:44:22,823 --> 00:44:23,093
That's like 2.9.
1096
00:44:23,333 --> 00:44:23,493
That's
1097
00:44:23,533 --> 00:44:25,503
like- His and another sport's son-
1098
00:44:25,553 --> 00:44:25,893
Yeah
1099
00:44:25,963 --> 00:44:30,363
…
and my son grew up together, and they
went different ways out of high school,
1100
00:44:30,403 --> 00:44:35,174
and they ended up in the same battalion
together- … in the 75th Ranger Regiment.
1101
00:44:35,203 --> 00:44:37,524
So anyways, it's, so who,
guess who I'm rooting for.
1102
00:44:37,544 --> 00:44:38,294
Go Knights.
1103
00:44:38,404 --> 00:44:39,424
I'm gonna go with Vegas.
1104
00:44:39,453 --> 00:44:40,143
The Knicks.
1105
00:44:40,273 --> 00:44:40,463
The…
1106
00:44:40,843 --> 00:44:41,073
No.
1107
00:44:41,253 --> 00:44:41,543
Okay.
1108
00:44:41,544 --> 00:44:41,744
No.
1109
00:44:41,854 --> 00:44:42,244
Okay.
1110
00:44:42,294 --> 00:44:42,763
The Cubs?
1111
00:44:42,764 --> 00:44:42,954
No.
1112
00:44:42,994 --> 00:44:43,084
Okay.
1113
00:44:43,363 --> 00:44:43,744
Talk to Sean.
1114
00:44:43,824 --> 00:44:46,643
Sean Passmore will go for the
Knights, 'cause Sean's from Vegas.
1115
00:44:46,714 --> 00:44:47,113
All right.
1116
00:44:47,133 --> 00:44:47,773
Born and raised.
1117
00:44:47,934 --> 00:44:50,484
That's enough plugs for Sean
Passmore at Wells Fargo.
1118
00:44:50,484 --> 00:44:51,173
We like Sean.
1119
00:44:51,494 --> 00:44:51,933
Yeah, we do.
1120
00:44:52,873 --> 00:44:54,464
Well, I got one more question.
1121
00:44:54,514 --> 00:44:54,894
Yeah.
1122
00:44:54,943 --> 00:44:56,583
And you might know this
one, but you can't answer.
1123
00:44:56,583 --> 00:44:58,300
Just, like, nod your head-
Oh … or give us a thumbs up.
1124
00:44:58,300 --> 00:44:58,418
Okay.
1125
00:44:58,418 --> 00:44:58,537
Yeah.
1126
00:44:58,537 --> 00:45:00,643
'Cause we're gonna tee this one up
for our audience to see- No hands.
1127
00:45:00,883 --> 00:45:02,613
Yeah … if they're super
smart this week, too.
1128
00:45:02,854 --> 00:45:06,354
So this week's Military Minute
is about Syracuse University.
1129
00:45:06,383 --> 00:45:08,424
You might know a thing or
two about a thing or two to
1130
00:45:08,424 --> 00:45:09,703
do with Syracuse University.
1131
00:45:10,313 --> 00:45:14,324
Name the only Heisman Trophy winner
from Syracuse, which is now in its
1132
00:45:14,324 --> 00:45:17,053
137th year with the football program.
1133
00:45:17,123 --> 00:45:17,673
Do you know?
1134
00:45:17,813 --> 00:45:19,339
Sh- Don't answer.
1135
00:45:19,379 --> 00:45:20,029
Oh, oh, he does.
1136
00:45:20,109 --> 00:45:20,240
Oh, good.
1137
00:45:20,240 --> 00:45:20,700
He does know.
1138
00:45:20,700 --> 00:45:21,089
Very good.
1139
00:45:21,089 --> 00:45:22,299
You can tell us when we stop recording.
1140
00:45:22,399 --> 00:45:22,629
Yeah.
1141
00:45:22,629 --> 00:45:26,290
So if you're in our audience and you know
who the only Heisman Trophy winner from
1142
00:45:26,290 --> 00:45:30,559
Syracuse is, when you see this podcast
drop, put your answer in the comments,
1143
00:45:30,569 --> 00:45:34,299
and if you are correct, one, that's
awesome, and two, you can be enter- you
1144
00:45:34,299 --> 00:45:38,509
will be entered in a drawing to get $50
for yourself and $50 for a charity of
1145
00:45:38,509 --> 00:45:40,029
your choice, and that would be amazing.
1146
00:45:40,080 --> 00:45:40,589
Wow.
1147
00:45:40,619 --> 00:45:41,029
Yeah.
1148
00:45:41,769 --> 00:45:43,890
So- Don't ask him to say until
we're done recording, so.
1149
00:45:43,890 --> 00:45:46,859
Well, Jim, Jim Loraine, thank you
for your service- This has been fun.
1150
00:45:46,859 --> 00:45:47,099
Thank
1151
00:45:47,209 --> 00:45:47,369
you … to your
1152
00:45:47,369 --> 00:45:47,429
country.
1153
00:45:47,429 --> 00:45:47,999
You're welcome.
1154
00:45:47,999 --> 00:45:48,879
Thank you so much.
1155
00:45:48,879 --> 00:45:53,059
And if you enjoyed today's episode, go
out to afbank.com, subscribe to the show.
1156
00:45:53,629 --> 00:45:57,459
Make sure you rate us favorably
with or without Jodi's presence.
1157
00:45:57,519 --> 00:46:01,349
And leave us a comment on your
favorite podcast platform, on Apple
1158
00:46:01,379 --> 00:46:03,219
Podcast, Spotify, and YouTube.
1159
00:46:03,389 --> 00:46:06,970
So Jim, I wanted you to go
look at the organizations with
1160
00:46:06,970 --> 00:46:08,809
whom we've had a conversation.
1161
00:46:08,959 --> 00:46:09,339
Yes, sir.
1162
00:46:09,440 --> 00:46:13,770
And there are th- those hidden gems out
there that are serving, whether it's
1163
00:46:13,770 --> 00:46:17,569
mental health issues, whether it's veteran
suicide, whether it's homelessness,
1164
00:46:18,199 --> 00:46:20,669
and maybe there's some partnership
opportunities there for you, too, so.
1165
00:46:20,919 --> 00:46:20,939
Yeah,
1166
00:46:20,939 --> 00:46:21,290
definitely.
1167
00:46:21,290 --> 00:46:21,540
Definitely.
1168
00:46:21,540 --> 00:46:21,560
Yeah.
1169
00:46:21,779 --> 00:46:21,899
I
1170
00:46:21,959 --> 00:46:22,489
hope so.
1171
00:46:23,030 --> 00:46:23,549
I will look.
1172
00:46:23,799 --> 00:46:24,229
Thank you.
1173
00:46:24,449 --> 00:46:24,839
Very good.
1174
00:46:24,839 --> 00:46:25,949
Well, it was a pleasure to meet you.
1175
00:46:26,600 --> 00:46:27,049
You, too.
1176
00:46:27,129 --> 00:46:27,559
Thank you.
1177
00:46:27,559 --> 00:46:28,939
And thank you for having us on.
1178
00:46:28,939 --> 00:46:31,099
We really appreciate it as
America's Warrior Partnership.
1179
00:46:31,219 --> 00:46:31,579
Thank you.
1180
00:46:31,659 --> 00:46:32,089
Thank you.
1181
00:46:38,776 --> 00:46:41,066
Copyright Armed Forces Bank,
Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender.
1182
00:46:41,076 --> 00:46:43,636
All non-Armed Forces Bank-owned apps,
websites, company names, and product
1183
00:46:43,636 --> 00:46:46,036
names are trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective owners.
1184
00:46:46,086 --> 00:46:48,376
Their mention does not imply any
affiliation with or endorsement
1185
00:46:48,376 --> 00:46:50,606
by Armed Forces Bank of them
or their products and services.
1186
00:46:50,606 --> 00:46:52,996
They are merely used as examples of
the many available apps, companies, and
1187
00:46:52,996 --> 00:46:54,355
websites that offer similar services.
1188
00:46:54,396 --> 00:46:56,616
Before using any app or website, you
should carefully review the terms of
1189
00:46:56,625 --> 00:46:58,095
use, data collection, and privacy policy.
1190
00:46:58,106 --> 00:47:00,385
Apps may have an initial cost or
in-application purchase features.
1191
00:47:00,436 --> 00:47:02,216
This information is general in
nature and is not intended to be
1192
00:47:02,216 --> 00:47:03,606
legal, tax, or financial advice.
1193
00:47:03,645 --> 00:47:05,755
Although Armed Forces Bank believes
this information to be accurate, it
1194
00:47:05,766 --> 00:47:06,915
cannot ensure that it could change.
1195
00:47:06,955 --> 00:47:09,075
Statements or opinions of
individuals referenced herein are
1196
00:47:09,075 --> 00:47:10,496
their own, not Armed Forces Bank.
1197
00:47:10,506 --> 00:47:13,125
Consult an appropriate professional
concerning your specific situation and
1198
00:47:13,126 --> 00:47:16,425
respective governing bodies for applicable
laws, such as irs.gov for current tax law.
1199
00:47:16,435 --> 00:47:18,625
Armed Forces Bank, the Armed Forces
Bank logo, and the Militarily
1200
00:47:18,626 --> 00:47:20,875
Speaking logo are registered
trademarks of Armed Forces Bank.