Full Transcript for The #1 Reason Veterans Fall Through the Cracks With America's Warrior Partnership

the 39 00:01:51,498 --> 00:01:52,997 Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff. 40 00:01:53,317 --> 00:01:56,318 In this role, he created a document transforming the chairman's Sea of 41 00:01:56,357 --> 00:01:58,208 Goodwill concept into a strategy. 42 00:01:58,247 --> 00:02:01,337 He served 22 years as an Air Force officer and flight nurse. 43 00:02:01,347 --> 00:02:03,607 I wanna say thank you for that service very much. 44 00:02:03,618 --> 00:02:03,638 Yeah. 45 00:02:03,827 --> 00:02:07,087 That service included operations in Saudi Arabia, Central America, 46 00:02:07,118 --> 00:02:09,257 Somalia, Haiti, Afghanistan, and Iraq. 47 00:02:09,527 --> 00:02:13,718 As a staff officer, Jim served as a fellow to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and lastly, 48 00:02:13,718 --> 00:02:17,348 as the deputy command surgeon for the United States Special Operations Command. 49 00:02:17,767 --> 00:02:21,148 His awards in the military include the Bronze Star, Secretary of Defense 50 00:02:21,148 --> 00:02:24,807 Outstanding Civilian Award, United States Special Operations Command 51 00:02:24,827 --> 00:02:28,507 Outstanding Public Service Medal, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, 52 00:02:28,507 --> 00:02:31,797 and the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Exceptional Civilian Award. 53 00:02:32,118 --> 00:02:36,158 He's a Syracuse University graduate and a 2015 Presidential Leadership Scholar. 54 00:02:36,387 --> 00:02:39,587 He's testified both to the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees 55 00:02:39,587 --> 00:02:42,978 regarding the future and potential of veterans programs, and we couldn't 56 00:02:42,978 --> 00:02:44,947 be happier to have him here with us. 57 00:02:44,997 --> 00:02:45,957 So welcome, Jim. 58 00:02:45,977 --> 00:02:49,387 It's an honor to have you on our show, and I would like to just give you the 59 00:02:49,387 --> 00:02:53,237 floor right out of the gate to tell our audience at least big picture, a little 60 00:02:53,238 --> 00:02:56,727 bit about America's Warrior Partnership, and where it began and how it got started. 61 00:02:56,827 --> 00:02:57,207 Sure. 62 00:02:57,257 --> 00:02:59,647 Well, first, thank you for having us on. 63 00:02:59,658 --> 00:03:02,448 It's important to get America's Warrior Partnership the word out, 64 00:03:02,637 --> 00:03:06,447 and you talked about my bio, but it's not about me, it's about everyone 65 00:03:06,447 --> 00:03:10,148 else and our great team that works at America's Warrior Partnership. 66 00:03:10,488 --> 00:03:13,558 How we got started, yeah, my wife, she retired from the Air Force. 67 00:03:13,738 --> 00:03:14,988 We were living in Tampa. 68 00:03:15,287 --> 00:03:18,798 I was working for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, flying back and 69 00:03:18,798 --> 00:03:22,217 forth from Washington, DC, to Tampa all the time, and I came home from work one 70 00:03:22,217 --> 00:03:25,378 night, late, late one night, and there was a for sale sign in front of our house. 71 00:03:25,688 --> 00:03:28,078 And, uh, and I said, "There's, there's so many more to talk about." 72 00:03:29,878 --> 00:03:30,328 Hello. 73 00:03:31,597 --> 00:03:34,247 She said, "I don't know about you, but I'm moving back to Aiken, South 74 00:03:34,248 --> 00:03:36,898 Carolina," which is where her family's from, "and I'm not sure what you're 75 00:03:36,898 --> 00:03:38,518 gonna do." And I said, "I'm, I'm moving." 76 00:03:38,718 --> 00:03:39,758 I like her already. 77 00:03:39,768 --> 00:03:40,097 Yeah. 78 00:03:40,097 --> 00:03:40,988 Yeah, yeah. 79 00:03:41,328 --> 00:03:41,558 Jody. 80 00:03:41,567 --> 00:03:43,108 And again, my wife's a badass. 81 00:03:43,108 --> 00:03:46,417 She, she was in the third class of women to go through Jump School back in the 82 00:03:46,418 --> 00:03:48,448 '70s, but she's, she's pretty tough. 83 00:03:48,658 --> 00:03:49,357 Oh, wow. 84 00:03:49,477 --> 00:03:50,157 That's awesome. 85 00:03:50,278 --> 00:03:51,957 Anyways, so I moved. 86 00:03:51,957 --> 00:03:56,168 I left federal service, the federal government in SOCOM, moved 87 00:03:56,178 --> 00:03:58,207 back to Augusta, Georgia area. 88 00:03:58,637 --> 00:04:01,687 A friend of mine had called me and said, "Hey, I've got an underlap. Would you 89 00:04:01,687 --> 00:04:05,658 mind taking over this local program in Augusta for a little bit?" And so I 90 00:04:05,658 --> 00:04:10,057 took over, and I saw what was happening, and what, basically what I learned 91 00:04:10,067 --> 00:04:13,807 w- within Special Operations Command, I applied it to the local community. 92 00:04:13,807 --> 00:04:14,917 And I'll give you an example. 93 00:04:15,288 --> 00:04:18,968 At the time, there were 159 homeless veterans in the greater 94 00:04:18,968 --> 00:04:20,757 Augusta area, about 13 counties. 95 00:04:21,047 --> 00:04:21,387 Hmm. 96 00:04:21,637 --> 00:04:25,317 And I said, "Let's go after homeless vets." And I had a small team. 97 00:04:25,807 --> 00:04:28,487 And so what we did was we went out and found every homeless vet that we 98 00:04:28,487 --> 00:04:31,788 could find, built a relationship with them, got to understand who they were. 99 00:04:32,197 --> 00:04:35,237 We understood what they needed and where they wanted to go in the future, and then 100 00:04:35,237 --> 00:04:37,197 we connected them to local resources. 101 00:04:37,457 --> 00:04:41,257 And then because of my experience working at a national level with 102 00:04:41,258 --> 00:04:45,297 serving wounded, ill, or injured, I also knew national programs that we 103 00:04:45,297 --> 00:04:48,927 could bring to provide their services in Augusta when they needed it. 104 00:04:48,987 --> 00:04:53,238 So what happened was that effort, we took 159 homeless veterans down 105 00:04:53,238 --> 00:04:55,737 to 7- Wow … in about 18 months. 106 00:04:56,148 --> 00:05:00,157 And from that work, we had a great nonprofit. 107 00:05:00,207 --> 00:05:01,667 This was back in 2012. 108 00:05:01,807 --> 00:05:04,857 It's Wounded

Warrior Project, and they said, "Hey, we love what you're 109 00:05:04,858 --> 00:05:08,837 doing. We want you to replicate that in other communities." And so we went 110 00:05:08,837 --> 00:05:10,508 to work in the other communities. 111 00:05:10,827 --> 00:05:15,178 What we were doing was where they had offices, they were hoping that 112 00:05:15,178 --> 00:05:18,767 we would stand up communities where they didn't have offices, in the 113 00:05:18,767 --> 00:05:20,397 in-between, in the flyover areas. 114 00:05:20,637 --> 00:05:23,037 And so we started to replicate our model. 115 00:05:23,038 --> 00:05:25,387 We did it in nine communities throughout the United States. 116 00:05:25,707 --> 00:05:30,127 Four of them are still up and running today and, and affiliated with us. 117 00:05:30,358 --> 00:05:34,587 The others either didn't stay affiliated with us or they closed down, but 118 00:05:34,597 --> 00:05:38,487 those four are, like, Orange County, California, Charlotte, North Carolina, 119 00:05:38,937 --> 00:05:42,507 Greenville, South Carolina, and Buffalo, New York, and then Charleston is 120 00:05:42,508 --> 00:05:43,858 the other one that was there, added. 121 00:05:44,387 --> 00:05:48,827 Anyways, we stood that up, and then from there we grew it, and 122 00:05:48,898 --> 00:05:52,547 we went into five more communities where the employees worked for AWP. 123 00:05:52,957 --> 00:05:57,718 What that meant was that while they lived locally, they worked for us, and 124 00:05:57,718 --> 00:06:02,768 that's Alaska, the Permian Basin of Texas, the Navajo Nation of Arizona, 125 00:06:02,768 --> 00:06:07,702 New Mexico, and Utah, Panhandle of Florida- And Indianapolis, Indiana. 126 00:06:08,301 --> 00:06:11,152 And so that's how we got started at the community level. 127 00:06:11,371 --> 00:06:16,082 And then what I noticed was, I recognized that the communities knew who to serve, 128 00:06:16,121 --> 00:06:17,822 but they didn't have all the resources. 129 00:06:17,822 --> 00:06:21,671 And national government, non-government programs had all the resources, 130 00:06:21,671 --> 00:06:22,931 but they didn't know who to serve. 131 00:06:23,392 --> 00:06:26,801 So we stood up a program called The Network, and what The Network does is 132 00:06:26,801 --> 00:06:30,852 it's really a bridge between community resources and national resources. 133 00:06:31,222 --> 00:06:35,951 Veterans can contact us directly, and once we understand who they are, we'll 134 00:06:35,991 --> 00:06:40,501 reach down and back to their community and see if we can solve the problem locally. 135 00:06:40,821 --> 00:06:44,772 And if the local program doesn't have the resources that they need, we reach to our 136 00:06:44,772 --> 00:06:50,661 partners nationally and basically bundle a solution for the veteran who, and their 137 00:06:50,661 --> 00:06:52,921 family, who are trying to move forward. 138 00:06:53,271 --> 00:06:54,931 That's America's Warrior Partnership. 139 00:06:55,321 --> 00:07:00,442 We are based out of Augusta, but we have impact all over the United States. 140 00:07:00,661 --> 00:07:01,181 No, I love that. 141 00:07:01,181 --> 00:07:04,571 I think one of the things we've learned in our podcast journey is that there 142 00:07:04,571 --> 00:07:08,281 are a lot of people- Yeah … that want to help, but some of that hard 143 00:07:08,281 --> 00:07:10,971 work in the middle there is connecting the people that need it with the 144 00:07:10,982 --> 00:07:12,512 people that have the resources. 145 00:07:12,911 --> 00:07:13,281 Yeah. 146 00:07:13,321 --> 00:07:16,271 You know, I had a old boss that used to say, "Don't confuse 147 00:07:16,271 --> 00:07:18,642 enthusiasm with capability," and- 148 00:07:18,661 --> 00:07:19,632 I may steal that. 149 00:07:22,012 --> 00:07:22,602 Yeah. 150 00:07:22,692 --> 00:07:24,431 Pete Schumacher, General Schumacher. 151 00:07:24,431 --> 00:07:26,921 But don't confuse enthusiasm with capability. 152 00:07:26,921 --> 00:07:31,081 What I mean by that is, you know, 12% of the veterans that come to 153 00:07:31,082 --> 00:07:35,162 us for help- screen positive for having thoughts of taking their life 154 00:07:35,162 --> 00:07:36,812 within 30 days of the phone call. 155 00:07:37,262 --> 00:07:42,282 And so when you have that conversation and you meet someone and they screen positive, 156 00:07:42,592 --> 00:07:44,472 you can't be an amateur at that point. 157 00:07:44,482 --> 00:07:49,222 You have to really know how to navigate it, what's the right conversation to 158 00:07:49,222 --> 00:07:54,991 have to ensure that the veteran or their family get to a place where they're safe 159 00:07:55,192 --> 00:07:59,432 and where they feel like, what I strive for is that they feel like somebody 160 00:07:59,432 --> 00:08:03,042 has their back, that they always have somebody who's gonna take care of them. 161 00:08:03,452 --> 00:08:05,261 And so that's one piece of it. 162 00:08:05,282 --> 00:08:09,102 The other piece of it is you have organizations, and they do something. 163 00:08:09,151 --> 00:08:11,482 Let's say they do housing really, really, really well. 164 00:08:11,761 --> 00:08:14,141 And then they say, "We're gonna do employment." And I'll 165 00:08:14,142 --> 00:08:15,421 say, "Do you do employment? 166 00:08:15,611 --> 00:08:18,431 Do you really do employment?" They go, "No, we don't, but 167 00:08:18,431 --> 00:08:19,621 we do housing really well." 168 00:08:19,621 --> 00:08:22,032 And I say, what I tell them is, "Stick with housing." 169 00:08:22,101 --> 00:08:22,501 Yeah. 170 00:08:22,621 --> 00:08:23,881 " Here's this group over here. 171 00:08:23,911 --> 00:08:25,871 They do employment really, really well." 172 00:08:26,052 --> 00:08:26,522 Mm-hmm. 173 00:08:26,681 --> 00:08:29,731 " And if the two of you work together," you know? 174 00:08:29,811 --> 00:08:32,842 We have a, a motto at America's Warrior Partnership, which 175 00:08:32,842 --> 00:08:34,491 is,

together we can do better. 176 00:08:34,891 --> 00:08:40,702 And so for us, the only thing that we do is we focus on the relationship 177 00:08:40,702 --> 00:08:41,911 with the veteran and their family. 178 00:08:42,432 --> 00:08:42,512 Yeah. 179 00:08:42,901 --> 00:08:45,692 All the other services are provided by somebody else 'cause there's 180 00:08:45,822 --> 00:08:47,302 plenty of services out there. 181 00:08:47,721 --> 00:08:52,251 Once we get somebody connected, we go from being an educator to an advocate, 182 00:08:52,381 --> 00:08:56,171 and then we become an advocate to make sure that they receive the services 183 00:08:56,271 --> 00:09:00,481 that the nonprofit or the government program says that they'll provide. 184 00:09:00,601 --> 00:09:00,831 Yeah. 185 00:09:01,002 --> 00:09:01,212 Yep. 186 00:09:01,252 --> 00:09:01,591 No, loves 187 00:09:01,591 --> 00:09:01,621 that. 188 00:09:01,621 --> 00:09:05,352 So a little bit of a conduit play for the right resources to put a solution 189 00:09:05,352 --> 00:09:09,542 in place for those that are coming through your funnel, I guess, right? 190 00:09:09,671 --> 00:09:10,862 Yeah, exactly. 191 00:09:11,031 --> 00:09:14,551 It's really, you know, the other thing, the other term I use is we're a broker. 192 00:09:14,682 --> 00:09:15,032 Yeah. 193 00:09:15,142 --> 00:09:16,741 The intermediary for it, yeah. 194 00:09:17,051 --> 00:09:17,401 Yeah. 195 00:09:17,471 --> 00:09:20,562 But with, Jim, with 45,000 nonprofits, it's tough to 196 00:09:20,701 --> 00:09:23,011 identify where you want to align- 197 00:09:23,111 --> 00:09:23,331 Yep 198 00:09:23,361 --> 00:09:27,601 and maybe what vetting you might have to do before you say, "100% 199 00:09:27,611 --> 00:09:29,591 go to this organization 'cause they'll take care of you." But 200 00:09:29,591 --> 00:09:31,191 maybe that comes with experience. 201 00:09:31,531 --> 00:09:32,141 Well, it does. 202 00:09:32,171 --> 00:09:35,561 It's, you know, I call it an experiential survey, right? 203 00:09:35,561 --> 00:09:35,881 So- 204 00:09:35,901 --> 00:09:36,161 Yeah 205 00:09:36,261 --> 00:09:37,451 … you partner with someone. 206 00:09:37,731 --> 00:09:43,610 They say, "I do X," and you send them Five people to do X and they do maybe 207 00:09:43,610 --> 00:09:45,570 one or they can't do any of them. 208 00:09:46,030 --> 00:09:50,620 I'm gonna then have a conversation with them and probably pivot to somebody else 209 00:09:50,620 --> 00:09:52,540 who's doing it, doing the same thing. 210 00:09:52,949 --> 00:09:56,630 There are so many resources out there, like you said, the 45,000. 211 00:09:56,730 --> 00:09:57,050 Yeah. 212 00:09:57,220 --> 00:10:01,570 There's so many resources out there that we don't really wait on 213 00:10:01,570 --> 00:10:03,589 the ones that aren't productive. 214 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:04,530 That's a good point. 215 00:10:04,699 --> 00:10:04,989 Yeah. 216 00:10:05,179 --> 00:10:05,499 Yeah. 217 00:10:05,499 --> 00:10:09,100 It's just, if you're not gonna do… You know, when I, when I first came to 218 00:10:09,100 --> 00:10:14,209 Augusta, we had a meeting and there were 60 organizations around this table, and 219 00:10:14,210 --> 00:10:18,140 I listened to all of them talk about what they did, and they all told a story 220 00:10:18,140 --> 00:10:19,999 about a person that they had served. 221 00:10:20,410 --> 00:10:25,150 And having worked in the space for, at that point, about seven, eight 222 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:30,149 years, I said, "Hey, without HIPAA, just write the initials of the person 223 00:10:30,149 --> 00:10:31,590 you served on a piece of paper." 224 00:10:32,059 --> 00:10:35,279 And they all wrote it down and I said, "Keep it face down." And I 225 00:10:35,300 --> 00:10:40,079 said, "Okay, now turn it face up." And what it turned out was that 70% 226 00:10:40,079 --> 00:10:41,940 of them were serving the same person. 227 00:10:42,169 --> 00:10:42,359 Huh. 228 00:10:42,369 --> 00:10:45,409 And they were just- Wow … duplicating services over and over again. 229 00:10:45,669 --> 00:10:48,540 And I said, "Okay, this is where we need to come together. 230 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:50,390 We need to share information. 231 00:10:50,619 --> 00:10:54,500 We need to understand the journey without duplicating what each 232 00:10:54,500 --> 00:10:59,340 other are doing." Within a year, those 60 really shrunk to 12. 233 00:10:59,709 --> 00:11:03,630 It was 12 core groups that were really moving the needle 234 00:11:04,079 --> 00:11:05,379 in getting the work done. 235 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 If you're looking for a little extra 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 00:26:32,636 --> 00:26:33,466 Absolutely. 595 00:26:33,565 --> 00:26:37,206 Armed Forces Bank offers access loans 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 00:26:46,726 --> 00:26:48,415 and easily without all the hassle. 600 00:26:48,736 --> 00:26:52,945 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 Armed Forces Bank, serving those who serve. 610 00:27:18,755 --> 00:27:19,565 Member FDIC. 611 00:27:19,565 --> 00:27:20,435 Subject to credit approval. 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 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and the Militarily 1200 00:47:18,626 --> 00:47:20,875 Speaking logo are registered trademarks of Armed Forces Bank.