Baking, Brats & Boots: Ashley’s Military Journey and Sweet New Start

WEBVTT
00:00:00.017 --> 00:00:05.557
All right, we are ready to go, everybody. All right, this is the Better Bittner
00:00:05.557 --> 00:00:09.977
Business Brat Chat Podcast. We talk to people who have lived in the military
00:00:09.977 --> 00:00:14.917
system, whether you're a dependent, a spouse, active duty, veteran, all of that.
00:00:15.277 --> 00:00:19.777
And as far as brats, Amber and I are actually DOD civilian dependents.
00:00:20.057 --> 00:00:25.997
So more engineers and defense logistics agencies, at least a defense logistics agency specifically.
00:00:26.257 --> 00:00:29.577
Today, we're here with Ashley. I'll let her go ahead and introduce herself now.
00:00:30.017 --> 00:00:35.197
Yeah, I was just thinking, so I guess I'm both a military dependent and a DOD
00:00:35.197 --> 00:00:40.297
dependent because my dad, he ended up contracting out with DOD after he retired.
00:00:41.457 --> 00:00:47.317
My name is Ashley. I am a military brat. My father was in the Navy.
00:00:47.997 --> 00:00:53.357
He was in the Navy until I was about 10 years old before he chose early retirement.
00:00:54.520 --> 00:00:57.500
And so, yeah, what do you want to know about me?
00:01:02.300 --> 00:01:05.740
Well, what have you been doing since after high school? Because we,
00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:08.640
I mean, we were all, you know, General H.A. Toronto High School together.
00:01:08.780 --> 00:01:11.920
That's how we know each other. And I know that you have a small business.
00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:15.460
So I really want to hear about, you know, what you're doing with baking and things.
00:01:15.700 --> 00:01:19.000
And just tell us about yourself, what you're doing in the community.
00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:20.880
How is the military shaped you? Yeah.
00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:27.660
Oh, well, I would say the military, you know, I think there's pros and cons to each part of it.
00:01:27.940 --> 00:01:32.000
You know, you have the pros, which is you get to meet all these new people.
00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:34.400
You get to learn how to socialize with them.
00:01:35.160 --> 00:01:39.820
You get to see cool places, experience great food in different places.
00:01:39.820 --> 00:01:45.860
And, you know, you have this unique understanding of even different cultures
00:01:45.860 --> 00:01:48.580
within the United States because you're constantly traveling.
00:01:48.580 --> 00:01:52.760
And also because the military tends to be fairly integrated.
00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:56.460
So that experience was really cool for me.
00:01:57.120 --> 00:02:03.660
The cons of that probably would have been that I definitely went through a lot
00:02:03.660 --> 00:02:09.840
of social anxiety where I felt I never in my younger years, like,
00:02:10.661 --> 00:02:16.541
Got attached to people because I move always within a year, a year and a half, two years.
00:02:17.561 --> 00:02:22.321
So when I got older, it was like I had to learn how to establish friendships
00:02:22.321 --> 00:02:26.461
that were lasting because it was sort of like, OK, let's be friends.
00:02:26.621 --> 00:02:30.041
We're friends for a year or two. And then, you know, what do I do with you now?
00:02:30.381 --> 00:02:37.321
So that's been interesting since high school. Oh, my God. odd.
00:02:39.201 --> 00:02:44.941
I've done a million things. I've had two children. I had a long career in customer
00:02:44.941 --> 00:02:50.021
service and then recently I started my bakery business because my kids are now teenagers,
00:02:50.601 --> 00:02:55.861
and I was thinking what do I want my life to look like when they grow up and
00:02:55.861 --> 00:03:02.101
move out and so I started a bakery business where I do quick breads like pumpkin bread, banana bread.
00:03:02.101 --> 00:03:10.521
I do yeast spreads, fudges, cookies, brownies, just pretty much anything that you shouldn't eat.
00:03:10.721 --> 00:03:14.881
I bake it and I try and get you to eat it. Okay. So, yeah.
00:03:21.410 --> 00:03:26.970
With all that now i live with my partner in canada and you know the major difference
00:03:26.970 --> 00:03:31.090
is okay let me start over because i apparently have my mic muted so i i've been
00:03:31.090 --> 00:03:32.430
cooking a lot for the past year,
00:03:33.730 --> 00:03:36.450
and the the great thing about it is that now that i'm
00:03:36.450 --> 00:03:39.330
here in canada with my partner i'm no longer living with my parents i
00:03:39.330 --> 00:03:42.250
i've been able to cook and experiment and fail because that's
00:03:42.250 --> 00:03:45.090
you know we talked to michael michael floyd that's a big part of
00:03:45.090 --> 00:03:48.090
learning to prepare food is you have to be able to fail
00:03:48.090 --> 00:03:50.830
at trying to prepare food and it happens a lot
00:03:50.830 --> 00:03:54.090
more than you think when you're starting out and i think my favorite
00:03:54.090 --> 00:03:56.910
success so far is i i made some it was like i
00:03:56.910 --> 00:03:59.670
didn't have bananas so i made banana bread but with
00:03:59.670 --> 00:04:02.690
strawberries and it turned out really nice yeah
00:04:02.690 --> 00:04:05.230
yeah yeah and i
00:04:05.230 --> 00:04:08.770
would say even more so for baking right because when
00:04:08.770 --> 00:04:14.750
you're cooking with food that's not baking you get to be a little more creative
00:04:14.750 --> 00:04:18.150
and like just throw this in throw that in you know oh it needs a little bit
00:04:18.150 --> 00:04:23.910
more more this and you can change it to your taste but but baking is chemistry
00:04:23.910 --> 00:04:28.330
you know you have to have certain percentages for the things that are in there,
00:04:29.090 --> 00:04:32.670
in comparison to the other things that are in there so that you don't counteract
00:04:32.670 --> 00:04:38.070
and you know you get the desired results so it's much easier to fail i would
00:04:38.070 --> 00:04:41.890
say oh yeah i i had a i had a whole grid thing.
00:04:42.150 --> 00:04:47.270
It was different cookies and they all look different. And basically under each
00:04:47.270 --> 00:04:49.230
one it told you what they added too much of.
00:04:50.010 --> 00:04:55.210
If I could find that. I don't have that prepared. I was going to put it up on screen, but,
00:04:55.862 --> 00:05:00.302
I didn't get it in time. I'd love to see that. Yeah. That's pretty cool.
00:05:00.882 --> 00:05:06.942
It's actually funny because in Germany one time, so I have a lot of just horror stories about baking.
00:05:07.062 --> 00:05:09.562
Now I can cook and I can bake, okay?
00:05:09.882 --> 00:05:13.762
I am decent. My food doesn't kill people and people have actually told me that
00:05:13.762 --> 00:05:17.782
it's tasty. So I'm not, you know, I will say that I'm a good cook, okay?
00:05:18.322 --> 00:05:22.582
But there are some things that I have experimented with and there are some things
00:05:22.582 --> 00:05:26.882
that my family members will tell you, You don't ever let Amber start substituting
00:05:26.882 --> 00:05:30.602
in the kitchen because there was one time and it was actually in Germany.
00:05:30.602 --> 00:05:32.162
I was going to make my mom.
00:05:32.262 --> 00:05:35.042
It was a homemade like birthday cake. Okay.
00:05:35.462 --> 00:05:38.602
And I had pulled this recipe out and everything else.
00:05:38.782 --> 00:05:43.102
And I did not realize that my mom and my dad had gone grocery shopping for like
00:05:43.102 --> 00:05:45.282
the day. I just knew that they had been like out of the house.
00:05:45.402 --> 00:05:48.382
And I thought, hey, this is going to be a great time to make this cake. Okay.
00:05:49.562 --> 00:05:55.602
So I go to crack the eggs for the cake. I open up the refrigerator and the three eggs.
00:05:55.742 --> 00:05:59.222
I'm like, hey, we have three eggs. I can make this cake. We have all the stuff.
00:05:59.502 --> 00:06:04.962
And so as I start making the cake, I go to crack the eggs into the bowl. They're hard boiled.
00:06:05.782 --> 00:06:11.582
So I had milk. One of them was like a normal egg. So the cake had one egg.
00:06:12.182 --> 00:06:15.942
Turned out we didn't have any milk whatsoever.
00:06:16.462 --> 00:06:20.362
So then I substituted coffee creamer. When I tell you.
00:06:23.522 --> 00:06:30.222
That cake did not rise it was like a hard flat hockey puck and my mom trying
00:06:30.222 --> 00:06:33.242
to eat it because you know your mom's gonna try to eat it and tell you it's
00:06:33.242 --> 00:06:38.122
delicious because you know you're her child and she couldn't even like stomach
00:06:38.122 --> 00:06:40.302
the straight face so she's trying to eat she's going,
00:06:40.902 --> 00:06:42.902
this is you couldn't.
00:06:43.970 --> 00:06:47.090
Hmm like yeah like that
00:06:47.090 --> 00:06:51.530
was all it was that's funny yeah so
00:06:51.530 --> 00:06:55.610
i love mother oh yeah substituting always
00:06:55.610 --> 00:06:58.330
a fun thing and forgive me forgive me before i ask
00:06:58.330 --> 00:07:01.270
my next question i have a terrible memory and
00:07:01.270 --> 00:07:04.450
right now right now i'm sick where and if
00:07:04.450 --> 00:07:07.450
you were in school with us i apologize but uh
00:07:07.450 --> 00:07:11.610
were you were you stationed in germany too or yes i
00:07:11.610 --> 00:07:14.790
was in germany through ninth grade and then
00:07:14.790 --> 00:07:17.770
i left after the ninth grade oh okay what
00:07:17.770 --> 00:07:21.370
year did you graduate 2004 2004 okay
00:07:21.370 --> 00:07:25.610
okay so you came after she
00:07:25.610 --> 00:07:28.970
left oh okay okay now i don't i
00:07:28.970 --> 00:07:31.810
don't feel so bad i i felt so terrible because i was
00:07:31.810 --> 00:07:34.590
drawing a blank but uh yeah no there was a gap see
00:07:34.590 --> 00:07:41.550
i i went over there like 96 97 then i was over there until like 0203 so i i
00:07:41.550 --> 00:07:45.770
had a span over there i know a lot of people from a lot of eras i got there
00:07:45.770 --> 00:07:53.710
on my birthday january 16th of 2000 oh oh i left the summer of two,
00:07:54.710 --> 00:07:57.330
wait when was it was it 2001 yeah.
00:07:59.022 --> 00:08:02.222
Maybe. Yeah. Two, three. Yeah, it was 2001.
00:08:03.022 --> 00:08:05.602
Okay. Summer of 2001. Yeah, there was some overlap. Because I know your brother,
00:08:05.742 --> 00:08:08.182
he was in my jazz band class. He played the trumpet.
00:08:09.242 --> 00:08:13.042
John was in your jazz? It might have been John. It might have been Chris.
00:08:13.242 --> 00:08:15.622
I'm not sure. The one who played the trumpet.
00:08:16.202 --> 00:08:20.202
Oh, that was Chris. Yeah, he was in my jazz band class. Yeah.
00:08:21.502 --> 00:08:25.702
You know, that's the one thing I liked about Germany is like, we lived off base.
00:08:25.702 --> 00:08:30.022
So like there were like little bakeries and bistros and stuff all over the place
00:08:30.022 --> 00:08:33.862
all throughout the town and i used really cool yeah like going to the train
00:08:33.862 --> 00:08:37.162
station and they have like the little garlic pizza bread things with like different
00:08:37.162 --> 00:08:42.362
chopped up veggies on them and yeah you just i don't know you don't really you
00:08:42.362 --> 00:08:44.462
don't really get a whole lot of that here in the states like,
00:08:45.162 --> 00:08:50.402
it's i miss it how would you say that you bake because the one the one thing
00:08:50.402 --> 00:08:54.662
that i've noticed and moving in different places and things.
00:08:55.242 --> 00:08:59.482
Americans, we like a lot of sugar, okay? And we like a lot of sugar in our food.
00:08:59.702 --> 00:09:02.362
The frosting and everything else is just pure sugar.
00:09:03.388 --> 00:09:09.048
When you start looking at other cakes and things, like Spanish cakes or German
00:09:09.048 --> 00:09:11.968
cakes, it's definitely a different taste.
00:09:12.148 --> 00:09:14.948
There's not a lot of sugar. There's a lot more natural flavors,
00:09:14.948 --> 00:09:17.848
usually from nuts and fruits and things like that.
00:09:17.988 --> 00:09:21.088
So do you incorporate any of that into your baking?
00:09:21.708 --> 00:09:25.148
So no, most of my stuff is just American recipes.
00:09:25.148 --> 00:09:33.588
So there are things that are, I don't know if you've ever tried to bake a recipe from Germany here,
00:09:33.768 --> 00:09:38.368
but typically because of the altitude, because of some of the difference in
00:09:38.368 --> 00:09:42.708
our products, it's probably not going to work and you have to create it yourself.
00:09:43.408 --> 00:09:48.748
But that's not really what stopped me from doing it. The part was that I just
00:09:48.748 --> 00:09:53.548
wanted to make quick breads, which is, I have pumpkin bread, lemon bread, all these.
00:09:53.548 --> 00:09:56.528
And the reason is because they're a little
00:09:56.528 --> 00:09:59.688
more savory than say a
00:09:59.688 --> 00:10:02.968
cake or a cookie right so that's
00:10:02.968 --> 00:10:05.848
always been what I preferred for a sometimes they
00:10:05.848 --> 00:10:10.808
go a little in the dessert area like cookies or brownies if it's for like kids
00:10:10.808 --> 00:10:15.888
but I'm really like somebody who prefers breads either quick breads or yeast
00:10:15.888 --> 00:10:21.368
breads or that kind of stuff but typically there I do try with the the yeast
00:10:21.368 --> 00:10:23.208
breads like I did a challah bread,
00:10:23.808 --> 00:10:25.388
stuff like that mm-hmm.
00:10:26.812 --> 00:10:31.392
So what were some of your fondest memories for moving around so much and being
00:10:31.392 --> 00:10:33.252
in the military community in your life?
00:10:34.052 --> 00:10:39.232
Oh, definitely Germany. Germany was the most fun. I mean, imagine.
00:10:40.772 --> 00:10:44.132
Yeah, I went there the summer after the war.
00:10:44.232 --> 00:10:51.052
I went from being a, you know, just a normal girl in the United States living
00:10:51.052 --> 00:10:55.452
in a neighborhood to now I'm 12 years old.
00:10:55.452 --> 00:10:58.312
I'm living in germany i have
00:10:58.312 --> 00:11:01.092
access to public transportation that my parents would never
00:11:01.092 --> 00:11:04.172
have allowed in the united states but now
00:11:04.172 --> 00:11:07.492
i'm 12 years old going from the american base to
00:11:07.492 --> 00:11:10.252
downtown to our home because we lived
00:11:10.252 --> 00:11:13.812
out on the economy you know and this
00:11:13.812 --> 00:11:18.092
freedom that i didn't have as pre-teen
00:11:18.092 --> 00:11:21.272
in america so you know you get back
00:11:21.272 --> 00:11:24.372
then of course it was marks right deutsch marks and
00:11:24.372 --> 00:11:27.612
you get a couple marks in your pocket you leave
00:11:27.612 --> 00:11:31.092
school and you go downtown you buy yourself a pretzel you
00:11:31.092 --> 00:11:35.272
know off one of those little kiosks like you were talking about like downtown
00:11:35.272 --> 00:11:39.752
they have a little little car with them pretzels and things you buy yourself
00:11:39.752 --> 00:11:43.352
one of those you walk around with your friends your friends get an ice cream
00:11:43.352 --> 00:11:49.032
then you all jump on a bus and you go different ways right because yeah it was
00:11:49.032 --> 00:11:50.892
just amazing i come home at dark and just.
00:11:52.092 --> 00:11:55.712
My parents didn't seem too concerned yeah
00:11:55.712 --> 00:11:59.092
so that was really cool so just
00:11:59.092 --> 00:12:02.052
the just the freedom of it all what's really
00:12:02.052 --> 00:12:06.592
neat to me that was my favorite oh yeah yeah you know my parents when i turned
00:12:06.592 --> 00:12:09.372
16 they were oh you know do you want to go back home and get your license that
00:12:09.372 --> 00:12:13.052
way you can drive on the autobahn and i was like i don't need any of that like
00:12:13.052 --> 00:12:17.272
just give me a monotonous cart and and like a month pass for the the the train
00:12:17.272 --> 00:12:21.272
every every every month and i'm fine like I can go wherever I need to, I don't need a car,
00:12:21.512 --> 00:12:24.272
you know? And that's, that's, I kind of miss that.
00:12:24.472 --> 00:12:27.532
And it's a little bit better here in, in Canada because they do have,
00:12:27.612 --> 00:12:29.672
they actually have some semblance of public transport.
00:12:30.684 --> 00:12:35.064
Where I was in Texas, in the Abilene area, like in the city,
00:12:35.304 --> 00:12:39.864
in like the downtown areas, you have some public transit and they have like
00:12:39.864 --> 00:12:43.744
this rural rides program that I don't really know how it works,
00:12:44.704 --> 00:12:49.524
because I think like you call them and they come to, or I don't even know.
00:12:49.864 --> 00:12:53.324
It just wasn't the same. And I- You're talking about carts.
00:12:54.864 --> 00:12:59.284
That's called carts. I'm in Texas. Ah, okay. Yes, yes. Okay.
00:13:00.764 --> 00:13:07.144
Yeah, it's like Capital Area Rural Transportation, something like that. You call them.
00:13:07.404 --> 00:13:11.544
They come and pick you up if you're in a rural spot. And then they take you
00:13:11.544 --> 00:13:17.004
into a heavier transported area where they have fixed stops typically.
00:13:17.004 --> 00:13:20.524
Or sometimes they'll drop you off at wherever.
00:13:20.884 --> 00:13:22.344
Where are you at in Texas right now?
00:13:23.164 --> 00:13:27.344
So I'm in Kyle, which is between San Antonio and Austin. Okay.
00:13:27.464 --> 00:13:31.024
I lived in Austin for a while. Oh, I worked for Blizzard Entertainment out there.
00:13:31.644 --> 00:13:35.624
Oh, that's cool. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. And I'm actually from Port Arthur
00:13:35.624 --> 00:13:37.984
originally, lived in Port Natchez.
00:13:38.284 --> 00:13:42.244
And, you know, at the age of seven, we moved to Japan and then from Japan to
00:13:42.244 --> 00:13:46.264
Hawaii, back to Texas, then to Germany. And then I went to college in Alaska.
00:13:47.104 --> 00:13:53.664
So. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. And then me, my, my, my story, it's, I moved around a lot.
00:13:53.824 --> 00:13:57.804
I was born in, you know, Charleston, South Carolina, ended up in Mobile, Alabama.
00:14:00.784 --> 00:14:05.364
Sorry. My grandfather was Navy. Okay. My grandfather actually fought the Bay
00:14:05.364 --> 00:14:07.264
of Pigs. So yeah, Charleston.
00:14:07.964 --> 00:14:12.284
But my, I was born in Charleston, went to Mobile, went to Germany,
00:14:12.444 --> 00:14:16.564
lived all over Germany, went back to Mobile, ended up marrying a service member.
00:14:17.315 --> 00:14:21.215
Because I've owned and operated a lot of businesses because you guys all knew,
00:14:21.415 --> 00:14:23.475
you know, I walked dogs when I was 10 years old.
00:14:23.555 --> 00:14:27.715
Then when I was 15 or 16, I used to book your guys' bands at local music venues.
00:14:28.055 --> 00:14:31.855
You know, that's how I made my pocket gas, my cone, and operated a mechanic
00:14:31.855 --> 00:14:35.475
shop when I was 23 or 24. I did that successfully for about five years.
00:14:35.755 --> 00:14:38.955
I've sat as the chief financial officer for a logistics company in Washington
00:14:38.955 --> 00:14:41.495
State, where we focus on government procurement by land, aerial,
00:14:41.535 --> 00:14:45.415
and sea. And then right now, where I have my licenses and my certifications,
00:14:45.635 --> 00:14:47.175
I'm an accredited small business consultant.
00:14:47.335 --> 00:14:49.875
I'm a certified credit counselor and a certified financial educator.
00:14:50.195 --> 00:14:55.495
But since 2019, and I've recently stepped out of the role, but since 2019,
00:14:55.495 --> 00:14:59.475
in some form or fashion, I've been affiliated with the Boots to Business program
00:14:59.475 --> 00:15:02.155
with the Small Business Administration and the Department of Defense.
00:15:02.155 --> 00:15:05.195
So I've been actually assisting veteran business owners
00:15:05.195 --> 00:15:09.015
helping them get their businesses off the ground from from all stages ground
00:15:09.015 --> 00:15:12.595
up expansion all that stuff going through pitch competitions and everything
00:15:12.595 --> 00:15:18.575
else so I I've done a lot of things recently got divorced but when we were married
00:15:18.575 --> 00:15:23.415
I ended up back in Germany but we were in Grafvielsek so I was in Grafvielsek from like.
00:15:25.175 --> 00:15:30.235
2015 to 2018, maybe 2000, maybe 2018.
00:15:31.935 --> 00:15:34.375
Sometime in there. You know how when you move around so much,
00:15:34.475 --> 00:15:36.795
it's like, I think it might have been that year. I don't know.
00:15:37.295 --> 00:15:42.695
Yeah, it was one of those things. And then we went to JBLM. And so I was at JBLM for a long time.
00:15:42.855 --> 00:15:47.135
And then during COVID, I sat on the SBA, PPP, and EIDL disaster response team.
00:15:47.555 --> 00:15:54.035
And then I was also nominated as the small Business Administration Instructor of the Year for 2020.
00:15:54.255 --> 00:15:58.135
It was either 2020 or 2021. And I didn't win, but I still got nominated.
00:15:58.135 --> 00:16:02.055
So it was a huge honor to do that. So yeah.
00:16:02.804 --> 00:16:06.144
Yeah, I'm a good consultant. Yeah.
00:16:07.284 --> 00:16:12.964
That's great. Yeah, but like I said, you're there and crazy.
00:16:14.084 --> 00:16:18.404
Yeah, I like what you were talking about earlier, you know, how we form connections really fast.
00:16:18.584 --> 00:16:22.604
And I feel like when I got back, a lot of people were kind of off put by that.
00:16:23.124 --> 00:16:28.964
One of my roommates in college, like we connected really early on and we liked
00:16:28.964 --> 00:16:30.364
the same video games and stuff.
00:16:30.484 --> 00:16:32.964
And I was just kind of following him around, hanging out. and he i noticed he
00:16:32.964 --> 00:16:35.544
was walking kind of fast when we get back to the room he's like yeah i'm gonna
00:16:35.544 --> 00:16:40.844
go walk around you stay here or just be somewhere else and i'm like what did i what did i do.
00:16:42.324 --> 00:16:44.964
Terrible and that's terrible well yeah and i
00:16:44.964 --> 00:16:47.784
mean like there's other things like when i when i moved in with my my friend
00:16:47.784 --> 00:16:52.904
and his family i i said it was like day number two and i'm like okay we should
00:16:52.904 --> 00:16:55.764
probably go home now and he giggles and i'm like what he's like you're already
00:16:55.764 --> 00:17:00.084
calling it home and i'm like that's just how i had to live growing up like like
00:17:00.084 --> 00:17:04.504
wherever i'm staying that's home and And it's just as meaningful as anybody else's home,
00:17:04.524 --> 00:17:07.044
no matter how temporary it is, you know? Yeah.
00:17:08.644 --> 00:17:12.424
We are moving. So I was born in Charleston, South Carolina.
00:17:12.944 --> 00:17:16.864
We moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia. Which hospital were you born in?
00:17:17.304 --> 00:17:18.924
I was born on Fort Sumter.
00:17:19.484 --> 00:17:23.204
Okay. I was born in Roper Hospital in downtown Charleston. Yeah.
00:17:24.384 --> 00:17:29.564
So my dad was stationed on the USS Sumter, and I was born on Fort Sumter.
00:17:29.564 --> 00:17:38.524
And then We moved to Virginia And for Virginia We moved Back to South Carolina
00:17:38.524 --> 00:17:42.304
Then Virginia Then South Carolina again Then Virginia,
00:17:43.044 --> 00:17:47.684
Virginia. And then he retired out of the Navy.
00:17:47.764 --> 00:17:52.104
We moved to Atlanta because he had gotten a job.
00:17:52.724 --> 00:17:58.024
I actually don't remember which department, but it was one of the federal government
00:17:58.024 --> 00:18:00.844
departments for a while.
00:18:01.104 --> 00:18:03.904
And then we went to Loganville, Georgia.
00:18:04.404 --> 00:18:08.144
And there he decided to contract with,
00:18:09.104 --> 00:18:15.964
dodds and they moved us out to germany okay and then after germany we landed
00:18:15.964 --> 00:18:22.124
in what's called pflugerville texas and i remember jesse knows what that is
00:18:22.124 --> 00:18:26.564
just by the look of his facial expression just like oh my god i know this place
00:18:26.564 --> 00:18:28.624
i don't know what you're talking about.
00:18:30.924 --> 00:18:33.924
So he took a job with veterans affairs
00:18:33.924 --> 00:18:37.404
and then he stayed with them until his
00:18:37.404 --> 00:18:42.044
actual retirement at 60 so yeah
00:18:42.044 --> 00:18:45.204
so i remember coming from germany
00:18:45.204 --> 00:18:48.904
to texas in summer yeah okay
00:18:48.904 --> 00:18:52.444
summers here are no joke i got
00:18:52.444 --> 00:18:55.124
off the plane and and i think
00:18:55.124 --> 00:18:57.844
it was i think it was houston i got off the plane
00:18:57.844 --> 00:19:01.044
in houston and i felt this heat
00:19:01.044 --> 00:19:04.584
like a wave hit me and
00:19:04.584 --> 00:19:07.224
i got super dizzy and i was
00:19:07.224 --> 00:19:10.984
like oh my gosh like what is
00:19:10.984 --> 00:19:14.764
that it was super different i
00:19:14.764 --> 00:19:20.844
think texas is more of a dry heat i think because in houston sometimes yeah
00:19:20.844 --> 00:19:24.364
houston is very humid houston's out towards that you're heading towards like
00:19:24.364 --> 00:19:28.024
louisiana like the bayou kind of area like that's nearby and you've got the
00:19:28.024 --> 00:19:31.584
gulf coast nearby and so there's a lot of moisture in that area.
00:19:32.564 --> 00:19:34.784
Anything on the Gulf Coast is going to be humid.
00:19:35.084 --> 00:19:38.224
So any part of Texas that's along that Gulf Coast is going to be humid.
00:19:38.384 --> 00:19:41.684
But the other places that I've been in Texas have been kind of more of a dry heat.
00:19:42.531 --> 00:19:46.211
Because like Mobile, Alabama, it's like a really, really wet, muggy heat.
00:19:46.411 --> 00:19:50.851
And it was weird because when I went back to Mobile, you know,
00:19:51.091 --> 00:19:54.671
it's a different type of heat because it almost feels like Satan's like breathing
00:19:54.671 --> 00:19:56.851
down your neck as you're like trying to gasp for air.
00:19:57.071 --> 00:20:00.071
Like that's the best way I can describe it, like getting off that plane and
00:20:00.071 --> 00:20:01.771
just kind of like having it hit you in the face.
00:20:02.691 --> 00:20:07.391
And Texas, it's a little bit different. You're gasping for air,
00:20:07.571 --> 00:20:09.151
but it doesn't feel like you're drowning.
00:20:09.551 --> 00:20:12.571
You know, it's a little different. Yeah.
00:20:13.011 --> 00:20:14.931
That's the best way I can explain it.
00:20:15.491 --> 00:20:19.051
But no, Candace, I went to her graduation, actually.
00:20:19.251 --> 00:20:23.791
It was a trip. She actually had ended up in El Paso, if you guys remember Candace.
00:20:24.091 --> 00:20:27.411
And I went to her, her graduation, and I got to stay with her and her family
00:20:27.411 --> 00:20:31.191
for, you know, I think it was a week, maybe two weeks, something along that line.
00:20:31.591 --> 00:20:35.091
And the one thing I will say about Texas and El Paso is,
00:20:35.897 --> 00:20:41.297
There are not many things that I don't have a tolerance for, okay?
00:20:41.697 --> 00:20:46.457
Like, I can tolerate a snake as long as it's non-venomous and not a water moccasin.
00:20:46.577 --> 00:20:49.377
I hate water moccasins. I don't like them. I will kill them.
00:20:51.977 --> 00:20:56.997
I don't like a water moccasin. I can handle spiders. Don't really like a black
00:20:56.997 --> 00:20:59.097
widow spider. You know, those sorts of things.
00:20:59.397 --> 00:21:03.097
The other thing on that list, and it's actually from Candace's house,
00:21:03.097 --> 00:21:07.237
is because Candace went to turn on her light switch and there was a scorpion
00:21:07.237 --> 00:21:09.657
like right above like the light switch about there.
00:21:11.337 --> 00:21:15.637
Oh my goodness. And like, it was so close to stinging her.
00:21:15.797 --> 00:21:19.657
I panicked and she just took her shoe and she just like whacked it on the wall.
00:21:19.757 --> 00:21:22.237
She's like, they're just like cockroaches or something like that.
00:21:22.317 --> 00:21:27.777
And I'm just thinking to myself, nah, I'm not living in Texas. Not doing it.
00:21:29.037 --> 00:21:33.497
Like out where I was, when I was working at the United Supermarkets And Clyde,
00:21:33.557 --> 00:21:35.337
I'm sitting there, we're walking outside.
00:21:35.557 --> 00:21:37.877
Like, I don't smoke anymore, but they were going out there to smoke.
00:21:37.877 --> 00:21:39.777
And I was just going to kind of chill with them outside.
00:21:40.037 --> 00:21:43.257
And one of the guys is like, whoa, whoa, whoa. He's like, Scorpion. And I'm like, what?
00:21:43.357 --> 00:21:47.437
And I look down and there's this scorpion just on the floor.
00:21:47.437 --> 00:21:53.257
And he like scoops it up in some like printer paper and like goes and tosses it outside.
00:21:54.017 --> 00:21:55.857
Yeah. I was like, I was like, man.
00:21:56.677 --> 00:22:00.577
I'm sure if I grew up around them, it would not have been an issue.
00:22:00.577 --> 00:22:04.417
But the thing is, is when you describe them as the cockroaches of Texas,
00:22:04.857 --> 00:22:10.697
OK, now from the south, Bayou, Marsh, things like that, I know all about bugs.
00:22:10.697 --> 00:22:12.617
I can tell you about a palmetto bug.
00:22:12.717 --> 00:22:15.917
I can tell you all about cockroaches and cockroaches are probably one of the
00:22:15.917 --> 00:22:20.477
only bugs that will actually survive a nuclear holocaust. Okay.
00:22:21.157 --> 00:22:26.937
And here's the thing. If scorpions are cockroaches for Texas,
00:22:26.937 --> 00:22:32.277
those are cockroaches with stingers that can survive a nuclear invasion.
00:22:32.277 --> 00:22:34.797
I think I want to avoid a scorpion.
00:22:35.137 --> 00:22:38.037
That's just, that's the only thing I can feel about that.
00:22:39.021 --> 00:22:43.481
You definitely don't want to get stung by one. Here in Texas,
00:22:43.501 --> 00:22:47.421
you got to look in your shoes before you put them on.
00:22:48.681 --> 00:22:52.321
Or beat them on the ground, shake them out. It's a better plan.
00:22:53.901 --> 00:22:57.741
I have some stories. The park in Clyde.
00:22:58.141 --> 00:23:03.201
There's this guy. He had this big dog. I'm not sure what mix it was, but it was just huge.
00:23:04.941 --> 00:23:06.921
He's there in the park. He doesn't have the dog on the leash.
00:23:07.001 --> 00:23:11.181
The dog runs off. And I'm like, oh, that dog is like chasing a frog around the tree.
00:23:11.381 --> 00:23:14.441
And like we were walking up and get close to it. And it's not a dog.
00:23:14.561 --> 00:23:18.101
It's a snake. Okay. And it's like, it's like striking at his dog.
00:23:18.581 --> 00:23:21.281
And I was like, hey, man, there's a snake over here with your dog. Right.
00:23:21.801 --> 00:23:26.021
And this guy, this guy says, oh, cool. And he like runs over there and he's
00:23:26.021 --> 00:23:28.981
like trying to get handsy with the snake. And I'm like, I'm like pulling him
00:23:28.981 --> 00:23:29.701
back. I'm like, what are you?
00:23:29.901 --> 00:23:33.041
You don't know what, like, like what? No, you don't just go.
00:23:33.361 --> 00:23:37.341
And anyway, like I got him to kind of back off and then we're coming back around the
00:23:37.521 --> 00:23:40.401
track looping back around and he's like yeah i
00:23:40.401 --> 00:23:45.041
picked up that snake and i threw it in the water and i'm like awesome i guess
00:23:45.041 --> 00:23:53.001
like anyway one second oh no you're okay she just wanted to come look at me
00:23:53.001 --> 00:23:59.221
my daughter that's okay that's sweet sometimes people just have to look at me like i don't know.
00:24:02.882 --> 00:24:06.742
Anyways as far as creepy crawlies go the centipedes
00:24:06.742 --> 00:24:10.362
in hawaii are scary i'm good
00:24:10.362 --> 00:24:13.582
with that too like i don't like the bug scene in the indiana jones
00:24:13.582 --> 00:24:16.382
movie like i don't like that scene it's just not one
00:24:16.382 --> 00:24:19.002
of my favorites my next door neighbor like i told him
00:24:19.002 --> 00:24:21.802
how scared i was of centipedes and he's like he's like no no
00:24:21.802 --> 00:24:24.602
it's okay you just smack them with a shoe and if that doesn't work you chop them
00:24:24.602 --> 00:24:27.482
up and if that doesn't work you feed them to the fish and if the fish turn into
00:24:27.482 --> 00:24:31.722
centipedes you just run away like what no
00:24:31.722 --> 00:24:39.302
that that should not even be an evolution chain just no that's the joke like
00:24:39.302 --> 00:24:44.142
they're like they got these the hard carapace on them and like you have to smack
00:24:44.142 --> 00:24:48.322
them and chop them up to get them to not be around no more so.
00:24:50.322 --> 00:24:54.302
So you know since since the holidays and things are coming up one thing we have
00:24:54.302 --> 00:24:56.382
been talking about and discuss them with our guests, you know,
00:24:56.482 --> 00:24:57.882
because Thanksgiving's coming up.
00:24:58.222 --> 00:25:01.302
Now, we did a special episode with Alex Bagwell for Halloween.
00:25:01.302 --> 00:25:04.342
I don't know if you caught that or not, but we did catch up with him because
00:25:04.342 --> 00:25:05.762
I know you remember Alex Bagwell.
00:25:06.762 --> 00:25:10.842
Yeah, we're catching up with so many people. It's insane. It's great.
00:25:11.782 --> 00:25:15.482
But what have been some of your favorite, like, family traditions or things?
00:25:15.502 --> 00:25:18.602
Or what are some things that you might have incorporated from other countries
00:25:18.602 --> 00:25:21.462
or even into the, like, military traditions that you might have,
00:25:21.482 --> 00:25:24.042
like, incorporated into your family holidays?
00:25:25.102 --> 00:25:31.442
Advent calendars oh yeah for my kids something that you know some people know
00:25:31.442 --> 00:25:36.762
some people don't know about i bought the little wooden ones so they pull out
00:25:36.762 --> 00:25:41.042
a little drawer and i'm gonna put a little candy or something in them that's
00:25:41.042 --> 00:25:43.102
something i do with my children um,
00:25:44.323 --> 00:25:47.483
There's different things I do for them that are related to, like,
00:25:47.523 --> 00:25:51.683
my time in Germany. Like, I cook them Eierkuchen. Mm-hmm.
00:25:52.863 --> 00:25:57.223
And I cook them different things like that.
00:25:57.723 --> 00:26:01.623
And then my favorite family tradition.
00:26:02.083 --> 00:26:07.503
Right now, all I can think about is my mom's deviled eggs that she's going to bring to Thanksgiving.
00:26:07.523 --> 00:26:10.363
So I'm, like, trying to think of a family tradition. But really,
00:26:10.383 --> 00:26:13.843
I'm just, like, craving deviled eggs as we're talking.
00:26:16.343 --> 00:26:20.763
I texted her today and I said, can you double the amount of deviled eggs you
00:26:20.763 --> 00:26:23.743
bring this year? I'm tired of getting one and a half of them.
00:26:25.023 --> 00:26:30.283
I want more deviled eggs. Oh my goodness. No, I make weird requests to my family.
00:26:30.403 --> 00:26:35.403
I have been sending my sister pictures of cheesecakes for months because I love cheesecakes.
00:26:35.583 --> 00:26:38.823
So all these different types of cheesecakes. So like a cinnamon swirl cheesecake.
00:26:39.023 --> 00:26:42.023
I'm like, you need to make this. And then I saw a pecan pie cheesecake.
00:26:42.343 --> 00:26:44.503
I've got to try that. Thank you.
00:26:44.891 --> 00:26:48.211
And so I've been sending her all of these recipes and everything else,
00:26:48.211 --> 00:26:52.691
but no, I mean, for the past, you know, 10, 10 years and recently getting divorced,
00:26:52.931 --> 00:26:54.131
you know, about, about a year now.
00:26:54.891 --> 00:26:58.631
But the thing about it, the, because we were overseas in Germany,
00:26:58.631 --> 00:27:01.391
because of everything else, because it was just, you know, him and I,
00:27:01.531 --> 00:27:05.371
we didn't have kids or anything like that for Christmas and like Thanksgiving,
00:27:05.371 --> 00:27:06.871
we would always go to the DFAC.
00:27:06.871 --> 00:27:11.631
So for the past 10 years okay if I haven't been pulled like taffy at Christmas
00:27:11.631 --> 00:27:14.611
time because when you go home you know you have to visit all the family and
00:27:14.611 --> 00:27:17.591
then when all the family lives in different states and then by the time you
00:27:17.591 --> 00:27:19.771
get home it's like that wasn't even a vacation.
00:27:20.591 --> 00:27:25.091
That sort of thing but you know when you when you would have to go to like Thanksgiving
00:27:25.091 --> 00:27:28.811
at the DFAC and everything else there's nothing wrong with the DFAC it has great
00:27:28.811 --> 00:27:32.871
food and everything else and you know there's there's a personability there
00:27:32.871 --> 00:27:35.371
because you're all kind of displaced you're all kind of, you know,
00:27:35.911 --> 00:27:38.891
hey, you're away from home, so you're making family, you know,
00:27:39.071 --> 00:27:42.811
with your family, but at the same time, you know, you have these,
00:27:42.931 --> 00:27:46.591
like, 18, 19, 20, 21-year-olds that are still in full uniform.
00:27:47.011 --> 00:27:49.891
Some of them have just gotten, you know, out of the field. Some of them have
00:27:49.891 --> 00:27:53.091
just gotten done for workouts and everything else, and you're sitting elbow
00:27:53.091 --> 00:27:56.631
to elbow with these guys, and it's like, I don't want to smell your boot socks.
00:27:56.891 --> 00:27:58.751
Like, this is so much personal.
00:27:59.071 --> 00:28:02.631
Like, I don't want to associate Thanksgiving with like BO.
00:28:04.031 --> 00:28:08.091
Well, you know what they say to those guys? Change your socks.
00:28:08.491 --> 00:28:12.451
Yep, change your socks. Keep your socks dry for the love of God.
00:28:13.191 --> 00:28:15.871
Keep your feet dry. There you go.
00:28:17.471 --> 00:28:21.071
Gotta take care of your feet. Roll your socks. Yeah.
00:28:22.231 --> 00:28:26.911
Yeah, trench foot is not fun. No. I'm sure it's not.
00:28:27.733 --> 00:28:30.173
Well, that's what they say. Like if you're, if you're ever stuck in like a tropical
00:28:30.173 --> 00:28:32.833
area, and I learned a lot of this in like the Boy Scouts in Hawaii,
00:28:32.993 --> 00:28:37.513
like you, you're, you're going to want to let your feet dry out at least once every day.
00:28:37.733 --> 00:28:39.773
Like, you know, it's, it's wet everywhere.
00:28:40.313 --> 00:28:43.173
Like lay on your back and put your feet in the air until your feet are dry.
00:28:43.313 --> 00:28:44.973
Like at least once every day.
00:28:45.993 --> 00:28:48.473
I'm sorry. I just kind of pismed on that one. And like, here's,
00:28:48.493 --> 00:28:52.333
here's some random facts that you didn't ask for. Anyway, moving on.
00:28:53.613 --> 00:28:57.793
Like I said, my podiatrist hates me because the last time I climbed a tree barefoot
00:28:57.793 --> 00:28:59.313
was probably about six months ago.
00:29:00.373 --> 00:29:03.973
Probably need to quit walking around barefoot everywhere and climbing trees.
00:29:04.473 --> 00:29:09.653
But that's the way I grew up. Okay. And I just, we'll chalk it up to,
00:29:09.793 --> 00:29:14.433
I don't know, what's military swamp box. We'll just, we'll chop it off to that.
00:29:14.613 --> 00:29:21.853
I mean, in Hawaii, like it was perfectly normal for you to go to school with no shoes on and be,
00:29:22.333 --> 00:29:25.113
you know completely barefoot all day long like that was pretty
00:29:25.113 --> 00:29:29.953
common and like i got to the point where my mom's like aren't your feet burning
00:29:29.953 --> 00:29:33.313
on that hot asphalt and i'm like i don't really feel it anymore i'm just i've
00:29:33.313 --> 00:29:38.033
just been barefoot this entire time well no and it's funny because like i remember
00:29:38.033 --> 00:29:41.273
in germany like when we were in germany because we also lived on the economy
00:29:41.273 --> 00:29:44.553
we lived in hide and fart so we were right across the river from outville,
00:29:45.296 --> 00:29:49.216
And our German neighbors and everything else, when we would walk outside barefoot,
00:29:49.336 --> 00:29:53.696
they used to tell us that in Germany, they had worms that could actually like climb into your feet.
00:29:54.076 --> 00:29:57.616
And so they would tell us like not to walk around barefoot because of the worms.
00:29:57.776 --> 00:30:00.676
And like, I got paranoid about that for a while. So for a while,
00:30:00.676 --> 00:30:04.396
I would solely like only wear like I would have to wear socks everywhere and
00:30:04.396 --> 00:30:05.676
I would wear socks outside.
00:30:06.056 --> 00:30:10.656
And so then I would come in sometimes and my socks would be wet. It's just like.
00:30:11.836 --> 00:30:13.736
Yeah, it's actually hookworms.
00:30:15.056 --> 00:30:18.956
Hookworms yes don't want to catch the hookworms you
00:30:18.956 --> 00:30:21.636
know i went back to germany when i
00:30:21.636 --> 00:30:28.576
was like 1920 as an au pair and instead of these bought in i went up to guttingen
00:30:28.576 --> 00:30:35.696
which is by hamburg yeah um so i got to i think that's up by um kiss again as
00:30:35.696 --> 00:30:39.076
well like bad kiss again that area Yeah.
00:30:39.616 --> 00:30:44.216
So I got to, I actually learned more German living with the German family than
00:30:44.216 --> 00:30:45.896
I ever did going to the American school.
00:30:46.976 --> 00:30:53.216
So, but did either one of you guys ever get the chance to go to Eider Oberstein
00:30:53.216 --> 00:30:54.876
when you were over there? Yes.
00:30:55.836 --> 00:30:58.916
No, I remember, I remember the name and that's about it. And my,
00:30:58.916 --> 00:31:01.076
I remember my mom pronounced it Eider Oberstein.
00:31:01.716 --> 00:31:07.196
So Eider-Oberstein, it was that little town. It was about 45 minutes north of
00:31:07.196 --> 00:31:11.756
Wiesbaden, but it was a mining town. So you would get all of like this quartz
00:31:11.756 --> 00:31:15.876
and this agate because it was like really renowned for like all of its agate deposits.
00:31:16.436 --> 00:31:21.556
But they had a medieval castle, like cathedral, that was actually carved into
00:31:21.556 --> 00:31:22.436
the side of the mountain.
00:31:23.295 --> 00:31:27.995
So, yeah, it was probably one of my favorite towns in Germany just because it was just so unique.
00:31:28.815 --> 00:31:33.895
Yeah. What I learned about my mother when we were in Germany is she had no interest
00:31:33.895 --> 00:31:35.815
in learning too much of the language.
00:31:36.095 --> 00:31:41.775
And she seemed to prefer to, you know, shop and do everything on the American base.
00:31:42.055 --> 00:31:45.215
There are a few things she would get, go and shop for on the economy.
00:31:45.215 --> 00:31:48.995
But I think she felt a little uncomfortable at times.
00:31:48.995 --> 00:31:55.215
So, usually when we went somewhere, it was because, like, we went once to Belgium
00:31:55.215 --> 00:32:00.295
because they had cheap furniture in China she wanted, stuff like that.
00:32:00.495 --> 00:32:05.075
But we didn't go a lot, like, to little sightseeing stuff in Germany.
00:32:05.255 --> 00:32:06.975
That would have been cool, though. Yeah.
00:32:07.755 --> 00:32:12.555
No, given, I mean, when we were over there, too, I mean, between 96 and 03,
00:32:12.735 --> 00:32:15.415
we were constantly between, like, Defcom Yellow and Defcom Red.
00:32:15.415 --> 00:32:19.275
So there was no like reprieve for us when we were over there at all.
00:32:19.455 --> 00:32:23.355
So even like going off base or things like that or going onto the economy,
00:32:23.695 --> 00:32:26.875
you know, what we were all taught in school, don't make known you're American.
00:32:27.275 --> 00:32:34.335
Don't lean on things. Don't do this. And so, yeah, I can understand why some
00:32:34.335 --> 00:32:37.975
of our parents were a little more paranoid and protective of us.
00:32:38.095 --> 00:32:42.775
And they had every right to be as they should have been. And then we had mad
00:32:42.775 --> 00:32:44.895
cow, hoof and mouth, bird flu.
00:32:47.595 --> 00:32:51.095
You remember when McDonald's came out with the chicken McPork sandwich?
00:32:51.335 --> 00:32:53.375
Nobody else remembers the chicken McPork.
00:32:53.675 --> 00:32:56.495
I do. Do you remember the calamari, though?
00:32:57.155 --> 00:33:01.095
They had calamari at one point at McDonald's. I tell people about that all the
00:33:01.095 --> 00:33:02.475
time. I'm like, that was so weird.
00:33:03.415 --> 00:33:08.795
Pretty common menu item in Japan. Oh, really? Yeah, and they also did like curried
00:33:08.795 --> 00:33:11.095
rice and stuff like that at McDonald's.
00:33:11.835 --> 00:33:18.815
Yeah, no, but for Germany to have seafood at a McDonald's, Japan I can understand,
00:33:18.815 --> 00:33:21.215
you know, because they're kind of surrounded by ocean.
00:33:21.715 --> 00:33:23.495
It's part of the diet, yeah.
00:33:26.295 --> 00:33:29.515
That's been the best thing for me. And I'm very food-based. Like,
00:33:29.575 --> 00:33:33.395
when you say Eder Oberstein, the first thing that leapt to my mind was,
00:33:33.515 --> 00:33:38.375
I had that really cool Granny Smith apple cinnamon-dusted donut there.
00:33:38.595 --> 00:33:43.995
That's what I took away from all of that. I took away, I got a really cool, like,
00:33:44.175 --> 00:33:49.035
I got some geode cross samples and, yeah, some limestone stuff,
00:33:49.175 --> 00:33:51.715
which I later learned, and my sister will actually love me for this,
00:33:51.755 --> 00:33:56.215
but the chemical composition for limestone is CaCO3, which is a calcium carbonate.
00:33:56.815 --> 00:34:00.135
Ah. The more you know. No, thank you.
00:34:00.855 --> 00:34:03.295
I almost died not knowing that.
00:34:05.315 --> 00:34:11.535
Fun facts that nobody really cares about. Yeah. this has been the segment you
00:34:11.535 --> 00:34:18.035
know what I'm going to chop up all the random facts from this I'm going to end it with that line yeah.
00:34:21.355 --> 00:34:25.415
Plagiocrase feldspar is one of the reasons why you actually see like little
00:34:25.415 --> 00:34:28.175
sparkles and stuff in rocks.
00:34:29.335 --> 00:34:36.355
Have you thought you experienced like navy life yes actually a lot in Hawaii
00:34:36.355 --> 00:34:41.475
actually They had the whole Maritime Museum there, and that was just, it was like four,
00:34:41.715 --> 00:34:44.675
I think three or four stories, and like you had the whole center,
00:34:44.855 --> 00:34:49.295
and I think there was a ship in the center, and they had all kinds of stuff.
00:34:49.655 --> 00:34:54.575
Like they had like the first, the key for the huge lock on the first,
00:34:54.755 --> 00:34:55.655
I think it was the first...
00:34:56.757 --> 00:35:00.317
What was it called? It was a bank. I forget what the actual terminology was.
00:35:00.977 --> 00:35:06.257
But, yeah, they had that. And there was the whole Pearl Harbor Memorial where
00:35:06.257 --> 00:35:10.697
you, like, actually go out and there's the, it's like a white building floating on the water.
00:35:10.857 --> 00:35:14.577
And you can look down and actually see one of the ships right there underneath you.
00:35:14.757 --> 00:35:19.717
And they have a huge wall with, like, everybody who died in Pearl Harbor on the wall.
00:35:20.177 --> 00:35:25.137
And that was absolutely cool. Spent some time out of a few of the bases there.
00:35:25.137 --> 00:35:29.077
A lot of time out at the base is there with the Cub Scouts looking at,
00:35:29.297 --> 00:35:32.517
well, not looking at, but, you know, just on the beach in those locations.
00:35:33.657 --> 00:35:40.077
And absolutely one of the coolest. I remember being at the school and not really
00:35:40.077 --> 00:35:44.417
fitting in too well because we lived off post because we were civilian.
00:35:44.957 --> 00:35:48.497
But, like, we went to this base and I saw the colorful doors and I was like,
00:35:48.617 --> 00:35:53.177
it's a Dodd school. I turned to my mom and I'm like, can I go to this school, please? Yes.
00:35:54.880 --> 00:36:00.280
So about the Navy life. So funny, funny story. So I've worked with all branches of the military.
00:36:00.760 --> 00:36:03.600
I've worked with all branches of the military for over the past decade.
00:36:04.120 --> 00:36:09.200
But the thing about it is with, you know, the Navy, I actually got the chance and the opportunity.
00:36:09.200 --> 00:36:13.000
It was actually one thing that, you know, I used to tease one of my former bosses
00:36:13.000 --> 00:36:16.100
about, but I got to teach at Fallon, Nevada, which in Fallon,
00:36:16.160 --> 00:36:19.260
Nevada, that's top gun. It's a landlocked Navy base. It's weird.
00:36:19.680 --> 00:36:23.120
But I actually got to. Yeah, I got to instruct boots to business.
00:36:24.040 --> 00:36:28.900
At that facility. And so I get to joke now and say I was a top gun instructor,
00:36:29.180 --> 00:36:33.180
even though it was for boosted business, it still counts, you know? Yeah.
00:36:33.500 --> 00:36:37.720
Yeah. So I've done a lot of things there, you know, as far as on the Navy bases.
00:36:38.020 --> 00:36:41.840
And then, you know, my grandfather being Navy, my grandmother,
00:36:42.280 --> 00:36:43.800
fun fact about my grandmother.
00:36:43.940 --> 00:36:46.180
So my grandmother was before her time.
00:36:46.340 --> 00:36:49.400
And when I say she was before her time, what a lot of people don't realize is
00:36:49.400 --> 00:36:55.020
that legally women could not actually really own a business until about 1988. Okay.
00:36:55.640 --> 00:36:59.660
And so in the, in the, it might have been the late seventies.
00:36:59.800 --> 00:37:04.140
Okay. Now my, my grandfather at this point, he had gone from Navy to Coast Guard,
00:37:04.140 --> 00:37:08.500
but she said that she was going to open a business. And so she decided that
00:37:08.500 --> 00:37:11.160
she was going to open up a perfume store.
00:37:11.460 --> 00:37:14.280
And so he was in Bahrain at the time.
00:37:14.340 --> 00:37:17.900
And so, because he was on the USS Shenandoah, that was his ship. Yeah.
00:37:18.299 --> 00:37:20.899
And so he was in Bahrain at the time, and he used to send her back,
00:37:20.919 --> 00:37:25.679
like, all of the oils and everything else from Egypt and all these different places that he would go.
00:37:26.019 --> 00:37:30.299
And so she started making her displays. And this is why I got up just a minute
00:37:30.299 --> 00:37:33.119
ago, because I wanted to show you guys the displays, because you asked about the Navy.
00:37:33.739 --> 00:37:37.159
But my grandmother, she said she was going to make her own shop displays.
00:37:37.199 --> 00:37:41.119
And so she actually, out of the seashells, and I don't know if she got this
00:37:41.119 --> 00:37:47.219
idea from Navy bases, but these were her seashells here.
00:37:48.159 --> 00:37:53.419
And so she made her own displays of the seashells, more than likely from the
00:37:53.419 --> 00:37:55.659
Navy bases. That's the model.
00:37:56.479 --> 00:38:01.979
And she opened up her first business in the late 70s before women really could.
00:38:02.299 --> 00:38:06.319
So that's why I say my grandmother was before her time. She published music,
00:38:06.319 --> 00:38:08.639
but she was always doing something.
00:38:08.779 --> 00:38:12.279
She was always an entrepreneur and doing what she had to do.
00:38:12.579 --> 00:38:15.299
But yeah, she was a Navy spouse. house
00:38:15.299 --> 00:38:19.239
my great-grandma she was a poker player and that
00:38:19.239 --> 00:38:21.999
was one of the things that you know my grandma loved was all the
00:38:21.999 --> 00:38:24.739
old card games because that was one of the things was during the
00:38:24.739 --> 00:38:27.619
wartime settings during korea and things like
00:38:27.619 --> 00:38:31.559
that when when they would all go for for long periods of time you know all the
00:38:31.559 --> 00:38:35.339
spouses they would get around you know they would sit down they would play cribbage
00:38:35.339 --> 00:38:39.259
they would play pinochle like cribbage that's our family game you know some
00:38:39.259 --> 00:38:43.939
some games you know spades some will be you know hearts other different types
00:38:43.939 --> 00:38:45.919
of games cribbage was our family game,
00:38:46.864 --> 00:38:51.244
But yeah, it's, it's always really cool to see all those things involved.
00:38:52.584 --> 00:38:56.444
Sorry for the interjection there. I'm just, I went off on a huge tangent,
00:38:56.444 --> 00:38:59.044
so I'm sorry, but thank you guys for letting me show my shells.
00:38:59.224 --> 00:39:02.364
Cause that, that, that means a lot to me. That's my family right there. Okay.
00:39:03.984 --> 00:39:07.964
I just love this show because we get to, we get, we get to reconnect with people
00:39:07.964 --> 00:39:10.544
who have lived similar lives to us.
00:39:10.684 --> 00:39:13.724
And it's like, I, I forget who I said it to at this point. Cause I'm,
00:39:13.724 --> 00:39:17.824
I'm starting to get a little feverish again, but you know, we don't really have
00:39:17.824 --> 00:39:22.004
that hometown that we kind of go, you know, we know everybody, we have connections.
00:39:22.004 --> 00:39:26.484
So if we want to start a business, we have that like, like community opportunity
00:39:26.484 --> 00:39:29.564
to just, uh, to grow our own business organically.
00:39:29.884 --> 00:39:35.004
And, but what we do have is we have, we have really strong connections that
00:39:35.004 --> 00:39:39.044
we developed out of necessity because we were so isolated from,
00:39:39.224 --> 00:39:42.304
from all of that, all of that normality, if you will.
00:39:43.364 --> 00:39:47.904
So that's kind of that's kind of what we're really wanting to do here you know
00:39:47.904 --> 00:39:52.304
is is absolutely and you know Alex speaking to Alex Bagwell I think the thing
00:39:52.304 --> 00:39:55.624
the thing that he said that made me smile the biggest he's like you know what
00:39:55.624 --> 00:40:00.524
y'all have done for me is better than therapy and I was like I know I was I
00:40:00.524 --> 00:40:03.284
literally said the same thing to Amber oh my god.
00:40:04.733 --> 00:40:07.693
I'm just trying to connect our businesses together.
00:40:07.953 --> 00:40:13.073
Okay. And I'm trying to leave legacy for the next generation of military brats
00:40:13.073 --> 00:40:14.533
because we've all gone through things.
00:40:14.693 --> 00:40:19.553
Some of us have had great experiences. Some of us have not had some great experiences.
00:40:19.913 --> 00:40:23.653
What I've discovered after interviewing about a hundred, okay,
00:40:23.913 --> 00:40:28.613
a little bit over a hundred now, eight in 10 out of that hundred.
00:40:28.613 --> 00:40:31.373
Okay have post-traumatic stress
00:40:31.373 --> 00:40:34.533
disorder or mental condition that is directly related or
00:40:34.533 --> 00:40:37.953
stems from post-traumatic stress disorder and so
00:40:37.953 --> 00:40:40.793
in talking to these individuals you have to have
00:40:40.793 --> 00:40:44.013
that community you have to have that group and when
00:40:44.013 --> 00:40:47.033
you have you know people who tell you well you've got to be mindful about
00:40:47.033 --> 00:40:50.273
what you say oh you can't talk about this because
00:40:50.273 --> 00:40:53.053
it seems like you're bragging or oh you
00:40:53.053 --> 00:40:55.933
can't do this because of x y and z
00:40:55.933 --> 00:40:59.693
where to what platform and then
00:40:59.693 --> 00:41:04.633
the transition piece that's missing when you're 18 to 23 okay and ashley you
00:41:04.633 --> 00:41:10.133
might can answer this or not but how hard was it for you to transition into
00:41:10.133 --> 00:41:15.033
becoming a civilian a full-blooded civilian no more tricare benefits no more
00:41:15.033 --> 00:41:19.273
anything after that's all you've ever known your entire life If now you're 18 to 23.
00:41:20.013 --> 00:41:21.673
You're thrown to the wolves completely.
00:41:22.233 --> 00:41:25.693
Now, if you don't use the GI Bill, if you don't have that privilege,
00:41:25.713 --> 00:41:29.033
if you don't have scholarships, if you don't have X, Y, and Z, then what do you do?
00:41:29.753 --> 00:41:34.653
What connections do you have? And so this network for that community piece,
00:41:34.853 --> 00:41:38.033
this is the transition piece that I think is honestly missing.
00:41:38.333 --> 00:41:43.113
Because if we have all of these businesses already, if you have a bakery,
00:41:43.413 --> 00:41:45.353
I have a business consultancy.
00:41:45.933 --> 00:41:51.733
Jesse has a media marketing place if somebody comes to either one of us or comes
00:41:51.733 --> 00:41:57.093
into this network and says hey i want to create this this this and this and
00:41:57.093 --> 00:42:02.433
i need a caterer i live in texas who can i call bam you.
00:42:04.214 --> 00:42:09.294
And that's something I'm working on doing. Okay. And then we can also mentor.
00:42:09.674 --> 00:42:12.934
That's the important thing is that mentorship to help them. Hey,
00:42:13.174 --> 00:42:15.554
you want to start a business. This is how you do it.
00:42:15.794 --> 00:42:18.714
Hey, you want to go to college. This is how you do it.
00:42:19.094 --> 00:42:23.054
Hey, you want to know how to balance a checkbook and get financially stable.
00:42:23.474 --> 00:42:28.434
This is how you do it. This is what credit is. This is what credit means.
00:42:29.094 --> 00:42:34.314
This is what your choices can potentially do. There's no leg of that whatsoever
00:42:34.314 --> 00:42:37.154
to prepare these kids when they get into the civilian world.
00:42:38.034 --> 00:42:43.134
No, and I was actually thinking about that earlier today, which is that the
00:42:43.134 --> 00:42:46.774
supports that can be given to veterans, which not saying they don't deserve
00:42:46.774 --> 00:42:50.154
it, each of us deserve a little bit of help.
00:42:50.174 --> 00:42:53.174
And, of course, they deserve a lot of help when they need it, right?
00:42:54.994 --> 00:43:01.374
But you fill out an application, they ask, were you ever a military spouse or are you a veteran?
00:43:01.554 --> 00:43:08.254
And there is something where the military dependent isn't considered in their
00:43:08.254 --> 00:43:13.554
own transition because maybe our sacrifice is not as well known.
00:43:13.694 --> 00:43:17.814
But what I could tell you is my father was in the Navy.
00:43:18.374 --> 00:43:23.914
He would be gone for six months to a year at a time when he went out to sea.
00:43:24.294 --> 00:43:28.614
Starting from when I was born, he only saw one of his four children born.
00:43:29.094 --> 00:43:37.114
Yeah. So when you consider the sacrifice that that military person is doing
00:43:37.114 --> 00:43:42.494
and the sacrifice the wife is doing, the children are also sacrificing something.
00:43:42.654 --> 00:43:46.734
They're sacrificing their time with their parent. They're sacrificing their
00:43:46.734 --> 00:43:51.294
ability to form a healthy, great connection with that parent.
00:43:51.294 --> 00:43:53.374
That is a huge sacrifice.
00:43:53.854 --> 00:43:57.374
You know, the only difference is the child never had the choice.
00:43:58.468 --> 00:44:03.248
Right. The child never had the choice. And the fact is, as a child,
00:44:03.428 --> 00:44:08.328
especially in one where maybe it's wartime and they're being deployed.
00:44:08.968 --> 00:44:14.648
My father, he was sent off to Desert Storm for a longer period of time.
00:44:15.188 --> 00:44:19.668
And back then it was like, yeah, back then it was like you could occasionally
00:44:19.668 --> 00:44:21.668
get a phone call, but really it was letters.
00:44:23.268 --> 00:44:27.568
And it took forever and you know
00:44:27.568 --> 00:44:30.368
I was too young to even write so I can
00:44:30.368 --> 00:44:34.748
hear right to my father you know I would draw my picture my mom would put it
00:44:34.748 --> 00:44:38.148
in there and that's it and that was you know my relationship with him for a
00:44:38.148 --> 00:44:42.168
long time because really they would only keep him home for like three months
00:44:42.168 --> 00:44:49.708
so he'd be gone six months a year be home three months and then he'd go out to sea again and I.
00:44:50.519 --> 00:44:56.059
It got to the point where I think he enjoyed that time away, you know?
00:44:56.419 --> 00:45:01.539
He got used to it. He had his own time. He wasn't bogged down with four children
00:45:01.539 --> 00:45:03.859
running around crazy all the time, you know?
00:45:04.199 --> 00:45:08.959
Yeah. And when you, especially, like, considering even when someone comes back
00:45:08.959 --> 00:45:11.979
from deployment, the amount of time it takes to readjust.
00:45:12.179 --> 00:45:16.639
But imagine you have three months to get it right, make an impact in your child's
00:45:16.639 --> 00:45:17.899
life before you're gone again.
00:45:18.179 --> 00:45:21.199
Oh, yeah. You know? and so it was
00:45:21.199 --> 00:45:23.959
like that for all of my formative years until I
00:45:23.959 --> 00:45:28.139
was 10 and the the
00:45:28.139 --> 00:45:34.239
thing is I don't I can't even tell you a single support that ever came from
00:45:34.239 --> 00:45:39.639
that even when it was occurring you know I lived on base and I went to the schools
00:45:39.639 --> 00:45:45.739
and that's about it and you know you didn't you you You were with other military
00:45:45.739 --> 00:45:47.579
children who were experiencing the same.
00:45:47.939 --> 00:45:53.399
Nobody complained about it. You know, you just dealt with it. You dealt with it.
00:45:53.839 --> 00:45:58.879
Yeah. It was reality, and that's it. And excuse the Army reference when I say
00:45:58.879 --> 00:46:00.719
you rubbed some dirt in it, and you just kept walking.
00:46:01.199 --> 00:46:08.719
Yeah. You know? And if you consider what you're doing to those children and
00:46:08.719 --> 00:46:12.859
their ability to attach to somebody healthily, you know.
00:46:14.499 --> 00:46:19.219
Because that child is always going to be pining for that parent that is gone, right?
00:46:19.819 --> 00:46:27.179
And then you consider the burden on the wife who is trying to appease these
00:46:27.179 --> 00:46:31.839
children who really don't want her because they want their dad, right?
00:46:32.299 --> 00:46:37.659
And then you have the lack of child care options, which that hasn't changed at all.
00:46:37.839 --> 00:46:41.599
Like that is still a nightmare in the active military duty community.
00:46:41.599 --> 00:46:44.919
And coming out of the active military duty community I can tell you that's a
00:46:44.919 --> 00:46:49.679
nightmare even still to this day there's just not enough people and it's.
00:46:50.826 --> 00:46:54.866
You know, you had these things that came out, because I know you guys remember
00:46:54.866 --> 00:46:57.886
No Child Left Behind. All of us remember No Child Left Behind.
00:46:58.686 --> 00:47:00.406
What children are we leaving behind?
00:47:01.266 --> 00:47:05.866
Yeah. You know, and it's like, what's the logic there?
00:47:06.186 --> 00:47:09.906
And so, yeah, like I said, these pieces and these communication pieces are super,
00:47:10.026 --> 00:47:13.406
super important. And it's super important to especially know,
00:47:13.606 --> 00:47:14.966
you know, you're not alone out there.
00:47:15.186 --> 00:47:20.526
There are a lot of people who go through these things, But as military kids,
00:47:20.786 --> 00:47:22.906
we very commonly feel alone.
00:47:23.086 --> 00:47:28.386
You know, we already some of us already have abandonment issues because our parents gone X, Y and Z.
00:47:28.686 --> 00:47:32.526
Some of us already have, you know, abandonment issues because then we have trust
00:47:32.526 --> 00:47:36.906
issues to top it all off, especially, you know, the Cold War kids with,
00:47:37.066 --> 00:47:40.846
hey, you have to watch Russia. You can't necessarily trust your neighbor and
00:47:40.846 --> 00:47:43.246
watch who you're talking to. Right. Yeah.
00:47:44.632 --> 00:47:47.332
That's a different level right there, you know?
00:47:47.452 --> 00:47:50.712
And then like the mental psyche as you grow up and then when you grow up,
00:47:50.792 --> 00:47:54.752
it's like, okay, well, who can I trust? Who do I trust?
00:47:54.932 --> 00:47:58.292
And that is one of the, one thing that I've actually found and actually,
00:47:58.332 --> 00:48:02.512
actually I've found with some military kids, but that is actually when you see
00:48:02.512 --> 00:48:07.132
that post-traumatic stress disorder start to turn into agoraphobia and you start
00:48:07.132 --> 00:48:08.352
to become afraid of everything.
00:48:08.412 --> 00:48:10.632
Like, oh, I've got to check underneath my car.
00:48:10.912 --> 00:48:13.032
Oh, I've got, no, I can't go outside.
00:48:13.332 --> 00:48:17.032
And then that agoraphobia can go into obsessive compulsive disorder.
00:48:17.492 --> 00:48:22.212
And it all stems from that, that initial, that initial trauma, you know?
00:48:22.852 --> 00:48:28.172
And it's a psyche. And a lot of kids go through that, especially in the military
00:48:28.172 --> 00:48:31.812
community, but it's never really addressed and it's never really talked about, you know?
00:48:32.252 --> 00:48:35.812
Yeah. Because once a parent gets out of the military,
00:48:36.632 --> 00:48:40.932
we're the supportive services for these children you know their their parents
00:48:40.932 --> 00:48:44.752
have retired so they can't go on base and get services,
00:48:45.612 --> 00:48:50.852
so where are the supportive services for these children where where is the you
00:48:50.852 --> 00:48:59.592
know like support for them to then go on and do well in the world and go off to the university,
00:49:00.132 --> 00:49:05.792
Now, my dad, he got the GI Bill for one child. Yeah. He had four.
00:49:06.352 --> 00:49:10.912
Yeah. He got to choose one child to give it to. And that's it.
00:49:12.170 --> 00:49:15.170
Okay yeah i mean you
00:49:15.170 --> 00:49:17.850
know life being life i mean
00:49:17.850 --> 00:49:20.790
there are there are people in the military right now who have
00:49:20.790 --> 00:49:23.690
kids with disabilities already oh yeah one
00:49:23.690 --> 00:49:26.830
of one of my dad's co-workers had a son that was
00:49:26.830 --> 00:49:29.710
developmentally disabled and ended up with diabetes as well
00:49:29.710 --> 00:49:32.690
i remember we were at we were doing a mass casualty exercise
00:49:32.690 --> 00:49:35.690
and he just falls really hard on his back
00:49:35.690 --> 00:49:38.350
and everybody's like ah somebody's getting started early and it's
00:49:38.350 --> 00:49:41.350
like no like my dad's a diabetic he's having
00:49:41.350 --> 00:49:44.970
a you know issues with blood sugar right now and
00:49:44.970 --> 00:49:47.950
yeah like i remember he had they had
00:49:47.950 --> 00:49:51.250
to go back to the states because they just didn't have the facilities for
00:49:51.250 --> 00:49:54.650
his son in in germany and yeah
00:49:54.650 --> 00:49:57.590
the efmp process well yeah and
00:49:57.590 --> 00:50:00.530
and like me personally being probably on the autism
00:50:00.530 --> 00:50:05.230
spectrum there it is i said it it's i say it's 11
00:50:05.230 --> 00:50:08.110
jesse i'm counting now it's 11
00:50:08.110 --> 00:50:10.930
it needs it needs to be said right when when
00:50:10.930 --> 00:50:13.930
you're dealing with somebody who's autistic there's always the potential
00:50:13.930 --> 00:50:17.150
that they can suffer what's called a traumatic separation event
00:50:17.150 --> 00:50:20.490
okay and that can happen frequently
00:50:20.490 --> 00:50:24.850
like if you were as close as i was with my dad like i loved my dad so much as
00:50:24.850 --> 00:50:29.810
a little boy and when i heard we were going to japan like the hardest part was
00:50:29.810 --> 00:50:34.210
getting to japan to see him again and then you're in japan finally you're with
00:50:34.210 --> 00:50:37.630
your dad like the first week is really cool because You're in this new place
00:50:37.630 --> 00:50:38.630
and everything's exciting.
00:50:38.850 --> 00:50:42.190
And then your dad starts to leave a lot. And every time he leaves,
00:50:42.310 --> 00:50:44.170
it hurts a little more and more.
00:50:44.490 --> 00:50:50.070
Okay. And that kind of drove a wedge between like my, my relationship with my father is not the best.
00:50:50.070 --> 00:50:55.110
Like we, we really butted heads in high school because it got to the point where
00:50:55.110 --> 00:51:00.130
I feel like I was resenting him or hurting me by leaving, even though I knew
00:51:00.130 --> 00:51:03.290
he was supporting me. He loved me and everything else.
00:51:04.366 --> 00:51:08.146
And not only that, losing my grandmother after finally, and I was really close
00:51:08.146 --> 00:51:11.926
to her too, after finally getting back to Texas, she died.
00:51:13.226 --> 00:51:17.746
And that was traumatic. And nobody really knew to help me deal with that because
00:51:17.746 --> 00:51:22.526
I'm on the spectrum. And I kind of kept that in because of the nature of it
00:51:22.526 --> 00:51:27.126
and because I didn't want my brother and sister to get worked up too because I was upset.
00:51:27.626 --> 00:51:34.886
Yeah So I just It's like I said I You know I had trouble Social interaction
00:51:34.886 --> 00:51:37.586
in high school And what I'm finding is that,
00:51:38.146 --> 00:51:42.866
Like We were all kind of good together In high school You know And Like I,
00:51:43.666 --> 00:51:47.326
I've always looked back on it And thought That it was this It was this horrible
00:51:47.326 --> 00:51:51.486
Terrible thing for me And Everybody hated me And what I'm finding out is that
00:51:51.486 --> 00:51:56.586
That we were We were all just kind of Trying to deal with it You know Okay Yeah,
00:51:57.126 --> 00:52:00.226
yeah and then sorry go
00:52:00.226 --> 00:52:06.686
ahead you go oh i was gonna say and then you place these children who have all
00:52:06.686 --> 00:52:12.946
these you know essentially traumas from their father or mother being sent away
00:52:12.946 --> 00:52:18.606
typically very suddenly and then you put them all together in a school.
00:52:20.986 --> 00:52:24.126
And that's that's a little crazy
00:52:24.126 --> 00:52:26.826
i mean speaking of shout outs to to chris
00:52:26.826 --> 00:52:30.246
putko please come on the show chris uh he
00:52:30.246 --> 00:52:33.086
actually i think i if i'm not mistaken when his
00:52:33.086 --> 00:52:35.886
parents got shipped out like he was taking care of
00:52:35.886 --> 00:52:42.466
his siblings as an 18 year old as a senior in high school yeah by himself in
00:52:42.466 --> 00:52:47.186
germany i cannot even imagine at least i think that's what was going on that's
00:52:47.186 --> 00:52:53.906
how i understood it i might be corrected on that but like it's it's insane oh yeah yeah.
00:52:56.706 --> 00:53:03.026
I'm sorry you're good i was gonna say my question also is like,
00:53:03.916 --> 00:53:09.356
When you have this absent parent, how do you learn how to form a deep connection with them?
00:53:09.856 --> 00:53:13.256
Especially if back in the day, it's just letters and, you know,
00:53:13.516 --> 00:53:19.236
you're too bored to read your dad's five page letter and all that kind of stuff.
00:53:20.216 --> 00:53:24.396
Technology has gotten, you know, a lot better. You know, there are things that
00:53:24.396 --> 00:53:27.396
they make now, for instance, they've got and I know that they had them when,
00:53:27.516 --> 00:53:28.396
you know, we were growing up.
00:53:28.396 --> 00:53:33.836
For instance, they've got like the daddy bears or the mommy bears where it has
00:53:33.836 --> 00:53:38.696
their face and it's like the little teddy bear that's wearing like their actual uniform.
00:53:39.076 --> 00:53:42.756
You know, they've got little things like that that'll actually have like their
00:53:42.756 --> 00:53:44.256
heartbeat and stuff in it.
00:53:45.036 --> 00:53:47.956
You know, you've got the video messaging now because it's not,
00:53:48.096 --> 00:53:50.876
hey, we've got to buy a phone card and then it's 10 cents a minute.
00:53:50.876 --> 00:53:55.616
And then we have to dial like the 16 digit code on top of this four digit code
00:53:55.616 --> 00:53:58.896
to dial this other code to finally dial the American number.
00:53:59.036 --> 00:54:02.496
But we have to make sure that we dial plus four, nine and then plus one,
00:54:02.676 --> 00:54:03.636
you know, that sort of thing.
00:54:06.036 --> 00:54:11.416
You know, so it's gotten a lot easier, you know, as far as communications and things like that.
00:54:11.676 --> 00:54:15.876
But, you know, there's still that constant, well, you know, you're leaving.
00:54:16.516 --> 00:54:20.316
And little kids, you know, you understand the mission. You understand,
00:54:20.336 --> 00:54:21.396
you know, mission first.
00:54:21.576 --> 00:54:24.676
That's how we're raised. It's more important and things like that.
00:54:24.956 --> 00:54:29.596
But little kids, on the flip side of things, and I don't know if it was the
00:54:29.596 --> 00:54:30.876
same experience for you.
00:54:31.396 --> 00:54:36.336
I know for me, are little kids altruistic enough to understand,
00:54:36.976 --> 00:54:40.776
really, this is why this has to happen?
00:54:41.276 --> 00:54:45.756
Instead of looking at it as, you're leaving me. Because that's how they feel.
00:54:45.836 --> 00:54:47.976
That's how they see it. It doesn't matter why you're doing what.
00:54:48.116 --> 00:54:50.996
That's how they look at it. you're leaving me. Yeah.
00:54:51.576 --> 00:54:53.176
You know? And,
00:54:54.562 --> 00:54:59.862
Where do you supplement that or how do you supplement that to get them to understand
00:54:59.862 --> 00:55:05.082
kind of why without explaining the horrors of the world? Does that make sense?
00:55:06.782 --> 00:55:13.822
Yeah. No. No, that makes sense. And then it's like, oh, I just lost my thought.
00:55:14.462 --> 00:55:19.222
Sorry. No, I happened to meet this a minute ago. No, I actually had one related to that.
00:55:19.242 --> 00:55:21.742
It happens also to all of us at least once an episode. Oh, yeah.
00:55:21.742 --> 00:55:26.262
And not only that, there's things like the seven-minute conversation lull.
00:55:26.382 --> 00:55:28.102
Normally, that happens where there's a break.
00:55:28.362 --> 00:55:32.682
But it just reminded me, this story is kind of sad. And I don't mean to bum everybody out.
00:55:32.802 --> 00:55:37.422
But you talk about how do you perform a really good relationship with your father
00:55:37.422 --> 00:55:38.522
when he's gone all the time.
00:55:38.542 --> 00:55:43.042
And I remember my dad, when he finally left Germany and got back to the States,
00:55:43.082 --> 00:55:44.902
I had moved back from Alaska.
00:55:45.202 --> 00:55:49.282
And they bought this house out in Clyde. And it had this big steel building.
00:55:49.282 --> 00:55:52.402
And he's like, oh yeah, we're going to get a couple of like throwaway Jeeps
00:55:52.402 --> 00:55:56.542
and I'm going to teach the boys how to, how to work on cars and stuff.
00:55:56.662 --> 00:55:59.522
And my mom's like, oh, that time is over.
00:56:00.222 --> 00:56:04.322
Like that, that's done. You can't, it's not going to happen, you know?
00:56:04.422 --> 00:56:09.002
And just the look on his face was just so sad to me.
00:56:09.142 --> 00:56:12.062
And just because he was, he was gone all the time.
00:56:12.162 --> 00:56:15.382
So he never got to do those things. Like he had started kind of trying to do
00:56:15.382 --> 00:56:19.262
that when we were, before we left for Germany. but that, I mean...
00:56:20.519 --> 00:56:25.899
It's just a missed chance at life, you know? You see, and I think that's one
00:56:25.899 --> 00:56:29.439
of the hardest things, especially, you know, about traveling and moving around
00:56:29.439 --> 00:56:34.719
so much and being mission ready and mission, you know, essential all of the time is because,
00:56:34.959 --> 00:56:38.599
you know, we go to all these things and then we're put into these really stressful
00:56:38.599 --> 00:56:40.059
situations, you know, because,
00:56:40.519 --> 00:56:43.679
hey, we could be on the brink of war with this country and the United States
00:56:43.679 --> 00:56:45.659
never even know about it. We know about it.
00:56:46.019 --> 00:56:50.319
I know what happened during Y2K. A lot of people understand what happened.
00:56:50.439 --> 00:56:53.879
My dad was a part of that. I understand what happened during Y2K.
00:56:55.059 --> 00:57:00.659
That sort of stuff. And so, you know, you have all of these things.
00:57:02.179 --> 00:57:04.019
See, and this is where I'm going to lose my train of thought.
00:57:04.119 --> 00:57:05.959
Where was I going with that? Rejog my memory.
00:57:07.219 --> 00:57:10.779
There's so much to put on a child it's a
00:57:10.779 --> 00:57:13.779
lot to put on a child and we we
00:57:13.779 --> 00:57:16.939
end up growing up you know a lot of times well
00:57:16.939 --> 00:57:19.639
before our time now me I I was a little bit of
00:57:19.639 --> 00:57:23.419
a special case and the reason why I was a special case because yes we had all
00:57:23.419 --> 00:57:27.719
the x y and z and everything else going on but at the same time my dad was sick
00:57:27.719 --> 00:57:31.939
growing up so you know he had kidney cancer still worked full-time I was kind
00:57:31.939 --> 00:57:34.879
of a latchkey kid that's one of the reasons why I started my first business
00:57:34.879 --> 00:57:37.339
at because I was always constantly working.
00:57:37.619 --> 00:57:40.979
And so, you know, when I look back at my life, and that's what I was getting
00:57:40.979 --> 00:57:44.439
into, you know, with the PTSD, even with, you know, veterans and soldiers,
00:57:44.699 --> 00:57:47.559
you spend 20 years of your life.
00:57:47.559 --> 00:57:56.339
So from the age of 18 to 38, 40, okay, you have spent your entire life pretty
00:57:56.339 --> 00:58:01.179
much or the good middle portion of your life in the armed forces. Yeah.
00:58:01.918 --> 00:58:04.858
How many times have you seen your family members?
00:58:05.038 --> 00:58:07.958
And I mean, I'm not talking about your spouse. I'm not talking about your kids.
00:58:08.058 --> 00:58:10.538
I'm talking about your mom. I'm talking about your dad.
00:58:11.018 --> 00:58:14.318
I'm talking about your grandparents. And then here's the thing.
00:58:14.498 --> 00:58:17.698
You're over here now for three years because you're deployed.
00:58:18.198 --> 00:58:20.178
Now somebody dies back home.
00:58:21.120 --> 00:58:27.020
That's time you don't get back. That's one of the things. My dad recently passed away in December.
00:58:27.560 --> 00:58:30.840
And I constantly think to myself, if I never would have left Alabama,
00:58:30.840 --> 00:58:35.780
I would have gotten that extra 10, 10, 10 and a half years with him. Yeah.
00:58:37.640 --> 00:58:41.180
That can sometimes be a hard reality for people to face.
00:58:41.480 --> 00:58:47.060
Hey, I've done this. I understand the meaning behind it. But what have I actually sacrificed?
00:58:47.360 --> 00:58:51.900
What have I actually lost? And then when you start to put it all together to
00:58:51.900 --> 00:58:55.920
realize you don't get those time back, you don't get those moments back,
00:58:56.200 --> 00:58:58.040
it's a hard truth to face.
00:58:58.160 --> 00:59:02.080
And then, oh, you're now alone. Yeah.
00:59:02.720 --> 00:59:08.140
That's the harder truth to face, you know. And so, yeah, it gets to a lot of people.
00:59:08.400 --> 00:59:11.300
It definitely gets to a lot of people. my dad and
00:59:11.300 --> 00:59:15.340
I don't have a great relationship because essentially when
00:59:15.340 --> 00:59:18.140
I was really young I was a daddy's girl and he would bring
00:59:18.140 --> 00:59:21.480
me these every country he went to he would buy me a stuffed
00:59:21.480 --> 00:59:24.280
gorilla okay and he'd bring
00:59:24.280 --> 00:59:26.980
me back a stuffed animal and it was a gorilla and I had
00:59:26.980 --> 00:59:30.540
just all these gorillas all over my bed which makes
00:59:30.540 --> 00:59:33.360
me realize how often he was gone you know where
00:59:33.360 --> 00:59:36.280
he was going you know Ashley it might make you
00:59:36.280 --> 00:59:39.180
smile but I really do think that that was a navy thing
00:59:39.180 --> 00:59:42.180
because my grandfather he would always send me a gorilla
00:59:42.180 --> 00:59:45.080
and he actually would talk about like gorilla
00:59:45.080 --> 00:59:50.340
warfare and stuff like that when he was in Korea and stuff but he would always
00:59:50.340 --> 00:59:54.720
send me a gorilla I've got a little blue keychain of a gorilla singing happy
00:59:54.720 --> 00:59:59.140
birthday that my grandfather gave me for like my 16th birthday so I think I
00:59:59.140 --> 01:00:02.540
think that's a navy thing the gorilla thing yeah Maybe.
01:00:03.060 --> 01:00:10.200
But I guess my question is, like, you leave and your little girl loves dressing
01:00:10.200 --> 01:00:15.200
in pretty dresses and pigtails and everything. You come back and she's different.
01:00:16.033 --> 01:00:21.533
Yeah. How do you reconnect? How do you understand somebody who,
01:00:21.533 --> 01:00:25.633
you know, you haven't been there day to day? I mean, I have two children.
01:00:25.953 --> 01:00:31.853
And if I was gone a week, I wouldn't know a part of what's going on in their life.
01:00:31.973 --> 01:00:37.333
I wouldn't know, you know, oh, we had that last week, Ashley,
01:00:37.553 --> 01:00:42.413
and she didn't like cheese on it, you know, even just the little things, you know.
01:00:42.413 --> 01:00:47.953
And I don't know, how do you reform a connection when you're gone so long?
01:00:48.853 --> 01:00:53.373
And then my dad just, he got that bug to keep moving, you know?
01:00:53.893 --> 01:00:58.953
He went in the National Guard after the Navy, and then he kept moving us,
01:00:58.993 --> 01:01:02.133
and then he became a contractor with Dodds.
01:01:02.213 --> 01:01:06.173
And my response to the military has been opposite.
01:01:06.173 --> 01:01:09.173
I don't want to move. yeah I
01:01:09.173 --> 01:01:12.553
just want I want to find one place and stay there forever you
01:01:12.553 --> 01:01:15.393
know I'm the same exact way I wanted to
01:01:15.393 --> 01:01:18.993
find some place where I could actually find roots and you
01:01:18.993 --> 01:01:22.833
see when I've got you know right now I'm looking at job opportunities I'm launching
01:01:22.833 --> 01:01:27.333
this business I'm doing x y and z and all of these things and I've got some
01:01:27.333 --> 01:01:31.693
really good job opportunities but a lot of them are you know 100% travel or
01:01:31.693 --> 01:01:37.973
75% travel and the thing is I I can do it I absolutely can do it I know I can do it,
01:01:38.093 --> 01:01:43.873
but I don't want to fly out on a Sunday to come home on a Friday to fly out
01:01:43.873 --> 01:01:48.593
on a Sunday to come back home on a Friday, because that has been my,
01:01:48.593 --> 01:01:51.613
my entire life up until this point.
01:01:51.993 --> 01:01:57.893
And it's like, I just want some roots, but yet you start to develop career wise
01:01:57.893 --> 01:02:01.153
to where they just want to pull you in all these different directions.
01:02:01.153 --> 01:02:05.913
And then you're just like, I, I just don't want to do this anymore because sometimes
01:02:05.913 --> 01:02:10.293
I will look at something and this is what I call a front functional refreeze
01:02:10.293 --> 01:02:11.773
because you'll look at it.
01:02:11.893 --> 01:02:16.233
You know, you have to do it. You go to start to do it, but then everything in
01:02:16.233 --> 01:02:18.153
your body just goes, uh, uh.
01:02:19.202 --> 01:02:26.202
And you just sit there because you just, like, it's a functional freeze.
01:02:26.902 --> 01:02:32.382
I do those things. And like I said, it really goes into you're just tired of
01:02:32.382 --> 01:02:34.042
moving. You just don't want to move anymore.
01:02:34.282 --> 01:02:37.662
You want roots. You want that community. You want that connection.
01:02:38.482 --> 01:02:43.702
And you look for it everywhere. And a lot of kids, I think, look for it everywhere
01:02:43.702 --> 01:02:47.542
as they grow up, which is why they fall into some of the situations that they
01:02:47.542 --> 01:02:49.462
fall into. but that's neither if you're not there.
01:02:49.742 --> 01:02:54.402
Consider this too, okay? Because me personally, my major flaw was is that I
01:02:54.402 --> 01:02:56.662
was looking for some place, okay?
01:02:56.802 --> 01:03:00.942
But because of how we lived, it was so easy for me to just be like,
01:03:00.982 --> 01:03:04.482
I'm frustrated and just pick up and move everything immediately.
01:03:04.642 --> 01:03:06.242
It was so easy for me to just,
01:03:06.978 --> 01:03:09.918
shut everything down and go do that like if something was
01:03:09.918 --> 01:03:12.838
if something was irritating me instead of dealing with it because i
01:03:12.838 --> 01:03:15.618
didn't know how to because you know the
01:03:15.618 --> 01:03:19.578
solution is oh moving is easy and that's the one thing like i i'm here in canada
01:03:19.578 --> 01:03:25.738
and i don't i don't ever want to leave canada okay i want to stay here just
01:03:25.738 --> 01:03:30.178
north of montana and and live with my partner for the rest of my life and i
01:03:30.178 --> 01:03:34.818
don't care what i'm doing i could work at walmart i don't care you know uh because Well,
01:03:34.978 --> 01:03:38.078
hopefully you're going to be a better bit in your business forever. Well, of course.
01:03:39.678 --> 01:03:44.898
For the sake of illustrating my point, I have found where I want to be finally.
01:03:45.178 --> 01:03:50.618
And I've realized that to my detriment, being able to just easily move around.
01:03:50.778 --> 01:03:55.618
And the thing that's really helped me not take it for granted is the immigration process here.
01:03:55.718 --> 01:04:00.738
It is nowhere near as easy to just go to another country and live as I thought it was.
01:04:01.118 --> 01:04:05.078
Okay. Our parents had things like cost of living allowance. They had passports
01:04:05.078 --> 01:04:09.518
and work permits and everything else that they could get access to immediately.
01:04:09.878 --> 01:04:14.238
I don't have that here right now. Okay, nobody wants to do a labor market impact
01:04:14.238 --> 01:04:16.798
assessment to hire me because I don't have a work permit.
01:04:16.978 --> 01:04:19.778
And I'm not going to get the work permit unless I have a job offer,
01:04:19.878 --> 01:04:20.778
which is not going to happen.
01:04:21.778 --> 01:04:25.698
It's not going to happen. And that's what's required to start the labor market
01:04:25.698 --> 01:04:27.238
impact assessment. It's...
01:04:27.908 --> 01:04:31.088
Like, like if it weren't, if it weren't for this project that we're working
01:04:31.088 --> 01:04:34.928
on right now and all of you watching that are supporting us right now,
01:04:35.088 --> 01:04:36.928
I wouldn't have anything to work on.
01:04:37.028 --> 01:04:42.608
I would absolutely lose my money. I have been, you know, and,
01:04:42.608 --> 01:04:45.728
and that, and we, we are still working on our revenue proceeds.
01:04:45.728 --> 01:04:51.488
So please, if you have not checked out our brat chat shop, please check out
01:04:51.488 --> 01:04:53.568
betterbittnerbusiness.com.
01:04:53.808 --> 01:04:57.388
I will go ahead and plug that. You can listen to our podcast.
01:04:57.388 --> 01:05:01.768
You can actually see all of the different collections that we have,
01:05:01.788 --> 01:05:05.488
because one of the things that we are doing for small businesses like Ashley
01:05:05.488 --> 01:05:08.368
over here, we are actually building Ashley a website.
01:05:08.608 --> 01:05:12.968
We are building Michael website. We're helping with logos and things of that nature.
01:05:13.208 --> 01:05:17.448
And as a part of the merch, we're actually co-branding our businesses together
01:05:17.448 --> 01:05:22.248
and their small businesses will actually get a certain percentage of the revenue
01:05:22.248 --> 01:05:25.868
that is actually drawn from the specific collection. collections.
01:05:26.248 --> 01:05:29.048
So absolutely support, support us, support our small businesses.
01:05:29.448 --> 01:05:33.468
Okay. We're, we're tired and we don't want to move anymore. Yeah.
01:05:35.928 --> 01:05:41.868
I can't, I can't wait. We're not nomads. I'm going to, I can't wait to get some,
01:05:42.008 --> 01:05:46.388
get some artwork and logos and stuff from Ashley and, and, and makes, and make some merch.
01:05:46.528 --> 01:05:49.188
I, I, I love, I love putting all that stuff together.
01:05:49.448 --> 01:05:52.208
And like our, our platform that we do all of that on is, is great.
01:05:52.368 --> 01:05:56.728
And shout outs to my sister who has helped me with an Adobe subscription so
01:05:56.728 --> 01:05:59.928
I can keep doing what I do, what I love to do. Absolutely.
01:06:01.171 --> 01:06:05.591
Actually, I want to be respectful of Ashley's time. We are about an hour and
01:06:05.591 --> 01:06:09.131
10 minutes in here. Wow, that went fast, you guys.
01:06:09.731 --> 01:06:12.751
Because we love Ashley and we haven't seen her forever.
01:06:13.031 --> 01:06:16.851
And we could just talk to her forever. That's the saddest part is when we have
01:06:16.851 --> 01:06:20.511
to shut it down because we try to keep it at about an hour.
01:06:21.791 --> 01:06:25.031
But yeah, if you ever want to come back and if you have something that you'd
01:06:25.031 --> 01:06:30.071
like to really rant about or even just to talk to us again and hang out,
01:06:30.071 --> 01:06:33.871
Maybe there's somebody else from high school that you'd like to have a conversation
01:06:33.871 --> 01:06:36.391
with that we could get on the show with you at the same time.
01:06:36.391 --> 01:06:37.831
We could totally hook that up.
01:06:38.873 --> 01:06:42.793
I totally tried to get my brother on here, but he's too shy.
01:06:44.813 --> 01:06:50.433
He could totally come on here. I would totally. I'm actually trying to get Matt
01:06:50.433 --> 01:06:54.073
Commons and a couple of people on the show. If you remember Matt Commons,
01:06:54.193 --> 01:06:56.773
because it was Matt Commons and your brother and Mr.
01:06:56.953 --> 01:06:59.693
Frederick's class. And I'm going to end this story because this is a funny story
01:06:59.693 --> 01:07:00.913
that I remember about your brother.
01:07:01.093 --> 01:07:07.013
But they were drawing a diagram of an acoustic guitar on the blackboard.
01:07:07.013 --> 01:07:10.013
Okay because this was you know we didn't have like the dry erase mr
01:07:10.013 --> 01:07:13.153
frederick still had like the chalkboard so matt
01:07:13.153 --> 01:07:16.833
like picks up the chalk and he starts like drawing like
01:07:16.833 --> 01:07:20.113
this entire like guitar and everything else and then
01:07:20.113 --> 01:07:23.653
they start naming the parts of the guitar and so
01:07:23.653 --> 01:07:26.493
one of the first things your brother says because they look at like you
01:07:26.493 --> 01:07:29.153
know the the butt of the guitar he's like we're gonna name that one
01:07:29.153 --> 01:07:31.873
the ass and so they just write like the ass of
01:07:31.873 --> 01:07:34.773
the guitar on there and then they like the middle
01:07:34.773 --> 01:07:37.753
hole of the guitar they all came
01:07:37.753 --> 01:07:40.713
up with the name they're like well what are we going to call this and then
01:07:40.713 --> 01:07:44.453
i forget who it was it was either matt or your brother but one of them said
01:07:44.453 --> 01:07:50.173
we're going to call it the sonic crevice i started laughing so hard because
01:07:50.173 --> 01:07:55.933
now i will always look at the at the hole in the center of the guitar that you
01:07:55.933 --> 01:08:00.053
know that that amplifies the sound as the sonic crevice.
01:08:00.753 --> 01:08:06.353
Even 25 years later, it cracks me up. I can't tell that that was Chris.
01:08:06.713 --> 01:08:10.053
The one I was talking about was John, and John is the quiet one.
01:08:11.053 --> 01:08:17.073
You know, one of the... We're trying to create online spaces for us brats, current,
01:08:17.313 --> 01:08:20.333
former, whatever, and we actually do have a Discord right now,
01:08:20.393 --> 01:08:25.533
so if we could coax him into coming on the show with you by having him hang
01:08:25.533 --> 01:08:27.593
out in Discord and play games and stuff,
01:08:28.169 --> 01:08:34.109
Like, that would be kind of cool. Kind of get him comfortable talking to us and just let him know.
01:08:34.229 --> 01:08:38.389
Like, basically, you're just going to have a conversation with us about how you lived, you know?
01:08:39.069 --> 01:08:44.469
Exactly. Yeah. And hang out with us for an hour. We're not that boring.
01:08:44.629 --> 01:08:47.549
We're old, but we're not that boring. At least I don't think so.
01:08:48.269 --> 01:08:49.829
Have you ever reached out to Nisi?
01:08:51.729 --> 01:08:55.889
Well, I've actually talked to her recently. I have not reached out to her since
01:08:55.889 --> 01:08:59.629
I started the podcast. So thank you for mentioning her because now I'm going
01:08:59.629 --> 01:09:01.109
to reach out to her probably tonight.
01:09:01.969 --> 01:09:07.289
She is. I just remember her. Just beautiful on the outside, beautiful on the
01:09:07.289 --> 01:09:09.609
inside, like just such a neat girl.
01:09:09.849 --> 01:09:15.189
You know, she didn't have the best experience coming to our school. No, I know.
01:09:15.889 --> 01:09:21.609
In the beginning. And I think about that a lot where I'm like, why?
01:09:22.169 --> 01:09:25.689
Like she was so nice, so sweet, so beautiful. Yeah.
01:09:26.360 --> 01:09:31.860
She was kind to everybody. I never understood it. I knew Niecy in the sixth grade.
01:09:32.640 --> 01:09:36.640
So, yeah, we were in Miss Haines' class together, her history class.
01:09:36.960 --> 01:09:42.780
So, I have a lot of fond memories of her. And I just remember her electric smile
01:09:42.780 --> 01:09:44.920
and just how beautiful of a person that she was.
01:09:45.180 --> 01:09:48.840
Oh, she had a electric smile. Oh, yeah. I know that after high school,
01:09:48.960 --> 01:09:50.180
she did go into service herself.
01:09:50.420 --> 01:09:53.220
So, I'm going to reach out and see if I can't get her onto the show,
01:09:53.220 --> 01:09:57.640
too, because it'll be good to reconnect with her. You know what happens is I
01:09:57.640 --> 01:10:00.280
have kids that are middle school and high school now.
01:10:00.460 --> 01:10:07.380
And so I start, I think of individual experiences with people during that time of my life.
01:10:07.540 --> 01:10:11.780
And she was one that, you know, when I think about it, it broke my heart because
01:10:11.780 --> 01:10:17.240
I remember just, there were just some mean people to her. Oh, yeah.
01:10:19.020 --> 01:10:21.840
There were some really mean people we went to high school with.
01:10:22.280 --> 01:10:29.020
I tried not to be one of those people. yeah I never really understood it because just why like,
01:10:30.096 --> 01:10:33.916
Just don't talk to them if you don't like them. But yeah, the more I think about
01:10:33.916 --> 01:10:36.396
it. It's what they're going through. And you have to understand we all have
01:10:36.396 --> 01:10:37.276
different experiences.
01:10:37.656 --> 01:10:41.336
And some of us, you know, even when I look at some of the kids,
01:10:41.476 --> 01:10:44.356
because I don't know if you guys remember one kid that we went to school with.
01:10:44.516 --> 01:10:49.076
Her name was AJ, but she was a ward of the chaplain because of her situation.
01:10:49.756 --> 01:10:53.336
And so when you think about some of the situations that those kids go through,
01:10:53.716 --> 01:10:57.756
there are some abusive situations that are hush-hush that aren't talked about.
01:10:57.756 --> 01:11:01.176
There are some, you know, other situations that go on.
01:11:02.676 --> 01:11:09.376
And what do they do? They lash out. It's that the toxic environments at home.
01:11:09.376 --> 01:11:12.836
And then, like I said, you put them in a school together and you just shake
01:11:12.836 --> 01:11:14.656
it up and see what happens, I guess.
01:11:15.056 --> 01:11:19.956
And it stems from toxic leadership in the ranks.
01:11:20.396 --> 01:11:24.496
And you still see it. You don't see it as much, but you still see that toxic
01:11:24.496 --> 01:11:25.936
leadership that's there.
01:11:25.936 --> 01:11:32.736
And it carries there is a definite place where it carries into the home life,
01:11:32.756 --> 01:11:35.396
into the home situations it hasn't changed,
01:11:36.636 --> 01:11:43.816
alcohol in the military hasn't changed either they still, everything the last ball that I went to St.
01:11:43.896 --> 01:11:45.316
Barbara's ball, that was one
01:11:45.316 --> 01:11:49.216
of the things everybody's going to make the hunch punch with the dry ice.
01:11:50.676 --> 01:11:53.956
Yeah let's have a ball you
01:11:53.956 --> 01:11:58.936
know yeah so has it
01:11:58.936 --> 01:12:05.496
changed it has but it hasn't so yeah but with that being said i guess to end
01:12:05.496 --> 01:12:11.436
okay so do you have any advice or anything that you will like that you would
01:12:11.436 --> 01:12:14.996
like to leave to the next generation of military brats,
01:12:16.151 --> 01:12:22.231
Stay true to yourself. You know, sometimes in the military, you do meet,
01:12:22.751 --> 01:12:29.271
there is this ideal of the type of personality or the actions of a military child.
01:12:29.551 --> 01:12:33.511
Someone who's compliant, you know, they're doing all these things.
01:12:34.691 --> 01:12:39.911
But I was so different I just wanted to I really just wanted to read my book
01:12:39.911 --> 01:12:47.571
at home write poetry do things that you know my dad thought was really weird so.
01:12:49.011 --> 01:12:53.631
Yeah and I just wanted I wanted people to stay true themselves like,
01:12:54.291 --> 01:12:57.591
if you're that type of child that's okay and you
01:12:57.591 --> 01:13:00.591
know and and Ashley I I just
01:13:00.591 --> 01:13:04.611
want to ask you one last question sure but because
01:13:04.611 --> 01:13:08.331
i don't know if this was the sixth or the seventh grade but it was you and it
01:13:08.331 --> 01:13:14.251
was another girl named heather but you guys had like the most epic beanie baby
01:13:14.251 --> 01:13:20.811
collections like ever do you still have that beanie baby collection it wasn't
01:13:20.811 --> 01:13:24.131
me it was my My best friend, Nicole Potter,
01:13:24.671 --> 01:13:28.831
she had a crazy Beanie Baby collection.
01:13:29.711 --> 01:13:34.391
Her mom and her would stay outside the BS.
01:13:35.669 --> 01:13:39.949
When the new Beanie Baby was coming in, they would go in at 6 a.m. and sit outside.
01:13:40.489 --> 01:13:44.029
Yeah, that was like the seventh grade, because that was like all the rage.
01:13:44.109 --> 01:13:48.109
And I just remember you had like a really epic collection, because you and Heather
01:13:48.109 --> 01:13:51.809
and like another person was always playing with like all the Beanie Babies and stuff.
01:13:52.029 --> 01:13:55.629
And I was just thinking to myself, that's like a hacky sack with eyeballs.
01:13:55.869 --> 01:13:58.689
Like that's what I was thinking Beanie Babies were, you know?
01:13:59.129 --> 01:14:02.069
I bet those things would be worth a lot of money now, though.
01:14:02.409 --> 01:14:06.429
Yeah. Well, I've got a couple. I need to look them up. I probably need to sell
01:14:06.429 --> 01:14:08.129
them. Maybe I'll sell them on our birthday shop.
01:14:09.029 --> 01:14:13.209
They actually had a whole run of Beanie Babies that had the state quarters in
01:14:13.209 --> 01:14:15.949
their feet. Yeah. Oh, that's cool.
01:14:16.589 --> 01:14:21.689
But with that being said, thank you guys for joining us tonight.
01:14:22.089 --> 01:14:25.949
Thank you, Ashley, so much. You are welcome back anytime. We are going to be
01:14:25.949 --> 01:14:27.189
getting your website up.
01:14:27.429 --> 01:14:30.789
So look forward to that. We're going to be recording a mini commercial for you.
01:14:30.789 --> 01:14:36.529
So you can definitely post that on your social media and things like that to promote your business.
01:14:36.749 --> 01:14:44.029
And then, guys, if you shop at all, www.betterbittnerbusiness.com. I will repeat that once.
01:14:47.009 --> 01:14:50.409
Betterbittnerbusiness.com. You can shop all of our collections.
01:14:50.549 --> 01:14:55.549
Ashley has a collection coming into the shop very soon. All purchases towards
01:14:55.549 --> 01:14:59.249
her collection will actually help her small business and her ventures in the
01:14:59.249 --> 01:15:02.549
communities that she is supporting in Kyle, Texas.
01:15:03.069 --> 01:15:05.869
Yep, that's right. In Kyle, Texas.
01:15:06.489 --> 01:15:10.829
So stay tuned next Saturday and we will talk with you then.
01:15:11.469 --> 01:15:14.329
All right. Thank you so much. Thank you.