In Episode 303 of Combat Vet Vision, host Aaron Q. Seibert and the Combat Vet Vision team welcome Sherman Watson Jr., a husband, father, United States Marine Corps veteran, three-time Purple Heart recipient, community leader, and veteran advocate.

This conversation focuses on combat service, transition, housing stability, education, peer support, community leadership, and the continued mission to serve after the uniform comes off.

Takeaways:

• The podcast serves as a platform dedicated to supporting veterans, their families, and advocates, fostering a strong community.
• We aim to provide invaluable knowledge and resources for veterans transitioning into civilian life, enhancing their pathways to success.
• Engagement in this community is essential; it allows veterans to connect and share experiences, ultimately aiding their recovery journey.
• National University offers educational programs tailored for veterans, ensuring they have access to higher education and vocational training opportunities.

Links

Sherman Watson Jr.

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherman-watson-jr-41537717

National University Los Angeles Veteran and Military Community Center

https://www.nu.edu/locations/southerncalifornia/los-angeles/

Sherman Watson Jr. National University Email - [email protected]

CO-HOST

Aaron Q. Seibert

Linktree - https://linktr.ee/aqseibert

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/aqseibert

Email - [email protected]

CO-HOST

Chef James L. “JB” Brown, AAC

Veterans Transition Resource Center - https://vtrc.us

PRODUCER

Brian Colburn

Linktree - https://linktr.ee/Bcolburn

Sitch Radio - https://sitchradio.com

Hey, welcome to Combat Vet Vision with me and Chef JB Brown on deck.

Yeah, he's been gone for a while.

It's good to have him back.

Our two shows.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So this is a platform for our veterans, our sponsor, supporters, volunteers, family members, those that want to get on knowledge.

For whatever you would like.

You know, it's, it's a great push that we can do to teach veterans or service people, you know, and their families also, not just them.

So, yeah, it becomes such a great resource library this, this podcast and we have some incredible guests that come on and, and you can relate to them.

Yeah, you know, male, females, everything.

You know, it's, it's all about us and how we go forward in life and things that we can learn and then use in our, in our life every day.

It's great.

Yeah, it's really an awesome, awesome deal because, you know, you never know what you're going to relate to.

You never know what, what that's going to mean.

And there's so many different aspects to that.

And we're right here at the Veterans Transition Resource center at the studio, putting this on in so many different ways.

There's so many cool things we're going to get into.

We're gonna have chef's, Chef's Kitchen in, in a little while.

But hey, I'm gonna bring on my guest.

His name is Sherman Watson, United States Marine, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines.

As, as I served with them.

We both served in combat together and I didn't even know it, but he's with National University.

He's doing a lot of really incredible things, pushing that out as an advocate.

He's got all kinds of cool information.

He's going to pass, but we're going to hear his story.

We're going to get into that.

Sherman, welcome to the show, brother.

Hi, you guys.

Thanks for having me.

It's incredible being here.

It's been honor.

Thank you, guys.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you for your service.

And I'm really interested in, in National University.

But that's later.

Let's.

Yeah, let's start with your story.

You know, I wanna, I wanna know, you know, obviously we talked about, you're in Compton, Carson area.

That's my old stomping grounds because I was at Naval Hospital.

Long beach was my first duty station, but it's no longer there.

And that was actually in Carson, even though it was Naval Hospital Long Beach.

But it, it now is like a Petco Edward Cinemas, whole bunch of other cool things shopping center there.

But hey, Sherman, if you could talk, you know, you grew up in Texas.

Tell your story, you know, what was your inspiration?

Join the Marine Corps?

All these cool things.

Mine was a bit sombering moment.

I was a young man.

Like, we all started and I was at work and I seen these planes crash into the World Trade Building in New York.

And I got somebody coming in the background.

That's right.

That's right.

Yeah.

My bad for that.

But, yeah, these planes, they flew in the.

In the World Trade Building.

And that's what kind of inspired me to join the Marines.

A lot of people always ask me, why.

Why you pick the Marine Corps?

And I was like, well, I wanted to.

Everyone kept saying, whatever tough is, that's the hardest.

I like a challenge.

So, you know, I played football, I was big in school, hitting the books and also as an athlete.

So I wanted a challenge.

So I went to the Marine Corps and.

And that's where.

That's why I chose to go.

Oh, yeah, I got.

Yeah, I got a challenge.

All right.

So joined the Marine Corps, went through the boot camp, and then, you know, school of infantry.

I was picked to be a heavy machine gunner.

What they do is those testing apparatuses to see what MOS field you go into.

So heavy machine gunner field was for me.

And then from there, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, Weapons Company, CAT Platoon, combined anti army team.

So in a.

In a.

In a nutshell, I deployed three times.

The initial invasion into Iraq operation, I believe that's Iraqi Freedom Tech 3.

And the deployments with capitone.

Now, every deployment, I was injured in combat, and now I'm out.

I retired at a very young age.

I believe it's 80% through the Marine Corps and it's just rebuilding from there.

A bunch of rehabilitation med boards and all that good stuff.

We said getting better and just.

That's where I'm the Marine Corps.

You know, all those.

Those deployments under my belt with my brothers, that was.

Those were some memories.

But that.

That didn't stop there.

So what I wanted to do was seeing all that destruction, being a part of it, deploying so many times.

I wanted to do something that I promised my brothers that I lost on the battlefield, that I'm gonna get back and I'm gonna assist veterans.

Is this personal or is it gonna be with a job?

It's gonna be in some kind of way to give back, to make sure veterans are not going to the street or to substance or just to the wayside, not being forgotten.

And for me, being out front these so many decades assisting veterans, this veteran world has brought me back forward to that promise and even enriching myself to continue my personal mission in assisting as many veterans and their families until I say, I think that's enough, it's time for me to retired to their ranch in Texas.

Yeah.

Yeah, you're.

Yeah.

You got three Purple Hearts, three deployments.

You came back, obviously, and, and you know, it's real easy to kind of find that, that, that way out.

But how did your transition go when you, when you got.

Obviously you had goals, you had a lot of things that you wanted to do, but how was, how was your transition from, you know, leaving all that stuff in the Marine Corps and obviously going to combat not an easy task, especially as cap Platoon, you know, hanging out with Brian Shantage, you know, that, that kind of stuff for Battalion 5th Marines.

Yeah, so it's, it's, it was really no transition.

So it was.

This was new to the Marine Corps.

It's been a, it's been a minute since the Marine Corps was involved in a long conflict such as the one that I was a part of.

So it was what you, what you had to deal with was the transitional phase was this simplified fund and wounded warriors.

That pretty much put an end to my Marine Corps career, which I fought.

I wanted to stay in, but I just, I couldn't get that 20 because I was, I was medically retired at such a young age that I didn't want.

But I understand that dealing with headaches, vertigo, everything that comes with a third grade concussion, nosebleeds, memory issues, just having to learn how to walk again and read again, that was all that stuff.

The visual issues to it, you know, it's.

The brain is such a, such a wonderful thing.

So once it's been rattled too much, you're gonna lose some things.

You just got to gang it back.

So what you, what you see today is something that you think, oh, man, this, this guy is not going to recover.

It's.

It's a, it's a night and day.

So that was, that was basically the transition, just rehabilitation.

I didn't go through no Taps class.

No, no, no transitional class.

It was, you know, leaving scripts and being retired from the.

For the Marine Corps.

That's why I was Scripps Hospital Enable, the Naval hospital on board Camp Hilton.

And that was my transition.

That's pretty much my transition at The Marine Corps.

Right.

So you, you were with Wounded Warrior Battalion west for a certain amount of time until they transitioned you out.

And was that a complete handoff to the va?

Did you feel like that, that handoff went smooth?

You know, obviously, you know, I know the battalion was working on that for a long period of time because that's really where 93% of all of our veterans went from Wounded War Battalion west to.

They're out of the Marine Corps, they're out of their service and now they have to be hopefully handed off to the, to the next echelon of medical care, hopefully, you know, without any kind of break or different things like that.

How was yours, how did yours work out?

So it was, I would say I was the lucky ones.

You know, they, from, from my experience I can see that they took care of the combat wounded.

That's one of their, I guess main goals or focus to make sure that we have everything set up for us.

So they brought actually the VA in.

It was actually the VA from San Diego and they did the whole workup with us while we were still in service, while we were still in the Wounded Warrior barriers.

And these wasn't the Wounded Warrior barriers that you see today.

These was like little trailers and we had our own little trailers.

So they needed a place for them other than the units, us being in the units, because that's where I started out was back at the barracks.

Then they realize, oh, he's leaving for his appointments from the barracks.

But I need to be with, closer to the naval hospital so I can see the doctors too because it's other things that they need to see me about.

And I guess you know, them understanding that and that's what they formulated the, the barracks.

What we've seen when I live and what we see today.

Definitely, definitely.

And I remember, remember the battalion just starting out and you know we were finally got a building, old, old building.

So yeah, you didn't get to see that.

You didn't get to see all the air conditioned rooms and big, you know, ADA compliance situation.

So you got transitioned out and you still had to recover, right?

You still, you were still going through a lot of different recoveries.

I mean it's not like we're ever going to recover, but we're always going to be in recovery.

We're always going to be trying to make ourselves better, trying to, hopefully the brain cells are going to improve.

Right.

So you were still going through a lot of these things and, and how did that, how'd that work out for you?

You know, once again I was fortunate and I had a close net of friends, buddies that I still serve with.

We talked every day, we met up, I kept up with my appointments.

I took it real serious.

I met my fiance shortly after I left the Marine Corps.

So she assisted me in a lot.

What I dealt with a lot was the headaches and the memory issues.

So it can be two ways with the memory.

It can be good and it can be bad.

Because when you talk to me sometimes you be like, man, did you serve?

Because it's some stuff I can't remember, which is my buddy would say it's a, it's a blessing but then it's a curse because it affected some of my childhood memory that I couldn't remember.

But it's, I am at a veteran house, one of my close buddies and I mean we are cracking and we're just doing our thing.

That's all right.

So yeah, so it's just, just having that, that close knit, that's what you want, you want to have this and that you can call on, that can be there for you.

And I did have it.

I think that's one of the, the most crucial parts of me wanted to volunteer the way I did with many different organizations across LA County.

Yeah, that's such an important thing that you brought up is like making sure you're kind of engaged in organizations but you obviously have to be engaged in your self recovery people that you know, you can count on such an important part.

And what was it that got you, you know, did you end up going to the National University right away?

How did that work?

And then let's talk about how, let's talk about the National University because a lot of people don't know about it.

Is the number one knowledge for the military.

Yeah.

But I would say for military and veterans and civilians because it's, we gonna get to National University.

So it's a workup to National University.

It's okay.

You know, this is something that I didn't jump into when I first got out.

What I, what I, what me and my brother wanted to do was with all our deployments, we Seen something and we seen that we were still being forgotten and we were still being stepped over.

I had a lot of people within weapons company that did commit suicide and that, that bothered me hearing it and you know, getting the after action report on was troublesome.

So I said that I didn't want to lose no more brothers like this.

So I of course tried to reconnect and also try to do my connection here in LA County.

So that's what we did.

We formed Compton Veterans and we have been assisting families, military members, veterans for well over 20 years.

And with just that nonprofit Compton Veterans, we steam from the veterans activists now the veterans activists.

We took that approach of getting veterans much needed resources in LA county and we just took it and just made it times even better.

That's just connecting different organizations and collaborative efforts with organizations and nonprofits to make sure those veterans are not being forgotten.

We don't want to do the same thing.

What happened to our Vietnam veterans to where oh the war dying down, let's forget about it.

Or this person isn't being seen because someone at the VA is not being as responsive as they should be.

So that's us doing the follow up, that's us doing the advocacy work, that's us being on the front line.

If we was on the front line getting shot at, we was on the front line seeing all these, you can be making sure veterans not mistreated or forgotten.

That's basically what it is.

Answer that email, answer that call, follow up.

Because we're not just gonna email you.

I like knocking on doors.

That's I think the best, the best method to get anything done is showing up in person and knocking on doors and asking that question everybody dreads to ask why you dropped the ball because this is life.

So we got to make sure we, we just getting it done.

So with that I took it and I said well I want to do something else.

That's because I'm seeing a huge homeless issue in LA County.

I mean it's big now.

The numbers have came down a bit due to a lot of people stepping up doing the work and veterans keeping up their end of the bargain too because it's, it's a, it's not just a one way street, it's a, it's, this is a two way multi angle approach.

Everyone got to be involved, everybody got to do their part, including the veteran.

So I went to for VOA Volunteers of America, the HUD badge division that was extremely sombering to see a lot of Vietnam veterans still on the street.

And not being assisted and now seeing 9, 11 veterans repeating the same thing.

Oh I know we had a problem.

So being within the VOA HUD badge, having a caseload is one me housing benefit specialist.

Housing specialist.

A caseload of 35 veterans is one person and you can see how overloading they can be.

And that's, that's not just mentally because once you mentally drained and you're going to be physically drained and you having to deal with these 30 some veterans on one person caseload, trying to get them housed with all these different mentalities, all these different, different traumas, all these different built up cases within themselves that years everyone ignored them.

Are you trying to figure out how to compact all this and find them a safe place to start it all over again?

That's something that says a lot to those case managers that are still out there.

That's ground pounding man.

I, I mean I tip my hat off to those because I know they out there, they doing it.

Those are the true unseen heroes in this, in this battle.

Now I was at voa then I transitioned over to Mental Health America Los Angeles.

That program was Operation Healthy Homecoming.

That was the SSVL program, Supportive service for veterans and families.

So now that opened me to more of the veterans families.

So you, you helping dependents and spouses and the veterans too.

So it's still similar.

You still got a huge caseload and you still trying to assist these veterans.

Once again you see it and it's more so when I moved from LA from that organization voa.

Now you mainly in Long beach, but you're still assisting veterans all over LA County.

You see it the same thing in Long Beach.

It's the same thing.

I would say this, I think Long beach got way better services for veterans.

I really do.

Just my experience from working in that field for I was in close to 15 years.

But it's, it's still the same issues.

We got to do a better job transitioning.

The transitioning phase.

These military men and women, they do such an incredible job while they serving.

We should on the military or even us should do a better job when they transitioning.

Having something set up, having something that's in place that's waiting and that's what brings me to National University.

National University.

After I left mhala, I reached a level of program coordinator with mhala and when I was approached by National University they had a luncheon last year in November, which they have the same luncheon coming up.

I like the segment you guys have seen me flyer.

I'm gonna Start sending you guys my flyers for my workshops and hybrid workshops we have at National University.

Now for everybody don't know about National University.

Founded by a military and a veteran.

He's seen that it's really no college that fits our schedule.

That's basically what it is.

We are all over the country, we are all over the world.

We need something that can bring family in higher education or certificates, something together.

This make this make sense so that these men and women in uniform and out of uniform, they can have a place that they can still feel familiar with and call home.

And that's what National University is.

They have this thing where universities say students, we say Anders and Anders just mean they, they're not just students, they're.

They're not just military personnel.

Our veterans, they and more, they are workers, they are entrepreneurs, they are mothers, they are fathers, they are aunties, they are veterans, they're Anders.

That's what that is.

And that's why we offer this hybrid type of high education and career pathways.

That's what National University is.

Now for me, with national, this is a mouthful.

I give you guys some time to catch up.

But with me in my center, I am the associate director of the Veteran Military Community Center.

Now, you know all these VRCs, veteran resource centers, they're incredible.

They're VSOs.

Can't knock them.

They're doing it all.

The one thing I like about how national form this National University form, this is the community.

They saying, look guys, it's the Veterans Military and Community center, which we came from the community, we are from the community and we always go back to the community.

We never left the community.

It's just let's incorporate the community in to do these wraparound real world services where we can connect our veterans, military, their family and citizens, regular citizens that are doing the best in life too, to these resources.

And that's where we at now.

That's what brings me to my workshops and hybrid workshops that I produce out of my center here in LA.

Space Force, now the Space Force, you know, they're doing a soft transition over from Air Force to Space Force.

So that's some cool stuff.

So that's where we are.

And not only those workshops we provide, we also have a food pantry that's open to the entire community.

So you feeling like, you know, that gas is too much for that, you know you, you pumping in the car.

Food is a bit too much.

If you want to save some money on some canned goods and dry foods, give me a call, give me an email, come on by natural.

And I got you.

That's awesome.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

Being a chef, I, I can really relate to that.

You know, hunger is a bad thing and, and nobody should go home.

Children, veterans, anybody, seniors, you know, it's.

It's so important.

So it's super awesome to know about National University.

I didn't really gain my mindset around it until I talked to you a couple weeks ago.

Miguel from QRF up.org hit me up and was like, hey, man, you got to get a hold of Sherman.

But he kind of stepped away from it from QRF up.

But he's doing a lot of stuff too, for himself, which is great because we all as veterans need to do stuff for ourselves.

But it's so rewarding to finally find an organization that you can, you can get with to help out and support other things, including yourself, you know, but, but National University is on the naval vessels doing college courses.

They're doing stuff.

I'm pretty sure they're everywhere where you, you would, you want to know about college and what, what it's working for the military.

You may not even know it's National University, but that's what it is.

And he just happens to be right there in la, in the center right there, doing all kinds of stuff for veterans in the community.

And that's a huge community to a veteran.

So I'm glad you are there, Sherman.

I know I expect to talk with you a lot on, on these subjects and fill in, fill in some other stuff, man.

What, what is it that you're, that you're passionate about?

Why is it that you, you went this way and, you know, you've been doing this for about two years now, right?

National University.

No, national.

Actually with National University, it's been six months.

Six months.

But it seems like it.

You seem pretty passionate about it.

You lit up about it.

It's got a lot of stuff going, obviously you've been passionate about.

And you can look at his Veteran Advocate logo, which is on the, on the artwork that I put together over his shoulder.

You can see that that's the, that's the logo for the Veteran advocacy and talk about your passion and why that, why that drove you to here.

Yeah, it's, it's, it's full circle.

It's, you know, I was fortunate.

Even though a lot of.

We say in our.

You don't see all our wounds.

It's not visible.

I got a lot of wounds and, and I know a lot of veterans out there that are quiet.

They keep to themselves.

I did the same thing.

They don't reach out for assistance.

They try to pull from within.

Such strong, I would say just incredible individuals.

It's just brother sisters.

It's nothing wrong for reaching out for assistance.

And that's why we have these.

We got this platform now, but we have these resources available for you.

All you got to do is just email, pick up the phone, or just simply just walk out the front door.

We're here.

I don't want to lose no more veterans.

An hour or every two hours.

I don't want to see a military personnel transitioning.

That just says to themselves, I don't know what I'm going to do.

I, I think that we are failing them.

And I say we as a.

The American people, not just myself or the government or the va, I say us, we can all advocate to make sure that this doesn't happen across the board anywhere.

And then once you get on your feet and you want to figure it all out again, National University right there.

We ain't went nowhere.

We got those higher education pathways.

That's a cool thing.

You know, the cool thing about National, I'm bringing them back up is you have working adults, and we all are working.

We're not just sitting around.

This isn't just military and veterans.

This any working adult, a working young adult.

If traditional colleges don't fit your, I would say your lifestyle, look at National University, you'd be surprised.

You'd be like, wow, wait a minute, I got time to do this.

I can do that.

I can put this on hold.

You don't have to sit in that class for 10 hours all day long going to multiple classrooms.

It's some, it's, it's different avenues that you can look at.

It's really something that you can just think about.

And that's why I think this, this, and I know that this model, it truly is beneficial to military and veterans.

It really is.

Especially the time military, active duty military.

I mean, just, you know, getting a call in the middle of the night, hey, you got to go.

Okay, well, I can, I know I can put that on hold and come back to it or.

You don't have to.

Yeah.

You got a laptop.

You, you somewhere in an fob, you got, you got a signal.

If it's allowed it hop on that class real quick.

That's right.

Well, it gives what it really does is get a person out of a.

Out of their own head and, and know that there's a way that they can help other veterans and a pathway to help other veterans that gets them more motivated and resourceful.

You know, I mean, I don't ever help anybody and not learn.

You know, that's the biggest thing about it.

You know, whenever I help somebody, God blesses me with more knowledge and more ability to be better, you know, in helping people.

So that's.

That's real important for me.

I mean, everything that I served on or was on in the, in the Coast Guard when I was in.

They don't even have them anymore.

I mean, they're obsolete now.

You know, that's how fast we change on things.

And, you know, we came home from Vietnam.

You know, I didn't go to Vietnam, but I had a lot of veterans that I worked with that, that, you know, they, they didn't even wear their uniform when they came home because it was, you know, they were spit on and, and they were baby killers or whatever.

But, you know, it's like you have to be engaged.

You have to engage in learning different avenues.

And, I mean, if you went to the VA, it was all day for 10 minutes, you know, and it was just.

It was so dragging.

And, you know, I knew that there had to be a better way.

And.

And I was in a VA hospital one time for, for an appointment, and somebody said, oh, you should go over to Vancouver.

It's just right over the river in Washington, and it's toward Vancouver over there.

And it's small, it's quick, it's pretty easy, lots of parking, no problems.

So I went one day and I said, can I come here?

And they said, yeah, we'll take.

Not a problem.

And all of a sudden, you know, it changed my life, so to speak.

You know, I, I started getting more engaged because it was easier to be engaged with other veterans and getting, Getting more.

More done, but also doing it better, so to speak.

You know, if you're not taking all your time up sitting around, you know, just sitting around waiting for.

To see somebody and talking to veterans.

I mean, that's pretty good in its own self, but, you know, anytime you get a chance to talk to veterans, talk to them, because you always learn something, you know, Definitely.

And I know, Chef, you, you, you paved, you know, the first pathway for someone coming out of the service and then going into the.

To be a chef.

Yes.

And, you know, National University might not have been around.

No.

It was around, but it maybe wasn't around as well to do that.

But.

No, this is the first time I've heard about it for you.

Yeah.

74 Years old, but obviously, obviously, you know how important it is for a college to say, okay, cool, we're going to use the GI Bill.

We're gonna let you use that, Right?

Yeah.

And you were able to.

To.

To.

To navigate some stuff, but you had.

JT training for chefs.

You had to push for that.

Yeah, I was the first one.

You know, it was just how it was.

I mean, the ACF pushed the United States military programs for chefs because we weren't even as a professional grade until 76, when finally they recognized it as a professional field.

So we were domestic, like a maid or a butler.

You know, that's what a chef was.

So, I mean, it's baby steps, and it's, you know, pushing and.

And I helped push it a little bit, but I didn't realize that when I was doing that, I was just helping other veterans, you know, and my chef was helping veterans.

So, I mean, that's how it works,.

And that's why this is such a great resource.

Sherman, I'm going to let you, you know, fill in any last words you might want to talk about.

And like I said, you can always.

Come on, throw some other information out here, but you might have some veterans that might want to be chefs.

And.

And.

And this, you know, through national university and Chef J.B. brown, I mean, there's a lot of.

He works with the college here.

He trains all these chefs up here.

I went to his, you know, thing.

He knew all the chefs, and they're all, like, learning, and he's got veterans that are doing this program as well.

So, you know, this is all part of this really cool network.

And, Sherman, you're such a great resource, because if anybody asked me how to go to college, I'm gonna be like, you need to talk to Sherman Watson University.

But not only that, but your advocacy and your stuff.

I look forward to talking to you some more and working on some projects with you along the way, because, I mean, this is.

This is our lives.

I mean, we just kind of wrap our minds around what we're going to do to help our veteran community.

I might not have enough answers, but I'm gonna.

I'll be able to consult with you and get those.

Has lots of hope, you know, and that's what veterans need.

Yeah.

And.

Yeah, and you guys can always get a hold of Sherman through me.

But, Sherman, go ahead and give your last, you know, final words that you might want to put out there.

And if.

If somebody wants to get a hold of you, feel free to put out as much information about that as you want.

All right.

Well, first and foremost, I would like to thank both of you guys at Combat Vision.

Thank you guys so much for hosting me and promoting this and giving me this opportunity on this platform to tell people about National University and I would say my experience in getting veterans resources.

But if you would like to be more involved or if you like any kind of resources or benefits, you can reach out to me at my email at swatson2n u.

That's S. Watson2@nu edu.

And of course, I'll be hitting these guys up with those cool flyers and workshops coming that we already got in place.

I just need to send them the.

The information so that way we can spread the word.

Okay.

That's right.

Hey, Sherman, thanks a lot for being on the show.

I look forward to having you again.

Another 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines buddy of mine.

Oh, it's just so incredible to find out.

Yeah.

Hey, thanks a lot, brother.

We appreciate you, man.

Hey, thanks for the shout out.

Edu did do a shout out for the show, and so did Recon Chief Incorporated.

You know, so many cool things when guys are watching this.

And, hey, we haven't had Chef on for quite a while.

He's got a lot of information to pass.

I look forward to passing some other information a little bit later in the show, especially since I just got back from the 10th annual golf tournament for the PTSD foundation of America in Southern California, raising money for the PTSD foundation of America that supports our veterans across the west coast and Southern California and California as a whole.

You know, throwing them to Camp Hope if we need to, or getting them involved in warrior groups.

But Chef.

Chef JB's Chef's Kitchen.

How you doing, brother?

Kitchen.

I'm doing excellent.

So some things that are happening here at the Veterans Transition Resource center, we have a golf.

I mean, not a golf tournament.

I wish we had sometime.

Sometime soon.

Soon.

Okay, I'll put you on that, and I'll hold you to it.

But we have a.

A poker tournament up in Northern Nevada.

It's.

It's.

Here's Save the Date.

It's at the Nevada State Museum.

And that museum used to be A mint for the United States government.

And that mint is still in the basement.

All the, all the equipment and the supplies are down there.

And it's, it's on like three different floors.

And if you don't play poker and you want to bring your wives or whatever, there's a museum there and you can go through it.

It's on three, three floors.

And we usually do a hunt, you know, like, I don't know what they call it.

You know, it's.

It escapes me right now, but it escapes me too.

I know what you're talking about.

Yeah.

They give you a list and if you find them and where they're at in the museum and afterwards.

Scavenger hunt.

Scavenger hunt.

That's it.

So it's a scavenger hunt.

If your wives or your kids.

Kids want to go do that.

I mean, it's really interactive to kids.

Also a lot of history about Nevada.

Some things are really amazing and it's a wonderful building.

They turn it all over to us.

They assist us every way they can.

And you know, we, we had an event there last year.

We have a little bit of.

Well, the entertainment is the poker tournament and they have drinks, they have some really good food.

I go up and do all the food for this event.

Some little appetizer things, charcuterie board, desserts.

We'll put some of that up later.

And so that's, that's going on in Northern California and I'm looking forward to doing that.

My wife loves to play poker, so I'm.

I bought her a seat so.

So she can sit down and see how she does.

Last time she was in Northern Nevada and Tahoe, she won the tournament when she played.

So maybe that'll reinvent itself, who knows?

God's got the master plan.

But here at the Veterans Transition Resource center in Las Vegas, we need some help.

We're looking for a VSO or navigate the new claims.

We have an office here for you, a complete setup in the office.

Your own office.

You just come in and work.

You schedule your own clients at your own time.

So day or evening, people call us all the time, are looking for that.

So we do have that position available.

Also we're going to be interviewing for some people to volunteer for.

And that's a voluntary position also.

And then to volunteer to.

We're open from 9 to 1, Monday through Thursday, two of our days.

One of the co founders maintains it, but he goes on vacation and I'm here for a couple of days, so.

But we still need help so keep that.

If you're a veteran, want to donate some time for a good cause and see what we're all about, we're looking for, for veterans all the time to help out.

If you're with a different 501c3 group, that's okay.

We collaborate with a lot of 501c3 groups.

I do the honor flight.

I do a pancake breakfast twice a year.

Our next one is coming up in November.

I'll be talking about that later on in the show.

And the last thing I'd like to say is St. Jude's Ranch now has officially taken over the Blooming Bistro.

And so we're working with 18 to 22 year olds.

In fact, as we speak, we're doing interviews with Caesars for six of our students and we're trying to bloom them up.

You know, it's, they do a huge foster care program here, but at 18 they fall off of foster care.

So now they have a program for adult foster care 18 to 22.

And we, we work with workforce department development for the 18 to 22 year olds.

Not, not saying that they want to go in the food and beverage industry, but how to do things in life.

Put your phone down, be engaged, be friendly.

You know, suit up, show up, be on time.

You know the, the usual standard that, that employers are looking for in today's youth workforce.

So, and we work with Nevada Department of Employment.

They have a representative on site with us that does mock interviews, writing resumes for them.

We teach them financial things because it's important for them to know how to handle their money.

How many places used to teach us how to handle our money?

Can you imagine that?

I mean it, it's.

And then emotional.

They, they teach wellness, they have wellness seminars on how to treat yourself well and, and like sound healing and things like that.

So it's a well rounded, well versed program that we're doing for young, young adults.

But you know, veterans if, you know, we usually don't find too many 18 to 20 year old, 22 year old veterans because they're usually in the military.

But you know, this, this National University, I'm really interested in that.

I mean that'd be really nice to get somebody that could work in our program here at the VTRC in National University and, and become an advocate here for that also.

What, what a great thing for not only veterans but their families.

So I think it's a great thing.

Definitely that's what's going on with me.

I had a great vacation.

I went up to Oregon and Washington and happened to go to Fort Vancouver this last time and, and got to see the fort, the old fort from Hudson Bay Company and before America was America and the Wild west was the Wild West.

But it was interesting.

Quite an education.

Never realized, I mean, I'd been to that fort when I.

In 73, 74, 75, 76 up to 79.

And then I moved on away from Oregon.

But that's the VA hospital I went to all the time because it was quick, it was easy, lots of parking, no problems.

And it was a newer, newer building.

Now it's huge.

I just drove by it.

I didn't go in, but I drove by it.

But it's nice to see that, that the United States has taken a, a great approach to upgrade the VA medical system.

And here in Las Vegas, I can tell all veterans out there that are listening, we have one of the top three hospitals here.

Most of the rooms are suites.

They have a bathroom, they have, you know, lounge chairs in them.

Your wife can spend the time with you, helping you recover faster and better.

One person in a room.

I was in the VA hospital in 73 and in Portland, and there was six men in a ward in a room.

They didn't have rooms, they had wards.

Right?

Yeah.

And you know, I mean, you got six guys, one bathroom.

It's pretty crazy.

So, you know, we've come a long ways and this hospital now, you know, thanks to our politicians now they have no more than a 15 minute wait period.

I can't tell you how phenomenal that is for veterans coming out of the military today.

You know, it's a fast paced program that we're on and no more sitting for six, seven hours, just hanging out, talking to other veterans sometimes and watching the, the clock on the walls just move very slow.

Creep.

You know, it's like watching paint peel.

You know, it's, it's not easy some days, but, you know, we got to have a sense of humor about it.

We saw those days.

They're pretty much long and gone, which is good.

I mean, today if I need something, if I ask, I usually get it.

So that's a good thing.

And I think that's an overall approach to everything.

I mean, National University now giving more.

The Veterans Transition Resource center here, giving more anymore.

So we want to collaborate with other programs here in the city and do other things.

So it's all good.

Yeah.

Well, thanks, Chef.

That's a, that's a great perspective on a lot of things.

And yeah, you know, obviously a lot of things have changed within the VA process.

And like you said, if you ask for it, you can get it.

But, you know, learning how to ask for it is super important.

Learning how to navigate the technology that's on your phone for it, super important.

Because I didn't have all the answers.

But once someone shows you the route, then it ends up being easier.

And I think.

I think that's.

Knowledge is power.

Knowledge is power.

And I think, you know, with National University, knowing that you have these options is super important.

I think when you step out and you wonder about your transition and you just give up, because nothing, you know, you did in the military really transitions over to civilian life or something like that, and you put in a hundred applications, nobody's answered you.

You know, it's.

It's surrounding you with people that are going to help you along the way and being involved.

That's it.

And it's very hard.

What it might be, your resume is not right.

It might be, you know, and I have people that work with me, with St. Jude's that would work with a veteran if.

If we needed that.

But you got to come to me.

You know, they.

Sherman had it pegged really good.

He said, people get out, and then they get alone and they stay alone.

And.

And there's a saying, my mind is like a bad neighborhood.

I don't want to go there alone, because what's it going to tell me?

What am I going to learn?

I already saw that done, that I need to open up the mind and.

And go forward, you know, and.

And.

But how can you do that if there's nothing that interests you?

So, like, National University probably has a lot of different programs.

And you know what?

The best thing you can do is say, hey, I'm sitting here at home doing nothing, playing video games that I hate.

And.

And I'm not doing anything constructive with my time.

I have disability.

So why don't you come and see if you can't help other veterans?

You know, that's.

That's getting out of your own mind and your own stuff.

And if nothing else, answer a phone call and talk to a vet.

I'm.

You talk to a lot of vets with the PTSD foundation of America.

I do do all these warrior groups.

And you know what?

I. I've been in your car or your truck when you personally talking people, you know, talking with them, and that's all you got to do is talk, you know, be interested a little bit, be engaged.

And if you're engaged, then you can bring them off that cliff.

And you can bring him around, you know, and.

And it's so important, you know, do you feel like you want to take your life?

You know, do you.

Do you feel like, you know, you're so down that there isn't enough?

You know, what, what drives you?

Do you have children?

Do you have a spouse?

What about a mother or father or sister or brother?

Somebody that you can engage with besides yourself, you know, get you out of you.

And that.

I mean, that's.

First step, you know.

Yeah, huge step.

And I would just.

I would just say this too, you know, if you're a veteran that, you know, you know, no matter what, you know, make sure you have.

Or.

Or just, Just try to give an hour of time a week to another veteran.

You know, to really talk to somebody, you know, it's.

It's important to reach out to our veterans.

And you, as a veteran, have a lot of buddies.

Maybe you don't like to reach out to this one because they're always down, but it's so important to reach out to them and just say something to them and, and, and talk them through some stuff.

And if they need some help and support, direct them to the podcast, direct them towards me, direct them towards Chef.

You know, we, we can, we can find some resources or some.

Some warrior groups or something like that.

And that's.

I mean, that's what I specialize in.

And doing these warrior groups three times a week.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, you know, and constantly reaching out, and that's.

That's what I do.

And, you know, the bottom line of the whole thing is you will be so blessed if you stop and think about it afterwards.

Words that you want to do it all the time.

I mean, that's how I started.

I started little, and I, you know, it didn't come over me right away, but after a period of time, I started thinking, wow, that really blessed me, you know, and.

And I was really blessed because I helped get this, you know, and now it's like, I don't even look for the blessings.

I just know that they're going to be there because I, you know, it's.

If you don't say no, then you get to help people.

You know, it's when you say no that you don't help anybody.

So it's so important to just say yes and suit up, show up and be a part of.

And.

And that's their own recovery from, you know, the trauma of war or the problems that they face daily in their own mind that probably wouldn't even be Raised a hill of beans to what the real problem is.

You know, it just, It.

It's so amazing.

Exactly.

Chef, thanks.

Thanks for your perspective.

Always great to get it.

Hey, I, you know, it's, It's.

It's awesome to have these perspectives on.

On life and in everything, too.

I mean, Chef's got a perspective on, you know, what's going on with St. Jude's and, you know, you hear about it on the, on the, on the, on the TV all the time, about how it's helping all these cancer victims and things of that nature to, you know, hey, what, what are we going to do with them when they get to 18, 20, 22?

And there's programs.

So that perspective is so cool.

Yeah.

And, you know, we get to be involved in some really incredible things.

And one of the.

One of those cool things that I get to be involved in every year for the last 10 years.

Well, it would have been 11, but we had Covid.

Yeah, but the PTSD foundation of America puts on.

Well, they don't put on.

Graystar puts it on to raise money for the PTSD foundation of America.

Every.

Every year in Southern California, an awesome golf tournament sells out, like, 15 minutes.

But, you know, was that Pinnacle Hill in Newport?

And one of the cool things.

Oh, it's beautiful.

And it's.

It's actually two courses.

Yeah.

In one.

So you can.

Literally, last year, we had two courses going at one time.

This year, they're doing a whole bunch of surgery to one side of the course.

So it's still 18 holes.

You know, I was able to do, like I talked about in.

In other podcasts, I was able to do the 18 boards on veterans that I've came across that I know and honor them in this.

In this.

In this case.

And so at every hole, there was a board representing a veteran and kind of talking about them and where they've been in their lives or what.

Where they're at in.

In their death as well, because I have four of them that are no longer with.

With us that I honored.

And I had to go through this process that Cynthia Daniel, who puts this on, she's going to be on my podcast sometime.

She had to get permission from Graystar to come on here and talk about it.

She'll be on here eventually.

She might be a little bit shy, but she's seen from the beginning, way back when, what I was doing and believed in me and the foundation in such a way that they created such a cool golf tournament.

And what's cool about it, too, is they, it's a, it's also a vending fair.

And because Graystar is like the largest apartment managers on the planet, they do all this cool stuff to build new buildings and kind of get, you know, families moved in.

And they have special programs for veterans too that allows them to find job opportunities.

And there's through.

I was just gonna be in a.

Maintenance.

Yeah, they do a lot of job opportunities for part time work for veterans that help with the golf tournaments.

Yeah, well, we have that as well through Tom Gibbons at Darts only golf.

But that's, that's another deal too.

But this one specifically, obviously they need a lot of different things.

They build massive buildings.

They build all kinds of stuff from elevator mechanics to, you know, outside groundkeeping to maintenance of the building to, you name it, everything.

Yeah.

Painting, flooring and just some incredible things.

And you know, Rampage Jackson was out there hanging out, signing autographs, doing a bunch of stuff right next to us, playing his music all loud and enjoying life.

It was, it was totally cool he came over.

He's going to be on my podcast here in the near future as well.

So I look forward to getting him on.

So there's a rub, you know, somebody who really is, has been in the veteran community as far as like supporting it, doing, you know, it gets to understand, hey, you know, being a fighter, you know, we're fighting in the military.

Whether, whether you served in the military or didn't, as a fighter, you understand what, what it is to have an opponent, having, having to do that stuff.

So I think it's really cool to get his perspective on life and just see where he's been and doing, doing some stuff.

But there's so many cool things.

But what I really like about it is the fact that it does have a pathway to create jobs for our veterans.

So if you're looking for a job and I'd say elevator mechanic, if you can be that guy, I want to hear about it because it's one of the highest paid position jobs in the construction business because you're constantly having to, you know, hang from ropes, I mean, or cables or whatever it is to kind of make sure that the elevators are working okay.

And, but it's, it seems like a real dangerous job, but it's also pretty cool, I would say.

But they do have those opportunities.

That's just one example.

And it's something that I've always been fascinated with and I'm like, hey, you know, can you hook this guy up?

But there is, there's a pathway, there's a pathway for you if, if you want to be involved.

But first of all, you got to get yourself in a good position.

And if you need to be in a good place, the PTSD foundation of America is there to help you with your ptsd, substance abuse issues, all these different things that are, that are kicking your butt.

You know, the Warrior Built foundation, recreational support, combat, you know, so, you know, vocational recreational support.

So it has job opportunities as well as vocational support.

You know, being part of Warrior Built has been a really big part of my life.

But I will say there's golf tournaments that raise money for these guys all over the place happening from time to time.

If you want to be involved in any of those, let me know.

If you're looking for a job as a veteran, I could help you maybe navigate some of that in some places across the country.

I don't have all the resources, but I can find them.

And, and we'll.

And we'll look for them.

So I think it's.

I think it's important to be part of this.

I think it's really cool to be part of Chef's guys.

And yeah, he takes me back and forth, you know, and Brian Colburn's now in, in Las Vegas.

He'll be here doing a lot of things, and so I'll see him a lot more.

Brian Colburn behind the, behind the scenes, pushing all the buttons, making it happen in my producer of the show.

And hey, it's good to see Jake McMillan's just giving me a shout out.

He was with me at the golf tournament.

I throw him under the bus as much as I can to take me, take him with me, and we do a bunch of cool things together.

But to support the veterans in such a cool way.

He's got a real estate company.

He's trying to always do real estate in the Lake Elsinore, Wildemar, Temecula area.

So if you need a real estate agent, let me know.

And he's.

He's doing good stuff, but he's always helping me out with so many cool things.

But I just want to put it out.

Hey, Brian is also reviewing the podcast all the time.

So I have Brian Colburn doing the review, and he's going to come on right now.

We're going to talk about it.

We're going to close it out.

Brian, how you doing, brother?

Good.

Gentlemen, how are you?

Good, good.

Excellent.

Good, good.

Well, you're up, buddy.

Hey, you know, I've got the easy job.

I get to sit back and, and tell you what an incredible guest Incredible work.

It's cool.

He's from my old stomping grounds.

You know, that's, that's awesome.

And I didn't realize you served with him in 3:5, Chief, so that's kind of cool too.

And it was interesting.

When I was in adac, Alaska, stationed there, I had the opportunity to take a college class.

You know, it's rough when you're serving because, you know, a schedule doesn't mean anything.

But the entire backup force had two vehicles.

I think it was 13 guys myself.

I'm the only guy sitting in class.

They had to sit in freezing cold weather in the vehicles ready to go.

And, you know, if I got a radio call, I had to run out of class.

And I'm the only guy armed up, sitting in class trying to learn.

I think I took like an American history class or something.

I, I don't believe it was through national and, and I wish I would have known more about them when I did serve because if I would have spent more time in a classroom than on a bar stool, I probably would have been a lot better off today.

Well, we still have the option, remember he said, for veterans, family.

So, you know, let's, you know, it's still an option, so.

Absolutely, absolutely.

National University.

I want to throw that name out there.

Absolutely.

And the link is in the show notes, and I believe his link for LinkedIn is in the show notes as well.

So hit him up if you're looking for anything.

But, you know, it's really interesting, Chief, because during lunch we talked about developing more story into what we're doing, and that rang so true with what we were doing today.

And I look forward to working with the both of you on that and, and slowly integrating a little more story into the great information we give.

Just because stories are memorable, stories can be a little more impactful.

And when we reduce the bulleted list of information and develop a story, you know, it's, it's going to be that much more impactful to the guests or to the listeners.

But great show, guys.

Great information.

Love what you're doing for the community and the veterans.

And, you know, I, I would really love to see a segment where we talk to maybe somebody getting ready to join in, in the debt program, getting ready to go to boot camp.

Maybe we need to find a local recruiting office here and see if they want to play ball.

I mean, what a great experience for that pulley to be surrounded by men like yourselves who've been there, done that before.

They, they go away.

That might be something Cool to explore in the future.

And great returning guests, you know, a few weeks later, depending on which service they go into.

What was their boot camp experience like?

Bring them back on.

What was your basic schools like?

Bring them back on.

You've been a year in, in the fleet.

You know, in my world, you know, what's life like?

I mean, that could be really cool chronicling that story for that individual to look back on too, in 10, 15, 20 years.

So, yeah, that, that popped into my mind.

But again, great job, guys.

Love what you're doing.

Keep it up and we'll see you next week.

Thanks, Brian.

It's always good to have a live review on here because this is to make podcasters better, including myself, obviously.

I'm on.

On the hot seat.

And so his chef is on the hot seat, but chef's on the hot seat a lot because he's always cooking.

So.

That's a good way to put it.

That's a good way to put it.

Yeah.

Hey, but I really appreciate having this opportunity to always bring something to the table and, you know, the knowledge is power and, and this is a resource catalog of, of, of, of, of stories.

And, you know, I need to get better at telling mine a little bit better because I've bullet pointed it so much that I've sugarcoated it to where it's just kind of bullet pointed.

But I'm, I'm looking forward to, like, you know, developing with Brian.

Brian's helping me not only learn, you know, a lot of the AI stuff to better manage this whole system, to the artwork, to everything in between and.

Chef.

Any final words, brother?

No, just, you know, Confucius say, mind is like umbrella, only works when open.

So keep an open mind and if you get lonely, give us a call.

We'll help.

We'll put you to work.

I'll put you to work.

Right, Right, that's it.

Bon appetit.

Bon appetit.

That's right.

That's.

That's chef's going away words.

Hey.

And until next time.

Hey, look.

Love having you.

Love seeing you.

Thanks.

Thanks for being my guests on here.

Thanks for.

Thanks for being the audience as well.

And I look forward to our next one.

Until next time.

Strength and honor out the only way and we need nothing more the only way Together forever.

That's for sure.