EP 67. Veterans' Stories: A Pacific Islander Perspective.

In this episode, we delve into our diverse experiences as veterans and our journeys in the military. Our conversation covers topics such as culture shock, the significance of Polynesian camaraderie, and the unique experiences of Pacific Islander service members.

Our discussion also touches on the challenges faced during deployments and the varied paths veterans take upon leaving the military. We explore how different individuals respond to military service and the impact it has on their lives.

Additionally, we invite all veterans and the public to join us on November 10th for the Pacific Island Veteran's Day Dinner, a special event to honor and celebrate veterans in Utah. This dinner promises to be an evening of appreciation and recognition for the sacrifices made by those who have served in the armed forces. Don't miss this opportunity to connect and pay tribute to our veterans. Link to register for event: https://pacificislandveteransdinner.eventbrite.com

Sponsors:
Matai 
Independent Island Insurance
Pasifika Foods
Natin But Grindz

988 has been designated as the new three-digit dialing code for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (now known as the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline). We can all help prevent suicide. The Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals in the United States.

Transcript

Hey, ladies and gentlemen, everybody in between. Welcome back to another episode of Behind the Lava Lava. We want to acknowledge our sponsors for this episode, , Matai Watches, Independent Island Life Insurance, and Nothin But Grinds. These are our faithful sponsors that's been with us, uh, you know, fairly new at the beginning of the year.

We want to shout out and, uh, let them, uh, appreciate them for their, uh, continuous support. I'm here with, uh, you know, your regular cast members, uh, First time in a long time where all of us, uh, you know, we're shooting, doing a little recording and having a little conversation. I am Mr. Johnny Mee, Mr. Spencer, Mr.

Mike Tan, and Mr. Milford Teofalo. Uh, if you guys, uh, don't know, uh, you know, we're all veterans and, you know, this is a, this is a good time to live, a good time to be in. And, uh, you know, I just wanna, wanna, give it out to the, to the guys. See, uh, see how, uh, how's your day been, how's your life been, you know?

Uh, you know, how's your, how's your week been, go ahead, guys. Thanks for asking. You know, I've had a pretty pleasant week. Lots of, uh, sunshines and, and roses. A lot of, uh, yeah, no, I worked, been working a lot, you know, traffic is stupid, people are stupid, and, uh, yeah.

Oh, I started a keto, kind of, kind of keto diet, more of a cutting cycle thing, cut carbs and sugar, and it's miserable. Life is miserable. Can't eat everything, and... Speaking on keto, man, I did a four, uh, four day, uh, intermittent fasting. It wasn't really intermittent fasting, it was actually a four day fasting.

Yeah. Yeah. I go water fast. Yeah. And that was pretty much the reason why I did it was, I haven't been on 350 pounds. I kind of have a lot of, you know, hypertension and all that, that, that is, and all that stuff. So I was part of the reason why I did it was trying to actually trying to reset my body, especially my organs and everything.

And so I'm just trying to get to a comfort level and, and surprisingly it did work. And I don't know how, I don't know. Keto, you know, I mean, I don't know. Cheeto is mostly no carbs.  But I went a little bit ahead and cut out sugars as well. , it's, I read a little thing that just quitting sugar for two weeks can do wonders for the body.

So, I mean, same thing for you. You know, I'm getting heavier, knees, joints, the gout's kicking my butt. So, gotta stay ahead.

Speaking on all those health problems, this weekend I was feeling a little woozy. I had some weird pain. And like the middle of my chest, but I thought the whole time is like my upper back, upper back pain. So this went on for like three, four days, but. I never figured out what it was, so hopefully, , it'll clear, but if it comes like Monday or Tuesday and the problem is still there, I'll probably go see a doctor and see if it's leading to a hard problem or, because that's one of the signs, right, is when you start to feel impending doom and you feel numbness and all that problem that comes when you, when you're fat like me and Yeah, this whole week has been very sunny.

I spent, I spent the day at the splash pad with a birthday party and the day before I had I also spent it out in the sun. I forgot what the event was. I think we just took my dad out,  just to get some sun, but it was too much sun. It's very hot in Utah right now. It's in the high 90s, almost 100. So that, that was my week.

It was a short week because of 4th of July, right? We had some fireworks, but it was overall good. I was just about to say, , possibly the reason why I'm having, you know, all the issues because your dad over there took you before you grew up. Yeah, it's probably the same man. How's your dad getting down in the kitchen?

And I went over one day for dinner or for lunch with him. And my food was bomb. Mr. Tan, your food's amazing. Shout out to you.

Oh, well, hopefully you got a lot of some good recipes from him. Tan makes one of these days I'll be up there, man. First place I'll head to. So then, uh, on an amazing, you know, different cuisines and stuff, is that what he primarily cooks though? All the, you know, Asian cuisines? Yeah, he cooks Chinese. It's like...

All Asian, some salmon. He knows salmon cooking and the only recipe I'll probably grab from him is his lumpia and spring roll recipe, which I'll share with Johnny when he comes over. Johnny already, he sees it getting done, so he probably knows the recipe.

All foods better when somebody else made it. That's my opinion. Uh, I had a pretty good week, uh, this week too. It's like, uh, actually this is usually my favorite week of the year, because, uh, at time of recording, , it was the 4th of July. But also what coincides with that for fight fans is that it's international fight week for that the UFC puts on.

And so it's like, I always know that I got my 4th of July barbecue and I've got a really awesome card, like a UFC card on Saturday. So that was like falls in on the same week. So typically this is my favorite week of the year, but, uh, this one, this week actually was particularly good, uh, for a few reasons, like I said,  Fourth of July weekend.

I love it. Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays. Had my sister and, uh, her two daughters over, her son, who's closer to my age, him and his wife came over, and I grilled a, a barbecued a little bit. I'm not really a grill master. I'll throw burgers and hot dogs on, but I love that part of my family, but none of them eat beef right now.

At least, uh, you know. Not really vegans anymore, but you know, it feels weird grilling turkey burgers on 4th of July, but you know, it is, you know, it's, I can make that, that, that compromise. Actually, the turkey burgers are pretty good. So I grow the turkey burgers. I sat everyone down. We all hung out and, and enjoyed each other's company.

But then I threw the Patriot on, I'm 4th of July. We're going to eat burgers. I'm going to watch the Patriot. So extended edition. So it was actually a good, it was a good 4th of July, but, uh. Uh, more than that, like, uh, a few things on my way this week. I've been trying for years. I know I've griped about this on the podcast before that I've been trying to get a rank in the army.

Uh, I've been the same rank for,  Just shy of a whole decade. I finally actually got my promotion orders this, this last week. And so I finally get to join the prestigious position of staff sergeant, you know, 18 years in, I got my E6. It actually does feel, thank you. Appreciate it guys. It does feel headaches now for you, bro.

I'll, I'll, I'll take that. And you know, the, the best part about it is I can officially begin my three year countdown to retirement in my high three and I'm out. I promise I'm not going to be that dirtbag NCO that's got one foot out the door. I never liked working with that guy. I promise I'm not going to be that guy.

So I was like, you know what this, and then we had UFC two 90 was awesome. Tino's what I'm talking about. Awesome card. Best card. I've seen it a long time. So I don't know. Good week for me. Speaking of 4th of July, it seemed like this year every city went all out, especially for with what's been happening in the last few years with that illness.

We're not supposed to talk about, but well, now it doesn't exist, but Yeah, it looked to me like everyone went all out with the parades, the events they're holding.  I went to the Clearfield one and man, it was jam packed. And yeah, congrats, Spencer, on your promotion. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right. So, listening to Michael's symptoms, I know what his problem is.

His back pain is coming from carrying this podcast and doing all that work. And that is true with the new Utah Pacific Islander Chamber of Commerce, putting in work for that too. But before we get to the 4th of July, let's talk about the 3rd of July. It was Michael Tan's. Anniversary. Double digits, right?

Oh, thank you. Ten, yes. Congratulations. Unless this was an OPSEC moment, and you know, for password's sake. No, I want people to know it's been ten. Long, gruesome years, and it's been good too. You said long and gruesome. It hasn't only been, you know, in marriage, in marriage, it's good and bad. Don't, don't say anything else.

Yeah, I'm being very careful right now. Wait, I don't care for.  And then we got our two, our Vegas and Texas citizens up in here. And then Michael talking about the 90 degrees and I just see them smirking. Talk about that's, uh, five in the morning for them. But, , for you guys that had to work, man, I feel bad for you.

I caught, I took leave on Monday, I took leave on Wednesday, and I just worked one day Thursday. Man, it was, it was glorious. And then when it comes to fireworks, on the 4th of July, 808 owns it. And that's all Hawaii. Whether it's 4th of July, New Year's, man, all the streets will be smoking. You can see that joint from the, from the freeway.

All, all different cities, all over all parts of the island of Oahu. Well, didn't Salt Lake do like a drone show? Salt Lake City? Yep. Yeah, they did. Instead of fireworks, they did a drone show. And I'd seen some videos of it, and it was actually pretty neat, you know. They did like the Statue of Liberty, and like the flag waving, and that was pretty, pretty, pretty cool.

Nah, if only they would do both drones and fireworks and see how many drones last up a year. Drones shooting fireworks at each other. There we go. I'm actually with T on that, man. You know, like Hawaii is bar none. Like, , outside of Hawaii, El Paso is the worst place for you to be in if you want to watch fireworks.

So this week, my lady and, uh, my sister and my sister in law, they actually went out cause I'm, I'm not a, I'm not a big fan of, uh, you know, loud noises, loud popping noises, you know, kind of. Kind of affects my mental health and in a way, but anyhow, they went out, they were supposed to go to on base, uh, apparently when they got there, there was a long line and that's the only spot over here in El Paso that actually does somewhat of a, uh, almost close to Hawaii fireworks, but they didn't, they didn't go on base, so they ended up going on top of, there's a scenic, , area on top of the mountain here where you can see the whole area of not only here in El Paso, but also the border in Mexico.

And. Apparently it was horrible and they didn't see any fireworks until they went into, uh, downtown El Paso. And they said that was somewhat, uh, appealing. And, you know, they, uh, they spent some time over there.  For me this week, thankfully, uh, my lady and, um, my sister in law, they're both in the military.

They, uh, they took a leap and, uh, you know, I was kind of free to, to be on the golf course. So this whole week I was on, on the golf course, you know, uh, Lowest score I got so far, uh, you know, score of 76. Which is, uh, it's a feed for you, you know, so, hey, hey, nice game, who kept score? Did you sign that card?

Hey, I didn't keep score, it was another buddy. But, uh, for the other three guys, uh, Spence, Mike, and Nate, that's, you know, the story is pretty good. You know, you're coming close to, you know, to a type of what, , yeah, so that was my week. You know, I enjoyed it, I loved it, you know. I'm just, I'm just happy to be alive.

You know, that's the, Hey, that's only four strokes over par. Yeah. And um, we were playing for the blues of course, but you know. Oh, snap. Yeah. Yeah, bro. Get ready for the Pro Card , stop practicing on your Pro card. You know, actually, actually the reason why I want to get my handicapped down is because I actually want to go try out with the US Open.

That's the whole book because if you go to the US Open guys and uh, you know, for all our listeners out there, if you are a golfer and you get down to at least a 0.36 uh, handicap, you are, you could go, uh, try out for the US open and if you make it within the cut, uh, I think 65, uh, if you get the cut to 65 and you actually play in the US Open and you're actually number 65, I think you only get $10,000.

You know, I mean, that's, that's a lot of money, you know, so, uh, you know, And the first on the U. S. Open is pretty good too. Oh yeah, it's, it's high now. Um, I think we should do a podcast on the golf, uh, you know, in the future. But anyhow, uh, man, I'm, I'm glad that everybody had a good week. Um, you know, I'm glad to see you guys, uh, here healthy and, uh, you know, somewhat healthy, I should say.

Um, but you know, I know, uh, you know, I kind of mentioned it earlier in our podcast, you know, we, uh, we are veterans. And, uh, you know, I'm, I'm interested also to discuss some of the stories, you know, that we have, you know, and that's where our topic is kind of going for this evening,  I know, aside from us for Johnny milk, uh, T and, uh, Mike, uh, Spencer, you know, I know you're still actively in that role and congrats again for that, uh, big promotion, you know, it's always, uh, it's always, uh, I would say it's, uh, it's, uh, it's a role where it's rewarding because, um, You know, now you have a lot of eyes are going to be looking at you and at the same time it's going to be a headache and then you got a lot of paperwork.

And then I think you're getting to an area where you're going to get quite lonely because you know, you're up there and you know, rank status. But yeah, I'm interested to open this up to you guys, you know, talk about your stories, you know, as veterans, you know, what, what kind of, you know, uh, interesting stories you guys might have or what, .

You know, how, how was your, uh, you know, um, service life, you know, some interesting stories, , share that out there, um, I'll share it out, you know, time, uh, if you have a story, bro, let us know, , , I remember graduating boot camp right after graduation, you know, Camp Pendleton.  Immediately I hit that street in Oceanside where all the boots go and all the military folks go to. I remember walking down those streets. , I think it's the same beach where Junior Seau lived.

Right. So yeah, I was not aware of basically I was culture shock. I didn't know that, you know, there were shady people out there trying to sell you stuff.  But the point I'm trying to get is that no one prepares you for life after boot camp, especially if you. If you came from an island where you feel a sense of security, you feel safe, mainly because you've been around people who, who treats you with respect and kindness, compassion that, you know, the Pacific Islander vibe that you get on an island is not the same when you.

The streets of a city here in the U. S.  There are people out there who are trying to be deceptive, uh, trying to sell you things or get you to do things that you're not used to.  But Being out there in California, especially outside Camp Pendleton, it,  thinking back to it, it really opened my eyes to, to how ignorant we are to a lot of things.

And, , through mistakes and experience, we learn and we grow and we start to know more things and we get better. better as human beings. So my time in the military, it was for me, it was, it was a great time for me to serve in the military. If I had to go back, I wouldn't really change anything.

I realized how lazy I was when it came to reenlisting.  I didn't care where my path took me when I, when it came to my EAS date. I tried. To reapply to, you know, that move jumping into another job because the job I was working on, uh, they were decommissioning the aircraft, the CH 46 is transitioning it to the V 22 Ospreys.

Um, so I, I dropped the ball and  I just got out because I wasn't even thinking of the military as a career. I wasn't even thinking of, . When leaving the military. So I was basically going with the flow with, I think that's a lot of our thinking, us Islanders, Samoans,  we like to go with the flow of things.

And then when we get to a certain point of life, when we've grown up, we kind of look back and like, Hmm, kind of regret. Our decisions not saving this much instead of blowing it, partying every week, drinking every week at the clubs and stuff. So, so that's my, my short little random spout.  What was your, um, was 63 22.

So I was a CH 46 helicopter avionics technician. So basically I'm a. Aircraft electrician. So anything, any component part that had electricity or wires running to it, I would repair, replace, basically maintain every electrical system in the aircraft, including, , weapon system, communication system, anything in aircraft.

So

I just wanted to ask too, like, uh, around the time you got out, wasn't that around the time that they were doing cutbacks? Um, I know during the Obama administration, like we started to get into this idea of a smaller, , more elite military, you know, in quotes. Uh, were you, do you, would you say you were.

Kind of, uh, because I know, I know a lot of people that put off their reenlistment, but you don't exactly get out because of that, like, they'll keep you in limbo for a while until you make up your mind. Do you feel like because they were doing cutbacks at the time that affected you?  The cutbacks were a year before.

I got out, so that was the attitude of everyone taking the early retirement, early, early outs, we call it early outs. I'm not sure if Johnny and T remember that those days where they were offering it to people and they were taking it. So. I think my attitude stayed like that, so I wasn't, I don't, I don't remember what I was thinking back in the day, but I think that affected my attitude of not wanting to re enlist.

They did offer big bonuses to, to move on to other jobs. Like the bonuses I'm talking about is 40 to 80 G's to let move to other jobs. And now they're offering little... Three, 4,000. Not, not even, I don't even consider them bonuses to re-enlist back. Shoot, I remember, remember I was 55 for OD or for e o d.

They were big bonuses back then. And I got out and then two years later it was like some of the infantry moss, like, uh, fos and, and uh, j t a guys were getting offered, uh, up to 80,000 to stay in. Yeah. 'cause retention was getting in specialty moss. But, you know, everybody else was getting the rough or the straight up 10, just 10 G's to re enlist.

See, right now we're getting back to that desperate phase, well, at least us and the Army, because, you know, bigger brands, we have a lot, we need a lot more bodies to fill the roles. Recruitment is at an all time low. I don't know what they're currently offering for infantry. I know a few years ago they were offering like 50 for just your initial sign on bonus, you know.

But, not for me though. I'm the most common. MLS and the army. So no, you know, they're never going to offer anything big for me. The fact that I got anything this last three enlistment, I actually consider myself blessed because typically throughout my career, 91 bravos, all wheel mechanics, you ain't getting nothing.

There's plenty of you. So,

well, you know, I thought it was interesting. Oh, sorry. When he was talking about. The culture shock thing, you know, coming from an island American Samoa and then joined, , from an entirely different culture and subculture around you. It was, , for me, it was a different aspect was I was young. So I was 19.

Now I did grow up in Samoa and then moved to the states, finished high school in the states. And then I joined the Marine Corps out of Roy. And I still get culture shock because You know, there's, for people who don't know, Utah has a pretty high Polynesian community. There's quite a few of us out here.

And so, even though I was surrounded by the Western or American culture , there was still a couple of Polys that I can stick to around and still feel, you know, a taste of home. When I went to boot camp, you know, I was just barely turned 19. And it wasn't like... All of my knowledge from the Marine Corps, , was non existent.

I didn't know anything about the Marine Corps. Uh, I had a, my best friend in high school, Gerald TC always wanted his dream to be a Marine Corps and he was trying to get a sign on, you know, and asked me to come with him, be with him when he signed his contract. And I went with him and. I ended up signing that day, with a date to ship out in two weeks.

And so, I scrambled, got everything done, and I was off to boot camp before I even knew it. No idea what I was getting into. I saw a little video, thought it was cool. Um, I thought it was interesting because I watched the movie, um, What's that movie with Jake Gyllenhaal and Jamie Foxx? Jarhead. Yeah. Yeah. So I watched that movie and I was like, yeah, you know, I'm going to do that.

Cool. Uh, wanted to go infantry. My mom cried when I told her that I had already signed the contract and she talked my recruiter out, switching my MOS, ended up going, uh, engineer field and ended up a 1345, basically heavy equipment operator. And, uh, but yeah, when I was at bootcamp, funniest thing for me was.

That was the first time I had heard an adult swear like how the kids swear at school. Like full on F words with tie in words together. Not just the one swear word. It's like multiple phrases, swear phrases. And it was weird to me seeing a grown man talk like that. Cause you know, when you're in high school, your teachers, your, your, your adults around you, they try not to say, you know, every now and then, you know, in football, the coach will say a swear word and you're like, yeah, yeah, hyped up, but yeah, it wasn't, no, they was screaming at you using the swear words.

I was just didn't know what I'd gotten myself into. But just kept riding the train, rode it, got a couple deployments out of the way, had fun, got to see the world. My first duty station was Japan, traveled all over Asia, got to see all that cool stuff. Stuff that I never thought I would do. Mind you, I took it day by day.

Just free world, free me. And then came home. But, uh, I thought it was interesting everywhere I went. Any of the duty stations, any of the training exercises, I always seemed to find another Pacific Islander. Whether it be Guamanian, there's a lot of Saipan, um, and people from Guam, all the Chamorros that are in the Marine Corps, there's a lot of, uh, Hawaiians in the Marine Corps.

Uh, didn't meet any Samoans until I ended up at 29 Palms when I ran into Milford and Saia and Mosse and all them. I thought it was pretty cool that as small as the Marine Corps was, you can always find a Pali or a Pacific Islander. Anywhere. And so, even though he came from different backgrounds coming in, it was still the same experience.

How was that like, uh, you know, seeing other islanders? How was that like for you? Was that comforting knowing that you got another brother, you know, from the islands there right with you or, you know, how Oh yeah. Yeah. Most definitely. It's, it's, it's just like You know, when you, when you're in the military, you're meeting people from all, all across the nation.

So it's not just forget the people you got used to in high school that are all from Utah or all from the people that you knew from elementary school, all from Samoa. No, you'll get random guys from, from Texas, from Georgia, from Virginia. You got the, the, the, the, the essay Mexican, you got the. The black dude, , we had a random, uh, there was this Asian dude that, uh, was, was born and raised in Texas on a farm with a really thick Southern accent.

And he wore a cowboy boots, big old belt buckle, and a hat. The dude looked straight up Chinese. But, you know, you find different walks of life. And you kind of, you know, you assimilate for, for as much, but then you run into that Pacific Islander, and you're just like, I'm home. Hey, what's up, man? Different things, we talk about different things.

He's like, oh yeah, you know, I miss the islands, the music, the culture, the vibe. And then next thing you know, it was like, it was more instantaneous. I wasn't forced to... To coexist with these guys because they're in my platoon and, or they're a fire team or we have to get along. Nah, it was just organic. You meet, you run into each other and then it just, the spark is there.

It's almost like you had me at hello. Yeah. The relationship is totally different. Um, especially when it comes to joking around, you know, how many jokes my, my white friends have told me and I don't get them. , I just laugh along, try to, you know, try to show smile and show that try to fit in and laugh with them, but  I never get their jokes, but when, uh, A Polynesian tells a joke, I actually get their jokes and how they, they trip or hang out.

So that's a big difference when I, when I hang with people, especially here in the U. S. and versus those who, you know, Islanders in general,  it's the conversations that we have and the, the comedic humor. That, you know, we share,  one thing about jarhead, I was probably one of those Marines, one of those few Marines who've never heard of the movie jarhead going into the Marine Corps.

So I never got any of those references when a recruit was talking about it. So I'm like, I've never seen that movie. So that was, that was my experience. Every time someone brings up that movie jarhead, I've never seen it until I. I was like year two in the, in the fleet, in the Marine Corps. You know, it's interesting you guys brought that up about, you know, the experiences, especially, you know, seeing another island.

Right. So for me, , I, I never kind of broke character, you know, I was almost, you know, professional, you know, every single time there, you know, seeing these other Oh, professional, you know, you know, I mean, make sure, make sure I kind of, you know, because for us, you know, we are, first off, we're signed ones.

And our second language is English. So I would try my best to make sure I was pronouncing, you know. You know, mentioning exactly all the words and everything. So when I saw enough, you know, for the earliest times when I was in, I was kind of like you as well, which I mean, I've never saw any other Samoans.

Um, and I want to remind, I want to remind our, our, our audience, uh, uh, Mike, T and Johnny, they were in the Marine Corps, Spencer is currently still in the army and, uh, you know, I was in the Navy. And for the longest time, uh, I didn't even see another Islander, but when it did, when I did see another Islander, you know, I broke character, you know, I started joking, started, you know, being, being my, my normal self, you know, how I am, how we are with, uh, you know, our, our peoples, you know, so that was, uh, that was an interesting, uh, interesting aspect of, uh, you know, just being, you know, try to be professional at all times.

And then, uh, you know, and it's fun because a lot of times when I'm with my co workers, when I was in. And, you know, they're like, man, you know, I don't see anything. And then all of a sudden you see another, uh, also, you know, uh, and this was in Quantico, , I don't know where it was, uh, He was a chief, he was an E seven in the, in the Navy.

And uh, as soon as I saw him, the ranks went out the door. You know, there was, there was, you know, so we were just start,  cracking jokes and, and laughing and, and all my coworkers like, what the hell? Like, how, how come you never, you know, kick it like that with us, or, you know, say That's because you guys are not my peeps, you know, you know, I'm not being, uh, you know, trying to, trying to be racist or anything.

I'm just, you know, it's just, there's a different. You know, communication that we have with everybody else compared to our own folks. , but yeah, you know, that was, uh, that was an interesting thing to see my own man, you know, as a veteran. know, what's, uh, what's your story, you know, what's going on, what you got for us, brother?

Absolutely nothing. You see what they did, uh, the recon scout snipers don't talk about their, their past. Yeah, it's, it's chow hall, you know, specialists don't, we don't say what we see. Yeah, I don't talk much about it because I, you know, I didn't do the best that I could have done, , as competitive as I am, you know, in sports and in other things, you know, I really kind of just did the bare minimum and got by, I mean.

You know, I like the excuse of us having a high cutting score because most of the times our kind of scores just to pick up corporals in the 17th, either that or it was closed out most of the time. So, like, I'd, I'd be salty watching those admin and supply or even combat engineer jobs with cutting scores that freaking 14th, 15th and I'd be salty.

Oh man, the UAV guys. The UAV guys were like in the 11s, but man, yeah, those guys pick up sergeant right out of school. Don't they? Their school is like a year though. Alexander Kyle. Yeah. Alex. He's talking about you. Mr. Yes. Well put together rich guy who took his job from the military and Doing great in civilian life.

Amazing. Who knows how many figures owning a whole plot of land and maybe an island. Who knows at this point. But anyways, uh, I didn't really grasp the whole concept of, you know, running like a skinny guy for, Eight miles, 10 miles, 15 miles aimlessly, and then, you know, doing our poet work all day and being tired and then, you know, doing more.

I didn't grasp that concept until, you know, out outside military. I mean, I learned a lot of lessons while in that I'm grateful for, and it sucks that it's all in retrospect. You know, I had a great time meeting my Islanders specifically, you know, you knuckleheads. And then JP and Michael and then you can tell when Michael's really laughing at a joke.

He's talking about that. Laughing at the white boy joke, you know, you know, his face is just completely neutral and just yeah, but yeah, it's old man, like, rest in peace Bobby, but like him and Kyle or Alex, they will make fun of me and JP because like, man, every time you guys meet another someone, you guys are like, Oh, you guys got all excited, but it's just another, you know.

Big deal. Like, so what? And like, man, like, that's what I loved about JP, man. Anytime he met another Uso, that dude, he was legit, you know, genuine and meeting another person and, and connecting. And then just for me, being a military brat and not being raised, you know, amongst our people and not knowing how we interacted until like later in life.

Within my teen years and going to California and living, you know, amongst my cousins and other Samoans, I didn't know. I didn't really get that experience. So I get excited, you know, meeting another one of us while in especially a military branch that requires a lot of running because, you know, our people do not run long distance.

. Well, except for the guys on the other side of the world that play rugby, but for the most part here in the U. S. We are our sprinters, you know, we got the turbo boost to hit you really hard. But as far as you get past a certain distance, the rest of life, those line make a line, no line forwards. Yeah, and I don't have too much except for, you know, you know, the personal lessons that I try to improve on every day.

I appreciate that. I want to, I want to scoot it over to Mike. Mike, I know you, uh, you wanted to get an opportunity to, uh, , I know we have that dinner coming up, but if you want to hit up, uh, talk about it. So, uh, the way our listeners can, uh, you know, figure out what they want to do in that month, uh, you know, maybe, uh, check that out.

So to all veterans, it doesn't have to be, you don't have to be Pacific Islander, but if you are interested and you are in Utah on November 10th. We have a Pacific Islander Veterans Day dinner hosted by yours truly behind the lava lava. It will start at 5 p. m. and will go till 830 p. m. It will be at a very special venue, the Hale Center Theater, at their VIP room.

So this ain't no cafeteria party we're trying to throw. . Or award party. It's not gonna be award party, so don't worry. If you're in Utah, it's no, it's no ward party. It's gonna be a semi-formal event where we get to honor all veterans. Um, the event is free to veterans and their one guest. , it's open to the general public, but you will have to pay.

Um, the link is on our, our page, so check out our Facebook page or. It's mainly on our Linktree page. Um, the link will also be on this episode. Um, so come out and celebrate, honor all veterans. Um, the theme is Pacific Island. And if you want to sponsor this event, you are more than welcome to sponsor this event if you are interested.

, the Utah Pacific Islander Veterans Day Dinner. Hosted by Behind the Lover Lover, November 10th. Thank you for that. Save that date. Yep. Save that date. And on top of that, go ahead and expand. Stick it over, brother. Hey, thanks. I was like, uh, yeah, a lot of things. I think one of the phrases I think is the most applicable from what I've learned about the military is that, uh, experiences may vary and that applies to branches like your experience with the branch or experience with the MOS, your experience with the unit.

Some guys will come in and be like. Oh, this is the best thing I've ever done. And someone else who was right there with him was like, this is the worst thing I've ever done. Some guys are like, ah, this is best decision of my life. Some people are like, that was a big waste of my time. So it's like, look, you know, like, and that's what I like about when we, , have this podcast format open is like, we, we touch on that.

Basically, none of us. Exactly have the same experiences, even those of you guys that were all in the same branch. , so like with me, it's kind of weird because I, I enlisted at the tail end of 2004 a long time ago. And, uh, yeah, I've touched on this before. My big, my big motivators. I wanted to make money to, uh, well, I did want to serve that was already in my mind, but trying to fit that in exactly how and when, while also fulfilling my, Okay.

Religious obligations. That was like the balancing act. And so I enlisted, but it doesn't really feel like my military experience really began until 2010, you know, because I do basic training. I do my AIT. All that stuff was good at first. Then after that, everything gets mixed up. I was supposed to be, uh, in a medical logistics unit from the get go in St.

George, Utah. And then, you know, this is funny cause like literally my, my army experience with my paperwork being jacked up literally started day one, right at the MEP center, they were like, Hey, uh, you're going to this, uh, Salt Lake unit, right? And I'm like, uh, no. I don't live in Northern Utah. Uh, oh, it's okay.

We'll fix it when you get back. Dude, some E6 just doing me dirty right at the start. And so I get back and, uh, like I get home, I have no orders. I'm sitting around, I'm waiting, I'm waiting. I'm just like, what am I, what am I, uh. Supposed to do. I feel like I'm supposed to be reporting to someone somewhere.

So I finally called my recruiter. I'm like, where am I? And he's like, well, I, I signed you up for that. St. George, you know, like, yeah, I don't have any orders and he does some digging, calls me back like an hour later. It's like, I don't know how this happened, but you're in a finance unit in Salt Lake City in a banker unit, like.

As a mechanic. So it was just all wrong from day one, but whatever. So like, do my, my, uh, IRR for a few years, come back. I transferred to my medical supply unit in St. George in 2008, but the whole time it's like, Hey guys, get ready. We're going to deploy, going to deploy soon and, uh, uh, just stand ready. But it still was about two years before we finally went.

And the reason I say that's why. Why I felt like that's when my military career actually started is because up until then, I felt like I was just a placeholder. I got, I was the dude who got to put on the uniform and show up and play pretend for a weekend. And you know, that was, it just, you know, it feel awkward because people will come up to you and thank you for your service.

I'm like, but I haven't done anything. You know, it's like not even in garrison, like fulfilling, uh, a stateside mission, having some role to play in the, in the army at large. I was like, nah, man, I'm just LARPing over here. And so 2010 comes around, I get my first deployment. I go to Afghanistan and. It's funny.

Cause like my experience with meeting up with other Polynesians was, um, I don't know, I didn't really have that experience itself because my, when I'm just drilling on the weekends in St. George, there are plenty of polys in St. George. But as far as in my unit is we had this one E seven, um, that would come in, but he was like, he was hopping on different deployments all the time.

Guy was super cool. He was from, uh, they're the only. Unit in the army reserve. That's actually a combat unit is, uh, the, uh, the one in American Samoa and it's that infantry unit. It's the only infantry unit in the army reserves. Other than that, every unit in the army reserves is support. And so I didn't even know that until I met this guy.

I was like, man, this guy's real cool, but he would like show up every other year or so in between deployments and then jump on another infantry deployments. You just. One of those dudes just wanted to keep going. , then I finally get to Afghanistan. We could, my first deployment was, uh, we were on Bagram.

, I was a lowly Fobbitt, never left the wire, but I was just happy that I was finally able to be there and doing my part, you know, just playing my little role. I'm like, I may not be that, I'm not that dude you're going to make movies about, but it was actually, I found it a privilege to know that I was supporting those dudes.

Getting them the medical supplies they needed. We worked at the warehouse on the flight line.  You know, we got IDF every once in a while and it was humbling. Cause we'd have the, we'd see the angel flights getting ready to take off on the, on the flight line and stuff. And to remind us like, Hey, this is what you're here for.

And that was a privilege. But as far as like meeting other Polynesians, even there, I've always had this, um, This, uh, tendency to keep my friends circle small. It's like I, I want to look out for me and mine. I'm like, I'm here with my, my group, my unit. I look out with them. I make sure they're, they're taken care of.

And actually at the time I was married, my wife was in and she was deployed with us. And so if I wasn't looking out for my Joes or, or with my, my troops, I was spending time with my wife because I wanted to really keep an eye on her to make sure that nobody was. You know how that deployment environment is, you know, there's horror stories of what happens to some females, even from people within our own ranks.

And so I just wanted to make absolutely sure that my wife wasn't one of those statistics. And, uh, anyway, so that was my first deployment, second deployment. Uh, Going back to actually this one was in Qatar. Qatar is a nice place. You know, actually it's that vacation spot, you know, like literally not even a, that's not even an exaggeration.

Guys would literally, you guys know this. , they had to R and R R and guitar, all my friends who actually went there outside of the deployment went there because if you were in high stress situations, you need some R& R instead of sending them all the way back to the state, send them to Qatar for. A week or two or something like that.

De stress. Two days and you get two beers. Yeah. That you had that chili or they had that Chili's, right? You know that Chili's? We all drank Guinness cause it was the thickest beer that they had. And then we went to that mall where everybody drives a, uh, either a Mazda or not a Maserati, a Ferrari or a Bentley.

With that giant shopping cart. Yep. Yeah, you can go to that, you can go to the gold souks, you can, look, Qatar is a great place to go. Um, and look, it says something when you can take a commercial flight right in there. And if you can take a commercial flight in there, it probably ain't a deployment. C 17, we flew a C 17 in there.

Right, right. Well, and so like, that's the funny thing. I was supposed to be there for a nine month deployment one month in there. Like, Hey, uh, we have a mission going on in Afghanistan and we need you to go with them. And so I got sent back to Afghanistan for half of that deployment. But in all honesty, I love that because, uh, , you know, I just wanted it to feel more real again.

Like I was actually contributing, but here's the thing in Qatar, we were doing the same important work. It's the, when I was in Afghanistan, we'd receive medical supplies from, from Qatar, because if we didn't have Qatar pushing them forward, we'd have to order that stuff straight from Germany. And so it was cool to be on the other side of that, to see, it's like, okay, before I was taking the stuff off the planes, now I'm the guy putting it on the planes.

, Yeah. But anyways, they forwarded me back to, uh, bog room. I actually got to spend another half a deployment there, enjoyed it. And then I've deployed twice more since at different times, just going back. But each time going back to Qatar and just trying to run the missions there. And, and I pride myself on that because like I said, those are the only times where I felt like it was real because I wanted to know that I did something to earn my keep.

You know, it's like, I may not have been, You know, this might not be my everyday job until it comes to that deployment. And that's what I looked forward to when it came to that, because as a reservist, man, I get tired of these glorified roll calls, but you know what, I'll take that and like, go back to my regular life because my attitude as a reservist kind of turns into, I'm like, Oh, um.

I'm good. You know, give me a call. If you need a war, if you got a war, you need someone to go. It's like, uh, until then leave me alone. I want to be scruffy and grow my beard and stuff like that. So, you know, be a, be a loser. I'm like, I'm good. I don't need to paint the rock and mow the lawn in front of the company building.

All that stuff that active duty guys are really proud of, but you know. That is me. So that's kind of been my, my, my rundown for my military experience. You mean to tell me you don't like fortifying random structures that are already fortified with sandbags just for the hell of it? You know, I, I got my share of that in Qatar.

You know, I can't imagine my life. What my life would be if I didn't join the military, and I'm kind of glad that I joined the branch that I did, because if I didn't, I think I would be a very lazy individual. Um, one of the, the pros of joining the Marine Corps for me was, , The values that it taught me, uh, once I got out, , I slowly developed those, know, kind of hitting start, started hitting the, the, the ground, uh, running, starting to get my life back in track when, when I got out, because when I got out, I was confused.

I didn't know what to do, even though I had a job already lined up when I got out, when I got out, like the, the people in the unit. The contractors in the unit that I was in, they were already wanting to hire me as a civilian, uh, because of my work ethics. And, and maybe a year or two later, I, you know, I think my, I, I was woke, you know, I got, I realized that I was a number.

In the federal system, , you know, we're all numbers. It's that mentality that you realize that everything you do, it doesn't matter to the U. S. government. Because we are replaceable. And, you know, no matter how. Hard someone works, they will still get paid the same as someone who does the minimum or no work at all.

So that, that kind of affects my mentality right now with my government job. Uh, right now I just go in, do my job. What is asked of me, I don't do anymore. Once that clock, that, that bell rings or time to clock off, I'm done. I, I clock out and I leave. So that's basically my mentality now is just do my job.

Leave and focus on, you know, hobbies and stuff, things that are more important to me than my job. I kind of value the podcasting and what I do outside of work more than I do work. , I think it's, I think it's more of a mental, a mental health kind of thing. Uh, it's what keeps me going because my job. It's very repetitive.

You do the same things. I sit there, repair a component on an aircraft. It's, it's like a assembly line of doing the same thing. A robot could replace me. It'll, it'll be the same thing and it gets repetitive. It gets very boring and it, and you start to think. Is this my life? Is this my life that I do the same thing, even though it pays good, but this isn't what I want in my life.

I want to do something more meaningful than just, just, just something mediocre. So I'm very grateful for the military for, for especially AmeriCorps for setting me on the right path. Oh, and uh, one thing for veterans out there, especially in Utah. I am in touch of the board of directors with a Utah honor flight.

Uh, their goal is to take veterans back to visit memorials in Washington, DC So if you wanna sign up for one of those honor flights, contact me, message me, and I'll, uh, direct you to the, the right person. So you can speak to on one of those honor flights.

I think we can all agree to a certain degree that. Our times in the military or still is right now, in the case of Spence, we, in some way or form, have been shaped by this institution that we call the United States military. And, you know, our experiences, although varies independently, we can agree that that we're being selfless.

Uh, honor, duty, you know, the important factors that creates a character, uh, that, that differentiates us from the normal individual that's never joined. And I think that's one of the things that I kind of resonated with me and the reason why I looked into the military when I first joined, uh, when I joined the Navy early in 2008 when I was 18 years old, straight out of high school.

 I wanted to go to a, uh, to go to a, uh, a branch where not a lot of Samoans were, honestly, so to speak. Um, and a lot of the friends, a lot of the core folks that I knew, uh, from back home, uh, even, even till now, a lot of the folks that I knew were either majority, you know, in the army, um, you know, spent even back home.

You know, we have the, the army reserve back home and, you know, that's where majority of everybody gravitated towards. You know, joining the army and, you know, plus back, back in America, Samar, JROTC department of all the high schools were just solely focused on the army and, uh, you know, me being a four years, you know, TTC, uh, and that concept of military and, uh, uh, duty and, you know, aspect of kind of gravitated towards the military.

Anyhow, you know, pre exposed to it from that early, uh, aspect. And one of the areas that I was really gravitating towards was special, uh, special operations. And, uh, and that's what I really wanted to do when I, when I joined the military. Um, and I chose specifically, uh, the corpsman route was because I felt that a lot of the jobs in the Navy wasn't too macho.

You know, wasn't too macho. And the reason why I was, I thought like that was because I, you know, I didn't want to be on ship, you know, I, although I'm on an island, I, man, you know, not all people from the island knows how to swim. I didn't know how to swim. So, you know, I wanted to stay away far as possible from the ship.

So I, you know, I thought, um, you know, going through the medical route was kind of one of those things that resounded with me. And I knew, you know, straight out of the gate that the military is just a stepping stone. And I knew that sometime in the future that the military door was going to close. And that's, you know, I wanted something that was going to transition, you know, all my experiences while I was in the military.

That's why I kind of chose that route, you know, medical field, um, you know, being a corpsman. So when, um, when I was in, uh, my first year was nothing but training. Boot camp, you know, you guys call it AIT, uh, we call it A school. , straight off of A school, I went to, um, Camp Lejeune. Uh, trained there with the Marine Corps over there to become the, uh, Field, uh, medical training, uh, corpsman or FMF, we, as we call it, and, uh, that's a, uh, stepping stone to get into special operations, especially for, uh, for us, the pipeline, uh, what we call, uh, special amphibious reconnaissance corpsman, and that was kind of a pipeline where I wanted to go, go in, and so I did that, and I did it well, and I, uh, got a lot of honors for that, and, um,  That whole year was kind of like, man, it was so difficult for me because, you know, as I mentioned it alluded to it earlier that I, uh, like what Michael was saying as well.

A lot of the, uh. You know, the jokes and a lot of the little phrases, I, because a lot of things when it came into my mind, I had to translate it first to Samoan, and then to make myself understand it, like a lot of the times, a lot of things that re translate well, so I kind of like, I was kind of like slow, but at the same time, I'm, I wouldn't say I'm slow, but I would say like the idea of just transitioning a lot of this information, this, you know, you know, First time being off of the island, although I had a little stint in California for five years, and I was just early in my childhood, but majority of my upbringing was back home in American South Mall.

So I really didn't speak a lot of English, you know, back home. So coming into the military, speaking English every day was taxing for me, man. Like I, man, I had to like, you know, so and the reason why I would say it's taxing is because, man, I get tired of speaking English you know. At some points now, too, as well, but, you know, I would prefer to speak on our native tongue, Samoan.

So, but anyhow, going back to the story, is that, you know, it was kind of taxing where a lot of the, you know, the jokes, and yeah, that's why I decided to, Where, I forgot the word. Oh, there you go. The, uh, stoic, I don't know, you know, stoic where, hey, all, all they're going to see is that, that mean look and that strict face and, you know, and no emotions whatsoever.

And so, you know, I wanted to put up, put that persona out there so that way nobody will talk to me. And, uh, and then, you know, just, you know, live with the, you know, all the, uh, stereotypes, stereotypes of, uh, you know, uh, Pacific Islander and Samoan, you know, because a lot of the folks that I came across didn't even know what Samoan was.

Next. You know, a lot of, you know, and I was, this was the East Coast in Camp Lejeune, I went to Camp Johnson and, um, for quite some time, you know, during those times, I didn't even saw an Islander during that time. , a lot of those folks, they, they were from Louisiana, Alabama, you know, the boondocks, and they didn't really understand, you know, what Islander life was when they come across Osama Udman.

So I kind of. Was the first introduction to that. And I wanted to make sure that I put off that persona of like, you know, masculinity. And, you know, we were. We were tough as nas. So, you know, I kind of put that off out there and, uh, you know, you know, still today a lot of those folks are like, man, you know, and I would use the Rock, you know, that's my favorite cousin, you know, that's my cousin right there.

And then that's how we introduced him. . I cool. But I Cool Rock. You guys do all the rocket. Yeah. You saw more so those kind of introductions. Uh, but anyhow, you know, um, did it for quite some time and then, uh, you know, One of those things where you gotta close a chapter and, uh, you know, decide to move on. So I got out back in 17 and, uh, you know, decided to start my own business, do school, all that stuff.

And, uh, we kind of already touched on the previous, uh, topic of our, uh, goals and stuff that we want to accomplish. But as a veteran right now, the title veteran, you know, it's, uh, I think I have. To me, and I, this personally, I have my, I set up my goals to help all other veterans, you know, whether, you know, they're having issues and stuff like that.

I try to get them right, because I wouldn't say I have all the information, but I could say that I could get that information for you. If I don't have it right off the top of my head, I am the best person to get that information for you. And a lot of the folks that I've been able to help, uh, you know, and that's, that's rewarding for me.

Uh, just to, you know, help a lot of the folks that came out of the military or about to go out of the military, you know, just trying to get them, uh, the help that they need, especially, uh, You know, having a little of that medical background, um, so to speak, but anyways, , that's kind of like the wrap up guys, uh, that's done.

I know, uh, you wanted to mention our, . You know, for our dinner, we had a, yes.  Yeah. Shout out to, uh, Thomas father, you all pro concrete cutters. You know, one of our newer sponsors for, uh, the veterans day dinner. Um, but we've been, we've had him on the show before and just an all around standup guy. Uh, he's with, uh, All Pro Concrete Cutters is the name of his company out of Utah.

He's one of the very few licensed and certified concrete cutters. It's a very specified field. It's not like, um, he specializes in fixing what's already been built. So if you guys are doing any major constructions and they poured too much concrete in one side and you need it removed, or you need to cut a door in your basement, he's the man to call.

Uh, Thomas Fathidou with All Pro Concrete Cutters. Really good logo too. Stellar looking logo. Person designed that. And he's an all around great guy. Great guy. You know, works hard. Supports his family. And he's one of those prime examples of, uh, you know, the saying goes, if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life.

I don't love construction, but somehow that guy's got a smile on his face when he's talking about these different things. Oh, I got to cut this and cut that. Man. Never working a day in his life. So, all pro concrete cutters, hit them up. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, all right, fellas. I think that's a wrap.

I really appreciate it for, uh, you know, for this evening. Talking about our experiences. And, uh, it's just not a... I understand it's not something that we, uh, we like to disclose and like to talk about, but here and then, it kind of, I think, I believe, it kind of helps us with our mental health in that aspect.

Talking about the hard things in life and, uh, you know, just... And that's what it comes down to, you know,  to help solve a lot of mental health issues is to actually talk about it and having the ability to talk about it and share with other, you know, like minded folks. You know, it kind of points out your flaws and actually lifts you up if you have some downs and, you know, situations like that.

end it, I have one question. To kind of change up the, the, the mood. So, the question is to each and every one of us, what did you do that you've never done? That you've done in the military? Do you guys understand my question? So before everything, yeah, before the, before everything. And everyone over rephrase everything. . So before the military, what did you do in the military that you never done before?

As in what did I do had I not gone into the military? Yes. Basically. So, yeah, I got one actually. And this is to, uh, actually, I, I'm glad you asked this question 'cause I wanted to amend this real quick because I said that. Because I have a tendency to keep my friend circle small, I actually didn't get to fellowship with our fellow Pali's that much.

However, on my third deployment, I was excited because I'm back in Bagram, or not back in Bagram, back in Qatar, back in Camp Asulea. And, uh, the unit that was doing the firefighter. Mission while we were there was from Hawaii. I got to meet a lot of Polly's on that one. It was dope. So to answer the question, one thing that I did because I was joined the military that I never did before, that was the first Phi Kappa I was ever invited to.

And so I had no, like, I don't know if you've heard of it. Never tasted it before. None of that. You've gone to every single one after that, huh? You know it, but uh, dude, it was cool, but it was super ghetto because like, they're doing the mix in the back at the, uh, at that big, they called it club. What was that club called?

It was like, Um, it was, it was called the Top Off. It was, it was a school recreational place. They're in, the Polly's were always in the back corner doing the Fight Cabo over there. And they had, nobody had a strainer. So this dude was using his, one of his old wife beaters as a, as the strainer. I'm like, I was just about to say that.

I was like, bro, you watched that. Right? , but I trusted, I trusted that he did it better. Being a new one. It's not even watched that, bro. That better be a new one, as in never touched your body. Exactly. But I mean, but bro, it was, uh, I loved it because that was, you know, like I've mentioned before, I usually, it, it, I usually, um, you know, I'm more looking at me and kind of racially ambiguous or peoples will perceive I'm either, uh, uh, Hispanic or just straight up langi, but, That was when, over time, the, the, this one female from that unit was like, what are you?

I was like, what do you mean? It's like, like, like, where, where are your parents from and stuff? I'm like, okay, I'm, I'm half white and I'm half Samoan. And she's like, I knew you were something. And, you know, for me, when that happens, if anyone recognizes me as Polynesian at all, it actually makes my day because it's actually pretty rare when it happens.

And so, she's like, hey, we're mixing back there. You, you should come over. And so, that was. That was a good time. I shout out to that unit. I appreciate them. And yeah, that was a, I really enjoyed, that was one of the things that helped me get through that deployment. So shout out to them.

Well, one of the main things, um, that I owe to the military, I never would have done well, was on my own, got my own place, got paid, didn't have anybody to tell me what to do. I was responsible for myself, my laundry, my, my food situation, my clothes. , you know, it was completely independent and it, well, you know, it forced me to grow up, you know, can't just, mom, did you see my, no, I had to know where it was, you know, um, aside from all the countries, aside from all the cultures, the different sightseeing that I've done, um, I got to.

Do every cool thing I could imagine, bungee jumping, uh, parasailing, jumped out of an airplane, , got an elephant to grab me by the waist and put me on its back and then safari through the jungle rode one of those hydrofoil boats, , the big one that the Navy has that looks all super high speed. , but out of all of those things, having the freedom to make my own decisions on my own terms.

 that was, that was the biggest thing for me, you know, ever since then, I never, when I joined the military and left home, I never went back home. I never moved back. I couldn't live under someone else's rules anymore because I'd gotten used to being self sufficient, being independent, doing my own thing.

And it gravitated forward to when I got married and had my own kids. And then, you know, me and my wife became a team and created a life together and we had our own space. So, I mean, one thing I probably would have never have done was move out as soon as I did. I told you, I had just turned 19. And, next thing you know, I'm out in the world, trying to leave my mark.

 Regardless of all the experiences we've had, I know all of us had a different, , experience going through the military and, and continuing life afterwards, it should not discourage anyone else.

The military is a viable option. If you don't have a necessary option, they'll teach you wonderful skills. They'll teach you how to be self sufficient. They'll teach you how to be a productive member of society. And, you know, they'll give you some money to put in your pocket, you know, just because. Someone had a bad experience or a good experience doesn't mean you shouldn't do it.

So if you were looking at military as an option, highly suggest it, highly do it. And if you're set on a specific branch, go for it. Just,  join the air force. We all get paid the same. They have nicer, uh, barracks. No, everybody gets, everybody in the military gets paid the same. That might negate your, uh, that might negate your logic of the military forcing you to grow up because that's a bunch of preschoolers pretending they're military.

No, just kidding. I love, I love the air force. I love the air force, but they say, unless you're trying to be in, unless you want your, your, your, your lineage is dying to be a Marine Corps to any air force, they got nicer barracks. The chow halls are nicer. Everything's nicer. Hey, don't be pampered and get paid.

Don't put down my fellow airmen. You're, you're, you're putting down my fellow airmen. Remember, I'm also an airman too. So I have a few things that I've done that I never thought I would. Do since I, since I joined the Marine Corps, so going to a hookah bar, you know, smoking some hookah, that's something that I've never thought I would experience, uh, smoking flavored tobacco.

Second thing, drinking. In my days in Okinawa, every paycheck that came went to hitting the clubs and the bars on Gate 2 Street. In Okinawa, and I think Milford knows about, uh, those experiences back in the, in the, in the Okinawa days. But I think T, you, you were, you, what did you call the street that you were on and the base that you were at?

Whisper Alley. Kintown? Yeah. It was Kentown for, for tea and it was gate two for me. And the third thing, uh, swearing. I had the mouth, mouth of a sailor back then. So before the Marine Corps, I have never cussed or swore in my life. And when I joined the Marine Corps, that's when I picked up every bad word there was in the world and use it every on, in every sentence, every other word.

, so the good thing about it is that. When I left the Marine Corps, I cleaned up my language again. It was like the reset button was hit and now my mouth is back to being cleaned. Every time I hear swear words now, I kind of cringe. Especially if I hear the F word. So that's why I don't... You know, I don't really encourage swearing, but I'm, I'm still tolerant.

I still tolerate swearing around me. It's just that now I kind of like, I'm not opposed, but I just don't like the language being used around me, especially with people that I don't know. It's, it's weird when you hear from your friends, it's normal. But when you hear from other people, strangers, it's different.

It's, it's, it's more impactful when you hear from strangers, but when you hear from fellow friends, it's like a normal conversation. So, the last thing is being on, I had the opportunity to travel to many Asian countries. And I participated in many humanitarian aid missions in the Philippines and Japan. I was their first responder to that earthquake that happened in Japan.

, we were the boots on the ground to give the aid. To the Japanese Operation Tomodachi, and that's one of the major operations that I was involved in because I was there. Um, I've seen the destruction and to this day, I think it.

It gives me PTSD just thinking about what I've seen. I've never seen anything like it before. Because many people died during the tsunami that happened in Okinawa near Fukushima. You see everything leveled. Cities leveled. And just their foundations, just total wreck. It just happened to be around the location that it was.

It was very cold. So that was the first time that I seen snow when we were traveling there to northern Japan and we saw snow there for the first time. So that's how cold it was, , back in the day and I forgot the date of the tsunami. But yeah, I'm just grateful that I had the opportunity to help people and to make an impact.

During my time in the military, because, , when I look back, I'm like, why, why did we do these things? We, we did in the military. Uh, it seemed like a waste of time, but when, when I'm involved in an operation that, that helps, . Lives rescue and provides aid that's when I think back and, and, you know, my time was worth it that I got to do something impactful and meaningful.

I just want to give a shout out to Samantha because he didn't clean up his mouth on his own. If you met Samantha, there's no way he was keeping that mouth on for one second. Now,  Every weekend in the military, I just did Bible study and, and Pesce, praise the Lord, you know, never, none of the stuff that Tan did, yep, never followed the crowd.

I think I I might, I might have been too drunk. I'm confusing things, right T? Oh yeah, yeah, it was the, it was the other T. Trouble. Nah, um. For one, even though I played sports all the time, I never ran a mile without stopping. Anytime it was time to run a mile at P. E. or even Hell Week for sports, I was just like, yeah, okay, what you gonna do, cut me?

So,  running those three miles was, I never knew I could do it, but that was one. Let me just say that there'd be a lot more Samoans in the Marine Corps if we weren't running three miles and doing pull ups. I know our brothers and sisters are like, oh, yeah, man. I want those uniforms and they're like, oh, pull ups.

Three miles? Nah, that's what turns them away. But anyways, so just being able to Overcome things mentally and then, um, falling with grace by hasty repelling at jungle warfare training. Yep. So you're just pretty much standing up, running down a cliff and falling. Well, I was, I was the one falling. But the ones they got on video wasn't me, thank goodness.

On a training cliff, the training easy one, you had one dude start from the top and just... Tumble on down on the video and everybody's just like, Oh man. But yeah, service related, man. So, I mean, I already hate Heights, but watching that made me hate them and be afraid of them even more. But jungle warfare training, that's an experience, man.

Tell you that, but that's pretty much all I got. VA rating. We have considered all your aspects and. That is not rated for coverage.

Oh, man. Hey, so, uh, man, I'm going to sum it up to only two top things. Uh, back home, we all know, uh, back in, you know, back on the island , the closest thing that you could get to like any site type of massage was the local healer in your village. And that local healer was usually that old man. And that old man, dude, I'm telling you, man, if, if you're coming in expecting that, that, you know, this is going to be a petting massage, you're in for a rude awakening, man, because one of the biggest thing, and I say this, you know, my exposure to massage parlors.

What talking about the Philippines or the Thailand massage? Hey, hey, hey, whatever, that's in you guys, you know, mental, whatever you guys are thinking about. Yes, that's what I'm talking about. You have to mention the country. Oh, okay. We're talking, I was, I was thinking about like, you know, the cucumber on the eyes.

That is cool. And... Hey, man. The big buff dude in the white shirt that's half buttoned down there. Yo, I'm telling you, man, I'm just, I don't want to say it. I'm just glad because man, it's, it's, you know, I wasn't expecting it. You know, it was, it was a nice beginning to the massage and then all of a sudden. The freaking lady, man, all of a sudden, I'm like, you know,

man, if you're ever in DC area, there's a, there's a street on there called J street. Now stay away from J street. That's anyhow. Yeah. That was, that's one of those things.

Yeah. That was one of the, you know, being exposed to, uh, you know, the massage, uh, that, you know, one of those things where, man, this is, I mean, you know, this feels good. So that was one of the things. Uh, the second, uh, that this should have been my second, my first, but this is kind of sick because it's actually my job, you know, uh, being able to save someone a thousand different ways.

If you were to get shot today, I guarantee you guys, if somebody, one of you guys would get shot. I would probably find off the top of my head right now, all the things that I've been taught to say to somebody. It'll probably be, probably... Mouth to mouth. Mouth to mouth. Crackle time. Immediately. Cutting that airway.

That's what they call it. That's what they call it. Get that crack. So yeah, it's just my job, man. You know. I've never been exposed to, you know, being able to save, you know, save somebody thousand different ways, you know, and I was, uh, you know, initially back home, you know, or, you know, before my exposure to the medical field, I didn't, one of the things we're just calling 911, just being open to that and understanding that.

There are a lot of different ways, uh, especially, you know, care under fire. That's one of the things that I really love , you know, just pretty much my job, you know, you know, just being able to save somebody. And that's one of the skills that I still hold today that I think that I could, you know, I just never want to leave.

And just, you know, just being exposed to that. Um, so, but that number one though, that was kind of, you know, I should have mentioned that. I was one of the big shockers for me, you know, was, you know, being exposed to all this, uh, Different type of massages, I would say. Well, as a Marine, can you give us a quick rundown or explain to everyone what, um, the procedure is for, uh, heat exhaustion?

What, what, what it entails from a corpsman? The, the, the key word that you need to know is, is called silver boat, you know, and I used to mention that a lot to a lot of my heat cases. If you are going to go down, you gotta, you gotta be very, you gotta understand. I have the silver boat, and then a lot of, yeah, and you know, a lot of, you know, and this is what, when I was with OCS, officer time school in Quantico, and I was, um, part of training command and a lot of these, uh, you know, so candidates, you know, they were fearing me because they knew that doc, as soon as doc was right there.

Hey, if you go down around here, it was silver boat time guys ain't no way even female male done deal. Hey, you were around my checkpoint and you would go down, you know, your trousers are coming down and woo. And if I find out that you're about like a 101, like 101 or 102 core temperature, that's still heat.

You know, you're about to get heat exhaustion. All your clothes are coming out. I don't care if you have a bra or whatever, you're coming down, you're in the ice bath, you know, you know, just to, you know, just cool it down. Get the IV going and then send my, uh, my driver, uh, to take you to the, uh, clinic. Um, that was, at least that was my procedure, uh, but for, for the most part, uh, and I know it resonates a lot with you guys, you know, as soon as, uh, a lot of my Marines heard, heard that term, you know, they understood what, what I meant, uh, and I'm, and I know what, I know you guys know what that means too.

Uh. a lot of people that fake a heat exhaustion? Yeah, just to get out of training. Yep. Yes, sir. That's all I meant, uh, just for

Oh, man, it was, uh, especially, uh, especially, uh, during wintertime and didn't need to be suckers, man. They try to find any, any way to get out of training. And, uh, when I was over here, CLB three, uh, combat logistics town in here in Hawaii, it was, uh, it was interesting because a lot of, uh, The guy is over there.

I kind of understood. So we would be in the information, right? And, uh, you know, I got a little some smokey telly, private smokey telly come up to me and he's like, I PT in the morning, you know, and this will be the next day. I'll let you know, you know, tell you what, you know, show up, show up to the clinic.

And, uh, and then, and then I'll talk to you first. So he shows up to the clinic, you know, I mean, not necessarily I'm turning it in, turning him in, but I'm like, Hey man, I'm gonna , I'll call your first sergeant to come over here too and see. And then, you know, I mean, I'm not turning in, I'm just, you know, trying to, trying to hook up everybody.

But, uh, it's, you know, funny times the stories, but, uh, yeah, that was, that was, uh, one of the experiences, you know, just J Street and, uh, in Washington, DC Uh, yeah. You know, I just finished my CPR training, um, last Thursday and they don't teach that song anymore when you're trying to get the rhythm going on.

You know that song? Ah, ah, ah, stayin alive, stayin alive. So you don't, they don't teach that anymore. They just tell you get a good rhythm and go as fast as you can. Uh, make sure you're breathing.

Is that right? Go as fast as you can? That's what they were teaching me, but you have to get a certain pace. Just for our listeners, uh, don't take any CPR advice from us. We're not authorized to teach CPR. But that was just my experience. Before they were teaching, ah, ah, ah, that song, that song. But they were just saying, get a good rhythm and go as fast as you can.

Get 30. 30 pumps and two breaths, but you don't need to get breaths. You just get pumps, but now that's what I was taught. I just want to before. Before we close it out, I just wanted to admit one more thing. So I got through shade real quick at the Air Force there. I just want to say big ups to the Air Force.

My natural knee jerk reaction is always to throw shade because when I was in Bagram, I hated working with a lot of y'all, but I have over the years worked with a lot of good airmen and, uh, you know, shouts out to Lauren and my cousin, and my cousin Nofo. Very good credit to their, their branch. Like, awesome Airmen, so like, just want to say, I got love for the Air Force too, but, you know, sometimes I look at you the way, the same way these Marines all look at me, so, you know, forgive me for that, I still got love for y'all, and I know I've met really good Airmen that do really good things, so.

Thank you, as a representative of the Air Force, thank you very much.

Alright fellas, appreciate your input for tonight's recording session. I just wanted to put it out there that, uh. If you are having a hard time and if you're a veteran having issues, feel free to reach out to any one of us on this panel, , but immediately, you know, call your, your local, , VA chapter, , reach out to them, uh, see how they can assist you with, uh, any of your issues.

, do not go feeling that nobody cares about your situation. If there's somebody. , that's, that's willing to help and lend the help to you and, uh,  life is, it's not, it's not a closed door. You know, there's our, there are different doors and all those doors. Can be open for you if just not, , other than that, I want to give a shout out again to our, uh, sponsors, uh, you know, get that Matai watch, guys.

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If you guys have any questions, you know, comments, whatever about life insurance, you know, uh, independent, I mean, like insurance and. Here, uh, in the Utah area, hit up, uh, Nothing But Grinds for some good old, good fresh meals, uh, enticing, flavorful, you know, menu, uh, over at Nothing But Grinds. Other than that, uh, if you guys have any comments, any, you know, gripes or any situations that you guys feel that you guys want to say, you know, hit up our, uh, Uh, the comment section, give us a shout out, give us a like, give us something to show that you are there and you are listening.

And if you have any issues, you know, private message us and we'll take care of that issue for you. This depends on what the issue is. You might not take care of it, but we'll definitely. Know who to talk to resolve those issues other than that until next time. Thank you very much Have a good evening the rest of your day.

Take care