Episode 445 David Willis Supporting Veterans with Homefront Sitrep Transcript

This transcript is from episode 445 with guest David Willis.

Scott DeLuzio: [00:00:00] Thanks for tuning in to the Drive On Podcast where we are focused on giving hope and strength to the entire military community. Whether you’re a veteran, active duty, guard, reserve, or a family member, this podcast will share inspirational stories and resources that are useful to you. I’m your host, Scott DeLuzio, and now let’s get on with the show.

Hey everyone. Welcome back to Drive On. I’m your host, Scott DeLuzio. And today my guest is David Willis, and he is one of the hosts of the Homefront SITREP podcast. Uh, the Homefront SITREP podcast is dedicated to discussing veteran related issues and giving a platform to veteran service organizations.

Veteran business owners and veterans to share their stories, uh, very similar to this show. So I think if you, uh, are enjoying this show, you’re, you’re certainly going to enjoy their show as well. I, I was on there, uh, well it was a couple months ago, I think now. Um, you know, when I was on, on the [00:01:00] show, and, uh, you know, today we’re gonna talk about some of the important issues facing veterans and, uh, you know, what we can do to be, uh, better able to support the veteran community.

But before we get into all that, uh, David, I wanna welcome you to the show. I’m glad to have you here.

David Willis: Well, thanks for having me.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, absolutely. Um, I guess let’s kind of jump right into, you know, what it is that you do and everything with your, your show. And, um, you know, tell us a little bit about your background, kind of what got you into doing, uh, the, the podcast and what your mission is for the show.

David Willis: All right. So a little bit of backstory on me. We’ll start there because I think that’ll preference everything going forward. Uh, so born and raised in Kentucky, um, graduated high school in 1997, joined the Marine Corps right after high school. Um, so I went to Parris Island, uh, did my bootcamp there. Um, after boot camp came home for boot leave.

I was home for, I think, 10 [00:02:00] days, 11 days, whatever it was after. And then went back to, uh, Camp Geiger, which is where we did our School of Infantry, uh, and then from there, uh, went to 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines Golf Company, um, and I was in the Marine Corps from 97 to 01, got out in August of 01, and I was on terminal leave, uh, 9 11 happened, and, uh, I got out I told my mom, I said, Hey, be on the lookout for the, uh, Western Union.

She goes, what do you mean Western Union? I was like, if I get recalled, that’s how it’s going to come. It’s going to come as a Western Union. Sure enough, Western Union came and, uh, I had orders to return back to Camp Lejeune for combat refresher training. Um, so I went back. To Lejeune, they put us with a mobilization support battalion, so we didn’t get stuck with, you know, another grunt unit or [00:03:00] whatever they put us with a mobilization support battalion and, uh, from there deployed a little bit, did a little bit of a deployment after that, and then, um, Came, came back and got out in 2004 and, uh, came back home.

Like most veterans, um, I lost that sense of camaraderie, that sense of purpose the second time, because the first time it didn’t really set in because I didn’t really have a whole lot of time because war broke out. Um, but the second time. It’s, it’s, it’s set in. Now, I had a job lined up as soon as I got out, but when you lose that brotherhood, um, and being in the military, you know, the army has their own brotherhood, the Navy, so forth, Marine Corps is a whole different animal when it comes to brotherhood, when it’s a bunch of Marines.

Um, So, you know, I lost that sense of purpose and, [00:04:00] uh, I got into veteran charity work. So, um, doing, you know, going down, feeding the homeless veterans or, you know, doing a sock drive or whatever that they might need. Uh, so got into, you know, doing charity work with different organizations. And, um, once my kids were old enough, I got them involved as well.

Um, and. Operation Victory, which is a organization here that’s comprised of, uh, all these, uh, different labor unions and different businesses from around the, around the city. I think it was like 71 total, 71 total different businesses and unions that were joined together. And what we would do is we’d find a dilapidated home.

Go in, demolish it to studs, make sure everything’s good to go, and then we rebuilt it. And then we gave it to a homeless veteran. The homeless veteran could, you know, live there pretty much mortgage free. For the first 10 [00:05:00] years, if they decide to sell that home, then they have to I think they have to give a percentage back to the organization that gave it to them.

But after 10 years, they’re scot free. They could sell it, do whatever they want to after 10 years. Uh, so it was great, great organization. And, you know, I still volunteer to date, uh, but I’m no longer on the board of veteran service organizations. I kind of stepped away from that whole role. And the reason being is because of the, The bad apples out there.

I got involved with an organization that the founder was a narcissistic guy. It was all about him. He didn’t really care about his board. He didn’t really care about helping veterans. He just cared about boosting his personal profile to make himself look better. So when I resigned in 2020 Uh, it was right around Christmas time in [00:06:00] 2020.

I resigned and, uh, started spiraling. I didn’t, you know, I didn’t know what I was going to do with myself because, you know, I was so heavily involved. I mean, I was intertwined. It was my life. My wife would My wife would tell you that, uh, I would miss my kids sporting events to go to events for veterans because that’s how intertwined I was.

And, uh, I didn’t realize the wedge that it was creating between me and my kids and my wife, um, And that’s all leading back to the founder saying, Hey, you’re not doing enough. You’re not doing enough. And we’re all volunteers. And I’m like, bro, I got a full time job. Plus I have a family. I’m I’m volunteering as much as I can.

And he’s like, well, you need to do more. Uh, he’s like, well, I I’m here all the time. And I’m like, dude, you don’t have a day job. So, you know, you got time to spend. I don’t, I mean, I have to balance that, uh, between everything. And [00:07:00] so, yeah. You know, after resigning, like I said, I started going down a rabbit hole.

And I had thought about doing a podcast, um, but I’m a procrastinator. I’ll, my wife will tell you, I like to procrastinate. Uh, it’s to the point where I bought the microphones, I bought the cameras, I bought the computer. I had everything to do a podcast. Um, but it just sat down here in the basement. It was collecting dust.

And, uh, my wife looked at me, uh, I guess it was January of 23. And she’s like, dude, you need to do something. Your PTS has got worse. Your anxiety has got worse. Your hypervigilance has got worse. And I’m like, okay. So I came down to the basement, set everything up, got it ready to go. And I started researching and looking at other veteran podcasts that were out there, what they were talking about.

And I’m like, well, what’s going to be my [00:08:00] niche? What what’s going to make me stand out from. All these other veteran podcasts. And what I noticed was there wasn’t any podcast out there that was dedicated strictly to veteran service organizations around the country. Now, there was podcasts that would bring in, you know, your big name Wounded Warrior and Mission 22, but they wasn’t focused on the mom and pop, the regional ones.

From Florida or Virginia or Washington state. So, um, that’s, that’s where I decided to focus it. Cause for one, I knew a lot about veteran service organizations with being involved with for 20 years. Um, and so. That’s, that’s where we stuck at. We stuck at it with, uh, veteran service organizations and I do a deep dive.

I mean, a deep dive when I, before I bring on a veteran service organization, I want to look at their 990s. I want to see how transparent [00:09:00] they are. Uh, I want to look at their Google reviews. If there’s bad Google reviews, I want to, I mean, I do a deep dive on. Deep dive on them. Uh, and I go individual. I look at the board members who’s listed as board members.

And I do a deep dive on that person just to make sure that they’re, they’re doing what they’re saying they’re doing, because all of that should be transparent. If you’re a veteran service organization, all of that should be transparent. Uh, so that’s kind of where we are. Um, so I started the podcast, what, February 28th.

Yeah, February 28th of 2023, my first episode was released. Um, we were doing audio only first. Um, so we were doing every Sunday, we, we would record. Tuesdays at noon, it would be released on Spotify, Amazon, and all of that. And I got hooked up with some other veteran podcasters. Uh, Rich LaMonica from the Misfit [00:10:00] Nation.

Uh, he’s like, Hey bro, you need to, you’re putting out good content, but you need to do video. And I’m like, I don’t know if I want to be in front of the camera, you know? Cause I was the type of guy that liked being behind the scenes. I didn’t care about the credit and I still don’t care about the credit today.

It’s for me, it’s helping that one veteran that might slip through the cracks. That’s what it’s for me. That’s what it’s all about. So after chatting with him for a while and, uh, I decided, all right, let’s, let’s do video. Um, and then I saw the need, like the need for another show, another day. So instead of just doing Sundays, now we’re doing Sundays and Mondays, uh, both at seven o’clock Eastern time.

And, you know, it was just like, man, this is awesome. Cause for me, it was my therapy. Um, Doing a podcast because for one, I get to talk with other veterans and hear their [00:11:00] story. And, you know, and then I get to talk about my story, you know, what I’m going through and it, it, it worked, it has worked now. I’m not saying that it got rid of my.

My PTS or mine, uh, anxiety, but it has helped minimize. Um, now if I go a couple of weeks without doing a podcast and I’m like, Oh, I need to be, I need to do a podcast. Um, so, you know, my wife is like, there’s days like when, like tonight I’m, I’m, you know, being interviewed by you. My wife’s like, gosh, you’re doing another podcast.

I’m like, this is not my podcast. I’m being a guest. And, uh, you know, she’s. She’s funny, but she understands that I have to do these to help with my, you know, with my struggles. So,

Scott DeLuzio: You know, I, it’s funny that you say that because I, I notice similar things with myself and other veteran podcasters that I’ve talked to where we, you know, We’ll talk to, to [00:12:00] folks, um, other veterans and, um, you know, one of those things that I think is very common in the veteran community is we miss that camaraderie with other folks that we, we serve with just other folks in the military.

And, um, You know, we don’t always know where to find that camaraderie. Right. But having a podcast like yours, like mine, like, you know, there’s a bunch of others out there. Uh, you mentioned Rich. I had him on the show a while back and, um, you know,

David Willis: you know,

Scott DeLuzio: all these, all these different podcasters who are, who are out

David Willis: are out there.

Scott DeLuzio: uh, I’ve, I’ve talked to a lot of, a lot of them and they’re like, yeah, it like lets me talk to these other veterans and, And I get that, that sense of camaraderie back a little bit, you know, even if it’s just for, you know, the hour that we’re talking or half hour, whatever it is that we’re talking, um, I just get that back for a little bit.

And like, I love having that. Um, but you’re [00:13:00] right, you know, you go, go a few weeks without recording, you know, for one reason or another. And it’s like, You kind of get that itch, like you want to get back into it, right? Um, so, uh, you know, but, but for, I guess, for the listeners, um, you know, Yes, of course we are doing this for, for you, for the veteran community.

We, we want to get this information out there to other people. Um, you know, like you’re talking about talking to other veteran service organizations and, and the, the groups that are out there that are helping, um, you know, kind of grassroots helping, helping people that maybe people just don’t know about do that too.

And I think that’s a wonderful thing. Um, you know, but we, We kind of have a little selfish motivation as well. We want to, you know, have those conversations too, uh, you know, from, from time to time. And, and, uh, you know, it, as much as it helps other people, I think it does help us as well, um, as we’re, we’re doing these shows.

Um, now when you’re talking to either other [00:14:00] veterans or other people from these different organizations, um, what have you found to be some of the more pressing issues that veterans are facing, uh, these days?

David Willis: Um, dealing with the VA is, is a lot of the issues and I’m learning that myself right now, because I was one of the dumb ones that, you know, Oh, there’s other veterans that need it more than I do. There’s other veterans that need it more than I do. Okay. And I didn’t realize until I started this podcast.

That I can’t be telling people to go to the VA and get rated and and get seen if I hadn’t done it myself So that that’s a that’s a big one. The VA right now is a big one And then another one, you know, like Veterans that are military members that are transitioning out, um, having the resources that they need to be successful.

[00:15:00] So, when I got out in 2004, they didn’t have programs out there that would help me with a resume. Um, and then, was it 2018, I believe, um, there was a law passed. I can’t remember the law, but whatever you did in the military, uh, it transferred over to the civilian sector. So let’s say you’re telecommunications in the, in the army, right?

And you did that for 20 years and you got out, uh, after or before 2018, then you’d have to start at the bottom. Uh, say AT& T or Verizon, whoever, you’d have to start at your bottom and work your way up. Now, after 2018, then you’re what? Your service will transfer over and you got more experience so you don’t start at the bottom you start somewhere higher up and there’s organizations like KY Valor [00:16:00] InVets and Mission, Wisconsin, there’s there’s just a few of them that actually help transitioning service members Write a resume.

They help them find jobs within the state. So like KY Valor is for Kentucky So they’ll go, they’ll travel all over the country and find service members and, and relocate them to Kentucky and help them find a job here in Kentucky that suits their needs. Um, and one of the stories that they were telling me when I had them on, on the show was, um, this guy was getting out of the military.

He was a supply, supply logistics officer in the, in the army. He got out. Or he was in the process of getting out and he was trying to get a job and they’re like, well, we’re going to start you at the bottom of the barrel. And KY Valor got involved. And when he got out of the military and started the job, he was the head logistics officer [00:17:00] for the company.

Like they put him right at the top pretty much for some, because, you know, he’s, he, he, uh, deployed troops, tanks, anything that was needed. That’s what he did in the army. And, and whatever company he was going to go work for was going to start him out as just a warehouse guy. And she, and they were like, no.

So needless to say, he went from the bottom to the top. Uh, that’s, you know, dealing with the VA and transitioning out, I think are some of the major issues. And then. You know, 22 a day, that’s the skewed number. Um, and I think a lot of veterans, like I said, they lose that sense of purpose. They lose that sense of camaraderie.

And when they get out, uh, they’re not, um, they’re not there. They’re not focused like they should be. And I think, I think a lot of that is due to, um, [00:18:00] Losing your camaraderie with your fellow, your fellow, fellow battles. And then it just compounds and compounds. And I don’t think they, they know where they can turn to. the, I think those are the three major issues right now, uh, dealing with the VA, dealing with transitioning out, making sure you have a plan, uh, and then losing that sense of camaraderie and sense of purpose, uh, and not having somewhere to turn to that’s readily available.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, those are, I think, great.

It’s great insight, uh, anyways, that you have on that. Um, you know, I, I, I, I wish it wasn’t that way. I wish the VA just worked, you know, and worked for us, you know, um, the, the, the transition, um, like you were saying back when you got out, a lot fewer programs were available [00:19:00] back then. I don’t know specifically what was available back then.

I got in a year after you got out. So that, that time period was, was a little bit skewed, but, um, You know, when I got out, um, I remember getting, uh, this information about services and benefits that were available and it was like drinking from a fire hose. They gave, like, everything all at once, and, uh, A lot of it, I didn’t need right now or right at that time.

And when I was getting the information, it was kind of just like in one year out the other, because like I didn’t need it. So I wasn’t paying too close attention to it. It was one of those things where maybe a year from now, I might need it or, you know, Something like that. And I forgot all about it by that point.

And, and, you know, they give you a packet of information like, you know, this thick and you might as well hand me a phone book and tell me to, you know, you know, find, uh, you know, the information in there. And [00:20:00] it’s like, It’s just too much information. So, um, and I, and I know when we, you and I, when we talk to other organizations, um, at some point we’re going to have too much information too.

And it’s going to be hard for people to digest all that. I, I would never expect someone to sit down and start listening to the first episode of the show and listen all the way through to the end. Today to this episode, um, and just listen to everything, but you got to be able to pick and choose. And so I try to make that easy for folks who, you know, maybe they’re dealing with, uh, you know, mental health struggles or something that make it easy to find that on, on, you know, through my website or, or whatever.

And, and maybe they’re dealing with, uh, finance issues or relationships or whatever it is that they’re looking for and make it easy for them to find it as opposed to just saying here. Listen to everything and try to figure it out. You know, that, that, that’s the way things were done when, at least when I was getting out and, and, uh, it just didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.

Um, you know, but, [00:21:00] um, you know, and then, you know, to your point, that 22 a day, um, you know, is, You know, whatever, whatever the number actually is, you know, I, I, I won’t get into that, but, um, uh, you know, that’s, that’s quite frankly, the reason I started the, the show is because there were just too many people, um, who didn’t really have hope and they didn’t see any other way.

And, uh, that to me just was not acceptable. And, um, You know, I, I’m going to keep doing this until that number is down, you know, down to nothing.

David Willis: Yeah. I agree.

Scott DeLuzio: as I’m concerned, you know, unless, unless there’s something standing in my way that I can’t do it, you know, I’m going to keep going because, um, you know, gosh, I, I, I hate seeing that.

I hate seeing people thinking that they’re all alone, that they got to figure these things out all by themselves. Like, there are so many people out there who want to help, you know, um, and, uh, uh, there’s so many organizations that, you know, That’s why they exist is to help these people. And, uh, you know, to your point [00:22:00] earlier, you’re not taking away from somebody else because you’re asking for help.

You’re not a burden to somebody else because you went and asked for help.

David Willis: Right.

Scott DeLuzio: You’re getting the help that you need, you know, and that’s I think what we all want for for everybody, you know. But to that point, uh, another maybe question for you, given your work with, uh, you know, VSOs and, um, you know, the, uh, you know, just the work that you’re, you’re ongoing doing, you know, through your podcast and everything.

Um, what are some ways in your opinion that, that veteran service organizations can better, uh, support veterans in maybe even transitioning from civilian or to civilian life from the military? Um, and. You know, the ongoing struggles that they may be having

David Willis: So here’s, when it comes to veteran service organizations, each one of them is created for whatever reason. Um, so let’s say Mission [00:23:00] 22, theirs is to help to help eliminate veteran suicide. And then other organizations are out there to, you know, help combat PTS. Others are out there for just simple camaraderie.

I think what would help, um, If, if you have a veteran that comes to your organization, alright, let’s say you run Warrior Mountain Retreat Center in Virginia, and the only thing that you focus on is PTS, right, and you do, let’s say you do equine therapy, alright, you have a veteran that comes to your, your retreat or whatever, and he says, hey, this is not working for me.

Well, that’s where you as the founder, president, CEO, whatever you want to call yourself, says, all right, well, what do [00:24:00] you like doing? What’s something that interests you? And then I run, uh, ice water fishing warrior, something in Alaska. And that’s what this veteran likes doing. He likes fishing, ice fishing.

So you’re like, okay, Let me, let me call Mr. Willis up and let me get you connected with him. Then I get connected with him. I’m talking to him. I get him, you know, over to my organization to take him ice fishing and he loves it and he’s thriving. Right. A lot of veteran service organizations out there don’t want to work with other veteran service organizations.

They, all they care about is themselves, their organization. We as a whole, all of us. Have to work together to, to end the veteran homelessness, because that’s outrageous. Veteran suicide. Outrageous. One too many. One a day is too many. [00:25:00] Uh, that’s where a lot of these VSOs mess up. And what we look for on Homefront SITREP, We look for the ones that work with other organizations.

That’s what we want to highlight. If you, if you tell me during our meet and greet that you don’t work well with other organizations, then I’m not gonna have you on the podcast because

Scott DeLuzio: play well with others.

David Willis: Yeah, because we have to work together and I’ve seen it too many times doing veteran charity work where said organization Oh, I can’t help you, but I can’t work with that organization.

No, if you’ve got a veteran within your organization and whatever you’re doing, whether it’s equine therapy, whether it’s, uh, fishing, whether it’s race car driving, whatever, whatever you do, whatever your niche is. And that veteran comes to you and says, Hey, this is not working for me. Then you, as the board [00:26:00] member, founder, whatever you are, Need to get him in contact with somebody or them, I’m gonna say them because I can’t just say him, but them in contact with an organization that does what they’re interested in.

That’s, that’s, that’s what’s wrong with veteran service organizations today. Too many of them are, have the I mentality. And that’s what’s wrong, and that’s what we need to fix.

Scott DeLuzio: And, and, you know, one of the, the, the problems with that is there are just so many, uh, veterans service organizations out there, and it’s hard for a veteran to know all the ones that exist out there. I mean, yeah, sure. You can go in Google and try to figure it out on your own, but you’re going to get. A million different results on, you know, all the different things that are out there.

Um, there are plenty of folks who are involved in [00:27:00] different veteran service organizations, or, or maybe they’re not even specifically veteran service organizations. They’re just organizations. Then they happen to also serve veterans. Um, they, they go to the same conferences, they go to the same, uh, you know, events and things like that.

They know each other, they know who these people are and. You can refer people, like just because you had someone come into through your program, whatever your program happens to be, like you said, equine therapy or ice fishing or, you know, whatever. Um, you, you go through, through that program and, and the person’s like, Hey, you know what?

This just isn’t for me. Well, you, you have to know going into it when you set up your organization, you’re not going to be the organization for everybody. It’s just not, you know, especially if it’s something very focused, like, like ice fishing, like there’s some people who hate being outside and okay, well, you’re not going to be a very good fit for those types of people.

Some people hate fishing. Some people hate, uh, you know, race car driving and, [00:28:00] and they, they want nothing to do with that, that type of thing. Um, you know, but they might be totally interested in gardening or, you know, something else. And it’s like, okay, well, there are other organizations out there and they do this type of work that will, you know, help.

Maybe be a benefit to this person. And so, um, yeah, why, why keep that person in to you or just let them go and wander off on their own? And you haven’t really provided a service to them because whatever it was that you’re doing, isn’t working. And so, yeah, for, for any of the veteran service organizations that are out there who are listening to this, um, get your act together, I mean, seriously, um, you know, get, get.

Together with the other organizations and create a network and refer people out and understand that you’re not going to be the, the

David Willis: Be all that ends all.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, exactly. You’re not going to [00:29:00] be, be that, you know, and, um, and that’s okay because I think at the end of the day, like, you know, just as an example, you and I, we have a kind of similar purpose in our, our podcast.

We want to, at the end of the day, we’re trying to help veterans and get information out there to veterans. And, um, I’m sitting here. I have you on the show and I’m going to say your name, your podcast again. I said it already several times. Well, Homefront Sit Rep Podcast, go subscribe to it. If you’re listening to the show, go subscribe to it.

I want people to subscribe to it because if you’re successful in your mission in helping veterans, that means I’m successful too, because that’s my mission is I’m trying to help out veterans and. Whether they get the information from you or from me, I really don’t care. As long as they get the information that they need.

And I think to your point, more, more organizations need to think that way. Where. At the end of the day, the, the, the veteran, um, you know, call it the customer if you want, if you, if you’re, uh, you know, an organization like that, you’re, you’re whoever your, your customer is, is the veteran [00:30:00] and that person is the person that you’re trying to serve and whether they get what, what they need from you or they get from somebody else, I mean, I don’t know, it just seems to me like it, it, it shouldn’t matter, you know,

David Willis: lot of organizations. It’s a numbers game. Um, and every way they look at veterans is that that veteran’s a number. That number means more federal funding or state funding depending on how they’re getting their funding. And they get upset when a veteran leaves their organization because that means less dollars for them to do whatever with.

Uh, but if your organization is not helping said veteran. Connect them with an organization that is going to help them, because that’s the only way that we, as a whole, as a veteran community, is going to get that number down. We’re going to get the veterans off the street. That’s, that’s the only way.[00:31:00]

Scott DeLuzio: You know, I, I know other, some organizations like the, the ones that help with homeless veterans, for example, they may, uh, open up their doors to a homeless veteran for 30 days, 60 days, whatever it is, 90 days, maybe. Um, but if that veteran isn’t ready to move out and, and, Find themselves in a, you know, stable housing situation at the end of that, whatever that time period is.

Sometimes 30 days is not a whole lot of time, right? And, and, uh, trying to, you know, even, even someone who’s relatively stable, if I needed to go find another place to live, um, you know, 30 days might not be enough time to, you know, close on a house or, or, you know, find an apartment or, you know, whatever it is that, that it is that you’re, you’re trying to do.

Um, that just may not be enough time. So, um, You know, getting, getting people in and giving them that, that freedom that, okay, you can stick around here until you’re, you’re good to go, you know, and, um, you know, we’re not going to just kick you back out onto the street and then become another [00:32:00] number out there just so we can, we can say, Oh, we, we’ve helped, you know, all.

10 times more veterans than we actually did, you know, because, you know, when, you know, 90 percent of them are back on the street, you didn’t actually help them. You just gave them a place to sleep for a few nights, you

David Willis: right.

Scott DeLuzio: um, and, and which not to take that away, that is, that is help, um, you know, for them.

Um, it got them off the streets, you know, maybe, maybe help them get a little bit, uh, you know, cleaned up and, you know, maybe, maybe they got a job interview during that time period or, or whatever, but, um, yeah. Give them that opportunity to, uh, you know, get stable, get on their feet and, and then, okay, you know, you’re on your way and, and, you know, wish you the best of luck at that point.

Right.

David Willis: so speaking on that, what I, what I’ve found out, uh, especially here in Kentucky because this is my area, uh, we have a buttload, a plethora of homeless veterans in our, in, in the city of Louisville. Going out [00:33:00] and talking with the veterans, a lot of them want to get off the streets. There are some veterans out there that would rather be on the street than be tied to the man, as they say.

But here, here’s something that I have noticed. So there’s several organizations, like you said, that there’s a 30 day program, 60 day program, 90 day program. A a lot of these veterans that are on the street, they go through these programs, whether it’s a, you know, alcohol treatment, whether it’s drug de, uh, you know, detox, uh, detox, um. When they get done with that 90 day program or that 60 day program and they have nowhere to go. So what happens? They fall back right into that same rut. Now, they’re worried about where their next meal is coming from. Now, they’re worried about what’s, what’s next. So there’s no, there’s no middle ground.

So these veterans, they go through this [00:34:00] program to get sober, whatever. When they get done and they graduate that program, they’re ready to go, but they have nowhere to go. So they have no family, no, you know, nothing that they want to do. So they fall back in that rut. So, but there is programs out there that helps veterans get homes. But like you said, once they get done with their program, they, they’re not ready to, you know, they don’t, they don’t have enough money to save to buy a house. Probably don’t have enough money to, to rent an apartment. So there needs to be something in the middle that these veterans, once they get clean and sober. They can go to this Next Step program, and then after that, move into a house or an apartment. Um, so, me and, me and another guy, Eugene Spears, um, we both work for AT& [00:35:00] T. We started Communications Workers of America Local 3310’s Veterans Committee. Um, because they didn’t have a Veterans Committee, uh, through the union.

Um, So we started that and one of the things that we wanted to do that we came up with was create, create a tiny home community for homeless veterans in our city. And our program was going to be two years long. Now during this process, what we were going to do was teach a veteran how to cook on a budget.

We had local chefs that were going to come in and teach free classes to cook on a budget. We had a bank that was going to come in. and teach homeless veterans how to balance a checkbook and how to, you know, budget properly. We had doctors that were going to come on site that were going to do free health care exams on site.

We had people that were going to donate computers for a little computer and library, [00:36:00] and Said organization that I was with after that I that I joined on the board that we were talking about earlier Found out that I was doing this through AT& T and was like, hey, do you are you still doing this? And I’m like, yeah, we’re still we just got five acres of land donated We’re getting ready to you know, work out some details.

He goes, well, what do you think about coming bringing it over to said organization? There’s legal things going on. I can’t really say what organization it is, but

Scott DeLuzio: Yep. No worries.

David Willis: Um, said organization said, bring it over here to us and we’ll run with it. I was like, okay, cool. Let’s do that because it gained a lot of traction.

Let’s just put that way. News got involved and it blew up. Um, I mean, literally, uh, Luckett and Farley, which is an architectural firm who designed Churchill Downs, came on board and designed our layout. For the property for free. They, [00:37:00] it was all pro bono and it was beautiful. We were going to use shipping containers.

Uh, there was going to be 29 houses, a community center, uh, a chapel on site, all on this fab, five acres of land. And, um, So, COVID happened. Um, the only thing that we needed was funding. We needed 3 million for the funding. Um, and at this time, as, like I said, COVID just happened in, you know, right at the beginning, uh, right in 2020.

Well, I resigned. Well, said founder of an organization that brought it over, never really wanted to do the project. He just wanted the notoriety from it. Two months after I resigned, he canceled the project.

Scott DeLuzio: Oh,

David Willis: it. And it, and all we needed was three million dollars. And the city of Louisville said, hey, we’ll give you the money.

He’s like, no, I don’t want it and canceled the project and it would have been it would have been that second phase so [00:38:00] you go through 60, 30, 60, 90 days at say Volunteers of America or St. Vincent de Paul, whatever, whatever program they go to they come from there They’re already vetted because they have to be vetted to go to those programs They’re clean and sober.

Bring them over to us. We have, we have 29 available units. It’s a two year program, they come over to us, boom, you know, you know, after they get done, and it might not even take two years, it could only take a year, um, and then once we did that, then, you know, then they can go buy a home through Operation Victory, or one of the other Homes for Heroes, or whatever, there’s organizations, so it would have been that middle ground, and I, I think that’s what we need for homeless veterans, um, especially the ones that want the help, you know, that fell on a hard time or whatever, not there, there needs to be a middle ground.

So they don’t fall [00:39:00] back, back in that rut.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, I, I totally agree. Um, you know, it’s disappointing on, uh, obviously that. The project that you’re referring to didn’t work out and that the, uh, you know, all that, all that work kind of went into it and didn’t pan out. But, um, you know, these are the types of things I think we’re, we’re talking about, you know, if there are people out there who are like, you know, how, how do I help veterans?

You know, this is one of those things and, um, you may not think about it. As one of those things that a veteran needs because a lot of times, you know, things like PTSD gets a lot of, uh, you know, attention and, and people talk about that a lot. So, okay, we, we, we talk about mental health type stuff and okay, well, what do we need to do to help with mental health?

We, okay, we got the therapies, we, you know, whether it’s a traditional kind of therapy, um, you know, maybe, maybe through the VA or some other organization, or we do some, you know, Non traditional therapies [00:40:00] like you were talking about equestrian and ice fishing and all these other types of things that are out there that people do, you know, we, we think about those types of things, but, um, those are great if you got a place to go back to after, after this is all done, right?

But if you’re, you’re coming in off the streets, um, Knowing that once when this retreat’s over, or this program’s over, you’re going right back out to the streets, you know, I don’t know, I don’t know if it’s as beneficial, um, you know, versus work on getting that foundation, getting that stability in place, getting, you know, getting cleaned up from, you know, maybe it’s drugs or alcohol, maybe it’s, um, you know, an underlying mental health issue, maybe, um, maybe just can’t find a job for, for whatever reason, but, you know, it’s kind of hard to find a job when you’re walking in, um, um, You know, dirty and, you know, unshaved and all this kind of stuff because you haven’t, you know, had a, uh, you know, clean place to live for, for a while.

And, [00:41:00] um, you know, it, it’s just a, a bad cycle. So, I mean, Hey, this is a need it’s out there and the vet, unfortunately, the veteran homeless rate is, is not. It’s not good. Um, you know, it’s, it’s going up and, and it’s, it’s a, it’s kind of a sad statistic, uh, you know, to, to hear about, you know, these, I mean, we, we improvise, adapt and overcome, but this is not what we’re talking about here.

When, when we’re talking about that, you know, you don’t, you don’t want to be out on the streets, you know, that’s, that’s not where, where people should be anyways. Um, uh, but to your point, you, you mentioned that there’s some people who don’t want To get the help. Um, you know, for one reason or another, they, they are okay with just being out on the streets.

Um, and again, I don’t think that they, they should be, uh, forced to be out on the streets like that. And if we can get them the help and we can show them a better way and, you know, a way to get their [00:42:00] lives back on track, I think that that’s a great thing too, you know, um, you know, but there’s other businesses too, um, that maybe aren’t necessarily focused on veterans, but they, they might be like veteran owned businesses and, um, I know the veterans who own these businesses, if they’re anything like you and me and, you know, uh, other people that I know, like we want to help the veterans that are out there.

Um, as far as veteran owned businesses go, um, you know, what, what role do you think that they play? They play in the, the overall, you know, veteran support and, and things like that. You know, is it, is it providing jobs to veterans? Is it, um, you know, donating to veteran causes? You know, what, what types of things do you see, you know, through the organizations that you talk to?

David Willis: I think, I think a lot of them, they donate to veteran service organizations, uh, especially ones that are in [00:43:00] their area. Um, now some, you know, donate to Wounded Warrior Project, which no, get me wrong, Warrior Wounded Project had their issues and I think they’re working through them, whatever. I, I don’t really keep up with them cause their name brand.

I just, I, like I said, I focus on the mom and pop ones, but, um, A lot of the veteran business owners that I’ve. Interviewed, they give back to veteran, uh, veteran charities. Um, prime example, uh, cover sunscreen out in California. Um, they veteran owned, uh, Lonnie was Navy. His wife is business minded, whatever.

And Lonnie got skin cancer on his head and found out because he had a dog, the puppy started licking his head and that’s how he found out he had skin cancer. So they created cover. Cover sunscreen. So cover sunscreen. I’m gonna show it right here [00:44:00] on the screen

Scott DeLuzio: Oh, nice.

David Willis: This one’s this one’s green and then they have a pink one It’s the same same bottle and inside but just a box is different. So this one they donate to a male veteran service organization the Pink one, uh, they donate to a female veteran service organization, um, which is amazing because, you know, a lot of times female veterans get overlooked, um, which I’m glad to see that there’s a lot of coming up is a lot of veteran or female service, um, organizations out there for that focus strictly on the female veteran, which is amazing.

So.

Scott DeLuzio: It is. Yeah.

David Willis: But yeah, a lot of these business owners, they’ll hire veterans, but their primary focus, depending on what their job is, will donate to veteran charities in their area.

Scott DeLuzio: [00:45:00] Yeah. And to that point, uh, you know, it’s great. First off that the, the female veterans are, are getting the recognition and the support, um, from some of these other organizations, um, you know, because for the longest time, the military was very male dominated, but the, the female ranks are, uh, increasing and, and the, the, Number of female veterans that are coming out of the service, um, you know, in addition to those who are currently serving, um, those numbers are increasing as well.

And, and, um, you know, you see folks who, um, you know, a female driving a car with a veteran license plate or something like that. And, um, it’s like, no, she’s not driving her husband’s car. It’s like that, no, that’s her, her car, you know, and that’s her license plate and she earned it. And, and, uh, you know, we have to, uh, You know, I think some people need to change that mindset and, and understand, um, that there are, there are plenty of females [00:46:00] who have served, um, and, and they deserve that respect too.

Yeah, no, go ahead.

David Willis: there’s an organization down in South Carolina called She’s the Veteran. So, Brooke Conjackson is the founder of it, um, she had her license plate on, on the, on the back of her car, um, her husband and her were walking to the car, and, uh, somebody walked up to him and said, thank you for the service, thank you for your service, and Brooke and her husband looked over and said, I’m not the veteran, she’s the veteran, so that’s where the name came up, she, she’s the veteran, it’s the service organization in South Carolina, and, um, It’s funny, like, like you said that a lot of times, uh, you’ll see a veteran license plate and automatically people think it’s the male who’s the veteran and they’re for the longest time, you know, I’m like, I see a license plate because I work for a telecommunications company.

[00:47:00] So I’m all over the city. And, um, for a long time, I was like, Hey, what, what branch did your husband serve in? And they’re like, no, I’m the veteran. And I’m like, Oh, so now, you know, I had to retrain my brain to think, to ask who, who is the veteran? Because you never know.

Scott DeLuzio: Well, and, and especially because I think, you know, you were a grunt, I was a grunt. Uh, and back when you and I were, were, uh, serving, there were no females in the infantry and that was a, uh, a thing that like when I was serving, um, there were, I had very limited interactions with female service members at that point.

Um, you know, when, when we deployed, we had some support units, um, you know, Cooks and Medics and uh, not Medics, uh, Mechanics I should say. Um, they start with an M. It’s late. I’m tired. Um, no, we had some of them who were female, um, but, but [00:48:00] zero infantry, um, were, were, uh, female at that point. Um, that’s, that’s interesting.

It’s obviously changed now. And, uh, you know, um, that’s, that’s different. So, so the attitude and the mindset will probably change with that, uh, kind of change. But, um, you know, for old grunts like us, we, you know, it takes a little work to, to kind of retrain our brain a bit. Um,

David Willis: it, it did, it did take a while.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, absolutely.

Um, I, I think, you know, this has been a great conversation. I think there’s a lot of work that needs to be done. There’s a lot of great organizations out there, but there’s still a lot more to be done, um, for veterans who are out there, who might be listening to this, struggling to connect with, um, veterans.

Resources or find support that they need or, uh, you know, getting in touch with the right organization. Um, you know, what, do you have any advice for them? Like how to, where do you go to find this type of information? I mean, I, I know you, you said you do [00:49:00] a lot of research. You, you go in, you look through all the organization’s, uh, history and information and all that.

Um, you know, where, where should people start to, to find the information that they need, uh, to get the help that they need?

David Willis: So you can look at like, so if your state has a Department of Veterans Affairs, like Kentucky has Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs, you can look on their website. A lot of times they’ll have affiliated veteran service organizations that they work with.

Um, Or, or you can go on the secretary of state website for whatever state you’re in and type in veteran service organizations. And every state that is, or every nonprofit that’s listed for veterans will, will, will pop up there. Or, um, shoot me an email at homefrontsitrepatgmail. com and I’ll help guide you.

If, if I, if I don’t know, I’ll find out, trust me, I will find out because, uh, I’m always finding. [00:50:00] Hole in the wall, mom and pop, grassroot service organizations out there and I’ve been, I found the service organization in pretty much every, every state so far and I even have a lady coming on Here shortly.

She’s a British military And she’s still lives in the UK, but she’s helping veterans over there that were British military. I’m like, why not go international with it? You know, let’s let’s because, and then, um, I’ll tell you another, a great. organization out there. It’s called Veteran Hundo Club. Um, look them up.

They’re like a rolodex of veteran, uh, business owners, veteran service organizations. Um, that’s another good, uh, resource. Um, but yeah, check out your Secretary of State. And search for, uh, VSOs registered in your state, um, go to your Department of Veterans Affairs for [00:51:00] your state, um, on their website, they’ll have affiliated, uh, service organizations.

Go to your VFW, your local VFW, your post, uh, American Legion, uh, Disabled American Veterans, uh, all of those are great resources. And, you know, the VFW, the American Legions, and they get bad raps. Because, you know, the younger generation the older generation sometimes don’t mix and a lot of times you, they got that stigma of only caring about alcohol, uh, kind of like in my situation, I was, um, Marine Corps said I was an alcoholic, which is kind of ironic because we were founded in a bar, but I went through detox.

Uh, for 60 days, I had a great command. I didn’t get busted down or nothing like that, but went through detox for 60 days. So when I got out, I didn’t go to the VFW. I didn’t go to the American Legion because when I was growing up, [00:52:00] all I seen was drinking, drinking, drinking. And, and so I didn’t think about going to the VFW or the American Legion post.

Um, but after being out and being sober for forever. I started looking into some of the different posts around, now granted, some posts out there, all they care about is the canteen, how much money that canteen is bringing in, but there are organizations, or posts out there that actually have events, family friendly events, and, um, they are a good resource, so, um,

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, and if you, if you can, I found, if you can get in touch with people face to face, you know, you’re not just another voice on the end of the phone that once I hang up,

David Willis: just

Scott DeLuzio: might remember you for the next half hour, 45 minutes or so. And then I kind of. Forgot that you even called. Um, you know, but if, [00:53:00] if I get you face to face and we’re talking,

David Willis: hang out

Scott DeLuzio: lot less likely to forget about you.

Um, and you know, I, I was at an event a few weeks ago and a bunch of people that, that I met face to face, um, I’m going to remember these people forever because, you know, we had those conversations, even if it was, you know, a short, you know, a couple of minutes conversation, we, we were face to face and we, we had those, those conversations and, and it’s, it’s going to, Take a lot for me to forget those types of conversations, right?

So if you can go to these organizations and like you said, VFW or American Legion or DAV and you know, all these other places, um, you know, if you can get in front of those, those people and talk with them, um, you know, they might be more likely to give you a call and follow up and say, Hey, did you, did you Get in touch with these people that we, we set you up with.

And if not, why not? If, if, uh, you did and it didn’t work out, you know, well, how can we help you? How, you know, that type of thing. So, [00:54:00] um, you know, for, for those listeners who might be struggling to find the resources on your own, there are people who want to help you, who are, who have the resources available and, uh, they, they may be able to get you in touch with the right people too.

So I think that that’s great. Um, great advice there. Um, Again, um, you know, before, before we wrap up here, I want, want to give you the opportunity to tell people a little bit about, um, you know, where they can go to find the Homefront, uh, SITREP podcast. Um, and the, the organizations that you feature, find out a little bit more information about that.

you have, you know, information on, on a website or, you know, where, where they can go to kind of just look all that stuff up.

David Willis: Our Facebook page, our public page is Homefront Sit Rep Podcast. We also have a private group called Homefront [00:55:00] Sit Rep. Um, we don’t have a website yet. I’m still, you know, almost, it’ll be two years coming up in a couple, you know, in, in a couple months, it’ll be two years, but, um, I’m, I’m basically paying for everything out of pocket right now.

I’m not sponsored or anything. Uh, so I hadn’t got to that point where I could do a website. Um, But yeah, so you can find, uh, we go live on Sundays and Mondays at 7 p. m. Eastern, um, so we go live on, so Heroes Media Group, we go live on their, their page, Military United, uh, Military United Podcast Streams, uh, we’re also on Reese Across America Radio at 7, uh, at 11 p.

m. on Thursday, Eastern time, um, and then, uh, Um, Veterans Voice Radio is another one that we, we talk about a lot all the time. Um, and then as for service organizations, I mean, we don’t, I mean, our primary [00:56:00] focus is veteran service organizations, and there’s some great ones out there. Um, you got the Hope Project down in Florida, in the panhandle of Florida.

You got Mended Sparrow in Mechanicsville, West Virginia. You got, uh, Montana Warriors on the water. There’s, uh, Warrior’s Next Adventure with Nicholas Rahn. There’s, uh, Kentucky Wounded Heroes in Kentucky. There’s, uh, Blue Skies for the Good Guys and Gals, uh, Foundation. I mean, there’s, there’s so many out there, uh, and they all, uh, Do wonderful things. Warriors to racing. I was talking about race car driving earlier. Warriors to racers is a all veteran crew from the low man to the driver. All veterans, and they do American Endurance racing. So everybody gets a chance to drive the car. And it’s because it’s 8 hours of racing. I mean you’re so, you know, you’re Everybody gets a chance.

[00:57:00] And you, if you start out as a pit crew, then you, then you drive, but you can also go back to being a pit crew. So, uh, but there’s so many great organizations out there. And then, uh, you know, veteran business owners, uh, there’s, there’s a bunch of them out there. Uh, veteran singers, uh, you know, Hero Stock is another veteran service organization out of Nebraska. Veterans Voice Radio. There’s, there’s two apps that you can download. One is Semper Fi Country. The other one is Ranger Rockwave. They focus on veteran singers and family members of veterans that are singers. And they’re not signed with a record label. So these are all independent artists. Um, Hero Stock does concerts all around, um, they’re, they’re trying to expand, so they right, this year they did four concerts, next year they’re going to do five concerts or six concerts, however many, they’ve been invited to come to 38 different states, um, and, and they put on [00:58:00] a one day, you know, one day festival or two day festival, um, so, you know, and then, you know, One of my good friends, uh, Marine Corps veteran, Ryan Dorfield, he goes by the stage name Theory, TH30RY, he just signed with Big Homies Records out in Salt Lake City, Utah, uh, as a rapper, um, he’s doing amazing, I’m super proud and, um, I’m excited for him to see where he’s going to go, um, and he’s got that old school, uh, you know, Late nineties, early two thousands feel to his music.

Um, so super, but there’s just check out the home front, sit rep, man. And, uh, watch our videos. I go to YouTube and watch all of our videos.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, that’s awesome. And I will put a link in the show notes for, uh, I’m going to try, we mentioned so many organizations. I’m going to try to, uh, you know, cram in some of those into the, uh, show notes. I’m sure I’m going to miss a couple, but, um, I’m going to try to get in as [00:59:00] many as I can. Um, but, but certainly, uh, you know, trying to get, I’ll definitely have a link to, uh, You know, your channel and, uh, where people can find you, um, because I think it’s important that people have access to the information that you’re putting out there.

And, uh, you know, there’s, like you said, there’s a ton out there and, um, you know, for the listeners, if you think you’ve tried everything, you’ve, you’ve gone to all the appointments and you’ve done all these different things and you, you, you went to, you know, different. Uh, alternative things that, uh, you know, I got none of this stuff is working.

Nothing’s going to work for me. Trust me, there’s something else out there and there’s some other organization. Maybe you’re just not clicking with the people that you’re, you’re working with at whatever organization. There are so many organizations out there, um, that it’s ridiculous. Like there is not enough time to go out and try all of them.

So trust me, you haven’t tried them all. And, uh, you know, keep, keep going. Keep trying. Um, that I think is the message I want to get across to folks is, you know, just keep trying something, [01:00:00] uh, just because you tried one thing, it didn’t work. Don’t get discouraged. Like it just, That’s just a lesson learned.

Okay. This one didn’t work. Cool. Let’s move on to the next thing and, uh, and, uh, and try, try that one. So, um, man, this has been, uh, you know, a great conversation. Um, you know, David, I really do thank you for taking the time to come on the show and, uh, you know, Talk to you, talk to the listeners about, um, you know, the, the Homefront SITREP and all the work that you do and that you’ve done in the past.

Um, you know, obviously you’ve got a passion for this, um, a dedication to, um, bring up this, uh, this, uh, type of stuff to, uh, veterans and, uh, you know, helping support the organizations that are out there trying to help out veterans. So, um, for the listeners, again, go check out, Um, again, it’s on YouTube and we’ll, I’ll, I’ll get that link in the show notes.

Um, but, but David, again, thank you for your time and for supporting, uh, the veteran community.[01:01:00]

David Willis: Well, thanks for having me and thanks for giving me the platform, uh, on your platform because you’re helping veterans and I’m, you know, thankful that I had you on my podcast to talk about what you guys are doing at the Drive On Podcast and, um, parting words. This is something that I just. Came, me and my brother came up with hashtag be someone stranger.

And what that means you and I won’t tell our loved ones what’s going on with us, but we’ll talk to a stranger. So I want everybody out there to be someone stranger. So hashtag be someone stranger it will help you and it will help them. So hashtag be someone stranger.

Scott DeLuzio: I like it. Be someone stranger. I, I, I do like that. And it’s a great message. Uh, and I think a great place to close. So thank you again, David, for taking the time to come on [01:02:00] and, uh, and for sharing all this information with us. Do appreciate it.

David Willis: very much.

Scott DeLuzio: Thanks for listening to the Drive On Podcast. If you want to support the show, please check out Scott’s book, Surviving Son on Amazon. All of the sales from that book go directly back into this podcast and work to help veterans in need. You can also follow the Drive On Podcast on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and wherever you listen to podcasts.