Episode 464 Michelle Lang Connecting Rural Veterans to Vital Support Transcript

This transcript is from episode 464 with guest Michelle Lang.

[00:00:00]

Scott DeLuzio: Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Drive On. I’m your host, Scott DeLuzio. And today my guest is the executive director of Operation Honor Rural Salute, Michelle Lange. She has been a guest on the, the show, uh, a couple of years ago now. I’m not exactly sure when it was that we last had you on, but, um, it was a few years back and, and we, Recently met up for the first time in person at the Military Influencer Conference, uh, that was a couple months ago.

And I wanted to have her back on the show to discuss her recent work. Um, and basically Michelle, alongside her husband, Chris, uh, founded Operation Honor Rural Salute to guide veterans in small towns to the essential resources that are sometimes difficult to access from remote areas. And so we’re going to talk about that.

Um, and The type of stuff that they’re focusing on now and the challenges that veterans face in, uh, the, those, uh, kind of more remote [00:01:00] areas. So before we get into that, uh, Michelle wanted to welcome you to the show again, and, uh, thanks for being here.

Michelle Lang: Yeah, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, you bet. Um, so. Let’s kind of take it back a little bit, um, to kind of what prompted you guys to start, um, the organization and kind of maybe weave in some of your, your personal experiences and, and how all of that kind of, kind of played into, uh, kind of your desire to, uh, put this organization together.

Michelle Lang: Yeah, so we started what Veteran Help Point back in 2021. And um that was through my husband got out of the military for the first time. Um, so I have the unique experience of being a veteran spouse and a military spouse. Um, so when he got out of the military the first time in 2019, we moved back to Pennsylvania.

And. Um, it wasn’t near, you know, a large military installation. [00:02:00] So he needed some mental health care, um, that the VA that he went to, to seek out mental health care, actually denied him care, which happens at place to place, you know, everything is, is, varies upon location and we just got a bad location.

and anyway that started his spiral I tried to find help for him got him in with a therapist that had no military experience, couldn’t relate to the veteran experience, nothing, which actually made the situation worse. Um same time, we’re trying to find our neighbor, a Vietnam veteran, housing because he was being evicted from his house.

Um And like my life was out of control I thought my marriage was going to end. I thought might take his life. It was nuts. Um, so anyway, we got back on the right track through a lot of work and therapy and, uh, just pure stubbornness and determination. when [00:03:00] he so he ended up deploying cause he signed up for a deployment without telling me cause we were super good.

Um Uh, so he deployed during COVID, um, which was super fun in itself. I started talking to other spouses about this and just like sharing my experience because I don’t mind talking about it And people were like, yeah, we same experience And were my friends. And I’m like, why didn’t you tell me about this you out?

And they’re like, well, we felt dumb. And it’s like, well, you shouldn’t feel dumb. Obviously a lot of people are having trouble with the transition, but there’s 44, 000 nonprofits out there for veterans. Why? we find them in the time that we need them? And of course like the larger ones are bogged down.

You’re going through calls and blah blah blah So we decided he doing the reserves full time. So active duty now, we’re down here, North Carolina, Fort Bragg, Liberty [00:04:00] And that’s whenever we decided to start Veteran Help Point by doing Just accumulating these smaller non profits that are doing good work and putting them in a database that people can easily get to and see no matter where they are.

That has changed since 2021. Now we focus more on rural areas. Well, only on rural areas and rural veterans and their families. So same idea, But we’ve just laser focused on this one category of veterans.

Scott DeLuzio: I like how you guys kind of pivoted and shifted your focus to, uh, those veterans who are not in the major cities. They’re, they’re out. In those, those rural areas and, um, like, like you were saying in, in your own experience with your husband and some of your friends and people that you [00:05:00] knew, you know, these things are not The easiest to find when there’s not a whole heck of a lot around you to begin with, nevermind, um, you know, mental health care or even, you know, physical health or other things like that. But, uh, to your point, there’s, there’s thousands of nonprofits out there. Um, so even if the, the VA. Facilities that are nearest to you are a hundred plus miles away.

Um, well, there’s still other organizations that are out there. Um, but a lot of times I, I found just through the work that I do probably feels like drinking from a fire hose. If you’re to go and, Find all the resources that are available to you. And so it’s a lot of information all at once. And you only may, may need like one or two different, uh, different organizations that you might need to talk to.[00:06:00]

Um, but how do you find them and where is that information? And so this, this collection of organizations, this database that you have is got to be a lifesaver to some of these people, right?

Michelle Lang: Yeah Sometimes people don’t even realize that there’s help like they just don’t even think there’s help for me why would somebody help me whenever they already feel sort of abandoned by the or you know this chip on their shoulder, um, what we call maybe moral injury. Um, so like, why would why would somebody help me?

So that, that even prevents them from looking for that. and then where do you find them Google isn’t just like bringing up suggestions for you

Scott DeLuzio: Well, and you may, people who are listening may say, well, just Google it and figure it out, right? And, and that should be easy enough, right? But Google’s going to give you information, but it may not be [00:07:00] good information. Uh, it, they may give you, uh, uh, you know, information about a resource that’s out there in your area. Not all of these organizations are created equally. Some of them are really great and some of them are terrible. And so you may find that terrible one. And then to your point that. That moral injury or the, you know, nobody’s. Nobody cares enough to help me. That kind of mindset is just going to get reinforced through that interaction with a terrible organization, with people who maybe are just in it for the money, or you know, whatever it is that they’re in it for, maybe they’re not in it for the right reasons, and you end up with that wrong organization, and you end up with Now you’re like, well, you know what?

Well, the heck with it. I’m just not going to look for anything anymore, you know? but there are plenty of great organizations out there, right?

Michelle Lang: oh yeah there’s a ton

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah absolutely. Um, so I, I [00:08:00] mean, I know some of the obvious answers to this are probably, you know, just access to, to the care and resources, but are there any kind of unique challenges that rural veterans face when they get back into the civilian life and, uh, Anything that, that might be substantially different from people who are maybe closer to more urban areas?

Michelle Lang: um it’s there’s two things really the biggest thing is just not knowing what’s available, but you hear this with both urban veterans and rural veterans is that they just don’t know where to look. Like even though urban veteran can go to their American Legion and get their resources or they can go a local veteran meetup, that’s not happening in rural America.

So while the primary marketing source in rural America is word of mouth, Still that way to advertise. Um there’s not [00:09:00] sense of, especially among younger veterans, like I’m a veteran going to tell other veterans about what helped me. That’s not happening. So there’s just a total disconnect between to people about their experiences and like the physical isolation that is rural America.

Scott DeLuzio: hmm. Mm

hmm

Yeah, and I, I think that’s one of the issues that a lot of, Veterans, especially those with PTSD and some other issues, they tend to isolate themselves anyways. Even if they are living in the middle of, you know, a very populated city, they just isolate themselves. They stay in their home and they don’t get out much.

They don’t interact with other people very, very often, just as a consequence of, you know, what they’re going through. Um, but I gotta imagine that’s amplified even more when It’s real easy, you can even step outside your house and there’s nobody for miles and, [00:10:00] and that, that can make it even more isolating for folks like that, um, and not knowing that there are even people available to talk to, and I don’t even mean professionally, just, you know, groups of, you know, veterans who might get together and just hang out and talk, you know, uh, I don’t want to say, you know, American Legion or BFW style, I mean, although those, there’s nothing wrong with that type of thing, but, um, You know, just, there might be groups of people who, I don’t know, if you like running, you know, there might be a veteran running group that’s kind of in your area, you might have to drive a little to get there or whatever, but, you know, there might be things like that where you can, you can find these people, um, but if you don’t even know that something like this exists, like, what do you, what do you even search for, you know?

It’s like that, you Unknown, unknown, kind of thing, right?

Michelle Lang: you don’t know what you don’t know.

Scott DeLuzio: Right, exactly. Um, so what is, so Operation Honor Rural Salute, again, is the name of the [00:11:00] organization, um, what is the approach to Getting your service and what you guys do, uh, in front of those folks who are living in rural America in, in those kind of more remote areas.

Cause I know you said word of mouth is, is huge with those people. Um, I mean with, with anybody really, but, um, especially in those rural areas. Uh, what is your, your approach for getting front of those people

Michelle Lang: Uh, that would be mostly our in person events So, we started out small with one, one event last, this year. Keep forgetting that it happened Um and our goal is to do these in person events in one state. in each state once a year So all 50 states, um, once a year, that was really, really helpful in getting out But then we’re also building a community online. So we have our resource page, which we’ve down significantly and we’ve [00:12:00] changed the way we do resources and then we have our online community page for rural veterans, which I am pretty sure is probably the first rural veteran community. and then.

in person events which are like The, actualization of what we do online. So we, we bring these resources together. Um of them local try get national too Um people see the familiar faces that they’re going to go need to also recognize that there’s people nationally that actually do care about them because that is also very true.

and then, you know, celebrate with food trucks. Music speakers, um, kids games, craft vendors, an educational piece, it’s just an, it’s a festival, it’s a, it’s a fun day.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, it sounds like it and I [00:13:00] follow what you guys do on social media and I’ve seen some of the pictures and the videos and all those kind of things of stuff that you guys have done and it’s, it seems like, you know, the whole community is coming together and there’s, there’s lots of people who are involved and they, they want to share those resources like you were just talking about, share those resources with people who may not know that those resources even exist.

And. I think that, like for me anyways, if I was in that position and, you know, I, I do what I do, so I know there are a lot of resources out there, but if I was in that position where I didn’t know any of those resources and I hear about this event and I’m like, okay, well, I’ll go check it out and I start seeing all of these people, Who have a resource to offer or have some, you know, their nonprofit or, you know, something that they have available. It would make me feel like, like, well, holy crap, people [00:14:00] actually. And there are things out there that I have access to that are potentially going to benefit me. Um, you know, dealing with whatever this thing is that I, I might be dealing with. Um, that’s got to feel good, uh, to finally realize that those things are available, right?

Michelle Lang: Yeah that was a big realization and one of the motivations help us rebrand in June is just like so people at this event that were like, To very deeply impacted by it And whenever you’re, you’re throwing event um it that that, event was a two day Um and whenever you’re throwing things like this like yes it’s a lot of work and you get caught up in it and you get um lost in sauce a little bit Like you just want it to get where it’s going and, and get to the end of the day. You have a difficult time pausing and really understanding the impact. That made And so it [00:15:00] wasn’t, you know, I caught a couple of stories from people that day, but it wasn’t until the day after or the weeks after where people were coming up to me and telling me, you know, what somebody said to them about the event or how they were impacted by it, like how spouses were impacted by it.

Um it was just really, it was really incredible to able to, I don’t know, make people feel supported.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. I, you know, I think this is kind of an issue, I think, with the, I don’t know if it’s a veteran issue or maybe just folks in the first responder and veteran communities, they just have maybe similar mindsets, but, um, where It’s like, you know what, I’ll, I’ll just suck it up and I’ll deal with it on my own, or, or there’s, there’s somebody else who’s worse off than me, and, um, you know, I don’t, I don’t need to go take that spot from somebody else, or that, whatever that resource is, I don’t need to take that from somebody else, [00:16:00] I’ll, I’ll just suffer and I’ll deal with it, and it’s not that big a deal.

And there’s kind of that mindset that a lot of times we get, and I’m guilty of that too, um, And you kind of have to just kick your own butt and say, like, no, you can’t, you can’t think that way, because these resources are there for veterans. You’re a veteran. Like, it belongs there for you. Um, yes, there might be somebody else out there who is, you Struggling too, but it doesn’t mean that you’re not just because there’s somebody else, right?

And we get that. I don’t know. It, I hate that mindset, even though I’ve had it myself. I hate that mindset, you know

Michelle Lang: I know it’s a tough one but then think about how amplified that is rural because they are, I mean, historically even more stubborn because they are whenever um especially you’re, with the land whenever you work with the land, like, you’re at the mercy of the weather, you’re at the mercy of the elements, and [00:17:00] it doesn’t matter.

My parents always just say to me, my mom, matter Michelle. It doesn’t matter if you’re sick or not, the cows still need milked. Like get you know get up which I didn’t even live on a farm. My parents moved off the dairy farm when I was born, but it didn’t matter. The animals still need fed. They still need water.

The cows still need milk. The, fields still need plowed. It doesn’t, you don’t have time to take care of yourself. And um, I just, I lived that my whole life and it is, most stubborn people I’ve ever but the most giving and loving and doesn’t matter if they don’t like you not If you’re their neighbor and you broke your leg or you had cancer or something like that, they’re coming over and they’re going to bring you a casserole dish fed They’re going to make sure things are taken care of and that over communities [00:18:00] But, um, It’s It’s not until people have those catastrophic things happen to them where they need to stop and take care of themselves. So, how can we figure out to make it more accessible to get this help and take care of yourself?

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, absolutely. And I, I think, you know, kind of the events that you guys are doing now that you’re, you’re starting to do and getting out, you know, around the country and sharing these resources with people, um, is going to be a great

thing to do

Uh, great way to get this in front of people because to your point that you were talking about earlier, uh, the, the rural community relies on that word of mouth, in person communication, that, that type of thing.

It’s very, um, very much a, uh, you know, just the way things are done, I, I suppose. And, uh, So when you, you have those in person events, they can actually meet these people and say, okay, well, all right, these, these people are legit. I like how they, they, they work and whatever. So, [00:19:00] um, so those things I think are going to be great, uh, opportunities for those rural veterans to connect with the resources, um, that, that do go to these things.

You mentioned, um, a couple of stories, uh, from the last event that you had that, That you heard about, you know, from, whether it was from a spouse or from, you know, other people that you, you got to kind of reflect on, uh, any of that, that come to mind that you’d like to share?

Michelle Lang: Um, I think the first the first thing that really made me pause was, um, I mean, I, you are in this, you know in this space, in this veteran space military space, you get so used to knowing what is out there. So it almost doesn’t seem too novel

Scott DeLuzio: Mm

hmm

Michelle Lang: and day I had three Vietnam veterans, tell either myself or one of my volunteers that this was the first time that they felt seen and [00:20:00] supported since they came home and like one guy that, um, that I a sweet family.

He had to walk away from me, because he was in tears he didn’t want he want to uh him cry. But um, boy, just Vietnam veterans have a really special place in my heart because it’s, um, people, my, almost my generation, I think, and younger especially, don’t know what they went through

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah

Michelle Lang: home by their own, know.

Sit by their own neighbors so that was really that that struck me that really hurt my heart but I was so happy that we could do that for them and then We had a panel It’s called a freedom for a speaker panel. We we had a couple people up there Just talking about what freedom meant to them we had my friend Steve Nisbet Marty Scovelin and Jenna [00:21:00] Carlton came in and did a panel for us and It was really They were very candid.

I knew they would be. Um, and the people there in that room it was really interesting to see civilians connect with their stories and understand a little bit more what that military experience is like for not only them, but for his spouses, because, um, I know Marty and Steve talked about what it’s like for their spouses when they were gone which was really interesting.

And then I had a lady that was there who. posted on Facebook one know um, really the first that I heard him, her her spouse speak about his experiences and he spoke in front of everybody. because that was the first time that he had an opportunity to be in a room full of veterans people that got him and share his experiences, what it was like coming home from and he was another Vietnam veteran It’s just like, man what happens just have a space [00:22:00] that you can Share things with is so so healing and then to go right across the street and see more Resources that are available for you and it doesn’t have to be anything serious have mental health There’s you know holistic resources resources there There’s financial resources educational So there’s all these things that veterans have That they really should be using. I mean, it’s just You There’s so much potential for, for rural veterans. It’s insane.

Scott DeLuzio: there

there is, there’s a lot of, a lot of stuff and I, I was kind of, um, you know, just doing a little bit of poking around just to see some of the stuff out there and you’re right, there, there’s so many resources available to, uh, rural Uh, folks, not including the national resource that’s kind of available to everybody, but there’s some, like, you know, very local things that, that are available to people and it’s, it’s pretty awesome to, to find those, those types of things.

And, [00:23:00] and to your point with the, the Vietnam veterans, um, to actually have them feel like they are being seen for the first time is way long overdue.

You know

I mean, as a country, that’s, that’s a shameful thing that it’s, it’s taken this long for us to actually let those people know that their service and their, their sacrifices are actually valued by the, the people who they were fighting for and supporting and, and all that, like, that, That to me, I hate when I hear things like that, not that you’ve done anything wrong by saying that or bringing that up It’s just I it just irks me when when I’m it’s like man the people back then Just did so wrong by these people and it’s finally taken all these years for us to finally be like, hey You know, we we support you.

We we appreciate your service and you know, we want to you know [00:24:00] You know, provide you with resources and benefits and all that type of stuff. Um, they didn’t get that when they got

home got spat on and you know

Michelle Lang: rap because of, you know, uh, Their, their own dealing with PTSD and you know that’s the stereotype comes from and it’s

Scott DeLuzio: yeah

Michelle Lang: well, uh, it just so unimaginable. Like listening to them talk is just so unimaginable Um, war today, not that I’ve ever been to war, but it’s just, I mean, so, so gruesome, so gruesome.

And then they just came back home and everybody hated them. And it, mean can’t imagine. cannot imagine the shame that they had to cared and like to fight for the feeling to be proud of their service um, something that we are, we do not have to really experience today.

Scott DeLuzio: yeah

And, you know, a lot of them. Didn’t even have, uh, or [00:25:00] basically, they were told, hey, put on this uniform and you’re going to war. They were drafted, and it’s not like, they may not have even wanted to go to war, but it’s kind of like, too bad, you’re going anyways. And then to come home and get treated that way, it’s like, That’s just, it’s just not right, but, um, I’m glad to see, you know, that these veterans are going to these things, they, they’re actually identifying as a veteran, right, um, because for years I’m sure they probably tried to hide that just because of how they were, they were treated, um, but actually getting out there and finding these resources, um, and I, I imagine, you know, seeing those folks just, you Kind of warms your heart too, to see all that, you know, um, you know, how they, they come out and actually, excuse me, actually, um, find the benefits and the, the services that they, they’re looking for, right? [00:26:00] Now, I imagine dealing with

The

the different, the variables that, that go into this, that the veterans themselves, the families, um, the, the community resources, um, it’s got to be challenging to kind of bring all that stuff together. Um, you know, what’s available for who and, you know, in what locations, uh, what, what are some of the challenges that you’ve faced in putting, uh, all this information together?

Sure

Michelle Lang: completely so that was, that was a challenge and we were tackling it. We bought a really robust, um, mapping system to be able to handle that and it was really super cool. Um, but then we rebranded to Operation Honor Roll Salute and what I found was that people need that word of mouth.

They need that know, little bit of [00:27:00] trust to be able to take the leap. So, clicking our they even using QR codes. They weren’t, you know, so what we do? So, go on to our website now, which we still have a few more resources we need to put on, we’ve way pared it down, way, way pared it down so we still have the same categories of help, um, but what we’ve done now is have because I am very particular about the resources that go on there, they can serve rural veterans no matter where they’re at, so these are virtual resources most likely if they don’t have like flagship locations across

country

Um, I go to these resources and I say, hey, can you make me a video, 60 second video, like this. It doesn’t have to be fancy of you saying who you are, how you serve rural veterans and where they go to get served by you. because then that’s going to start building [00:28:00] that little thread of trust before they even click off the page to your link.

They already know that there’s some real person there that’s going to help them that they’re going to actually get the help that they need And I think that’s a much better approach for this demographic I think it’s a good approach for a lot, but, um, You know, if you get in the weeds a little bit with too many videos, it bogs your sight down anyway, so that’s why we’re only focusing on the, on the resources that can serve people anywhere in the United States, so mostly virtual resources, um, but yeah, we’ve really changed our approach there

Scott DeLuzio: Well, and it’s good that you’re, you’re able to improve the, the offering that you have, um, by kind of recognizing that like, okay, it was too much, maybe, maybe like I was talking about before, like drinking from a fire hose, it was just so many resources and, and I know you had a lot, uh, on, on your site before and then, then you, you, like you said, pared it down, um, but [00:29:00] having the right resources.

Makes I think makes what you’re offering so much more impactful And like you said you you’re not just having any old resource on there You’ve kind of vetted them. You’ve talked to the people like you said you have that the video That that you put on there so you you know that the resource that you’re presenting to people is legit It’s valid it’s It’s not going to be someone who’s going to screw people over, um, they’re, they’re in it to help right? Um, and so I think for the rural veterans, uh, or anybody really, but for especially the rural veterans who have felt like they’ve just been passed over or ignored and nobody cares, that type thing. There are people, there are people who care, and this is where you find them, [00:30:00] and I think that’s the beautiful thing about is bring it all together in one nice neat package, and it makes it super easy for people to find the resources that they need, um, like I said, a lot times virtual resources, but, um, you know, people who are there for you and can help you with whatever it is you’re

going And

that’s, that’s great that you, that you have all of that. Um, for the listeners out there who might be rural veterans themselves or no one, uh, maybe their family member or friend or neighbor, someone in their community, um, might be a veteran, uh, how can they, Reach out to the organization to find the help, uh, that they’re looking for or, um, even offer their support.

Maybe they have a resource that’s specific to a local area and they want to provide that, uh, you know, through your, your resource, uh, page. Uh, you know, how does that work?

Michelle Lang: so they can go to our website ohruralsalute org and there.

we have the the [00:31:00] and listed Um kind of the overflow to that is community page which of course we’re talking about that word of mouth share what resources worked for you That’s like hey need help Um we also have a contact where can just easily contact us Thanks Let us know if you need help with something or you know if you have a resource that you’d like to see on the page. Um, and then there’s also a side where you submit to join the community And you get approved you’re approved, you’re in the community. Um, inside the community there’s different groups the general group And then there’s Homesteading, VA Loan and Real Estate Millennial, uh Rural Veterans, um Wellness, and there’s going to be a fitness group, a benefits group, and we’re working on like a peer to peer mental health group too.

[00:32:00] Mm

Scott DeLuzio: pretty comprehensive. I mean, you’ve got a wide range of services and support available. I noticed even, you know, by age kind of range, the millennial group as well, that, you know, I think they may be the ones who are, you know, perhaps more on the tech savvy side. And so they, they might be, you know, uh, reaching out through these types of resources, maybe, maybe a little more comfortably, uh, than someone who might be little bit older, uh, than, than them.

Um, and. That, that might be kind of a, uh, you know, interesting thing to see how, how all that plays out or as the years go on to, to see, you know, who, who are the, the actual users of, of all these, uh, types of resources. Um, I mean, to me, I think would be kind of an interesting data point just to, to see who, who’s getting, uh, [00:33:00] the, the value out of these services, um, you know, and things that.

So, um, Aside from the services that you guys list through the website and that database, um, do you have any advice for veterans and their families who are living in these rural areas? Um, you know, things that they may not realize are available to them, but, you know, things that they can do to get some sort of support?

Michelle Lang: I mean use the help that’s available because, just, and, and don’t be too proud to do so right Because improving yourself is never something you should be, uh, ashamed of.

Scott DeLuzio: Right

Michelle Lang: need to improve and, um, know, life doesn’t stop lifing, so there’s always things have to work through. So, but, um, there are so many advantages.

There are so many ways of being a veteran or a [00:34:00] veteran family. There’s so many and there’s so many benefits. I’ve talked to so many VSOs about this. are not using their benefits. what happens when people don’t use your benefits, the government takes that money away. Takes

Scott DeLuzio: right

Michelle Lang: So, go see what’s available to you.

Use it. They’re not it’s not a handout. It’s things that you earned. So go take what you earn, improve your family, improve your mental health. I I know that whenever people are physically well, mentally well, you know, they’re, they’re grounded, they’re social life is good, their work life is good, are mentors, they’re fantastic leaders And so what could that look like whenever we have a bunch of rural veterans and rural spouses who are leading the way in improving their communities because they reached out and used these resources they leaned into their communities um [00:35:00] talked about things and now they’re able to mentor the next generation, they’re able to help veterans to you know, become pillars of the community.

I think that’s a beautiful thing and that’s a very real thing I think can happen on a large scale if people just start in a little bit.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, and to that point, what you’re talking about using these benefits, and if you don’t use these benefits, they, they might get taken away, uh, you know, the government, they’re like, well, nobody wants this, so we’re gonna start taking it away, um, and so that would, not only is that hurting you, because it’s a benefit that you’re, you’ve earned, and I’m, I’m talking to the listeners here, right, you’ve, you’ve earned certain benefits, um, and if you’re not utilizing them, that, that’s hurting you, but it could hurt other veterans down the line who, no longer get access to it, and I think there’s, there’s an article that came out a little while ago, [00:36:00] I think you know what I’m referring to, but, um, basically saying that, you know, veterans are getting, you know, absurd amount of benefits and all that kind of stuff, um, But the veterans aren’t using the benefits to the extent that they have available to them.

If the author of this article only knew how many people are just not taking advantage of these, these benefits, and, and I don’t mean taking advantage in a bad way, like, like you’re scamming the system or anything, but using the benefits, maybe that’s a better way to put it. Um, the amount of people who are just not using the benefits, because They don’t want to, like we were saying before, I don’t want to take from somebody else who might need it more than me.

They may be, uh, you know, more severely injured than I was, and so they need those benefits. And I’ll just suffer and I’ll deal with it. Um, there’s so many people who are out there like that, not taking advantage of these benefits. And it’s, it’s actually sad because now there’s starting to be people who are like, well, We’re, we’re giving too [00:37:00] many benefits out and think about the long term impacts that this is going to end up having on, uh, not, not just, um, you know, the people who have already served, but people who are thinking about it, maybe, maybe a high school, you know, kid who’s, you know, 16, 17, 18 years old, who’s thinking about joining the military.

And they start hearing about people saying, well, we’re going to take benefits away from, From veterans, well, okay, well, what happens if something happens to me while I’m serving? You know, if I’m this 18 year old kid who’s thinking about going and joining, okay? Well, what happens if something happens to me now?

There’s no support for me. Like, well, maybe I don’t want to join and You know now now you’re out of luck because you have a whole population of people who might have otherwise joined But you’re taking those things away and showing that their their service is not As valued as maybe we, we once thought it was.

And,

uh

that, that to me is a terrible [00:38:00] thing. Right.

Michelle Lang: Yeah was that was insane I mean, just considering, yeah, of course there’s always gonna be people that take advantage. Um that that’s the nature of the beast. That’s life. That’s how it goes. But, I mean, uh, just look at what Hunter 7 does, and know, they are, they are themselves paying out of, that’s what their nonprofit is set for to for veterans cancer treatments because veterans have one of the highest rates of rare cancers.

Because you’re over in these burn pits and all this crap. My, my husband just joked with me the other day, I forget what I need him to do. Oh, I need him blowing the kids food. And you know, every, you know People have dark sense of humor. He’s like, you’re gonna ask me, a burn pit veteran, to go use my lungs blow these kids food I’m shut that is so wrong But I mean seriously like, who knows what will happen down the line? I don’t know if we’re gonna have to fight for him to get, you know, [00:39:00] treatment or things like that. People shouldn’t have to fight for treatments. And that’s what, that’s what these Stupid journalists are not seeing.

It’s like, I mean, you went overseas and now you seriously can’t get your treatment paid for by the That’s insane.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. And it, and it’s. It’s kind of like a bait and switch kind of thing where it’s like, Oh yeah, look, we have all these benefits and yeah, join, join the military, go fight in these wars and go do all this stuff. And don’t worry about it. If something happens, we’ll take care of you. And then all of a sudden, but will we really?

Right. And it’s like, that’s just, that would make me feel pretty awful.

Um

you know, and, you know, even as, you know, this is, I don’t know if this is going to be a controversial stance to take on this, but I don’t really care. This is kind of my, my point of view on it is, so say someone goes overseas, they, they’re [00:40:00] deployed, they get killed in action.

They come home, you know, they’re, they’re, they have the funeral, the family’s presented with the flag on behalf of a grateful nation. And in my mind, after seeing an article like that, it’s like, What is a nation grateful for? Grateful that they don’t have to now take care of this person? Is that what they’re grateful for? And that’s the kind of thing that, that irks me so much. And, and so seeing people like that who write those articles, I, I just Gets my blood boiling.

Michelle Lang: I know It’s it’s wild but I they there’s, yeah, it is interesting. They are considering cutting benefits, but I mean, look, they took away the, the nice retirement system, too, that they had. So now everybody has, you know, What they, they went to traditional 401ks, didn’t they don’t we got we luckily, my husband got grandfathered in, so thank goodness.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah

Michelle Lang: but I mean, that’s just another thing, but active duty is a different beast, where [00:41:00] it’s just like everything’s constantly changing 10 years at a time,

Scott DeLuzio: right

Michelle Lang: years behind, but I mean, on the veteran side, is. There are so many things for you to take advantage of and also active duty usually can take advantage of this stuff too, but you can go and get, you know, your security plus certificate, your um, project management, your I, whatever IT certificate you want, got it for free, just take it.

Um, so there’s like all these things you can gather up while you’re in active duty or um, while you’re ETSing, whatever, uh, Be a bigger earner on the outside, if that’s route to go, even if it’s not something you’re super happy doing, it buys you some time to figure out what you really want to do Um, and I think like people uh, a whole nother nother but [00:42:00] people get really bogged down in because it is very overwhelming and, and you get hit out of left field with all these feelings that you did not expect.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, absolutely. Um, Well, so you mentioned the website, um, earlier, uh, for people to go to, uh, OHruralsalute. org is the website, and I’ll have that in the show notes. And, Uh, I’ll also put your social media and things like that if you want to connect and find out, you know, kind of where, uh, you guys are going as far as, uh, you know, the different events that you have throughout the year and, and all that kind of stuff, so, um, they, they can, if it’s something in their area, they can get in touch and they can go to these events and all, all that type of stuff too.

I think that, that’ll be a great thing. Um, any other places or resources that, uh, we should direct people to before, uh, uh, Wrapping this episode up or pretty much covered

it

Michelle Lang: the website’s our [00:43:00] main, uh that’s everything lives now. social media, quick updates, and then we have, we’re adding a lot more events to the uh in 2025. So we have our Pennsylvania event, we’re adding one in North Carolina, um, and then I think another one in Pennsylvania, a smaller one in Gettysburg.

Scott DeLuzio: A

Michelle Lang: there’s a lot going on.

Scott DeLuzio: lot going on. Yeah, it seems like you have your, your hands full, but I’m, I’m looking forward to seeing all the, uh, you know, events that are, are happening in the future. Um, and, uh, you know, looking forward to seeing all those people who are getting the benefits and the support that they are You know, that they deserve that is long overdue for some of them.

Um, but Michelle, I’m, I’m grateful for you to, uh, have taken the time to come on the show, um, and, and sharing what Operation Honor, uh, Rural Salute has been doing for the rural veterans. Um, [00:44:00] And, you know, honestly, this work is being done, um, it provides resources, assistance to these folks who, um, you know, maybe didn’t even realize that these things exist.

Uh, I think it’s amazing, and, uh, you know, so hats off to you and, and your, your team of volunteers who are out there, uh, you know, Putting all this, all the work in to this out there. Um, you know, again, for the listeners, uh, the links will be in the show notes, so you can check it out there. Um, but again, uh, Michelle, thank you so much for taking the time to come on.

Michelle Lang: Yeah, thanks for having me, I appreciate it.