Marion “Tony” Marshall had a penchant for pushing boundaries. This led to some rather intriguing experiences during his time as a POW in Vietnam. Tony always wanted to be a pilot. Despite “skating” in high school he secured an interview for a military academy appointment and was one of only 6 black cadets in his Air Force Academy class of 1,000 persons. His eyesight prevented him from entering pilot training so he chose to become a navigator just to get [...]
Operation Desert Storm would be Jeff “Tico” Tice’s first opportunity to fly combat missions. Things didn’t turn out as well as planned. On his second combat mission of the conflict, a last minute mechanical issue forced Jeff to switch aircraft and didn’t allow time for his good luck tradition of spitting into the plane’s exhaust. On the second day of the Desert Storm "Shock & Awe" campaign Jeff’s F-16 was hit by an Iraqi surface to air missile. He would [...]
AZ Shooter's World CEO Phillip Roux thought they had a pretty diverse customer base – until the COVID Crisis hit. This Veteran Entrepreneur feature explores doing business in the time of crisis – in an industry that has seen a tremendous impact. Phil had a number of family members who served in the military so joining the Army reserves seemed a natural path. He volunteered for a special assignment supporting various agencies doing drug interdiction along the US-Mexico border. When [...]
Glyn Haynie turned 19 years old one month after he set foot in Vietnam. Military service was in his family blood; a Haynie from every generation has served going back to the American Revolution. Still, it was disconcerting that despite an Army policy against brothers serving together in combat, Glyn and his brother were shipped to Vietnam together. Literally on the same flight. Glyn Haynie has published seven books, three related to his experiences in Vietnam and the years that [...]
Battle Bars was inspired out of a family tragedy. Now this Veteran owned and operated company is making waves in the protein bar industry and giving back to their communities along the way. Company co-founder and Chief Operations Officer Ian Sparks (Army Combat Engineer) and CEO Alex Witt (Navy Master-At-Arms) join us for a Veteran Entrepreneur feature. Like many entrepreneurial efforts, Battle Bars initially capitalized the company by going the “standard” route of talking to family and friends about their [...]
Save the Brave Executive Director Scott Huesing was asked to give the eulogy at the memorial service for David White, a high school friend and Navy Veteran. David drank himself to death. Rather than fly cross country, Scott decided to undertake a 4,600 mile roundtrip motorcycle journey in order to honor David, raise awareness about the Post Traumatic Stress issues still bedeviling Veterans and raise funds for Save the Brave programs that help address this issue. Scott has never ridden [...]
Richard Burt, like many of his generation, volunteered when our nation entered World War II. The Army decided he should be trained as a “Latrine Technician”. However, recognizing the positive morale building effects of music, the Army also was standing up nearly 500 bands and this proved Richard Burt’s ticket out of permanent latrine duty. Burt was a very talented trumpet player and volunteered to deploy to the Pacific with the 746th Far East Air Force Band so that the [...]
Sarah Carlson was working an emergency management internship when the September 11th attacks occurred. Like many Americans she and her brothers decided to serve our nation. Her brothers joined the military but Sarah took a different route, choosing to join the Defense Intelligence Agency as an intelligence analyst and eventually moving to a role with the Central Intelligence Agency. Her entire career was focused upon counter-terrorism; groups plotting attacks against the homeland and Europe. Her personal experiences and involvement in [...]
Matthew Marsden made a comment during an interview last year that just floored me. So much so that I invited the British born actor/director to join me for a special Independence Day show. Sometimes it is valuable to examine ourselves through the lens of an “outsider”. Marsden was raised by a single mother living in public housing. He was fascinated by US television and even comic books. While he established a respectable career as a singer and actor in the [...]
Soldier Strong was originally established by Christopher Meek as “Soldiers Socks” in 2009. Chris was in the World Trade Center towers on September 11th and was responsible for getting 29 persons out on that day. Following those attacks Chris knew he had to do something to give back but didn’t know what form that would take. A few years later Chris learned from a Marine Corps mentor that some deployed troops were lacking essentials like socks and baby wipes. He [...]