Left Face
Join Adam Gillard and Dick Wilkinson while they talk politics and community engagement in Pikes Peak region.
Left Face
Veteran Voices: Local Vets Sound off
CO Veterans and Military Families for Harris Walz Get Out the Vote
https://www.mobilize.us/2024covictory/event/732517/
Join Adam Gillard and Dick Wilkinson for their first ever Veterans' Voices segment. Dick posed the question, what do you hope to see with a Harris/Walz administration? Tune in to hear the insights of local vets.
Also, Simon Tafoya stopped by to talk about a Veteran Based Harriz/Walz event here in Colorado Springs. Click the link above to RSVP for details.
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you know, hello everyone and welcome to left face the pikes, peak regions. Uh, veteran focused political podcast. Uh, thanks for joining us. My name is adam gillard and with me again is dick wilkinson. Hey, dick, how you doing? I'm doing great. Adam, glad to be here. Yeah, this is one of our first times trying to do this all online. Usually we sit in a studio and talk to each other face to face, but I forgot to do some stuff last time and we were in a rush.
Speaker 2:It's called a program note. Yeah, right, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, you know, trying to, you know, get that volunteer event with the local candidates and things like that done. So we you know we were rushed last time, but what we came up with or Dick came up with a great idea for this podcast. He calls it the Veterans Voice, where we actually reach out to the vets in our group that we go to lunch with and talk to them about things that are important to them, their hopes and dreams and aspirations, and this week's question was one about the Harris-Wallace campaign. Dick, what was the exact question that we asked our vets? What was the exact question that we asked our vets?
Speaker 2:So the question we posed to everybody you'll hear in this episode is what are your hopes for improvement in the veteran community during a Harris-Walls presidential administration? And so we asked that same question to everybody and that way we would hopefully get different viewpoints, um, and we left it very broad um, so that we could hear, you know, a genuine, um kind of response from a diverse group of respondents yeah, and what I always find interesting about everybody's like uh military career is that they're all so unique.
Speaker 1:Like we were talking to, uh, you know, one of the guys that devil here later on was a uh talking to. You know, one of the guys that we'll hear later on was a C-130 pilot and, like every mission's different, every story's different, every crew's different, you know every crew has to have, like that one guy that just gets into trouble, does something stupid, you know. So, like you have all these stories and all these experiences that just being able to sit down and talk with these guys is pretty fun. It's fun to capture them. But what are your thoughts on that question? What are you hoping to get out of this Harris-Walls administration from the veterans viewpoint?
Speaker 2:Well, for me, I am focused pretty directly on Tim Walls and his history of service and also the fact that he was a senior enlisted leader for a long time in his career. I think that brings a type of focus on take care of your people, make sure that your troops are well-trained, well-fed, well, you know, healthy and cared for, and I think that translates pretty great to the electorate, and so I think that that mentality can be make Walls a more effective or even a more forward leaning vice president on veterans issues. And you know, politically we don't always hear or expect a lot from the vice president unless there's some specific task or special thing that they take on, and I would love to see something where Tim Walls is really hands-on with things like the VA, maybe DOD leadership and just interacting with them on how do we take care of the troops and how do we take care of veterans after they're done with their service. So I just think that his experiences will reach out to everybody and he's got the platform to do a lot of good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think having somebody with his experience sitting in that position, when the opposition, you know, tries to say something silly about veteran health care or paying for things, you know he has the experience to call it out and say, no, this is how we take care of our vets. We can't use them up for the war and then just throw them away when we get home. You know, absolutely.
Speaker 2:He can take a stand. He do the tie casting um vote break on really critical legislation. If there's anything that comes up like that and I feel confident that he would lean on the side of veterans if it was something like funding expanded health care or the pact act next time around you know some other legislation where that's needed um I I think we could be confident that that would get across the line.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a really good point. Uh, you know, I think one of the biggest things that I'm looking forward to, you know, within harris wallace administration is just, uh, a more empathetic approach to dealing with some of these like, uh, bigger humanity problems with the homeless smith, the vets, homeless sm. Things like that. You know, I think you know, again, with somebody with walls is a experience and he probably knows some vets that that I've struggled with homelessness and you know addictions and things like that. You know I hope they they apply a more empathetic uh process to you know how how we judge some of these veterans, because there's things that need to change legislatively. But if we had somebody in the executive branch pushing it, it would really help.
Speaker 1:One thing that I'm always pushing for is getting rid of that misconduct clause where if a veteran dies due to their own misconduct, their spouses lose their VA benefits On active duty. You know you'll probably still get your SGLI and stuff like that. But you know there's some things that it's a lot deeper than just the guy got drunk, got into an accident, or the guy was speeding, got into an accident or he was sad, committed suicide.
Speaker 2:That's circumstantial stuff you know, that doesn't take away from your service or what your family has gone through to you know, be a part of that.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I agree, yeah, so I hope they can start pushing some things like that just to get the ball rolling, because you know we have a whole new generation coming off of this global war on terror that needs help. You know, just straight up.
Speaker 2:You know we sent folks to war for 20 years, that it burned a lot of people out that was absolutely a historical, you know shift where there would be one individual that would go in and out, in and out, in and out of the combat zone. You know, multiple times, horror stories of, you know, five deployments in seven, eight years. Um, that that was not a thing in the past.
Speaker 2:You know, you went to the theater, and you either died or you came home and that was probably the end of that tour or service or something you know, and that's not how we operated for a long time there. So yeah, we've got some skeletons in that closet there that are going to come to life over the next 20 years, and we're going to have a lot of people that need help.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, they're going to come to life over the next 20 years and we're going to have a lot of people that need help. Yeah, yeah, right. After 9-11, you know, I joined the Air Force. My cousin joined the Marines. He did either a four or five year tour, like one enlistment, but he had like three deployments to Iraq and like on his third deployment, when they found out that he wasn't reenlisting, he got the ship duty and now he's now he's, you know, walking the perimeter every night, Cause you're just a bullet catcher at that point you know.
Speaker 1:Um, yeah, and people need to be honest about that and process that and yeah let's move forward.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and that's that's going to be something that we need um top cover to make sure that when those issues bubble up and society's not ready for it, that there's somebody who's witnessed it before and can lean in on that.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah, yeah, and I know wallace takes a lot of shit for uh, inflating some of his military service and things like that he's. He said some things like well, I've been in the war and like we all make jokes like that and like I I didn't take any offense, like some people tried to say he was stealing valor and things. That's ridiculous the dude served 26 years uh made it to e9. He retired as an e8, whatever, uh he still made it to to the top. You know what I mean?
Speaker 2:yeah, I'm gonna look at it this way you know, I believe he probably has an honorable discharge hanging on the wall and I'm not gonna split hairs beyond that you know, yeah, that's my take on it well adam, let me flip the question around and ask you um, you know, and maybe I stole your answer as far as what we hope tim walsh can do for us, but um you know what's your take on the potential for benefits to veterans and our communities, not just monetary, but like how could our communities be healthier and better under a harris walsh administration?
Speaker 1:And so I think it's with the Harris-Walls administration we'll get a lot of our standing back in the world. Like on the military side, I think we'll have a better. Like our folks that are serving and coming out now I think they'll have a what do I say? Cleaner image for themselves.
Speaker 1:You know, when I know when I was serving under Trump, it was like every day you woke up thinking that we're going to world war three. Like like there there was so much stress. Like every day you'd wake up, check, check the phone, because I mean he communicated through Twitter, so like you would have to check that to to see you know who were we fighting that day. Um, you know, assassinated Soleimani on Iraqi soil there. Like there was a week there where we were just waiting for bombs to drop. Yeah, you know, and that's how I ended up on. My last deployment was after that happened. So, yeah, like I just look forward to people being able to serve without an existential threat all the time. You know, like you have to have some level of it in the military, but you know, I think with a more stable person at the helm we can kind of steady the ship a little bit.
Speaker 2:I understand what you're saying Unpredictable things happen, but another 9-11, I don't know. Those are once-in-a-lifetime kind of events for most of the time and we experienced it most of the time, and we are having. We experienced it, so we're not due for another one anytime soon so you know, it's just the math and odds statistics go.
Speaker 2:I understand that's not predictable, uh, and I don't know the we're not steering hurricanes or anything like that. But I understand what you're saying, that the stability that comes through level-headed leadership. I think is what I'm hearing through, not the like, you know, walk softly and carry a big stick. But there was no walking softly or any, I think, gravitas around how foreign policy was being carried out. It was clearly the bully pulpit kind of situation.
Speaker 2:And that leads to instability. You're right, kind of situation and that leads to instability, you're right, for folks that are on the gun to go and, you know, deploy in a less than one week's notice. Yeah, you, you're probably can't. You're heightened readiness there, um, because you, like you, said, uh, it just takes a couple of days and a couple of wrong headlines for things to just explode when you have a temperamental leader. And so I, I think I hear what you're saying, that some, and also you know the I think, the voice in the room for both of them having the experience of being in executive roles before you know having done this kind of work that they're in right now I think helps with making those decisions and understanding all the legs that a choice like that has right.
Speaker 2:How many different things does that impact? How far does it really carry beyond just taking a shot at somebody and I don't think that the opposition that Trump thinks like that. It's just how hard can I punch you right now and then? I'll figure out what punch is coming next. That's not how you deploy the American apparatus that we call this war machine the military right.
Speaker 1:It's not how you deploy the. American apparatus that we call this war machine the military right. Like it's not a good idea? Yeah, and I wonder if it's? You would hope not, because he's already served as president. Is it like when he made all those comments about attacking the enemy within or turning our military on the enemy within? Was it just semantically? He doesn't understand when he says military, like what that means or like is he just an asshole?
Speaker 2:uh, yeah, well, and also you know I've made the comments in the past I think he kind of thinks of the military as like the super police you know, it's like you know, just that's kind of all. It is like let's just get some more cops out here, I know, let's get them, get the army over here, yeah, and like I really think it's that simplistic of the kind of his thought process behind.
Speaker 1:It is like let's just get more police, and you know that makes sense that's about it don't give, don't, don't put too much uh quality into the thought process that's going behind all of that yeah, yeah, see, that's the toughest thing is like I, I, I think, like I think and I expect everybody else to think like that. Sure, you know, and it's, it's tough to kind of see through that sometimes.
Speaker 2:Yeah um, well, and we've got that bias too of just of having military experience. And even then I understand that civilian leadership is is a requirement of our democracy, but we once for a long time had a lot more veterans and military members that were eventually politicians. And since World War II and the end of the draft and everything else, the population of veterans has gone down as a percentage ratio of the population of America. So a lot of our leadership is not a veteran or don't have that firsthand experience. So I think it's actually a great point you bring up Adam to remember that we see things through that lens of living, having lived through it, of having friends and family that are still in it, and so we just bring a different perspective and those leaders.
Speaker 2:We have to understand how they think, too right. We have to wrap our heads around it, Even not. You know, I don't want to learn how Donald Trump thinks, but I want to understand how Kamala Harris thinks, because she doesn't have that military service that's direct to her or her family that I know of. So you know, what does she take into account if she were to make a decision like that? I'd like to know more.
Speaker 1:I wish we had more time to see that, but we won't. You know, we don't really get to know about that. Why we'll find out, I guess. Yeah, yeah, um, but but yeah, you know that's a great segue. Uh, why we're doing this kind of uh episode now, this veteran voices, because we do have that, you know, colored lens that we look through things. Um, so, but before we get into the, uh, the vets that we talked to this week, uh, we were actually pretty fortunate to talk with Simon Tafoya from the Denver Harris Walls campaign up in Denver and he came down, helped us out with our volunteer event last Thursday and he's actually setting up an event for Wednesday at 530 at Atravita Brewery in Colorado Springs.
Speaker 1:Uh, a, trevita brewery in colorado springs. Um, there is a in the show notes here. We'll have a link to sign up in rsvp for that to get the uh, uh, the times and the details. Um, but here here's simon. Thanks for joining us, simon. Simon joins us from the Harris Walls campaign up in Denver. Tell us a little bit about yourself, simon, and what's going on with the Harris Walls campaign and what the plan is right now.
Speaker 4:Sure, thanks for having me, number one. I'm always glad to be back in El Paso County. I grew up in Pueblo and went to Colorado College here, so I know the community well and worked here for a few years after that at El Pomar Foundation. So, of course, now the political director for Harris Walls, for the state, and we're running a statewide campaign. We have seven locations in Colorado. We have stations that are going to be up or that are up and running right now for get out the vote efforts across the state, just not only for harris walsh, but our down ballot democrats as well. Uh, because you know this, this race is is an important one, both for at the federal level and at the state level, the um. You know the the trump campaign doesn't have anything on the ground um, so we're really proud of the fact that uh harris w is making an investment here for the infrastructure to support the Democratic ballot.
Speaker 1:When you say Trump doesn't have anything on the ground here, is that because he's just focusing purely on battleground states and he just is ignoring?
Speaker 2:all.
Speaker 1:Colorado has he seeded?
Speaker 4:Colorado. Yeah, so you know I can't speak for them. I'll let them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you can.
Speaker 4:I'll let that side you know.
Speaker 4:We'll let you Take the you know, understand what I will say is you know, listen. Number one Colorado is important to Harris-Wallace. Number two we're really looking at how we can approach really a new way forward and sort of stop with the divisiveness that Donald Trump has said or continues to promulgate. I think. Number one it's been very clear that Trump is looking at himself over service. Kamala Harris understands that both veterans, those in military service, and their families um are putting themselves before, you know before or be putting service before themselves, um just given the sacrifice. I was talking um just today with a few folks who have said, you know, that's why they're supporting Harris walls is because of that specific issue. And you know somebody who has lost their. I was talking to a spouse who lost her husband and um has remarried and now has children and a spouse has been deployed. I mean that is sacrifice and that is a service to the country over self and that is what Harris walls want us to be able to support and emulate.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we we've covered that topic on recent episodes where the the disrespect from one camp, one camp was highlighted, but I think it's really helpful to bring that to a finer point, that you don't just have to vote against somebody that you don't like, but understanding the benefits of bringing values to the office that are in line with us. I think that's probably what this episode this week is going to be mostly about is what we look forward to under the Harrison walls campaign.
Speaker 4:So yeah, I mean, you know, last Monday in Erie, pennsylvania, the uh, the vice president, made it very clear that uh Trump is seeking unchecked power he said it himself Um, and that's dangerous and looking to utilize the military against American citizens. I think anybody. You know I'm personally not a veteran. I come from a family of veterans. My dad was in Vietnam, my brother served in the Gulf Wars and had a brother who you know served in Japan and Guam in the Air Force. But you know the fact that you know, when they signed up, you know, you know I guess don't put words in their mouth, but you know, speaking just in my conversations with them when they signed up, they did it, of course, for service and to protect the fundamental freedoms that you know we grew up with and we respect, and not to utilize it against American citizens.
Speaker 2:A phrase that I enjoyed, as you know, active duty, especially when I was doing the work of. I may not agree with what you have to say, but I'll fight to the death to protect your right to say it, and I think that's the ethos that veterans bring to that idea of America. That's not partisan.
Speaker 1:Right and you know what kind of when you're a veteran you sign up for you know kind of the uh, the more violent part of that, that, you know wearing the uniform. When Donald Trump is talking about using our military against us, he's not talking about using it against, like veterans and things like that. He's talking about using it against unarmed citizens and civilians. So I got kids on college campuses that are in more danger than I was in danger when I was, you know, you know, deployed overseas. Now, uh, so you know it's. It's just crazy that you know we have somebody that's going to flex like that and the military is still not, or there's a gross amount of people in the military that are still supporting him and like I don't understand how you can take an oath to support and defend and then have somebody say they're going to get rid of it and they're still supporting it.
Speaker 2:I don't understand. Yeah, your, your oath is um negotiable right. If I become the president, then we're going to renegotiate your oath.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I'll go back to the conversation I was having right before. We came in here with that same military spouse and said you know, when she said why I'm supporting Harris walls, it's because I support the constitution. You know, the constitution clearly says that the president would not use the military against American citizens. I mean, it seems pretty black and white to me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, agree.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So what's the the next things here locally in Colorado Springs that we're looking at doing for the Harris-Wallace campaigns and all those down ballot races?
Speaker 4:Yeah. So number one, you know we're less than two weeks out and this is crunch time. All the canvassing and all the calling we could possibly do, if you go to KamalaHarriscom or Google, mobilize Kamala Harris, colorado, it'll bring you to a place where you can be able to help us get out the vote, either by canvassing or calling. We're doing that in Colorado. We're supporting other states as well, as necessary both, as those battleground states become more and in question in the last days of the campaign cycle. More specifically, you know this next week, on Wednesday, we will be having an event sort of you know, veteran-centric, sort of highlighting the contrast between the two candidates on veteran and military family issues. That will be on Wednesday at 5.30 at Atrevida Brewery on Nevada. Rich Fierro will host us there, at his brewery, of course, a veteran himself and a local hero, for you know. Again, putting community before self, again, putting community before self Again. Emulating that, probably something I'm sure he grew up with Core values.
Speaker 1:Core values, yeah, first core values. Service before self.
Speaker 2:Exactly. We have a big acronym in the Army. It's a lot of words, it's like five sentences. That's our acronym. It's an acronym that leads to this whole paragraph of stuff. I wish it was simple. It's our. It's an acronym that leads to this whole paragraph of stuff. Yeah, I wish it was simple.
Speaker 4:It's not, but yeah, I mean the polls are going to be. To say that the polls are going to be the polls in terms of what you listen to in the news and all the talking heads, I just say now's the time to put our heads down and hustle.
Speaker 1:And you know that's.
Speaker 4:That's what we got to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I work pretty closely with the folks, the volunteers, in the office here, and I can tell you that there's a lot of exhausted people running around down here right now. Um, and if you don't want to get the phone calls anymore, just turn your ballot in and you come off the list.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, yeah, that's valuable intelligence right there, yeah.
Speaker 1:You'd bury that deep in the podcast.
Speaker 2:People have to listen all the way through. Yeah, we're going to clip that.
Speaker 1:Cool, oh well. Yeah, we're gonna clip that. Yeah, cool, oh well. Hey, thanks for joining us. Uh, I know you gotta get back on the road. Um, I look forward to you. You'll be down here next wednesday.
Speaker 4:I will be here next wednesday, and we will have uh, plenty of signs and right now giveaways. So yeah, at least for you know all the placards and signs and stickers, so show your support and definitely appreciate you guys having me.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3:My name is Roger West. I'm a US Navy veteran from years, decades ago, when did you serve. I served actually during the Vietnam era, okay, but I never went abroad, never was on a ship.
Speaker 1:Oh okay.
Speaker 3:When I think about the vets that are needing help, I think mostly about housing. Without housing, without a permanent address, it's kind of hard to reintegrate into society, and I heard the phrase housing first. It's one of the first things people need to try to get their life back on track.
Speaker 1:I believe it's Norway that did that, where they housed all their homeless folks. Because once you stop worrying about where you're going to live, you can start focusing on getting yourself back together Right. Yeah, so it's a good way to go about it, and there are some case studies to be built off of.
Speaker 3:Uh-huh Well, Norway, I think, also has prison reform that is along the same lines and I think we could use some of that, especially for veterans who get themselves into situations partly because they don't have family that supports them, they don't have housing and they're actually out begging and that's a sad thing to see Absolutely. So I think the government should really make an effort to see that these people are housed and fed and those who need it get treatment for drug addiction.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a big thing too, is you can't just pray it away?
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 1:You need hard intervention for when you know when you're talking drug intervention, alcohol intervention, things like that, Do you think?
Speaker 2:that, while having the military background that he has? Do you think that that plays into this type of compassionate policy that would help veterans that are suffering from these issues?
Speaker 3:Certainly that are suffering from these issues. Certainly no. He went into the reserves and served for over 20 years beyond what he needed to for a pension. He's the kind of person that I think could really reach out and help some of these vets that have lost their way.
Speaker 1:I agree, I agree. Well, thanks for taking the time to sit down and talk to us. Oh, you're welcome. Wasn't that scary, was it?
Speaker 3:No, it wasn't, Wasn't that bad. Yeah, cool First time, go for it, yeah this is your life, okay, well hi.
Speaker 5:My name is Wade Kearns and I'm an Air Force veteran 20-plus years as an aviator.
Speaker 1:And what did you fly?
Speaker 5:C-130 aircraft, the War Corps oh yeah, I'm familiar with all kinds of the service members and I love checking and jiving with them about hey, have you ever ridden one? Oh yeah, it's a media connection.
Speaker 1:I've ridden one on the way to Israel one time and I planned the mission. So the first three flights that went out was all the passengers, so they were all crammed in there like sardines. And then the fourth one was mostly equipment and that's the one I put myself on, so I was laid back on the Conex. The flying crew chief made cookies for us. He put cookies up in the vent and he pulled them out.
Speaker 5:There's a fresh Toll House cookie for me it was an incredible experience a lot of creativity there.
Speaker 1:You would not expect from those loadmaster types and then they taught me how to put the parachute on, because I had to get it on faster than the pilot could get to me so that I could jump out with his parachute if we were going down.
Speaker 5:Those are good guys to know yeah, I did that and then toward the end I actually flew a um c20, which was basically a large executive jet, usually seeing corporate or business, but it was used to fly diplomatic people around europe and africa, the middle east, okay, and uh, nato people and that kind of thing. So that gave me a real. I was a student of foreign policy before that, but the dignitaries didn't come ask me what my advice was.
Speaker 3:You get exposure.
Speaker 5:The places we went and interact with people is kind of like showing the flag and a positive vision of America vision of America and just to see how complicated that business is for you know, making military partnerships or diplomatic partnerships, and where you didn't always see eye to eye on everything, but I saw these people work or talk about it. What wasn't classified, of course, sure, and it gave me a real perspective of how important that is to us.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 5:As much as we get concerned about our domestic policies and what everybody needs or wants to meet their everyday living in domestic policy, I see foreign policy cannot be um neglected, and when they talk about america, first thing, and drawing back really goes against what I've learned and studied.
Speaker 1:Um, because that that's as as much, as much, as much to do with, uh, our domestic security security and uh satisfaction right well I mean, the globe is so connected now and we even see it leading up to World War I where the separation is just not effective anymore, like once we started being able to cross the Atlantic and quickly travel to these places and connect with the Internet. We're just too connected to only think about ourselves. So with your experience in the diplomatic realm, they're kind of having that exposure. What do you hope to get out of this Harris-Walls administration?
Speaker 5:Well, I kind of go back to what Joe Biden talked about a lot. The theme in his administration Kamala Harris has echoed in terms of you need partnerships, we need to work together. We don't always allies, we don't always agree on everything. You cannot do it alone, even if you think you're the big dog and just build more military equipment and be the toughest guy on the block in the world. I don't think we have the wherewithal to continue doing that. You've got to depend on your pals and get that understanding.
Speaker 2:I like that kind of talk, I think it's worth mentioning on that point that the only time NATO has ever deployed in defense of a NATO member was European nations deploying in defense of the United States mission in Afghanistan.
Speaker 2:And the argument is that NATO, european allies don't carry their weight on the balance sheet, from cost pouring money into the funnel, from cost pouring money into the funnel. But when the rubber hit the road and we said it's time to rally up and go go to war, they went to war and they shed blood right beside us. So we can squabble and and there may be an argument to be had about make me, you know, make your 2% commitment. But when we raised the flag and said come, help they. They came and that's what matters. Right, I help they. They came. Yeah, and that's what matters right. I mean, not in the end, when it's when we are mobilized, what, to whatever end that is, you got your friends have to show up, right, and you got to behave the same way that you expect them to behave yeah, because if you don't honor your treaties, then you have no honor and like and anything you say or do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, so you know how would anybody want to do any kind of business with?
Speaker 2:you, everything becomes bilateral.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:One to one. There's no large groups of allies ever again. Everything's unstable because no one can trust you. Yeah.
Speaker 5:Yeah, it's, it's, it's a matter of. You might make some argument. Well, they weren't doing, they were small contingents and all this. But for some countries it was a way for them, Like Poland, I think, had 600 in Afghanistan or something.
Speaker 3:Sure.
Speaker 5:And how much were the Polish people invested in what was going on there? I don't know, but I think there was a way to say look, we're going to do what we can. I go back I was a Desert Storm vet and we kind of joked about how we sent all these military supplies and people and everything. And Japan sent thousands of Toyota pickup trucks, right and okay, well, they didn't want to do the military thing. But they said look, we can do this for what we think is important.
Speaker 2:And most of those trucks are still there. Actually, they're all in Baghdad and they're all still in service.
Speaker 5:Yeah, and you can go back to look what you were talking about historically. This is talking about the money. What are we spending there? When we spend it here, you look at it again as an investment in goodwill.
Speaker 5:You write FDR's Lend as an investment in goodwill, FDR's Lend-Lease Program to Britain kept things afloat until we were convinced that we need to take a step here, even in support of Ukraine. We've been able to do this without really putting people in there in harm's way. These people are willing to fight and die. It's not the exact comparison, but very similar to those circumstances. We've got the wherewithal to help people that are freedom loving, and why not? You say, well, look at the money. Well, what happens if we don't?
Speaker 2:uh, yeah, the short-sighted aspect of look at the money. Or you sent and you know people get caught up about. You sent $10 billion to Ukraine and they think when they make that argument that that's this astronomical sum of money and that it put a dent in the American wallet somehow.
Speaker 2:And then it's like you got to realize like we spent 10 billion dollars on like diesel fuels for our just jets last last year you know like it's not that much money in the grand scheme of things, and even if you were to put that back into a program in a domestic concern again, would it even move the needle on that problem set? But what is it doing on the battlefield man? It's moving the needle, you know, and so the value of that dollar in our defense, even though it's not being spent right in our community, is huge, and it's just something that outside of the military or veteran community people have a hard time understanding yeah and the uh that, like you know, whatever amount that we give, a lot of that comes back to us through Raytheon, northrop Grumman, us selling them the missiles, the drone systems things like that.
Speaker 1:So it's not like we're just giving them pallets of money because we made that mistake before.
Speaker 2:We have done that, yes.
Speaker 1:So they're buying stuff from us and keeping our military industrial complex kind of afloat also. So it's either, you know, we we feed that that way or we put our troops on the ground right.
Speaker 5:You know there's options that have to be or choices that have to be made there well, I was reading one report where it seemed ironic to me that um several states that we I guess we would loosely call red states I mean, they're people who vote different ways- in every state.
Speaker 2:These things change over time.
Speaker 5:The ones we tend to traditionally what we call a red. We're actually benefiting in a large way from those commitments of spending for Ukraine because companies there were producing products Exactly.
Speaker 2:Sure. Going to support their war efforts Munitions are made in Alabama. Well, some of their representatives are in Congress talking about.
Speaker 5:Well, why are we doing this?
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5:A factory in their own district is making the munitions and getting paid to make it, and yet there's a problem.
Speaker 2:I wish somebody would call that out. Somebody should be like we're doing this so you can have jobs in your district, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:But we should be like. We're doing this so you can have jobs in your district. Well, Wade, thanks for joining us. Before I let you go here, I just wanted to read your shirt. The rules were that you guys weren't to fact check, so if you see a guy walking around with a JD Vance quote on his shirt, that's Wade here.
Speaker 5:I love that shirt, though that cracked me up as soon as everybody's that's read it. Well, I can be a walking billboard and nothing else. Yeah, exactly yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, thanks for joining us. Really appreciate you taking the time to uh to do this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thank you as always. Thank you for joining us here on left face. We are proudly sponsored by native roots cannabis company Colorado's leading locally grown and owned dispensary chain. Sponsored by Native Roots Cannabis Company Colorado's leading locally grown and owned dispensary chain. Native Roots is a huge supporter of ours and a huge supporter of our local communities and businesses. They have 20 locations in Colorado and four here in Colorado Springs, and Native Roots is ready to educate and serve medicinal and recreational patients alike. Thank you for listening to the Left Face Podcast podcast. Please check us out on the web at epccpvorg and sign up for our newsletter. Feel free to drop us a line at info at epccpvorg. Thanks for listening everyone. I hope you're having fun out there. Stay safe.
