The Veteran Community

I met a Canadian veteran when I visited the National Veterans Museum and had a really interesting conversation. But there was one thing that he talked he talked about American veterans being tighter as a community. And then that actually brought up a couple other thoughts while I was there, that we should be doing that!

We should be reaching out to each other and we should be trying to take care of our brothers and sisters of the uniform a lot more. And just hearing him say that coming from another country, coming from another set of military and saying that real nice statement, it made me really think about that.

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Transcript

00:00:00] VACI: If you are a veteran and have filed a VA disability claim, have been denied, have received a low rating, or you're unsure of how to get started, reach out to us. Go to docontheroad.com linked in our show notes and take advantage of a free VA claims discovery call. Learn what you've been missing so you can finally get the disability rating and compensation you deserve.

[00:00:31] Dr. John: Hello. My brothers and sisters of uniform. Yes, it's time again for Doc on the Road. I had an interesting trip that I just took. First I went to Canton, Ohio. Canton, Ohio is one of those bucket dream things that I've always wanted. I always wanted to go to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And I saw some interesting stuff there.

And really enjoyed myself there. It was great walking around that area where they have all the bust of everybody that's in the Hall of Fame for the N F L. [00:01:00] And it was cool because when you're a kid you see all that kind of stuff. You always wish to go there.

But at this point, In my life. It was cool that I went ahead and said, you know what? I've got a little bit of time. I can go ahead and run up there real quick and actually go see this place that I've always wanted to see. And it didn't let me down. I really enjoyed it. 

And then headed back to Virginia, but I also decided I'm gonna stop in Columbus, Ohio and see something that I've been meaning to see for a while now is the National Veterans Memorial or museum. That was really cool to see. It took it all the way from the Revolutionary War all the way up to modern day.

And it had a bunch of interesting stories and stuff like that, but I noticed that they had something hanging from the ceiling where it was pictures of veterans. And you got to see the front picture of them. You got to see what they look like now. And then the back side of it gave you a little bit of a story of the veteran and [00:02:00] also how they looked back then.

And it was cool because I was sitting there looking at it going I don't know how a lot of you feel right now about this, but I know when I look in the mirror every morning, I kinda look at somebody that looks a little bit different than what I remember when I was in the service.

I looked a little bit older and, I have facial hair and stuff like that. And for you that don't know me I actually shaved my head. And so I look a lot different than what I did then. So it was actually interesting to see all of these and I mean there's like hundreds of stories that are very interesting and seeing how they come from different walks of life and did different things while they were in the military and what they're doing today.

I thought that was really cool to see. And like I said, I started thinking about myself and thinking about what I looked like when I was 18 years old and what I looked like the whole time I was in the military. Up to today. And now I'm part of this organization VA Claims Insider, where we help [00:03:00] veterans get the benefits they deserve.

And as I'm walking around there, I actually met a really distinguished older man and actually had a ton of fun just talking to him. Now, he wasn't an American veteran. He's a Canadian veteran. He was with the Canadian Royal Marines. Which brought up some interesting conversations because when I was in Alaska with Charlie Airborne, we actually got to train with these guys a couple of times.

And I always told him that I always wanted the Canadian foreign jump wings that if you're in the US Army, And a paratrooper, you can actually go through their school and you could actually earn those wings and you could wear 'em on the other side of the uniform. At that time I'm not sure I think with the regulations the way the uniforms are now, you can't really do that.

And I told 'em, Hey, I actually trained with you guys when I was, a lot younger. And As I was talking to him, it just brought back all those memories [00:04:00] and all those different things that took place during that timeframe. Different feelings, different thoughts say I have today where I've slowed things down.

Back then I was a mile a minute. You know that old saying, high speed, low drag type of guy. And I was joking with him about how we've come to where we are now in life and how that is so much different than when it was back then. And he agreed. And it was just cool to have somebody that was a veteran in a different country, but still had that same feeling.

But there was one thing that he talked about where he gave American veterans a huge prop by saying you guys are seem to be tighter. You guys seem to be a lot more of a community and a lot more of where you really take care of each other and stuff like that. And then that actually brought up a couple other thoughts while I was there that we should be doing that.

We should be reaching out to each other and we should be trying to take care of [00:05:00] our brothers and sisters of the uniform a lot more. And just hearing him say that coming from another country, coming from another set of military and saying that real nice statement it made me really think about that.

Now, there was another reason why I went there to that museum. I've always wanted to see it, but the gentleman. That is actually in charge of that is general Ferider. Now, the story between General Ferider and myself is he was my last commanding officer. At that time I knew him as Captain Ferider. 

Now, over the years, we've had these different reunions with the Airborne and stuff like that and actually got to run into each other a couple of times and actually had some real touching discussions and stuff like that. But it's really cool because when you're talking to somebody that is involved with that kind of thing, that's a lot of pressure on him.

He has to make sure that the [00:06:00] museum is. Covering everything in a way to where it's telling the truth. And be it good or bad. It tells the truth about how things were in those certain errors of where military service was. And I thought it was interesting that he's really taken that on.

And I've always looked up to him. I thought Captain Ferider was one of the best commanders I ever had. He's definitely one guy that as we were doing our things, he wasn't that type of commander that you never found. He was always right there with us and I always had a lot of respect for him.

Now general Ferider's also a member of the Hall of Fame of the Rangers, and that is one of those type of situations that is very hard to earn. So he's earned all the respect from all of that. And it was just really cool to see some of the work that he's done with some of his crew there at that museum.

But I really enjoyed the museum. But the thing that I remember the [00:07:00] most as I was driving when all those thoughts hit my head with both museums, both situations that I actually got to erase something off my bucket list and I also got to go see this veteran thing. But I kept thinking about that Royal Marine as I was driving back to Virginia.

And, during when you're driving back from Ohio to Virginia, the scenery is gorgeous. There's a lot of things that can take your eyes off the road and stuff like that because it's just gorgeous. And it was really good weather. But I kept thinking about that royal Marine, and I kept thinking about what he said about how he thinks that American veterans are a tight group and a tighter group.

And I, as I was driving I was like going, technically we really are. It's one of those things where it's a big brother, little brother type thing. We might be able to joke with each other about the branches that we served in, or even the jobs that we did. But if anybody outside of that community starts saying [00:08:00] something, we'll be the first ones to stand up for 'em.

I have a lot of people that are really truly respect. There's a lot of people that have helped me in my career here at VA Claims Insider that I really, truly consider mentors and consider people that have really helped me not only understand how this process works with the VA, but how we can actually come together and.

Create a situation to where we could actually feed off of each other's strengths and weaknesses to help each other out and help others out. And then I started doing coffee with the coaches here at VA Claims Insider, and once you're a member of VA Claims Insider, we had this class where we do every morning.

Monday through Friday and it's called Coffee with the Coaches. And it was just cool because as I'm doing that class and actually getting into it and answering questions about different claims situations and stuff like that, again, that Royal Marine came into my [00:09:00] head and I started really just taken back and just kinda watching how the veterans in this group that we have are helping each other. We have a number of members that have graduated, gotten their a hundred percent but keep coming back. Because they've really fed into the whole idea and the whole mission of we are building a strong community.

We're making the community stronger, and we're also showing others the correct way to do this the correct way to go about this. Drop the negativity, drop the anger, let's get to work type of atmosphere that we have there. I'm also watching all the brand new veterans that are there, how they're starting to buy into it, how they're getting with their coaches, how they're coming up with these strategies and actually doing what they need to do to educate themselves and also gain confidence in going for their claim. 

So it is just really cool to see this all happening and this all took place [00:10:00] by me making a simple trip. So I urge you to get out there, meet veterans, meet other veterans. You never know. You might find a brand new buddy or you might find somebody that can actually mentor you through not only the process, but also mentor you through a lot of other things in life.

I actually work with a group they call 'em veteran coach managers. That I would do anything for each one of these people really inspire me daily. I could have a bad day. I could be, a little sluggish in the morning, but it only takes a couple of minutes of talking to you know, any of 'em.

Just one of 'em. And I'm getting fired up and knowing, hey, that's right. We have a mission. We gotta get going and we gotta help as many veterans as possible. I love that feeling. And then I get also, get to talk to the president VA claims insider, Terrell Murrell which is a Navy vet.

And man, I just get so inspired when I'm sitting here talking to him because it's not like your normal type of [00:11:00] situation if you're going to work. This is something completely different. This is somebody that has shared that experience and also shares other experiences with veterans, but truly is trying to build along with the dream of Brian Reese, a positive place for veterans to go.

A safe place, a place that where we can all get together and we can actually help each other through this. Now of course, when I think about that, I'm constantly thinking about. We could make this stronger we really could. We need to really start really showing that positive thing. I always talk about how some veterans get caught up in the negativity and other veterans are watching them, and it just blows them out of the water.

They decide they're not gonna go for their claims because it just seems too tough. We need to actually start to displaying more of a positive attitude and more of a positive welcoming into the [00:12:00] community so those brothers and sisters can get the help they need. that's something I got taught from all those guys that I just talked about, but also got taught that on this trip.

Because I could actually think about it for a while and realize, yes, this is what inspires me. This is why I closed my practice a couple years back. Actually it's been a while now, so it's been more than just a couple years back. But why I decided to go ahead and jump into this full time?

So we can actually all come together and actually build this in a way to where it really truly is something that we can be proud of. Because I think there does come a time where you know it comes to be a time where it might be time for, to let the younger veterans take over.

I've been noticing that a lot lately and noticing that, you know what? I like how some of these younger veterans are actually picking up the baton. They're actually running just as hard as I did when I first started. I really enjoyed watching them [00:13:00] grow and watching them learn and experience what I experienced a couple years ago when I was just a coach and trying to, do the right thing and get everybody that I was working with in the right spot.

I'm truly blessed that I've got to witness all of this as we build this community and I look forward to the future where the community gets even stronger as we get stronger ourselves. I know I didn't really touch on a big subject about the claims or anything like that, I just figured I'd go ahead and share that with you guys because that's really what's on my heart and I really enjoyed Going through that process and really enjoyed coming through these realizations as well as seeing these younger guys come in here. Seeing some of these newer coaches that are actually getting up to speed, really starting to take root.

Really trying to help out veterans and really being successful.[00:14:00] I'm starting to get really caught up in that, watching them do this. My best advice right now would be stay in the fight. Keep the fight going, make sure that you're doing what you can for yourself, and then make sure what you can do, just like all those other veterans that keep coming back and to that class and moving the newer veterans through the process.

Keep doing that. Keep building up each other. Let's keep building each other up till we become very strong and very big. Because we do have a voice that needs to be heard brothers and sisters of the uniform, we do have that voice that needs to be heard. So let's make it nice and loud and let's keep doing what we're doing and let's go ahead and bring each other through this.

Reach out to those people and then take these small trips too to where you can, to your local VA. Talk to a couple veterans there. Take a trip to any kind of veteran organization. Do those [00:15:00] kind of things, get involved. Let's go ahead and make this community as strong as we can.

Love your brothers and sisters in uniform. Until next time, this is doc out.

[00:15:11] VACI: The VA claims process is a pain. Many veterans struggle for years trying to increase their ratings or even getting rated at all. Most are not getting the compensation they deserve. Here at VA Claims Insider, we've supported and educated more than 25,000 veterans to win their claims and increase their rating.

Now it's your turn. Schedule your free VA claim discovery call today by going to docontheroad.com linked in our show notes. You'll learn what gaps you need to fill and how to increase your rating.