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Veteran's Affairs Plus discusses the issues that veterans in Las Vegas deal with on a daily basis. Your host, David L. Washington connects listeners with relevant community resources and information that they need to help veterans or themselves.
Announcer
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This is a KUNV Studios original program.
Wesley Knight
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You're listening to special programming sponsored by Making Moves Life Coaching Services. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jazz & More,
Dave Washington
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the University of Nevada Las Vegas, this is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5G. Good day, Las Vegas. This is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and More. I'm Dave Washington, your host, and once again, pleased and honored and thank God for allowing me to be here today. I got Wes in the control room keeping me on track. Oh boy, 2025, here we are. I'd like Leon Washington Jr. my brother, we call him Buddy. And also Nicole Fountain is her maiden name from her mom and she is our niece. So just wanted to acknowledge those folks.
Dave Washington
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Certainly want to express condolences to the families of those who lost loved ones in that senseless tragedy in New Orleans. You know, I talk from time to time on the show about how we have lost our humanity. And I know Marcia, my wife, was saying that something triggered this guy and found out that that happened to be the case. But nevertheless, man, it's such a tragedy that we would go to these extremes when we're hurting about something that has caused us pain in our own particular lives.
Dave Washington
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Now the folks have been injured, killed, and these families will be affected for the rest of their life. And in fact, I noticed as I was watching some of the TV coverage, a young lady, she kept walking toward a body that was laying out in the street on Bourbon and someone kept trying to pull her back. And that will be in that young child's mind for the rest of her life. And all we can do is pray for her to get relief. And I trust that there will be a lot of folks down there trying to help people in terms of their mental stress that they are under
Dave Washington
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and will be again probably for the rest of their life. So we want to pray for those folks and ask God to give them relief as they deal with this insane matter. And also here on the home front, of course, we had also on New Year's Day to start our city even on a sour note, not along the country, but the incident at Trump Tower. And I just want to express to Sheriff Kevin McMayhill
Dave Washington
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that we thank him for his leadership, he and his staff on how they are addressing and dealing with that particular matter. So once again, we're in 2025 and we've started out on such a sour note and hopefully all of us can start to address and think about our overall humanity
Dave Washington
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and how we need to look out for one another. And in that vein, I'm going to talk a little bit about, there's a magazine that comes out for American Legion folks like myself, not a veteran of foreign war, but a veteran of the United States military. However, before I go into that, I want to talk about something that happens each year and it has occurred for the last 35, 45, 30 to 40 years, and that is the men's only luncheon.
Dave Washington
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Man, it was outstanding. about by Frank Hawkins, former NFLer, Ken Levine, who was with HUD, and Chris McLemore, also an NFLer. And they added me a year or so later, but I've been pleased to work with these gentlemen over the past few years to bring this to fruition. Each year, we do it right around the end of the year, and we had 33 individuals to show up at this particular luncheon which
Dave Washington
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was held last Monday, this past Monday in fact. Just the things that we talk about and the things that people present, it touches your heart because people are always trying to work on becoming better human beings, better in their business and it was just an outstanding show of love. And there's Bob Ginzer who also has been added to the group. So it's basically myself, Frank, Bob Ginzer, and Chris McLemore.
Dave Washington
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We identify people that we want to come to the luncheon and we ask them to not invite anyone else unless they come through one of the four of us because otherwise if we have a place that's designated with so many seats we don't want to overrun it. So that was the case at Bonefish this year. We had 32 seats available and it was easy to add one more. But we are pleased and honored that those folks were able to show up. And not all the folks that are invited in a particular year will be invited back the next year. But it's kind of hit and miss, but whenever the thought
Dave Washington
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comes to my mind, for sure, is when I start making my notes on who I'm going to invite. But once again, it was a great showing of men of all ethnic groups and backgrounds to be there this year and discuss. you do, what we have them to do is we have 90 minutes to two minutes that they will get up and talk about what they did, what were their accomplishments in the past year and then what they want to try to accomplish going forward.
Dave Washington
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Of course, sometimes we get people like Jerry Smith who will go on and on, so we keep him toward the end. Frank likes to speak last, so we accommodate him as one of the founders of this men's only luncheon. So once again, I want to acknowledge all those gentlemen who did come to the luncheon this year and thank them for their participation. And considering they had my debit card, I had to make sure that no one slipped out of
Dave Washington
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that room without paying. So once again, we did get everybody's pay. And again, just a grand time, good food and good fellowship. So thank you once again to the men who did join us at the men's only luncheon this year. Thank you very, very much. Once again, this is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and More.
Dave Washington
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I'm going to talk a little bit, I want to give a plug to Don Marquez and then I'm going to take a short break and come back in on the other side and talk about some of the things that I found in this year's, well this month's American Legion magazine. Don Marquez, he has his own show here on 91.5 as well as on 88.1. He is doing an outstanding job where he presents information about insurance. One thing he reminded us of, we should all take a look at our insurance papers and make
Dave Washington
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sure that they are meeting our needs. Also if your stuff like ours, Marsha has our stuff in a safe deposit box at the bank. So you need to get out and take out all those items and take a quick review. And you know, when I was diagnosed with cancer, we called the family together and I talk about insurance, et cetera, et cetera.
Dave Washington
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And some of the family was looking at me like I was crazy. Look, dad ain't giving up on life. It's just that these are matters that need to be addressed prior to anyone's transition from this world. So we did do that and we'll be looking at some items and making sure we look at our insurance papers this year.
Dave Washington
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Once again, this is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and More. I'll be back on the other side and talk about some American Legion.
Dave Washington
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Thanks.
Music
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♪♪
Dave Washington
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Once again, this is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and More, I say good day to all out there in our listening audience. One thing on a personal level that I intend to work on for this 2025 is to get more focused. In fact, there's been a number of times that I've come in here and I don't have all complete information and I say, oh, I failed to get this, I failed to do that. I'm going to make it a focus to do a better job making sure that when I sit in the host table here behind the mic that I have, the information that I need to share with each of you about some of the things that are going on.
Dave Washington
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And as you notice, sometimes, and again, the show is called Veterans Affairs Plus. Sometimes we do a lot more talking on the plus side. But I always try to invite veterans and those who can assist us with trying to share information that is vital to supporting the needs of our veterans out there, whether they're on the VFW, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, or the American Legion, post-teen, where I am a member of.
Dave Washington
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But the bottom line is we know that it is important for us to get valid information out to our members, to include our listening audience because there are members out there from other posts that are listening also from the VFW. So I just wanted to pass that on and give that as a thought. There's something that I've been made aware of, and I did see this in this month's American Legion magazine, and it talks about how veterans are doing what they can to strengthen America.
Dave Washington
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And there was a legislation that, in fact, there was none until recently that has more effect on veterans and their families than the PAC Act, which ensures benefits and health care for service members sickened by exposure to pit burns and other toxins. President Biden signed that bill and we are pleased that it's going to help a lot of people. And also we encourage people to, those of us who are in our entire American Legion family to elect leaders to support the priorities and other legislative agendas. And you can go to Legion dot org slash action.
Dave Washington
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This includes things that's going to assist those who have family members and the prevention, I should say, of veterans committing suicide. And the end of the military pension offset for disabled veterans to secure our borders and more together we strengthen our great nation. So again, this information is coming from our national commander and he signed his name
Dave Washington
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and I can't make it out. It's one of them pretty signatures like a doctor that you can't make out. But anyway, thank you to our National Commander for those kind thoughts. Another thing that's that's vitally important to us is our health.
Dave Washington
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When we talk about health, sometimes we all, to include myself, and as I mentioned several times on this show, during my on this show during my matter with cancer. I have been assigned a dietician. And when she first, when we first met and she sent me this information that's certainly vital to my health, I couldn't believe some of the stuff that I was seeing and reading.
Dave Washington
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I'm like, oh, my goodness. 90% of what I eat, and I trust that many of you as well, is not good for us. So we need to be very, very careful on what we're eating in terms of the various food products that we eat that can actually cause us issues and important to note, and it's called, this particular article is by Army veteran Jennifer Campbell, who was a certified personal trainer and master degree in nutrition education. She's a past commander of California Legion's 24th District and Hollywood Post 43.
Dave Washington
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She talks about, again, how the quality of food affects your health. Processed foods often convene and tasty, of course, but they lack that high quality nutrition that we need. And also, they are always full of added sugars, sodium, trans fats, these can lead to weight gain, high blood pressure, increased cholesterol levels. Consistently consuming such foods
Dave Washington
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also elevate the risk of chronic disease like heart disease, stroke, and diabetes too. Artificial preservatives, sweeteners, coloring agents found in processed foods have been linked to allergies, digestive issues, in some cases added risk to cancer, and low-quality foods will do this. So again, just trying to put it out there, you all, that we start at least thinking about
Dave Washington
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that as we, again, we started off into a new year, so a lot of changes that people seek to make a change in the food that we eat. One of the things he further talks about is organic foods and they become more popular as consumers become more aware of the health and environmental and ethical concerns related to the conventional farming practice, organic farming standard, they grow with a more natural methods versus adding a lot of synthetic and pesticides.
Dave Washington
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Just generally things that are going to have your food to break down and we have to be very careful of that. Just want to pass these things on. I'm not an expert, but I thought I'd take this first of our year to talk about something that's important to us, and that's our health. And again, the quality of the food that we eat affects our health. When it comes down to beef, chicken, eggs, and those types of things, those animals that are out actually grazing, they are better for us than those who are kind
Dave Washington
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of caged up. And I've heard even on various podcasts that those animals that are caged up, that stress that they're under, it even passes on through the food. Now, I'm not an expert, but I'm just sharing what some of the experts have actually said. So don't say Dave Washington, I don't know what he's talking about. I'm passing on what I'm hearing from folks.
Dave Washington
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So think about that as we journey through this new year. They also talk about the habitat for wild fish and seafood is better as they're out there in the ocean or lakes, rivers, et cetera, than those that are farm raised, because again, they're in an environment that they're not used to.
Dave Washington
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So just some things to think about to our listening audience. So once again, this is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and More. And as we move through this particular year, as my energy goes up and down, I'll be talking to Wes. In fact, I think for my next show, I'm going to do a repeat of the Goodmans. So the Goodmans, as we know, both Oscar Goodman and Carolyn Goodman were mayors and they held down the city government for 24, 25 years. They've done some outstanding work.
Dave Washington
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So I'm gonna ask Wes if he would have that as our next show, which will be the second show in 2025. So once again, I'm just pleased that God allowed me to once again be in this seat as we move through, start our movement through this new year.
Dave Washington
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I also want to acknowledge the fact that the Carl Holmes Executive Development Institute, we will be June 1st through the 6th at Dillard University, and we will have, that will be year of this or is it the thirty-fourth? Thirty-three or thirty-fourth year of the Carl Holmes Executive Development Institute, which is a fire service management and leadership institute, again, housed at Dillard University. So we will be moving forward with our classes this year.
Dave Washington
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to our website, carlholmes.org, and you will see our overall listing of classes. And in that vein, we have four scholarships that we offer each year for fire service personnel. In order to feed that fund, we have golf tournaments. And this year, this is new, the Carl Holmes Executive Development Institute Scholarship Fundraiser Memorial Golf Tournament honoring Chiefs Herschel Clady and William Spike Jones will be held at Las Vegas Golf Club, 4300 West Washington Avenue in Las Vegas, 89107,
Dave Washington
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April 9th and 10th where we encourage people to join up with us. Those local guys as well as we trust that there will be guys that will come in from around the country because Herschel and Spike were highly, highly respected trainers and fire service professionals. You can certainly email me at DLWWash at AOL.com and to get further information I'll send you the actual brochure
Dave Washington
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that Marsha developed for that particular function. So I hope that we can count on a number of you and also as a part of that you can sponsor by getting yourself a T-sign or your business or your family's name on a T sign that will promote your family and you and your business. And it will also contribute to our scholarship fund. Once again, this is Veterans Affairs Plus on ninety one point five jazz and more. And I will check in with Wes and see what
Dave Washington
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my time frame is and if there's more that I can say, I shall. So once again, Veterans Affairs Plus ninety one point five jazz and more 91.5 Jazz and More right here in Las Vegas, Nevada on the campus of UNLV. Once again, this is Dave Washington, Petri's Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and More. I'm going to let you guys know about a few of the people that I hope to get as guests on the show in the coming months. Frank Hawkins, Governor Joe Lepardo to talk about affordable housing. Additional guests,
Dave Washington
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former City Attorney Brian Scott. I want to talk to him about just last year, no, actually in 23, and that is Dr. Bill Sullivan. I want to get him on to talk about, because he has such a rich legacy, I believe, for UNLV and what he did that I want to talk about that a little bit. Also Chaplain Bonnie Polly, who used to be with Metro, I want to get her on to talk about some things.
Dave Washington
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And then Evelyn Pacheco, she has a non-traditional training program to get women into various types of non-traditional jobs, you know, carpentry, plumbing, you name it. But she's doing a wonderful job in helping women to get trained and into those fields that they can make a decent amount of money, you know, and that's a key. Also, I'm going to go back now to, as I mentioned, to Carl Holmes Executive Development Institute.
Dave Washington
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I want to give an even greater plug to them as we have restructured them. I was a president and CEO. I'm still president, and that's the title now, president, not president and executive, chief executive officer. But anyway, as far as the Carl Holmes Executive Development Institute as a summer institute at Dillard University, and they have a new president, President Gilroy, I think she's going to do a fine job and we're going to do all we can to
Dave Washington
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assist her in growing that institute. In our summer institute, we operate in five modules. And actually, we have six as more of a graduate type. But here, just to give you an example, and listen, please, firefighters out there. In my one, history of African-Americans
Dave Washington
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in the fire service, effectively supervising and managing resources, buddy to boss, courageous leadership, grant writing, assessment center. And then, that's just part of what we do in MOD1. MOD2, the new chief officer and the various challenges, bullying, harassment, violence prevention,
Dave Washington
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team building, policy writing for fire service, computers as a tool of management, five levels of leadership. In mod three, we have response to an active shooter, company officer toolbox, glue, growing leaders using empowerment, handling personnel issues in fire service, how to manage a fire department like a business, those in mod three. Module four, fire department retention strategies, recruitment, and retirement. What's a valid examination?
Dave Washington
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Ethics in the fire service. Step up your status. Authentic leadership for fire service professional, emotional intelligence, budget preparation. In mod five, we have what is called politics and the white helmet. That's the National Fire Academy type class. Our curriculum, understanding and managing conflict, response to terrorist bombings, strategic and tactical for success, strategies for success,
Dave Washington
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I should say. Executive coaching for fire service leaders. And then in Mod 6, again, this is for those who have graduated from the program. You haven't graduated from EDI. You can't enter this particular program. But again, it's Mod 6, advanced strategies for effective decision-making in high-pressure situations,
Dave Washington
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developing and implementing strategic plans for long-term success for EDI, crisis management leadership resilience, in-depth training on research and writing white papers, focus on addressing contemporary fire service challenges, practical application to develop actionable solutions for local fire departments, effective communication with stakeholders, government officials and the public. Again, you can register those firefighters out there.
Dave Washington
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Just go to carlholmesedi.org, carlholmesedi.org, and just check it out for yourself. I think we have some valuable classes that would be good for those who are upwardly mobile and working in the fire service and intend to be leaders in that particular business. So once again, this is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and More. As we start out this new year, let us all think back and think long and hard about our humanity and how we can be better people.
Dave Washington
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Better people make better society. So it's incumbent upon all of us to do the best that we can to be better people. So with that, I wish everyone a happy new year. And once again, prayers out to those who have lost loved ones in these recent days, as well as we ask for prayers
Dave Washington
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for those of us and our family members who are going through some particular sickness or illness We ask for your continued prayers and support so until We talk again This is veterans affairs plus or 91.5 jazz and more I'm Dave Washington your host and I plan again to give myself more focus in the coming year
Dave Washington
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soon to come in here. Happy New Year.
Dave Washington
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All the smoke in the air, till the hate when they stare, all the pain that we bear, on All the smoke in the air, till the hate when they stare, all the pain that we bear, on you and me.
Transcribed with Cockatoo