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.
Wesley Knight 0:00
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what's going on good
Dave Washington 0:49
day Las Vegas. This is Veterans Affairs, plus on 91.5 jazz and more. I'm Dave Washington, your host, and once again, please and honor and thank God for allowing me to be here today. I get got Wes in the control room, keeping me on track. Oh, boy, 2025 here we are. Like to acknowledge a couple birthdays that I'm aware of. Our youngest daughter, Amber's birthday. Amber armagon, Leon Washington Junior, 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. Certainly want to express condolences to the families of those who lost loved ones and that senseless tragedy in New Orleans. You know, I talked 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. Now, the folks have been injured, killed, and these families will be affected for the rest of their life. 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 in laying out in the street on bourbon, and someone kept trying to pull her back, and that'll 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're under 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, this, 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, let alone the country, but the incident at Trump Tower, and just want to express to Sheriff Kevin mcmahill 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 and hopefully all of us can start to to address and think about our overall humanity and how we need to 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, before I go into that, I want to talk about something that happens each year, and it's has occurred for the last 3545 30 to 40 years, and that is the men's only luncheon. Man. It was outstanding. This idea was brought about by Frank Hawkins, former NFL, Ken Levine, Levine, who was with the with hood, and Chris McLemore, also an NFL, 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, and we do it right around the end of the year. And we had 33 individuals to show up at this particular luncheon, which was held last Monday, this past Monday, in fact. And. And 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 as Bob genzer, who also has been added to the group, so it's basically myself, Frank, Bob gins and Chris McLemore. 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 a case at Bonefish. This year, we had 33 seats, 32 seats available. It was easy to add one more, but we're 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 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 to this year and discussed. And basically, what you do we what we have them to do is we have 90 minute 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. And of course, sometimes we get people like Jerry Smith, who will go on and on, so we keep him toward the end, and Frank likes to speak last, so we accommodate him as one of the founders of this men's only luncheon. So once again, 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 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 lunch in this year. Thank you very, very much. Once again, this is veteran fair, Veterans Affairs, plus on 91.5 jazz and more. 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 on 91.5 as well as on 88.1 he is he's doing an outstanding job with where he presents information about insurance. And one thing he reminded because I listened to his show this past week, and one thing he reminded us of, we should all take a look at our insurance papers and make 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 need to get up, take out all those items and make take a quick review. And you know, when I was diagnosed with cancer, we call the family together, and I talk about insurance, etc, etc, 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. 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.
Once again, this is Veterans Affairs, plus on 91.5 jazz and more. I say Good day to all out there and 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 said, 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. 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 are on the VFW, the Veterans of Foreign Wars or the American Legion Post 10, where I am a member of but the bottom line is, we know that 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 listen in, also from The VFW. So just want to to pass that on and give that as a as a thought. There's something that I've been made aware of, and I, and I did see this in this month's American Legion magazine, and this talks about how veterans are doing what they can to strengthen America. And something, there was a legislation that, in fact, there was none until recently, that has more effect on veterans and their families than the pack Act. The Pack Act, which ensures benefits and health care for service members sickened by exposure to pit burns and other toxins. You know, 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 to, you know, those of us who are in our entire American Legion family, to elect leaders to support the priors and other legislative agendas, and you can go to legion.org/action, this includes things that's going to assist those who have family members in 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 will strengthen our great needs, our great nation. So again, this information is coming from our National Commander, and he signed his name, and I can't make it out his soul. It's one of them pretty signatures, like a doctor, that you can't make out. But anyway, thank you to our our National Commander, for those kind thoughts. Another thing that's that's vitally important to us is our health. When we talk about health, sometimes we all to include myself, and as I mentioned several times on this show, during my matter with cancer, I have, I have been assigned a dietitian, and when she first, when we first met, and she sent me this, this information that's certainly vital to my health, I couldn't believe some of the stuff that I was seeing and reading. 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 but she talks about, again, how the quality of food affects your health. Processed foods often convenient and tasty, of course, but they many, they lack that high quality nutrition that we need, and also they're always full of added sugars, sodium, trans fats. These can lead to weight gain, high blood pressure, increased cholesterol levels, consistently consuming such foods also elevate the risk of chronic disease, like heart disease, stroke and diabetes too artificial preservatives, sweetness, 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. Put it out there. You all that we start, at least thinking about that as we again, we've started off into a new year. So a lot of changes that people seek to make, and I'm encouraging us all to start seeking to make a change in in the food that we 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 ethic ethical concerns related to the conventional farming practice or organic farming standards, they grow more with a more natural, more natural methods, versus adding a lot of synthetic and pesticides, of just generally, things that's going to have your food to break down, and we got to be very, very careful of that. So just want to pass these things on. I'm not an expert, but I thought I'd take this, this first of our year, to talk about something that 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 those animals that are that are out actually grazing, they are better for us than those who are kind 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, not an expert, but I'm just sharing what, what some of the experts have actually said. So don't, don't say Dave Washington, don't know what he's talking about, passing on what I'm hearing from folks. So think about that as we, as we journey through this new year. They also talk about the habitat for while fish and seafood is better as they're out there in the ocean or lakes, rivers, etc, than those that are farm raised, because again, they're they're in an environment that they're not used to. 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, this particular year, and 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 2425 years. They they've done some outstanding work. So I'm going to 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 to start our movement through this new year. Also want to acknowledge the fact that the Carl Holmes executive development institute, we will be June 1 through the sixth at Dillard University, and we will have this will be, I think, our 33rd year of this, or is it the 34th 33rd 33 or 34th year of the Carl homes executive developments, 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. And you can go to our website, Carl holmes.org, and you will see our overall listing of classes. And in that vein, for our we have four scholarships that we offer each year for fire service personnel in order to feed that that fund, we have golf tournaments. And this year we're going to, this is new, the Carl homes 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, April, 9 and 10th. The shotgun star will actually be on the 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. So and you can certainly email me at dlw wash@aol.com and then get further information. I'll send you the actual brochure that Marcia developed for that particular function. So 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 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 91.5 jazz and more. And I will check in with Wes and see what my time frame is. And if there's more that I can say, I shall so once again, Veterans Affairs plus 91.5 jazz and more, right here in Las Vegas, Nevada, on the campus of U, n, l, D, you. Dave,
once again, this is Dave Washington Veterans Affairs, plus on 91.5 jazz and more. I'm gonna 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 lapardo to talk about affordable housing. Additional guests, former city attorney Brian Scott, I want to talk to him about a good brother who passed 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 you and it will be and what he did that, I want to talk about that a little bit also Chaplain bunny parlor Polly, who used to be with Metro, I want to get her on to talk about some things. And then Evelyn Pacheco, she has a non traditional training program 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 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, the Carl Holmes executive development institute. 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 Gilderoy. I think she's going to do a fine job, and we're going to do all we can to assist her in growing that institute and our Summer Institute, here's we operate in five modules, and actually we have six as a more of a graduate type. But here just just give you an example and listen please, firefighters out there in mod one, history of African Americans in the fire service, effectively, supervising and management, managing resources, buddy to boss, courageous leadership, grant writing, assessment center, and then in that's just part of what we do in mod one, mod two, the new Chief Officer and the various challenges, bullying, harassment, violence prevention, 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 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 in the white helmet. This is a National Fire Academy, type class curriculum, understanding and managing conflict, incident response to terrorist bombings, strategic and tactical for success. Strategies for Success, I should say, executive coaching for fire service leaders. And then in mod six. Again, this is for those who have graduated from the program you haven't graduated from, from EDI, you can't enter this particular program. But again, it's mod six, advanced strategies for effective decision making and high pressure situations, 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, just go to Carl homes, edi.org Carl homes, edi.org and just check it out for yourself. I think we have some valuable classes that will be good for those who are up early, 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 to better people make better societies. 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 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 so 91.5 jazz and more. I'm Dave Washington, your host, and I plan again to get myself more focus in the coming here, Happy New Year. Hi.
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Oh, all the smoke in the air till they hate when they stare all the pain that we bear. Death on your back.