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Veteran's Affairs Plus W/ David L. Washington September 2022
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.
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You're listening to a special programming sponsored by making moves life coaching services. The content of Veterans Affairs plus does not reflect the views or opinions of public radio K, u and v. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education. Good morning. This is Veterans Affairs plus on 91.5, jazz and more. Good morning. This is Dave Washington, your host. As always, we will have a couple of guests this morning. And again, happy to be with you. Condolences is the first thing that I want to talk about real quickly is I know we've had a number of families who've lost loved ones and we pray that God will give you strength. And I'd mentioned last week, my neighbor
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Alexander, we went to her services and her daughter, Regina really did a Gina do one heck of a job on
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a letter from her mom to her dad, it was absolutely outstanding. We have a number of birthdays this month, family and friends. I'll start with a couple of those that I missed last month which will Myrtle Wimberley Wilson had a great 80th birthday party hosted by a family was nice. I'm talking about nice and had lots of food. Also last month was cousin Carolyn Grayson. Happy birthday, Carolyn. And to this month we have my friend Jean Campbell Jr. My sister little sister baby sister manita Armstrong at Magnolia and Uncle Elsie Kennedy.
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Happy birthday to you guys coming up at this month September
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Nevada wellness center number two location has opened for business at 990 30. West flamingo 9030 West Flamingo so check them out.
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Look, we have one other thing I want to go to before we have our first guest is camera June. Anybody served there? There's been some analysis was on TV and radio, but I forget the exact dates, but just Google it. Capitol June. If you serve there, you may be able to get some assistance in any medical issues that you may have. All right.
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This is Veterans Affairs plus on any 1.5 Jazz and more we have our first guest, Miss Kimberly Bailey true row. And her husband I hope Charles So Kimberly, again, I know that you are the professional when it comes to radio, talk show hosting, etc. And I'm learning my way here. Look, question for you. When did you guys start your magazine? Wow, that was back in 2008. Right when President Obama was elected into office and and we were propelled to start Las Vegas black image magazine. Because the we saw even though we saw a lot of people celebrating,
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you know, President Obama's run for presidency. We also saw people that were so amazed by his been his family, his wife, and I said, You know what, we need to change that narrative if we can or just contribute to a positive narrative for African American lifestyle for black women. And that's what really prompted us to go ahead and start Las Vegas black image magazine. Oh, great. And what kind of support do you get from? I would say, the general community to include business with respect to because your magazine comes out? Monthly? Yes. It's once a month is a free publication. You could pick it up in all Albertsons and Mario's and all the Las Vegas Library District Library, you know, locations. But yeah, we
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we, you know, it's a free and it comes out monthly.
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So I know that I had the pleasure of you guys having me on the front cover and I know that you're very selective of people who you have on seriously on the cover, and I'm proud and honored to have been an alumnus of the cover of your magazine.
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Well, we haven't had many locals on the cover but Dave Washington, You're a legend. You're an icon in this community. You've you helped me you help you have so many people and we just you know we want to say and we probably were overdue we probably need to do a new cover on you but
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we do we do do covers on locals or groups we want before we did Black women in a in a soccer field and they all showed up and we had them on the cover for Caribbean for mammogram that we do every year. So yeah, we have we do occasionally but
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You know, our promise to our community is, is is a global one. And so we celebrate people that are giving us a global positive impression, by their behavior by their personality by their celebrity, by their notoriety for the black community. Absolutely. And again, I know this will read, because we always pick up a copy. In fact, Marsha brought me one. Just yesterday. And to the end to that, Kim, I liked you to share with our listening audience, this health issue, not health issue, but health program that you have, it's like a, what does it call the beach? Yeah, we're doing well, we're doing a Health Initiative. Dave. And so it's, it's, it's almost a month and a half long with this health initiative. And we just felt as though it was so important, you know, African Americans were the first to be hit by so many diseases were the first to die from breast cancer. It's so many things that we that we go through. And so one of our what we're committed to with black image magazine, is to, you know, try to get the resources out there, try to get the education out there for us to take care of us, you know, for us by us to make sure that we're healthy, and that we are going to the doctor, that's our tagline go to the doctor. And so we were doing that with Las Vegas black image at the beach, even though it's not here locally, in Las Vegas, we're doing that particular one. But we're, we want people also to understand their options to have mental and physical wellness. You know, mental illness is such a big thing going on. And with COVID. And so many of us being locked in for so long. We wanted to get out of of ourselves. And so that's why we do Las Vegas black image at the beach, there's no better place than to be by the beach and do your meditations, your massages, your yoga. And that's what that activity is all about. Then from there in October 15. We do a caravan for mammogram right here in Las Vegas with Dr. Annette Mays. And this is targeting black women because like I said, black women are the first to die from breast cancer. And then we are concluding the health initiative with celebration of our seniors. So we're doing that with celebration of our seniors at the Doolittle Senior Center. So we're really excited about all of the things we have planned. Oh, that's great. So give us a little bit more detail and any contact information that you can share with respect to what you got going on down in Southern Cal at the beach. We're at the beach today can you know call us directly at 702-615-8216. And this is like our fourth year that we're doing this and at first, you know, because we go there quite a bit. But and I said wouldn't it be great to bring people from our community here, you know, because we enjoy it so much. We go we have to say you know we really work out and we really do so many things. The networking, because when that was our second year of doing it, we were hiking. And then Alicia Keys and her husband joined us and they live right on the heels. We it was just really fabulous to have that. But again, it Charles is here now I know you wanted to so Charles just came in. But we
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we wanted to offer this to the people, our loyal readers of black image magazine to come along with us. And we have a wonderful massage therapy school that gives us massages, we have our yoga at the beach. We're having meditation, we're having hiking, we're having total wellness, education and eating disciplines have with presentations on that. And it's all mind body and spirit and was very excited about it again. That's September the 23rd to the 25th. Absolutely great. Absolutely. Great work. Now, Charles, how're you doing, brother? I'm doing great. Dave, thanks so much for asking. I appreciate you. Sure. So can you. Your wife just talked about a couple of things that you guys are doing that she does the mammogram deal during the health on the beach. So there's other projects that you guys do throughout the year. So could you kind of share that with our listening audience. And this is Veterans Affairs plus on 91.5, jazz and more. Well, the taste of sounds and soul is what comes to mind. That's in February. And that's something that we do to celebrate diversity, those that are really doing a lot in the community want to give them a light and because we know that we don't celebrate each other enough. And you know, we don't actually wait just until Black History Month. We're really trying to make this 165 day a year thing because as we all know that things can happen at any time and it's
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important that we show appreciation and celebrate one another whenever we can. And that's really the that's really the mindset of black image is to always have a positive mindset. And because negative is always around us, it's always going to be there. But if we kind of have an idea of a mindset of positivity and being there for one another, being there for our sisters being there for our brothers, no matter what economic strategy that they come from, we really have to just be there for each other.
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Oh, that's great. So Charles, where are you from? My family's from Louisiana. And I grew up my mother's from from Los Angeles, South Central, and her mindset was to better herself and make sure that her son, her kids, had a surrounding where they could, she felt in her mind that, you know, although a lot of great people and successful people that came out of South Central Los Angeles,
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her mindset was to try to try to give us a better, better odds, better, a better chance. So she was a part of a program, or she applied for a program at UC Irvine. And it was a diversity program. During the left, a lot of a lot of minorities were being admitted to UC Irvine. During that time, I think I want to say it was the 70s. And so because she was ambitious, she wanted to pursue a career in the medical profession. She was accepted to UC Irvine and we, I had the opportunity of being raised in a middle upper class, environment with excellence from the best schools in the country. We're in Irvine and I had a lot of exposure to, to mentors, to men that men of all races that were just trying to make sure that we were occupied. So we had a lot of structure, a lot of guidance, a lot of positive influence, a lot of structure, a lot of structured exposure to so many things. You know, we went to the beach every day, that was part of our routine once to all the angel games, the baseball games was always about just being busy having a having a schedule, you know, going swimming, going. Being around college students, we always had good mentors, a healthy environment, and my mother gave me the opportunity to explore, she didn't make me stay in a box.
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I was always allowed to get out and be out amongst people. So social was a big was a big impact for me. That's why I believe that it's important for black image to make sure that our that our youth and our in this people who might not have been exposed to get out of their bubble, and to be around different cultures to be around different environments. Because health it's really healthy. Because the world is is diverse. And we have to be comfortable getting outside of, of our communities and going into others and you bring bring who you are, wherever you go.
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always important to remember where you come from, but also to to grow and bring more back into your family. We'll see it why don't you guys give me some closing thoughts and some information on on those activities that you got coming up, Kimberly, if you would, yeah, well, what Right, right before us. This month, we have until September the ninth to register for Las Vegas black image magazine at the beach in La Jolla Shores, California, in San Diego. And you could just give us a call 702-615-8216 or also you can come to Caribbean for mammogram is a free program. You get all your decorations, that's October the 15th. And you just have to register a form and then meet at 700 Shadow Lane Doctor net mazes office at eight o'clock in the morning. And we're going to decorate our cars and Caravan Las Vegas Strip, have a lunch at the town square. And just enjoy each other's company and encourage all of us to take care of our girls. And then also we have celebrating our seniors that is going to be at the Doolittle Community Center at the fish fry. And it's going to be a wonderful time celebration of and black image is going to profile a particular seniors from the MLK Senior Center and the Duke little Senior Center. It's all health, mind body and spirit awareness and it's gonna be great. So that's, that's really in a nutshell what we're doing. And we just put out a recent issue for the September issue with Janet Jackson on the cover. So at least I hope that everybody picks it up. All right, thank you very much, Josh, you got any closing remarks you'd like to make? Just want to make sure that they know that they can pick up Black English magazine options, grocery stores, all of your public libraries, always stocked at Mario's West Las Vegas Library, Westside Oasis, and they can always call us anytime if they need some for their organization or for their church. You can always feel free to call us at
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At 702-615-8216, and we'll make sure that the magazines are made available for you or your community group. Great. Well, let me say this to both of you guys a lot of love to you on behalf of our community, because if people had any idea of the work that goes into producing
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a monthly magazine, it's, it's a lot of work. And I can only imagine what you guys go through. So you will always have my support. And we'll get you back on the show, because this show will be going as long as I can afford to, to host it, and sponsor it. So thank you guys for your time and look forward to further showing appreciation to you for your work. And thank you for your great values and your commitment to bettering the community because it takes all of us to make it what it is. Yes, sir. All right, y'all take care. Hey, thank you, um, you know how I feel about your family girl. We know how
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to your mama, missy. And I said, Hey,
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I will. Alright, take care. Bye. Bye. Once again, good morning. This is Veterans Affairs plus on any 1.5 Jazz and more. I am Dave Washington, your host. I want to briefly talk about my cousin shelf, Albert Washington who was unable to make it today. He was going to be one of our guests. But you know, when when lunchtime calls and people bring their money into the restaurant, you got to deal with it. You know, my cousin he was born here. Unbeknownst to me, I'm thinking he was born in Louisiana like myself. Albert has been involved in culinary arts from way back in high school I learned and it's very interesting to know that he watched his big sister and his mom cook. And that's how he kind of started taking a liking to it. And then got involved with with the culinary arts and actually retired. And I'm adding this because I know that he was an executive chef when he left his last job that I recall was at
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the golf course, Spanish trails if you will. And this brother is a good brother and we appreciate him so very much and we like for folks to go down and celebrate with him and and frequent his restaurant darlings and dollars came about as a result of his wife passing away from cancer. So he named it and first he was gonna name and he told me Fat Albert. So Albert, we appreciate you brother and I know that you're very, very active, unbelieving community. And I know that you mentioned to me that you'll be doing some stuff on on Monday nights for football. So that's great and greatly appreciated. I think you also do a buffet on Sundays. And another thing again, being community involved. There will be a book signing with several authors, including myself. April an angel Washington, earnest found in Roseville Tostan. This will take place on on September 16th, from nine to 2pm. So make sure you can get by and check out a couple of authors and we know that you will appreciate the good food that Albert has as its place. So, Albert, I know we'll get you on the show soon. So again, wishing you well as you embark upon this new business of yours, your restaurant doorless, let's check him out y'all.
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Once again, good morning. This is
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Veterans Affairs plus on any 1.5 Jazz and more. One thing I failed to mention in the last segment. Before we get to our next guest is my cousin's restaurant shelf Alfred Washington's Darla southern Cajun Bistro, again, named after his late wife is that 1100 North MLK Boulevard of course Las Vegas, Nevada. Open Wednesday through Sunday 9am to 5pm. So check him out. Good morning. Mr. Ross. Thank you very much. My name is Ross. Brian, I'm happy to be on board. Oh, absolutely. Glad to have you. Ross. I know you don't remember what you and I talked when I was over working with another group at the American Legion, and you came in and really appreciate what you had to offer. And we'd like to encourage you once again to just kind of give us some feedback or some information on what's going on within your department that's gonna assist our veterans who are out there hopefully listening to this program. Very good. I love to and so I'm Ross Brian. I'm a retired Major from active duty and I've been the executive director of UNLV is Military and Veteran Services Center. I'm proud that after 10 years, we are ranked seventh in the nation on most friendly for veterans attending school. And we serve about 1600 vets, family members active duty and garden reserve that are coming back to go to school. And we certify all
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all of the various benefits, including disabled veterans who have what's called vre, vocational rehab education. And if you're a veteran out there with a 20% disability of any generation, you can contact us. We have a VA Vet Success director. And that's at Justin, J U S, T i n dot Whipple whi ppl e@va.gov. And he can give you information. So we process all of those benefits for our vets. We also have a nationally recognized
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rebel veteran group.
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And that's basically a fraternity sorority, that is for the veterans on this campus, our average age of veterans, about 30 years old with multiple deployments of this generation, coming back to school married with kids. And so we just help in all those transitions. And
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oh, yeah, sure. So you say the average age is about 30 years, and family members, etc. So on the family side, how does it work? Yeah. So during this conflict of 20 years,
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all the older veteran groups, American Legion, VFW and even Student Veterans of America all got together in 2012. And, you know, created this robust post 911 GI Bill, which is $65,000. To go to school, it's like a full ride scholarship, gives you a book stipend. And it also gives you a housing allowance for like an 85 on TDY. And for Vegas, that's 1848 a month. And the intent was to have these veterans coming back from their service active duty four years or more, that they would then be able to go to school full time, get a new career field, and not spend a long time at college, but enough time to get their degree and move forward with a new career. And so 1.5 million vets are going to school. Now, during the war, though, what was happening because 1% volunteer during this 20 years, there was no draft, like in the Vietnam era. If you and I were in the infantry and tanks like I was, we're going back and forth to Iraq and Afghanistan 567 times we have people at seven years in combat. Wow, what are your period and what was happening? If you were a career soldier Marine in other branches, and your spouse said, hey, look, I can't do this anymore. We're not going to make it to 20, you need to get out. And that was a lot of people getting out. And what happened is, as a retention, Department of Defense said, if you had 10 years of service, and you do another four years, which means more deployments back then during the heat of all right, then give your 65k to your kids or your spouse. And to give you an idea, now the wars have ended. But all of these things happen. People stayed in they kept applying a process that for their kids, we serve about 800 kids that have been transferred benefit and spouses. In addition, because the Vietnam era vets the VFW, American Legion, disabled American veteran, Vietnam vets of America, have really made the VA system a lot more better improved. As far as tracking disabilities, right? I don't want to say it's easier to be at 100%. But it's a lot easier than 20 years ago. And with that we have if you're 100%, disabled from your service, necessarily mean combat, your kids under age of 26, get what's called chapter 35, dependent education assistance. It's been around for 30 years, we have about 500 of those kids that have a disabled parent, and they get a stipend of 1297 a month to help pay for school doesn't pay school, but it helps further costs. Right we serve all of those kids are like our family. We take care of all those young kids help them with the bureaucracy of getting everything certified. And my five person team that does nothing but get people paid. They work round the clock to do about 3000 certifications a semester at UNLV. And then during Christmas, we only have five weeks to do those 3000 certifications. Keep everybody in school for January. And we've been doing that for 10 years. And now we have 3237 graduates, family members, veterans active duty, including ROTC cadets that have graduated in that 10 year period.
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Wow, that's That's Great work. Great work raw. So
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to be certified, I mean, when you apply, you go through a certification program to say that yes, you meet the requirements to be a part of this program. Yes. So let me explain that. So let's say you get
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How'd you get post 911, you're gonna get a document from the VA, that says you have 36 months of benefit. And in order to use your benefit to pay for school, every class has to count towards a degree, you're not going to take underwater basket weaving or volleyball, you got to take classes that count and to be full time, you got to take 12 credit hours. And so what happens is, you request the benefit on our Wineland online system, you upload your documents, so we know you have benefit. And that same thing for the family member in your and then these are the ones who then submit that the VA through the VA, one system, the student can't do that the school has to do that. Right, certify the vet, and then you would get your book stipend in a checking account to you. And then you would get your housing the first of every month prorated by day. And it's always the first would pay you for the month prior that you were in school. So one October, you get full benefits. One September, you get a couple of days because school started. And then what we do is you then you get certified with us. And then we process the payment when it comes to the school to pay your tuition. So we put a hold on your record, so you have no out of pocket money, you don't pay a dime. And if you have any other kinds of scholarships, or those kinds of things for financial aid, when that hits your account, those become refunds for you to help you live on. Right your benefit pays for school. So you said you even get a stipend to assist with with your, your rent. Yes. And all designed because these Vietnam era vets who fought for this benefit, the deal is they want someone to have to go to school and have to work three jobs.
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They want to make sure that you had enough financial ability to basically focus on rebuilding your skills, getting your degree and having a new career field. Man, this is this is outstanding. In fact, I think it's about a year and a half, two years ago that you and I spoke on this other radio station, I think you you've seemed like you've added some stuff, man, outstanding work. So you say that there's five of you guys who actually do the work from your office. I know, here's what I've done. If you're a veteran on benefit, you're allowed to do what's called VA work study where the VA pays you minimum wage to work for me 47 students to work for me.
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They're our frontline customer service. I also have a peer to peer program like a battle buddy system out of Michigan. And I have a retired Air Force Chief that runs that for me. And what happens is if you joined us, we would then assign you a battle buddy to coach you in your transition has been on who knows the landscape could tell you about the rodeo be taken all the parking, tell you what to avoid in case you're struggling and physical say.
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And then you'd have a guide like you would have had on your base. And so we have about a 70% retention at UNLV. That's why we have the high score. And, you know, we've also had six suicides, combat guys, sadly, made the choice to end their lives. And all of those folks were isolated by choice.
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So we we definitely get in everyone's business. We have swag and shirts and pants. And we service and if anyone on campus sees a bit struggling, I get a call so that we can do outreach and help people. Excellent work. Ross, give us your contact information real quickly, please. Yes, my name is Ross Bryant, Executive Director of the Vet Center at UNLV 702-774-4611. My email Ross our OSS dot Bryant B ry A n t@unlv.edu. Great, Ross, we'll get you back on again because you got this is valuable information. I trust that and hope that some of the veterans who are listening to this program will give you a call. Thanks, Ross. We look forward to seeing you again. Thank you Sir, call me anytime. We'd love to help you. We'll do as we close out the September show for Veterans Affairs plus I encourage those out there who may need some help to once again, contact Tony Marshall. He's the Service Officer at 301-537-9465. And a couple of quick things follow the FAMU football team issues that are going on and also follow the the young Duke foot
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volleyball player. Check those stories out. All right, thank you, Eric for helping me get through this. That's our engineer, engineering and director. Thanks
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