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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
0:00:00
This is a KUNV Studios original program.
Wesley Knight
0:00:04
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, the University of Nevada Las Vegas.
Gene Campbell
0:00:51
Good morning, good morning, good morning Las Vegas. I'm Gene Campbell. I'm sitting in again for Dave Washington, David L. Washington, DLW, also known as David Lee Washington. As you know that they've been battling some personal health issues, and so he asked me to step in for him today, this beautiful Saturday morning, to speak to you from my studio here and bring on a special guest. So that's Veterans Affairs Plus. We're at
Gene Campbell
0:01:18
KUNV, radio at the UNLV. So I really appreciate them and Engineer West for doing a great job for getting in, sending us in this morning. I just like for those to take just a quiet second and just put Dave in your thoughts and your hearts as he gets well. We all know that David is one of those dynamic people that's always giving to others, so I just wanted to have that quiet second with David as I get into today's show. Before I introduce our guest, I'd like to encourage everybody, no matter who you want to vote for, get out and vote.
Gene Campbell
0:01:57
We have a lot of local positions up, including mayor, as well as many other seats, Congress folks and such, as well as we have assembly people in the state senate also. In addition to that, we have some president up for election, and so I want to make sure everybody is aware of that. Make sure, I think the deadline might be past already, but double-check at the registrar and see if you haven't registered to register to vote,
Gene Campbell
0:02:38
as well as make sure you get your ballot in before the clock ticks 7 PM on election day. With that, I'd like to bring on my guest. This is Mr. Dwayne Morgan. I've been knowing Dwayne, wow, for a long time. Almost 40 years I've been knowing Dwayne. I've been knowing him since I came to Las Vegas, so that's 37 years.
Gene Campbell
0:03:00
And he's got a great history. He's a great dynamic person. One thing about Dwayne is he's got a lot of energy. And he does a lot of things, and he's fun to be with. So, without further ado, Dwayne, would you come on in and introduce yourself and tell us a little about yourself.
Gene Campbell
0:03:19
All right.
Dwayne Morgan
0:03:20
Thanks a lot, Gene. And I do have Dave with me in my thoughts and I appreciate that little acknowledgement that you gave him. And thanks for thinking of me when you thought about the show today. Again, my name is Dwayne Morgan and I have been here in Las Vegas for I think it's over 40 years now. And I came here via the Air Force
Dwayne Morgan
0:03:40
and found the town to be a pleasurable place to be. I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. And hey, once you figured out it don't snow in Nevada, it was an easy transition for me to stay here. Once I got out of the military, I joined the LVMPD Police Department.
Dwayne Morgan
0:03:57
And after that career, I did a full career retirement on the police department. I got started kind of working in the public sector. Right now I'm the vice president of compliance and security for the Dre's nightclub group. So thanks for having me on the show, Gene.
Gene Campbell
0:04:12
Well, Dwayne, thank you for coming on the show. And I'm looking forward to getting back out there and playing some golf with you. We played a little bit when I got back from Houston after COVID and we both got off and running, so I'm looking forward to that.
Gene Campbell
0:04:30
Dwayne, would you tell me a little bit about your experience in the Air Force? Maybe if you were stationed in other places, give me a little bit of background on your service and what was your duty assignment? In other words, what did you do day-to-day?
Dwayne Morgan
0:04:48
I love talking about my military career because it was absolutely one of the best moves I've made as a very young man. I joined when I was probably like 18 years old. And it's quite a funny story, actually, because I was dating a young lady back in Chicago and her cousin had went in the Air Force as a security police. And he came back and he was over our house one day looking real sharp, had his uniform on, telling us
Dwayne Morgan
0:05:16
a lot of stories. So me and her brother decided that we're going to join on the buddy program. So we go down, we take the test, and we both said, hey, we're going to join up and, you know, ride this buddy thing through together. Well, unfortunately for him, he didn't make it, but I did. And he was the one more motivated to go in than I was. So now I'm kind of in the program. I told the recruiter, I said, well, since John didn't make it through, does that mean we both don't get in? And he looked at me and said, sorry, buddy, you're in.
Dwayne Morgan
0:05:43
And it started a great adventure for me. So I went in with basic training out in San Antonio. Lackland is what they call the gateway to the Air Force. So everyone that's joining the Air Force goes to Lackland Air Force Base. After initial basic training, which was 16 weeks, I went to the Security Police Academy, which was at a place called Camp Bullis, which is also in Texas, you know. And after that, my first assignment, now remember I said I was, you know, from Chicago.
Dwayne Morgan
0:06:11
And I don't know how many people, you know, been to Chicago, but it's a, you know, a very diverse town. And my first assignment was, you ready for this, Gene? Grand Forks, North Dakota.
Gene Campbell
0:06:23
No, I'm not.
Dwayne Morgan
0:06:24
Grand Forks, you have Grand Forks too.
Gene Campbell
0:06:25
Grand Forks, North Dakota. Grand Forks, you had Grand Forks too?
Dwayne Morgan
0:06:28
Grand Forks, North Dakota. And I was like, first of all, I had to go to a map and even see where it was at. But was I in for a rude awakening as far as zero diversity? I think the town had probably 40,000 people. But what it did for me, Gene, is it taught me how to coexist with people who didn't look like me. Because as I still tell people today,
Dwayne Morgan
0:06:51
it was only two types of music in Grand Forks, and that was country and Western. And guess what the military teaches you? You can't run from it, so what do you have to do? You have to adapt. So, you know, I learned that one of the things
Dwayne Morgan
0:07:03
that's important in life is to learn how to be adaptable to environments that you may not be comfortable in, and it's a lesson I always try to teach my kids. And after I went to Grand Forks, I said, I need to do anything I can to get out of here. So I volunteered for a remote assignment, which they told me, hey, if you do this remote
Dwayne Morgan
0:07:20
assignment for a year, you can then go wherever you want. So I always had dreams of living in California. So I volunteered.
Gene Campbell
0:07:27
They sent me to Kunsan, Korea.
Dwayne Morgan
0:07:28
You guys probably, I don't even know if Kunsan still exists.
Dwayne Morgan
0:07:29
But I went to Kunsan, Korea. So again, you can see I'm on this path of adaptability. First, I go to North Dakota, where I'm probably one of seven black people in the whole town, other than the military base, and then I go to Korea. So I'm really learning how to adapt and adjust
Dwayne Morgan
0:07:49
to being in an environment that I'm totally not comfortable with. After that, I didn't get to go to California, but they sent me out here to Nevada, where, you know, I met some great people like yourself and have made Las Vegas my home ever since.
Dwayne Morgan
0:08:01
So, you know, it was a great thing for me joining the military and learning how to be adaptable. And I think over time, that's really helped me with my life skills and my career advancement.
Gene Campbell
0:08:11
That is so beautiful, and I like the way you summarize that. But, Duane, you know, I've been knowing you 37 years, and I forgot that that's one thing we had in common early in our careers, that we both were at Grand Forks at different times. So we both shared those cold winters and understand, even though you're used to it from Chicago and I'm being from New Jersey,
Gene Campbell
0:08:34
oh man, it was something special about that. You were in the buddy program too. My brother and I went in the buddy program. We went in together. We went and we signed up by Sergeant Gant. Sergeant Gant was in my hometown of Plainfield, New Jersey, and we both signed up. My brother ended up doing 22 years in the
Gene Campbell
0:08:54
Air Force, and I ended up doing five and getting out after I got here and joining North Las Vegas
Dwayne Morgan
0:09:01
Police Department. So it's a small world, Dwayne. But you know what you see is that those commonalities that we had also led us to being people who could deal with different people, which helped us advance in our careers, because I think that's a key element is being a people person. If you wanna advance in life, you really have to be a people person,
Dwayne Morgan
0:09:20
no matter where you come from.
Gene Campbell
0:09:21
People person, that is so true, Duane, that's so true. So, you know, you talked a lot about being a people person and how to get along and changing and adaptability. What other skills or training education was beneficial to you in the real world. As you know, as we talk a little bit about that, you know,
Gene Campbell
0:09:42
one of our focuses today is Veterans Affairs Plus. So for the folks listening out there, we're talking about Veterans Affairs, but part of it also is how people transition and how you start to change your resume. So it relates to somebody like Duane being a vice president of security for a major hotel resort and his past experience in the metro.
Gene Campbell
0:10:08
What kind of training experience that you had in the military transformed either into your private sector or public sector careers?
Dwayne Morgan
0:10:16
That's a great question, Gene, and I have an answer for that because it's something I, you know, always try to teach my children. The one thing that I know for certain that the military gave me and it gives everyone, whether you embrace it or really identify that it's a key element to a life skill, is discipline.
Dwayne Morgan
0:10:37
I want to say that one more time, so the people that might not have been listening clearly hear it, it's discipline. You're going to get discipline in the military. And once you learn to embrace discipline, you can achieve anything in life.
Dwayne Morgan
0:10:50
And I really try to get that drummed into my children to say that how you do anything is how you do everything. That's something my kids will repeat to you.
Dwayne Morgan
0:11:00
I've drilled that in their head.
Dwayne Morgan
0:11:02
How you do anything is how you do everything. And the discipline that the military gave me really helped me achieve knowing that my skill set, I was military police, so you had to shape yourself to be disciplined. I know you remember this because you did this in basic too. When it was your night watch, they used to make you go around putting your hand in front
Dwayne Morgan
0:11:23
of all the plugs on the wall. We all know it didn't make sense, but it wasn't about it making sense. They were just teaching you how to be disciplined enough to do what your assignment was, so when you were out there on your own with some responsibilities, they knew you wouldn't falter. So, you know, discipline is taught in the military and also camaraderie, how to work with other people, how to be a leader, and how to accept being led.
Dwayne Morgan
0:11:49
So those are some key things. But discipline is the number one success tool that I learned in the military, and I think it carried me through my life. And of course, I'm still folding my clothes in squares.
Gene Campbell
0:11:59
I bet your wife appreciates that. Yes, sir. Well, that is great. Let's switch from your military now. As you transition to Metro Police Department, could you tell us a little bit how you prepped for that?
Gene Campbell
0:12:17
I know the test was a little different, maybe, but can you tell us a little bit about how you prepped for that and what was your career there? What are some of the things you did there?
Dwayne Morgan
0:12:26
Yeah, so when I was getting out of the military, I started looking at going into LVMPD. And you had to do the running test, which was, you know, I was still in pretty good shape being in the military. So I was ready for the running part. And again, a lot of the things that it already taught me in the military, being a military police, made it an easy transition to getting on the police department.
Dwayne Morgan
0:12:51
And once I made it into the basic level of being a patrol officer, I went out, did my patrol duties, and quickly, people on the police department, they're able to identify the people that show self-discipline, wanting to grow,
Dwayne Morgan
0:13:04
and I became a training officer. So I did a training officer after about two years on the police department where I trained other, new officers coming on, and then I went off into my investigative path. Usually when you get on the police department,
Dwayne Morgan
0:13:19
you have two paths. Either you're going to go into investigations, or you're going to go into administration, meaning you want to go directly to be a sergeant, lieutenant, captain, moving up the chain that way. Well, I always had a desire to be a homicide detective.
Dwayne Morgan
0:13:33
So I worked my tail off, went through different details. And ultimately, I did become one of the youngest homicide detectives ever on the police department and had a very successful career as a homicide detective with Metro.
Gene Campbell
0:13:47
Right, right. And I think there's some other things you did later in your career that might have helped you out or might have gave you some insight into what you do now. Did you have another assignment after Metro?
Dwayne Morgan
0:14:00
Did you work with, in the resort corridor? Well, actually, after I got off Metro, I started doing some defense attorney work. And while I was doing that, I got a call from one of my neighbors. And my neighbor was telling me that they were looking for investigators for Caesars Entertainment. And I said, wow, I never really wanted to be in corporate America. But I gave it a try.
Dwayne Morgan
0:14:24
I went down there and talked to the HR person. They looked at my background and they said, you know what, I think you would do excellent for what we're looking for. I started with Caesars Entertainment in their legal department as a corporate investigator, and moved up the ranks there to where I took over the nightclub compliance section.
Dwayne Morgan
0:14:47
I was in charge of all of the nightclubs for Caesars Entertainment. And that's where I landed where I am right now.
Gene Campbell
0:14:54
Well, it's, you never know what skills are going to translate to other things. And I guess looking back on your military career, you adapted, you were able to get along with people, and you had some discipline, even though it was a different skill or discipline that you really worked. And a lot of the core things were the same, Duane. So that's beautiful.
Gene Campbell
0:15:18
You know, one of the things we like to do, too, is we like to share some advice for the men and women that are out there. And I know Metro changed over the years, and I know the security field has changed. change, matter of fact, there's so much more training that's going on now with Homeland Security, with the different venues that we have now compared to when we first came. Not only do we have the Raiders, we have the Golden Knights, we look forward to having
Gene Campbell
0:15:54
the A's here, but all the different concerts and things there, Duane. So what advice would you give if somebody was interested in the military and or metro or maybe they wanted to start off with security and see if that's something that they love to be able to do that.
Dwayne Morgan
0:16:16
And what attributes should they bring to the table? You know, I'm a firm believer that to me, and this is just my personal thing, that it benefits any young person to go in some branch of service. Now, I 100% think the Air Force is the best service, but maybe you have a family member or somebody else that was in another department, service, and you find it interesting. But I think the Air Force is really good because 90% of the things that you learn in the Air
Dwayne Morgan
0:16:47
Force are transitionable to the real world, as we used to call it when we was in the military. I can't wait to get back to the real world. But the Air Force, most of their things, you can transfer. Like you could work in aircraft and actually transition to working for an airline. You could be military police and transition into that.
Dwayne Morgan
0:17:06
But most of Air Force's support services, which is very transmittable to the real world, whether you worked in the hospital. So that's why I'm big on the Air Force. But I think every young person, again, can benefit from joining the military,
Dwayne Morgan
0:17:20
learning how to be disciplined, learning how to accept responsibility for their personal actions, and then learning leadership. That's what it's going to teach you is great leadership. So that was something I didn't realize when I went in at 18 years old.
Dwayne Morgan
0:17:36
But as I look back, if I could tell young Dwayne all over again, I would definitely tell him, join the military, get some work experience, and learn how to discipline yourself in life, and it'll carry you a long way. Because as you know, Gene, as people go out looking for jobs, it always asks you, what's your work experience? And when you're a young person, where are you really going to get work experience where
Dwayne Morgan
0:17:57
they put you in charge of multimillion-dollar equipment, multimillion-dollar vehicles, multi-million dollar environment at the age of 18 and 19 where you can come out and then share that you've been in charge of those type of things and you're not afraid to be responsible. So that's one of the attributes that I think is very important in life and that the military gives you a stepping stone that's very hard, frankly, to get anywhere else. I can't think anywhere else where 18-year-old can get a job and be responsible at that higher level as you are when you get into the military.
Dwayne Morgan
0:18:34
I hope I answered your question without going too far to detail.
Gene Campbell
0:18:37
No, I really appreciate you answering it directly because we really want to make sure that our guests have a wide variety of advice and value of information being shared. So everybody takes a little, takes something away from our radio shows a little something differently. So I really appreciate that answer. You know, Duane, as a person who's probably dealt with a lot of supervision and hiring,
Gene Campbell
0:19:07
what's a good profile? What are you looking for when somebody's coming up to you and they're saying, hey, they should have their resume, we should have a resume. Give an idea of what you're looking for if you're sitting down with somebody, what they should have if they're going to sit in
Dwayne Morgan
0:19:25
front of you for consideration for a position. Well, first of all, like I said, if you're a young person, you're probably not going to have a lot of real experience at anything. What people buy is you. One of the things, I see a lot of people come to interviews,
Dwayne Morgan
0:19:41
they just look like they were just at home playing Xbox and remember they had an interview and rolled out of bed and showed up for the interview. And that's all, you know, that's something that I noticed between, you know, like non-military guys or girls and just regular people.
Dwayne Morgan
0:19:59
The military type individuals will come better prepared. But just in general, if you're going for an interview, you've got to prepare for it like you want to shine. Come in, be dressed appropriately, make sure you have your hair done to whatever style your hair is.
Dwayne Morgan
0:20:19
Have it look like you gave some attention to detail. It don't matter what your hairstyle is, it's just show that you took a minute to say, hey, I'm trying to present myself in a manner that shows me in a positive light. You know, these are the things I look at. And then preparation, you know, go online, find questions on the internet that may pertain
Dwayne Morgan
0:20:41
to the job you're going for. It's pretty easy. You can Google any job and have someone test you on the questions, you know, do a pre-test. So, when you show up, you're not nervous because you pretty much prepared yourself. You know, these are the things again, it's all back on discipline. You know, you got to be disciplined, but you know, prepare yourself appropriately.
Dwayne Morgan
0:20:58
Come in if you got, you know, I don't care if it's 115 degrees in Las Vegas, you know, put on some business attire, you know, it's for a short period of time and then you can take it off because this is what's going to separate you from everyone may show up with two arms and two legs. Everyone may show up, you know, with a smile. Everyone's going to show up, maybe they have a degree, but what's going
Dwayne Morgan
0:21:17
to separate you from everybody else is how you present yourself to the interviewer. I've hired a lot of people that had less experience than some of the other people. I've had, well, in today's economy, you have people with master's degrees shooting for entry-level positions, but they still don't properly prepare themselves because they don't have the experience. So, you know, proper preparation will get you a long way.
Gene Campbell
0:21:40
Right. Well, I appreciate that. And I just want to make sure everybody knows what radio show this is. This is Veterans Affairs Plus on KUNV. And I'm Gene Campbell with Duane Morgan. And we have about another seven to eight minutes. So, I'm going to ask Duane some fun things, some fun facts.
Gene Campbell
0:22:01
So, Dwayne, you being the vice president at Draves Nightclub, you have an opportunity to see a lot of people. Could you give our guests a little snippet of maybe some interesting people and maybe something fun that you had about their visit
Gene Campbell
0:22:16
or something, especially you'd like to share about your venue?
Dwayne Morgan
0:22:19
Well, as you know, we get to see a lot of fun stuff in a nightclub at Drave's, especially. You know, we're probably the number one hip-hop club in the world. And as a matter of fact, we just pre-recorded the BET Hip-Hop Awards and the host is going to be Fat Joe. And that was one of the things he said in his opening monologue is that, you know, he loved that particular nightclub because it is the number one
Dwayne Morgan
0:22:45
in the world. You're never going to have the experience that you get there. And I have a lot of personalities. If you listen to the young people, that little entertainer named the Baby, he is a handful. And I mean, his life goal is to have a good time.
Dwayne Morgan
0:23:02
And he's very funny and engaging. He loves to jump out in the crowd and interact with people. And another person, Wiz Khalifa, he's the same way. He's pretty much a people person. And he always comes in. He's always in a good mood.
Dwayne Morgan
0:23:18
And I respect the fact that no matter how many times he does his show, he gives it 100%. He has a lot of humor. And something that I always picked up from Lil Wayne. Lil Wayne is one of our performers. And he always starts out his show saying, hey,
Dwayne Morgan
0:23:34
if there is no you in the audience, there is no me. So he has a full understanding of what makes life possible for him, that he could do all the singing and everything he wants, but if the crowd is not blessing him with their financial gifts or their time or being there, then there's nowhere for him to exist in that space. So I get to see a lot of these guys and girls that most people might only be able to imagine what they're like behind the scenes, and 80% of them are totally different persona
Dwayne Morgan
0:24:05
than what you see when they're performing.
Gene Campbell
0:24:06
Wow, that is so great for you to share where I guess all the people and they get ready to see, I guess in the next week or two or month, whenever that show comes out, they'll get a chance to see the people
Gene Campbell
0:24:18
that you just spoke about.
Gene Campbell
0:24:19
So that is just so great. Dwayne, we're about four minutes out. As we close, I just wanna thank you so much for sharing your time, taking us through that road all the way back to Chicago and, and, uh, to, to Grand Forks and over to Korea and out to Nellis Air Force Base and through your career as Metro and touching on your
Gene Campbell
0:24:41
career there at Draze and with Caesars. Um, is there any last parting words or any, any other things you'd like to say, Dwayne, as we get ready to wrap up today's show?
Dwayne Morgan
0:24:54
Yeah, again, I want to thank you and Dave for thinking about me. And for those in your audience that may not know, Gene had a very successful, honorable, and reached the highest levels of the fire department. And we both knew each other when we were just young guys
Dwayne Morgan
0:25:10
out there just trying to figure it all out. So to say that we figured out the key to something is probably not it. I think it all started with our decisions. You know, decisions change your life. We both made decisions to join the military. And I think, you know, we were blessed by doing that
Dwayne Morgan
0:25:26
because the more you give, the more you receive. So we gave of our time to serve our country. And our country is kind of, you know, paying us back through karma. So it's a good thing. And Gene, no doubt you remember our early days. No one would probably thought we'd reach the levels we reached because we were just out
Dwayne Morgan
0:25:43
there, just some young guys out here in Vegas. It was the wild, wild west back then, very small town and everybody knew each other. But I say all that to say the relationships that you make early in life, the relationships you make early in life can be key to your success. I remember I used to own a mortgage company. That's something me and my wife had owned together.
Dwayne Morgan
0:26:06
We owned a mortgage company. And during the process of building that building, one of the things that almost tied us up from opening on time was our fire inspection. So guess how many fire guys I knew who was able to help me out because of relationship.
Dwayne Morgan
0:26:21
So, you know, you never know. Like they say, don't forget about the people on your way up because they might be the same people you need on your way down. So treat people, make good relationships. That's key.
Gene Campbell
0:26:30
All right, well, Dwayne, I like you. I appreciate you ending with that note. That was a beautiful note, and I'm glad you touched on it. You had also, you were an entrepreneur, you had that mortgage business, and boy, if we had some more time, we could touch on a few more things that you've done. So thank you for spending your time.
Gene Campbell
0:26:47
I know you're a very, very busy man and you're looking to spend a little time with your family before you have to get back to work. I am just going to touch on and say happy birthday for all those October birthdays, including my dear wife Deborah's birthday is coming up this month. So, for all the other people who were born in the month of October, very, very happy birthday.
Gene Campbell
0:27:10
That's from me and Dave Washington. And then I also like to say to our veterans, don't forget, if you're a veteran and you're not aware of your benefits, if you've served and you're interested in finding out, do you have the correct benefits or do you need some benefits? If you don't have health care and you've been on an army discharge, you served 90 days, you're honorably discharged from the military. One of your veteran service organizations, you got the VFW, Disabled Veterans,
Gene Campbell
0:27:45
the Veterans of Foreign Wars, there's a lot of those. You can look at the Nevada Veterans Affairs Office, you can Google that, go online and find that number. And just reach out and find one of those service organizations. There's a full list of them there as well as out there at the Air Force Veterans Affairs place just right off of Pecos and the 215.
Gene Campbell
0:28:09
If you go in there to the Veterans VA Hospital there and you go down to the Veterans Service Office, that's where all the offices are. So we encourage you to reach out, look online or reach out to someone you feel comfortable with and talk to them about the possibility of you being reviewed
Gene Campbell
0:28:27
for those veterans benefits. With that, I'd like to say good morning. I want to thank Dwayne Morgan for coming on today. I want to thank Wes for being such a great engineer. And I want to put David L. Washington in my mind again as we close because I'm looking forward for him to get here back from Houston.
Gene Campbell
0:28:52
He went down there to see some doctors and he's getting well now. I just spoke to him earlier today before the show. And so with that, I'm going to go ahead and close. This is Veterans Affairs Plus at KUNV. And that's it for today's show. Have a great weekend and look forward to seeing you next week.
Gene Campbell
0:29:11
Goodbye. forward to seeing you next week.
Gene Campbell
0:29:13
Goodbye.
Music
0:29:13
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 baby.
Transcribed with Cockatoo