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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,
Dave Washington
0:00:14
the University of Nevada Las Vegas, this is Vectors Affairs Plus on 91.5 Good day Las Vegas this is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and More. I'm Dave Washington your host and I have a few comments to make and then I'll bring on our first guest for the first segment. That's Miss Swazene Field, long time family friend and a long time resident of Las Vegas, I want to encourage folks to, first of all, make sure your voting registration is current. Get yourself educated and then be prepared to vote.
Dave Washington
0:01:25
And once again, I am not trying to convince anybody to vote for anybody necessarily, but the important thing is get yourself up to speed on the various things that are going on as it relates to not only the presidential but also the local offices as well because they are all important to us as citizens. And I can tell you that once again I will continue to use this platform and it's called Veterans Affairs Plus. And the plus side is because sometimes I need to talk about things that are very important
Dave Washington
0:02:01
to our community that has nothing to do with the military whatsoever. So that's why the show is called Veterans Affairs Plus. And on that plus side, once again, I want to encourage people in particular to study. And you don't have to read the nine hundred and twenty two pages, but. Take a look at what's occurring with Project 20, 25. And I'm talking about from the consideration that they have of getting rid of the Department of Education, gutting out the Veterans Administration, etc., etc.
Dave Washington
0:02:38
So be cognizant of that and study that. With that, Ms. Swazine Fields, how are you?
Swayzine Fields
0:02:43
I'm fine. Thanks, David.
Dave Washington
0:02:45
So, Swazine, tell our listening audience a little bit about you, your background, where you're from and that kind of thing.
Swayzine Fields
0:02:50
Well, David, I was born here in Las Vegas. My parents moved here from New Orleans, Louisiana, and, um, back in the early fifties, when there wasn't a whole lot here. Right. Um, I graduated from UNLV and Valley High School. So, you know, obviously I've been here most of my life.
Swayzine Fields
0:03:09
Uh, went to work for the federal government when I was 19. Wow. Yeah, I was playing pool at UNLV in the student union and the recruiter came out. See, back then, they had the affirmative action program. They were looking for blacks and they were looking for blacks in accounting, and there was only one black every semester that graduated from UNLV in accounting.
Swayzine Fields
0:03:35
And I was the one coming up, and so the professors told them to ask around for me. So after a 30 year career with the federal government, which I moved five times, I moved from Vegas to San Francisco, to Houston, to DC and to LA, which is where I ended up retiring. I was a special agent and criminal investigator.
Dave Washington
0:03:53
Wow. And so you were still in school when you were initially recruited by?
Swayzine Fields
0:04:00
Yes.
Swayzine Fields
0:04:01
It was what they called the co-op program back in the day where they would hire you while you're going to school. You had to keep a 3.0 average. You actually had to bring your grades to your supervisor to show that you had a 3.0 average. And when you graduate, so I worked part-time. I worked summers and Christmas time.
Swayzine Fields
0:04:20
And then when I graduated, they put me on full-time. Wow.
Dave Washington
0:04:24
That's, I had no idea. I knew you had worked for the federal government, but I had no idea that you had been recruited as a basically a teenager. And then while you're actually in school. And my time counted, believe it or not, those two years counted.
Swayzine Fields
0:04:40
So I was 19 when I started. I did 30 years. And so I was 49 when I retired. I've been retired 20 years now.
Dave Washington
0:04:51
Oh, my goodness. So that is so cool. You know, another person that, in fact, encouraged me to join the fire department was Dorothy Collins at the time, but Dorothy Smith. And Dorothy was very, very young. I don't think I'm 73. Dorothy can't be no more than a few years older than me. But she told me, she said, look, I had gone down, I had gotten out of
Dave Washington
0:05:16
the army, I had been out for probably about a year. And she said, well, a friend told me, he said, well, the city is hiring apprenticeship carpenters because I had been through a pre-apprenticeship training because they try to put you through some kind of training program as you exit the military. So I took pre-apprenticeship carpentry. And a friend of mine told me they were hiring carpenters.
Dave Washington
0:05:39
I go down. They say, Dorothy said, oh, they're closed yesterday. I don't know what closed means. She said, come into my office. She showed me the platoon calendar and encouraged me to join the fire department. I don't want to join the fire department.
Dave Washington
0:05:53
I don't want to be away from my family, blah, blah, blah. So she showed me that platoon calendar, and they work ten days a month. I said, where do I sign up? She said, sign up right here. And I was lucky that I got in because, as I mentioned on several shows, I had my honorable discharge, which gave me five points, which put me into the 90s because I scored like eighty six, eighty seven on the exam.
Dave Washington
0:06:13
And that that gave me that extra little boost to get in. So what would you say to young folks who have an interest in that particular profession?
Swayzine Fields
0:06:36
Well, my job actually required a degree in accounting because I did white collar crime and I did money laundering and currency crime. But any good federal job, I think you have to pretty much, you need to be in school, you need to start your, you need to at least go to school a couple of years. And I say school, I mean college, because that gives you the best shot at the best job. Now I started as a grade four as a co-op because I was just 19 and then I made it all the way up to a grade 15.
Swayzine Fields
0:07:11
But the USAJobs.com, that is the place to go on there and look, and it'll tell you about intern job, co-op. They don't call them co-ops anymore. I think they call them interns. You know, back in the day, it was co-op. But you know what was funny, David? I really wasn't going to take the job. I said, no, my career is going to be an accountant. I'm going to be a CPA. And so I chose them all, basically. And I went home, and my dad said, girl, you better take that good government job. And my dad only had a high school education.
Swayzine Fields
0:07:44
And he knew, and so he says, Lazy, I'm telling you, take that job. So I called the people back the next day and they said, okay, we did already hire a couple people, but will we consider you? And I got the job. And I told my daddy, that was the best thing I ever did was the pension that I have. When you retire in law enforcement, my pension is like $130,000 a year. I don't even have to get out of my bed. But you have to stick with it. And this is the thing that the kids have to understand.
Swayzine Fields
0:08:15
You have to persevere because somebody's going to piss you off when you first start. You're going to quit and you want to talk crazy or whatever. But sometimes, you know, you're going to have to get past a bad supervisor because they won't last forever, but you have to persevere. I went through the trials and tribulations with people challenging me, with bad supervisors trying to knock me down or whatever, but you hang in there because you have to see that pot of gold as it's into the rainbow.
Dave Washington
0:08:45
Absolutely.
Swayzine Fields
0:08:46
And that was sufficient. It made a big difference.
Dave Washington
0:08:49
You know what, and I noticed you said that your family moved here in the early 50s. We moved here from Louisiana in 1954. Family moved here with three boys and then had four girls here in Las Vegas. So it's interesting that your family too has been here for such a long time. And like you said, there wasn't much going on. But one thing I do remember that I don't think we do a lot today.
Dave Washington
0:09:15
I remember people, because in fact, our Uncle John, he came and lived with us for a few months, him and his wife, before he stepped out, got his own place. And I watch our Hispanic brothers and sister do a lot of that today,
Dave Washington
0:09:29
and where we don't do that, that I've seen at all anymore. I think a lot of times we think, well, I got mine, I ain't worried about nobody else. But collectively, as a group of people, I think we can do a lot more good if we give somebody a hand up. I ain't talking about no handout, as they say. Give them a hand up and we can be in a better place as a collective body, if you will.
Swayzine Fields
0:09:53
No, that makes a lot of sense. Even when you're working, you try to look down and pull people in before your time is up. You know, if you get in a position where you can make a difference to bring more people on like yourself, it makes a big difference. It makes a big difference. But you know what I've been worried about lately, though, David?
Swayzine Fields
0:10:15
Is the growing gender divide. See, when you got in the military, you got out, you know, the VA was great. You know, they pay for you to go to school and they pay for you to dollar down or no down to buy a house. But right now, I worry about the young men and what opportunities they have because, you know, look, women are doing great. They're earning more college degrees and they're making more money and, you know, they're buying
Swayzine Fields
0:10:43
more houses. After I retired, I got my real estate license. I can't show you how many young black women were ready to buy houses, single black women. And I just didn't see that with the men. And so I just wonder, you know, what's going on with our younger black men because they just seem to be underperforming, you know, against the women
Swayzine Fields
0:11:03
and leading somewhat unhealthy lifestyles. So what can we do because we need something to make them have the economic equality that some of the women are having? How do we fix that?
Dave Washington
0:11:15
No, I think that's a valid point. And that's the million dollar question. But I do know that a lot of just watching some of the young people that I've interacted with, and me, myself, Dr. Weakley, Melvin B. Lennox, we had a camp that we called Camp Brotherhood
Dave Washington
0:11:33
and ultimately added Camp Sisterhood. But some of the things that we try to teach these young men and women were to show respect for elders and do the best you can in school, always be respectful and handle your business. Now I can tell you that from my own experience and seeing again, a lot of these youngsters, they think they're going to make it in the music industry. And I'm like, are you kidding me?
Dave Washington
0:11:58
There's nothing wrong with pursuing it, but you better have a fallback plan because everybody ain't going to make it. I don't care what industry you're talking about. A lot of times. And I know you've spoken at schools where the young people are, man, I'm going to be in NFL. I'm going to the NBA. Do you know that your chance of getting in is like one less than one half or one half a percent? That's how you know how competitive it is and how few jobs there are out there. But sometimes they get this tunnel vision,
Dave Washington
0:12:31
and we've got to break folks out of it. One of my grandsons, he just started in a training program as a plumber. I am so happy. He has some college, but he's going to learn a skill that is still much needed around the world, in fact. And I've been just doing a little coaching, urging him to settle down and do that.
Dave Washington
0:12:56
And then I got another granddaughter. She's going to bartending school, and I think it's important for us to continue to encourage these folks. But, Swaseen, that's something that we'll have to talk about, because I can tell you that that is a million-dollar question. How do we encourage and keep them inspired.
Dave Washington
0:13:14
In your business today, what would you say to young folks, just in general, about our world today? Because we've got a couple more minutes here, and I just want to get some feedback from you, because you've been around the block, as one would say.
Swayzine Fields
0:13:30
Well, I think it's important, number one, as you talked about at the beginning, that you look out for your future. And that means voting for the right people to make design policies that can impact you. That's number one. Make sure you know what's going on in your community
Swayzine Fields
0:13:48
and you do what you need to do and vote for the right people. You can't let these fake brothers tell other brothers that women are in the way of their progress, and so let's go with the little tiny man. So, you know, we, we gotta watch out for that, that divide because, um, and I think it's important to figure out your feet. What do you want to do?
Swayzine Fields
0:14:10
Cause as a man, you gotta work, you're going to one day get married, you're going to have a family. And so you need to start thinking long range and what that means is trying to find a profession or career. It doesn't have to be college. Everybody that don't want to go to college can't afford to go to college or whatever. But you've got to find something, like you said, a training program or something that
Swayzine Fields
0:14:34
you can do. Because these women aren't distracted by, oh, I'm going to be an NFL or NBA player or I'm going to be a rapper. Women keep their nose to the grindstone. They go to school. They figure out what they do, what they need to do, and they do it.
Swayzine Fields
0:14:47
feel like, you know, brothers have to start thinking that way too and not let these crazy politicians get in their way and have them do things that can hurt them at the end, like voting for the wrong people. So it's important that they have a plan and work that plan, you know, and you don't start, you start thinking about it early. I mean, in high school, my senior year, I started thinking about what can I do? And we got to start young, you know, and have a plan for what we want to do. We got to get motivated and inspired. And so we just need some other brothers to inspire,
Swayzine Fields
0:15:24
because the sisters are doing good. I mean, the sisters are figuring them out. They have a lot of role models out there that they've seen do things. I can remember one of your little daughters told me, when I saw you driving that Corvette when you were young, I said, I'm going to be like her.
Swayzine Fields
0:15:38
You know.
Dave Washington
0:15:39
Absolutely.
Dave Washington
0:15:40
Well, Swayze knows. And that inspired the kids to do it.
Swayzine Fields
0:15:43
Yeah.
Dave Washington
0:15:44
No, those are words that were well thought out, and I think it's very important. And hopefully some folks will listen because this show is heard around the world. So thank you so much. And I'm going to get you back on again because I have some other things that I want to talk to you about. But I appreciate you coming on the show. Once again, this is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz.
Dave Washington
0:16:05
And when we had Ms. Swazine Fields, longtime resident, former federal agent, and a good person to know in our community. And she is a real estate person.
Swayzine Fields
0:16:14
All right.
Swayzine Fields
0:16:15
Take care, David.
Dave Washington
0:16:16
All right.
Dave Washington
0:16:17
Bye-bye.
Dave Washington
0:16:18
Well, Wes continues to educate me. I forgot to go out in a proper way. So once again, this is Vets Affairs Plus on 91.5 jazz. Well, we're so over there falling out y'all cuz we have hey, man You got to have a little fun as we do this, but I appreciate it so much cuz it keeps me on track we have Vincent Palmerion Jr. On the line. We'll have him in in just a second to talk about what he's doing. He's a
Dave Washington
0:16:45
The military order of the Purple Heart. He is a commander and we're going to talk to him a little bit to get an update because I think it's important for folks to know what he's doing. He and his organization are always actively involved in our community. Just want to give him an opportunity to come on here and veterans affairs plus and give us an update. So with that, once again Remember if you have any issues or you're trying to get your benefit package together We have Tony Marshall our service officer. He can be reached at three. Oh one five three seven
Dave Washington
0:17:25
nine four six two Tony Marshall service off of three or one five three seven nine four six two 9462 if you got any issues that you and again, you have to call for an appointment with Tony because he's a very busy guy and we appreciate him very much. All right, Vincent, how you doing, sir? I'm doing fine, Dave. Thank you so much for this opportunity. Oh, no. You know, sometimes if I don't get to you, call me and say, hey, you got any space?
Dave Washington
0:17:53
We've got a special function coming up. So give us give our list listening audience an update of what's going on in your world and what projects you guys got that you may be embarking upon at this time.
Vincent Palmieri Jr.
0:18:07
Okay, first I want to say thank you for mentioning Tony's name. Tony is also a member of our Purple Heart chapter. I also want to mention since the last time we spoke, I have been elected as the junior vice commander of the Department of State for the Purple Heart.
Dave Washington
0:18:27
Oh, congrats.
Vincent Palmieri Jr.
0:18:28
I'm getting more busy every day.
Dave Washington
0:18:30
Congratulations. Hey, but you know what, Vincent, what do they always say? If you want to get something done, ask a person who's already busy doing other things. And, Jillian, it's been – and I've learned over time at 73 now, I've learned to say no, but this seems like an excellent opportunity, and I think you are a great guy to have in that role because we know you'll get some things accomplished. So tell us a little bit about
Dave Washington
0:18:56
what that role will be about. And again, give us an update on just things that you guys are working on as far as projects.
Vincent Palmieri Jr.
0:19:03
Okay. Well, I think many of you know that back in February, I started a petition to Vegas. And through the hard work of people in my chapter and other veterans organizations like Post 76, VFW, we've collected about 2,500 signatures. That memorial is staying here in Las Vegas. It's going to be at a place called Thunderbird Sports Complex. And I think groundbreaking might be in October of 2025. I'm not 100% sure. It's not a locked-in date yet.
Vincent Palmieri Jr.
0:19:48
And what's going to happen, Dave, is on September 13th, and everyone is invited, on September ceremony to the memorial sponsored by NVDS. It will begin at 9 a.m. sharp at the Grant-Sawyer Building. So, please, we'd like to have 100, 200, or even more veterans show up for support. And then when the memorial is built, we will have another ceremony. So I'm happy about that and I want to say thank you to each and every veteran who signed that petition. Without you, it couldn't have been done.
Dave Washington
0:20:33
Excellent. There's nothing wrong with getting a collective body of people who believe in the same thing and your initiative to even start collecting signatures just says a lot about your character because a lot of times when people have a few obstacles that they are challenged with, they just fold a tent. So we commend you for your due diligence in handling this whole matter and making it happen. So congrats to you.
Vincent Palmieri Jr.
0:21:00
Well, thank you. And last, well, two weeks ago on a Wednesday, our Veterans Memorial Committee was honored by the mayor of Las Vegas for the work that we've done to preserve the memorial. And about the Purple Heart, there are a lot of Purple Heart veterans out there that don't belong
Vincent Palmieri Jr.
0:21:34
to any chapter, and we were likely to reach out to us and become a member. There are special privileges for Purple Heart members, ones such as parking sign that says, parking for Purple Heart recipients only. And also when it comes to education, your education benefits here in the state of Nevada don't expire. And I believe now they're
Vincent Palmieri Jr.
0:21:56
working on passing down those to your siblings.
Dave Washington
0:22:02
Oh, wow.
Vincent Palmieri Jr.
0:22:03
So, please reach out to us so we can give you more information.
Dave Washington
0:22:07
So, Vincent, is there a website or contact information you can share with our audience?
Vincent Palmieri Jr.
0:22:14
Dave, I wish there was one place for people to go. I'm posting it on whatever information I have. I post on the state's Purple Heart page and also on our Purple Heart page. And we've also started a Facebook page. If I may give the address, it's Purple Heart Chapter 711, Greater Las Vegas, Nevada. We'll post a lot of information there.
Dave Washington
0:22:45
Give that again, Vincent.
Vincent Palmieri Jr.
0:22:46
For those of you... Vincent, share that again? Sure. Purple Heart Chapter 711 of Greater Las Vegas. So this is where they can find further information. Okay, cool. Yeah, and they're always welcome to email me or text me. I don't mind because we need to get information out there. I didn't realize, Dave, until I came came to the state of Nevada that I was entitled to buy a home with no money
Vincent Palmieri Jr.
0:23:27
down or even get a Purple Heart plate or
Dave Washington
0:23:35
a disability plate. I lived in New York all my life. I never knew this information. I was in the VA system back then. Wow, well this is good And as I mentioned on the previous show, I've been doing a lot of Plus stuff lately. But I'll always be looking out and reaching out to people such as yourself, Vincent,
Vincent Palmieri Jr.
0:23:52
because I think it's up to us all time as Dave to pass the information down because we were not as fortunate really as the younger generation coming out of the military. They have programs now where they can go to class before they get out of the military a job, how to write a resume, and even help with PTSD. Back then when we were in, there was no such thing as PTSD in black and white. Right.
Dave Washington
0:24:34
Yeah, you know, I was telling some on a previous show how when I was, we had a group of firefighters get injured, and I just dismissed our incident debriefing person because I'm like, I'm good. Man, I was carrying around this thing on my shoulders for a number of years before I finally got debriefed. And it just seemed like the weight of the world came off. So these types of things that you guys are doing is so important. And a lot of times I know police, fire, military veterans, sometimes we had it.
Dave Washington
0:25:13
We want to have that hard shell attitude that I got this. But sometimes we need help, man.
Dave Washington
0:25:19
Yes.
Dave Washington
0:25:20
We need help. And we got to stop thinking that we're Superman and that we don't need help. Because yes, we do. Because sometimes you don't realize how you're affecting your family.
Dave Washington
0:25:29
You're coming out brazenly at times because of the pressure that you're feeling, et cetera, et cetera. So your point is well taken.
Vincent Palmieri Jr.
0:25:38
Yeah, I think I read once Dave where it said that having courage is knowing when to ask for help and how to ask for help. That is a person who has courage and that's
Vincent Palmieri Jr.
0:26:02
why our Purple Heart Chapter is very involved with the North Vegas and the Las Vegas Veterans Treatment Court. We help these veterans out with the It's an excellent program. Our chapter supplies them, I won't say
Vincent Palmieri Jr.
0:26:13
supply, we get someone to sing the national anthem at the ceremony
Dave Washington
0:26:25
and we also get a color guard to present the colors. It's really a nice ceremony, it's very emotional at times when you hear the stories for some of these guys Absolutely.
Dave Washington
0:26:28
Vincent, do me this favor because I know I've had a person from that program on my show. I don't recall the name, but if you would just do me this favor, whoever your contact is, say, hey, I think you need to go on Veterans Affairs Plus sometime in the near future and you can give them my number because I definitely think it's so important for us to get folks who are running these types of programs so we can share as much information as we can out into this sphere, this radio sphere, to let our brothers and sisters who are former military know that we're here to help.
Vincent Palmieri Jr.
0:27:08
The last Veterans Treatment Court, I had a good friend of mine. Her name is Genevieve Dew. She sings at a lot of places here in Las Vegas and around on cruises. She sang the national anthem. It was the first time at the court. And she said to me, Vince, I had no idea what you're doing.
Vincent Palmieri Jr.
0:27:27
This is impressive. People need to know. That's right. She said, next time we're at the Italian American Club, I spoke to Genevieve and we'd like to make her our celebrity outreach to the veterans community. And they said that's a great idea.
Vincent Palmieri Jr.
0:27:52
And I think maybe you should have her on your show one time, even though she's not a veteran. Every time I've asked her to do something when I have an event. She's always there to sing for us and entertain us. Sure.
Dave Washington
0:28:06
Well, please have her to give me a call. Cause like I said, any, anyone, they don't necessarily have to be a veteran, but the kinds of things that she's doing is going to enrich the lives of veterans. And that's part of, that's part of, I feel is the charge as well. So we can make those contacts. I'd like to mention another.
Vincent Palmieri Jr.
0:28:23
I like to mention another thing that's going to happen this coming Saturday. We have reached out to Congresswoman Suzy Lee, and she is going to be pinning Vietnam veterans at our monthly meeting at IHOP at 9651 Trailwood Drive. If there are any veterans out there, Vietnam veterans, that have not received the pin, please contact me so I can put you on the list. It's in a meeting room.
Vincent Palmieri Jr.
0:28:57
Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of space. Right, right. Please reach out to me so you can be recognized. And as you know, we were not recognized for many years. And in my opinion, we're still not recognized.
Dave Washington
0:29:10
Very true. Luke Vincent, Palmerian, Jr., we're going to get you back on the show again. We got to wrap up out of time, but this is Veterans Affairs Plus. And Vincent is with the Purple Heart organization, and what they're doing is so important. So we're going to get you back on the show to talk more about some of the different programs
Dave Washington
0:29:31
that you're doing. So God bless you.
Vincent Palmieri Jr.
0:29:33
Keep doing what you're doing, young man. Thank you, sir. And keep your radio show strong and going.
Dave Washington
0:29:39
All right.
Vincent Palmieri Jr.
0:29:40
A lot of information on your show.
Dave Washington
0:29:42
Sure. This is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and War. This is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and War. Talk to you next week.
Transcribed with Cockatoo