Dec. 10, 2023

Living the dream with veteran turned media mogul Donald Dunn

Send us a text

Donald Dunn's winding career path from military service to failed business owner led him to discover a new mission in life: helping fellow veterans through media. His podcast, radio station, and non-profit give vets an outlet for sharing stories, making music, and getting support. Dunn found healing through lifting others up.
www.gunroomradio.com

PodMatch
PodMatch Automatically Matches Ideal Podcast Guests and Hosts For Interviews

24:38 - [Ad] PodMatch

25:16 - (Cont.) Living the dream with veteran turned media mogul Donald Dunn

WEBVTT

00:00:00.569 --> 00:00:09.710
> Speaker A>Welcome, um, to the Living the Dream podcast with Curveball. If you believe you can achieve, cheat, cheat.

00:00:18.929 --> 00:00:35.601
> Speaker A>Welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball Podcast, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate, and inspire. Today I am joined by entrepreneur, podcast host, and military veteran Donald Dunn.

00:00:35.746 --> 00:00:38.280
> Speaker A>Donald was in the military for 20 years.

00:00:38.670 --> 00:00:56.399
> Speaker A>He then opened up a business, did that for a while. He's a podcast host, and now he's working on building up a nonprofit organization that will help veterans. So we'll be talking to him about that and anything else that he's up to. So, Donald, thank you so much for joining me today.

00:00:56.929 --> 00:00:59.070
> Speaker B>Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

00:00:59.219 --> 00:01:02.399
> Speaker A>Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself?

00:01:03.170 --> 00:01:08.609
> Speaker B>So, uh, I came in the military in, uh, 94, right out of high school.

00:01:08.680 --> 00:01:23.237
> Speaker B>Got married, and, uh, uh, it was a different time back then. I came in in the need of looking for, uh, employment. Uh, so the breed of people that come in nowadays is way different than, uh, back then.

00:01:23.403 --> 00:01:51.646
> Speaker B>That was the era of looking for college. And now the post 911, we get a different breed of guys that came in, they were looking for the fight and wanted to do more for their country. So there was a huge transition of, while I was in, we came in, and, uh, I served 20 years. I did, ah, 68 months, um, between Iraq, Afghanistan, and, uh, Bosnia. I served in, uh, ten years in the special Ops community.

00:01:51.828 --> 00:02:02.786
> Speaker B>And I was in, uh, Korea, Germany, uh, Fort Stewart, Georgia. And, uh, El Paso, Texas, is the bases that I was in.

00:02:02.968 --> 00:02:15.960
> Speaker B>And then, uh, I retired in 2014 out of, uh, Georgia. And that's where, uh, we homesteaded at. We stayed there, and I started a, uh, trucking company for about six years.

00:02:16.729 --> 00:03:19.500
> Speaker B>And then, uh, as everybody knows, 2021 hit. And I, uh, was going through a transition with my business, and emissions was getting real strict. And I had just bought a, uh, brand new truck, changing my fleet over, and things were expensive. The company was kind of under capitalized already, and, uh, I had taken on this additional debt. When COVId hit, I was hauling flatbeds, and the infrastructure of America kind of shut down. So I was struggling between having to help take care of my mom and take care of my family, keep the business running. And I made a decision to close my business and, uh, take on a job back in the Midwest, and I moved to Missouri to take care of my mother. And, uh, I took on a job working as a maintenance supervisor at a mining company.

00:03:20.050 --> 00:03:25.949
> Speaker B>And that's where I kind of found, uh, my path up to that point.

00:03:26.020 --> 00:03:42.925
> Speaker B>I was kind of not really happy. I struggled emotionally coming out of the military. I went through a lot of the trials that a lot of veterans did between PTSD and just not fitting in. The transition was real rough.

00:03:43.038 --> 00:04:18.319
> Speaker B>And, uh, uh, I came back from that, and since I've been here in Missouri, I kind of found my path with, uh, podcasting. I didn't realize when I started this podcast, it was more about bringing on veterans, uh, our friends, and kind of bringing them back to us because we were missing that camaraderie and the like mindedness that we weren't getting that from the civilian counterparts. It was a different mindset, and the stories just didn't relate when we had talked about them.

00:04:18.850 --> 00:05:49.870
> Speaker B>And, uh, about halfway through season one, I kind of realized that, uh, this was kind of therapeutic. I was getting some stuff off my chest that I didn't share with my family and I didn't talk about with friends. And it kind of led from there to, um, season two, where I started having different veterans that I didn't know on the show. And I had, uh, some musicians, uh, that were veterans. Come on. And I discovered a problem that is in our community that, uh, I didn't think about. By season two, most of us, as a podcaster, I'm sure you're aware of it, too. It's tough. If you're all about stats and you just want to be the next Joe Rogan, you're going to get frustrated really quick because, um, you spend money podcasting, you don't make money. At least I don't. And, uh, I think a lot of people are under that impression that if you're podcasting, you're making the big dollars. And, uh, I did it because I was getting therapy out of it. And when I had these veterans that were trying to become full time musicians, and I seen them singing songs about their stories and their lives and their feelings, I knew whether they knew it or not, that that was therapy, huh?

00:05:50.278 --> 00:06:46.029
> Speaker B>They were telling their stories that they hadn't shared with other people in a way that they could express it and get it out and at least talk about it versus isolating themselves and becoming a statistic. And I knew if people could not continue to do it, that they were going to quit, give up, go find a real job, and the therapy part would end. So I started a radio station, um, and I started it as a business. It's called Gun Room radio. It's still currently running. You can go to Gunroomradio, uh.com. We're now up to three stations, and, uh, there's simplify, country Ranger, uh, Rockwave, uh, our rock channel, and then our Vetmix, which is just a mix of all sorts of genres.

00:06:46.529 --> 00:07:17.430
> Speaker B>And, uh, it's all musicians that are, uh, unassigned, that are trying to become musicians that are either veterans or dependents of veterans. And I did it because I seen that they were having the same problems. As a podcaster, you would get buried in the algorithms unless you had a bunch of money to advertise or you just had a really good niche that you found and you was fortunate enough to get known.

00:07:17.649 --> 00:08:42.100
> Speaker B>Um, so I did it to kind of put them in an area where everybody's songs got played, everybody got airtime, and people got seen. And I discovered that it was working. Um, there was an organization called Operation Encore that found a few people and was able to, um, pull those veterans and put them with, ah, um, Zach Brown's camp, uh, Southern ground. And, uh, they put them through, ah, a songwriters, uh, boot camp. And they got a lot of good, uh, connections with a lot of good people in the industry down there. Um, there's been a few that were invited to join Operation Encore, which is an amazing 501 that if you're ever fortunate enough to get invited to be a part of them, good things will come your way. They're a small organization and they don't have the funds take on. They only usually take three to five, uh, veterans a year, but, uh, they will help, um, put you through some songs. They'll get some songs recorded. They will get you, um, in through the Nashville area. They'll get you through some, uh, training with some of the industry people down there. And then they also pay for your flights and traveling to any of the gigs that they can get you. And so it's a good leg up to get you started.

00:08:44.889 --> 00:08:52.950
> Speaker B>Some of those guys were found through the radio station as well. Um, and some of these guys are really good. I mean, really talented.

00:08:54.570 --> 00:09:20.159
> Speaker B>They just haven't been seen. And, uh, I'll, uh, give you, for example, the very first artist that gave us his music, and we had nothing to do with this, um, but, uh, he agreed to let us play his music. Just got signed, um, with a label company and is doing a duet with Dolly Parton right now.

00:09:20.850 --> 00:10:03.309
> Speaker B>And so he is an unfortunate one. And like I said, we had nothing to do with that. He is just super talented and he's got an amazing story, two purple hearts and, uh, um, an incredible story. His name's Scotty Hastings. You can find him all over the, uh, you know, that's the type of stuff that we wanted to see come from it. And so from that, I didn't want it to be a business, but in order to get through the copyright and, uh, everything, it had to become a business. And so I started there, and then I decided to take it the next step. And that's where the nonprofit, um, came from, which is Heroes Voices Media Foundation.

00:10:04.210 --> 00:10:48.714
> Speaker B>Um, and there we started with our podcasters and streamers. Um, it's called Military United Podcast Streams. That's the project for them. And then we got the radio station for our musicians, and then I'm writing the program now for our authors. It's called Warrior Words. And, uh, there will be a program for them. We'll get some, uh, good authors in there and publishers to help them, um, get their stories out and everything else. And then, uh, hopefully within the next couple of weeks, our TV channel will be built, and we will have our first, uh, Roku Channel. And, uh, shortly after that, our Apple TV channel will be live as show.

00:10:48.831 --> 00:10:50.299
> Speaker A>You are doing it big.

00:10:50.929 --> 00:10:58.206
> Speaker A>So when you were in the military, were you involved in any combat? And if you were, what was that like?

00:10:58.388 --> 00:11:12.577
> Speaker B>So, my first, uh, deployment was Bosnia. Um, I just finished a book, and I haven't decided if I'm going to publish it, so I'll kind of back up just a little bit. That was kind of a real quick overview of my life.

00:11:12.663 --> 00:11:54.809
> Speaker B>And sometimes I kind of go through it fast, but I'll back up. So 1998, um, was my first deployment. Uh, Bosnia was, uh, they considered a peacekeeping mission at that time, so it wasn't considered a combat zone. And, uh, it was, uh, designed at that time, we were over there to keep the peace and kind of help enforce, stand their government backup and try to find some of the 1.5 million landmines that were unknown of their, uh, area. And so, uh, that was a rude awakening.

00:11:54.970 --> 00:12:00.785
> Speaker B>And I put this in my book. Um, so the book that I wrote was to my kids.

00:12:00.888 --> 00:12:31.725
> Speaker B>I wrote the book for my kids and my wife, because, like I said, when I got out, um, I went through a transition. When I came in, I was a funny guy. I like to tell stories and make people laugh and just have those little contests where I'd make fun of you and we'd see who could make fun of each other the best. And all that went away by the time I was gone. And, uh, when I got out, I was planning suicide and trying to figure out the way to take care of my family without me being here.

00:12:31.908 --> 00:13:16.059
> Speaker B>And that darkness happened about the time that my kids were in their crucial ages, and I never talked about the combat part and the stuff that went on over there. It was the smile when I came home and life was good, and there was never anything wrong. And so my kids and my wife, my wife knew that things were not right, but she didn't know what had happened. And so I felt I owed them at least an explanation of what I was going through so they can put at least a, uh, reasoning behind why I was the way I was and what had happened.

00:13:16.750 --> 00:14:05.461
> Speaker B>It's not an apology, it's not anything more than just answers. And so I just finished it, um, this last week, and I just emailed it to them, and I've left it up to them on whether they want me to publish it or not. But, uh, it was wrote for them to give them that. So in the book I put that, ah, Bosnia was kind of an unfair assessment for what was coming up. And I say that because what was coming up was a different war. And, uh, over there, when you heard boom, you froze, you didn't dive on the ground. Um, it wasn't so much worried about people shooting at you. It was when you heard boom that meant somebody had stepped on a mine.

00:14:05.605 --> 00:14:34.094
> Speaker B>And there was an explosion from a mine that had either washed down from the rains that had eroded, because these mines had been put everywhere. Um, this was a war that happened between religions. These people were neighbors, and one was one religion, another was another religion. And when the war broke out, the neighbors one day would just wake up and plant mines in their neighbor's yard. And there was no map of where they were planted.

00:14:34.221 --> 00:15:08.830
> Speaker B>When you were walking around Bosnia, the kids, if it wasn't concrete, the kids did not walk on it because they knew it was not safe. And, uh, I tell everybody, and it's unfortunate, but when we drove to Bosnia, and I'll never forget this, when we crossed over from Croatia into Bosnia, across that bridge, it was literally like toothpaste had stopped at that bridge and never made it into Bosnia because the country had been robbed of just natural, normal, everyday things that we take for granted.

00:15:10.929 --> 00:16:10.913
> Speaker B>Their hygiene, their teeth were so poor from not being able to do personal hygiene. The first building I seen that I really looked at was a school, and it was covered in, uh, 50 cow machine gun round holes that had been shot up. And I just remember driving by these people that were taking and cutting up their grass and burning their grass to keep warm because it was cold as we were coming in. So I realized real quick that I was fixing to experience something that I've never seen before, how horrible things can be. And uh, I thought at that time that was evil and that was what war was. And, uh, when I later deployed, so my first actual deployment happened in February, uh, of 2002. So 911 of September of, uh, 2000.

00:16:10.951 --> 00:16:18.950
> Speaker B>And uh, one, uh, I deployed February of 2002 for the first time to Afghanistan.

00:16:19.529 --> 00:16:34.693
> Speaker B>And I discovered really quick what war really was and what evil really was. And, uh, that is a whole different place. And I spent the majority of my deployment.

00:16:34.741 --> 00:17:00.100
> Speaker B>So out of the 68 months, nine months was spent in Bosnia and probably another 15 months was spent in Iraq and the rest was Afghanistan. So I'm very familiar with Afghanistan and the people over there, and uh, it's definitely a place I don't care to ever go back to.

00:17:00.629 --> 00:17:10.246
> Speaker A>So what was the worst day of your life, uh, during your military career, whether it was being deployed or just your worst day?

00:17:10.428 --> 00:17:12.759
> Speaker B>June 28, 2005.

00:17:13.369 --> 00:17:27.259
00 in the morning. Right about 00 I just got back two weeks before, um, two weeks. I'd been back about two weeks, maybe not quite two weeks.

00:17:27.368 --> 00:17:59.750
Um, we had just, ah, got to work and um, we had been informed that one of our aircraft was shot down. And uh, we didn't have any news or info at the time of who casualties. And it was our first time that we have actually gotten to the point that, uh, up to that point, we thought we were invincible.

00:18:01.049 --> 00:18:32.799
We hadn't dealt with us taking any casualties. So we would, uh, go out on missions and the people that weren't on mission would all meet out in front of the tents by the burn barrel and we'd say a few prayers and then we would stand there and talk and chat through the night while people were out conducting missions. And uh, the next morning we'd get up and carry on and people would just magically be back and everything would be good.

00:18:34.549 --> 00:19:13.230
And that all changed June 28, 2005. They uh, they were called out as a quick reactionary force. And there was eight seals and eight of our crew chiefs, uh, three, uh, pilots, Major Reich, uh, and uh, two Warren officers, buddy of mine, uh, Sergeant First Class Morales and uh, Kip Jacoby and a couple, uh, of the other guys, uh, that we borrowed from other battalions had all got called out onto, uh, that mission.

00:19:13.970 --> 00:19:50.700
And uh, when they went to go infill those seals, they were shot by a, uh, ah, Taliban, um, soldier that, uh, shot an RPG into the back of, uh, the aircraft and it hit the internal fuel tanks and uh, killed them instantly. And so that was, uh, one of the many days and the funerals that followed shortly after that, for the next few weeks were probably the worst days that I've had.

00:19:51.230 --> 00:19:58.700
> Speaker A>Well, um, I'm definitely sorry for your loss and, uh, thank you for your service and all that you done for the country.

00:19:59.230 --> 00:20:07.920
> Speaker A>Tell us, uh, about your podcast, and tell us how it got the name and what it's about and what listeners can expect to hear when they listen to it.

00:20:08.529 --> 00:20:34.279
> Speaker B>So, uh, the podcast is called two drunk dudes in a gun room. Um, it was started by myself and my old first aunt. That's where the name came from as far as the two part. Um, and, uh, both of us liked to drink a little bit and uh, he owned a little gun, uh, business and I would go over and help him build some guns and we did a little bit of hydro dipping and decorating and stuff like that.

00:20:34.990 --> 00:20:37.799
> Speaker B>Uh, so we spent a lot of time in his gun room.

00:20:38.250 --> 00:21:05.970
> Speaker B>Uh, when we decided to create this podcast and start bringing on some of our old soldiers, uh, we called it two drunk dudes in a gun room, and that's where we filmed season one at was in his gun room. I mean, it had the ammo where we reloaded and all of our gun parts and stuff laying around. So it was about comedy.

00:21:06.450 --> 00:21:22.821
> Speaker B>Um, the name, we just thought it was funny. The show had nothing to do with guns or alcohol or anything. We literally just brought some of our old soldiers on and just told stories. And uh, that was what we did for season one.

00:21:22.955 --> 00:22:34.493
> Speaker B>And, uh, brought a lot of 501 organizations on that we discovered and places, uh, people that were helping veterans out. And, uh, that was pretty much all of season one. And, uH, towards the end of season one, um, for personal reasons, uh, my, um, budy dropped, uh, off the show and so I kept the name because I didn't want to have to rebrand. And in case he ever decided he wanted to come back on, um, it would just still be the same thing. But, uh, I kept it going and I just went out there and started looking for more guests. And, uh, now it has kind of taken on its own thing. So now the guests that I bring on, or just anybody that I find that has a story or something that I find interesting, um, I reach out to them and I bring them on. It doesn't have to be about veteran stuff. It can be about a trial, a tribulation. It could be about a, ah, business, it could be about a funny story, it could be about anything.

00:22:34.612 --> 00:23:21.599
> Speaker B>The only thing I don't really get into is politics because I don't have any interest in it, I stick with topics that, uh, I find interesting. I like things about technology. I'm kind of a science guy. I like science and engineering type stuff, so I kind of stick with those things. I'll have comedians on, I'll have, uh, authors on, and we'll just talk about their topics. And that's really what the show is. Uh, it's a show about, uh, conversation. And I relate it to when you're sitting at that little tavern having a few drinks with a buddy, and you're talking about how your work week went and, uh, the things that you heard, and that's what the show is about. It's just the unwinding for the week.

00:23:22.130 --> 00:23:25.069
> Speaker B>It just doesn't have to be about anything in particular.

00:23:25.140 --> 00:23:27.599
> Speaker B>It's just about relaxing and having a good time.

00:23:28.130 --> 00:23:38.259
> Speaker A>So, this is a two part question. Talk about how combat affects soldiers. And if combat is so hard, why do so many say that they would go back?

00:23:38.869 --> 00:23:41.682
> Speaker B>So, that is a good question.

00:23:41.816 --> 00:24:01.740
> Speaker B>And, uh, I have actually talked about that on my show. Um, so it is funny because the reason why so many people say they would go back is because it makes sense. It's the one place where life is simple.

00:24:02.509 --> 00:24:21.200
> Speaker B>You take, uh, a situation where all you have to do is get up, go to work, stay alive, go home, eat, sleep, wash, rInse, repeat. That's it. You don't have to worry about anything else.

00:24:22.470 --> 00:24:45.109
> Speaker B>You don't have any outside distractions. You are focused on just that. You don't have the stuff on the news. You don't have the outside stuff. There's no outside area where you're going out and seeing all the stuff that's going on around you, there is no distractions.

00:24:45.769 --> 00:25:32.162
> Speaker B>You literally get up and go to work. And as long as you stayed alive that day, life was good. If you didn't, it didn't matter anymore. So that's why a lot of them say we'd go back. Because when you come back and you were trained to deal with things in that environment, now when you come back here, nothing makes sense, because the only emotion that the military gives you to deal with anything is anger. So when I'm outside and I'm upset and I'm dealing with something, it turns into anger. I'm, um, now upset with my kid because he did something wrong. It's not, uh, a stern talking to. It becomes angry.

00:25:32.306 --> 00:25:43.289
> Speaker B>I'm fighting with my wife. It's anger. The car next to me is honking. I'm getting out and trying to pull this guy out of his car. And beat his ass, because I'm dealing with it with anger. Everything is anger.

00:25:43.789 --> 00:26:20.390
> Speaker B>And, uh, that's how you dealt with things over there when the war first kicked off in Iraq. I'll give you an example. The procedures. If a car tried to get in between you and another vehicle, you pushed them off the road. It did not matter who they were. It didn't matter what was in that car. You pushed them off the road. You did not let them between you and another vehicle. If they continued to try to force them into that, then they became an enemy target.

00:26:21.049 --> 00:26:56.019
> Speaker B>Life was simple. And when the enemy started putting IEDs and bombs into their bumpers, because we would hit them and ram them, then we had to change our tactics, and then we started letting cars in between our vehicles because they would blow up if we hit them. So, uh, all we had to do was adjust to the enemy. And when you have to determine, and you have so many variables over here compared to over there, everybody says they would go back because life is simple.

00:26:56.710 --> 00:27:06.789
> Speaker B>And in my opinion, that is the reason why so many soldiers say they would go back, because they haven't figured out how to adjust to here anymore.

00:27:07.289 --> 00:27:16.039
> Speaker A>Well, tell the listeners out there who might want to assist with your nonprofit organization what they can do to help you guys out.

00:27:16.720 --> 00:28:18.682
> Speaker B>Um, I will tell you, we are in the growing process, so there's multiple ways. You can go to heroesvoicesmediafoundation, uh, uh.org. Um, if you'd like to donate, you can donate there. Um, you can go to Gunroomradio.com and just be a listener. It's free, doesn't cost anything. If you own a small bar, you own a small restaurant, and you want your listeners to listen to music, you're more than welcome to play it. Um, the whole purpose is that hopefully somebody having a festival or works at a VFW and hears a, uh, singer and would like to have them perform, and hopefully that veteran can get a gig to perform there. We don't take any money or any profits. Anybody that wants to get in contact with any of those musicians, I will gladly put you in contact with them.

00:28:18.816 --> 00:28:47.250
> Speaker B>And, um, you guys can work out the cost for him to bring his band and perform. That is all I do is connect people to hopefully get them a gig and a little bit of money in their pockets, food on their table, so that they can keep driving on with their dream. Um, so that comes from listeners. Hopefully people are listening and they hear their music and they can tell their friends about those guys and hear their stories.

00:28:48.170 --> 00:29:01.930
> Speaker B>That's the free thing that people can do. Um, you can follow us on social media at, uh, Muffs Military, um, United Podcast streams. You can follow us. Uh, my name, Donald Dunn on Facebook.

00:29:02.750 --> 00:29:24.079
> Speaker B>That's, uh, my page. Uh, you can also, uh, go to my, uh, website, two drunkdudesintagun Room, and find my podcast there. And same with on YouTube just about anywhere. If you type my name or my podcast name on Google, you're going to find the radio station or myself.

00:29:24.950 --> 00:29:32.337
> Speaker A>Tell us about any current or upcoming projects that you're working on besides what you've already told us that people need to know about.

00:29:32.503 --> 00:29:40.390
> Speaker B>So the big thing that we are moving for is, like I said, uh, the TV, uh, station.

00:29:42.250 --> 00:29:56.377
> Speaker B>I will tell everybody where the big plan is. The big plan is, I remember as a kid, and I'm sure you do, too, remember MTV, how awesome it was just to be able to listen to music videos.

00:29:56.544 --> 00:29:57.450
> Speaker A>I do.

00:29:57.599 --> 00:29:59.809
> Speaker B>Yeah. Well, I want MMTV, M.

00:30:00.645 --> 00:30:45.221
> Speaker B>I want military music television. And, uh, a lot of these artists have made, uh, YouTube videos is really what they turn out to be, but they're paying for production. Um, so, Shannon, uh, book, I tell you everybody a story, and I'm going to tell you how awesome some of these veterans are. So, Shannon Book was asked to write a song for Gold Star Moms. And for your listeners that don't know, Gold Star moms are mothers that have lost a child, uh, in combat. So he was asked to write a song for Gold Star Moms, and you can find this on, uh, YouTube.

00:30:45.365 --> 00:30:47.945
> Speaker B>He wrote a song called Dear Mom.

00:30:48.127 --> 00:31:02.880
> Speaker B>And Operation Encore helped cover the cost to have the song professionally recorded. And they helped him with, uh, the budget to make the music video.

00:31:03.329 --> 00:31:20.738
> Speaker B>So I don't remember the exact number. I want to say it was around $8,000 is what they spent on the music video. And it's on YouTube, free for everybody to watch. Again, uh, these artists, they just want people to see their stuff. They don't want people to like it because they're veterans.

00:31:20.913 --> 00:31:37.801
> Speaker B>They want people to see it and appreciate it for what it is. It is music that tells a story that somebody went through, has actually done, and can relate to, and they want you to interpret it and relate it to something in your life.

00:31:37.855 --> 00:31:40.569
> Speaker B>And if you can do that, that's why they want you to like it.

00:31:40.720 --> 00:31:46.029
> Speaker B>They don't want somebody to say, well, uh, I'm going to support you because you're a veteran.

00:31:46.450 --> 00:32:45.380
> Speaker B>If you don't like it, they want you to go like somebody else's music. There's other veterans, other genres, you don't have to just like them. And that's what it's about. They're artists just like anybody else that's in the music industry. And when you see these music videos that they have created, it takes me back to those days when I remember watching MTV. So that's going to be one of the channels for uh, the Roku Channel. Uh, we're going to have an MMTV and there will be all different genres as well. And um, Operation Encore is going to help us, um, with uh, getting some of those videos as well. And then uh, we're going to have a podcasting channel too. So some of these veterans that are doing podcasts, we're going to help them kind of um, step up some of their productions and uh, get them some seasons ahead. And uh, they will have their own TV channel as well.

00:32:46.069 --> 00:32:57.298
> Speaker B>And then this is the part that I'm excited about. Um, within the next couple of years, my goal is to create the VMAs.

00:32:57.473 --> 00:33:02.279
> Speaker B>I want to see the Veteran Music Awards. That's what I want to see.

00:33:02.809 --> 00:35:35.250
> Speaker B>I want to see them get the opportunity to where we're taking, um, and having artists that know already made it. These big artists like Zach Brown and uh, all these George Strait and all these artists that were veterans that have already made it and have them be the hosts of the VMAs and have people voting and give out awards to these unassigned independent artists that serve their country first. And I think that would be amazing. And maybe even at the end of the day, the whole project could go behind raising money for, um, homeless veterans. Or maybe each year it changes for another cause that helps the veteran community and uh, the veterans get an experience that they may not ever get to see. They get that day of the fame of walking down the red carpet and some limos to drive up in and to be on the television and they get handed a nice award and they get recognized for the hard work of going and grinding of going to festival after festival after festival. We have an artist that's on our show, uh, on our station. Her name is Barbara Sim. She has literally gave up everything and took the money that she had and bought a van, one uh, of those transport, uh, vans, and has put a bed in it, a uh, little stove, and she lives in it and she travels the United States going from gig to gig to gig to support herself, to be able to try to make it playing music. And uh, last year she had drove all the way from South Carolina all the way down into Texas and all the way out to New Mexico, up to an event that Operation Encore had in Alaska. And then I met her in Nebraska after that. And then she went from Nebraska back over to Pennsylvania and down to, you know, just playing VFWs and American legions and little festivals and fairgrounds and anybody that's willing to hear her sing, and that is the dedication that these veterans have of trying to make it. And they just want to play music and have people hear their stories, and some of them's got amazing stories.

00:35:35.409 --> 00:36:12.449
> Speaker B>Like I said, Scotty Hastings has two Purple Hearts. He was shot ten times in Afghanistan and, uh, lived, you know. So that's, um, there's a lot of good stuff that has come from it. I've met a lot of great people from doing this. Um, doing this has helped M pull me out of a very dark spot. Uh, I know if it's helped me, it can help others, and I don't even think it has to be veteran related.

00:36:13.429 --> 00:36:39.340
> Speaker B>You look through the United States, and there's a mental health crisis in our country. I do firmly believe that. And, uh, uh, I think just a little bit of neighborly care and a little bit of people taking the time to listen to each other and understand each other, um, could go a long ways. We just all got to do our part.

00:36:40.110 --> 00:37:18.150
> Speaker A>Absolutely. So, ladies and gentlemen, please do your part. If you know a veteran artist or podcaster or anybody that might want to get in contact with Donald, or if you want to check out the show and everything that they're up to, the organization and show support, please do so. Please follow Rate Review Share this episode to as many people as possible. If you have any guests or suggestion topics, see Jackson 102 ah@cox.net. Is the place to send them. As always, thank you for listening. And Donald, thank you so much for joining us and sharing your amazing story and your vision for your organization.

00:37:18.650 --> 00:37:21.880
> Speaker B>Hey, thank you for having me. I appreciate it. I had a great time.

00:37:22.329 --> 00:37:35.320
> Speaker A>For more information on the living the Dream podcast, visit www.djcurveball.com them. Until next time, stay focused on living the dream. Dream M.