(light music) (upbeat music) - Hello, everyone, I'm Rameca Vincent Leary and welcome to this edition of Connecting the Community.

Take a moment if you will to envision yourselves gazing at our American flag whisping in the wind with its stars shining brightly.

Our country has a rich history and this show is dedicated to honoring our military veterans for their service.

Throughout the broadcast, we'll highlight various facets such as monumental strides made by women veterans, remembering 9/11 and first responders, including Gold Star and surviving families.

But first, we'll take you for a walk down memory lane as we honor the legacy of General Daniel Chappie James, Jr.

He's a trailblazer whose career spanned three wars.

To get the conversation started, I'm happy to welcome Cris Dosev, Chair of the General Daniel Chappie James Memorial Foundation.

He's joined by Rob Gregg, Co-Chair of the Gulf Coast Veterans Advocacy Council.

Plus we have a special guest joining us on the phone, Claude James, one of Chappie James' son.

Now, there's some amazing things happening on the horizon with your father, Claude.

I know I'm excited.

How does it make you feel?

- [Claude] Really happy about all of this.

And that being Dad's hometown and up till the time of Emmitt Smith, Dad was the most famous person I think to come out of Pensacola and he never ever stopped talking about Pensacola throughout the time of my experience of hearing him ever speak about things that were in his past and stuff.

So yeah, it's really great.

And Cris Dosev you mentioned has been the point of the spear in getting this ball rolling, so yeah.

- So what better time than to have Cris update us on the bridge dedication.

- Thank you very much, Rameca, for having me here tonight.

- [Rameca] You're welcome.

- I'd like to bring you up to speed on that.

We have a timeline.

We want to recognize first that this year 2022 is gonna be the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Air Force.

And that date is September 18th.

So we will do everything we can to get the project completed, physically completed by that date, but always keeping in mind our efforts to accommodate the Air Force and senior leadership so we can make this an event that will fit their schedule, meet the schedule of the city and then have a great party to boot.

- 75th anniversary, right?

- [Cris] Correct.

- US Air Force.

- [Cris] That's right.

- Now, there are three major facets that we will see.

Why don't you give us a breakdown of each of those items.

- Sure, we have three major elements to the plaza that we're looking to erect.

One is a statue with a pedestal, the second an F-4 Phantom that we just recently have been assigned by the Air Force Museum, and then a large flagpole.

We're looking at about 80 foot with a flag about 20 x 25 feet in breadth.

And the key here is that one, we want to...

It's a 10 foot statue so we want a larger than life depiction of our general there in front of the F-4 Phantom.

And the Phantom's going to be painted in the configuration aircraft paint that he flew in Vietnam.

So that's how we're looking at it.

- And the renderings are exceptional.

Now, Rob, I know that you and Cris are friends.

You've known each other for quite some time.

So when you jumped onboard and you were asked to help, what was your first impression?

- Hang on and just wait, 'cause Cris, I remember when I met him, he's just like, wow.

So I want to be a part of this, so I appreciate him spearheading this and allowing me to be a part of it.

- But as far as you're concerned, you know a lot about the museum.

We love General Daniel Chappie James, Jr. A lot of visuals with that museum.

How did you first find out about it and what impact has it had on you personally?

- Well, the first time I found out about it, I was just taking a group of students to a trip to Tuskegee and we went to the museum there.

And my question was why isn't there a museum about Daniel Chappie James in his hometown?

- [Rameca] Yes.

- And some friends of mine told me, "There is one.

"I was there for the groundbreaking "of the museum once it did open, "but it just seemed like we didn't get a lot "of publicity about such a great American."

And we still don't really know much about him from a media standpoint.

- And so visually if someone were to walk inside that museum, their eyes would be amazed, correct?

- Absolutely, but not only about the museum, but the story behind.

His mother was a very influential person in the community 'cause she taught a lot of the people who are still around here.

But the other part about it is that the Flight Academy that's there and the service they provided and then teaching younger youth in the community.

- All right, Claude, you've heard a lot right now, but guess what?

I have a little surprise for you.

There's someone who was mentored by your dad.

His name, Joseph Denmon.

Take a listen to what he has to say.

- My mentors in joining the military are my father, who was a Master Chief in the Navy and General Chappie James.

And just to tell you a short story, they walked me down to our Arno building, walked me upstairs and made sure that I went into one of the services.

And it ended up being the Air Force, but it was those two that took me up there and they mentored me.

- So Claude, we know that your dad impacted so many lives.

I was touched by that personal testimony, but you have a few interesting family stories of your own.

Why don't you tell us about your brother who followed in your father's footsteps.

- [Claude] Okay, Danny, yes.

Yeah, I'm the last of the Mohicans.

I was the baby, I'm the little brother.

But my brother Danny is nine years ahead of me and he actually participated, became a fighter pilot after he came out of the University of Arizona, Tucson, Wildcats.

And he was in Vietnam twice.

The first time my brother flew in Vietnam, he was one of the spotters, the forward air control guys that spot the enemy.

They're in a little propeller aircraft unarmed and they have smoke rockets to identify where the enemy is, then they call the fighters in to come take them out.

But that to me, I mean talk about brave.

But anyway, after that, he got a chance to go back and fly fighters and it happened to be the same jet, type of jet that Dad had flown in his tour of Vietnam, his famous tour of Vietnam.

And yeah, so that's why you heard Cris talk about getting an F-4 Phantom for the display at the monument.

That's why 'cause that's the plane that they both flew famously in Vietnam.

But yeah, my brother Danny, Daniel James III.

He rose to the rank of three-star general and he was a heck of a fighter pilot.

And yeah, that's what I'll say about him for right now.

- But I do believe that Cris has a little something he wants to add to that.

- Yes, we talk about the three wars your father participated in, but a lot of people don't know the significant action he conducted in between wars during the Cold War.

Please tell us about your experiences at Bentwaters.

They were fascinating.

- [Claude] Oh, okay, right on, yeah.

One of my earliest memories, like I said, I was the baby, so this is we'll take you back to 1962.

I was going on eight years old and at that time, Bentwaters was one of the bases that had become a frontline base for the Air Force during the Cold War.

And we were just basically holding the Soviet Union off and making sure they understood that if they did anything crazy, we would stand up.

And Dad said, "We're ready to punch them in the nose "and we have to let them know that we're ready to do that."

And sure enough, I just have a memory of this one night, to put you in that house at what it was like to be there at a significant moment in history, there was a phone by my dad's bed.

Never heard it go off.

It was a red phone, but by then, he was an operations commander with the fighter wing there.

Anyway, the thing is that this phone had a light on it, no dial, red phone.

And this one night I'll never forget, the sirens went off and my dad's phone rang.

And that phone had a very aggressive sound.

It was not a ring, it was a... Like that, and I remember that sound.

And like I said, I'm becoming eight years old at this point and I heard Dad's feet hit the floor 'cause he was a big man.

They say he was the biggest fighter pilot in history, 6'4, 250, sometimes 250.

And his feet hit the floor and the next thing I know, he's hanging up that phone.

Could hear him in the other room and Mom's helping him put his flight suit on and he's heading down the steps, a quick hug and kiss good-bye.

And I looked out the window and every other dad on that street was running out of their house, jumping into their cars, firing them up and heading down the street.

And you could hear things firing up on the flight line.

The flight line wasn't that far away on Bentwaters Air Base.

And there was a two-story little place we were living in, so I could see across the field.

And you could see the jets and the afterburners lighting up and two by two they're taking off.

And this whole time you hear...

The constant sirens, and baboom-boom-boom.

You hear the jets firing up, two by two, heading off into the night.

Boom-boom-boom, it kept going, kept going.

Baboom-boom, you'd see them two more, two more, two more and you see them glow off into the distance.

And finally after it seemed like every plane on that base took off, it got really, really, really quiet.

And I could just hear Mom on the phone talking to other pilots' wives.

And she's going through a list and filling up the bathtub with water and checking for batteries and trying not to cry and all these things.

And I didn't know, I'm eight years old.

She's just saying, "Go back to bed, it'll be all right."

And our dads were gone for a long time that night.

And we come to find out later that that was the night of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

- Interesting.

- And so our dads were armed with nuclear weapons heading over Europe, refueling over and over again, staying in the air.

It was the moment in history that if it had gone differently, things would've been very bad.

But they had to stand up and they did.

And that's my upbringing was based on that, being ready on air bases, 'cause I was raised on air bases mostly.

And yeah, so that's a vivid memory and I like to share it with people 'cause it puts it in perspective a little bit, you know.

- Sure does, Claude, what an impacting story.

And you know what, Rob, it reminds me of the stories that you may hear out there in the community as well dealing with veterans.

And I'd like you to speak about your service in the community, especially also what you do with Pensacola State College.

- Okay, so out in the community for one, vets are probably the most modest group of people you've ever met.

They'll never tell you their story unless you just specifically ask them.

So that's what I really love about it.

At Pensacola State College, I direct Veterans Upward Bound, which is a Department of Education grant for low income first generation vets who want to go to school.

But the thing about when you're sitting around in the vet lounge, you listen to the stories that vets have and it's just commonplace.

It's nothing spectacular, but if you would take a camera and just impromptu just listen to some of the things, you'd probably be amazed at the talent that just comes through our armed forces that is just so quietly kept.

- Fascinating, Cris, back to you.

I know that legislation was involved regarding this huge honor.

Why don't you tell us about that process.

- Well, the process is basically you go to your legislative representatives and you ask them either to name a bridge or a building or a road, a pretty standard process.

Ours was a little bit fraught with some controversy and it required a lot more effort than previous requests for naming.

It required us to get resolutions from the four say district distinct entities, governmental entities, the two counties and the cities.

And it also required us then, they had a committee assigned.

We prevailed in all those efforts.

And in I think about a 7 to 1 vote in support of having General James' name placed on this monumental bridge.

And so after that occurred, it went to the legislature, through all the different committees and was finally signed into law by Governor DeSantis.

We were very pleased with that.

So it's just a matter of determining what date we're going to put that name onto the bridge.

- So where specifically will we see this?

I know a lot of people are wondering.

- Well, as you come across the bridge from Gulf Breeze, if you're aware of where the current Visit Pensacola building is, just north of that there's a grove of trees that we're looking to put that plaza in to incorporate the statue pedestal, the aircraft, the F-4 Phantom and a flagpole so that people can visit.

And the nice thing about that location, there's parking available.

And we wanna make it open and accessible to folks to visit.

- Wonderful, Claude, back to you.

You told me about your sister, Denise.

She was a trailblazer in her own right working for TWA Airlines.

Why don't you tell us that story.

- [Claude] Right, yes, at that time, we gotta take you back.

Let's go in the way back machine to the '60s here.

And the airlines back then, they were still transitioning from propeller aircraft to jets and things were stepping up fast.

They were becoming more modernized.

Back then, to be an airline stewardess they called them, not flight attendants, you had to be really sharp.

And she had just finished college at Florida A&M and it turned out that she got an opportunity to be one of the first black airline stewardesses.

There was a handful of them.

She wasn't the very first, but there was a handful of them.

And I vividly remember one time after that got going, we were in Tucson.

And Mom I remember it might have been seventh grade.

The thing is that Mom said, "Hey, we're going to the airport "to get your sister."

Okay, great and I'm just thinking we're picking her up from the airport.

And as we get there and that plane pulls up and what's one of the new jets at that time, this had to be '66, somewhere in there, jets pulls up, the door swings open and there's my sister, the stewardess.

And back then, they had to look like Vogue models, you know.

(Rameca laughs) They had very restrictive...

They could be fired for being a pound overweight and stuff.

And she opened the door and I see her smile and she's helping people off the plane and she looks at me and winks.

And I just said, oh!

That was just like, wow!

- That's your family.

- Yeah, that was my big sis, she was the oldest and then my brother was about three years younger than her.

And then I was nine years after that.

I came in after the Korean War when Dad came back from Korea.

That was when I came on the scene.

- All right, interesting story.

Cris, when did you first meet Claude and he has a beautiful daughter named Britt.

Good looks run in the family, don't they, Claude?

So Cris, when did you first meet him?

- I met Claude I think on his first arrival for a major event that the museum had put on, a dinner.

And he had come in with Britt and also his son Ryan.

So a significant amount of the family were here.

We were able to introduce ourselves and start thinking about how we were going to move this project forward.

And they have been with us every step of the way.

It's been a real pleasure working with them.

- Awesome, so Rob, is there anything that you would like to say to Claude?

- Claude, just thank you for sharing the greatness in your family.

- And back to you, Claude.

I understand that your children have been inspired by your father.

Give us a takeaway before we end this segment, anything in particular that really stands out to you personally, the impact that your father had on your life.

- [Claude] Yes, you're talking about impact on my kids.

The thing about Dad and the things that were carried over, the core of that whole thing about thou shalt not quit, that's his Mother's 11th commandment, that whole thing plays into my kids and the way they approach things.

And thinking things through, I'm really proud of them.

It's funny when you see them and hear them say something and it makes you go, wow, they were paying attention and hoping they do something good.

And my daughter's like that, she's the younger and she's a real self-starter as you would call them.

She finished college, went back to school, got her master's and she's always helping and doing things like that and not a quitter.

She's a go-getter, getting things done, positive stuff.

And she helps the Tuskegee Airmen in that regard.

She has a communications master's.

Those kinds of things were instilled by hearing over and over again about taking your opportunity to do something good.

My son also out there.

He's a little more laid back, a little bit more like me, like his dad, but still an achieving person.

And he was always the cool head.

We're both avid motorcyclists and one of the things about my boy, he was involved with a group, a club of sport riders, not the crazy guys that do the wheelies by your window when you're going down the highway, but sport riders, the skill.

And he would always be the calming influence.

He was the big guy, kind of like Dad.

My son's about 6'5, I don't know how much he weighs, but had a karate black belt, got that when he was 13.

My daughter also went into karate, got her blue belt and then she started doing other things.

But achievers, what you're talking about is-- - Achievers.

Achieving, achieving.

So yeah, that was in there and it's made them great people.

He's a musician now and he's living in Seattle.

And yeah, my daughter's in north of Austin there and doing really well out there and everybody and I have a granddaughter through my daughter.

- Doing well.

- [Claude] Yeah, I hope that answers what you were looking for.

- It sure does.

Claude, it has been such a pleasure having you with us and I know we'll be seeing you very soon.

And to Cris and Rob, thank you so much for joining us during this segment as well.

So folks, as we head to break, listen to the delightful sounds of Kent Lowe featuring Mix and Magic.

They're singing a patriotic favorite, stay tuned.

♪ America, America ♪ ♪ God shed his grace on thee ♪ ♪ And crown thy good with brotherhood ♪ ♪ From sea to shining sea ♪ (upbeat music) - [Announcer] You are watching viewer-supported WSRE TV, a service of Pensacola State College.

(light music) (upbeat music) - Hello, everyone.

During this segment, we're focusing on women veterans.

It's a pleasure to have Michelle Caldwell, CEO and Founder of the Monument and Museum to Women Veterans.

She's joined by Dr. Traci Solt, Director of Clinical Services for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

In addition, we have Denise Reyes, a US Army veteran and Gideon Innis, a US Navy veteran.

So Michelle, let's start with you.

What was the I guess big incentive or was there someone who inspired you in relation to the Monument and Museum to Women Veterans?

- Well, I had the opportunity several years ago to participate in a function that was being put on called the Escarosa Independence Weekend.

And that was where I had an opportunity to work with Dave Glassman, the City of Pensacola and we brought 100 wounded warriors here from Walter Reed Medical Center to our community to show them a community that loved them and was there to provide support with them.

And we did it with the VA and several organizations and provided and separate the caretakers from the actual veterans.

And in doing that, we saw a real need for a lack of services that were in our area at that time.

That was part of the OEIF operation, Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

And in our local area, we sent a lot of active duty to that.

We also sent a lot of reservists actually went from our area.

So we immediately because of our veteran population had a huge need in our area to really address the needs of returning veterans coming back.

And as we were putting that event on and Veteran's Day came up, I thought, wonder what they're gonna do for women in Washington DC at the monument.

- All right, but we're going to talk a little bit more about that in just-- - [Michelle] They don't have one.

- Yes, exactly.

Dr. Solt, you do so much with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Why don't you give us an overview of your duties.

- [Traci] Okay, great.

Thank you for having me here.

- You're welcome.

- Like I said, my name is Traci Solt.

I am the Director for Clinical Services in the Veterans Health Administration, or VHA, National Office of Primary Care.

And for those of you that might not know, the VHA is the healthcare arm of the VA. And the two other agencies under VA are the Veterans Benefits and the National Cemetery Administration.

VHA serves the health needs for over 9 million veterans and more than 1/2 million of those are female veterans.

And those numbers keep growing.

The number of women veterans who received healthcare through the VA has tripled since 2001.

And more and more veterans are seeking VA services every day.

And I just wanted to, I wrote down a couple of statistics that I wanted to share and the 147 VA Medical Centers, they have at least two designated women's healthcare primary care providers.

And 90% of the community-based outpatient clinics have at least one women's health designated primary care provider.

And in FY, fiscal year '21, the VHA completed more than 2 1/2 million primary care appointments for women veterans.

- Amazing statistics.

Oh, we always like to hear good news, don't we?

So ladies, Denise, you have a colorful history.

You served in the US Army.

Tell us about your experiences in that branch of our military.

- I joined in 2005, I got out in 2010.

And I am really grateful for the military.

It really shaped me, it was a great experience, a learning experience.

It was just an overall great opportunity to grow and really impact my life in a leadership and lots of values from the military.

- Was there anyone in particular who inspires you throughout your journey?

- I think all the NCOs and the leaderships there, the community, with the military that you get there, the branch itself, it's just a huge learning experience being away from home and all the different leaders and you could see the different leadership styles that people have.

I would say there was about one or two.

Sergeant Murdock, he was my NCO.

He had a huge impact in my life and shaping personally and my career in the military as well.

- Fabulous, now, Gideon, you and I have a little bit of history.

You were in a few of my classes at Pensacola State College in the business department, a US Navy veteran.

Take us back, share a story.

- So I joined in 2009 and I got out in 2018.

I think my biggest greatest story, I was a parachute rigger.

I had a pilot that actually ejected and used a parachute that I packed and that really impacted me because I did my job and that pilot survived.

But that's my experience-- - We'll talk more about what you do at PSC in just a few moments, but Michelle, I have to come back to you because with the museum, we have training opportunities, three specific areas.

Why don't you talk about those of course like construction, vocational and employment assistance.

- Yeah, one of the things that we're really excited about is that per capita, we do have one of the largest veteran populations per capita in the Gulf Coast.

So in saying that, we do bleed red, white and blue and it's necessary for us to provide program and training for returning vets.

And then as every business knows, we have a lack of worker, a labor force in our area.

So we have to really look, how do we recreate that labor force for us?

If they're not here, what does that look like?

And so our goal is to actually we've created a national training center and a national visit center for veterans here in our local area in Pensacola.

It is the only national visit center for veterans.

So they can come directly to the visit center and get connected to their benefits.

And our goal with that is to cut the 22 suicides a day out because they don't know how to get connected to their benefits.

- So the museum here is open.

It's been open for a short time, is that correct?

- It has been.

- What about the monument?

Now, I understand that world-renowned sculptor Elizabeth MacQueen is really putting something great together.

Let's talk about that.

- Well, we're very fortunate.

Elizabeth MacQueen is actually an internationally recognized sculptor.

And her family is very embedded in our community.

So having somebody of that caliber to actually do, there is no monument anywhere in this country recognize 25% of the military which we say is now women and 2.8 million women veterans in this country.

And so we're gonna have an opportunity to bring that national monument right here to our direct area.

And so the whole idea of the museum and the monument is really establishing a campus here for veterans in our area, not just for women but for veterans across the board.

- I am so excited.

(Rameca laughs) Dr. Solt, back to you.

And I appreciate what you did a little earlier telling us about what you do for the Department of Veterans Affairs, but another facet to your life.

Why don't you talk about maybe personal experiences or takeaways from your service in the military.

- Perfect, yeah, thank you.

And first of all, I'm just humbled to be here with this group of women veterans.

So thank you for inviting me to be part of this.

My story began when I was a daughter of a US Air Force, my father was retired US Air Force.

So I grew up in a military family.

And so I learned to love God and country from the minute I was born.

Grew up on a military base, Taps and every morning The Star-Spangled Banner.

But I went to college for a couple years and wasn't sure what I wanted to do.

And so I followed in my father's footsteps and I joined the United States Army Reserves.

I went through 91A field medic training.

And really that inspired me to go and continue my nursing career.

And in the Reserves, although I never saw combat, we were in the community a lot and I was able to observe the medical team work together.

So it inspired me to go back to nursing school and become a nurse.

And in 2008, I went back to work for the Department of Veterans Affairs and it was the best career decision ever.

The military really taught me.

I loved wearing the uniform.

I don't know about all of y'all, but I really loved wearing the uniform, and the camaraderie and just the love really with the military.

You had a family no matter where you went.

And so I really think that taking that experience of being the daughter of a military member and the wife of a military member and a veteran myself, it really helps me understand and be a better care provider.

- Wonderful, I know that my heart is full hearing from all of you ladies.

Denise, I'm coming back to you because I understand that you work at Pensacola State College.

And what exactly are doing with us here?

- I am a Veteran Services Specialist.

I work at the Veteran Services Office.

And we help students, veterans, their dependents, their family members start using their VA educational benefits.

We help them understand what that entails for them, benefits available to them, scholarships available to them.

And we're really the in-between the school and the VA itself.

So we send that information out to the VA.

But yeah, we do a service to the students as well as their family members.

- Is there anyone in particular that you have helped, maybe an individual or a story that stands out in your mind because honestly there are some vets who have no idea that there are financial resources available.

- Yeah, I think most students we try to give the same care to every student with the veteran and their family members, but they don't know the benefits available to them, they don't know the resources available to them.

They think they only have one VA educational available to them.

When they come to our office, we do try to provide them with all that information.

Most there's not a particular student that I have in mind, but I do believe that the students that are 100%, their family members, they don't realize that the state has a different scholarship available to them that pays for tuition and fees.

And that gets lost with the family members and them as well.

So we do try to reiterate with them and push that information forward to them.

- Exceptional, really appreciate what you're doing.

And Gideon, you also work at Pensacola State College as well.

Tell us about what you do.

- I do, I work with Veterans Upward Bound.

I'm the Recruitment and Retention Specialist.

And basically, we're a college prep program helping students to increase their PERT scores by helping them with tutoring in math and reading and writing.

- [Rameca] What is PERT?

- Oh, Lord, it's the test that you take to prep you for school.

It tells you where you're at, where your math, reading and writing scores are at and helps you to get into specific classes.

- So are there tutorial services for that exam?

- Yes.

- Wonderful, and I bet you're a great tutor.

So Michelle, back to you.

You are so lively, full of energy.

Give me some of that energy please.

So I would like for you to tell me first of all how long you've known Dr. Solt because you're tight.

- 13 years, we've actually been friends for 13 years and we connected because not only does Traci work with the VA, but very humbly, Traci is always engaged in the community and she doesn't go out from her VA standpoint.

She goes out as Traci Solt.

And we talk about the VA and some of the bad things and the good things, but knowing that we have people that are Traci's caliber that actually work within the VA system, it does start to build back for veterans what that really means.

There are some really amazing people in the VA. And we originally met at I think a homeless... Was it a Stand Down?

- A homeless Stand Down.

- Yeah, we met at a homeless Stand Down.

We do a VA Stand Down every year and we actually met at a VA Stand Down, which is where the Department of Veteran Affairs and all the community veteran organizations partner together and we ensure that one day a year, one or two days a year, that every veteran has an opportunity for medical attention, dental attention.

We make sure that they have clothes for the winter so that they have socks and that for the homeless.

And we have actually incorporated the last few years where we actually had veterans court and had an opportunity for them to actually get legal support there.

So veterans who really they might just need an attorney for five minutes to fix some stuff that they had that's really been holding them back.

So that's really how we met.

And then I have four children that I've adopted.

And Traci has been there right with me beside my children as I've adopted them too.

So she's Aunt Traci as well.

- So Dr. Solt and everyone else, we want to play a special clip from Nancy Bullock-Prevot.

She is a US Navy veteran.

So listen to this.

- I pre-commed and commissioned the last 9/11 ship, USS Somerset, which for any sailor is a big feat because you get to bring a new ship into the Navy.

Something that you know that will outlive your lifetime.

You get to see the start and finish of something great.

And being the 9/11 ship, that was one of the most humbling assignments in my 21 years.

- And what a perfect way to end this glorious segment.

Ladies, thank you so much for your service.

It has been such a pleasure.

Now, folks, The Modern Eldorados are a popular band whose sounds do not disappoint.

Why don't you take a listen to this instrumental snippet.

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As I look out and I see our first responders, our law enforcement, our military men and women and as we see this tribute to those who paid the ultimate price, I add my voice to the chorus across this nation today to say thank you.

Thank you for your service and your sacrifice and know that we will never forget.

(audience cheers) (audience applauds) - You just heard from the iconic Sue Straughn with WEAR-TV.

She's a beautiful and sincere woman who loves our military veterans.

As we continue our reflections, September 11, 2021 marked the 20 year anniversary of the World Trade Center attack.

During this segment, we're highlighting Freedom Quest, an event that was held at WSRE to honor our US military, first responders, local law enforcement and firefighters.

To discuss this further, I'm happy to welcome Dave Glassman, the event organizer.

He's joined by Dan Frisbie, a US Navy retiree.

Welcome to both of you.

- Thanks, Meca, it's great to be here.

- All right, so Dave, let's start with you.

Why don't you give us the backstory on Freedom Quest.

- Well, the backstory is I think myself and a whole bunch of folks that I spend a lot of time with were feeling like the sense of or the level of divisiveness in the nation was just getting to be something to really think about and something to ask yourself are you just gonna go along with the divisive nature of things or are you gonna do something about it?

And we all have what we can do and what we can't do.

And so in my mind, given my experience base with veteran support organizations and members of the community that are kind of in the business, I said, well, maybe we could put on an event that would bring the community together, people of all socioeconomic backgrounds, all cultural backgrounds, diversity and pay tribute to those things that are unifying, things that bring us together, things like belief in the Constitution, faith in a higher power, whatever that faith is, understanding and respecting our first responders, our military and veterans and of course those Gold Star and surviving family members that raised these young Americans to become servants to our communities and defenders of our nation.

- All right, now, Dan, you and I have a little bit of a history, don't we?

- [Dan] Just a little.

You were actually a student in one of my first classes that I taught in the business department at Pensacola State College.

US Navy retired, talk about your experiences because you were one of my best students.

- Well, thanks.

You know, I joined the Navy as a 17-year-old kid because I knew I wasn't going to college.

And it was a way for me in my mind to learn a trade, to learn how to do something instead of being a mechanic at the local tire shop where I lived.

And 23 years later, I decided to retire from the Navy and ended up going to school again and actually going to college.

And I'm still enrolled in college.

- All right, so you finished your journey at Pensacola State College and you are now at, tell us.

- I'm now at University of West Florida.

- And what are you studying there?

- Right now, I'm in a bachelor of social work.

My goal is to be a mental health counselor for veterans with PTSD.

- Love it, love it.

All right, so Dave, back to you.

You mentioned the impact Freedom Quest has had on the community and I know that there's been a lot of chatter.

How long did it actually take to put everything together?

We know that it was held right here at Pensacola State College.

WSRE had a heavy hand in it, Jill Hubbs, our general manager, as well.

So a lot of hands in the pot, am I right?

- Oh, absolutely.

Jill was a huge champion for the cause.

Dr. Meadows came right onboard immediately and said we support this thing because I think Dr. Meadows and Jill and everybody here at Pensacola State College just understood where it was coming from, but that the goal was to really embrace what happened on 9/12 20 years prior, which was the unification of the nation after such a horrific event, the single most powerful and horrific event in our nation's history, bar none in my opinion.

And what we really wanted to capture was the sense of coming together, that sense that the Americans felt on September 12, 2001, and that sense of unity that took place for weeks, maybe a few short months.

But then we seem to have lost it again.

And so 20 years later, the sun, moon and stars aligned.

It fell on a Saturday.

We took about seven possibly eight weeks to put it together.

And the entire spectrum of Escambia County, Pensacola, Gulf Breeze, first responder community showed up in force.

We got nothing but green lights from everybody from a permitting standpoint, from a production standpoint.

Gentleman named Pez Merrier came to the table.

Really it was his idea to put the show on and he brought about $50,000 worth of production stuff and at no cost to the event.

And we had some fantastic sponsors with Sandy Sansing and Joe Gilchrist and a few other very, very generous citizens here in Pensacola.

- Good to hear.

So Dan, quickly, September 11, 2001, do you remember where you were?

- I was, I was actually trying to fly to Maine that day.

One of my friends had made chief petty officer and I was going up for his ceremony.

I was stationed here at Whiting Field at the time.

That was my final duty station.

- And the impact of an event like Freedom Quest, I know because we were reflecting so much on what happened on September 11, 2001. and now it's 20 years later.

A lot of times, people can't get the images out of their minds, but we saw that there was a great deal of unity at that time, correct?

- Oh yeah, I went to Dave's Freedom Quest and I thought it was awesome.

It just you did, everyone just came together.

It's great to see a time like that when we do like you said just like September 12th, there were no differences.

We were just all Americans that day the way we would like to be every day.

- Every single day coming together.

Gentlemen, thank you so much.

It's been an awesome pleasure and thank you so much for your military service.

Indeed, my heart is so full right now hearing from our military veterans and I tell you what.

What we're going to do is we want you to sit back and enjoy this video montage.

It includes more sights and sounds from Freedom Quest 2021.

(light music) (upbeat music) During this segment, we're continuing our Freedom Quest discussion introducing more military veterans who will be sharing their experiences.

It's a pleasure to introduce three retirees, Dave Glover who served in the US Army, Derek Breaux who spent time in the US Air Force and Stan Barnard who served our country in the US Marine Corps.

Welcome to all of you, gentlemen.

- [Gentlemen] Thank you.

- So glad to have you.

Dave, I'm going to start with you because September 11, 2001 resonates in all of our minds I know.

Tell us where you were.

- Well, at the time, I was in the Old Guard, which is stationed at Fort Myer, Virginia.

And the primary role of the Old Guard was to perform ceremonies throughout the DC National Capital Region and also perform full honor funerals in Arlington Cemetery.

At the time, we were down at the Pentagon delivering flags for a ceremony that was going on inside the building in some office somewhere.

And then when we were walking out, we were in the south parking lot and heard a plane flying low.

Reagan National Airport is not far away and we didn't really think much of it, but then it was really loud.

Looked up and just saw this plane coming in and it banks and flies over and disappears behind the building into a fireball.

The explosion was incredible.

We didn't know what was going on, we were very confused.

Didn't know if we should go try to run to help.

So we ran to the van that was parked there.

And our NCO was in there and told us at the time to get in the van.

We were heading back up to Fort Myer that the World Trade Centers had been hit.

We didn't know that had happened either.

And so we went back up to Fort Myer and awaited orders.

- And I'll get back to you shortly.

Stan, I'm going to share with everyone a soundbite from Captain Keith Hoskins who was at Freedom Quest and he's a US Navy retiree, a former Blue Angel.

I would like to hear what he had to say.

- So in response to what occurred on 9/11, our military has responded in a swift fashion with force to root out tyranny and terror across this planet.

Over the last 20 years, we have lost over 7,000 service members due to our conflicts around the world in response to 9/11.

And of note, over 53,000 wounded warriors continue today to struggle with the scars of those past wars.

- Stan as I listen to that, my heart was heavy.

And I'm thinking about Freedom Quest 2021, specifically the impact of the Gold Star Wall.

Why don't you talk about that a little bit, if you will.

- Well, the wall came to Pensacola.

It was very emotional, of course for all the Gold Star families and such that that represented the loved ones that had sacrificed their lives for this great nation.

It was particularly interesting to me to find that they had incorporated the names from the first Persian Gulf War.

And one of the gentlemen that was on the wall was a CWO-4 Phil Garvey.

He was from Pensacola and his family didn't even know about it being on that particular wall.

So it was nice that that was accomplished for them.

- What a great thing.

Now, Derek, tell us where you were on September 11, 2001.

Do you remember?

- Oh yes, ma'am.

Me and my family were actually stationed in England at the time at RAF Lakenheath about a couple hours, hour and a half, two hours from London.

And we were actually at a normal office day and we keep the news on constantly to make sure we know what's going on with world events.

And they showed the first plane crash into the first tower.

And then somebody was like, "Everybody look!"

And we were just all watching it live as the second plane is coming in.

And we're just in disbelief, like was that actually a second aircraft that hit another tower.

And as soon as we all came out of the initial shock of what we were seeing, even before we received orders from the Pentagon or the White House, we started shutting the base down, making sure everybody was safe, posturing for whatever may be coming next 'cause we didn't know if it was a worldwide event or if it was just New York.

We hadn't heard about the Pentagon or any of the other flights.

- So were you active duty-- - Yes, ma'am, I was active duty.

I think I worked a full 48 hours straight in our control center coordinating the base response to what may be coming.

- So takeaways 20 years later, a lot has changed in our society.

So is there anything right now that you wish could've been done differently to bring the country together?

A lot of positive things were accomplished.

- Yes, ma'am.

No, not really.

I mean, the country did come together.

We hadn't had to respond to any sort of attack other than in a war zone of that magnitude.

And not having a firm target to focus on, it was just chaos but organized chaos.

And that was due thankfully all the military training of all the services and regular Americans coming together to support us.

- Exactly, that's one of the main reasons we don't ever want people to forget.

So yes, our country came together.

We're so elated about that, but events like Freedom Quest, we want to remind everyone.

And then we have the little ones that come up and we educate them.

And Dave, speaking to that extent, in knowing about your military service, do you have any specific takeaways from Freedom Quest?

- It really hit me when I saw the Gold Star Tribute Wall that was there.

Over the years, I've lost a lot of friends and I honor them when their dates come up.

And I've seen their names out there.

But when they put the wall up and I walked up to it and I saw it and I started going through trying to identify friends of mine and it really hit me hard seeing everybody grouped together in the same space.

It was really-- - [Rameca] Emotional, quite emotional.

- Yes, very emotional.

I broke down, cried a little bit.

Actually I found one, a good friend of mine, his star.

Alexander Gagilak was actually two stars above Stan's friend Phil Garvey.

- And speaking of which, I know that you and Stan are friends.

And Stan, you do quite a bit in the community serving on the board of directors with Veterans Memorial Park.

Please tell us about your efforts there.

- Well, I'm very proud to be on that board, by the way.

And it's our commitment to the community and to all that have served this nation, and particularly those who have given their all for this nation.

The Veterans Memorial Park represents everyone.

There's the Gold Star Memorial there, there's the Persian Gulf War Memorial, there's the original wall that is there.

It's a replica, half replica of the Vietnam Wall, which that's where I served was in Vietnam.

But the generations that came after that are sitting here with me, they're the ones who did all the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.

It's great to be here with them, I'm honored.

- And so honored to have you here.

And I know you're a retiree from the US Marine Corps.

And everybody out there, my brother was a leatherneck, Antonio Vincent, went to bootcamp Parris Island, South Carolina.

Entered bootcamp a youngster and returned a man.

And then I also think about my dad Early L. Vincent who was one of the first African Americans admitted to nuclear power school during a time of Jim Crow and segregation.

Spent 31 years in the Navy as what we call a nuke, was an E-9 and became a master chief, chief of the boat or what they would call a COB.

Really grateful to have grown up in a military household.

So yes indeed, I am a Navy brat.

Now, Derek, back to you because I know that through your time served in the US Air Force, there are probably some significant military times that you remember where maybe someone influenced you or possibly someone that really made a huge impact on your life.

- Of course, over 21 years, there are dozens of people.

But some of my more memorable and close mentors for me was my immediate supervisor and the vice commander of Lajes Field in Portugal.

And in my job position, I fell directly under the base commander.

So both the vice commander and the commander put me in a leadership role that they had vacant and nobody coming in.

So I really got to see both sides of the table from low ranking enlisted member to the officer leadership functions that go on every day that most military members on the base have no clue of all the planning and everything that goes into running a base.

And they brought me into that officer world, even though I was mid-level enlisted member at the time.

And they really mentored me on the overall Air Force scheme of things.

- Exactly, so Dave, if there are any parting words that you could share with our viewing audience to remind them about the importance of honoring, remembering our military veterans, what would you say?

I know it's one of those questions putting you on the spot.

(Dave laughs) - It takes a lot of sacrifice to be in this community and when I say community, community of the veteran community, and not just on the veterans themselves but their families.

And we cannot do it without the support of the civilian community behind us.

- Well said, thank you, gentlemen for your military service.

Indeed, it has been an honor.

Now, folks, I would like to thank all of our guests for joining us.

I'm Rameca Vincent Leary.

Remember to keep it locked in right here on WSRE PBS for the Gulf Coast.

(upbeat music)