Veterans Archives: Preserving the Stories of our Nations Heroes
In a world where storytelling has been our link to the past since the days of cave drawings, there exists a timeless tradition. It's the art of passing down knowledge, and for Military Veterans, it's a crucial piece of their legacy. Join us on the Veterans Archives Podcast, where we dive deep into the heartwarming and awe-inspiring stories of those who served, no matter when or where.
Here, Veterans get the chance to be the authors of their own narratives. Through guided interviews in a relaxed and safe environment, they paint their experiences with their own words and unique voices. The result? A memory card in a presentation box, a precious gift they can share however they please.
But that's not all. These stories find a secure home in our archive, a treasure chest of experiences for future generations to explore. The best part? It's all a gift to the Veteran – our way of saying thank you for their service.
Tune in to the Veterans Archives Podcast, where history, heroism, and heartwarming tales come to life.
Veterans Archives is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Please visit our website for more information. www.veteransarchives.org
Veterans Archives: Preserving the Stories of our Nations Heroes
Finding Purpose Beyond the Uniform: The Story of Dave Harvey
What if your journey from a small Appalachian town to the military and beyond could illuminate the resilience and adaptability of the human spirit? In our latest episode, we welcome Dave, also known as Bailey Harvey, who takes us through his extraordinary life story. From the rural landscapes of Hazard, Kentucky, to the suburban streets of Garden City, Michigan, Dave recounts the cultural shocks and opportunities that shaped his path. Inspired by his cousin, a Vietnam War veteran, Dave reflects on his family's move and his enlistment in the Army, offering poignant insights into the decisions that led him away from a future in coal mining.
Join us as Dave opens up about his early days as a military police officer, where he faced the unpredictable challenges of law enforcement within a complex social landscape. From basic training at Fort Knox to intense situations like a shooting at the MP station, his tales reveal the grit required to handle domestic disputes and racial tensions of the late 1970s. These experiences not only highlight the personal growth and maturity demanded at such a young age but also paint a vivid picture of military life during a tumultuous era.
Transitioning from military service to civilian law enforcement, Dave shares his remarkable career journey, including his rise to police chief and roles in public administration. Despite the challenges of leaving military camaraderie behind, Dave found renewed purpose and community through the Legion, reconnecting with fellow veterans. His story underscores the enduring bonds of military service and the importance of finding new ways to give back, offering listeners a profound understanding of life's dynamic nature and the quest for connection. Tune in for a narrative rich in history, personal growth, and the relentless pursuit of purpose.
Today is January 27th 2025. We are here with Dave or Bailey Harvey. We serve in the US Army and US Army Reserve. How are you doing today?
Speaker 2:I'm good, thank you.
Speaker 1:So tell me a little bit about where you're from, your upbringing, your parents.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm actually from the state of Kentucky, appalachia. I was a little ridge-running, hillbilly boy. Back when I was born, lived in a small little town of probably no more than a couple hundred people, outside of a larger city called Hazard, kentucky, which is significant because I picked up the nickname Hazard by a drill sergeant while I was in boot camp. He saw a letter from one of my cousins who wrote me at boot camp and it had the city of Hazard on it and I have had that nickname since that day. It followed me to my bases, followed me all the way back to my employment. It's even my road name for the American Legion Riders is Hazard. But I think of it fondly because I still love the state of Kentucky, I still call it my home. But I left there when I was nine.
Speaker 2:My parents moved after my grandmother died, my father's mother, who was living with us. My dad, at age 42, wanted a better life. There was a hard life in Appalachia with coal mining. There wasn't much else to do but coal mine or other side stuff, which my dad did. So he moved us north with my mom and my sister I have one sister who's seven years older and we moved to Garden City, michigan. It was in 1967, and it was during the 67 riots. So it was quite a shock to my system as a small child because when I was living in Kentucky I could run the mountains. My mother let me run all over the place and I had no barriers. We came to Garden City on the west side of Detroit and she wouldn't let me out of the driveway. I hated it. She sent me back to Kentucky.
Speaker 2:Just about every summer I lived with two of my cousins back up in Appalachia because I missed it so bad. I did it all the way up until high school, probably until my junior year of high school. I kind of got raised in both but as much as I hated it, probably the best thing my father did because I probably would have either still probably gone into the military, I believe, or I'd have been a coal miner and my sister probably would have married a coal miner, and I think they're bad people. Coal miners are great people and my family got a great living out of that. But then you've seen in the most recent years, the last couple of decades, where coal has taken a hit as far as trying to eliminate it. So it caused a lot of poverty down in that area, so probably good to get out of there. My dad made the right call and I'm very appreciative that he did so. But my parents are gone now. My father passed during COVID not health COVID he was already not doing well. He was 94. My mother died at 67 of a disease called scleroderma. It's like an autoimmune disease. It set up fibrosis in her lungs but she died pretty young. My sister's doing well. She has a large family, three kids, and they're all doing well.
Speaker 2:I went to high school in Garden City. I was down in the summers. I'd come back Sometimes during sports. I played all of them football, basketball, baseball. I wasn't good at any of them but I played them. I was a second string this, a third string that, but I played them. I was in a band, played in a band quite a bit, and I could not wait to leave high school for the military. I did the delayed entry program. I enlisted in October of 76. That was the beginning of my senior year and I left June 22nd for basic training at Fort Knox, kentucky.
Speaker 1:So did you walk into the recruiting office or did they catch you at the school? Tell me a little bit about how that happened.
Speaker 2:Well, I, I was 14, I had a cousin who lived with us. He did three tours of Vietnam. He was a crew chief of helicopters and he served a little bit in Korea and then he lived with us for a time. His wife lived with us. In fact, their daughter was born while on his third tour of Vietnam, living with us in Garden City. And he was like my older brother, even though he was my cousin and I just revered him. I just I wanted to be like him, do everything he did.
Speaker 2:My father, my father, tried to enlist in World War II was turned down, for he had ulcers in his early 20s that plagued him for years until they figured it out. But the military turned him down in World War II Probably fortunate, the military turning down World War II Probably fortunate. I might not be here today if they took him, you never know. But my cousin, I really just looked up to him and all his service in Vietnam and I remember sitting in front of a TV with his wife, his wife, my cousin, her name's Katie and trying to get a glimpse to see if they maybe saw a random newsreel with him in it or something like that. So I knew at 14, as far back as I can remember, maybe earlier than that that I was going to enlist and so I walked into the recruiting office. I was 17. I had to get my appearance signature and there was a change at the time. So 76, january 1 of 77, the old GI Bill was going away and some new GI bill was starting. That was the hook the recruiter had for me to try to enlist. Right then You're going to lose this. It was rigged. It wasn't anything they made out.
Speaker 2:The recruiter actually came over to my house, took some convincing to get. My mother did not want me to enlist. Vietnam had just ended in, I think 75. That was fresh in everybody's mind. She worried about my cousin who served. I had quite a few cousins that I actually served.
Speaker 2:Now it took some convincing my father finally. I remember my father telling my mother at the kitchen table we might as well he's going to enlist anyway, so why not help him try to get to college before? So I finally convinced her and I enlisted. In fact I continued to irritate her because I went down to the recruiter, sent me to Detroit. He drove me down on a Saturday and I did the enlistment and was sworn in on the late entry program and the bus ticket he gave me was only good for Monday through Friday.
Speaker 2:So I was stuck in Detroit, you know. Oh my gosh, I was all by myself and no cell phones, you know. So I walked into a hotel a really ritzy hotel downtown, I forget the name of it now and the guy threw me out and I said, dude, I just want to make a phone call. So finally this guy let me in and make a phone call and my mother did not want me to leave for boot camp until the end of summer. She promised me that I would not leave until the end of summer. She wanted more and more summer out of me. And I remember sitting with the NCO, as we're talking about. I went in as an MP.
Speaker 2:It wasn't my original selection but eventually I was talked into being an MP. What was your original selection? I was going into infantry. I just wanted infantry and I was thinking about helicopters. But I thought I'd do infantry first. And the recruiter kept saying man, we've got lot of infantry, but we need what else are you interested in? And I was in the police explorer program in high school where we come through the Boy Scouts of America. So I've been hanging around the police department in my city for a couple of years and I liked police work but I hadn't thought of making it a career, it was just something to do in high school. And I said, well, I'm doing this police explorer thing. And he talked me into being an MP.
Speaker 2:So when I was sitting with the NCO while I was enlisting, trying to line up boot camp and start an MP school, as I recall, I had to leave fairly quickly after high school graduated. So I think high school was. I graduated the 15th of June and the 22nd I left boot camp. But I remember my parents coming to Detroit to pick me up and my mom said well, when are you leaving? And I was afraid to tell her She'd be mad. And she was. She didn't talk to me for the entire weekend. She was not happy with me that I lost that summer, but it worked out even for her, because three years roll the clock forward.
Speaker 2:Three years later, when I ETSed, I ETSed just in time to put in my application for my hometown's police department, garden City Police Department. I mean literally, I got home on a Monday, the application period expired on a Friday, I was able to get my application in, I got a job and I didn't retire from there and had I gone in at the end of summer, none of that would have ever happened. So I never would have come back home. So it was never my intention to come back to Garden City and stay there my whole career Just kind of one thing fell in place after the other. So I used to kid my mother saying I know you're mad at me, but it worked out. You know she was mad and she could be back then.
Speaker 1:How long were you law enforcement for?
Speaker 2:I did 23 and a half at Guard City when I got out. I got out of the Army in July. I extended a year to apply for flight school. I got accepted but it was a bad time in the military that three years. I loved accepted but it was a bad time in the military that three years. I loved it. But both Vietnam eras were just bad Equipment. I can't tell you how many suicides, homicides I went to as an MP. Then I was an investigator. We would assist CID as MPI on homicides. There was so much drug. The racial tension was terrible. My first base, fort Stewart, georgia. They tried to integrate.
Speaker 1:So where did you go? Just kind of back up a little bit. When did you ship to basic training and where did you go to basic training June 22nd Fort Knox. Kentucky, June 22nd 1976.
Speaker 2:77.
Speaker 1:77.
Speaker 2:I did delayed entry in October of 76. I graduated high school in June and that same month I left. A week later I left boot camp, I finished basic and then I was shipped to.
Speaker 1:And how long was basic training in AIT?
Speaker 2:I think basic was 10 weeks then I think, as I recall, then I had a little small break of about a week. I came home and then I took off to Fort McLeod, alabama, for MP school. Mp school was eight weeks but it was also self-paced, so I think I got out a little bit early, like seven weeks. And then I got fortunate I was selected in boot camp to be a what do you call it? A system recruiter, a student recruiter, hometown recruiter.
Speaker 2:Hometown recruiter. So I got to come home right after MP school and I got two or three people doing lists for my high school and because of that the recruiter got me extended a month. So I spent two months at home. I got to spend my first Christmas and New Year's at home and after that gig was up then I drove down to Fort Stewart. Georgia was my base and I was an MP on the road. I was a white hat MP, didn't do any field duty.
Speaker 1:And then after. So you were in garrison the whole time and then I got into MPI is that what you wanted? Yeah.
Speaker 2:I wanted to do police work and I didn't know this I don't know if maybe I just missed it or I don't recall it but there was no guarantee I was going garrison. Honestly, I think I got lucky because we had the 24th MP Company, was signed to the 24th Entry Division and they were field MPs. And there was the 298th MP Company which was a supporter and honestly, I think it was where I was standing on a line to get on which deuce and a half to go to which unit. This got me at the 298th MP Company and I did everything. I did traffic and I did patrol, responded to everything.
Speaker 2:I think sometimes the public doesn't understand the base like we understand. It's a community. It's got banks and the PX and housing things. I was at 18 years old, going to family troubles and homicides lots of Domestic disputes yeah, a lot of domestics, a lot of that. And I remember one of the first domestics. I went on and I was 18. And you know I didn't know anything too much about life at that point and an E6 had been the 24th Entry Division, had been in the field for 30 days or was out in the field for 30 days and apparently he got injured. What I recall was bee stings. He got stung or something. He had a driver. He was in the base hospital. On his way out he stopped at his base housing. His wife had set up a bordello in her front of his house and there were two GIs in there. He caught them in the act and of course there was a major fight and all that going on. She called us.
Speaker 1:She set up a. You say a bordello Bordello.
Speaker 2:She was a prostitute.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So she's having sex with two guys in the front living room and the E6 pops in, catches her. Of course, you know, everything goes bad. We get called. The two GIs were gone, but the E6 was still there with her and I was 18. What experience did I have to tell this poor guy? So it was kind of that's the only reason I remember. It was one of my first ones. I went on. Thankfully I had another MP who would be training me and he wasn't much older than me but he had a little more experience. I don't remember the outcome, but it was those kind of things Early on carrying a badge and a gun.
Speaker 2:I gained a lot of experience at Fort Stewart by the time I came out of the Army in three years I was experienced. If I'd have worked in Detroit PD. It was a lot of stuff went on. I got shot at at the MP station. I was a military police investigator. We used to do 24-hour shifts. I was the on-duty investigator. I was standing at the front desk and lights were breaking. I kind of hear this snapping sound and my desk sergeant was a Vietnam vet, sergeant Freed. I'll never forget him, good guy. He grabbed me and threw me on the ground and I think on E7, as the story goes, he got arrested for drunk driving one of our guys and he was out, he was drunk, he got a deer rifle and he was shooting up the MP stations and none of us got hurt but the E5, I went out the back door, the E5 went out the front door and we carried these little snub-nosed .38s for MPI. We had .45 caliber for uniform MPs but MPI. We carried these little .38s and I took a shot and I had no idea where the bullet went. But my sergeant dove out the front door, did a shoulder roll, came up, shot that guy right in the chest the coolest thing I've ever seen happen Felt bad for these seven. He lived. Even with a .45 round to the chest, he lived. I'm sure he got court-martialed or something. Yeah, I imagine Shooting us up, but it was crazy stuff like that that happened
Speaker 2:down there on base. You know, during those times and with the infusion of race, while they were trying to integrate a lot of African-Americans with whites in southern Georgia, there were a lot of problems with that. The EM Club was hugely violent. There was always something going on at the EM Club. Fights, knifings off base was problems, especially for a lot of black soldiers. You know just the racism down there was just tough. The Army just flooded too many at one time and the area couldn't handle it. I'm not making excuses for them, but it
Speaker 2:just was a collision. We were in the middle of it all the time. We had the KKK. We had open bases back then so we had these three highways that would come through. They were state highways and apparently we had to let the KKK march through our base and we did and we had to guard them. It was just the craziest thing. I recall I was really numb to all that stuff until I went in the Army and saw it. It was kind of really crazy, crazy stuff. Yeah, it was a good time, it
Speaker 2:was a good experience. I remember the other most significant thing I remember we got to guard President Carter. He flew into Hunter Army Air Force Base so they put us all on a deuce and a half and flew us up. What was funny about it? Each MP, the whole company, we had to go through an inspection and Secret Service had to pat us down. So we were guarding the flight line from where the President's plane landed. They were going to put him on a limousine and drive him off Hunter Air Force and then we had to form like a road for him and stand along it and our backs to the car. We were told we'd be court-martialed. If we looked at the car Plus, they patted us down. We each had 4545s on our hips and each of us had M16s and no bullets. We always had bullets and I remember standing there going. I think I'm just a bullet trap, that's all I am right now. But I was proud to do it In regards to what I liked the president, I was the president of the state, so we've got to protect him, so I'm proud to do it. I elected president, I was the president of the state, so we've got to protect him, so proud to do it. And it was. I recall that just recently the president of Carter just passed. I remember
Speaker 2:guarding that flight line. So I had some interesting, really cool experiences in service. I really grew up fast. When it comes to, you know, mps are kind of a different breed. A lot of GIs don't like MPs but even though they're not deployed, they're almost deployed every day on base. You know we had MPs get in shootings and that of course, I got shot at and you know it was kind of crazy stuff like that all the time. You know the fights, but it was a good experience. So when I came out, I was pretty experienced when I hit the Roman Guard City as a cop. At least I knew how to be a police officer. I just had to learn how to do it in a city. Of course I had to change some things. We were taught some things physical restraints that you can't do in civilian world, you can do in the military. So I learned a couple of things when I got out, but other than that it was a really smooth, easy transition when I got out, but other than that it was a really smooth, easy transition.
Speaker 1:So you got out like your time came up and you just decided to get out and you went and did a police officer for how many years?
Speaker 2:Well, I was going to stay. I applied for flight school, got accepted to the Royal River Wing, but I was going to have to extend for one year as an MPI and then Moritz School was 10 months and then Flight School, I think, was a year, and no, moritz School was 10 months, flight School was 10 months but Moritz School was another couple of months and then they wanted me to sign for four years after that and so I was going to have to give another six, seven years and that put me at 10. And by then, honestly, the way the military, the shape we were in back then post-Vietnam, it just lost its lure for me just a little bit and I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay or not. And a friend of mine and he's six, really good friend of mine, I've been a recruiter he said why don't you get out? I said get out. If you're not out that long, he said you can reapply for flight school and I'll take you right back and come back in. So I said, okay, I'll get out for a while, I'll take a couple months off. And that's what I did.
Speaker 2:I kind of intended to go back. I said I'm going to try this thing out, see if I want to do it as a career. I said, but if I don't get hired I want to go back in. Here's what I want to do. And I talked about reapplying for flight school. I could go back in as MPI. So I talked to my local recruiter I think it was the same guy, he was still there, He'd been there time and. But I got hired at Garden City as a cop and I made good money right out the gate. So I stayed and I did 23 and a half. I retired as the police chief and I got to do a lot of cool stuff along the way patrol, narcotics investigator. I was a shift commander for patrol. I was a police chief for five years.
Speaker 1:And then when I left there, I it's pretty hard to become a police chief, right?
Speaker 2:Well, some of it is some of it's luck. You've got to have positions, you've got to be open, you know. I mean, as you go up the hierarchy, there's only one chief. I was willing to be competing for it, you know. So I got my degree. I ended up getting a master's in public administration. I used some of my GI Bill when I got out to get my bachelor's degree and then the city had to reimburse my program for school and I got a master's degree. My city paid for and that helped me quite a bit. And then the position came open. I was a lieutenant and I tested for it and I was fortunate enough to get it. And then the position came open. I was a lieutenant, I tested for it and I was fortunate enough to get it.
Speaker 2:And I was police chief at Metro Airport for a year. Didn't care for that job that much. It was post-9-1-1. We still had National Guard on site. Tsa was brand new.
Speaker 2:That was a difficult job. I had 180 police officers and you know, and that's when we changed over all the. The world changed after 9-11. Everything in the airport changed and how you could get there. It was really a volatile place to work back then. I didn't leave, I was going to stay, but my city that I had just retired from asked me to come back and be the city manager. I came back and ran the city for the mayor and council. I did that for six years and then after that I went back to law enforcement, but not as a cop. There's a every cop in the state of Michigan is licensed and there's a commission that licensed them. It's called Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards. They call it NCOLS. Yeah, and I was. I got hired as the director and I reported to an 18-member commission that was supported by the governor and I had 18 staff members and we oversaw the licensing. And there's 20 academies in the state of Michigan. We oversaw those and I did that for seven years.
Speaker 1:And then I retired from that. Okay, and you said you did some time in the reserve as well.
Speaker 2:I went back in, you know military. I wasn't married to military. But I look back now. I was pretty wild when I came out. I'm a cop in the 80s policing. I got hired in 1980.
Speaker 2:I got out of the Army in July of 1980, and I was in a patrol car as a cop starting in December of 1980. So it was a quick turnaround. It was a wild, raucous time back in the 80s as a cop and Darden City was pretty busy. We had a lot of violence. It was a bedroom community, it was a nice community, but again a lot of family troubles and things like that.
Speaker 2:Well, I ended up going through a couple divorces pretty quick in the 80s and after my second divorce I was really thinking about I needed to change and I've been on the road as a police officer for probably seven or eight years by then and there wasn't much I hadn't between the Army and that it wasn't much I hadn't seen or done. I was kind of looking for something different and I went in and I re-enlisted to the Reserves, thinking I was going to re-enlist full-time. And again another friend of mine said why don't you go to the reserves and try it out? He put out a while. So I went back in as an MP but I got assigned to a CID unit in Jackson, michigan and I did that for a couple of years and then so what year was it?
Speaker 2:80, I think 88 and 89. Okay, just part of that. First iraq for so you did a two-year that did a two-year just come back and did like a two-year come back and try it out, kind of thing, or something like that okay and, uh, I was up for re-enlistment.
Speaker 2:My unit was going to send me to a warrant school and cid school back to back and I got offered by my police department to work narcotics undercover narcotics. Which I really wanted to do was work narcotics and this seemed really interesting to me. I kind of had to flip a coin and I was told that the narcotics unit, which was run by the state police, wouldn't take me if I was in the jerry. I later found out that wasn't quite true, so I think somebody didn't give me the right information. But either way, I got out and worked narcotics and then I had a few promotions after that and just went up the ranks and retired as a chief. So yeah, the reserves was good, but the military had changed In that eight years. It was amazing how much it had changed, just from the M151A1 Jeep to the Humvee. You know everything had changed and you know I look back and I go. I lost my military demeanor to a certain extent. You know it was tough to get that back, especially going back in as enlisted. I think I went back in as an E4 instead of a specialist. I think I got my corporal right and so I don't know if it was the right fit. I might have been out too long, I don't know. I probably would have stayed. I probably would have given warrant. Maybe she had the injury, had narcotics not been offered to me.
Speaker 2:But you know, those times times we weren't protected for going off on the reserve duty. I was the only guy in the police department that was in the reserves and I know my command officers weren't happy because I was screwing up all the schedules and all that stuff with that and I know they didn't like it. I remember there was quite a bit of grumbling. We didn't have any union protections in regard. In other words, federal law said they had to let me go. They didn't have to pay me. They didn't. So I went back in as an E-4. I was getting E-4 paid when I was on duty and I wasn't getting paid at the police department unless they used my vacation time. So I was faced with going off to warrant school and CID school all on my own time and I probably would have probably would have went through warrant school first. I think I went through as an E4 in warrant and for that two months I'd have been paid as a warrant or a corporal and I couldn't afford it at that time either.
Speaker 2:You know because the news department wouldn't supplement my pay and I only had, so I only had so much vacation time to use, so they they made it difficult to stay in, not like it is today, where they've seen businesses are required or seem more likely to support you see that. Yeah, yeah, they're forced to today. Back then they didn't, so I might have made some different decisions had I had more support, but either way, it happened the way it happened.
Speaker 1:So you're also a member at the Legion, american Legion, post 141. Deborah, tell me a little bit like what brought you here.
Speaker 2:Well, for the longest time I couldn't join because I'm a quote-unquote Cold War vet. I didn't serve during times that I could get in until, I think under President Trump, his first term, the American Legion got that changed through him. Under President Trump, his first term, the American Legion got that changed through him to allow us us Cold War vets to join and expanded the eligibility. So up until then I couldn't join and I had bounced around and that's a couple of times. I think I belonged to AMVETS in Westland but it just wasn't. You know, I was younger then too and it just it was that you know bunch of old vets sitting around drinking cheap beer kind of thing. It had nothing to grab me.
Speaker 2:But then as I got older and I live out here in Holland, I kept driving by this place and I really liked the building. It looked really sharp. It didn't look run down or anything Like some veterans organizations during crappy buildings and things like that. So I walked in and I thought, wow, this place is really cool and I my intent was to only join the riders and I did so. I ran harley and I was just looking for a riding group. So that was my original intent, was okay, now I can join the legion, but I'm just going to join the riders. You got to be a legion, the Riders, but I just want to be with the Riders. And I did that, but then COVID hit. That was just prior to COVID, so this place was closed for a year and then, when I got up and running again, I got involved with the Legion as a whole.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I kind of got just really liked it. I liked the mission of helping other veterans and somewhere along the way I got asked to be the post service officer for first for the riders, Because we have two designations. We have a service officer for the riders to utilize some of the funds we have there to help a veteran in need every month, and then we have a post service officer for the Legion. So it's two separate positions and that one has a lot more responsibility. As far as it's kind of the same thing, looking for veterans to help on a monthly basis. But I'm kind of the go-to guy to point people where they need to be.
Speaker 2:I can't do claims. I don't do claims. In fact, when I got here we used to call it the VSO and I went off to training with the American Legion my first summer doing it and I realized we're not a VSO, we shouldn't be calling ourselves a VSO. So when I came back we changed all that language and took it out of us and I'm a service officer, I'm not a veteran service officer because we can't do claims. So I got that changed and then I did that.
Speaker 2:I actually turned it over to someone else last year one of our members but they quit. So I got it back. I turned it over because I'm now the first vice commander. I've got duties associated with that, so we had somebody else do the PSO but our PSO left so there was nobody to take it over. So I got the PSO duties back, in conjunction with my first commander duties too, and besides that I'm the director of the color guard, so I've got to host a couple things I do here. You know it's the 80-20 rule 20% of the people do 80% of the work. Yes, it's alive and well here, but it's a great organization. We've got 562 veteran members. We have almost 1,300 total between auxiliary and sons of veterans. It's a big post and we do an awful lot of functions here.
Speaker 1:So if anyone was listening to this interview, what would you want them to take away from our conversation?
Speaker 2:Well, earlier I sounded just a little bit negative about military post-Vietnam and I don't want anybody to believe for a moment that I didn't enjoy my entire time there. It was a pivotal transitional time for all the services. I know. Post-vietnam it wasn't popular in our country, you know. We didn't come away from Vietnam like a win. It was tough. And then I think at the time the military was forcing a lot of people out and the people left. There were problems and we had a lot of drugs, there were a lot of overdoses and things. Well, I paint a negative picture. I think it was just something that had to happen.
Speaker 2:But my service at the time as an MP, that's what I did. I policed that. I was happy to do it, I felt proud to do it. I was serving my fellow veterans, my fellow military personnel, even though sometimes it was arresting them. You know, just sometimes we had to do those kind of things, but we were there to keep order. But we were there to keep order.
Speaker 2:The thing I always told people when I got into civilian law enforcement was I said my first three years as a cop, remember I was policing people who were all trained to fight and actually all trained to kill at various levels. Not everybody was trained to do everything I said, but everybody had some level of physical fitness and some level of ability to fight and I said those are the people we struggle with. Unlike my civilian police career, that wasn't everybody you know and you can tell somebody who's prepared to fight or has had some training, you can tell there's ways to do it. But in the military everybody did so. It was a time that paired me for a long, very successful. I credit every bit of my success at law enforcement, everything I did in public service, to my time in the military, which I'm really happy for.
Speaker 2:To be in the Legion, I joined more or less selfish reasons to get involved in the Riders, but then I saw what the Legion did here at 141, and I just fell in love with their mission and wanted to, and it helped me find a way to give back because I realized how much the military did for me. This is my way to give back and it gave me that lost camaraderie I had too. The military, as we all vets know, you build a bond. You know whether you're at Foxhole together or you're on base together. You just build a bond. You know because we all walk the same place.
Speaker 2:We all went to boot camp. We all got the same terminology. Most of us have all the same sick humor that nobody else understands that kind of thing and I had that in law enforcement. I had the same thing. There were a lot of vets in law enforcement, but also just the other cops. We shared stressful times and got close. When I walked away from law enforcement it's like I walked away from that brother and sisterhood completely and now the Legion has really given me that camaraderie back and it's a really it's just, it's a comfortable feel. When I walk in here it's kind of like being home and that.
