Homeless veterans crisis and VA land history

Fellow veterans and friends of veterans, this is a wake-up call. Welcome to Veterans Revolution Radio, broadcast live from downtown Los Angeles, Skid Row Studios. We're at the belly of the beast. We're the most populated area in the United States and perhaps the world for homeless people, and the vast majority of them are veterans. Make no mistake, we're in a state of emergency here, and while the VA officials, the politicians, and everybody is refusing to admit it, we have a serious problem with nearly 20,000 homeless veterans in Los Angeles County, the nation's capital for homeless veterans. Many of them are war-injured and seriously disabled. This is the Veterans Revolution. It was organized. It was a national effort to change what has been going on at the largest VA in the nation. That land was deeded in 1888 to be permanently maintained as a national home for disabled soldiers. Today there's a dog park and there's a public golf course. There's public theaters. Go down the list. The school, Brentwood School, one of the wealthiest private schools in the nation has 21 acres with an athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, athletic, inward. His partner, she was a widow because he was a partner with her husband. He had passed on Arcadia B. DeBaker and the two of them donated about 600 acres back in 1888. There was an act of Congress that preceded it. It was as clear as could be that this land was to be permanently maintained as a national home for our soldiers. And after the Civil War, the veterans from the Union were getting older and all. That's how this came about, because they wanted to get them a home with a land where it was warm because of their declining health, but they didn't want to send them to Florida. Down in the... In the midst of the Confederates and also they established the first veterans home west of the Rockies. And the homes were first established through an act of Congress in 1865. In fact, it was the last act that President Lincoln signed, and he signed it the day before his second inauguration. Of course, he died about a month and a half later through an assassin's bullet. But it was at that time, they were called the Confederate Home for the United States. And they were called the Confederate Home for the United States. And they were called the Confederate Home for the United States. And they were called the National Asylum for Soldiers. And they changed that in 1873 to a home because they knew that there should never be such a thing as a homeless veteran. Well, here we are today, 21st century, and we've got a what a 17 trillion dollar national debt. Spent two trillion dollars sending our young men and women to war over the past decade. And we've got a what a 17 trillion dollar national debt. Spent two trillion dollars sending our young men and women to war over the past decade. And we have tens of thousands of homeless veterans as a result of that with those wars and previous wars. Nearly half of all homeless veterans today are from the Vietnam War. In fact, according to John Rowan, the executive director, president and CEO of Vietnam Veterans of America, stated there are more. Homeless veterans today from the Vietnam War nationwide, about 60,000, Homeless veterans today from the Vietnam War nationwide, about 60,000, than the 50,303 that were killed during the war. That is simply unacceptable on any terms even coming close. I'm a Vietnam era veteran, I'm 73, there's some older than me, some younger, and it's, it rips your heart out when you come across a homeless veteran from the come across a homeless veteran from the Vietnam War. And we cannot let happen to this young generation coming forward from the Iraqi war, Afghanistan war, and let it happen to them what happened to our generation. That's why we formed the old Veterans Guard. I'm almost a youngster, I guess, 73. We've got veterans. We lost several already over the last seven years. Steve Palmer, 88. Newt Young was 85. Dick Breithaupt, 85. Dan Overmeyer, 85. What was in it for them? Think about it. Every Sunday we'd rally outside the largest VA in the nation. There was nothing in it for them. It was about the future generations, and that's why we're still out here. We model ourselves after the Grand Army of the Revolutionary War. And that was the veterans from the Union War, the Civil War, that they were the Union Army, the Confederate Army. And they were the ones that were instrumental in getting these homes built to begin with. And they were instrumental in getting this one built out here. Of course, nobody wants to talk about it. It's like they're, well, they are. They're the unsung heroes. And our guest tonight, Ted Hayes, and we're going to weigh into some, some serious things. Ted's going to bring a lot to the table right now because he's going to talk about the Civil War. And what we're talking about is what happened after. And we're going to dovetail back and forth into this. And we're going to bring this back into perspective. One of the things we're going to be talking about today is a new vision for the old home. It was called the Old Soldier's Home because they were old. We're the old veterans guard. But the home itself, is a national veterans home. And we want a new vision. We have a new vision for it to take it back and reinstate it as a home of great pride for our veterans and for all veterans, whether they're homeless or not, as a gathering place to be with friends and family. And we're looking forward to, and I'd like to introduce Ted. I can't say his name. I can't speak enough about Ted Hayes. He's interesting. A couple of weeks ago, we had a meeting down at the Patriotic Hall and we stopped to have breakfast first. And there was a little restaurant off the side of the way. And I think there were three or four people. Hey, Ted Hayes. Hey, there's Ted Hayes. No matter where you go, everybody knows Ted Hayes. And it's an honor, a real honor to have Ted Hayes here because there's one thing about him. There's one thing about him. There's one thing about him. There's one thing about him. There's one thing about him. Ted Hayes, he speaks the truth. You may not like the truth, but you better get used to it when you're around Ted. And I think that's been our mission. We say what we mean and mean what we say. And that's where we are tonight. And Ted, welcome aboard. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Commander. I appreciate it. And I'm honored to be on board with you tonight here on the program. But as far as telling the truth, yeah, I try to do as much as possible. And I think what I'm trying to do in my more mature age now is tell the truth in such a way that it's not too offensive. You know what I'm saying? Speak the truth in love. When you see stupid things, idiotic things, you just want to blast out. But I'm learning. I'm learning. So, yeah, we have to speak the truth because that is what will set us free. And that being that we are a church. A Judeo-Christian country. Jesus Christ said that. The truth will set you free. And I think that's been a lot of problems. People don't want to tell the truth about what they see right in front of them for whatever reason. Whether it's because they are too ignorant to address it or have the skills to address it or they just don't care. You know, I'm hoping it's just that they feel they don't have the skills. Because I said a while back. I talked to some folks when they questioned me about, you know, why don't people care about the homeless? And I said, well, it's not that they don't care. Especially in America. Americans are very heartfelt people. Made a lot of bad mistakes over the centuries, over the decades and generations. But Americans tend to have a willingness to learn. Sometimes we have to get hit pretty hard before we realize we better change gears. And we've, you know. Come a long way. Learning things. And I think that if. I'm not going to say if. Because it's my strategy to get the ideas that I believe that will properly address homelessness. Into the minds of the masses of the American people. And I think that they will hear. I think to folks, I think y'all will hear. If you knew what to do. As long as people don't know what to do about something. They'll ignore it. They'll turn away. They won't do. But if they knew what to do. I believe people would do. So that's where I'm trying to posture myself. We were talking about that this evening. We were stuck in the. The Los Angeles. Freeway. Freeway. Freeway. Who called it a freeway? It's a freaking bondage way. Bondage alley. Absolutely. It took us an hour and a half. Freedom out there. An hour and a half to go about 12 miles. I think it was from West LA over here. But as you look around the many, many, many, many cars. And each one of them have many, many, many things on their minds. That's right. And each one has a family, if you will. They have some connection there. They have jobs. They have all these commitments and obligations that they have to tend to. Right. And therefore, the bigger issues that are supposed to be governing us on our behalf. For our pursuit to happiness. Yeah. It's not being done. No. And therefore, they have essentially, you know, they're sitting there and say, what can I say or do? Exactly. Yeah. And so we are grateful for this opportunity here with Skid Row Studios to be able to reach out. And we want to grow that from here. But, you know, you've been a. A long time champion of the homeless. You yourself were homeless. The 30th year. Yeah. And there's probably nobody that knows and understands it better. Before we came here. Can't touch me. Can't touch me on it. We were driving through Skid Row. Yeah. And I beg everybody listening, if you're in the Los Angeles, drive through there. Drive through there. Yeah. And ask yourself, why? How? How does this even allow to exist in this great nation? In one of the greatest cities. And it tears your heart out. It tears your heart out to see these people. And by the way, kid, what was the race of most of those people that we saw today? You know, folks, apparently the population, the general population in Los Angeles, the Black Angelinos, African-Americans, we call us. I call us descendants of chattel slaves and Skid Row survivor. I'm Skid Row. Jim Crow. Crow survivors. We're only 11% of the city population. But yet in downtown and Central City East, ground zero of the homeless capital of America and comparatively the world, 95, I would say 95% of the people you see on the sidewalks are black men. Men. And then women. And then Hispanics and a few Asians and a Jew here too and some white folks here and there. But it's primarily black men and then black women. And, you know, Bob, folks, check it out. Go on YouTube. Not YouTube, but Google. Google up 1.5 million black men are missing in America. 1.5 million, they say, are missing. That's what they can count. And they're either dead, kidnapped, hidden, homeless, in prison. Probably a lot of them are homeless. Because a lot of these guys, the black men, they find themselves in a condition where they... They have two or three babies. Two or three different women, perhaps. And there's alimony, child support coming at them. So the best thing for them to do is disappear. And where's the best place to disappear? Homelessness. They don't have to bother you there. You see, keep your nose clean. You'll be all right. You're not going to starve to death. That's why it's very hard as folks. Look, I know y'all put a lot of money out there, federal government money and your private hard-earned money. 10, 200. Homeless services programs. And you mean well. But you know what? You're wasting your money. Because the majority of the programs are good. They work. They are definitely workable. They're successful. But the problem is, once the vet or the homeless person goes through the program, get all cleaned up and disciplined, when they get back to go back into mainstream, they find out things are worse than what they were before they were kicked out of mainstream. And it's more difficult. And so they say, you know what? I'm going back. And so what happens is after a while, when outreach goes to some of these cats on the street corner, in their nice condo encampments, in street cardboard condos, they say, hey, brother. Hey, guy, you want to? Get off the streets and get a job and be a part of society again? It's like, you're out of your mind. Are you crazy? You think I'm crazy, don't you? Because I'm not in the sidewalk. You think I'm mentally ill, don't you? No, you're crazy because you're stuck in that freaking rat race. You got to pay taxes. You got to pay utilities. You got to pay child support, alimony, man, police, traffic. Well, are you saying then it is better to be on Skid Row? Yes, man. Oh, come on, Dad. Come on, man. That is. That is. That is the mindset. See, folks, what a lot of folks don't realize, I went to be homeless on purpose to smell it, feel it, taste it, see it, experience it. To find out where it comes from, why, and to investigate whether there is a way out of it or not. And I had a chance to learn something about human nature that a lot of people don't really get. And the fact of the matter, is human beings tend to, no matter what color, race, ethnicity are, we have been given the wonderful gift of survival. That's the first law of nature, self-preservation. When we realize we cannot get out of certain pains and bad situations, guess what we do? We do what babies do when you don't change their diapers after a long while. They adapt to the feels. And the homeless guys who are out there now in them encampments, I'm telling you, I know them. They are like slaves. They're like slaves on the plantation that inadvertently stumbled off the plantation. And when they got out there in them swamps or wherever they were, and they tasted what it meant to be free, they realized, you know what? I would rather die in freedom in this filthy swamp than to go back and be a slave. And see, my ancestors used to sing a song, folks. They'd say, I'd rather be dead and buried in my grave than to live my life, on my knees as a slave. Give me liberty or give me death. But let's address, because this is the Veterans Revolution Radio, and I want to stick on to veterans themselves. Sure, absolutely. But they're caught in it too, though. Okay, but I will disagree when you talk about veterans who have served this country who have their minds destroyed and there's no safety net and they're not safe. And they're out on the streets crying for help. I run in too often. And we have a home over here that was deeded as a home. Right. And we have dog parks. We have all these other things. I know, parades and all that stuff. Yeah, okay. I've seen it. All right. Well, we're going to take it back. Absolutely. Because I'm not buying into that these guys want to be on the street and live in the filth of the swamp. No, no, you must understand what I'm saying, Bob. You must understand what I'm saying. As I said, all the programs are good. They are workable. I disagree with that. Well, okay, that's fine. My experience is that they're workable. Problem is, they've had nowhere to transition these people into where they can live a safe, secure, stressless lifestyle. But let's go to the issue they have right now, which is this housing first, which is, here, Ted, here's the set of keys. That doesn't work. Okay, that's what I'm saying. That's why we came up with the Dome Village concept as a stepping stone to that. Okay, but Ted, this is what's out there today. And that's why we have to address what's here today. Right. We have a home over here. They don't want... Now, the L.A. Neighborhood Community Council, Council Coalition. Right. As you know, you were here when Terrence Combs, the president. 96 communities in this city of Los Angeles agreed, voted on a motion that this city is in a state of emergency for homeless veterans. Right. Okay? And they call it a crisis. And they said that we need to... The city, the mayor, and the VA need to get together. Right. And they need to unify and build and establish a crisis over here. Not give somebody a welfare check. A key in some awesome way. Yeah, exactly. Bring them in in like a triage fashion and say, okay, Ted, by the way, I see you're from Des Moines, Iowa. Would you be willing to go back to your family? Well, if I can afford a trip, well, we're going to give you... Right. We're going to take you back to you. Right. We're going to integrate you with your family where you go. Right. LA is a different animal completely. Mm-hmm. It's not like any other city... Right. ...where you lived there and became homeless. Right. Most people come in here... From outside. ...come outside with big dreams. That's right. This is the city of dreams. That's right. And it's... A smart person can fall in the cracks real quick. That's right. Yeah. Once you go through, you're through. Yeah. How do you get out? Yeah. And so what... You know, I don't have any answers. We talked. You've got some answers about Skid Row over there. But... We've got a situation right here in Los Angeles, that national home. Right. I'd like to address that and how we can go in and get veterans. Because I believe this. There's one thing that when I talk to a homeless veteran... Mm-hmm. I always say, are you a veteran? Yeah. Mm-hmm. When did you serve? You know, you have certain questions. Mm-hmm. And what... You know, where are you in? What was your MOS? Your military occupational specialty? And you ask somebody, what was your MOS? And they say, what do you mean? They say, hey, you're not a veteran. Okay, don't try to spoof me. Right. There's certain questions you can lead them on. Right. Right. Right. Right. Without fail... Mm-hmm. Every time I run into a veteran and talk with them, did you enjoy your military experience? And without fail, they almost always, always say, it was the best time of my life. Wow. Why did you get out? Well, I, you know, I had different plans. I was going to get married. And that didn't work out. And this didn't work out. And I'll never forget when... It was about a couple years ago, actually, where we protested out. And I crossed the street. I saw a person laid flat out on the sidewalk across the street. Right. And I ran across a shopping cart. So I ran across. Almost got hit. You know, Wilshire's a busy street. I wasn't going to go through the stoplight routine. I ran straight over. It was a person in state of emergency. And I, you know, I asked him, I said, are you a veteran? He said, yeah. And he apologized. He was red. Drunk. Just dead drunk. And he said, I've been celebrating my ex-fiance's birthday today. And he apologized. I said, all right. Okay. And so I... I said, did you enjoy it? You know, and he said he was... It had been eight years and everything. I said, why'd you get out? And he said, well, you know, I thought I was going to get married. And that didn't work out. A lot of things didn't work out. He reached over this collar. And he said, I promoted myself to brigadier general. He had a star on his collar. That hit me to the core. This is a man... Like that. Because this is a man that had a vision in the military to climb to the highest. And he didn't get there. But he himself, in his own mind, he was a soldier. And every case is different. As we talked about down there. You got individuals living down there. It could have been their family upbringing, whatever. But when you go to sign up for the military, the army, eight out of ten are rejected. Because they... Really? That many? Eight out of ten. Eight out of ten. It used to be seven. It's up to eight. Does it true you have to be a high school graduate now? I think so. Yeah. They used to bring them in earlier. But if you have a police record, obviously you can't. If you're overweight, you're physically unfit, mentally unfit, you don't have it. Police records. All of this stuff. But it means, though, that they let foreigners who are not citizens. Yeah. Yeah. That's an avenue to get... That's really scary stuff, isn't it? To me, it is. There's no loyalty there. Yeah. Because you're allowing... You're allowing anybody from any nation to come in. Teach them lethal skills. Yeah. Yeah. To use on us if they choose to do so. Yeah. Yeah. No, I agree. I mean, they could take our... It's harder for our guys to take those guys down. Yeah. Yeah. No, there's some real issues there. But here's the thing. When a kid is 18, I don't want to say a kid, a young man, young lady, they can't afford to go to college. Right. And they feel like, well, I have certain skills. I can do things. I can contribute to my country. I will sign up. Right. And they become... Let's say they are accepted. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's two out of the 10. Uh-huh. And he or she has got, you know, innocent is what I call. Okay. Brought up by nice families. Yeah. Taught to, you know, obey the law, do all the right things, take care of themselves mentally, physically, and everything else. Take people right. And then we turn them over to our United States government. Right. Who deprograms them into defending our country, which we need. But they become trained killers and whatnot. I don't even know who I am, I don't even know who I am, I don't even know who I am, I don't who I am, I don't even know who I am, I don't even know who I am, I don't even know who I am, I don't even know who I am, I don't even know who I am, I don't even know who I am, I don't even know who I am, I don't even know who I am, I don't even know who I am, I don't even know who I I don't even know who I am, I don't even know who I am, I don't even know who I am, I don't even ending our nation they see their friends killed their comrades they have to kill yep and after maybe one or two tours they say i've had enough i want to get out and there's an od programming now right they get discharged and their friends that they went to high school with and now graduated from college in a whole different realm they don't understand whatever yeah they're no longer anything in common and the family doesn't understand them this is also where it was during the vietnam war where guys would be one day and out in the rice paddies fighting and carrying on two days later he's at home having dinner with his family with his mom and dad never got a chance to debrief and get things together just boom and they and who did the camaraderie they can't talk to the parents about what they just were going through two days ago yeah i can tell you so quick yeah i did not serve in combat i was blessed and that's what i did i did not serve in combat i was blessed and that's what i did i did not serve in combat i was blessed and that's what i did i did not serve in combat i was blessed and that's what i did putting it all on the line today for those that did sure now when i got discharged i was stationed in scofield barracks u.s army hawaii which is the largest training facility 25th division everything right 16 000 acre wow huge but when i went now hawaii they call it the pentagon of the pacific because everything that went to vietnam goes right out of hawaii be at the marine corps or whatever and if you came back in the black plastic bag you came back to hawaii to yep be at the army navy wherever you were assigned and when i got discharged in in hawaii they respected the military i mean you had many people who were civilian workers there it was a military town oh yeah yeah very much so they they respected many of the hawaiians over there even served in the military it's funny how obama didn't learn patriotism while he was there they must have really drilled it with that communist stuff he missed that one you know his dad was the world war i mean his grandfather was a world war but for some his grandfather liked the country yeah well he just had the wrong people and we know that is yeah but but just because you're a veteran don't make you right either no that's true uh timothy mcveigh was a veteran who's that timothy mcveigh yeah and benjamin arnold yeah what's the name no arnold franklin no what's the benedict benedict benedict arnold yeah he's general he was a hero he won several battles apparently oh yeah yeah but i mean i'm very much united just because you're a veteran doesn't mean you're a veteran you're a you're an angel entitlements and all the other stuff and i look for those that bore the brunt of the battle yeah uh and and i say that because uh these are the innocent minds that were changed and and there's no safety net but going back to that when i uh got discharged uh and i was uh 1967 in july which was the summer of love the hay dashbury i remember that right san francisco right and they forewarned us going to the war and they were like oh we're going to the war and we're going when we were discharged you know do not respond react whatever you see you you could end up in jail you want to get discharged just keep your head going so i'm on there and i'm walking through uh and i'm with guys coming from vietnam this guy's chest full of medals and everything else people spitting and calling you names and everything else and i'm thinking my god for the first time i have faced the enemy on my own soil yeah how do these guys feel well we went over to oakland army processing center because they were in the army and they were in the army and they put us on us this old gray army bus and said you're going over to oakland and they said which he saw here is child's play i had no idea farm boy from indiana and living in hawaii what are they talking about oakland and um home of the black panthers man yep yep and um so when we got over there they had the entryway where we're going all fenced off and they were throwing eggs and everything oh yeah the whole work so we get inside they line us up and the sergeant said okay you know soldiers they're going to the army and they're going to the army and they're going to the army and they said and they gestured outside and he says this is what you've been fighting for so what you know i mean freedom of speech i guess and all that but they um processed us out gave us our travel money and and they said okay you're out uh now you know if you want to go to the san francisco airport you can take a cab you can walk really don't care you're on your own you're on your own now yeah yeah thank you yeah they said don't call us yeah they said you had 30 days of travel uh where you could stand go stand by so that if you went of course i went back to indianapolis saw a lot of my old friends and they laughed at me i was making 220 a month and i i was real proud of my service i served on the uh in the commanding general staff and i was a driver with the chief of staff right but what was interesting is that i realized i couldn't live back here like this uh and i went back to work and i was like oh my god i'm going to live back here like this i don't even know where to go or even if i don't even know where to go or even if i don't even know where to go or even if i don't even know where to go or even if i don't even know where to go or even if i don't even know where to go or even if i don't even know where to go or even if i don't even know where to go or even if i don't even know where to go or even if i don't even know where to go or even if i don't even know where to go or even if i don't even know where to go or even if i don't I really believe there's a huge... But Bob, I also heard, though, that something like 60,000 Vietnam veterans committed suicide. Yeah, there's more that... More committed suicide than died in combat. Yeah, on average, 22 a day across... And what do you attribute that to? Multitude of reasons. We don't know. But isn't it, though, that our military has not set up a debriefing system for these guys? That failed long... I mean, these guys are 60, 70 years old. That should have been done 40 years ago. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. And they're not doing it today, either. They're not debriefing these guys. They may send them back from Iraq and Afghanistan. Tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, the end of the Vietnam War, 40 years ago. You know, it took you to tell me that. Yeah, yeah, 40 years. The rest of the country doesn't know that. No, no, it goes right by. 40 years ago tomorrow, on April 30th, fall of Saigon. And, of course, we know... You know what I'll do one day? As you mentioned this stuff, just think it out loud. Someday, if we get the platform, I would like to... Maybe you can do this. There needs to be a day when all the Americans in this country just really, really pay attention to this, the 40,000, you know, 40 years ago when that happened. We need to pay attention, especially immigrants, people who come here don't know what they're walking on. Yeah. Therefore, they can't really appreciate the freedom they experience. This is the forgotten war. There's no doubt about it. Yeah. And Korea, too. Korea is awesome. They forgot all about those poor guys. Yeah, yeah. But, again, what I'm trying to focus and centralize on this is that if we can establish a state of emergency, a crisis housing... Right. 40 years ago, 50,000 refugees were sent to Camp Pendleton. Right, right. Vietnamese refugees. They are productive citizens. Go to read the current issues of the Orange County Register. Each day, they talk about different segments. Right. They have photos of Camp Pendleton. Was that right? So they're celebrating over there. They're commemorating over there in Orange County. Well, yeah. Little Saigon and all those folks. Exactly. Yeah, but that's the heart of it there. We don't know that. And my gut tells me that if we can reach out to that community and let them know that here in Los Angeles, we have the biggest VA in the nation, and it's being abused and misused, how can you come in and say thanks to those men that went over there on your behalf? And I just think we're missing everything right now. I just got an idea, folks. I just got an idea, Bob. I know some people in that community. I know the connections to the community. Let's arrange that. Good idea. Good thinking. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. No, I want to go down... You see, folks, this is why we call him the commander. Actually, we call him Patton Jr. You want to see this guy operate, man. Don't let his nice fatherly look deceive you. Because he's got a brand new shot in combat boots still, too. Follow me. Or get kicked in the butt if you're in the front. You bet. Lead follower, get the hell out of the way. That's right. So he's got these brilliant ideas and things, and his old veterans guard that are out there every Sunday afternoon from 1 to 4 o'clock. Faithfully, these guys have been doing it for seven years. I go out periodically. I don't go out as much as I would like. I should get out there. But Bob primarily and some of the other guys, they've been there, and women, just staying tough, folks. And if it wasn't for this guy, your host here, Bob Rosebrock, and his tenacity, the big developments that you'll be getting to hear about over at the Veterans Homeland, i.e., the VA center, the largest in the country, all of that, no matter what you hear out there now, because people are going to start trying to claim glory, if you want to call it that. We don't call it glory. We call it getting a job. We call it getting a job done. It's a duty. But there's going to be people out there who are going to want to play on this. They're going to say that they started this or they did that. I'm telling you all something, folks. You got the horse right here. That's Bob Rosebrock. That's the guy who made all of that possible. He could have walked away three, four, five, six years ago, but he decided to stay. There were guys there before him, too, tried to do something about it, and they did their job. God bless them. Thank you very much. But this man got a hold of it, and that's why you really need to stay tuned and really listen in to Bob's show here, because you'll learn. You'll learn a lot, and you'll get encouraged about what you can do to help our veterans. Well, thank you, Ted. Hey, that's easy, brother. That's easy. No, that was scripted. I read that. I slipped it to you across the thing. Yeah. But, you know, we'll say this. You're right that there were those who started before. I came across a guy who wrote an article in 2002, and it was part of all the VSOs and the American Legion, the VFW, and. He said, and they held a protest outside the hospital, and we're going to stay here until we get this resolved. Mm-hmm. Boom, gone. One or two weeks. You know what's interesting is that a friend gave me the movie Gandhi. Oh, yeah, I've seen that. Yeah. Yeah, he said. I saw the old version, the original version, and I saw this one, too. Yeah. But he said, you know, I want you to watch it, because he said, you kind of remind me what you're doing. He said, not on the scale. Don't get. Right, right. But he said. Of what he went through. Yeah. Two and a half hours sitting there watching this thing, and guess what? Man spent two and a half years in jail. In that two and a half hours, it was a long life spread out. That's right. And they shows him at 74 getting killed, and he was like 30 when he started him off the train and everything. Yeah, yeah. But this is what's happened to our nation. We're a movie oriented. If we can't do it in two hours, I'm out, you know. This is why we've got to come up with ways. To inspire the lumpenproletariat, the people who are, as you pointed out early in the conversation, who are stuck primarily with going to work, legitimately so, trying to take care of their families, students trying to study, things going on. And their minds, their conscious level is very small. So we've got to do like we do children, give them big things to look at and fun things and entertainment things. And then you kind of take advantage of them and take them where you want them to go. Because that's what the socialists are doing to our country. They recognize what we recognize, but they don't play fair. They go and lie to the people. They got a lot of gadgetry to get your attention and magic, and then they deceive them. And I'm saying we're going to have to do the same thing. One more point, one more point to point out to folks on this patent issue. Back during World War II, when they really needed a general to get something done, who did they call? Always. Okay. You bet. Well, imagine if you sent him over to Iraq or something and you said. They'll surrender. They'll surrender. Yeah. That's it. We don't want to fight. Oops, we're sorry. But you say, excuse me, General. Now, here are the rules of engagement. And he says, rules of engagement? What? What are you talking about? Let me tell you what my rules of engagement. I kill the enemy before they kill me. Okay. That's the rule. Let those other poor SOBs die for their country. That's exactly. That's exactly right. And that's why they won World War II. That's why they won. Yeah. And that's why we, in Vietnam, they just kept sending our troops in on the ground. And it just. Can't shoot unless being shot at. And if their back is turned to you, you cannot shoot. Yep. What? Guy just shot at me. And he's running. Why can't I shoot his ass? Shoot his. Oh, man. How did they tie up you guys, man? Well, you know, but you're right on all that. And that's why we've got to use the patent strategy of the revolution here. Yeah. We're peaceful demonstrators, as you know. Many opportunities to probably strike back and get hostile. We've talked about many ways of, you know, cutting the chain, driving, you know, over that front gate and all the other. But, you know, we're going to win it. As we know that now the secretary of the VA is supposed to come out in June. Now, who was the secretary of the VA? What's his name? McDonald. McDonald. Now, what was he before he became, before Obama attacked him? He was a CEO of Procter & Gamble. Really? Oh, he was big. Dude. Yeah. No, he, again, you know, he was a West Point graduate. Uh-huh. And. So he knows about duty, art, and country. Yeah. You know, he messed up on some stuff. We're all, you know, prone to do that. But I guess what my issue is that he has this wherewithal, but he goes on this same old corporate level. And guess who? When he comes in, he reads, finds out about this. He's like, oh, I'm going to have to deal out here. And who did he call upon? Well, Patton. Patton Jr. No, no, no. We had a little meeting. Oh, you had a crash. That's right. We had a meeting with him about a week ago. Right. Right. Remember? Yes. Mr. Shriver. Yes. Yeah. Didn't call. And he's not a veteran. Again, Bobby's Bobby. I'm not going to go into that. Yeah. Yeah. No. We're hoping to heal that wound. Yeah. But why did he? I'd sent him numerous emails. Right. And I had articles. Right. And everything else. And he knew from the Passover. Right. The Shinsaiki. Right. About who we were and what we stood for. Right. He was definitely briefed. Yeah. And I mean, I want a judgment against his executive director. I don't know. Right. For violating our constitutional right to free speech. Right. So you had a person. Both what Bob did when he speaks to that. Six years ago, he wasn't, they weren't getting too much attention. You know, the system knows how to play you off. So Bob understanding the distress signal of the US flag. Some people turn the US flag upside down. They're sending the protest because they don't know. They think they're degrading the United States when they do that. When actually when you turn the US flag upside down, you're saying that there was a stress situation, life and profits. It is a danger. Help helps like an SOS signal. So what Bob did out at the Brentwood at the Veterans Homeland, there's this gate on the corner of Wilshire and San Vicente and thousands of cars go by there every day. And so what he did on one particular Sunday, oh boy, did he do it? He posted a US flag upside down folks. This guy, okay. Hippie. Anyway, no, he's not a hippie, but he, he, he did the hippie to know what they were doing. He knew what he was doing. He posted in showing up. He got a rise out of the, uh, out of federal police. And guess what they told, they told this veteran, you gotta take that down. So why? Because can't do that. It's against the law. What do you mean? It's against the law. It's my freedom of speech. You're going to go to jail. Take me. And they took him to jail seven times. And guess what? He won. We won. The veterans won. That's right. We. And it changed the whole thing because it led to all kinds of other lawsuits and the cancer has been opened. Yeah, absolutely. Because that there's a reason in the United States flag code, it says when life or property are in danger. Well, our situation was life. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Life and property never in before in modern day history. Did anybody have the right to hang that flag in distress than we did on our own veterans home? That's right. On us, uh, federal property. That's right. And they didn't like that message. Now remember for 66 Sundays, we always hung the American flag right side up. That's exactly right folks. Yep. And I've got photos where you folding it from your old boy scout days and everything else. Yes. Very patriotic in what we did. And as soon as we hung it in distress, they went berserk. They went berserk and they, and they, and they walked right into what it was designed to be. It made them face the truth. Yup. And, and, and, and since that time, folks, this whole thing has turned around. Beware. And, and, and, and Bob is still out there with, with the old veterans guard every Sunday from one to four o'clock on the corner of a Walsh and San Vicente. You need to get out there. And also Bob, he, man, should I sit? This is, this is. This is every Sunday. Now, when you go out there, Bob will have out there some Martinelli sparkling red grape. It ain't got no lick in it though. You gotta pretend. Yeah. No, we have either apple juice, lemonade. And here's the interesting story about Martinelli's. It was founded in 1868. Wow. Three years after the civil war. Yep. Think about that. Amazing. Yep. And, and, and one year after. No, actually. 1866 was passed in 1860s, 1866. It was ratified as law into the constitution in 1868. How ironic is that? Yeah. And he, you know, the, um, that president Lincoln was killed in what? 65. 65. Three years earlier. That's right. Now think about this. It was a family run business established in 1868. Right. And they, um, the veterans home. Uh huh. In 1888, 20 years later. Right. Exactly. Now I'm going to tell you something. When you look at what's happened to that home that was deeded as a sacred trust to our United States government to provide housing and care for our disabled and homeless veterans. And it is in ramshackle. It is a simple disgrace. It's been raped. It is. It's pillaged, plundered and everything you can imagine. But Martinelli's. Here they are. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They are. What is it going on? I'm almost 150 years coming up. 158. 53 years. 153. No. For them. For Martinelli. Yeah. Yeah. 153 years. Yeah. Because the Civil War was 150 years ago. You're right. Right. Um, but here's the thing. They've been offered to be bought out by Coca-Cola and Pepsi. They didn't sell out. No. Oh, come on, man. They could be living fat and rich right now. That's why. They're not. They're not. They're not. They're not. They're not. do if you had that opportunity. Yeah, most people wouldn't. But you know what's interesting? Henry Ford said when you put your name on your product, you won't compromise. Now remember their name, Martinelli's there. You sell that name to somebody, they may start diluting that of content and this and that. That's true. And your name, more than the money, will be colluded. Corruded. Colloded. Corrupted. Corrupted, man. Which one is it? Which one is it? Corrupted. Hey, folks, that's Cheyenne. You guys know Cheyenne Hayes? Cheyenne Hayes is our engineer, man. Smart young lady. And guess what her last name is, folks? It's Hayes. H-A-Y of all things, E-S. That's my sister over there, man. But I mess with her, that's my family. And this whole time, I've been doing this for you. Folks, I didn't know till tonight that that was my sister up in here. But she's super. We Hayes come in all kind of colors, don't we? White, black, brown, red, yellow. Ain't that something? Male, female. But Cheyenne, can't thank her enough. She's a super engineer. This whole Skid Row studio. It's fantastic, folks. I'm proud of these folks for putting us together. Huge. Back in my day, 30 years ago, when I first hit the streets in downtown, nothing like this. We had a little something to make flyers off. Going back to even Martinelli's there, they had just an upstanding family that it's my understanding that I think Are they local? They're up in Watsonville, Northern California. We should go visit them. Yeah, but every four times a day during the bottling process, it's my understanding, a family member will stop, take a sample. Nobody knows when or where it'll be. Good for them. Check. Good for them. Check. Now that's the kind of quality. But again, reflect on how they look after their product. Right. And how we look after our product. We don't. Our customer, the veteran. It is so sad. And that's why I'm so proud to have Martinelli's because they set an example. And I'm going to keep driving that example. That's the Martinelli's. The Martinelli's standard for our veterans home because they have about the same. Well, they were had 20 year jump on them. It's not made in China. Is it? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Sure. I know. I folks, you heard him say it. It's made not made aware the U.S.A. You bet. Yeah. No Martinelli's. I can't speak. Well enough of him, huh? No, no. So but anyway, like I said, I want to tie. The reason I mention that is the quality and we don't have at that national veterans home quality. Right. We don't look at the veterans now. The Rafer Johnson. Johnson has a book. Who is Rafer Johnson? Tell me. Well, you know, Rafer Johnson is. Tell me. How long is this program? Take a minute. Yeah. Rafer Johnson did what my daughter did. But great. He he he was a decathlon champion for the United States in the Olympics in 1960. Am I correct? Yes. And he carried the torch into the Olympics. And back in those days, young people, you already know, back in those days, black and white folks was not supposed to hang together. The American flag. And yeah. Yeah. And this was and let alone be out front as black cats. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Out in front, carrying the American flag. I'll never forget. I was a high school, just graduated from high school. And of course, you get the news later. I was in Rome. But here was a man who would have had to sat in the back of the bus. But he was leading the front of the American United States Olympic team. But Rafer will be 80 years old this summer. Amazing. Amazing man. Don't look it. And he contributes so much. He grew up in the south, in Texas. Tough times. And his aunt moved to Kingsburg, a Fresno area. And she got his father a job as a janitor, I think. And they came up. And Rafer, I think he was like, he mentioned that he was the only black student in there. But they reached out to him and helped him. They saw, this is a young man, bright guy. I mean, he was like a straight-A student. Everything he did was. Right. Built like a piece of wood. Yeah. But he had this leadership. Quality. That took him and said, here, be the best that you can be. And that's, he has a book. It's called The Best That I Can Be. And isn't he also now one of the co-founders of the world-renowned Special Olympics? Well, they give the credit to Mrs. Shriver. Of course. But he was certainly one of the co-developers of it. And he has been the central force here in Southern California. Yeah. The chairman. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. In Southern California. Yeah. But this is a man who marched with Dr. King. Yeah. He was with Bobby Kennedy at his side when he was assassinated. He marched with Cesar Chavez. And he's marching with the old veterans guard of the veteran revolution. That's right. He's in there big time, folks. Rayford Johnson, Olympic gold medalist. In here with Bob Rosenbrock and the old veterans guard big time. I've met him a few times. Yeah. He's a great man. And we're trying to push onto the VA now that that book, that book becomes part of their reading. Absolutely. They have a thing that's called I care. And the I stands for integrity. KC stands for character. All of this, you know, it's an acronym. Sure. But I was talking with a veteran official today on that. And I said, you know, look, if you say you care about me as a veteran, are you the best that you can be in caring for me? Oh, that's a good word, man. Man. That's good. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, we're going to be pushing. We want to have that out there. We want to make a lot of changes for the greater good. Good. Excellent. When you go into that VA, if you're a homeless veteran and we bring you in, we're not going to give you, from our standpoint, we're not just going to give you a key. A key and go to your apartment somewhere on the outskirts of Timbuktu somewhere. We're going to make sure that we take care of whatever issues you have first. Right. And some may be able to go over there. Some may hear. Right. And we want to eventually get into the dome village concept where they can have that transitional housing. It's important that they get that transition. It is. Because I found out there, a lot of guys, and I'm talking the same thing in overseas, in Australia and Europe, that when you give a homeless person who's been out in the streets for a while, a key in an apartment, they usually find a way back into the streets again. Yeah. Because there's no camaraderie. With that old saying, you teach a man to, give a man a fish, you fed him for the day. Exactly. Teach him to fish. And you fed him for life. Then we've got to use that. That concept will work. That's what we're going to do in the dome village concept. They graduate. They earn each step of the way. They earn it. Rayford used that example at a recent meeting with some of the VA officials. And it was very, very moving. And he said, when a family has a child that has special needs, it's hard for them to admit it. Yeah. And they would be very happy if you just gave them, their child, a gold medal. And he said, it doesn't work that way. It doesn't work that way. It doesn't work that way. It doesn't work that way. You have to take that child out of its shell, teach them how to put on a uniform, to go out and how to practice, how to train. And he said, maybe over a couple, three years, they get this little award that says they participated. They did something. They earned it over a period of time. Yeah, but there's a transition. Yes. And he said that maybe they get this award that says, I participated. And the next year, they get a bronze medal. Yeah, stuff worked their way up. Then there's the silver. He said, you have no idea what it's like. To put a gold medal over them. They take it off and said, Mom, Dad, on the stage, I won. I won. Wow. And he said, that's where we have to be. And that's what we have to do with our veterans. Yeah. We just can't give them this mollycoddle. Send them off. No. And say, here, you know, a little apartment and, you know, yeah, we'll get your monthly check and everything. No, we want you back into society being as productive as you were when you were in the military. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't believe we can do that. I agree with you. And it's going to take work. It's going to take the participation of many people out there listening in. Civilians, civilians, civilians, all of us out here enjoying this freedom, this wonderful life we have. Come on, folks. You know, a guy came, I think I mentioned to you, a guy came out to me one Sunday. And he said, I'm familiar with what you guys are doing and everything out there. And he said, I've been reading. And he said, he read some of my articles. running. He said, you say you got 20,000 homeless veterans. He says, let me tell you what you need to do. I said, what's that? He said, well, you need to get those 20,000 homeless veterans and bring them outside out here. And he said, block off the streets and all this other stuff. I said, really? I said, are you a veteran? He said, no, I'm not. And I said, here, I've got something for you. I said, you go get 20,000 of your non-veterans friends. Cause I said, we shouldn't be out here. This is your job. It's not my job to be out here, but if I don't do it, who will? And this is the amazing mentality of them. Just, you know, hey, Bobby can't help it, man. But he had it all figured out. Go on, get the 20,000. Yeah. Yeah. You go do it. Let me include you in. If I could get the 20,000, they wouldn't be out here. They'd be inside. Okay. Wouldn't be protesting. We'd have them. But we were going to be working on a, um, um, uh, a, you know, in the military, if you in combat, if you lose some troops, if you get hit by a certain, they have a search and rescue. Yeah. And we're going to be doing that. We're looking to get, and this is our discussions. Right. Uh, and that is to have a bus. Okay. It's like what we went through up here at Skid Row. Big bus. And it said, search and rescue. And you know how you've got that big megaphone thing. If you are a veteran, particularly a Vietnam veteran, get in there. We're taking you. We're going to get you. We're taking you back to your post. Yep. And, and I believe we can do that if they know that they can get away from that element and maybe get back to their friends who served. Yep. I just, I really, I think you're right on folks. He's, I think, I think Bob is really onto something here. And, and again, coming from my, my experience living on the sidewalks with the homeless people voluntarily, there is a certain camaraderie, even in all that devastation and filth and destruction and oppression and cold and heat, there is a camaraderie that develops there. And it's very important. That's why a lot of homeless guys said before you can give an apartment, they'll go up, but they eventually they'll find their way back to their homeboys. They need the camera. It's called supportive housing. And that's why they have their own supportive housing. That goes, well, I mean, if you have, mental issues or any kind of health issues and they give you an apartment down South Central LA, how are you going to get there? You want to take a bus or, you know, especially taking medicine. When I had to take medicine, I can't forget. Yeah. I forget. Yeah. Well, after a point in time, either overdose or intentionally, you know, and that's just what happens if you don't have that camaraderie, that, that fellowship, that's when the suicide comes. That's right. There's nothing left. Cause you make a very good point when you're out there on the street, at least you have something. Yeah. And you can't put somebody in a room in an unknown neighborhood and think, wow, he's not homeless anymore. He's worse off. He is worse off. And, and, and the problem we have right now are people who never served in the military have never been homeless, making six figure numbers and who are telling you how to solve it. Making decisions. How to make this work. And the biggest thing they want is to end veteran homeless. I said, how do you end veteran homeless? They don't have a clue. No, you can't end it because you, as soon as you think you get the last guy, there's another one and another one. And you, this country cannot sustain this endless check. That's going to be paid out. You better start investing it into brick and mortar for future generations. Right. And that's where we have to be. Not constantly sending these guys to, and so some slumlord is making money. Oh yeah. Yeah. And, and a lot of these, a lot of these folks, a lot of these, um, these not for profit construction companies making killings, making killings. I remember several years ago for a two bedroom apartment, $250,000 to make a two bedroom apartment. Mm hmm. A lot of money, man. Yeah. Well, fellow veterans, friends of veterans who are winding up an hour here. Um, as anybody knows, we could go on forever. This is a long, long story. We've been out there protesting over seven years. We can talk about the civil civil war. Yeah, we will. We took that out. Didn't we? Yeah. Uh, but we've been out there seven years, years. This coming Sunday will be our 371st straight Sunday. Um, and those are three hours. Um, and we still haven't accomplished what we want. And we hope that this one hour, session, uh, can enlighten you on what's going on. We need your help. Uh, we're not a nonprofit. We're not asking for money. Um, we did something very special. We are an ad hoc team. We do pay whatever we have out of our meager pockets that way. Nobody can buy us if you will. Uh, and we will, you know, stay and answer to the truth. Our board of directors are 20,000 homeless veterans. That's who we answer to. But, uh, we've got a serious problem here. This is a wake up call. Uh, on this program, we start with Reveille and we don't end with taps because we've got a long way before we rest our heads. And, um, we will, uh, continue to, um, speak the truth to be the voice of the voiceless out there. Uh, that's our, um, homeless veterans or disabled, um, who have no voice. And as Ted and I drove through Skid Row today, uh, it's painful. Uh, we're extremely grateful for Skid Row Studios for allowing us to share this message. And we have a, um, uh, saying that it's, uh, better to, uh, do right and have enemies than to do wrong and have friends. And you need to think about that one a little bit because it's truth. Uh, we've got a lot of enemies, I guess you might call it. We've been called everything you can imagine, but we speak the truth and, um, I would rather have them as enemies than, uh, um, to have a so-called friends that are unfaithful. So stay well, God bless America and the veterans revolution. I don't even know who I'm talking to, I don't even know who I'm talking to, I don't even know who I'm talking to, I don't even know who I'm talking to, I don't even know who I'm talking to, I don't even know who I'm talking to, I don't even know who I'm talking to, I don't even know who I'm talking to,