Unarmored Talk

What Happens When A Nation Forgets Its Veterans?

• Mario P. Fields - Sergeant Major (Ret.) • Episode 158

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What if the voices we salute 🇺🇸 fade before we ever truly hear them?

Retired Master Gunnery Sergeant Andrew Cox shares how one simple idea—record every veteran’s story—grew into The Lost Art Project, now partnered with the Marine Corps History Division. 

From a bourbon-fueled first recording 🥃 (and his mom’s honest critique!) to building a disciplined, service-first mission, Andrew opens up about turning raw conversations into living history. We explore why so many veterans stay silent 🏠, how peer-led storytelling creates trust 🤝, and what it really takes to archive these voices for generations.

🎧Listen to The Lost Art Project Podcast or Watch on YouTube.

💬Share this episode with someone who served or whose story deserves to be told. Together, we can make sure no veteran’s voice goes unheard. 

⏱️ Chapters:
 02:30 — Nonprofit Shift & Marine Corps Archive
 04:50 — Why Veteran Stories Are a Lost Art
 08:30 — Starting the Podcast & Early Lessons
 11:30 — Safe Spaces & Opening Up
 14:45 — Doubt, Trolls & Persistence

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Mario P. Fields:

The Lost Art Project Veteran Stories. Everyone, I have a retired Master Gunner Sergeant. His name is Andrew Cox. And that title I gave you at the beginning of the show is an amazing podcast that he is the host producer of that uh amazing podcast. And if you have not been following it, shame on you. You guys need to get on your Apple, your Dapple, your Stapple, whatever audio platform you are on. Follow it. Okay. And I was just on Andrew's show a few weeks ago, episode 495. Just so you know, he has over 495 episodes since 2023. Andrew Cox, retired master gunner star, United States Marine Corps. Welcome to the show.

Andrew Cox:

Awesome. Thanks. Thanks for having me. It's just exciting to be here with you. Uh, you're you're a motivator, and you always uh get me excited. So thanks for having me.

Mario P. Fields:

No, you you know, so it it and and Andrew, by the way, is just so uh he's so gracious. I mean again, he had me on his show, and I was gonna get me a bourbon, and he had me so relaxed, I was gonna start making up lies like Oprah, you know, I just start confessing things. But but you know, but the beauty of the beauty of Andrew is he's passionate, he's passionate about what he does. Can you tell the listeners and viewers just a little bit about you, my friend?

Andrew Cox:

Yeah, absolutely. Uh so I served 25 years, master gunnery sergeant, retired. Uh it was time for me to go and had to figure out what to do, and I started jumping into this. And now I got the Lost Art project, Veterans Voices. Um, you can always find it uh uh on the website, thelostart.podbean.com. And that's podbean pod. Uh but uh yeah, you you can find us there uh on any social or on all the social media pages, I guess. And then also you can any of the uh streaming services, uh Spotify, Apple, whatever, whatever ones are out there. I don't know.

Mario P. Fields:

And Facebook and Facebook, yeah. He's on Facebook too. But be before we jump into the unarmored topic, didn't something recently happen that is amazing news that I want you to share. I know you don't want to share, maybe you're humble, but some amazing partnership. Come on, man, what happened? What are you talking about?

Andrew Cox:

What do you what do you mean?

Mario P. Fields:

Partnership with I don't know. He's doing something in the non-profit industry. Is it are you humanitarian, nonprofit, something like that?

Andrew Cox:

I I am going into the nonprofit aspect. Uh you got me. You got me. No, we uh decided to go ahead and go that route. We were kind of pushing off and not doing that, starting out. Uh, and it's been a while. I I think that that's gonna help, especially with uh how we're archiving everybody's stories. Uh so with Marine, uh Marine Corps History Division sending those stories up there. Um, I think I'll be able to get some help uh when it comes to funding and things like that to get more veteran stories. So it should be good. But Marine Corps History Division, they're awesome. Uh they have decided to take my uh uh podcast and they're just gonna archive them up there. And I'm excited about that. It's pretty cool.

Mario P. Fields:

That is that I told you guys he's so wrong, but I'm like, you you know, and the thing about it is just so everyone knows, you have to choose to incorporate any entity as a nonprofit. That's a choice, and and once you do that, you know, there's a lot of uh administrative things that occur. Um and so thank you. Um, thank you, Andrew, for taking that step to continue to make a difference uh while we're living. So let's jump into it. You guys heard you guys heard Andrew. I mean, lots of wonderful things, over 400 400 plus episodes. We're looking at him today as a retired, you know, Marine doing great things, but it wasn't always this way. When did this how did this vision come about?

Andrew Cox:

Uh well, uh, that's a good question. Yeah, so as I was approaching retirement and uh trying to figure out, you know, what the heck am I gonna do in retirement? Because you have to have a plan, you gotta you gotta have something set up, right? Um, and and I know I didn't want to work. That was it, one thing. I was like, I don't want to go work for somebody, I don't want to do that. Um and I wrote a book, The Lost Art of Fishing Stories, uh, where it's just me talk going fishing and talking, talking to my fishing rods, and and I I give what I call the lost arts, right? The lost art can be anything. Changing a car tire, for example, is a lost art because it doesn't get passed down to the next generation. Uh, so it can be anything. And uh as I was talking to my wife, uh I really started thinking about my dad and her dad, both Korea war vets. And we don't really have their stories. And uh then I got to thinking, you know, veterans' stories is a lost art because they get lost over time. Then and most veterans, I won't say all, but most veterans don't even tell their kids about it. And that's one of the things that I found very interesting is you know, it the kids don't even realize the stuff that the veterans have gone through or you know, what they did in service at all. Um, so that's kind of what spurred it. And then I was like, well, and I had talked to somebody about podcasts before, and I was like, Yeah, yeah, I don't know. Uh, but then I know after that, I was like, you know what, I'll do a podcast. And it started with just one once, uh, I think I was started out one once or twice a month, something like that. And then it just kind of spiraled. Uh, and then it was just, you know, I I I met a lot of people over the years, so I just reached out to people that I knew and was like, hey, come on and do this. And so people did and uh started telling their stories. And I and I don't know, for me, uh, it's it's an amazing thing to see um the end result after somebody tells a story. Uh, meaning, one, either they tell stories that they've never told anybody, uh, and you you understand this veteran to veteran, they tend to open up more, um, which is really cool. And there's stories like family members have no clue. There's there's stuff that they're like, oh man, I haven't talked about this, you know, since Vietnam. You know, I I mean it's it's insane, it's absolutely incredible. Sorry, my cat is coming to say hi.

Mario P. Fields:

Oh no, you know, on armor talk, we welcome all guests, all guests, families, and living beings. It's funny too at the end of the show. I'll I always say and living beings. So that yeah, excellent. If you if you're listening to this, you need to you need to get on a YouTube channel and watch this amazing, amazing tiger.

Andrew Cox:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is cat cat. That's I I can't real original with my names, yeah. Cat cat. Yeah, yeah.

Mario P. Fields:

But yeah, that's that's how it started, man. Yeah, you know, you you know, and um, you know, thanks for sharing that point. And like, you know, listeners and viewers, I hope you get this. Is it's a choice. Um, and then as veterans, a lot of times, you know, like Andrew said, we need a safe, safe space, we need to feel comfortable. I actually just left a review on his podcast, and I mentioned that um as a fellow veteran. I love how Andrew makes makes me feel comfortable. At any time as you're making this vision become a reality, did you go, What the hell am I doing?

Andrew Cox:

Yeah, pretty much from day one, I'll be honest. No, uh, as I started doing it, and I'll be honest, I I knew nothing about this world. Uh my stuff at the beginning, not good. Uh in fact, it I got chastised by my mother uh on my first one because I had a little too much to drink. And uh let's just say I was uh I was being a little crazy. And uh so she she got on to me and I was like, okay, well, I know I need to pull that back a little bit. So that was from the day one, right? That's that's the first learning curve was don't drink so much. Uh bad on me. But uh, you know, and and as I move forward, like I I get to these these stepping stones, right? I get to okay, I I open a new social media account or I do this or I do that. And then it's like, man, I I don't know if this is working. I don't know if you know people are interested in it and you don't really get any feedback. And and you're like, man, I don't maybe I should stop doing this. Uh you know, and then of course I'm not making money, uh, you know, uh, like it's not happening, uh, which I'm not really trying to make money, uh, but um, you know, and the whole time I'm thinking to myself, yeah, I think I'm nuts, you know. What why why am I doing this? Uh, but I always have to go back to it's about the veteran, it's about that individual and how important it is to have that that story uh recorded.

Mario P. Fields:

Great points. Uh you know, I'm really just smiling over here. I mean, you guys don't have a permanent tan, so you can't see me blushing here, but uh just I just couldn't imagine it. Is you get done, you're feeling kind of good about yourself, maybe a little bit too good from the bourbon or whatever you got. And does your mom do you have a nickname for mom or does she call you Andrew?

Andrew Cox:

Uh no, uh oh no, she just calls me Andrew.

Mario P. Fields:

Yeah, it it it hello, hey mom. Andrew, yeah, yeah, yeah, mom. I watched that episode. Yeah, mom, it was good, wasn't it? Let's talk about good.

Andrew Cox:

Yeah, let's reconsider what good is.

Mario P. Fields:

Oh man, well, you know, everyone, and and again, the key key points here. If you didn't catch it, you know, Andrew could have gave up, he could have said, you know, that and and you know, as a content creator, you don't get a lot of feedback, you get a lot of trolls, they'll stop they'll stop trolling you after they realize you respond accurately, but but you you produce, you don't consume, you produce, and there's consumption, but there's not much feedback, right? And and the beauty of him not giving up uh, you know, almost two years, two years later, look at look at what has happened. If you had to, Andrew, if there's one time where you were like if I could give advice to someone who's about to start a podcast, what would you what what would be that aha moment that was for you? And then how would you transfer that to a new podcaster? Okay, I know you've had a few of them.

Andrew Cox:

I the probably the biggest one is don't give up. I like no matter what, and you said it, uh, I've said it that you don't get feedback, and sometimes it's tough. Uh, and you you you get down on yourself. I as veterans, that's how we are. Yeah, uh, we we have high standards, and when we don't see results, that hurts. Uh so don't give up. Don't look at the numbers and stuff like that. Don't don't take that like as gospel, uh, because there are people out there that are listening. It may be a small niche, uh, but know that somebody's listening, even if it's just your friends. Uh, and if you reach one person, you're good. So that's what I would tell them. Just just know you're reaching at least one, you know. Yeah, it's really your friends watching.

Mario P. Fields:

I think my first 10 episodes, I was the only one listening.

Andrew Cox:

Well, they say what is the the stats on that? It's like uh I think most people don't even make it past 10 episodes.

Mario P. Fields:

Okay, so I was gonna I was gonna bring that up, and so um a lot of folks don't realize this. The majority of podcasters who start a podcast, it the pot they stop producing after six. Oh wow. Oh no, it's even more. Um, over 75 percent of podcasts stop producing within six to twelve months. Wow, yes, and then the next, oh yeah, and then the next wait till you do the research, the next two years, um 24 months, that 25 cohort that moved on, another like 50 of those platforms stopped producing. Wow, you you so anyone past two years head to three, four, and five, you're rare. It is a very small percentage. So I'm glad that was a good leading because I was going to share that with you is as you're you're rapidly approaching 500 episodes or more. Yeah, you your podcast, the Lost Art, you know, project of veteran stories is rare. And last thing, uh charity. Um there's a I'm doing more research, but there's not too many podcasts that I know that the actual platform is for charity to make a difference in a community for a specific mission.

Andrew Cox:

Yeah, yeah, that's true. Yeah, absolutely.

Mario P. Fields:

Yes, so yeah, I think next year, again, I've been saying this for five years, but I think I'm gonna have enough money in 2026 to get one of those fancy buttons. Um, where people clap, you know what I mean?

Andrew Cox:

Yeah, yeah. I you know, I have one. Uh I have one of those uh on uh I got like a little board or whatever, which I don't use anymore. I I got that initially. That was one of the learning curves uh that I eventually got away from that because it was bad. I couldn't work it, it was bad, but it had one of those buttons.

Mario P. Fields:

Yeah, I gotta, I'm gonna get one. Well, well, I don't I'm not gonna hold you too too much longer because you guys know on the show, I every guest I just love having on a show, and you know, all the long time listeners and viewers are probably like Mara, you say this every show. I'm being honest, like I will talk to I you guys know me. If you know me, you know me. I will I will have folks on the show for hours, and so I have to discipline myself. If you know what you know, looking in the future, Andrew, here's it here's kind of a discussion point to imagine, you know, what's your imagination of where you believe that your podcast will go and how many folks it'll reach in regards to impact and not numbers?

Andrew Cox:

Uh impact-wise, I'm hoping like in a perfect world, every single veteran would get their story recorded. That I mean that would be fantastic. Uh, I don't see that in my lifetime happening, but it's a good goal. Uh, but I do see moving into the future as it's as it kind of gets bigger, having different podcast hosts who do these interviews and uh and and from different regions, different areas, uh, you know, uh maybe even eventually getting an RV and being able to travel around with all these different podcasters to certain areas, hitting up all the VFWs, the Marine Corps leagues, the you know, different things like that, just to record the stories. And uh I I think it's so important. Uh, and and that's really what I what I envision later down the road.

Mario P. Fields:

Yeah, what an initiative. Well, hey, I Andrew, again, I appreciate you hosting me a few weeks ago, and and I appreciate you appearing um on the Unarmored Unarmored Talk podcast. Tell your cat I said what's up, yeah, family. And and I love you, man, and simplify and and and thank you so much for being on the show, brother.

Andrew Cox:

No, thank you for having me. Uh, you are the man. I love watching your social media for everybody out there. Go watch his social media stuff. It is great. Uh, I I love it. So uh keep doing what you're doing. It's good stuff.

Mario P. Fields:

Thank you. Well, you guys heard it. You guys heard it from Andrew. You know, you guys heard it again, key lots of key points. But one thing is just don't give up. You know, don't give up, don't give up, don't give up. But until next time, I will continue to pray for you, your families, your friends, and I have an actual live living being on the show for the first time in five years. So now it's connected, and all living beings around you. Take care, Andrew.

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Mario P. Fields

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