A Vietnam Veteran’s Reality

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Hey Arthur, welcome back. Welcome to Daily American. I got uh actually I was I was working with Mr. Mr. Jones, Mr. Arthur Jones for a um little air conditioner install. But you know, he's got a Vietnam brother that that that that does it as well. And uh I told him, you know, go ahead and and utilize his his brother from from Vietnam, you know, his brother in arms from Vietnam. And you know, if he minded if I recorded this, uh if you're if you mind if I recorded this this conversation, because he's like a history uh guru and and he did two tours over in Vietnam. So Arthur, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_03 0:56

You're welcome. Uh yes, uh, a lot of people in terms of like Vietnam do not realize that the war first started back in 1954 with the French. Vietnam used to be called Indochina, okay.

unknown 1:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:15

And uh the French uh lost the war in 1954, and then what happened was the uh we were over there, and when the Vietnam War actually really started, it was uh the United States, we had a uh a destroyer called the Maddox, and supposedly it was attacked, and we used it as a farce to justify you know the war, but actually, really the second time that it was supposed to be an attack, it wasn't attacked, but we used that to start the war and escalate the war, and that was August the 4th of 1964. And then what happened was in February of 1965 is when we started escalating the war uh to Operation what was called Operation Rolling Thunder. That's when we started bombing the North Vietnam. And uh and then after that, you know, everything went on and on and on until the war ended in 1975.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

Wow, and you ended up doing two tours over there now, uh Arthur, were you drafted?

SPEAKER_03 2:36

I did two tours. I I was over there, I went, I was there when it first started. The first time I went over there was January 1965. I I caught my ship in the Philippines, and we went out to sea in January of 1965, and then the war started in February of 1965. That's when Operation Rolling Thunder started, okay? And we were over there until May of 1965, and what happened was we had a major fire in one of the main machinery rooms uh on the ship, and it burnt up one of the main machinery rooms, which required us to come back um to the United States for repairs. And we came back for repairs, and after the repairs, we were ordered to come and go back over there, and we came back over there in uh 1966, and uh we were over there from 1966 to 1967, and that's when we came back to the States, and that was my when I went over there in 1966, that was my second tour over there, okay. And um were you drafted in earth?

SPEAKER_02 3:57

Were you drafted in?

SPEAKER_03 3:59

No, I I enlisted.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 4:02

Yeah, I enlisted. Uh I was a boiler technician. Um, and uh what happened was when I enlisted, I actually really enlisted to make a career out of it, okay. But um after being in there, I said, no, that's it's not the life for me, okay. Because the other thing is the uh rate that I was, I was uh I ended up being a second class uh border technician, which is equivalent, second class in the in the navy is equivalent to a sergeant in the in the army.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 4:34

But uh what happened was uh the rate that I was in was a sea going rate, which meant that I if I'd have stayed in, most of my time would have been at sea. And uh I didn't want I didn't want to do anything like that. So uh I got discharged. I went in in October 1968. October 5th, 1968, I went in, and I got out in September 30th, no, I mean October 5th, 1964. I went in, and I got out in September 30, 1968. Right be right before the tether tet offenses uh uh took off over in Vietnam. Wow, so did you what made us really turn against the Vietnam War.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

What was that?

SPEAKER_03 5:29

What happened was the Viet Cong attacked attacked the South, okay? Okay, we had been told that we were winning the war. The Tet Offensive showed that we were not winning the war, and that's when the the citizens of the country turned a uh a bitter taste against the war.

SPEAKER_02 5:55

And therefore morale dropped, morale went down, and and you and all your brothers and sisters said, you know, we're we're we're against this too now.

SPEAKER_03 6:05

Uh not not really. We see we saw a lot of things over there that uh they were saying telling the people back in the in the United States that wasn't true. Uh one of the things that I never could understand is the fact that uh even though we were in a war, there were certain things that we were not allowed to do, and that was like uh they stopped bombing the north.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 6:36

Uh and uh one of the things if people really, really want to know about the war is read the Pentagon Papers, okay? The Pentagon Papers basically what happened was the uh the Department of Defense basically hired this guy named he was uh an analyst, his name was Daniels Ellsberg to do a study on the Vietnam War. And he basically uh did after he did the study, he found out that we knew beforehand that we could not win that war. So what happened was he went to Congress with his findings, and Congress refused to listen to what he was saying. So then he went to the New York Times with the information that he had. And the New York Times decided to print the information and inform President Kennedy, I mean President Nixon, that they were gonna print it. And President Nixon took the New York Times to court, and that's when the famous decision that was handed down by the Supreme Court called a clear and present danger, and allowed the Pentagon Papers to be printed. And that's you know, all in history now. And if you read them, you'll see that that was a war that we knew before we started we could not win. Wow. So we ended up losing what 50, you know, 50,000 50,000 uh soldiers were were killed in that war.

SPEAKER_02 8:14

Yeah, it's unbelievable, man. War, the toll of war. Um like who's really I mean, I know the answer to that. There's there's there's individuals profiting off of war, and with that makes you know, yeah, that's just like what's going on now, okay?

SPEAKER_03 8:33

A lot of people don't realize about Iran. You know, we try to say that Iran is the bad fella, but a lot of people don't realize in 1953, the CIA, we overturned a democratically elected government in Iran and installed the Shah of Iran. We did that for the oil. And for 26 years, from 1953 to 1979, when the Iranians overthrew the Shah, you know, he was, you know, the people were really, you know, suppressed over there. And what happened was the Shah had cancer, and he was in this country, and after they overthrew the government there, the people, they want the Shah, and we refused to give it back to them, give him back to them. That's why they have a bitter taste in their mouth for us. But we but we basically, you know, we created, you know, like they said, the chickens are coming home in the roost. We created that problem.

SPEAKER_02 9:45

Yeah. Seems like that happens a lot. Um, it's like it's like, what does one do though? You really can't like, you know, like uh it's like it's it's almost like it's all meant to be, you know, in this in this world. I guess all we could do is turn to God, man, and just uh you know, I'm a firm believer in Jesus.

SPEAKER_03 10:07

I am too. Well, you know, the scriptures say there will be wars and ruins of wars.

SPEAKER_02 10:12

Yes, sir. Yup, and I believe that he's uh he wins at the end of the day, but there's you know, I don't think we've seen, I don't think we've seen anything for the for the hell on earth and destruction that's coming. Um I think it's gonna get a lot worse. I hate to be a pessimist, but a pessimist, but you know, it's all written. And if you read Revelation, it's been a while since I have, but it's uh it's scary, but we just gotta remember, man, we gotta stand firm. Stand firm in Jesus, and uh whatever whatever is written shall be done. Uh at the same time, you know, it just like you know, persecution happens all over the world, Jesus all he preached was love. Love and uh love thy neighbor and love God. Those were his two greatest commandments, and uh I try to do that on a daily basis, I fall short, but at the same time, you know, this world's just it's just getting it's getting worse and worse. And uh, you know, I got a little boy and he's only two. So, you know, I use a blessing from God and I enjoy him every day, but it's almost like you know, again, I sound I sound like the uh big time pessimist, but it's it's uh scary world, man, raising a little boy in.

SPEAKER_03 11:37

Yeah, well, you know, the thing about it is the uh uh if you if if you stop and look at history and read history, because I'm a history buff, okay. Uh yes, it's bad, but uh back in the back in the day it was even worse than this, okay.

SPEAKER_02 11:56

Okay, you know, that gives me hope.

SPEAKER_03 11:59

Yeah, I mean, this there was some really, really bad times back in the day, okay. And uh so this is uh a lot of things that are going today is just a drop in the bucket in comparison to some of the things that went on back in, you know, uh uh back in uh times before this time, okay. Which basically, you know, uh just like when when uh uh God destroyed uh Sodom and Gomorrah.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

Yeah, yeah, you're right about that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:32

I mean, that was that was some terrible times going on back then, so bad that he had to destroy this the whole doggone city.

SPEAKER_02 12:40

Or when he destroyed the whole world, he wiped out the whole world with the flood.

SPEAKER_03 12:44

Right. Yep, that that too. Okay, so when we stop and look at today in comparison to back then, you know, uh it's nothing. Although it's still bad. I don't care which way you you you slice the pie.

SPEAKER_02 13:00

Right.

SPEAKER_03 13:00

I think the game is the only thing you can do, you know, the only thing you can do is do try to do your part and be a good person and uh try to treat people the way you want to be treated.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_03 13:17

And if you do that, you won't you can't go too far wrong if you treat people the way you want to be treated.

SPEAKER_02 13:23

Yeah, you're right. With love. There's gotta be more love, man. That's the that's the key. But sometimes, you know, I fall I fall big time short of that. But I think the game changer, Arthur the game changer is I believe with my whole heart that we're living in the end days. So I believe it's the very beginning of the end, but I think the end is near, and I I I really think you know Jesus is returning. Now there's still a bunch of things that have to happen, like the building of the third temple and the antichrist and the false prophet, and you know, some some some some key events have to happen, but it's uh I think we're in the beginning of the end, and and and with technology, the rate of destruction, um, it seems like it could be. I mean, but then one would say, look at look at Nagasaki and Hiroshima, whole, you know, they shouldn't have attacked Pearl Harbor. Um whole, I guess they were cities, huge cities or states if compared to America, but wiped off the face of the earth. Uh so yeah, I guess it was a lot, a lot worse back in World War II, Vietnam. Um, I just think with technology, it's gonna get it's gonna get worse than than we've ever seen before. I mean, I believe he even says that. We're worse, you know, one third of the of the earth's gonna get wiped off, wiped away.

SPEAKER_03 14:48

Yeah, well, you know, you stop and look at uh man is doing a lot of destruction, you know, to the world. I was just looking reading where New Orleans is sinking.

SPEAKER_02 15:01

Well, like with global warming?

SPEAKER_03 15:04

Yes. And they're saying that they're gonna have to evacuate, probably have to evacuate all of New Orleans because uh because what we've done is destroyed the ecosystem, okay. Uh whereas um you had where Lake Ponchetrain and all of that, where they had the uh uh I guess you might call the um the Everglades, which uh protected the um New Orleans from the storms and everything else like that. Uh well that's been destroyed. Because in our in our quest to build and build and build, okay. And you and I know both, you know, when it comes down to uh the uh uh the ecology, you know, man puts that on the back burner when it comes down to productivity and making money. And all the money in the world will not be able to reverse the destruction that we're doing to the earth.

SPEAKER_02 16:22

Yeah, and with data centers, you know, there's all these conspiracy theories about them, but they're gonna happen. I know people are are fighting back with them being um placed everywhere. And, you know, don't we have access to enough data currently with with uh with the internet? I mean we can and with the with chat I wish I wish we could just stop with the chat GPT and all of the AI infrastructure and just leave it to where it where it is, because you know, although I'm sure it's intentionally trying to be regulated, when you're building supercomputers um and they're producing supercomputers, we're producing a scenario where we're gonna be uh we're gonna be screwed because these things are gonna be smarter and able to get past infrastructures. Um I don't know anything about clouds or the internet or how it actually works, but read a couple stories where, you know, they're they're advanced very far um as of now, and who knows where that's leading. But these data centers, like I don't understand. Don't we have enough data? Don't we have like what are these actually for? If we're operating now as a human species all over the world, and we have been for a long time, what is it? Why is it so important to put this data in some sort of you know infrastructure?

SPEAKER_03 18:01

It's about Daniel, it's about money, yeah. Always and the thing about it is if I'm first, I'm the one who's gonna make the most money. Yeah, and when you stop and you look at like back in the day when I was a kid, a family could be supported on one salary, you didn't have everybody in the family working. My dad died when I was five years old. My mom was a registered nurse, and we had our own home. I lived in an eight-bedroom home, me and my two sisters and my mom. And her salary was enough to support her and my three kids. That's unheard of today.

SPEAKER_02 19:10

Wait, your mom, your mom's salary?

SPEAKER_03 19:13

Yes, my mom's salary back when I was a kid, yeah, back in the 50s, was enough money to support. Although she did get social security after my dad died because of his death, okay. But and her salary was enough to support us.

SPEAKER_02 19:39

And your three children, and her three kids, and her three kids, okay.

SPEAKER_03 19:43

Right, her three kids, okay.

SPEAKER_02 19:46

Where where was your father at? Oh, he had passed, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_03 19:50

Yeah, he he he passed. He uh he had a um he was a spray painter and he got sick. Okay, and this was before you know they had the safety, you know, standards and everything like that, ocean, all that kind of stuff, okay.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

Yeah, probably aerosol.

SPEAKER_03 20:06

Yep. But anyway, that you know, uh he got sick and he died from that. And then what happened was right now, you know, with him him being, you know, put social security and everything like that, you know, we all got social security. Uh and uh plus on top of that, you know, my mom was a registered nurse, and you know, she uh we were able to uh uh to live comfortably. I'd say a middle class uh upbringing. However, today you can that you can forget about that. First of all, minimum minimum wage in this country is seven dollars and twenty-five cents an hour. We have not, the government has not, the federal government has not raised the minimum wage in over 20 years. Almost, okay. And the states have had to jump in and raise, you know, the minimum wage, you know, because people can't survive on that. The average rent I was reading in New York City is five thousand dollars a month.

SPEAKER_02 21:21

Jeez, yeah, that's that sounds, I mean, yeah, that's I mean, in Philly, it's probably New York City and probably LA are gonna be your one you up there with your highest um your highest rent rate per per city. Uh Philadelphia's up there too, and it it's yeah, I have a friend that lives, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:42

A friend that lives right over there at the um Newmarket Square, those apartments over Newmarket Square. You know what I'm talking about?

SPEAKER_01 21:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:50

Okay. She's got a one-bedroom apartment over there, and she's paying two grand two thousand a month.

SPEAKER_02 21:57

Yeah, it's up there, man. It's crazy. It's going up, and it seems like, you know, although some jobs are are lucrative. I for myself, I did really well um for a few years selling selling heating and air conditioning, but now I got now I'm operating my own business and I it's uh it's you know it's not easy. Um, I'm very blessed. I appreciate what I have coming in, but it's it's you know, it's not easy. My father was a pizza man, um, and my mom was like a secretary, and they had a family of four, four of us boys, and we didn't have a pot to piss in, Arthur. We didn't have anything, no lunch money, no freaking no school book fair money, all the government assistance, um, and you know, no beds until we were older, um, older kids. But it's like, you know, I I appreciate being raised that way because I was able to make you appreciate where you where you are now. Yeah, and I'm nowhere special, but I but I was able to salvage um some skills to, you know, at nine, nine years old, I I grabbed my first my first lawn from an actual customer going straight to street with a lawnmower at nine, and I gained my first customer, and I always shoveled snow and cut grass growing up, and then 14 years old working papers at a car wash. Um always was able to to hustle to to get by. Um, same with all my brothers. We all graduated from Westchester, but you know, we didn't really have a choice growing up. It was either like, you know, work, and my older brothers always chipped in. Like my dad made them give them their whatever money they made. By the time um I was 14 working on papers, I would contribute, pay bills in high school, um, but not as not, you know, he didn't take necessarily my paycheck. I kind of learned from them, you know what I mean. But uh yeah, man. I mean, it's it's life's certainly not easy, Arthur, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_03 24:08

And it seems like it's uh it's getting that's that's one of the things where I basically I say that uh I was for I was really fortunate, and you know, God has really blessed me. That's why I say no one can tell me that there's not a God, okay? Because when I was growing up, and I wanted I wanted to work, I wanted to have a paper wrap, my mother would not let me. She told me, she said she did not want me to work, she wanted me to enjoy my childhood because when I became an adult, I was gonna have to work for the rest of my life, so I wasn't allowed to work. And when I went into the Navy at 19 years old, I was able to move up the career ladder within two and a half years of me being in the navy, I was equivalent to a sergeant.

SPEAKER_02 25:02

Yeah, because you you had that mentality that you were you were gonna get it no matter what, and I also had people that looked out for me.

SPEAKER_03 25:11

See, that's another thing, okay? And then when I got out of the Navy, I got a job working down at the Navy Yard. And what happened was uh I was in uh working at the powerhouse and ended up uh transferring to uh organization that's still open today, Naval Sleep Systems Command, which is still open on the Naval Base today. And uh then I started going to Temple University on under the GI Bill. I was able to buy my house under the GI Bill also. And uh then I turned around and I trade uh changed career fields and got into um uh human resources, and I became the first black male human resources person at the Philadelphia Navy shipyard in his hundred plus years.

SPEAKER_02 26:09

Wow, that's pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_03 26:11

And then what happened was eventually I ended up uh with the Department of Labor, and that's where I retired from the Department of Labor with 35 years of uh plus of federal service, and I have a hell of a pension today, I don't have to you know be concerned and health benefits in the whole nine yards. So I've had a very blessed life, and uh you know, and and the reason why I went into human resources because I like to help people, and I looked at the human resources office, that's where all the promotions are being done, that's where all the hirings are being done, that's where all the training is being done, and I knew if I could get into a field like that, I could help people, and I was able to do that, and I think that I have been blessed today because of me trying to give back to people because for some reason I had cancer all the way prostate cancer back in 2012, okay? I'm a cancer survivor. And you figure uh what 2012 almost four what 14 years since I had since since I had a surgery for my prostate cancer, and I'm still I'm still living, and I know people with had had prostate cancer, they're dead.

SPEAKER_02 27:49

Yeah. It takes out a lot of men. My grandfather passed from prostate on my mom's side.

SPEAKER_03 27:58

Yeah, and and and and so you know uh what happens is you know I've often thought I said, well maybe I'm still here because God's not finished with me yet helping people. That's my that's my that's my that's what he has me here for. Because I've helped a lot of people.

SPEAKER_02 28:28

Yeah, you probably have man. You seem like a stand-up guy. Um, I got a lot of people I need to help still because you know I just volunteering isn't something that I that I do. And you know, I started this podcast to replace my my gambling addiction. Um but I I had I had beat it for a little bit and it came back worse than ever and ended up losing everything I had um once again. But then my son was born, and I really haven't gambled since. But the bottom line is I'd prayed to God about gambling, um, replacing that addiction, and then that same night I couldn't sleep, and I was just up all night, and you know, this was a few years ago, and I was like, Oh, I'm just gonna record myself talking, and then Daily Americans sprung, and you know, I I've released probably 151 episodes or something, and I talked to guys like yourself, Arthur, and you know, that's a way of giving back. Um I donate to it to individuals or or nonprofits. Um, I have it in pocket at one cent from the podcast. Now, if I made enough from it to draw a salary, obviously I would do that, but it's nowhere near there. And I'll always give back um whatever whatever I can. Just since the beginning of it, it's been 100% of all proceeds I donate out. But it's like uh I got a lot of I got a lot of helping to do um for neighbors and local community too. The the gentleman next door to me, Arthur, check this out. 99 year old World War World War II and Korean veteran. Wow, yeah, just awesome, man. Awesome guy. I've I've been spending a little bit of time with him, and uh I'm gonna I'm gonna put up two. I partnered with Ring for my small business, my my hand my handyman general contracting service, more so handyman, um, because I don't take any any big jobs or anything on at the moment, just handyman tasks, and I partner with ring cameras, so I'm going to install a couple cameras for him, um, you know, for nothing, because I I you know I want to I want to give back. I mean, he's not hurting for money or anything like that, but you know, he's my neighbor and and uh you know I'll do what I can to to help him. I can't do that for everybody because I got a family of three that that relies solely on my on my ability to to get money.

SPEAKER_03 31:14

When was your gambling? Uh when did you uh uh give up your gambling addiction?

SPEAKER_02 31:21

I gave up the addiction in 2024.

SPEAKER_03 31:27

24? Yeah, yeah, because yeah, because what happened to me, the reason why, well, first of all, you know, I don't drink. I I don't never did drink, you know, and uh I smoked. That was my worst thing, and I quit smoking in what um 2006. But so far as the gambling is concerned, you know, and when you're on the ship, there's no place to spend your money. So we got you know, guys having uh having crap games and everything else like that.

SPEAKER_02 31:59

That's fun, you know. That's fun.

SPEAKER_03 32:02

It's fun until I tell you this. What happened was all the money that I saved up by we were overseas and we were on our way back to the States, okay? So I got into this crap game, and I was winning. I must have won about ten thousand dollars, okay. And I remember one of my shipmates was trying to get me to stop, you know, to quit the game. But I saw all of this money, and I figured I said, let me win some more of it. And I kept on gambling, and I lost all of my money. And so when I pulled back into the States, I had no money. I was broke. And I remember that night I climbed up in my bunk and I pulled the curtain and I cried in my pillow. And after that, I said, no more gambling.

SPEAKER_02 32:58

Yeah, that's awesome. I'm glad you were able to stop then because when you're in the midst of it, you never think that, you never think that you'll see that money again, or you'll have money again, or you'll ever get past it.

SPEAKER_03 33:10

And my my wife, who's you know, has since passed, okay, she passed in 2009, okay. She liked to gamble. She used to go down the, you know, after retired, she would she would go down to Atlantic City almost every day. She'd take the buses down to Atlantic City almost every day. And uh she um she was um a seven-star. You know what that is, right?

SPEAKER_02 33:33

Yeah, I've been yeah, I've been those in many, many, uh, many casinos.

SPEAKER_03 33:38

She was a seven-star card holder, okay. And uh her maiden name was uh Dixon. And when I would go down with her, they would call me Mr. Dixon. I would never tell them not my uh any otherwise, okay. Yeah, but I remember we were at Caesar's one day, one morning, we getting ready to have breakfast. And you know, as a seven-star, you know, you don't wait for anything, you know, you get carte blanc treatment. Yeah, and uh, so we went up to the head of the line for uh breakfast. So I remember this one guy, the guy that was at the head of the line, he said, Um excuse me, miss, you know, there's a line. And I remember her telling him, she said, I'm seven star. And he told her, What does that mean? She said, That means that I spend more money than you do. Yeah, yeah, I just laughed and everything else like that, but she used to keep uh a running tab, and she was always ahead of the game, okay? Wow. That's pretty impressive.

SPEAKER_00 34:47

She's able to beat them.

SPEAKER_03 34:49

Yeah, she she liked to play that roulette. And uh the only thing I did, I remember one time I went into the slots, and uh I I paid, I think I would play, I was playing the five dollar slots, and I think my second coin I put in there, I think I won $480, and I was so ecstatic, I didn't know what to do. I took that $480 and left. Okay. But that's basically as close to gambling as I ever got.

SPEAKER_02 35:22

Yeah, that's smart that that you took it and left. You know, some people it's you know, it's a it's a it's a more issue, you know, more and more and more. You get the taste of winning, you want to just keep winning, winning, winning. But you know, life's not like that, and you lose, you lose a lot, and you lose everything sometimes. But you know, by the grace of God, I was I've able I've been able to recoup.

SPEAKER_03 35:45

Um that's good. I'm glad to hear that.

SPEAKER_02 35:47

Yeah, just in a short amount of time, I've been been able to recoup for for myself and my family, I thank God, because you know, I had I had a bad, um, really bad. Like bad enough that if I were to guess, if there was like a suicide rate for money lost, I bet you more people would probably just kill themselves than carry through.

SPEAKER_00 36:14

Um wow.

SPEAKER_02 36:15

That's how much I lost because it's just I lost everything. I had nothing. Wow. Um, but you know, at the same time, God gave me a son.

SPEAKER_03 36:26

So, you know, it's time to buckle up and and not do that anymore because Yeah, when he uh reaches down, you know, that's just like um smoking. I uh I worked at the federal building down in 9th and Market, okay. That's where my officers were, okay.

SPEAKER_01 36:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 36:48

And I remember one day I came downstairs to smoke a cigarette, and the bus stop was right there at Market and 9th, okay? And I remember this guy got off the bus and he was carrying a one of the little green oxygen tanks.

SPEAKER_00 37:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:06

Because you know, Jefferson Hospital was down that way. And I saw that and I said to myself, what kind of life is that to be walking around pulling the uh uh oxygen tank behind you? And I remember going upstairs, throwing my cigarettes in the trash, my you know, my pack of cigarettes I had in the trash, and I haven't smoked a cigarette since then.

SPEAKER_02 37:28

Yeah, man, you got this unreal discipline. That's a that's one thing I I still smoke, and I can't um, you know, I'm going, I got it, I have to quit because now my son's recognizing um, you know, what they are, and you know, I'm indifferent when it comes to you got a hundred-year-old who's smoking a pack a day, or you know, an 18-year-old that dies of lung cancer, it's like, you know, but I guess it's a it's a gamble.

SPEAKER_03 37:57

It's it's another gamble that what you do is uh the reason I think the reason why I was able to do it is because my mother always taught me you can do anything you want to do as long as you set your mind to it, and I knew, and coming from a medical family, okay, because I know a lot about medicine also, okay. I'm saying you know that it's bad for you. And yet I still do it, and yet it's still because you enjoy, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed smoking, although I was one of the I was the kind of smoker, uh Dan, that um I was a very conscientious smoking smoker. If you if I were around you, I would ask you, does cigarette smoke bother you? And if it did, I would not smoke.

SPEAKER_02 38:45

Yeah, you're you know, that's that's pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_03 38:49

And in my house, the only time I was smoking my house was in the kitchen where I could have the exhaust fan, where I could exhaust the spent the smoke out.

SPEAKER_02 38:57

Yeah, my my son's mom would have a my head on a plate if I tried that, but I I stay away from smoking in the house with the baby. But believe it or not, growing up, my dad used to keep the windows rolled up in the vehicle and smoke me out. Man, I used to hate it. I used to tell myself I'm never smoking, blah, blah, blah. But here I am, can't stop.

SPEAKER_03 39:20

Yeah, and with my mom, when I started, I started smoking, I think at about 16, okay, and my mom was really upset because no one in my family smoked. Nobody in my family smoked, nor did they drink. And what happened was I remember how I ended up smoking. Was a friend of mine one night asked me about smoking, and he taught me how to inhale. And that's how and and and I remember smoking and getting high because you know how you get really high when you first start smoking, because your body's not used to it.

SPEAKER_02 40:04

Yeah, and that's how it becomes addicting.

SPEAKER_03 40:07

And I started walking, I remember trying to walk and be staggering and everything else like that. And I was trying to figure out why wasn't you know, other people that smoke, why wasn't that affecting them? Not realizing what effect it was having on my body.

SPEAKER_02 40:21

Yeah, and the thing is nicotine's the most addictive substance I think on earth. It's the most addictive drug, nicotine.

SPEAKER_03 40:29

Yes, it is. That nicotine, yes, it is. Okay, now today I cannot, I can smell a cigarette a mile away. And I cannot stand the smoke. And like when I was in the when I was in the military, okay, just like uh marijuana, I can't stand the smell of marijuana. And over there, back during that period of time, drugs were very easy to obtain. We had guys that died of overdoses of drugs, you know, on the ship. Wow. But you know, I never got you know uh hooked up with drugs or anything else like that, you know. I you know, because I knew the effect of what could what it could do to you and everything else like that. So basically I've been a pretty, you know, I've had a pretty clean life.

SPEAKER_02 41:23

Yeah, that's awesome, Arthur. Yeah, not um you know, not myself. I had some struggles again prior to I've had some struggles with just about everything there is, Arthur, but I thank God that for the most part everything's manageable. Um now since since my son's been born, you know, I stay away from all that junk.

SPEAKER_03 41:46

How many children do you have?

SPEAKER_02 41:47

One just one.

SPEAKER_03 41:49

Oh, okay. Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_02 41:52

Yeah, just one little boy.

SPEAKER_03 41:54

Oh, that's so nice. That is so nice. Do you plan on having any more?

SPEAKER_02 42:00

Um it's a tough world. My my my fiance wants definitely wants some more children, and we'll see where life takes us for now. Um, I'd be indifferent with or without more. Uh, but you know, whatever God's will is for for my life, uh, you know, it will be done.

SPEAKER_03 42:21

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, well, you know, uh, I'm glad to see that you're doing uh uh well for yourself, okay, and you're on the right track, you know, which uh uh, especially with uh from a religious standpoint of view. My thing is if you but if a person believes in God, they can't go too far wrong.

SPEAKER_02 42:46

I agree. He always rolls you back in one way or another.

SPEAKER_03 42:51

Yeah, because the Lord will make a way out of no way. That's right. When you matter of fact, what happened was when I uh was working for the government, okay, and working at the sh at the shipyard, okay. What happened was we filed a discrimination complaint, you know, a class action complaint, and they wanted me to rescind the complaint, and I refused to because I have ethics, okay? Um my one of my bosses one time told me I should be an attorney or a politician, and I told him I could be neither because I was unwilling to sell my soul, and in those kind of occupations, you have to be willing to do that kind of stuff, okay, if you want to be successful. And so, since I wouldn't, they fired me on some thumped up charges, okay? And I did not work for seven years from 1993 until 2002. Seven years I did not work. My wife was the sole support, and she was in human resources, also, okay. And when I went back. Into the government, I went back into the government at the Department of Labor, okay. And I worked there from um 2002 to 2007, March of 2007 when I retired, okay. Of course, all that time counted, but I ended up after all those years in much better shape than I would have been if I had not been fired.

SPEAKER_02 44:56

Yeah, you turned out better, yeah. God made a way.

SPEAKER_03 44:59

That that and at the time I remember when I wasn't when I wasn't working, and I you know, sometimes I would get a little like like a little depressed and everything else like that. And I used to say say to myself, that which kept me on the even kill, thy will be done. I would always say that to myself, and that's what kept me above water.

SPEAKER_02 45:25

Yes, sir, thy will be done.

SPEAKER_03 45:28

And at the time I didn't realize, although what I was doing, I was uh I was working at a paralegal uh with with my friend, he's an attorney down in Center City, okay. I was doing paralegal work because of my background in human resources and stuff like that. I used to be uh a labor relations specialist, a classification specialist, the whole nine yards in uh human resources, okay. Okay, so uh what happened was it worked out for me, and my pension now is much more than it would have been had I retired at age 55. And not only that, I draw also Social Security, which I would not have been able to draw if I had retired at 55. So I have two pensions.

SPEAKER_02 46:24

Wow, and they're well deserved, my brother.

SPEAKER_03 46:31

So a lot of times we don't realize what the Lord has in store for us, and we cannot, because we cannot see what he sees.

SPEAKER_02 46:45

Right. Yeah, you gotta always rely on him for guidance. I fail to do that sometimes too. Guidance and uh like you said, whatever his will is is gonna be done one way or another.

SPEAKER_03 46:59

Yeah, that that that is true, that is true. So, what I want you to do is uh work on those cigarettes. Ask you know, ask him to help you get rid of them. He will, because and you'll be you end up benefiting. And what let me tell you one thing, which people say, which I found out not to be true. They try they try to say that your food will taste better and everything like that. There's no difference. Food to me.

SPEAKER_02 47:32

Yeah, it doesn't mess up your taste buds that much, right?

SPEAKER_03 47:38

For me, anyway, it did not affect uh uh me one way or the other, and things like that. And then what happened was when my wife got sick with cancer, and she was like bedridden, and uh so I I'm sitting with her day in and day out uh until she basically passed, and I gained a lot of weight. I was up to 246 pounds.

SPEAKER_02 48:08

Yeah, I mean it's gotta be the most that's like the most difficult thing ever.

SPEAKER_03 48:13

Yeah, I'm six foot one half inch tall, okay. And I look like Humpty Dumpty. I had a I had a stroke because I'm well I'm AFib also, atrial fibrillation. I had I had a I had a stroke, and what happened was uh it was a Tuesday. This is right back in uh uh 2020. I had a stroke, and that was a Tuesday, and I didn't go to the hospital until that Friday. So when I went to the hospital, um Einstein that Friday, and I told the doctor that I had a stroke, and she said, What? And you just now get in here?

SPEAKER_00 48:53

Right, you could have died.

SPEAKER_03 48:55

Yeah, and I told her, I said, Well, first of all, I said, uh it was on my, I told her, I said it was on my right side because it affected my left side a little bit, okay. And uh she anyway, when they did the CAT scan and everything on me, you know, she the doctor came back and told me, she said, you know, you were right. How did you know that? I said, because I come from a medical family. I knew what I what had happened to me, okay. So what happened was I I turned around and I told my cardiologist, I said, you know what? I said, uh, yes, I was, you know, even though I'm uh I have atrial fibrillation, uh a big part of that I feel is from my weight. I am overweight. And I went from 246 pounds, I weigh 168 pounds now.

SPEAKER_02 49:56

Damn, you lost a lot of weight.

SPEAKER_03 49:58

And you know how I did it walking. Nope. Calories, counting calories. Okay, what I did was I started, I made up a chart, and I also started cutting, you know, labels out of food. I never went, I didn't go on a diet. I ate the same foods that I always ate. The only difference is I cut back on the amount that I ate. I reduced my intake to roughly around about 1,000 to 200, 1,000 to 1200 calories per day. Plus, I only eat once a day. I don't eat, I don't eat breakfast, lunch. I I normally only eat dinner. And I eat it maybe around about six, seven o'clock at night. And that's how, and that's you know, and that's how I maintain my weight. I got on this scale the other day and say 168.8.

SPEAKER_02 51:04

Damn, good for you.

SPEAKER_03 51:06

And since then, matter of fact, I just uh last week I had my uh annual check with my primary care physician. She told me she said basically she's amazed how I was able to drop the weight and keep the weight off. And she said I was in excellent, excellent health. I'm 80 years old now.

SPEAKER_02 51:27

And you got you got many years left, Arthur. I don't know. I think you do, brother. I think you do. You seem like you're real sharp and you're with everything. But yeah, I'm gonna wrap this up, this podcast. I appreciate you coming on the Daily American, Arthur. I'm going to go get these ring cameras installed.

SPEAKER_03 51:45

Um and we and we want we want to keep uh uh keep in touch, okay? I really enjoy, you know, uh uh you and I uh I'm gonna have to we're gonna have to meet each other in the flesh.

SPEAKER_02 51:57

Yes, sir. What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna end it here.