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Veterans Finding Purpose Through Sports
What happens when a veteran leaves military service and loses their sense of purpose and community? In this riveting conversation with Tony, an Air Force veteran and representative from Our Veterans Network (OVN), we explore the life-changing power of sports in veteran recovery.
Tony shares his journey from Pennsylvania to serving in England during Desert Storm, forming bonds with fellow servicemembers that continue to sustain him decades later. But the heart of this discussion centers on how OVN is revolutionizing veteran support through athletics rather than traditional therapy alone.
"If I didn't have jujitsu and MMA, I'd be right back to drugs and alcohol," confesses one Army Ranger who found salvation through combat sports after struggling with addiction. Another veteran who rides dirt bikes after losing his leg in Afghanistan explains, "I need that adrenaline rush." These powerful testimonials reveal why sports provide such effective healing – they offer structure, purpose, and community that mirror military experience.
From professional MMA fighters who approach each fight "like a mission" to motocross riders who call their sport "throttle therapy," OVN's 70 ambassadors reach thousands of veterans annually. They're not just athletes; they're lifelines for fellow veterans navigating the challenging transition to civilian life.
The most touching revelation? How these sports transform veterans beyond physical health. "When I got into jujitsu, I found a family there," one veteran shares. "I'm a better father, a better friend, a better husband because of my sport."
Discover how OVN connects with veterans through music, motorsports, martial arts and more, creating pathways to purpose that traditional therapies sometimes miss.
Show support- https://opvetnow.org/
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you're listening to the no shot podcast where we discuss sports, true stories and mental health brought to you by true victory apparel and Radio Influence. Let's get after it.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to the no Shot Podcast. I'm your host, santa, here with my co-hosts T-Mike and Chopsticks. Hey, what's up?
Speaker 1:y'all America salute. We got an amazing episode today and we're extremely excited to have a brand that's associated with the brand. Yeah, this is an OVN collaboration with True Victory Apparel episode. This is our military salute and we would like to introduce you to a gentleman that has an amazing story today. With true stories. True Victory loves to connect with brands that genuinely matter to the American public because of what they stand for, and OVN, along with the individual that is representing on this episode, is going to go ahead and give that expression the reasons why we do what we do as brands. So I'd like to introduce to all Tony what's going on. Brother, give him a round of applause.
Speaker 3:Hey, thanks for having me on Doing really good today.
Speaker 1:Outstanding, sir. So we want to know your story from the very beginning, tony, your tie to our America's finest and our military, and how OVN came to existence. The floor is yours, my friend.
Speaker 3:Hey, thank you. Thanks again. Like I said, thanks again for having me on. You know I grew up in Pennsylvania, southwestern Pennsylvania Big Steeler fan Hopefully that doesn't hurt my status, that doesn't hurt your status in any way.
Speaker 3:But, yeah, you know, I grew up here. You know, really, you know everybody in our family blue-collar workers, you know, struggling to get by. And you, uh, you know, played a lot of sports as a young guy. Baseball was really my thing. Uh, you know, I'm not one of them big, tall guys. So you know I had to pick my sport, you know, kind of strategically, but, uh, play a lot of baseball and, uh, you know, graduated high school didn't have a lot of options, uh, for college and money and like that and you know, talked to a couple of recruiters Nobody in my family really had ever been in the military and almost joined the Marines.
Speaker 3:And then the Air Force recruiter got ahold of me and I was like, wow, this sounds like a way, this sounds like a way better deal. Yeah, so, once, once I, once I like, had to, you know, dig the Marine recruiter out of my behind. I finally got with the Air Force recruiter and, you know, enlisted as a senior in high school and a couple of months after I graduated I was on my way to basic training and you know I figured, hey, I'll go do four years and learn a skill. You know that's what the recruiter told me, I'm going to learn something, get a job. And you know, I started out as a mechanic on the flight line. You know, common job, you see, in the Air Force.
Speaker 3:And I spent some time in England. That was my very first assignment and that was really cool with the A-10 Warthogs. I love that plane, it's probably still my favorite plane today. Yeah, folks, I love that plane, it's probably still my favorite plane today. And yeah, I tell you it was. We used to deploy to Germany with that thing and that's back when I show my age a little bit back cold war we're still there. We used to go deploy to German helicopter bases and exercise with those guys and it was pretty cool deal. So, yeah, I spent some time in Louisiana with B-52s and F-111s out in Lake and Heath in England, loved England. That's probably one of my favorite assignments.
Speaker 3:The second time I went back while I was there at Lake and Heath with the 111s, desert Storm kicked off, deployed there for about nine months, um, pretty interesting. You know, uh, the military hadn't really been in any kind of large scale war since Vietnam and uh, we didn't know what to expect. So you know, we were young guys and and, uh, you know, full of piss and vinegar and we're we to go. But probably one of the most amazing experiences of my life I talked to about six of my buddies that we deploy together. We still stay in touch. They're like a go-to. You know, when there are challenging times, when life goes to crap, those are like six guys. We lean on each other for everything and you know that was pretty amazing, you know.
Speaker 3:So you stayed in 22 years total. Several other tours. I did a couple years actually about six in recruiting and then at 22 years, I decided to punch out and retire. I tell you, you know, just you, I, you have to be careful when I started to talk about my time in the military because, uh, you know, I could talk forever, because it was uh, uh, you know, and and a lot of people probably talk about that it's you know, I learned a job and and, uh, you know there was, um, it was good.
Speaker 3:You know it was just a basic job, but the people that I met in there were, it was just incredible. You know, like I said about the guys I still stay in touch with. But you know, after the military, I got into marketing pretty heavy A lot of event marketing, sports marketing, live marketing, learned a lot about that and leads, you know. And then I spent a lot of time traveling, like internationally, for events, Uh, and then I had the opportunity to get a job, to slow down a little bit and kind of focus in and start something that was a passion of mine with a couple of other, my buddies, uh, which is now OVN, um, and that was, you know, to help our fellow veterans, um, and honor those that we've lost. That's kind of my story from the beginning to where I am now. It's kind of the 5,000 foot level.
Speaker 4:Well, I just want to take a moment and just say thank you for your service. It really means a lot, thank you.
Speaker 1:Tony, you have no idea, obviously being tied to OVN and understanding what your real values are. We, in every which way, shape or form, understand the sacrifice of servicemen and it actually excites us to listen to a serviceman that loves to express what he did as an American soldier, as an airman. That's absolutely fantastic. And let's dive in to the values of OVN. You made an incredible point here to honor all those that did not come home and to serve those that did. Could you expound upon that and what that expression means?
Speaker 3:and to serve those that did. Could you expound upon that and what that expression means? Yeah, you know those two things you just said. Literally, that's our we call that our constancy of purpose.
Speaker 3:The reason for being of OVN is that and the two things. Those two things are what affected us and our board members the most while we were in the military, about guys and girls that we lost to suicide, to combat training, and we wanted to do something about that and we want to make sure they're never forgotten. And also, we're there for every veteran, every active service member that needs help in any way, shape or form. We want to be that connection for them, to make sure they know they can reach out and help is available. And that's really the passion behind OVN. We have 12 board members and we have 10 that started with us in the organization. Those 10 are still here eight years later and we all started it for that reason.
Speaker 3:So you know, that's just it. Those two things. We could not be more committed, dedicated, uh, in any way we can. And you know that's that's kind of something that you know you're an apparel brand, but it's something that struck a chord when we saw the brand, we saw the reason, uh, how it was started. Um, we're always looking for American companies, um, that understand our mission. Um and uh, you know we saw a lot of continuity there and um, you know, it just made sense to us.
Speaker 2:So, um, I was doing some research on you guys and you know just the different ways that you reach out to veterans is incredible. Uh, through through sports, I uh looked up uh some videos on you guys. You have something called Rock to Recovery and so you're connecting with so many people in a lot of different ways and you know you're giving veterans hope and purpose After they get out of the military. You know a lot of them feel just alone, like they don't have a purpose.
Speaker 3:Right, yeah, absolutely. You know, know, rock to recovery is a program one of our board members went through. Um is is. It's a. It's a separate organization. It's actually cool. I don't know if you guys ever heard of the band corn. Absolutely, um, yeah, the lead guitarist there was a big part of that. And one of our board members, dean, is a 30-year veteran combat controller, had over 15 deployments, multiple bronze stars, purple Heart.
Speaker 1:Unbelievable.
Speaker 3:And he suffers from. He got blown out of a Humvee in Iraq many years ago and he had traumatic brain injury from that, and one of the things that he always went to was his guitar. He used to keep it in the hooch when he was deployed, whatever it was, and what he said was he goes, tony, if I didn't have this guitar, I don't think I'd be here today. I thought, wow, that's incredible. I said how do you figure that, dean? He said music takes me away. He said it consumes my brain. And I start playing my guitar, I start singing and uh, he, he. He lit a spark with the organization and Dean has created um, the music brand, though we and it's a band called task force rock made up of uh, I think we're up to like 12 veterans now. Um and uh. They're getting ready to play at the polka though nascar race in june no oh yeah, they uh.
Speaker 3:They just played at john bon jovi's bar in nashville in february, um and uh. But these guys tell their story when they get up or on stage. You know. It's just not about singing. So, you know, when you mentioned about the music, that is very new to us. That is one of our newest things, but that's how we developed the projects and initiatives. You know, uh, one of our board members had a lot of experience and, uh, you know from a team, we just support them and we're really working hard to try to grow that. I'm not a mute, other than I love listening to music, but when I see the change in these guys and what this means to them and girls, it's pretty incredible the power of music that it has on them. That's something we're really trying to grow hard this year in 2025.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean it's just incredible. I mean I'm sure you can testify to this, but as somebody that's in the military and someone that is deployed, like you get so connected with people and certain things that when you get out, like the real world, just you can't connect with certain things. People just like don't understand what you've gone through. So, like having this outlet where people veterans specifically can like really connect and like have an outlet, it's just amazing, amazing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you hit it right there. You know the transition to us is where we have so many girls and guys struggle because life in a civilian world is what's normal out here is not normal to us. You know the speed and the pace of life in the military is much different, um, and and obviously the uh, the importance of what you do. You know, uh, you know if you fail at a mission, you know, hey, if I don't get this sale as a civilian, well, I may be short of money but I go on to the next cell. You know you draw someone a critical issue on a mission in the military and you may not come back or somebody else does. And when you live, you know life at that level every day, day in and day out, that transition out is. You just can't explain it to anybody. That just hasn't done it, you know.
Speaker 1:Tony, to add to that point, I can imagine veterans, even when they're surrounded by people, feel alone, the level of camaraderie that's tied to service members. Like you stated, everything you do has a purpose, even your timing going to the bathroom has a purpose. Everything has a purpose, nothing's purposeless and you're around a group of individuals that all understand that and then you're exited, honorably or dishonorably, back into a civilian world where purpose is lackluster. There's lots of inconsistency and mentally I can imagine that's incredibly difficult to deal with. I had to deal with that myself so I can relate in a grandiose way. So with that, how does OVN create a process that helps veterans go through that? I know the big outlets are sports, music et cetera, but is there any type of mental therapy or option that you guys have?
Speaker 3:What our focus is, you know. We kind of circle back to what I said. My experience was, you know, as in my career when I left the military, it's really about marketing, event marketing and sports, and one of the things I learned there was how to reach my target audience and what we found in OVN. When we first started it, a couple of our board members lost a guy that was. He was in a unit of ours. He took his own life in 2015 and a discussion surrounded around that. He was a medic in the Air Force and one of our board members really was really close to him and we started a discussion about that and we said how can we help? And we went out and said let's look at what's out there, let's go find an organization, let's help out. We were set back in.
Speaker 3:How confusing, how many people didn't respond to us when we asked questions and we got very concerned. So to your question about you know, what do we provide as a therapy? We do we provide no direct therapy to the veteran. What we do is we, our focus and our forte is we can go find the veterans where they're at. They don't have to come in and ask for help. We go to them and that's where a lot of the music and the sports and the reason we're so heavy into that is.
Speaker 3:And when we get them we say, hey, look, we can navigate you. If you need help, you let us know. But we want you to be educated, we want to know where to go If you do ever need help or if you need it now, let's connect you. So we have partners all over the country in certain areas and we will help get them into, whether it's a retreat to the VA If they don't want anything to do with a government organization. We have a lot of nonprofits we work with. So this really what we do is is we kind of hint, you know, meet them Where's the need and you know we meet them in their comfort zone and help them get the help they need if they ever need it or if they need it right away. And that's really the main service that OVN brings is where you know a connection to the care, support or help that they may need or ever need.
Speaker 1:And that's going to lead us into our sponsor, True Victory Apparel. If you aren't perfect, this is the perfect brand for you. If you've ever struggled, if you've ever failed, if you've ever been the underdog, if you've ever doubted yourself or been doubted by others, this is the perfect brand for you. If you want to get better, be better and make our world better, this is the perfect brand for you. Founded by US military veterans and first responders, True Victory is a sportswear and streetwear brand dedicated to building everyday champions on and off the field.
Speaker 1:We're not simply a company, we're a cause. Our purpose is to transform lives and elevate humanity through the power and unity of sports, positive stories and serving others. Our hope is to one day be the world's most trusted, inspirational and generous brand. We're dedicated to the game, the grind and the globe, but, most importantly, we're dedicated to you. That's what it means to be always true. Go to wwwtruvictorycom that is wwwtruvictorycom to get the dopest swag on the face of the earth, and OVN would agree with that. Once you get there, you will use discount code Aaron Solano that is our super producer for the no Shot Podcast A-R-R-O-N-S-O-L-A-N-O at checkout. Thank you, True Victory, for being the sponsor of the no Shot Podcast. Santa, send us back to Tony.
Speaker 2:So when you said that you're not providing therapy to these people, I would argue that you are. You're not just sitting down and helping them think through their emotions. You're getting them out and building this camaraderie with them. You're giving them purpose, whereas just trying to talk through everything sometimes isn't helping as much as actually getting out and being able to do something that you love.
Speaker 3:You're exactly right. You know we always tend to use the word therapy lightly. You know we see a lot of value in talk therapy. Uh, and there, there is therapies galore out there and uh and um, I would agree you know I didn't say it but um, everybody that's involved in sports with us, it's their own therapy and we have just some amazing stories. And, again, we encourage, we mentor, we refer, we help get started, we support veterans to get into their own what therapy works for them and you know. So, yeah, you know, we are not the clinical therapy that you would go look on whatever websites you would look for for medical care, and that's really a differentiator. With us We've seen so many traditional therapies.
Speaker 3:If you remember back when I said we started this, we did a lot of research for about a year, research for about a year. And uh, you know there's a whole lot of money put into a square box saying this is how we fixed TBI and PTSD and anxiety and depression. And what concerned us is we don't see the number of suicides per day, number change, hardly at all. So how is that therapy, the answer? Where these billions go? We don't feel. We feel it's vital, we feel it's important, but we feel there's another Avenue and then we've got 70 ambassadors across the country that can attest to that and a whole lot more that are waiting in line.
Speaker 3:I want to be part of that because you know, I think you know, you know if you guys served, you get out, you try to find your way, but you've got to find something that kind of follows that checklist that we learned since basic training. Exactly how do I find a purpose? How do I find what are my goals and objectives to meet the mission? I need that and I need to plan, I need to prepare, I need to train and these things all make sense to us. And these things all make sense to us. And, uh, you know, that's that would be.
Speaker 3:I would say, the therapy that we recommend is hey, let's get you into a regimen of some reason. You're going to do something makes you want to get up tomorrow and live another day. Yeah, absolutely, you're going to say, hey, man, I can't wait till this weekend. I got a race and I'm going to work hard every day, you know. And, uh, you know, I, I it's probably you know, with my background in sports, marketing and being around sports and and things like that. I have seen the impact of athletics, of sports, and uh, we, we have a lot of discussions with guys, uh, in the sports world, athletes and like what they deal with. You know they weren't in the military and it's incredible and there's just not enough money and not enough research at that part to support veterans to get involved in sports. You know I don't want to. You have to apologize when you get me on this subject. You could be here for three days.
Speaker 1:Rock and roll. You got time, brother, you got time.
Speaker 3:But the thing that we see is I'll tell you an example my buddy Sean Lally. He was an Army Ranger and got out, struggled, met hard with some drugs and alcohol and he's an MMA fighter jujitsu's his thing and he finally got straight and he said the VA saved my life through their rehab program, but he said the red tape almost killed me to get there.
Speaker 3:And I was like well, we got you through that, sean. So where are you now? And he says you know what, tony? He said if I didn't have my gym, if I didn't have, you know, jujitsu and MMA, he said I'd be right back. Drugs, alcohol, I'd find every means I can to maintain. But I've now found a way, you know, and the MMA side is lightened up now. He's got a couple of little kids and he's 32, so 33. So, like he told me, he goes.
Speaker 3:I don't respond to beatings as well as I used to, and you know. So he runs one of the biggest boxing gyms in Boston now and he's clean and sober seven years now. Let's go, yeah. And you know, sean stood in the middle of an MMA ring about a year ago and said that to people and he said the only way I do this is one day at a time, but he said every day. That gym is part of my process, you know. And. But you know, there, we saw it. You know this, this guy's as tough as they come, you know. I mean he's an MMA fighter, he's an army ranger, but he's like man, he goes. I had to have something to go through.
Speaker 3:So those therapies we see in column therapies are amazing. The response we've seen. That is a big research project that OVN has launched just this year is to find ways to fund and support veterans to get involved in organized sanctioned sports, veterans to get involved in organized sanctioned sports. And what we're doing is we have the 70 ambassadors and we just we just picked up two and added two new categories last week. They are the shining examples and they give their testimony of hey, this is, this is why I'm on earth today. Almost all I'm going to say this sport saved my life and they've been. They've taken the prescriptions 14 pills a day, 12 pills a day. They've been to talk therapy. You know. They've been to retreats that you know. Many of these have been through a lot of the traditional care and they couldn't find their way. They were still lost and you know, now we found their sport. But from the obn side, what we brought to that is we're now a team and we have each other to lean on.
Speaker 3:There's camaraderie, there's these commonalities of serving in the military. Come right back to where we are now. Yeah and uh. You know, um, guys, girls go out. They have a tough week on the playing field, get beat up. Results aren't there. They train hard. We get this big Instagram private group. They get on there. Man, you know, this week sucked, it didn't go like it is Somebody's pumping them up. Hey, remember, every mission isn't? You know, go like we planned. You know, step back, regroup, get a new plan, go forward and uh, you know, that's just the way they talk. You know, and, and this is the world that they live in now and uh, it's incredible to watch. Um, and you know, this is this is what we're.
Speaker 3:We're trying to get the word out that, look, there's so many sports out there. There's so many opportunities for veterans to get involved and and really heal themselves, you know, and and find their way into something that's long-term. That's another thing that we focus on is sustainability. You know we, we're, we're all forced to work out. You know, when we're in the military, you do your PT, you do your thing, you get out.
Speaker 3:We have guys, girls, who struggle. They go to the doctor and they're like well, you know what, we'll get you a free gym membership and you need to get in shape. Well, no kidding, I need to get in shape. You know what I mean. It's like okay, got any other things. But I have absolutely no motivation to get off that couch and go to the gym, even if it's free. Yeah, but what we've seen in our research is but if I have a goal, if I have a mission, yes, I understand what it takes to prepare for that, and part of that preparation is going to the gym or getting out and doing extra laps on my bike or running another mile or whatever they may be, and all of a sudden, that gym time, that training time, seems more trivial. So I'm helping myself, and you know what I mean. And then, ultimately, because that goal is now where my vision is, and Liz Karmuch is getting ready, she's a Marine.
Speaker 3:I don't know if you know Liz the Bellator Women's Flyweight MMA champ Liz is getting ready, she's a Marine. I don't know if you know Liz. Uh, the Bellator women's flyweight MMA champ. Liz is getting ready to fight in the professional fighting league here in a couple of weeks in Orlando.
Speaker 3:We, we had her on a podcast and, uh, you know, she said to me, she said to the group, she says you know what she said every fight is like a mission.
Speaker 3:She said I train like I'm going back to Iraq and she said I just this is the way I live. Wow, and uh, liz, for, uh, she obviously has a fighter's top of his nails, but she was in a program called the lioness program and she was in with infantry groups and the Marines. You know the door kickers going right down in there as part of this program and uh, she said it so well, she goes to fight camp. She zeroed in on it and uh, you know you go in and she's had times, she's got, she's gone in there and got her ass kicked and she's like you know it didn't work out. Okay, refocus, get back to it. And that is another big aspect we see with veterans it's almost good to fail a little bit sometimes at the competition because you've got to get yourself in that recovery mode. How do I fight back? Because it makes them stronger the next time around.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And one of our guys was talking we're doing a presentation for the VA Mental Health Summit here in a few weeks and I had a couple of athletes give a testimony. We're doing a presentation for the VA mental health summit here in a few weeks and I had a couple of athletes give a testimony and one of our guys I still act in duty he's out in California, he does jujitsu and he said when I got into jujitsu, I have a family there. But he said I'm a better father, I'm a better friend, I'm a better husband because of my sport. And when I hear guys that can say that, that have served their country for 20 years and figured out something that gives them a little bit of peace and healing mentally, I'm like now, why are we not helping more veterans get involved in something like this? Why are we not listening to an active duty first sergeant saying I've been through the grind and I finally found my way out? And when you know, and the biggest things were, I'm a better dad, I'm a better friend, I'm a better father. Those are the critical things we need guys and girls to be you know with our other responsibilities, so be you know with our other responsibilities. So, um, yeah, I tell you, I, I I'm like a proud father with these.
Speaker 3:These, these athletes, I mean, I just see the commitment, the dedication, the hard work they put in. Some of them compete at the grassroots level. You know it's a three state, uh, amateur series. Man, they're training for Superbowl 50. It's on, man, you know what I mean. It, this, this thing of you know, and we got, we've got probably 12 that compete. Our professionals, you know, that are at that level. But, uh, it's really cool and, and we do, we make a lot more connection at the grassroots level. Quite honestly.
Speaker 3:You know, um, our dirt bike crew. You know they call throttle therapy, uh, man, they get together for ride days and, uh, you know they are just, they love it, they hang out. You know they'll camp, have a bonfire, get out, ride their bikes, race against each other. The next day, um, they all go to a national event down in Kansas every year. It's called the Veteran MX Foundation Nationals and we've really teamed up with that organization Does a lot of similar things, but just focused on motocross and we had about 12, I think 12 riders go down last year and they got to spend time together and you know, really really cool deal.
Speaker 3:But but yeah, you know, like I said, if you guys were athletes and you were veterans, you really the connection is really easy and you know to see the commonality and it really has brought something to the lives of veterans. And I would say we have three that are active duty and probably 10 that are still in the guard or reserve and, uh, you know they're, they're one to get more active duty people involved because, uh, and we will, you know you don't have to be out of the military for us to help you. You know we have lots of folks that come to us that are still serving um are still serving through various different concerns they have. I don't know if you got to look at how many different sports we're in when you were looking on our website.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I did. In fact, we did, we all did. That was going to be the very next subject that we pull up. Let's get more specific about these athletes. Let's name drop.
Speaker 3:Let's get that ball rolling, because ovn is doing a phenomenal job yeah, well, I tell you, um, there's a guy out there, he's active duty, chris walsh has been uh, uh, he's a very busy guy. He's actually an active duty, uh colonel and uh special tactics guy, but he's a race car driver and uh, you know, when we met chris, uh, first of all, this guy's story is amazing in itself because when we met him, he was part of the world-class athlete program competing to make the usa olympic bobsled team and uh, yeah, and they just missed it. I mean, it was, it was something else. I mean, chris is just an incredible athlete whatever he does. But he told me, you know, in the special ops world riding dirt bikes and all this kind of stuff, he had this fascination with race cars and he got an opportunity to go race at BMW and I think it was his first race. He got a third place and that was it. He caught the feed and I watched him race for probably two years. He would drive and go anywhere. He'd drive junk cars, he'd work on them himself with the team, you know. I mean, I I say junk cars, he's, he's on a big stage, you know the sro road course series and did a lot of these long eight hour races and things like that. But last year he won the series and was named one of BMW's top 25 road course racers in the world. No way, that's crazy. This year he just moved into IMSA and Chris is one of the most genuine down-to-earth guys.
Speaker 3:He gets on the Instagram group and he told me one day I said he said, tony, I don't know my role, I feel like I should do more. You know what am I doing? I said, chris, you know you're out there representing and you're a busy guy, you're a dad. I don't know that, but but he told, he told me he goes. You know one of the best things about this whole ovian a bass raffle. He said I love getting on that group and seeing what other veterans are doing in sports. What they're doing out there is, he said, is just incredible. And uh, chris is definitely one of them. Guys.
Speaker 3:We, we drop his name. Uh, we usually bring him. I think we'll bring him up here to pennsylvania in uh in may and he drives one of the local series and spend some time with some gold star families with us. But um, we got, we got another kid, jace angus. Uh, perfect name for a bronc rider. You know what I mean. And uh, he's uh, jason, uh, he's an afghan, afghanistan, did a couple tours. You know, an Army infantry guy but he rides Broncos and he's one of the best there is and he just fully got back on the tour and I tell you, everywhere he's going he's like top three, top four and working into the bigger series, so he's a pro rider. But we just got a new guy. We haven't announced it yet, but we have our first strongman competitor.
Speaker 1:Oh, wait a minute. Is this an official drop on the no Shop podcast, right?
Speaker 2:now Tony. Yeah, it sounds like it.
Speaker 3:It is. Jack was Army Artillery guy and, yeah, he competes in strongman and he's out of Tennessee and we're really excited about it. So we're going to be dropping it out here by Monday. Well, I guess actually now, we just did it Saturday, huh.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Just did a little early, yeah, yeah. But yeah, you know some of these. You know, like Liz, liz is a big name man. I tell you what a heart to help her fellow veterans. She's amazing. I mean, you know, I can't say enough.
Speaker 3:And this is where we see a lot of veterans want to help each other but they don't know how. You know, all the organizations out there aren't geared to involve them in being part of the solution. And we have seen when we bring them in and we give them skin in the game, say, hey, we're in this together. You know how are we going to help out, and they like being part of that. You know we tell all our ambassadors, hey, look, you have one mission. That's the focus on yourself and your sport.
Speaker 3:Sport, you know we don't have you out there selling t-shirts and you know setting up booths and things like that. Uh, we see a lot of that in these ambassador programs and I think it's really cool. You know what I mean for to be a brand ambassador that helps the athlete themselves. So we do like that and we we try to get our. That's kind of the partnership we have with them is we're always looking for sponsors, support for them, to help them, because we found the number one thing that keeps veterans out of getting involved in the sport is cost. They just can't afford it. These guys are raised dirt bikes. That stuff's expensive, you know travel things of that nature, so you know. So we're all trying to look at ways to support them in that manner. Another cool sport we have we have six two and three-gun shooting competitors and they are amazing. So, chuck and Crystal, they're in the qualifiers this year to be on the USA Shotgun competition team. If they qualify they're going to Greece next year for the competition.
Speaker 1:Tony, I got to put the brakes on you. Here we go. This is the reason why you guys aren't just pulling in ambassadors, you're pulling in even the grassroots to the elite ambassadors. What is this process that you guys go through to bring on an ambassador? Because you're bringing on amazing people, amazing athletes, amazing veterans.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the majority of who we have now came from referrals from other other athletes or people that see them. You know we have a a big area. We get people to come to us through Instagram. But when they come to us, you know we ask them. You know we say, hey, we set up a 30 minute zoom, we talked through a presentation with the programs about. You know, this isn't just a sponsorship for you to find some more money to go. This is a partnership and a mission, and so we go through that.
Speaker 3:Then they fill out a questionnaire that basically has you know what they did in the military, their branch. We ask them their goals in their sport. You know, what are your goals, what are you aiming to get towards? What are some of your greatest accomplishments? And then we ask them the question why would you want to be an obn ambassador athlete? And uh, we go through that process and we take a look at that as a team. And uh, that's where, um, you know, with the first 10 athletes we did it with, we kind of tested it with them and the response was amazing. Um, and that questionnaire in itself, when you see the answer to the question why do you want we did it with, we kind of tested it with them and the response was amazing. And that questionnaire in itself. When you see the answer to the question why do you want to be an OVN ambassador athlete, you just see their heart come out in the writing. You know it's like, this is what I want to do and that's the process we lead into it, you know.
Speaker 3:Then they get a kit. You know, with some stuff and they get a toolkit. And the toolkit is some basic information, small stuff they can keep in their gym bag, in their equipment, trailers, whatever, of key partners' resources. We tell them say, look, we don't want you to don't feel you have to be their therapist or you have to have the answers to everything. You just got to be that conduit that way to get them to the next help. So obn is their home base. They hey, they know they can. They have a card that can lead them to any of our kind of call to action part of our organization. Or they have cards for our partners like vets, for warriors is a big group we work with. That's a 24-7 peer-to-peer.
Speaker 3:I believe they work out of Rutgers University but every call that goes there is answered by a veteran, and so we partner with people like that and then measure the tools our ambassadors have. They know, oh, hey, just give these guys a call If you're ever feeling like you're struggling or whatever. I mean we've had guys reach out to us and say, hey, I'm having serious marital problems. They said you might know somebody we can connect with that can help me out with this. We're able to work with based on their situation, get them connected, get them the help they need. We saw our ambassadors do this every day. Just to give you a to kind of quantify what they did in 2024, in our annual report it will be in there. Each ambassador had, if you average it out, about 15 different competitions annually and they reached over 1,000 veterans. Wow.
Speaker 1:Directly, they're good.
Speaker 3:And you know that's what it's kind of funny. We have a quarterly call with the team and you know we talked about it and I said they don't realize what they do To them. Here's what's really cool about this every time they talk to somebody face to face, that's the only thing they've done. Hey, I talked to a veteran today they don't think about. Over the last six months I talked to 442 veterans and handed them some, helped them out. They can only remember that last one they talked to. I mean, they remember them all, but it's, it's genuine. Know they don't, they're there to just help out. So you know that's the impact that these guys and girls are having and a lot of them, their favorite part of it is mentoring other athletes, getting them involved. And, uh, we got a really cool group of jujitsu guys and girls and you know they love talking techniques and sharing stuff and, um, you know it's, it's really cool. So so, yeah, it's. You know, when you, when you talk about name dropping, I mean every single one of them are like a superstar. Um, they're passionate. I mean you just, I mean you guys are around a lot of athletes as well. You know that passion that comes out with sports. That's that's.
Speaker 3:We got a kid, chance Chance Clary. If you check out I believe there's on our YouTube page there's definitely a video of Chance Chance lost his leg in Afghanistan and, uh, men, young, 20 years old, and he raced dirt bikes. He's always raced dirt bikes. He had traumatic brain injury I mean, it was an IED he's all banged up. They took his leg and they said you know, with the brain injury and all, they're like you can't ride a dirt bike. He says I got one answer for that I got to ride a dirt bike.
Speaker 3:And he talks about and this kid's not like, this isn't like, you know, let me go out and do a little trail riding. You know he's, uh, he's got to be the fastest guy in one leg. Um, he tells, he tells his story and he said I need that adrenaline rush, I need that. That. I felt. You know, nobody wants to be in a firefight you know what I mean when you're in the military but there's a level of adrenaline that people feel that that's something they can't replicate. And he talks about when he gets on his bike, nothing else matters, he's focused on the next turn. It's incredible listen to a young guy like that. How important that sport is to him. So, so yeah, that's, that's the kind of stuff we see every day. I mean it's, it's exhilarating to me. Um, you know, like I told those guys, I have a dirt bike, I play baseball, but I'm getting old, you know, tonight golf.
Speaker 3:And uh, let me add one thing to that not competitively.
Speaker 4:Golf is always a competition. You're playing against yourself in the course.
Speaker 3:True, yeah, good point, really good point. And that's the message we're trying to bring out to all the clinical people, the smart people. There's some amazing people out there trying to work on solutions to help veterans. We cannot thank them enough and we want to boost up and we want to get veterans involved in that. But we also want them to pay attention of what makes a veteran tick. What makes a guy and a girl, what's what's going to make them say I want to be here tomorrow because I have something to do.
Speaker 3:And uh, there's a whole lot to that statement. When we hear a veteran say that, because a lot of them have been in a state where I don't think I want to be here tomorrow, and that's you know, that's a scary, that's a scary thing to hear. So, yeah, just just, I couldn't be more honored and privileged to be a part of this. These were these guys and girls. I mean, they're just incredible and we would have a lot more. We're just small. We don't try to fool anybody. You know we're all volunteers, nobody's paid here, but you know we're trying to grow it and 100 percent of it is focused on supporting these veterans athletes and making making sure veterans know where, when and how to get help when they need it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, absolutely yeah, absolutely incredible, Just fantastic. We all just want to thank you for what you guys are doing over there and this actually brings us to our tie to True Victory with OVN.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:We're going to cap it with this. The relationship that OVN and true victory is established is one that true victory particularly honors and respects, and we cherish it. You guys took a step with us because you see our values and we want to make sure that you guys are seen and respected and that you do grow so to to to end our conversation, though, tony, I do want to end cap it with the reasons why True Victory is you deemed it was the right choice. Yes, our values match up. We totally understand that, but has the brand done enough to really show you that you matter, that you care?
Speaker 3:Absolutely, I tell you first of all, Chris is a rock star. She matter that you care Absolutely. I tell you, first of all, chris is a rock star. She is, isn't she? I tell you what she is.
Speaker 3:We really, you know, we've been out there, you know, and in the world of sports we're always looking for apparel things like that. Obviously we want somebody. You know it's in America, united States, veteran owned. But you know, when we always place that first order and we get it, we want to see what that thing looks like, you know. You know is one sleeve longer than the other. You know, we've been kind of through that grind, you know, and so that's kind of a big first test. And you know we got it.
Speaker 3:Great quality, but the willingness to say, hey, we know your mission is unique. And this ambassador athlete thing right away, you know you guys are familiar with what we're doing with this project. We're tailoring it to those athletes. Those were just delivered, some of the first, you know, hoodies and T-shirts, and they love them. They're like this is us, but to your company, to True Victory, to be able to want to work with us, understanding why we're doing this. You know we're not out selling these and trying to figure out how to make money off them. We have a mission here, and that was a discussion Chris said. Chris said to me let me go back to the team, tell me, tony, let me figure out how we can do this for you. And she did. And she came back and said here's what we can do. And we went to next step and that sold us. We're like, wow, this is really cool, great product, great responsiveness and that's wonderful, and now we've officially made it to trivia let's get on it it's the
Speaker 2:fun part, tony. What was the first organized US military sport? Was it A football, b baseball, c rowing?
Speaker 1:Tony, you get first dib, sir. I was going football, tony's going football. Baseball C Rowing. Tony, you get first dibs, sir. Ooh, probably going to football. All right, tony's going to football.
Speaker 3:Ah, that's got an initial thought, boy, that doesn't sound like a good response.
Speaker 4:Oh man, I'm thinking, you know, like the Navy Army game, right, of course it's classic. I don't know. I think I'm going to go with baseball. I feel like baseball is definitely the older of the American sports, so I'm going to be baseball.
Speaker 1:You know I agree with that sentiment, but there's just something about the grit that's associated with the military in all branches which makes me think football.
Speaker 4:I'm going football.
Speaker 2:Football. Yeah, let's go, Tony.
Speaker 1:Yo, aaron, give us a ding, bro. Give us another ding, bro, give us one more ding, let's go All right.
Speaker 2:all right, Now, this is a random question. Here's a random trivia question.
Speaker 1:Tony, this is going to be corny. I'm just telling you in advance.
Speaker 2:This is so good, alright. Which well-known military leader was swarmed by a colony of rabbits while on a hunt? So was it A Frederick II of Persia B Attila the Hun, c Napoleon Bonaparte.
Speaker 3:You know, me and my buddies were just talking about this the other day. No way.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, no I never, heard this before. I'm joking.
Speaker 3:Napoleon Bonaparte? I don't know, all right.
Speaker 4:That was my thought too, Napoleon.
Speaker 2:All right, you're going to go with that, yeah.
Speaker 1:All right, you know what I know? This is completely wrong, but this is such a wacky question I'm going to tell the hun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was Napoleon. Heck, yeah man, oh man, did you just see him getting swarmed by all these rabbits?
Speaker 4:That short king Just got overcome by rabbits.
Speaker 2:I think he was like 5'10".
Speaker 1:He's not like super short, but he wasn't 5'10" Did anyone notice that Tony just banged out both of them correctly.
Speaker 4:Yes, he did.
Speaker 3:Where did you even find that I look for?
Speaker 2:just like crazy facts throughout history, and then I make trivia questions out of them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and now we are moving on to the shout out for our local restaurant. In today's episode we have Wright's Deli. Wright's Deli in Tampa Bay, florida. If you're looking for the best sandwich or salad in town, look no further. Wright's Deli's menu is piled high with a variety of award-winning choices. But remember to get there early to beat the crowds, because man people are hungry and Wright's gives you what you need. And if you need catering taken care of, wright's can handle that as well. You'll have hosts, you'll have corporate catering and their specialty is to help you.
Speaker 1:Once again, wright's Deli in South Tampa Florida. You can run up their menu online and you can find them at 1200 South Del Mabry Highway in Tampa Florida. Once again, that is 1200 South Del Mabry Highway in Tampa Bay, florida. Wright's, you guys do it right. It's a gourmet house. And now we are moving on to Gin Pub. We are swinging it back to Tony. Tony, I have one final question for you from the no Shot Podcast episode. If you had the opportunity to talk to a veteran that is looking to dig a little deeper but hasn't found their place in their community, how would you go about having a conversation with him?
Speaker 3:Good question. You know the first thing I'd say is hey, what's your interest outside the military? And you know what have you ever done in life to bring joy? You know what I mean and you know what have you ever done in life to bring you joy? You know what I mean and you know try to dig into. You know, obviously, if it's a first conversation, try to dig into. You know really what makes him tick, what are they passionate about anything and really go from there. You know, obviously the simple things are how do we help? But let's find out what you're passionate about, let's find out what you really like to do in life and let's see what's available in the community for you. You know how do we connect you with something like that.
Speaker 1:This has been the no Shot Podcast and it has been brought to you by Radio Influence. That's your boy, jay Floyd A-Town super producer, that holds down the no-shot and the dings and the brand. Yeah, true Victory, apparel OVN, outstanding. Tony, you are the man. Salute my friend Hooah. Send us out Santa.
Speaker 2:This has been the No-Shot Podcast. Go check out the brand at TrueVictorycom. This has been the no Shot Podcast. Go check out the brand at TrueVictorycom and then go support the cast by rating us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
