SEASON 3 EPISODE 10 | Military Spouse Appreciation Day

In this episode of Vetted Conversations, the military spouses on our team open up about the camaraderie, challenges, and misconceptions that come with military life. They reflect on the strength, adaptability, and leadership military spouses bring to every space they’re in. Tune in to hear how military spouses can take part in civic life and make an impact through programs like Vet the Vote and Military 250.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Vetted Conversations, where we delve into the foundations, workings, and current challenges facing our American experiment. In today's confusing world, it's more important than ever to understand what keeps our nation strong and how we, as patriotic citizens, can actively participate.

SPEAKER_04 0:17

Our mission is to ensure that you, the listener, gain the knowledge and insights alongside us, your veteran and military family member hosts, to become more informed and engaged citizens.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

In a world of partisan noise, we lead with a bias of patriotism, cutting through the static with clarity, insight, and action. Join us as we learn together and help equip you with the tools to protect and preserve what matters most: our shared American ideals. So let's get into it.

SPEAKER_04 0:48

Welcome back to the Vetted Conversations Podcast. We have a fun, different kind of episode today. Our team, which is made of, as you might imagine, veterans and military spouses, military family members, uh has a really um strong representation by female military spouses. And some of us, not me, but some of uh my colleagues are also veterans, so uh we get a lot of crossover in their experience and understanding there. But all of us um have uh are involved in the military spouse and military family community from different angles and based on our very different perspectives. So, of course, being a military spouse myself, um I find that the experience uh is one that is really hard to explain to somebody else. So there are unbelievable benefits to having people who are working on these issues actually really be in this community and know firsthand uh what the challenges, opportunities, feelings, sense of patriotism is for people in our community. So without further ado, you people have heard me on the podcast before, but they have not heard all the amazing other people on our team who represent the the people who've built the programs, created the the incredible stuff that we've done, made it all happen, and are helping to support keeping our country safe by being military family members. So I will start off um by asking everyone to introduce themselves, and then we will get into a little workplace chat talking about uh our experience running a team as military family members. So without further ado, um to kick it off, can Madison, can you be the first person to introduce yourself?

SPEAKER_08 2:36

I'm Madison, I'm in Kansas City. I am the Associate Director of Marketing here at We the Veterans, and I am an Army spouse.

SPEAKER_04 2:46

All right, sticking with the Army. Loren, introduce yourself, please.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

Hey everyone, I'm Loren Westerfield. I'm an Army National Guard spouse and a program director here at We the Veterans and Military Families.

SPEAKER_04 3:01

And a veteran?

SPEAKER_02 3:04

Yes, I think we're focused on military spousing today. So yes, I am also an active duty army veteran as well. Thank you, Ellen. No problem.

SPEAKER_04 3:15

And to jump to our other uh double hat wearer, Julie, can you introduce yourself?

SPEAKER_07 3:21

Hi, Julie Hendricks. I'm the director of operations located in Northern Virginia, and I am married to an active duty Navy officer, and I was also in the Navy myself before my husband was in the Navy, I will add.

SPEAKER_04 3:36

Oh yeah, definitely get that seniority going because we all know that in houses, uh military houses, the fact that military members know how to take orders is definitely part of the equation uh on the home front as well. And I'm saying that as a Navy spouse myself. Yes, it goes both ways. Um so uh back to uh back to the Army, Mary Bennett.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

Hi, I'm Mary Bennett Dode or MB. I am an Army spouse and associate director of programs at We the Veterans.

SPEAKER_04 4:08

And um newest team member Danielle.

SPEAKER_06 4:15

Hi, I'm Danielle, and I am the associate director of patriotic participation programs, and I am an Air Force spouse.

SPEAKER_04 4:28

And then last but absolutely not at all least, because she may be the most important person on the team, Madeline. Uh, will you introduce yourself and talk about your unique positioning working with us?

SPEAKER_05 4:40

Yes, my name is Madeline Paris, and I'm an active duty army spouse located in Fort Cavazos, Texas. And I am the chief executive assistant here at We The Veterans, and I'm also a chief executive assistant with Squared Away.

SPEAKER_04 4:55

Yeah, so Squared Away is a military spouse-founded business that we have used almost since our inception as a nonprofit organization to get help and to hire competent, smart, military spouses who are working from home as we all are. Um and of course, that is one of the unique challenges, right? You know, the the uh the the maybe the the icebreaker question we can use to just give a little bit of color is we all work um in our home offices uh and we are spread all around the country. So can I ask every person um what is the snack that you most often eat uh at your home desk that we don't know about?

SPEAKER_07 5:39

I will start and um I think we've talked about this actually before, Ellen, but I have been known to grab a spoonful of Nutella and just eat the Nutella without anything else because it makes me really happy.

SPEAKER_04 5:55

Um I'm really happy you said that because I also I get the organic kind from Whole Foods, so it makes me feel like it's a little bit better. But my my um my desk snacks are a spoonful of Nutella or drinking jalapeno juice, which everyone knows about because I say it on some of our calls.

SPEAKER_07 6:11

I don't think it's much healthier, Ellen. I know.

SPEAKER_04 6:14

It's not. Uh who else?

SPEAKER_01 6:18

I feel like this is a safe space with the Nutella thing. Do you guys have a bowl or do you eat straight out of the jar? Because my husband definitely gives me grief for eating out of the jar, but that is a hundred percent a move that I make daily. Uh and then I'd also say peanut butter pretzels or a macro bar, but I don't know if we're allowed to really shout out brand names here. But macro bars are really good. That's all.

SPEAKER_06 6:42

I feel like I eat everything. I eat everything from ice cream to chips on a daily basis. So um there's not very many healthy options in my little snack door, but uh I'm working on it.

SPEAKER_04 6:56

Lored, what's what's your what's your secret snack that you're hiding behind the uh the camera angle?

SPEAKER_02 7:02

I have I don't I'm I'm really particular with my family being as I am about not having food upstairs or in bedrooms, and my office happens to be upstairs, so it's very rare you'll find me with snacks. But if I did, I would grab a handful of pistachios that are already shilled, and uh they would be gone probably before I hit my office.

SPEAKER_07 7:26

But they're not even home, and you're enforcing that standard for yourself.

SPEAKER_02 7:30

Lead from the front, Julie, lead from the front.

SPEAKER_07 7:33

Dang. Armonawoo and through.

SPEAKER_05 7:36

Madeline, anything? I'm not really a snacker, but my go-to work from home lunch is the Bulldog spicy carbonara pasta, like the ramen. I eat that honestly, four out of five days a week.

SPEAKER_04 7:48

So I guess I love I love envisioning this. This just makes it really fun since we don't get to eat lunch together for the most part. Um, so we are mostly a military spouse team, which is obviously why our organization has done so many cool things and been so successful. Um, and we work in the veteran uh ecosystem of veteran organizations. Um and and so just to you know, I'm curious what you guys think. I never feel any real separation. I mean, obviously, two of you are veterans and mill spouses, but I I never feel like it's weird. I feel like we all feel very much part of the same big ecosystem: veteran, military spouse, military family member. Um, and there's a lot of shared experience there that does not um end up feeling divisive. It feels very unifying. I'm curious what you guys all think about that.

SPEAKER_02 8:38

For me, like early in my career, especially a nonprofit in the military space, I always felt like I had to share, probably over share that I was a veteran to feel like some sort of sense of like um, you know, people people feel like I should be there. But now I think the name of our organization really helps because it it is extremely inclusive and it's not like this organization is only for veterans, it is for the whole ecosystem of the military family. So I think that I think that helps us be relevant, but also for veterans who know how hardworking and how hard it is to be a military spouse or even a military kid, like that they are like, yes, this is a whole family effort. So um it kind of brings it all together.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Yeah, I would say there's definitely a lot of gratitude that you receive, or that I've at least received when I introduce myself and our affiliation and the organization having the you know ampersand uh military families as well. Um, and and it you can tell when when you're in these rooms with with other uh veteran service organizations, other veterans and military family members. I I feel like yeah, it is we're we're just all one group and we need every piece of the pie to really work together. So you you feel that gratitude and and sense of welcoming from from these rooms, or at least I have thus far. So knock on wood, but feeling all right.

SPEAKER_04 10:09

Any other deep thoughts?

SPEAKER_07 10:13

I feel also having been or I am a veteran and a spouse, sometimes when you meet someone, you know, there's there's usually this kind of built-in trust, and you sort of um you know you're gonna have this shared experience. And I found that it can be deeper when it's a spouse because um the you know depending on what you do in the military, your experience might be very different. But as a spouse, we share very similar experiences, and it as Mary Bennett said, it fits into the whole piece, and so that's really validating, and I mean it is a special bond, and I don't feel silly saying that. It really is.

SPEAKER_04 10:51

Yeah, it certainly is. Um, and so so along with that, I mean, I think military spouses bring an unbelievable benefit to the workplace, um, not the least of which because we have so much experience in overcoming regular challenges and getting stuff done. And especially as a as a startup, you know, we are so used to having to just go to a new place and do a startup life. Um, and I I'm curious how you guys see that playing out in our organization with all our different coworkers. Like, I mean, we're all used to being like, oh, cool, I've never been to this place before, and now I have to set up all the doctor's appointments, all the you know, housing, everything, find the grocery store, figure out my favorite restaurants, like figure it all out every single time we move. And I'm curious, you know, if anyone else notices that as a real positive for all of our coworkers and how they get stuff done at a relatively startup nonprofit organization.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

I feel like military spouses were built to be program managers for startups. You are scrappy, you can juggle 18,000 things at once, you are mentally tracking 16 other things that no one else even knows about. You're filling in the gaps, you're being proactive to you know put out fires before they've been created. Um so yeah, I I definitely think whether we were built for this or it, you know, built us into this mold, one way or another, we are we are that. And I think that's one of the reasons that you can kind of tell we the veterans and military families is like run by military spouses. Like we we get things done and uh and we're very collaborative as well. Because again, it really does take uh a team for for all of this to be in this world, really. So um yeah, you can definitely sense that here for sure.

SPEAKER_08 12:35

I would also say that I think to Mary Bennett's point, we collaborate more naturally, maybe, than the average person because we're you know, like America, we are a melting pot to the extreme in the military. People from all over the world who have, you know, left their comfort zones of where they grew up and experienced other cultures and societies as well and had to integrate into those. And I think naturally you you can make a best friend immediately because that's just our community in general. Um, and as well as just taking the initiative to get things done because somebody has to do it, and you're often used to doing it by yourself. And so independent work, I think, is a lot stronger too with our community.

SPEAKER_04 13:20

Yeah, I totally agree. And I also think it's funny because so many of us end up working at kind of weird hours sometimes. You, Madison, I'm calling you out right now, girl. Um, but you know, because hey, there's the life happens and you just got to figure out when you're gonna fit it all in. And I think um being part of an organization that is okay with that um is really helpful. We also have a team member who's not on this call, but um is a is a is a State Department spouse who's stationed in Europe right now, and you know, that for a lot of people would be a really difficult thing. And for us, we're like, yeah, no worries, like you're just in a different time zone. We're used to this, we know how to do this. Um so I think it it you know it is a very similar experience, but um we're also a team that's willing to be flexible with with all the different time zones that we're in.

SPEAKER_08 14:07

Yeah, and I think in addition to as co-workers, I think having bosses, you know, Alan, Julie, having bosses that know what you're going through. I I I have no shame saying, you know, I've called my boss Alan and you know, I think I'm about to lose my shit. You know, I think I'm gonna lose my mind. And having someone that understands that and can empathize in a way that just the general population can't um is uh is such a stress reliever to know that somebody gets that you're not being flaky or you're not being moody, you just are juggling a million different things and you feel like you might just combust. So I think not only having colleagues that get it, but having bosses that understand who take the five minutes to say you're not crazy, it's gonna be fine, goes such a long way.

SPEAKER_04 14:55

Yeah, well, it the feeling is mutual because you know, every time, every time we've had those conversations, Madison, it's like uh yeah, by the way, I also am about to lose my mind. Let's help each other through this. Um, and you know, it's it's it's really funny, but we my husband and I and kids PCSed um just this last summer, and we moved to where Julie was already living, and then Mary Bennett just moved too. And I will tell you that, you know, Julie joined the team about a year ago. She had probably was about about three months before we moved here, and I was like, cool, Julie, you're now the emergency contact for my children. Thank you so much for your service.

SPEAKER_07 15:40

I don't I don't think I had been hired yet. And you were like, hey, can you check out this neighborhood? Like 100% thinking of living here. Like, oh yeah, my my cousin lives there. Let me tell you this information. I did.

SPEAKER_03 15:52

I was like, one of our interview questions was, can you please drive by this house and see if I should live there? Yes.

SPEAKER_07 15:59

And then it was like, um, oh, it's your move day. What can I do for you? What do you need? It's just so automatic to the point where you don't appreciate necessarily how not everyone lives that way. Like I remember, this is kind of a different example, but I remember setting up a meal train for my sister-in-law, and she's like, How did you how did you get people to sign up for this? How did you even think of this? I'm like, what? A meal train? It's like military statuses live by this, you know? It's just it's just things that we um maybe take for granted, but certainly are a benefit for this community.

SPEAKER_08 16:33

Madeline, can I ask, what's it like coming into our team? How do we compare to some of the other teams that you might contract with? Um, and you know, what is one thing that maybe you like as if someone's listening to this that might think that this is a little crazy, this dynamic, oh I can't believe they do that in their org. Could you explain, you know, what are things about our org that really help us flourish that you've enjoyed?

SPEAKER_05 16:58

Yeah, I think coming from Squared Away, where like my home base is working with like 300 plus military spouses who get it. You know, everybody understands what our lifestyle is like, and then getting to partner with an organization who also gets it is really nice because I can get both sides of it. Everybody understands what's going on and how we're all getting through the day. So it's really nice kind of getting to step into that every single day and to continue, you know, working every day with people who understand and can relate to what's going on.

SPEAKER_08 17:32

I love that. Okay, so as we jump into the next part of our conversation, this will be a little bit shorter of an episode. What are some uh societal misconceptions that you think people have about military spouses? And be smiling.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

Oh, I yeah, I'm smiling because I feel like a lot of the misconceptions are seen in person when I'm with my husband and we get into a group of army people or military people. Most of the time the misconception is that I don't exist or that I do exist, but I don't have anything relevant about my person, you know, to contribute to the conversation, which is cool. I do know some of the acronyms now for sure. So I'm tracking some of the things they're saying. Even I'm tracking is apparently a thing that's used in the army a lot. Um, but yeah, I think a misconception is that we don't have our own personalities, identities, careers, interests, ideas, any anything to contribute. Um, and uh, and so yeah, but it's it's a bummer because I've honestly I've seen that more like within the community than outside of the community. I uh to be completely honest. I feel like when you introduce yourself as a military spouse to, you know, civilians, they're really interested and they're like, oh wow, what's that like? But inside of the realm a little bit more, I guess it's more, you know, in the boys' club of things. But yeah, the the misconception I feel is that we yeah, we don't really uh join a lot of the conversations, even if we're there, we're on the the guy's shoulder for sure. Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 19:07

Mary Bennett, I was gonna say, um, I read a stat recently that military spouses now are the most educated group in America. Hello, highest educated.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

I could have said that with no data. That was just a feeling I had.

SPEAKER_08 19:24

Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt, but that that made me think of that sound I just read.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

I love that. I'll wear that on a shirt the next time I'm in one of these spaces. So thank you, Madison.

SPEAKER_04 19:34

Well, the the irony is that we're literally called dependents. And you know, in in America today, the vast majority of families are dual income. And of course, we are um statistically, we are underemployed at a really high rate because of all the factors of life. Like you're moving all the time, you you can't you know, you don't have a network, you don't, but at the end of the day, you know, running a Organization with military spouses who have moved since we've been running this organization, multiple, many of us, those issues seem pretty irrelevant if you have a team structured in the right way. So this idea that we're dependents and that moving is somehow a barrier to our productivity is like we can say from this organization 100% wrong. You know, we are definitely not dependents and we are definitely um fully able to be incredibly high-functioning workers despite moving and despite being remote.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

How many of us have moved since being here? I'm like looking around the around the room, and it's a decent it's our executive director, it's Danielle.

SPEAKER_08 20:42

Yeah, I mean they're I've moved twice.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 20:45

Since being here.

SPEAKER_07 20:48

Same.

SPEAKER_08 20:50

It's been fun.

SPEAKER_07 20:51

I've got a misconception that comes with moving. Okay. And a lot. And um, Madison, when you said that we all become friends really quickly, I I think that's like a complete misconception. I think that most of the spouses and particularly women I know love to get out into the community and meet new neighbors and become very friendly very quick. And so if anyone is listening and has that misconception, please say hi to your military neighbors and invite them to things because we'll probably say yes. That's such a good point.

SPEAKER_02 21:38

And you'll probably be friends for life. Like I know so many people that have moved, whether they became friends with other military spouses or families, and they've, you know, now I have literally friends all over the country, and I'm like, hey, I'm going to LA. Who can I see there? Hey, I'm going to DC. Who do I need to see there? But even um non-military families, like when I was in Clarksville, Tennessee, I had, you know, people who were in my church or something like that that lived there and were not military, and still, you know, my son's best friend from kindergarten I keep up with. Um and they're just a normal family from Tennessee that, you know, we happen to be become friends with.

SPEAKER_08 22:20

I'm in the market to make more Navy friends because I want to have vacation spots near beaches and I need someone to stay with.

SPEAKER_04 22:28

You need more than Julie and I?

SPEAKER_08 22:29

Yeah. Wow. I need I've got the West Coast covered. I need more West Coast people. Okay. Very smart.

SPEAKER_04 22:36

Well, it's a it's a smart thing to advertise in this on this podcast.

SPEAKER_02 22:39

Right.

SPEAKER_08 22:40

So, you know, seeking seeking friends.

SPEAKER_02 22:43

Can I tell you my best hack though, Madison? Yeah. Always. My best, my best hack, and I may, I may seriously regret this with this going out into the world, is that if you go to Navy lodging or navy inn, you can go and stay on base for a incredibly discounted rate compared to the places around there. And um, like my favorite thing to do in the world is to go to Key West for New Year's because you can wear flip-flops and walk around with your preferred drink and have um no jacket on. And um, and we stay at the Fly Navy building, and it is a just incredible time every time we go.

SPEAKER_04 23:31

We're we're taking that as a preference for the Navy over the Army, Laura. Just saying.

SPEAKER_02 23:36

Hey man, I I'm not gonna I'm not going to Fort Drum. I'm telling you. Like there's nothing, nobody said that the Army had good bases with good places to stay.

SPEAKER_08 23:47

I love it. Uh, real quick, I just wanted to before we hop off, Julie. Can you share? I thought what you were sharing with me the other day was really insightful, where you talk about being a Navy Academy grad and the misconception people have when you're with your husband now on the spouse side.

SPEAKER_07 24:05

Oh, yes. So, and it's not even I I don't necessarily even have to be with my husband, but the so many times I've been asked if I'm wearing a Navy shirt, like, oh, did your husband go there? I've been asked, did your does your son go to the Naval Academy when my son is playing Little League with this man's son and they're like seven years old? What? Why? And it always drives me really crazy. And I always um what I was saying to Madison was like, I want to my yes, my husband did that though, but I want to lie and be like, no, just I went. Um but I also shared that I get it because if I see someone who's even a generation ahead of me wearing some type of army or navy or any type of military, I will not necessarily assume that they are the one who served, but I've learned to always ask that, and oftentimes I'm surprised. Um, and learn how to get story about this with her husband who flies for the airlines. Just always ask, and that gets that goes a long way because you can really hear um some incredible stories from some women who have gone before us.

SPEAKER_04 25:18

So we obviously talk about this idea of continued service for the veteran community, which is very easy to understand, right? Veterans have physically served in the military, and then we are inviting them through our programs to continue their service. But we feel as a group of military spouses that it's the exact same for us. You know, we are we can do things like our programs offer, like become a poll worker or go to grad school and become a public servant in their in your state or city or county. Um and and really it is continuing service. It's service outside of your military member or it's service outside of the the you know things that you did as a military spouse for the country. And so I think you know, most people maybe uh would be confused by that, but we all consider our in many ways um military spouses to have have also served, and you know, doing things on top of that is continuing their service. So um, should we just do a quick round, Robin, about some of the different programs that we do have, and uh maybe every you know, you jump in and take one and we can talk about this concept of continued service.

SPEAKER_02 26:25

I heard you say public service, so I can't help but jump in and talk about our vet public service. While it does say vet in the name, that includes our whole um suite of veterans and military families who are interested in serving, you know, through some sort of public service, which could be through a state and local government, it could be through nonprofits, we have educational opportunities with a fellowship where we have networking for those different kinds of jobs. And if you thought you wanted to go and be in the corporate business world, but you really want to give back to your community, there's more information for you all to look at when it comes to public service and see if that would be a better route for you and your personalities and desires.

SPEAKER_06 27:13

I think that if you are in the market for friends and you're looking for a community, uh, but the vote is probably not the worst uh way to go because one, you get to help out your community, work at the polls, and for anybody who's coming from maybe a job or an organization that they had to leave behind, it really is a good community. Uh elections happen year-round. It's not just every four years, like some people think. So um it's not just something you do once in a while. You can volunteer, and a lot of times you get um almost recruited to be uh a two-year uh judge or mil or chief judge, depending on uh the state you live in. So I think that the vote would be a good organization for anybody out there, military spouse who's just moved looking to meet new people. Um, and then not only that, you get to meet the whole community while you're working.

SPEAKER_08 28:09

So it's a good option. So we also have a program. It's fairly new called Bet the News, and it kind of serves two purposes. It's a way for veterans and military family members to get in journalism. We are America's most trusted group, and we should be in newsrooms and we should be reporting. Um, and then also it serves as an algorithm-free uh news site that uh primarily focuses on stories written by veteran and military family journalists. So it's a really great opportunity if you're thinking about journalism, and we're looking to really expand that program. So definitely sign up for updates, um, and we'll have a lot more information coming soon. But I'm very excited about the growth of that program. So you can check that out at getvetted.org.

SPEAKER_02 28:59

So, along with Vet Public Service, we actually recently launched our career portal giving access to military-affiliated um people to find jobs in public service in state and local governments. And um, it's right now an aggregator of aggregators. So there's a number of different ways that you can look for different careers and different options. Um, and that you can find on our vetpublicservice.org page.

SPEAKER_08 29:32

And I do just want to put a friendly reminder out that this year we have a big campaign, Military 250. It's really to encourage everyone to honor 250 years of Marine, Army, and Navy service with acts of service. We will soon on the website have the ability to find service uh opportunities near you on a map, and you can view other people's acts of service that have been completed all throughout the US. We are aiming to have 250,000 acts of service uh by this time next year. So definitely check out military250.org.

SPEAKER_04 30:07

And then, of course, we have uh vetted conversations where we are right now. So, along with this podcast where we take on um, you know, issues relating to our civic life, um, being patriotic Americans and knowledgeable about our country and our country's institutions, um, you know, being in the military community and talking to people about that and what it's like, um, always trying to get our friends in the sports leagues to come on and talk to us about their experiences and their support for the military. We also do have some in-person events. Um, our second annual Flag Day convening will happen on Flag Day, June 14th, really to focus on this concept of continued service and how our community can lead the rest of the country in serving the country. And then we're we're launching a new event coming up right in time for Veterans Day in Houston, Texas, um VETCON, to again talk about this concept of continued service and also the need for continued education and how our our civic systems run. I mean, we are people that are giving a lot of trust from the American public on how our government works, how, you know, what do you know what what what are the systems in place that run this great nation? And um, we should be the ones who know about it. Of course, it doesn't mean we do, right? We s we swear, our our our service members swear an oath to the Constitution. We're very close uh to to you know how these decisions are made, but it doesn't mean we know. And that's something that I think we can all work together on remedying and being some of the most knowledgeable American citizens out there. Um But I do know that every uh American on this call uh is a very knowledgeable citizen and cares a lot about being knowledgeable, um putting their patriotism in action and and not uh and not shying away from doing what's right and and doing it in a way that um really you know elevates the brand of military spouses as people who are um you know should be trusted, have a really important voice, and are out there on the ground making the country a better place. So um thank you all for being part of this team. And uh this was a really fun conversation that we should have again and maybe maybe get a little more gossipy in the future.

SPEAKER_02 32:20

Yes. Love that really.

SPEAKER_08 32:23

Our risk adverse exec will also love that.

SPEAKER_03 32:29

It is not me that you are talking about.

SPEAKER_08 32:31

When he's away, we will play.

SPEAKER_07 32:36

Well, I appreciate all of you saying that.

SPEAKER_08 32:39

And if you're listening and you're a military spouse, thank you. Um, we want to hear from you. Drop in the comments your favorite part of the episode. And we would love for you to share your favorite veteran service organizations, your favorite nonprofits, and even your favorite military spouse-owned businesses. So drop those in the comments. We want to hear from you, and I want to shout out our riveter for being an incredible business owned by a military spouse, supporting military spouse in uh employment and creating American-made products.

SPEAKER_04 33:14

And if anyone else has anything they want to shout out, I want to shout out my military spouse, Navy spouse friend who just wrote a novel.

SPEAKER_08 33:24

And you know what was just delivered to my door while we were talking, Ellen?

SPEAKER_04 33:28

Yay! Okay, the book is called Thinking About Forever. You can look it up. Um, there are actually a lot, not a lot, but there are a handful of military spouse authors, and uh, we are definitely all about supporting our own. So uh so check it out and look for more military spouse authors.

SPEAKER_05 33:44

You know, I have to shout out Squared Away, their military spouse uh founded, our CEO is a military spouse, and 95% of all the employees there are military spouses. So I have to thank it because without it, I would not be here with this great group of gals.

SPEAKER_07 33:58

And we're so happy you are. So I'll second that.

SPEAKER_08 34:02

Yes. All right, well, I guess we'll get back to work.

SPEAKER_03 34:09

Back to work, y'all. Bye. Bye.