Ep. 73 - Eric Weaver - From Service To Support: Building Broward Vet Working

I sit with Eric Weaver to trace the road from Gulf War service through hidden trauma, the life-changing role of a service dog, and the rise of Broward Vet Working as a practical, human network for veterans across South Florida. The talk blends hard truths, humor, and clear steps anyone can take to plug in.

• RIF fallout, base closures, and early exit impacts
• The slow arrival of trauma and loss of empathy
• How Gent the service dog interrupts panic and nightmares
• Inside Patriot Service Dogs training and pairing
• Founding Broward Vet Working from 10 to 350 members
• Jobs, VA navigation, legal help, and emergency support
• Activities that rebuild connection and purpose
• Becoming a 501c3 to fund meals and expand reach
• Membership options and transition support for new vets
• How to join and what meetings feel like

Go to oneman1micfoundation.org to learn more and apply
Go to browardvetworking.com to join, donate, or find a meeting

Like, Subscribe and Share. If you have comments or suggestions email us at: vetsconnectionpodcast@gmail.com. You can also find the video of this podcast on our YouTube Channel - Vetsconnection Podcast

Transcript

Meet Eric Weaver And Gent

Scott McLean 0:24

Welcome to the podcast. I'm Scott McLean. My guest today is Eric Weaver. Eric is one of the co-founders of Broward Vet Working. And you know it's coming. I'm not going to explain that. I'm going to leave that to Eric so I don't lose anything in translation. But before we get to that, uh, how are you doing, Eric?

SPEAKER_00 0:43

I'm doing great. Thanks for the invite.

Scott McLean 0:45

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Finally glad to have you on, right? Uh Eric and I met, oh wow, a year and a half ago. Well, more than that, I think, like two years ago at one of your events. Yep. And uh something came up about podcasting and my foundation, and you were like, hey, I I've been looking to start a podcast. So you came through the foundation, you know, you came through the program. And as I always say, you know, it's what's an eight-week program, but it never ends. If you don't want it to end, it doesn't end. Like, I don't have a cut and dry, like, okay, we're moving on. I I gotta go, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Well, our lives got in the way of most of the thing. We dragged up between my delays and your delays, and sadly with family events and my trips.

Scott McLean 1:30

Yeah, and and that's what happens, and that's when you know my cheap plug, One Man One Mike Foundation, where we teach veterans how to podcast from concept to publication for free. Uh, go to one man1mic foundation.org. Uh, and that's the thing. I always say, your time is my time. Like a lot of veterans might say, Oh, I'm sorry. I'm like, don't, don't be sorry. I'm glad you're here. Yeah. Who am I to say, come on, man, you're ruining this? That's not good for business. Not good for business. So, yeah, so we've been working on that. And then, you know, we became friends along the way. And uh, well, there's one big connection. I don't know if I don't yeah, I don't know if you could tell by the accents, but we don't have accents. Everybody else has an accent. It's because of a wicked smart. So there you go. There's the intro right there.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Where are you from originally? Uh originally I was born on the North Shore of Boston, up in Danvas, Massachusetts. Um, my mom got remarried when I was seven years old, and uh we moved down to Warwick, Rhode Island. Um lived there for uh 27 years, I guess it was, and uh graduated high school there, joined the Air Force from there. Um, then um did the tour to Saudi Rebecca back then, came back and you know.

Scott McLean 2:42

Rhode Island, the biggest suburb of Massachusetts.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

The biggest little state in the Union.

Scott McLean 2:46

Biggest little state in the Union. That's right. That's right. Uh so you left Oh yeah, who's your friend? Sorry, checking everybody check him out.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

I have my uh service dog Gent here today.

Scott McLean 2:59

Can you hop him up on like show the people? It's a big boy.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Come here. No? Okay. He wants to be under the table. My bad.

Scott McLean 3:10

So I worked with dogs for 32 years. Everybody knows it.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

They would cooperate.

Scott McLean 3:14

Dogs and kids will prove you wrong every time. No matter how well trained. If you didn't ask him to do that, he'd be up there. Right? Absolutely. No matter how well trained, hey, watch what my dog can do. Watch what my kid can do.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Well, it's always at that moment when you have something really important to do, whatever it is, and it's like Yep, yep.

Gulf War Tours And The RIF Fallout

Scott McLean 3:33

So you uh went into the Air Force when?

SPEAKER_00 3:36

I went to the Air Force in 89. Um, was in until uh after the Gulf War '91. They had cutbacks. Yeah. Um killed about 30 bases and stuff like that, probably about a million, million and a half soldiers. I was part of that million and a half soldiers they were cutting back. And um I uh got out for a few years, uh, went to work for my stepfather's construction company in Rhode Island, and then uh decided I wanted to get back to the camaraderie and uh join the Army, uh National Guard and uh in Rhode Island. And then uh a year later I actually moved to Florida in '98. And um I uh been here ever since and uh retired from the uh from the Florida National Guard. Ended up having like four years of active duty during the National Guard time, which is pretty crazy. Yeah. Uh didn't expect that.

Scott McLean 4:18

It's a funny thing you mentioned uh the riffs they were called, right? Back then it was a riff, right? And I was stationed in the Philippines first, Clock Air Base, and I trained I P I PCS'd to Mateur Air Force Base in Sacramento. Mate they could put on the hit list. So, you know, I closed that base and I went down to uh March Air Force Base in Riverside, Southern California. That gets put on the list. But that's when they did the riff. Like that's when they were really amping it up. And I remember uh they had a squadron, we were security police at the time, security forces. Now they brought everybody in and they said, Okay, this is what's going on. All right, on this day, we're all gonna show up, and if you wanna leave, you want to separate, you know, there's gonna be two lines. Right. And uh they we all reported there, I think there was probably in that squadron say 70, 75. You know, that's back office people and all that, and um maybe sixty, I'm not sure. But I just remember they said, okay, this line over here, and three quarters of the people went to get out. And there was this small I I was staying in, I had a wife and kids, I wasn't getting out. And uh they were like, they were like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Uh they didn't expect that many people to say I'm out.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

Yeah. You know, well, everybody was they were getting worried. I mean, uh, I think it's to a point some of the people that I knew, um, they knew that the hatchet was falling, and um they were being more proactive, I think, in their own behalf to not get put get caught off guard. You know, because um there was uh at the base I was at, you know, they we had a F-111 uh bombers at my base, which require a huge amount of maintenance and facilities. And uh they would change it over when the planes came back. I should our planes never came back from Saudi Arabia, they went right back to the United States, and we they backfilled it with F-15s, which require half as much maintenance crews. So they basically made a tree out of our uh maintenance section and cut it in half, all the way from you know uh E9 down to E1. And uh everybody on our right have a good day, everybody on the left gets to stay. So, you know, you you know you get guys that are you know e8s and e7s that are looking for the career, and all of a sudden they get an early retirement.

Scott McLean 6:44

So there was no choice.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

No. Wow. Yeah, let's have a good day. Here's your pink slip. And that affects that also affected their retirements because you didn't get all the years and points in. Yeah, yeah.

Scott McLean 6:55

So uh did you go over?

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Yeah, yeah. I was uh I spent about seven months in uh King Fod Air Base.

Scott McLean 7:01

Okay. How did that go?

SPEAKER_00 7:03

It was great. Um never truly realized how hot hot was until I got there. Um, you know, the old days when you had our boots all shined up with 10 gallons of wax on them. I remember getting off the uh C-130 there, and um my I was standing on the tarmac under the wing of the plane, and uh my feet were like I thought I thought my feet were asleep because they were tingling, and it turns out they were burning. It was so hot, and the I looked down on my boots and the wax was literally melting off the tip of my boots. Yeah. I was like, holy crap, this is gonna be a long time. Yeah. But uh, you know, but uh six months later we got through and learned about camel spiders and a bunch of the fun things down there.

Scott McLean 7:40

Anything happened while you were over there that maybe you brought home with you or no that that's what no.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

I I lost a friend. Um that he was uh in the um when the at Riyadh when the scud missile hit the barracks. Uh I think I killed like a hundred guys, a hundred and some guys. Uh he was one of the guys that was in there. Um at that time it didn't super affect me. I didn't uh uh see it, you know. I just knew about it, so it's just kind of like ah it stinks, you know, lost another guy. That's a bummer, you know. But um later on, my other tours got real. Yeah. Yeah. Catches up. Absolutely. It's like you know, baggage you keep throwing away. Actually, nothing ever bothered me, honestly, until um after uh my my last deployment. And um I was sitting on my couch in my house and I had an event, just sitting on my couch watching TV. You know, it didn't I didn't have a visual account, but it was like a sensual, like um like a smell, diesel fuel, blood. It was really strange. Really strange. My heart started racing like crazy. It was like since just all of a sudden a thought popped into my head out of the blue and I was like, wow. Never thought this and as I talked about it, I was always like, okay. I was like, holy, holy shit.

Trauma, Compartmentalizing, And Empathy Loss

Scott McLean 8:45

It doesn't get visceral. You know, when you're over there, it this is kind of relevant to I responded to a suicide when I was at Albuquerque at Kirtland, and when they bring in the uh Albuquerque PD psychologist the next morning, it was a midnight long night. I was at a dormitory, it's just a bad scene, and uh it didn't bother me. Right. I was the one standing next to the second one there, and it's a horrific scene. Yeah. As you would he this poor kid, 19-year-old kid, just ate a shotgun shell, right? Yeah. It's a horrific scene, and and uh they you know they bring us in, which was the only base that did that. Yeah. Everywhere I went, there was this bad shit happened, and I just happened to be there. But this was the first time that they actually brought a professional in. And I said the same thing you just said. It didn't bother like the thing that bothered me is it didn't bother me.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

Yeah.

Scott McLean 9:46

And she looked right at me and said, Because you're a good you're good police. You're a good cop. You don't let it bother you. You do your job. And that's what troops do.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

Yeah.

Scott McLean 9:55

You still do your job, you don't like it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

Especially as a leader. You know, when you're when you're leading troops, you gotta keep it together because the younger guys, they're gonna have some issues with stuff they're gonna see, and you're gonna be able to mentor them and help them through the counselor. You're for 30-40 guys sometimes.

Scott McLean 10:09

And we're very good at compartmentalizing. Exactly. Yeah, putting the back back burner and yeah, which is bad. Yeah. Because that that final cabinet grows. It it does. Or, you know, it's the lock starts to get old and rusty. Stressing. Yeah. And and and and another thing about that situation is uh so I didn't see, I didn't go over, it wasn't really a thing when I was in. Um but uh where we we all talk to each other, we stay in that bubble, yeah. And we're our own therapists, yeah. Which is fucking bad. Yeah. Because we're 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24. Look back at like when you were 24. Anyone watching or listening, just think back to that. How really mature were we?

SPEAKER_00 10:56

Yeah. Well, see, when I was I was in um uh Shinud Air Force Base in 89, going through my tech school, that's actually the first place I saw a dead person. Uh kid committed suicide. He got washed back and he hung himself in a closet. And um, I just happened to be downstairs when they were pulling him out. Uh, and uh I never saw he was gray. It was it was really freaky. Yeah, you know, I was like, holy shit. Things as they say that can't be unseen. Yeah, it shocked me for a minute, you know, and I the rest of that day I was kind of thinking about it. I was like, wow, you know, I didn't know the kid at all, you know. But it was like, wow, that was pretty heavy, you know. But you know, nothing ever that didn't bother me. You know, nothing ever stuck with me for from that, but um, you know, later on, you know, the thing started to.

Scott McLean 11:36

So let me ask you this when these things happen, and and again, listeners, viewers, uh unfortunately, who might have been through these situations, and we were young and somewhat tough minded. Yeah. I don't know if it's tough minded or we just didn't fucking know any better. Yeah. Right? Immaturity sometimes was a benefit. Yeah. Right. And how many times did we, and I'm guilty of this, of saying, dude, that was a fucked up thing. Like, wow, like you know, you're with your friends, you're drinking, you sensationalize it. You sensationalize, you're like, it's like almost like, wow, I saw this. Yeah, or a football game. I saw a game last night, big play. Right. Because it's so outside the box of life and what humans most of us will never see something like that. Yeah, which they shouldn't. No one should ever see that. But we take it and carry it like, oh, dude, guess what I saw? Is that coping? Right?

SPEAKER_00 12:37

It's coping for the immature mind as well.

Scott McLean 12:39

Right. Right. And it's really because I look back at that, and it's almost like you can say, I'm embarrassed to say I did that, but then I look at how old I was. Yeah. I'm 62 now, right? So you look back and you're like, Jesus. Like we used to talk about this shit like it was nothing.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Yeah.

Scott McLean 12:58

And now I think even more, like I just said, was that how we coped with it? Was that how the immature mind deals with it? Yeah. Uh, because it never goes away.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Yeah. I think in my later tours when things started to get crazy with IEDs and people getting blown up and hurt and stuff like that. Um, my lack of empathy is what came out of all that. And um, you know, later on, just talk about people, you know, it was more like someone had something terrible happening, simply, oh my god, and I was like, Oh, it sucks. You know, get over it. That's never good. Yeah, you know, so and actually until I got this dog, I I had zero empathy until he I got him and he started to trade this feeling that I didn't have. I didn't have this like really weird, overwhelming you know, love or care, whatever. I was just like operating every day and you know, shit had happened around me. It just happens, you know, it's just what goes on. You know, even after I had my my issues with all the counseling I had through the VA and stuff like that, it's still my empathy was still super low.

Scott McLean 13:55

Yeah. First time I I talked about it like with somebody else, other than a friend, or never really my first wife passed away from breast cancer. I never really put it on her, even because she was with me when all this shit happened, right? She was with me through my whole time. And and uh I I tell my now wife, and um but the first time I talked to a stranger, which was the therapist at the VA, and I knew what they were gonna ask me, yeah, right, why are you here? Yeah, right, what's going on? I fucking broke down. Yeah, it wasn't this was like caught me off guard. Yeah, caught myself off guard. I broke down and and I I just started crying. Yeah, and then the emotion of why the fuck did I have to see all that? Yeah, you know, then you start to feel bad for yourself, yeah. Which doesn't help anything. Yeah, not at all. Self-pity is not a good thing either in those situations. And so I'm sure, you know, you might have thought the same thing. Like, what did I have to see that for?

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Like You know, I one thing I will say this is that um the bad guys never bothered me. I I can never never that doesn't even still this day doesn't even resonate with me. It's just as you know, that was something I had to do. There's either me or them, you know. Uh I never shot anybody personally, you know. Uh most of the time I was in up armored vehicles and dealing with IEDs that, you know, uh we couldn't fire back because I'm you know, I'm from my seat, I couldn't do it. But um, you know, there's plenty of rockets have flown by and bullets bounced off the vehicles and stuff like that as I'm cruising. Um but yeah, you know, um it's it's uh my guys, I I dealing with our guys that were hurt and them and their their dire moments, you know. That's what that's what killed me. That's what stuck me the worst. So did you own dogs growing up?

Scott McLean 15:52

Yes. And so you knew with dogs because we were always most of everybody owned a dog or a cat, right? Mostly. Uh and so uh when they said maybe you'd want a uh you know um a support. Yeah, so service dog. Service dog. What did you think like initially, like, oh, you know, okay, I'm getting a dog. Did you have any expectation of what literally this dog did for you?

How A Service Dog Interrupts Nightmares

SPEAKER_00 16:26

Not not really, honestly. Um when I um the my therapist actually suggested at one point to you know, his, you know, maybe you should consider something like that. There's some there's some people out there. The VA wouldn't provide service dogs. Yeah. Um, but they, you know, recommend or whatever, and if you needed a medical uh note to tell somebody, whatever they would give it to you. Um but I searched out uh Patriot Service Dogs. I I found them through another networking group, and uh turns out they were actually a best choice I made because they were very boutique. They do about six to eight dogs a year. They've been in business for since 2009, and uh they literally know every single dog to this day, every vet personally. It's it's amazing. Yeah, yeah. You know, and him, you know, he's uh he's amazing.

Scott McLean 17:08

Yeah. Yeah, life-changing. Yeah, life-changing. I think um those programs are are great, and uh there's probably not enough of them. Yeah, you know, so many, so many people. It's not easy to train a dog, number one. Right. Again, I did it for 32 years. It's not easy. Takes a different type of person to have to work with animals constantly and love what you're doing, and the time that goes into like we train drug dogs and and and customs, right? A lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of effort uh goes into making a dog what you want it to be.

SPEAKER_00 17:49

Yeah. Well that Gent Gent was um introduced at eight weeks old. Yep. Um and he uh he was basically trained, like was basically he was trained by uh prison inmates at the Lowell Correction Institute, uh female inmates. Um part of the program that um Patrick Service Dogs did they're f they're 501c3, so they needed to help keep their costs down. And the the caveat to that was was well, we can give these girls a the tangible skill set, um, give them the love that they don't have that's missing in their life for the most part, you know, from an animal. And um the dogs are trained uh seven days a week, eight hours a day, and cared for like no one could possibly be cared for. And um, you know, then a year and a month later, after his training, uh he and I were introduced, and actually they just don't give you the dog. Uh they actually choose the dogs for you um per your personality. Yes. And um he uh and if I didn't know all 80 commands that he knew, it would have been pretty much a no-go. And if I don't take care of the dog, they'll take the dog back. So it's just a lot of responsibility. You just don't get the dog and it's hey, it's not a pet.

Scott McLean 18:59

No, and it's not that wears a cool vest.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

Exactly. You know, he has special skills and he's really good at it. And uh, you know, if I'm having nightmares at night, he'll jump on a bed and it's the call.

Scott McLean 19:09

That was my next question. So what what is the biggest like kind of there it's all beneficial, right? But that, like, what what what else does he do? Well, and how does that tell the people, if you don't mind running through a scenario of like, okay, you go to bed, you don't think anything's gonna go wrong.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

Yeah, I mean you go to bed and um you know the the demons come back sometimes in the night and you start to get restless or whatever it is, I start making noise, or might be yelling, you know, um if my don't wake my wife up and she doesn't wake me up, you know, he's already right there. You know, it's called decking, but he'll put all his weight on me. And uh so it's just it comforts me and wakes me up. Um but a lot of times, vets, you know, you start doing the leg tapping thing, you'll be sitting there, you don't realize it, but your legs are going a thousand miles an hour, like you're doing a double bass.

unknown 19:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:55

Yeah. You know, he'll come over, he'll power at me, or he'll deck on my leg, put his head there, and you know, distract me from what I'm thinking about to refocus my thoughts. Wow. Yeah. And how long have you had him for? Uh two years, April. Wow. Yeah. You had one before him? No, no, it's for first service. Okay. Yeah. All right. You know, and it's it's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Scott McLean 20:15

He's every day. Everywhere you go every day.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes if I go someplace, some place I can't take them, obviously. But you know, but a lot of times I I'll have stickers on my truck that say, you know, uh working canine inside, air conditioned space, you know, don't disturb. Yeah. And I'll leave my truck running. You know, he's comfortable in there. You know.

Scott McLean 20:33

So you you you own a uh office furniture company. Correct.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

And you have uh three warehouses, one in uh um I have one in Pompano Beach, storefront and warehouse there. I have another storefront down in Miami and Durrell, and I have another store out in uh Tampa.

Inside Patriot Service Dogs Training

Scott McLean 20:49

So I went to your warehouse last week to sit down and talk about the podcast, and I pull up. I'd never been there before, and I pull up and I'm like, okay, you know, I got a good spot right in front of the window, and this big head is just looking out the window at me with his ears up. I I had only met him once before, and that and for a second I was like, what the hell? Oh, okay, I get it.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

Yeah, yeah. A lot of times I'll let him run around the in the in the showroom without his vest on because they're not supposed to pet him. So he actually, when his vest is on, he knows it's his work time and he uh separates himself. Um if I'm in a situation like this here or I have maybe six or eight people at the table, I'm not worried about it, they can pet him as well. But if I'm out walking in public somewhere like that, it's strictly business. He needs his he's need to work and pay attention to me, right? And my anxieties, and you know, yeah.

Scott McLean 21:39

It's hard for people to keep their hands off him though.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

It is. I mean, he's he's a beautiful dog, he's super friendly, you know, big goofy dude, you know. Yeah, yeah.

Scott McLean 21:47

So okay, everything's moving along, and up comes this Browward vet working, right? I heard about it. Johnny Schre, I think, mentioned it to me. Um, and I think I met somebody. I met you at the first one I went to. But I forget exactly how, but I went down there and very, very interesting. I was there's a lot of uh lot of good people there, a lot of good networking for veterans. It's all veterans. How Did this come about? How what was the thought process and how did this because it's fairly good size now?

SPEAKER_00 22:28

Yes, it is it's grown quite a bit. Uh five years ago, this is actually April this year, it'll be my fifth anniversary. Um uh Tim Farrell walked into my showroom. He was one of the also the founding members. Well, he had gotten with uh three or four other guys before that, just kind of kicking a ball around. And um they said, Hey, we we need to start a group. You know, we were talking about all these different issues that you know we know of our veteran friends have, and um maybe we can, you know, through our professional backgrounds and whatnot and our experiences help some other guys out, you know. It's like it's a pretty good idea. So uh I said, Well tell you what, why don't you guys come here and we'll have our meeting in my showroom for the first time. So we had 10 guys the first time in my showroom, where we sat down and we talked about, you know, different things how we want to do. Hey buddy, how's it going? And uh, you know, sometimes you tell you you tell your stories, you know. Um one thing you're probably aware as well, is that um most people that aren't in the military are poor custodians of your memories. So when you share something with somebody, you know, you're you might be telling the the worst day of your life, and they're like, oh wow, man, that's it's like it's like a action movie, you know. It's well, it's not really, you know, as I'm talking to you, I can still smell cordite and This is in fucking Hollywood, buddy. Yeah. Exactly. So um, you know, you tend to not tell people or talk to people, like you mentioned earlier, you don't talk to people outside your vet group about things that happened, especially guys you know haven't chewed the dirt. So uh this group here was a bunch of guys that have certainly chewed the dirt, you know, whether the uh they go back to the Vietnam War, uh we know a couple guys in the Korean War, you know, pilots, uh infantrymen, um, you know, guys from um all the different wars since then, you know, up to up to the uh the the Persian Gulf Wars. And uh our group ranges from uh uh E1s, E2s all the way up to we have uh we have actually a general um that's in our group. He shows up once in a while for different things. So we realized that we have a tremendous amount of education, experience, um and exposure, you know, out there. So these ten people we started off with started to grow, started to grow, and more people kept showing up. The meetings aren't always everybody, but we ended up with now we're pushing about 350 people on our roster. Yeah.

Founding Broward Vet Working

Scott McLean 24:40

And it's happened this started five years ago, you said? Five years ago in April, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And what are some of the things that have come out of that that you've seen as far as uh someone shows up and they're like, hey, they start networking. Next thing you know, this person takes care of that person and Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 24:58

I mean, uh jobs, uh, you know, referrals. Someone knows somebody that has a has a job. You know, the reality is everybody knows that soldiers are are very disciplined for the most part. You know, every day you have something to do and take care of it. We're problem solvers. You know, uh we deal in a high stress. Uh so um people that do know soldiers know this, and and they're diversified. They're gonna constantly change. Your environment as a military person is always something's always coming up you gotta figure out. So um they they're hiring these people in. So we put these guys in front of these people that are hiring, and they're either getting jobs or they're getting information about getting a job. Um a lot of us have been through the VA and suffered the the downside of the VA. Yeah, you know, all the things they don't tell you about what you should know. And uh so a lot of us now we're a collective, you know, of three hundred people now that have been through many different experiences with the VA. We can give them great information on how to get through things and what what's available to them, which a lot of them don't even know. Yeah. So you've rallied around members. Yes, absolutely. Guys have troubles, you know. Uh we've had guys that are having some real serious troubles in their life, and um we've actually we've uh put put together money to help them out to get through things, you know, um helped them get into programs to whether it's psychedelics or uh 22 project to go into a hyperbaric chamber for PTSD and stuff like that. There's a lot of I mean, there's so many things that we are involved in now. This this group is just attached to the web is it's just crazy.

Scott McLean 26:23

Oh, it's a serious, yeah, it's a serious connection group. Like it's you'll get connected to everything. Absolutely. At least in the South Florida area. But it it even goes beyond that because people know people. Yep. You know, in other areas. Uh so you were basically a nonprofit without the 501c3 designation for four and a half years, yeah. Yeah, yeah. You're doing what nonprofits do all that paperwork for and go through all the rigor of becoming a uh a 501c3, and uh you guys are doing it just kind of on your own.

SPEAKER_00 27:02

Yeah, I mean, a lot you know, a lot of the stuff um like now, uh we're just about finished with our 501c process. That's where I was going. We have our board of directors and whatnot. I think we might be like a month away from it.

Scott McLean 27:12

Let's talk about that. When did the idea come up and just say, you know what, why don't we just make this official?

SPEAKER_00 27:18

Um well it was it was probably about a year ago. Uh we had a we sat down at a conversation that the founders and um and we had to do a poll. It's like, you know, why did we start this group? Is it for you know, do we do we want to get like a B2B status or something like that, you know? Or what we know and I was like, well, my my champion for the group was I want friendships. You know, and I want you know to help people when I can. Well you got one here, buddy. Right. You know, we want friendships and we want to be able to, you know, help people when you can and find information when you need it, you know, and you don't have to you can just keep it in your group and help your brothers and sisters out, whatever they may do, you know. And uh so uh Steve, who was one of our top guys in the group, um, he's a Marine, crayon eater. But uh always the Marines. I say that every episode. He's a great dude, and he is really he took on a bunch of responsibility in the group where he was actually all the money we were collecting for lunches and whatnot was all going through his personal bank account. You know, and it's like, well, yeah, I'm sure this is causing some serious, you know, at the end of the year, tax issues or whatever, you know, what's going on, why there's so much money flowing through your account kind of thing. So we wanted to do this, and we also get in a situation where we can take donations and help cut down the cost for us to buy the meals and and do different things for people. You know, we can actually provide help for someone if we have the money in there, you know. There's lots of groups that are looking to help groups like ours out, so that's all we want to do. We we we decided we wanted to really structure it and set it up so we can do things right. And um like your foundation as well, you know, just just be selfless.

Scott McLean 28:44

Yes. And you really have to be. And seems to be a theme with me lately after two years in in the nonprofit world. There's there's some out there that really are selfless, they're self-fish. Yes. That's the unfortunate side. Just like the VA, I love the VA. They help me, and I am loyal to them for that. I am loyal to a fault. You help me, you can make mistakes along the way. Uh I don't forget what you did for me. And uh, but there are those downsides, right? That they're like, you know, come on, man, really. I found the nonprofit world can be kind of the same thing. Yeah, you know, very few and far between, but they exist. And uh you guys I know are very selfless. Uh just from I went to a couple meetings, then I my foundation started getting me busy, yeah. So I missed them, but I still get the emails, and uh I'll get more involved this year in 2026. Yeah, 2025, as you know from me, it was a bad year. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:48

Yeah. That's really rough for sure. It was a rough year, yeah. Yeah, you know, I mean, uh at a point, it would be really nice to get the group, have you uh do a podcast with a couple of the head leaders in the group and and and talk to them and get their opinion on things as well. You know, yeah.

Jobs, VA Navigation, And Real Help

Scott McLean 30:01

Look it, I I I am always open to spread the word. That's what this podcast is all about. Spreading the word to the veteran community and the families and friends of veterans, because the more they know, the more they can help also. So if you want to be a feeder to this, I'd be more than glad to I'll interview anybody. You know, as long as it's relevant and it's helpful to the veteran community, other families and friends, I'm all in. So start sending them this way, buddy. Start sending them this way. I, you know, I do nonprofits, that's my main focus, is to is to push nonprofits. I always tell them this is a 45-minute to an hour infomercial for your nonprofit, right? I want people to know about these things. But then I find along the way, as we talk about in the podcast class, I I can't stay with tunnel vision. You gotta kinda always be improving, always be making it better and more informative. So now I'm opening it up, opening it up. Really? Opening it up. Check. Can we edit that? Can we get that out? Can we cut that uh to more information to veterans that are in the same uh like kind of world that you guys are in in the vet working, the it's only more information. So the more the the the merrier for the veterans.

SPEAKER_00 31:23

It's pretty amazing. I mean, and how far apart they're spread out to this area, you know.

Scott McLean 31:28

Yeah, yeah. I know it's Broward, right? But did they I and I'm in Palm Beach County, but I still like I'm still somewhat involved.

SPEAKER_00 31:37

Pretty much we have guys from Palm Beach County all the way down to Miami Dade that come up, you know, to uh to to meet come to the meetings and whatnot. One guy comes down from um um Jupiter.

Scott McLean 31:47

So this is just a question from a regular mindset of what I would ask you. So it's Broward vet working, right? Correct. Um is that going to kind of open up to just vet working or South Florida vet working or it's de uh it depends on how it goes, I guess, yeah. But it's none of my business. I'm just curious because it makes it more Right.

SPEAKER_00 32:10

Um, you know, um it's someone probably gonna talk about it at a point if it gets much larger, but I mean there's so many people it's gonna get bigger. Right, but I mean there's so many people in this area, so many vets in this area. I mean, it's I mean Florida's there is you know, hundreds of thousands of vets in here. You know, it's it's insane. Yeah. So um, you know, having these people and having these uh the access to them and them having access to us and all the stuff that we can help them with, you know, that they love it. You know, I mean we're also uh aligned with several different op um uh companies, or uh companies, but uh organizations like the Internet Edway, um you know um Mission Barbecue, those guys we do a lot of work with them. Um so you're you you you talk to Mission United, Broward County. Yep, that's the they're the best. Actually, one of the guys in our group I think is either a past or a present uh president of it.

Scott McLean 32:57

Yeah. So they're the best. They're they're amazing. And they help soldiers get placed of jobs and stuff. Yes, yes. They I mean they are the they are the best. Yes. Absolutely. Uh if you're a veteran that's in Broward County, I suppose they could refer you if you're not in Broward County, but uh Mission United, uh Broward County is definitely a the best resource. Without a doubt. Yeah, yeah. So moving forward into the nonprofit world, uh what would it be and and maybe there's no answer to this yet because it's it's you know you're still in the process of creating it and the paperwork and all that. What would be the main focus? Like if I was to go to you know Broward vet working, uh what would be some of the needs you guys are going to cover for veterans?

SPEAKER_00 33:49

Almost anything we can. Right. And there's there's no there's no limit or no you know, guideline. You know, we have assets that are uh free of charge. Yeah. You know, there's actually simple things. There's uh there's one company that provides free fishing charters once a month.

SPEAKER_03 34:02

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 34:03

You know, it's amazing. You know, uh there's uh veterans, uh uh one guy has a scuba diving store. He provides uh free diving lessons and certification for vets and their wife. And also you can jump on their boat and go out for free diving. Wow. You know, um there's I mean there's so many different things. Uh one guy has the race car uh thing for vets where they take them off a race experience.

Scott McLean 34:21

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 34:22

Yeah, that's really cool. Yeah, and go out drifting and all that kind of stuff like that in cars when you know that they can go for a ride first, and if they feel like they're confident enough, they can actually Do you do that yet? I haven't done it yet, no. But Fred Fred Fred is uh one of the guys that does that. He's he's uh he's amazing. He's taught Titan Builders' company, he's he's uh and he's that's part of his deal. Really, really cool.

Scott McLean 34:38

Wow, that's uh so it's going to be a wide variety of and of course assistance. Yeah. If a vet's in trouble or if there's there's always somebody there. So you're technically uh the the collective, as you said earlier, is the one big resource.

SPEAKER_00 34:55

Yeah. Yeah, there's there's actually lawyers in the group that'll help out guys, you know, if they need some help, you know, certainly on advice at first, and if they feel that it's a really genuine thing or that it's not say their fault, they're being you know improperly prosecuted or whatever it might be, they'll just step in and help them out. Wow. And everybody in the group is a veteran. Everybody in the group is a veteran. We also don't mind having uh people who are serious supporters of vet groups come in as well.

Becoming A 501c3 And Why It Matters

Scott McLean 35:18

He had we can't limit ourselves. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:20

We have there's lots of restaurants in the area that that give discount meals to the vets.

Scott McLean 35:25

So that's how this happens. So every month there's a the Broward Vets veting has a meeting and it's at a particular restaurant.

SPEAKER_00 35:34

Or yeah, or actually, I mean, or some of the I I've had more meetings at my warehouse.

Scott McLean 35:38

Right.

SPEAKER_00 35:38

Uh we've had them at uh various uh uh bar restaurants that guys own.

Scott McLean 35:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:43

Um we've had mission barbecue cater events, uh, you know, Papa Mikos has given us food before, which is great. Yeah. I mean, it's just so many different things you can go through, and in a lot of places that like um um oh my gosh. Um I for the name of the restaurant. Oh my gosh, terrible. Um but they there was they donate 20% of the of the proceeds from the from the meals to uh to Wounded Warrior Project. Oh, okay.

Scott McLean 36:06

All right, all right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:08

So it sounds like Twin Peaks, sorry.

Scott McLean 36:11

Twin Peaks. Oh yeah, well, Twin uh next time you get a meeting there, let me know. I'm just saying. It's good scenery. The mountain views are great. Very, very, very nice restaurants.

SPEAKER_00 36:24

And good food, actually. So they do actually good burgers, yes.

Scott McLean 36:27

Very good. Uh so that's the future of Broward vet working, right? And uh you're in the paperwork process right now?

SPEAKER_00 36:35

Yeah, I mean we're most of the way through. Uh we're like we've already had the legal stuff all done. I think they're now that they just kind of I guess they want to say punch on the clock. We already had to submit all of our our um organization, and uh we're just ready to go. So uh probably in the next uh two months we'll probably be squared away totally.

Scott McLean 36:51

And then it's off to the races. Yeah. Then come the t-shirts, the advertising, the getting it out there.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

I mean, yeah, I mean what we're hoping to do with really is is this is to advertise it and find people who are looking to help out vets, you know, their money. Right, and then money will go to a very good cause. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's no one on the payroll right now at all, because it's not big enough to do that yet. That's important. Yeah, there's things we gotta pay for, the website, yeah. Stuff like that. We gotta we gotta you know utilize money for and help sponsor some of the events a little bit to help it cut down. Some of the guys don't have money, you know, and they can't afford that you know uh thirty to fifty dollars, depending on what it is for where we're eating at. Right. And um, you know.

Scott McLean 37:28

So oh, there you go. So you can sponsor a veteran like hey, because it is, it's usually like 30 bucks. I mean, what whatever. You know, you pay, you get the meal. It's always good food. The ones I went to was good food, uh, good people, uh, everybody's inviting, everybody's friendly, it's not pretentious, like you don't know what you're walking into, right? I I was like, all right, what's this gonna be all about? And everybody was very warm and like, hey, welcome to the meeting.

SPEAKER_00 37:54

And you didn't go in like uh like an AA meeting, and everybody's just sitting there and like, yeah, I don't really want to be here, but I mean there's there's no rank, there's no titles, you know, it's just you know, my name, your name, how you doing? What'd you do? Oh, tell me a little bit about your your background in the military.

Scott McLean 38:12

Yeah, corporate presidents down to you know, Amazon drivers. Yeah, and it's great to nature. And everybody's the same. Yep. Yeah. And I like the fact that it's always in a different place. Right? It's always in a a different place where okay, and it's sometimes closer to Palm Beach County. It's a little further away from Palm Beach County. But Browett's perfect because it's right in the middle of Dade and Palm Beach County. Like you said, it covers a lot of veterans.

SPEAKER_00 38:38

Yeah, most of our events are are in the greater Fort Lauderdale uh South Pompano area.

Scott McLean 38:43

Yeah, and if somebody wanted to get involved with that, um how would they get involved?

SPEAKER_00 38:48

Uh you can go to uh www.browardvets.com or browedvetworking.com and uh or you can reach out and talk to one of us. Um I can provide you with my email so if someone contacts you, I can take care of that. Um and uh we can take it from there, you know, hook them up.

Scott McLean 39:04

So Browaddvetworking.com?

Activities, Partnerships, And Resources

SPEAKER_00 39:06

Yep. I mean we have uh there's also like two levels of membership to the group. There's a free membership where you can get uh you can get your name on the website, and uh you can uh you you'll get all the information that comes out through the website. And there's a there's a one for people that want to spend the money, you can spend$250, which is still a donation to the to the to the unit, which is a tax-deductible donation. Um, but that also gets you into the list of uh everybody that's in the group and all the things that they do business-wise. So and it's uh it's actually the site's being retooled right now where you'll be able to search by um let's say genre kind of thing, depending on what kind of uh career field it is, you know. So you look for a lawyer, you're looking for a dentist, looking for whatever it is, um, all these things are uh will be available to you to find and and search out, and people that are getting out of uh the military uh that are still enlisted or the first year out, they will be free for the year. Um so nice. Yeah. That's important. Yes. And the biggest thing is, you know, is helping people transition because you know, I was just gonna say that, yes. Yeah, nobody you know, the yellow ribbons, you know, um they are supposed to help you transition, uh, but they really don't, you know. Um the biggest thing is is uh there's the culture shock. You get out into the field and you know, coming as a senior NCO, there's a certain way you used to speak to people, you know, wasn't rude. It's just it's just very matter-of-fact, and that doesn't work so well in the in the civilian world. You hurt a lot of feelings real quick. What was your transition? What what was that like? I I guess I I I had a um an easier time because I was in a guard a lot, so I was in some pretty good managerial positions, you know, going through the years. Well, when you get out of the Air Force the first rifts. I went back to my father's company, so for me it was, you know, and at the time I was I was you know E2, so I wasn't, you know, E3, so I wasn't really anybody to the most part. So um when I when I went to my dad's company, it was easy to just go there and work and a support system. Right, yeah. And you know, actually nobody ever asked me about what oddly enough, no one ever really asked me what happened, which at that point really nothing really serious ever did happen. Um but you know, uh as I as my career built up in the in the civilian world as a uh senior project manager on construction and stuff like that. So um I had you know exposure to money and a lot of uh a lot of HR stuff, you know. So for me to help all my guys and girls, it was really easy. Yeah. You know.

Scott McLean 41:19

So you decided you you mentioned this earlier and I meant to touch on it. You said you missed the camaraderie. Right. So you went back, you that's why you went into the guard.

SPEAKER_00 41:30

Yeah, yeah, yeah. One of the reasons. I mean, yeah, I mean I I actually try to get it to the Air Force again, and uh they were like, sorry, you know, uh, because you got auto three, you know, I'm not gonna put you back in the system because um, you know, your skill set you had there, there really isn't isn't that much demand, and I can train a you know PFC and put them in barracks for nothing compared to putting you in a hotel, give you a rental car, so it's like you know, not gonna happen. So the army was like, I'll give you 50 grand. Wow. So I was like, all right, what do I sign? No, but so I ended up in the army and actually it was really cool. I was really whole different experience. A very different experience. You know, going from a you know Air Force to an infantry unit uh was was pretty wild. Yeah.

Scott McLean 42:09

And so you went back in and and you did you feel it again, or was it something? Was it was it something where I thought because we always think of the good things. We don't remember the bad shit, right? Like not bad shit, like bad shit, bad shit, but shit like when you're going in and stuff, the hanging around shit, the waiting, the the whole fucking NCO, you know, stuff like that. You we kind of push that out because we only want to remember as humans the good things. Yeah. So how much of the stuff you came back, you're like, ah, I forgot about this.

SPEAKER_00 42:41

Well, actually, a little bit, you know, but uh you know, I knew the structure was there, I understood it. You know, I also you know, all my customs and courtesies were there, so I knew all that kind of BS. But uh going into a guard unit in my own in my hometown um was really cool because I I didn't realize it, but I a lot of people I knew were in there, you know. So I'm you know, I had come back home and I'm uh 10, 11 years out of high school kind of thing. And uh next thing you know, you're seeing guys from high school that you haven't seen in forever in a day, you know, and they're in the military, and guys you thought back in the day were a punk, you know, now there's an E6, E7, you know, in charge of me. And I'm like, oh wow, that's a big change.

Scott McLean 43:16

It's a whole new friendship gets established.

SPEAKER_00 43:18

I guess you can call it a mindfuck sometimes like it made the transition easy because I felt comfortable. It's like almost like being with your family kind of thing. So I had people there, it wasn't like a bunch of new strangers I had to introduce myself to, so it was actually pretty cool. And then when I moved to Florida, that was when I was culture shocked into you know having a bunch of new people around and and no one knew who I was, and you know, people would treat me like a dirtbag because I was some interstate transfer guy, you know. And then every time I guess every time someone came from another state, they washed out of the place. They didn't show up for drills or whatever it was, you know. So interesting. Yeah, so and not to their you know dismay, I ended up being almost uh Sergeant Major. I was grooming for a sergeant major to get in there, but I ended up getting out in a medical retirement before that.

Scott McLean 44:00

So that that's that I've never heard that. Like you get all of a sudden you're you're like you put into a new club and they're like, You're not part of us. Although we're in the military and we're all serving for the same reason, but it is kind of like a close knit group and it's hard to kind of break into it. Yeah, well you're you're Florida, coming from Boston, you're and you ain't from around here, right? Yeah. I loved coming down there. I had no problem with that transition.

SPEAKER_00 44:26

Yeah, well we're all northern us, those that's the whole thing, you know, you're invaders to their area.

Scott McLean 44:30

So you moved up to what was your rank before when you got up?

Membership, Transition Support, And Culture Shock

SPEAKER_00 44:34

Uh I was E7 when I finally got out. I was actually uh I was I was acting first sergeant for almost two years. Uh those are you one of them? No, I was supposed to slide into the position, but um someone else uh was in that position and then they went took a hiatus to go to college. Uh the the battalion let them take off, so they were holding the line number, not there. Uh so I was fortunate enough to pick it up for him and be the good guy. And then you got medically retired. Then I ended up medically retired in 2016. Yeah. I had to blow my back out.

Scott McLean 45:04

So it's it's only a matter that's always inevitable.

SPEAKER_00 45:07

Yeah.

Scott McLean 45:08

Doing that stuff as we get older, it's a young man's game.

SPEAKER_00 45:11

Yeah, and that's it introduced a whole other set of problems when you introduced the VA and medical issues and well, so that's the thing, right?

Scott McLean 45:19

I um I worked dogs for 10 years in the Air Force. A young guy that I went into U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and I worked dog for I don't know, another 18 years or whatever. Yeah. And uh 19 years, and I realized during that time, this is a young man's game. Yeah. Like you're running with the dog, you got gear on, you're climbing into container ships, you're climbing into containers, you're going to engine rooms on cement ships, and you know, you're going up and down these stairs. It is a young man's game. And I said I I am not going to be a 50-year-old dog handler because I saw what they look like.

SPEAKER_01 45:54

Yeah.

Scott McLean 45:55

So fortunately, I dropped leash, I blew out my bicep, but that was inevitable because of what you do. But when you're done with it, you really feel like an old football player or an old hockey player.

SPEAKER_00 46:08

Like you're banged up. I'll tell you what, I mean, after coming back from Afghanistan and Kuwait and Iraq, uh driving on these military trucks, you know, you got uh your IBA on, you know, your AC, your Kevlar on your head, you know, you got all the gear on them, nods and lights, and you know, you got your uh sapie plates and what the a vest weighs about 45 pounds just with the with the vest and the sapi plates in it, let alone you know 210 rounds, maybe a couple frags or a smoke grenade, water. I mean, I mean you just not adding stuff on. Not to mention you're like you know, stay puff marshmallow guy. You know, you could have like two feet of space around you to get through anywhere, you know. Um but yeah, riding in a vehicle is uncomfortable, you know, and you get your neck, yeah. A lot of guys have neck problems and back problems from the heavy helmet, you know, and just getting banged to hell.

Scott McLean 46:52

You know, yeah. Yeah. Young man's game. Yes, it is. So, all right, let's um did we miss anything? Um, let's promote Browward Vet Working one more time. So it's browardvetworking.com. Yep. Uh if you're a veteran and you're looking to network, you're looking to maybe get a little assistance, a hand up, and maybe moving forward in your life, your career. Uh trust me, I've been there. Um there's there's enough there. Yeah, I mean certainly there to help for sure. And it's young to old. It's not like just a bunch of old veterans. Like there's I went there, it runs the game at an age.

SPEAKER_00 47:26

Yeah, we got guys there that are in their mid-20s. Yeah. And you know, uh that are guys up to their sixties. Yeah. And not in the it's in the current serving, too. You don't have to be out of the military to be in you. If you're still currently serving, you can be there as well, you know. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I mean, we have uh see Vietnam and Korean vets in there that are you know and they're doing their thing, enjoying it because they they for so many years, other than the VFW, they didn't have any place to go. Yeah.

Scott McLean 47:49

So all right. All right. Well, Eric, thanks for coming to the One Man One Mike Foundation studio. My pleasure. This is the new and improved one. You went to the original one when it was just an audio podcast. That's really great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:01

Um, always be improving, buddy. Always be improving. All right, and I appreciate all your help you've given me with mine. I'm looking forward to launching mine maybe in the next couple of weeks.

Scott McLean 48:09

Yeah, and and it's gonna be great. You got it all. You got it all taken care of. It's just a matter of Eric is a busy man, trust me. We that's one of the things we kept missing. He's like, dude, I'm going to Canada. Dude, I'm going here. I got this.

SPEAKER_00 48:22

I'm like, no problem, buddy. Yeah, it's it's a last year was a fluid environment, you know. It's one way to put it. Yeah. But uh no, you know, it's it's you know, and also I I after trying to record all my my podcasts, yeah, you know, finding my voice is uh is the issue, is is the speed, the the delivery kind of thing. Yeah, so you sound intelligible when you're speaking and whatnot.

Scott McLean 48:42

So that's key to what the what you're doing, your type of podcast. Because uh One Man One Mike Foundation, cheap plug. Uh if you're a veteran and you're interested in starting your own podcast, you don't have to talk about veteran shit. Like I think a lot of people think, oh, you can talk about anything you want. Yeah. Anytime a veteran gets to talk about something they like, it's it's very therapeutic. It's helpful. Uh so go to one man1mike foundation.org and uh get in touch.

SPEAKER_00 49:11

I can do a shameless plug for do it. Patriot Service Dogs. Absolutely do it. Do it. Yeah, the uh best service dog company out there.

Scott McLean 49:19

Patriot Service Dogs. Yep. All right. If you're a veteran or a family member or a friend of a veteran that you think uh might need a service dog or is in the looking for a service dog, Patriot Service Dog.

SPEAKER_00 49:30

Find them on Facebook and um And where are they located? Uh they're out of uh Ocala. Okay. And uh but they, you know, well uh Julie actually the one who owns it, she has a sister or something down here in this area. So uh but they you know, there's uh a general that I know is a really good friend of mine. He lives in Alabama, he's got a service dog from there. So they serve they service everywhere as far as they can out there now. So and they just you know they want to help out vets. Dogs doing God's work.

How To Join And What To Expect

Scott McLean 49:55

Absolutely and horses too, Herd Foundation. There you go. Assistant services. I just thought I love them. And everybody already knows that. So it's amazing. All right, my friend. Well, again, uh thanks for coming on. Let me just do my outro and uh we'll of course we'll talk afterwards. So, well, we built another bridge today, uh Vet Working Bridge, and I look forward to watching uh Broward vet working grow into an amazing nonprofit. They have the the the potential there is unlimited, uh, and it's a very beneficial program, uh group for veterans in South Florida. So take advantage of it. Go to Browardvetworking.com and see what they offer. Go to one of their meetings, see what they're all about, and you'll see that it's a very welcoming environment. And uh I again I look forward to watching them uh grow and helping them grow. I will promote the hell out of them because I know what they're doing is good stuff. And uh with all that said, uh thanks for watching, thanks for listening. If you like it, share it. If you didn't like it, well, thanks for watching and sharing for uh uh fifty minutes and thirty-six seconds. I appreciate that. This is great. The dog is all hooked up in the wires. This is great. We're getting off just in time. I think he's gonna knock over a camera. All right, you'll hear me and see me next week.