Ever Onward Podcast

Operation Military Blessings is Changing Lives of Service Members Across The Globe | Ever Onward - Ep. 90

• Ahlquist. • Season 1 • Episode 90

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What does it take to comfort those who've lost everything? For Tom Westall, the "Sagebrush Chaplain," it's about being present when others walk away. In this powerful conversation, Tom shares his extraordinary journey from a 17-year-old Air Force recruit to a military chaplain who escorted thousands of fallen soldiers home to their families during his 24-year service career.

Tom's stories from the frontlines of grief are both heartbreaking and inspiring. From overseeing recovery operations for 247 fallen members of the 101st Airborne to sitting with countless families in their darkest moments, his experiences reveal the profound impact of simply showing up. "Nice words are fine," Tom explains, "but the actions are really important."

After retiring from active duty, Tom channeled his compassion into founding Operation Military Blessings (OMB), now celebrating its 30th anniversary. What began as passing the hat to help struggling soldiers has expanded to 25 locations across the US and internationally, with programs addressing food insecurity, disaster relief, baby supplies, and specialized healthcare needs for military families.

The statistics driving OMB's mission are sobering: one in eight active-duty military members are on food stamps, with 31-39% considered "food insecure." As Tom puts it, "Can you imagine going to combat knowing your family's on food stamps? That's unacceptable." Unlike many organizations, OMB operates with zero overhead—every dollar donated stays in the community where it was given, with no salaries paid to anyone involved.

As Tom approaches 80, his energy remains boundless, his vision expanding to include partnerships with international designer Robert Comstock and ambitious goals to support military families worldwide. His message transcends politics and division: "Be a people helper. We're in a society that's pretty angry, and we need to tell them about hope."

Visit operationmilitaryblessings.org to learn how you can support military families and be part of this remarkable mission that exemplifies what happens when faith meets action.

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Speaker 1:

Today on the Ever Onward podcast, we have Tom Westall. This guy's a legend. He has served in the military as a chaplain for over 20 years and has harrowing stories of his service there. He then founded Operation Military Blessings here in Idaho, coming up on their 30-year anniversary. They have a ginormous impact on those serving, especially in the first and second years of service, those who need help from others, and this guy has created this whole thing right here in Idaho that serves military families here in Idaho, the United States and around the world. It's going to be so fun to catch up with him and to hear about Operation Military Blessings and all the great things he's doing. Tom Westall, tom man, this is going to be fun today. It will be. Thank you for coming on. Hey, I just mentioned when I came in here.

Speaker 2:

When you come in our office now, it's like there's a celebrity here, no, just, I'm just a guy, sagebrush chaplain, you know sagebrush.

Speaker 1:

Chaplain, you are a mover and a shaker and it's been a great honor to just get to know you better and over the last year and and watch what you do. But it's, uh, it's. I can't wait to talk about the program Operation Military Blessing, but I want to, before you get into that. I don't know that I've met anyone that's as driven and fired up as you. You're a special guy.

Speaker 2:

Maybe you're looking at yourself.

Speaker 1:

No, you're unbelievable. So I do want to start where it all began. Tell us a little bit about growing up and where this fire came from.

Speaker 2:

I grew up in New Jersey. It was still rural and mostly a Republican state at that time and you still have the New Jersey. I love it. It's like we run the R's like for coffee. You know it's just a joke, but I grew up in New Jersey. My father sold petroleum products for Standard Oil. He was an immigrant from St Lucia. My grandfather was the governor down there and during the war he joined the RAF and got himself shot down and went through all that. He married my mother in New York, in Manhattan, and then they moved out to the suburbs where I was raised. It was a great time. It was a great state. We had great people there.

Speaker 2:

Many of our neighbors were veterans from World War II in Korea and they would stay in reserves after the war and they would fly over the house. So we always had fighter jets or bombers buzzing our homes and I said I'm going to do that, one of these. I'm going to fly one of these these days. And so even as a young kid maybe 10 years old my goal was to go fly bombers. That was something I wanted to do and at 17, I joined the Air Force and there I found out. Well, it takes a lot to go fly bombers, you know, particularly when they're all jets now. They weren't the props of World War II. It was there in the military that I really got a.

Speaker 1:

So what year was it then you?

Speaker 2:

joined the military 1963.

Speaker 1:

1963. A long time ago. And when you went in go back a little bit because I want to understand this Was the drive. You were a pretty unique guy. We're going to get into your history here. But your parents, what motivated you as a young man? Because at 17, going in, was it country? Was it what was?

Speaker 2:

it like growing up in New Jersey. Well, our community was very patriotic, yeah, and the state was as well, and the nation, and so for me, joining the military was a real honor. I could not only serve our nation but would open up doors of other opportunities.

Speaker 1:

OK, so you join at 17. 17 years old, I'm going to go be a bomber.

Speaker 2:

Tell us about your experience early on in the military. Well, I trained from one job, but I really wanted to do another job, so I started training on my own and you have a three-level and a five-level and a seven-level and I got up to a five-level, which is pretty unusual for a very young guy, and it was in air police, like being a military policeman, and I just loved doing that job and so that's what I did. But it was there that one of my jobs that I was called to do only because I was walking past, is we had a terrible car accident outside the gate and two young Army soldiers were killed and it was there that they brought them to the base and they're in their body bags and we had to put them back in a stage wagon. There's nobody to help that man load. That was my first experience dealing with situations like that.

Speaker 2:

Then I went flying, went on flying status and uh, uh, I found myself escorting back, you know uh, our young men from Vietnam that didn't make it. They were KIAs and I, I've done that ever since.

Speaker 1:

So what you so? So then tell us a little bit more about that. So you ended up escorting back the body bags. Kias killed in action, right, right. And how old were you during that experience?

Speaker 2:

I was 18 years old when that started and really wasn't prepared. It's one thing to go into combat and there's nothing I have to deal with as a result of the combat, and that became something that was even to this day. I'm dealing with that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and you did it for years, right I mean 24 years, 24 years, ultimately, and start with the end in mind here become a chaplain and this becomes your mission in life. Is comforting and helping others in the military for 24 years. A legacy of service, tom, I mean you are always quick to deflect to others, but an absolute legacy of service. What was that like? Helping so many people and how many body bags over those years and how many deaths and and tragedies were you part of?

Speaker 2:

this is not exaggerated, but we're talking about thousands, yeah, about thousands. I, one of my assignments was at dover air force base and uh, there's that east coast mortuary affairs, and so anybody who died on active duty was brought to Dover and an autopsy would perform, casketed and then turned over to family or sent to another state for burial. That was a very challenging assignment. I signed in on the base about the first week in September. I was on leave and they asked me to come off of leave. There had been an accident in Gannon, newfoundland, and then the 101st Airborne was redeploying from peacekeeping duty and there were 247 men died in that crash up in Gannon, newfoundland, and I was in charge of that recovery operation.

Speaker 1:

Wow, thousands Sobering. You're the one that's telling family members right, yes, you're the ones bringing the news back. So you often have these young soldiers that you're. What was that like? Were you prepared for that? What did you do to prepare for that?

Speaker 2:

God prepared me for that. Gave me a heart for these people? Yeah, talk more about that. Well, you know, when I became a Christian, I was raised in a family where my father, who was one faith, my mother was another faith, and they agreed that I'd be raised in an Episcopal church and twice a year I'd go whether needed or not one of those type of deals and then one day I realized there is a God out there and I asked him to come into my heart and then I became a Christian that day and he just changed my life and he really had changed. The point is he saw where he was taking me back into the military to do some of these things that I did.

Speaker 1:

How important is faith during times of tragedy for folks.

Speaker 2:

It's the only anchor point, it's the only truth that makes any sense. Yeah, we think in a temporal, but we have to think in the eternal and to tell somebody that, particularly if you know a lot about them, enough about them where their loved one is or providing comfort. We don't have that information, but faith is everything I mean. It's our foundation of our lives.

Speaker 1:

I was reading somewhere I don't know it's been busy days the last few days but I was reading something that said life is a journey on ship and and death is that ship just goes over that horizon. It's still there. It's always part of you. Death is a. Death is a interesting thing we face in life. I don't know you can prepare for it, because it's so final and there's a lot of you. Just there's grief that goes with that and I can imagine. You know we've had a couple tragedies in our family with young folks. It's just different. It's always hard. But when you have someone that lives a full life and you kind of celebrate that life, but with younger people that life is ahead of them, there's an added measure of tragedy and just loss and sorrow and grief. But that was your life was dealing with. It was all on that front end young people, so much promise, so much Well some of these young people were my age.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and here I am caring for the families, making notifications, but realizing they're my age. It was quite an experience.

Speaker 1:

How did you? You know, you said God prepared you for it, you had a heart for it. What were those conversations like?

Speaker 2:

As soon as you knock on the door and meet the family, they know you drive up with a commander and a mortuary affairs or another staff officer with a check for them and they don't know what to do. They've never really done much of that and they always say, chaplain, help us and I would take over, I would listen, they would cry and I would just listen to them and provide comfort where I can, because at that moment you know they're in shock, they're hearing very little, but what happens is you build their relationship there. They come back the next day and the day after that as they come to accept what really has taken place.

Speaker 1:

How did you stay strong, Tom? How did you stay where you needed to be for others?

Speaker 2:

Tommy, I know you're a person of faith. Yeah, you know you stay strong by reading the scriptures. Yeah, god speaks through the word of God. Faith comes by hearing the word of Christ. I mean that's the whole beginning point. There I was telling Dirk Kempton, which you had on this morning, one of the greatest books I ever wrote not wrote, but I read was a book called the People Hope by Gary Collins. He was a professor of mine back in my seminary and Gary says that was a simple little book. I said no, it was very profound. It goes in a book he talks about in Romans 12, 15, rejoice with those who rejoice and to weep with those who weep, it's all relational. Rejoice and to weep with those who weep, it's all relational. And so, as God has worked, my heart prepares me, I'm ready, I have things to say to people where other people are at loss. The scriptures speak today.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean I'm just sitting here listening to you that comfort those and stand me in comfort more than those that mourn Right as you weep with them and show empathy towards them. Is there a greater gift we can give another on this earth than being there during their time of greatest needs and being able to comfort them? Tom, it's like it's a big deal, I mean, I just I'm humbled to be around you when I am, because I know your history and uh, wow, it's powerful.

Speaker 2:

Being there when Herb Bales leaves.

Speaker 1:

Talk more about that, cause that's often the case all the time when, um, you know, uh, in in our, our church, I was able to serve, and there is the phenomenon that happens immediately after death, where everyone comes together and there is an outpouring of love and compassion, and then it is often the next day and the next day when they find themselves alone and facing the reality of a loss. That's when you really do the work right.

Speaker 2:

Right, if you're going to rejoice and then weep with them, as scriptures teach us, you've got to be there.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

You know, nice words are fine, but the actions was really important. There's a little verse in the scriptures. The epistle says I'll show you my faith by my works. We're not talking about salvation, we're talking about because of my faith. I'll show you what I do.

Speaker 1:

I had a mentor once. Tell me, if you ever say, hey, just let me know if I can do anything for you, that you ought to just stop in your tracks and not say that and instead do that's right, take them a loaf of bread, go say hello, go call them, text them, whatever, but it's not asking, hey, can I do anything for you? Because you know what the answer will be there, they won't call, they won't ask, it's the doing right.

Speaker 2:

I had a number of chaplains work for me in my last assignment down at Shepherd Air Force Base and one of the first things I said is look, I don't want to sit in your office, I want you out there with the troops. I want you out there, if you're going to intervene, be there in times of crisis. They have to know you and the only way they know you is being involved with you. And as you build a relationship particularly when they're going through you know, let's say, a wife or a husband that have lost their loved one you build that relationship. So the week next week, next month, next year and to this day, I hear from quite a few people that I worked with in years in the military because of relationships, and that's what's really important in this world.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'm thinking as you're talking. Other advice early on and I got as a young man is yeah, wear out your jeans where your knees are from praying, but then, almost as important to that as well, wear out the soles of your shoes in the service of others.

Speaker 2:

Right, I can't help but remember I was over in sign in a base at RAF Lincoln he's in England and the commander was a friend of mine and he came through the chapel and I just happened to greet him in the hallway and he said Tom, you need a new set of trousers. You know, we wore the blue uniform then. Unlike today, people wear the fatigues, the combat fatigues. He says, oh, look at your knees. I said yeah. He said why are you polished there? I says I'm a chaplain. And he still didn't get it. I says well, first thing I do in the office, I get down on my knees and I pray Right.

Speaker 2:

He thought he says no, don't buy new trousers, stay on your knees Powerful story.

Speaker 1:

So is there anything else you can share from 24 years of service to our country, to the families um, in, in, in, uh, anything? There's a lot of folks Uh. I think we live in a very patriotic town. I, I, I just I'm really proud of of the way we respect and honor um those who serve here. But many people haven't served Um. Many people may not even have immediate family members that serve Um. So when I get a guy like you here that has a legacy of being in that environment and serving, what would you want people to know about the country and those who choose to serve us and put their lives out there for us?

Speaker 2:

It's the showing of respect. It's the showing of respect Whether you're serving or sharing somebody you love. That is serving. Respect is so important and the word respect we get the word trust from. We have to trust individuals in the military, but we have to respect the high calling of where they are, because they are high calling. How many are asked to lay their life down? Not many. When you go in the military, that can be a real possibility.

Speaker 1:

Wow, talk about your move to Idaho and how you got.

Speaker 2:

Tell us a little bit more biography here 1988, when I—I guess it was well before it was 1996, I came back to Idaho. I came here originally in 79, and, you know, air Force decided to invite me to go to different bases for a number of years. And then, you know, air Force to decide to invite me to go to different bases for a number of years. And so I came back and I was retired from active duty at that point and a number of us were just meeting, you know, for coffee. We heard about somebody who had some financial problems, so we just reached into our pockets and helped that young soldier out. Well then, there was another soldier after that, another soldier after that, and so it was decided that we would incorporate as a nonprofit Operation Military Blessings. It started as New Life Family Ministries and we rebranded to OMB as we know it today, and that all started 30 years ago. We're coming up on our third year anniversary.

Speaker 1:

Wow, 30 years. So talk about I know we're going to get into this pretty deeply, tom, but talk about Operation. So, for those that are either watching or following along at home, it's Operation Military Blessings with an Sorg, and this is the organization that Tom started. 30-year anniversary coming up 30 years ago and you know, as I have become more acquainted with it, tom, what you do is truly God's work for these families. So I'll let you tell the story, but it's unbelievable. We're looking right now here on your website, but tell us a little bit about the journey.

Speaker 2:

Well, we started off, I have to say, helping some young soldiers here in Idaho, and then people said what else could we do? Well, we can do a toy drive. And so churches and organizations would put the word out bring your toys to a pickup point and we'd deliver them to the Idaho Guard and Mountain Home Air Force Base. Now we do hundreds of these toys and we say buy toys that you'd buy for your children and be generous, give them high-end toys, because they're saying something when you reach the children, you reach the parents as well. Uh, so we started doing that and that that toy drive is 14. We've been doing that for 14 years for idaho guard now and it's become a very, very big, big deal for them as well as down in the airbase.

Speaker 1:

And and talk about. I mean, what blew me away as I've dug into the organization is you do you do a lot here, locally for our troops? A lot of talk about the statistics, a lot of these, a lot of these first year, second year enlisted soldiers are on food stamps.

Speaker 2:

One out of eight active duty military people are on food stamps. This is a startling statistics, but when you look at 31 to 39 percent are food insecure. It means somebody is going to bed hungry at night. That's usually children, or a parent gives up, and so that's totally unacceptable.

Speaker 1:

And it is so. You start here, but but when you go to your website and you start looking, this has now become a national and now international program. That's right here, from little idaho and tom westall starting this thing, the, the super chaplain. And you start this thing and now it's everywhere it's, it's around the world well, we had 25 locations just here in the United States.

Speaker 2:

We're caring for young active-duty people in the Army, in the Air Force, navy, the Coast Guard, the Marines. We're in Germany the RAF Lake and Heath. We funded their whole program last year when they lost their funding. And what does family programs do if they can't do family programs? Well, we made family programs operate again, took care of kids. There was hundreds of them. We took care of that's Ramston and RAF Lakey. We did the same thing over there. Now we're in the Pacific with some bases. We're looking at taking on Guam and Hawaii, funding dependent. It just keeps growing, but the need's out there and we have over 800 bases.

Speaker 1:

Talk a little bit about. I've met a few folks in your organization. You have quite the team. Talk about them a little bit and how you've been able like the little engine that could making this thing happen around the world. Talk about that a little bit.

Speaker 2:

We do have a great team, but more than that we're all friends together. We all believe what we're doing. General Saylor is the retired adjutant general from the Idaho Guard. He's our chairman of the board. I've known him for years. We have Dick Turner, another general that's on our board. We have a local pastor, jim Harris, from Heritage Bible Church on our board, ike Sweezy, which is a retired major, a pilot, a 104 and 111 pilot, combat pilot.

Speaker 1:

Then we have Chuck Winder, you know Chuck.

Speaker 2:

Wonderful, wonderful human being, just retired president of the Idaho Senate. He brings a whole other element into our board and remember, our board is more than the decision-making. They are the boots on the ground, they're doing the the work. I feel so honored just to care for that, we have dirk camthorne on the board, former governor. I've known dirk since he's been a mayor and so I called him up and I said dirk, you know, I'd like to see you come on our board. And he was in washington at the time. He said you know, tom, I don't have a lot of time. I I said well, I don't like meetings, I just send emails out and the guys run with it. Alright. So for a man that didn't want to get too involved, other than maybe lend his name because his good friend asked him to, he's more involved than all of us.

Speaker 2:

You can't ask him to. He's more involved than all of us. You can't shut him off. We have Mike Borner from Mission 17, another great man. We have Tom Wilford. Ran the Albris Foundation for years. He's on our board. We have the past president of Blue Cross. Now we have the current president, paul Zerlo. He's on our board. And so we have some pretty distinguished people, you know, respected within the community, but respected outside the community as well.

Speaker 1:

It's just a fantastic organization. I want to talk about a few of the initiatives that you have the National Military Disaster Relief.

Speaker 2:

Talk a little bit about that. Just about everybody knows about FEMA, but what happens on a military base is not like what happens in the private sector. They don't have too many funds for national disasters. Last year, with the hurricanes in North Carolina, we helped those in the North Carolina National Guard that had lost. And then Florida got hit twice, not once, but twice. We had this one family that their home was nine feet underwater and took them weeks living in hotels and their benefits was exhausted, and so we were paying hotel bills because they had no place to stay. And we found out that this one family had two disabled children. We had to take care of them as well, and so we got into the disaster relief for military members. They're out there helping the civilian community and at the same time they've lost a lot themselves as well. We bought so much food last year. People would fill their refrigerators up and only lose their electric again and lose all their food, so we'd have to help them out.

Speaker 1:

Powerful. How about I'm going to go through these? The Endowment Fund for Military Health and Wellness is another big one.

Speaker 2:

That is an exciting program. That's something that I really put my heart into. Most people with private insurance, their benefits cover a lot of this, but for TRICARE and for a lot of benefits are not covered for disadvantaged, disabled children. Very specific like therapeutic helmets for kids TRICARE does not pay for, nor does the private insurance. Here in Idaho we do that Now. Each helmet's a little over $1,000, and they'll go through three helmets like that in about a two-year period and so we try to help them out with that. Or if they have special remedial education, we help them out with grants so they can go to school. So anybody with a disabled or a disadvantaged child, they know what the needs are out there and sometimes those resources helping them meet those needs can be tough. We try to be there for them.

Speaker 1:

I love it. I haven't heard this. I can't wait to hear the story from you. But on your website, matthew, can you scroll down Robert Comstock. So I went to an event, I spoke at one of your events and he was there and so there's an interview here with Robert Comstock and he has started this new. So Robert Comstock incredible story A Boise guy who is an international clothing designer. Very, very famous guy who is an internationally recognized designer. But he's part of the program now and he has this line of clothing.

Speaker 2:

You tell the story but I can't wait to see how this plays out. I think it was two years ago. He was invited to come to the fundraiser. I didn't know anything about Robert Comstock. I didn't know anything. I had heard about his clothing sales, but I didn't know anything about him.

Speaker 2:

And so he comes that evening and he's a pretty commanding individual. He has a head of hair that I had when I was 17 years old. He's a handsome guy, tom, and he sat there and I get a call in the morning. It's seven o'clock in the morning by Dirk Kempthorne. He says Robert just called me and at four o'clock in the morning he wants to get together, he wants to be able to help out. I said when do you want to meet Now? So, all right, let's go.

Speaker 2:

So we met at a restaurant and he says I really want to do something for these young soldiers and these airmen, these Marines, to come up with the clothing line. And so I said well, let's take a look and see whether we can put this product line in our exchanges. Now he spent one whole year with his whole staff filling out, completing the application process, going through the things that are sometimes pretty annoying, but you got to get through that. Now we are approved to sell this clothing line in the United States to all Army and Air Force exchanges and those profits that come from there, a very large percentage of them, are going to stay at that base. And so let's say Mississippi, we come up with so many thousands of dollars in profit that will stay in family programs at that base in our structured program under the banner of Operation Military Blessings.

Speaker 1:

And to see the clothing he's designed. It's also very cool and fashionable. So the idea is that he designed all this for the military bases. It gets sold there, the dollars stay there. It's genius. I think it's going to be also popular everywhere because of who he is and what he's designed and how it's going to go. It's just an incredible story.

Speaker 2:

Well, he's been talking to CEOs from Dillard's and some of the other organizations, and they all want to be a part of this. This is just beginning now.

Speaker 1:

What an incredible thing. So people that want to know more information about that, that will be released this year, right, I think yes, later this year, where you can go on and buy this clothing especially designed by him for Operation Military Blessings.

Speaker 2:

And it's a quality clothing. Yeah, it's quality. We're selling a bomber jacket, I think for $245, which is New Zealand leather. Yeah, it's just beautiful.

Speaker 1:

I want one as soon as I can. I'm going to wear my OMB bomber jacket, designed by Robert Comstock. I'll get you one. I can't wait. I can't wait. That's great. And then the next one on my list here to talk. Well, first of all listen. How old do you know?

Speaker 2:

I'll be 80 in January 80 in January.

Speaker 1:

You have the energy of a 25-year old and you do all this stuff. I'm sitting here going through all these programs. Are you ever? Do you ever sit back, tom and go? Are you ever in awe of what you've done and create? I mean, I'm going through the list of programs and this was all ideas and you and your passion and your leadership it's unbelievable, buddy.

Speaker 2:

Well, I do sit back and I reflect, but I realize this is something that God's done. Yeah, I am not that smart, I am not that talented, but God has it all together. But I'd be a willing tool and I've sat back many times and see the hand of God doing things that I don't see initially. I see it come about.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah. Just listening to the humility and the deflection of what man does to God and giving proper credit where it's due, you're a pretty incredible guy. All right, next one Operation Babies, bottles and Diapers, one that I was able to just help in a teeny bit with. So tell us the problem and then what we're trying to do to fix this.

Speaker 2:

One of our basic programs is to give these commissary and visa gift cards, food cards, albertsons or WinCo to these people in need. Then we found out we give them a $100 gift card that a bag of diapers's like $53. Formula $50. Baby wipes $35. So more than half of the intended caring for food is taken for children. Well, that's not acceptable. So we came up with what's called Operation Babies, Bibles and Diapers, where we collect these items and we want to guarantee a year's supply called Operation Babies, bibles and Diapers, where we collect these items and we want to guarantee a year's supply of these items, not only here at Gowen and all the locations of the Idaho National Guard, but at Mountain Home Air Force Base as well.

Speaker 1:

So this is a way for and so for anyone listening today, again, there's information on the website, but you can make a donation directly to the program.

Speaker 1:

I totally forgot one thing Early on, when I was young and probably a little naive and just wanted to make a difference.

Speaker 1:

I got involved in a lot of organizations and they were great organizations. Don't get me wrong. I'm not going to call any of them out, because some of them were national organizations with very, very good people. And it wasn't until I got on the boards and kind of dug into the finances and I'd say now, how many of these dollars stay here was a question you'd ask. So because we're raising money from you know, and there's nothing wrong with national organizations either, we need to do both, but it's always nice when the dollars we spend or donate stay in the community, where we're really affecting the families and our neighbors around us. And then the second thing is you look at administrative overhead, right, and I won't mention the organization I was involved in, but one day I saw the finances. I'm like, well, wait a minute, we have to get a mountain of donations every year just to cover our staff. Talk a little bit about your organization and how much.

Speaker 2:

Every dollar that is raised in Idaho stays in Idaho.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

There is no exception, 100%. If a corporation says we have this and it in any place of need in the nation or the world, then it goes into the general fund. We don't pay any salaries. This is the part that— Nobody on the board gets anything. I don't get paid. I live on my military retirement and my social security and that's enough. I've lived a certain lifestyle and I'm not going to change that because I'm very comfortable where I am. But it was brought up a couple of years ago by General Saylor. I said we need to start paying you and I said I won't accept it and I said if you keep that up, I'm going to resign.

Speaker 1:

So again for listeners that are considering where to put their donations 100% here and no overhead.

Speaker 2:

It's crazy 100% here and no overhead, and it's all tax deductible.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, or we have here at our office by Topgolf, fifth floor. We have a place you can drop it off and we'll get it right out there. So we did want to give a shout. That's a new program. You've started Operation Babies, bottles and Diapers and it's really helping the young families with their daily needs. A couple of other things holiday giving you have the Holiday Assistance Program. Talk a little bit about that one, and I don't know a lot about that one.

Speaker 2:

Well, when we started collecting toys, we found out that the need really was pretty great out there, because when things happen financially, you know you had to budget everything and sometimes Christmas is kind of thin at Thanksgiving. There was a year in which the need was great and we helped and this one mother and wife said we wouldn't have had a Christmas without OMB. Not only the toys, the children, but we give them a full meal for Christmas. There's a 25-pound turkey in there, there's milk in there, there's potatoes, there's butters, there's vegetables. There's a 25-pound turkey in there, there's milk in there, there's potatoes, there's butters, there's vegetables, there's everything.

Speaker 1:

Wow. Well, our time has gone. I want to give you a chance here at the end to say a few things, but I knew this would go fast Again, tom, since the day I met you, I don't know that one can fully appreciate in an hour on a podcast what you do every day. You've got so much energy and again when you get here, it's like a celebrities in the office, cause you're just, you're a ball of of goodness.

Speaker 1:

Um and um, I want, I want to get the word out for this organization in the Valley because, um, I'm very proud of what you've done as a Idaho uh organization around the world and the impact you're making, um, and I think that, uh, there's a lot of good people out there that that can give and help you out. Um, but but to give you kind of the final word here, um, what is, what does this all mean to you? And you know you're an incredible guy. You've you've lived your life serving others and serving God and letting him take your heart and your talents and your mind and put it to his use. What advice or wisdom could you impart to those listening today?

Speaker 2:

Be a people helper. We're in a society that's pretty angry and we need to tell them about hope. We need to tell them about we care. There are individuals that aren't angry, that want to come alongside and help you with a particular burden. To be there, yeah, to be there.

Speaker 1:

It christian love right. It's modeling the savior right that's right it's, uh, it's. It gets down to that.

Speaker 2:

It's kindness, it's love, it's charity well, you know, the adage is charity is one thing. We want to give you a helping hand up. Yeah, that's what we do and it's structured to the military the very junior grades E1 through E4, that are on welfare, that are going to food banks and things. We're helping them meet those needs where they can serve with dignity. Can you imagine going to combat knowing that your family's on food stamps or had to go on the food? That's unacceptable. We make that difference. And how about our listeners who are speaking to today make a difference? Go on to our website, operation military blessings, that's with an sorg, and there's a site where you can go to and pay online and and remember you can designate that money to stay right here in Idaho or, if you wanted to go around the world, say so.

Speaker 1:

That's amazing. I want to thank you for what you do. One more quick story, because I can only imagine the impact you've had on thousands of people in your lifetime. But after I gave that talk last year, you, you gave me a present at the end of it and it was a was a bible, and you said I don't know how many of those you've given away. But you said I don't know if it's hundreds or thousands you've like I've given away we've given away 5500 of those Bibles.

Speaker 2:

These are $39 Bibles. I mean it's the best MacArthur study Bible, the best study Bible that's ever been done. This year our goal is to give away $7,000. Now that's a sister organization. Now OMB is caring for the needs of the soldiers, airmen, marines. Then we have a sister organization that's completely funded by itself called Operation New Life. We give away these Bibles to the military. All the military academies get hundreds of these Bibles every year from us, the General Officer Corps. They get a nice inscribed Bible with their name on it. The General Officer Corps. They get a nice inscribed Bible with a name on it. We sent one to our Secretary of Defense the.

Speaker 2:

President, former President as well, special, you know, I was in Special Operations for a long time. Part of the Rapid Deployment Force. Fort Bragg gets all our Bibles from us. Fort Benning has received Bibles from us. That's the Airborne Training. They want 3,500 Bibles from us. Fort Benning has received Bibles from us. That's the Airborne Training. They want 3,500 Bibles. They have a young chaplain who's so excited what he's doing. He said I'll give a Bible to everybody who comes to my chapel. I said, how much is that? We have 3,500 on the Sunday.

Speaker 1:

It's an incredible. It's a study Bible. It is so I'm reading it right now. It's incredible. It's a study Bible. It is so I'm reading it right now. It's the Bible that your uncle was so involved with the Office of Christian Fellowship. Yeah, so my uncle, daryl Farmer, longtime Air Force pilot, was very involved in this and you made that connection when I talked about him giving my talk. But anyway, it's near and dear to my heart. Thank you, and it's been an honor having you on here. And, uh, it's been an honor getting to know you. Um, you're one of my heroes. Um, it's been my honor. Yeah, you're the best. You're the best of the best, and I would encourage anyone listening to look up operation military blessings with an Sorg and check out Tom. Give him a call, get your organization involved. 100% of those dollars. Stay here with Idaho Families. You are an unbelievable guy. Thank you for your inspiration, your leadership. You're a pillar of this community and it's an honor having you on today.

Speaker 2:

Thank you for inviting me.

Speaker 1:

Tommy, Thanks everybody.