Building Veteran Careers And Mental Health Support In Louisiana

A lot of people say “thank you for your service,” but fewer know what to do next. We sit down with Andrew Ward, Army and National Guard veteran and the leader behind Acadiana Veterans Alliance (AVA), to talk about what real support looks like when the uniform comes off and life keeps moving. The conversation starts with a simple challenge: even when you have a million things going on, pick one way to serve, because it can refill your own cup while you help someone else.

Andrew breaks down AVA’s clear “Work, Heal, Give” model and why post-9-11 veterans often need different resources than earlier generations. We talk veteran employment and career placement, how AVA connects veterans with companies ready to hire, and why mentorship matters when the military’s built-in structure disappears. We also get into veteran entrepreneurship through Mission Launch, a program designed to help veterans turn ideas into businesses with practical guidance and the right network.

Then we go deep on veteran mental health and healing. Andrew explains AVA’s HEAL program, including the stellate ganglion block (SGB) for hyperarousal and post-traumatic stress, and why pairing the procedure with trauma-informed counseling changes outcomes. We also discuss the shift from PTSD to PTSI, treating post-traumatic stress as an injury instead of a disorder, and how privacy and telehealth can lower the barrier to asking for help.

We close with a look at “The Boot,” a Louisiana effort that recruits transitioning service members like a college football program, matching talent with careers, education options, and relocation support that strengthens families and the state’s workforce. If you care about veteran transition, community service, or practical mental health solutions, you’ll leave with new language and real next steps. Subscribe, share with someone who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

Transcript

Service That Starts With Getting Involved

SPEAKER_03 0:00

I always tell people that I mean ad nauseum. I tell them all the time. Even if you have a million things going on, get involved with one. Big brothers, big sisters, boys and girls clubs, doesn't matter, Faith House, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Right.

SPEAKER_03 0:11

Get involved with it. Because it's it'll make you feel it'll fill your cup.

SPEAKER_02 0:15

Welcome to Posture and Purpose, where both healing and community come together. Make sure to subscribe on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube. Let's get into this episode with Dr. Michelle Carr Frank.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Today's conversation is about service, sacrifice, healing, and what it truly means to come home. My guest has dedicated his life not only to serving his country, but now to serving the veterans who continue fighting battles long after war. Welcome, Mr. Andrew Ward of the Acadiana Veterans Alliance. So thank you so much for being here. And of course, um I think it's always overdone, but thank you for your service.

SPEAKER_03 0:56

I appreciate that. My pleasure to be here.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

And I see that you served in the Army as well as the National Guard, and you were also deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

SPEAKER_03 1:06

Sure. Back in 2004, 2005.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Do you feel comfortable sharing your experiences about each of those?

SPEAKER_03 1:12

It was a great experience overall. I mean, we learned a lot from each other, and uh everybody we brought there as part of our unit we brought back, which was a great thing. And so uh Absolutely. Yeah, it was one of those defining moments where you realize what you have here is is worthwhile and you you know see the rest of the world as it is, and and so uh we did a lot of good things during that time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Sometimes you have to leave home to appreciate home even more.

SPEAKER_03 1:38

I say that all the time. I'm sure you can relate, right? That's right.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

Uh more than anyone. And being that your current position is with the Acadiana Um Alliance, tell me how that came about.

SPEAKER_03 1:50

So I'll back up. So I was in healthcare administration for years, uh

Meet Andrew Ward And AVA

SPEAKER_03 1:55

a Dr. Tommy Bond that that we both know. Yes. And so I was running things with him, and you remember around COVID, we had to shut down elective procedures, and it was a really tough time, and we had to uh furlough and lay off about 90% of our team and our staff.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

Right.

SPEAKER_03 2:08

And I remember having the conversation with my wife, and I was like, you know, this is a really bad situation that we need to get out of, and so how can we do that? And I I kind of thought back to my military service days and how whenever we had a situation that came up like that that was unsolvable, well, you don't have a uh you have to solve it. Right. There's no choice. And so I started calling around to some of the guys that I served with and to some of the people that I didn't, but I knew that had a military background that I that were we'll call them influential in the community. And I was like, I want to form something, I don't know what it is yet, but are you in? And within a week and a half, we had a board and we had a mission and we had the whole thing mapped out. It kind of just fell out, and that's where Cadiana Veteran Alliance came from. It was really partially started to drive some economic development in the area, take businesses that were kind of you know on the cusp of really kind of coming down and bringing them back, spur some new ideas, work with partners like one of Cadiana and Lita, and really because I've thankfully I had relationships with all those people, and so I was like, hey, we're gonna be just the veteran kind of push here and use some of our military past and history and and strategic kind of knowledge to kind of generate some new growth. And so that was where that was where it kind of started in the beginning.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

That is wonderful, and nothing like that had been formed in Lafayette before?

SPEAKER_03 3:26

No, no, so the veteran service organization community in the past were you know very high respected, still to this day, like the VFWs and the American Legions, and we still work with them and support them. I'm the chair of the Lafayette Veterans Affairs Commission for the mayor president.

SPEAKER_00 3:41

I saw that.

SPEAKER_03 3:41

And we have people on that um from each individual, from the uh uh military order of the Purple Heart and from the VFW because what they've done in the past and what they're doing now is still very vital to the community, but they weren't doing specifically as much for the post-9-11 veteran. And that's the younger ones, that's the 50 and under. And so for us, we were like, why don't we concentrate on that group, the one that's right now looking at their careers, looking at their family? Like, how are they going to be building their lives and their communities? And let's engage with them. So, yeah, I didn't realize we were filling a gap until we did, and then we're like, oh wow, this is something that is is, I guess, needed.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

It is, and it was a different need than, like you said, veterans that came before. So things somewhat changed, I'm assuming, after 9-11 and that time period.

SPEAKER_03 4:30

Yeah, I think each different kind of conflict over the years has been unfortunate, like when the Vietnam War era, you know, was going on, they were treated way different than we were. We were getting parades and they weren't. And so for us, you know, that's unfortunate, but we still include them in our efforts and we still want to be able to embrace kind of the service that they provided. Sure. Uh we work hand in hand with the Department of Veterans Affairs, and so for us, it's not just we always say it all the time, I know it's a it's cliche at this point because I say it so often, but we don't thank for your service, right? We want to like show them that. We want to do things instead of saying things. Action speak louder than words. Yeah, and so what we do is the work program, uh, it's career placement. So if you're a veteran or a prior service or any kind of ex-military living in the area and you want a better job, a better career, a better path, then we have, oh my gosh, we probably have 200 companies in the area that all they want to do is hire their workforce full of veterans. So we do that, we provide that service is almost like a recruiter, you know, connect the dots. Uh we start up an entrepreneur program called Mission Launch this past year for those that want to start a business instead of joining one. Uh and so that's that's kind of our our work programming. That's that's one leg of the of the tripod, but that's that's kind of where it was founded on was the work program.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

I see. And being that your military background brought you to this, who was Andrew Ward before the military?

SPEAKER_03 5:53

That's a great question.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:55

He was a a a 17-year-old uh UL fraternity not doing very well. You know, I I don't think any male that's 17 years old should be just jumping into college and be living in fraternity houses. I just don't, because the grades are gonna show what that was. And so um, yes, I was at UL for a little bit, and I was definitely not the model student. So I took a break, and I remember I'd had that conversation with my father and my parents, and they were like, why don't you take a break and join the Louisiana National Guard and just get out of here for a while and then come back and and and it was the best decision because when I came back, you have that purpose, you have that drive, you have that thing that the military provides. So I sunk that right back in, went right back to UL, finished my degree, and and never looked back. So yeah, it's it's it's kind of a good thing, I guess, in a way, that I was not the best student. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

But it brought you on this path.

SPEAKER_03 6:49

It brought me on the path. That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

And what part of that military service will really stick with you forever? Anything you feel comfortable sharing?

SPEAKER_03 6:58

No, no, no, I'm comfortable, sure. I think so they have different values in the in the army that they teach you, right? And I remembered selfless service was the one that always stuck with me. That's the one where all too often I think that we're always thinking about work and we're thinking about me, and we're thinking about we, because we have family. I mean, I have five kids and we have all the things that we need to be able to make them make it happen. Make it work. But once you get into a service base or a philanthropy, or just something where you're not working for a dollar and you're actually just giving back for the greater good, changes everything.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

Changes everything.

SPEAKER_03 7:32

So that was the selfless service was really the one. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

And was there a moment that you can remember that you really realized your purpose and it shifted from serving your country to bringing it home and serving the veterans here in our area?

SPEAKER_03 7:46

You know, it's funny, it wasn't the veterans. So I finished my service in 07, didn't start this until 2020, and for 13 years I closed that chapter and I was not going to VFW meetings. I was not part of the veteran community. I was just raising a family and doing my job and doing the things. Right. And I I have a good buddy of mine who we were having lunch one day, and he says, You know what? You should come and join the boys and girls club. And he says, I think you'd be really good on the board. And I went to a couple of meetings and I saw what they were doing in the community, and I said, I'm in. And that was really the first time that I had done something like that. And those three years that I was on the boys and girls club board changed everything for me. And that wasn't even veteran related. And so I'd probably still be with that organization because of the great work they do.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

They do great work. I've worked on it.

SPEAKER_03 8:34

And when I started AVA in 2020, I rolled off my board seat to start that. That's okay. And so it just I and I kind of but then once I got back into it, I realized oh, I really miss this space, and I really miss the people that were involved in it. And so, like, I see it all the time. We do our monthly socials and I meet people and they're just coming here because they're looking for that community, just like we all are. Right. And so we just we provide a little bit of that.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

And that life of service, it's just all part of it for sure.

SPEAKER_03 9:00

I agree. So that's it's always I always tell people that I mean ad nauseum. I tell them all the time. Even if you have a million things going on, get involved with one big brothers, big sisters, boys and girls clubs. Doesn't matter. Faith house, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

Right.

SPEAKER_03 9:13

Get involved with it. Because it's it it'll make you feel it'll fill your cup.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

It will, and uh it'll do more for you than you realize. Sure. More than maybe what you're doing for them.

SPEAKER_03 9:22

So I I feel fortunate that I had that experience.

From Soldier To Community Servant

SPEAKER_01 9:25

And that's wonderful.

SPEAKER_03 9:26

Thanks.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

And you mentioned finding employment and setting people up that are veterans, that are looking for business opportunities.

SPEAKER_04 9:33

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

How difficult is it for those veterans to rediscover their identity after military life? Is it I'm sure it's difficult, but can you explain that to people who are listening?

SPEAKER_03 9:45

No, I I think what happens is a lot of people that join the military join either out of high school, they join very young, right? They're half so a little bit like they just need that kind of direction and that kind of discipline. And so you are part of a gigantic machine, and and you don't have to think about your meals, you don't have to think about where you're gonna sleep. It's all decided for you. So I think what happens and what we find is when they come out and they become a civilian, you don't have that anymore. And so you have to make all those decisions on your own. And if you don't have a proper mentor or you don't have that kind of built-in, you know, community support system, then then that's what makes it tricky. So we we try to help with that. We we try to stay close to the ones that are coming out. We work with the National Guard a lot too. Um because even though they're part-time, they're still part of that military complex. And so for us, we want to stay close to them to let them know that we're a resource for that for that.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

And what did veterans do before you guys?

SPEAKER_03 10:44

Uh it's a good question. I don't know. It's it's I think that there was just a little bit of lost in the wilderness. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

I mean, I'm not gonna sit here and just pat myself on the back for inventing a wheel, but you hear of things, you know, you hear of scenarios that um unfortunately are um don't work out uh in the best way, and you just wonder, you know, these guys and gals need this so much.

SPEAKER_03 11:06

And I do, and and we heard it all the time. And so I know we're talking about AVA right now, but I'm excited about the new venture that we started, the boot.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

I know.

SPEAKER_03 11:14

And the boot's really exciting, and uh, we can get into that in a second, but that's really where that evolution came from, where I said, okay, let's take all the guestwork out, let's make Louisiana the the front door for them, and let's go ahead and go where they are and and recruit them to come and live in a great state that we all love.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

Yes, we do. Absolutely. Louisiana's the best. If you haven't been here, you need to visit. I'll always say that.

SPEAKER_03 11:36

I agree. I agree.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

What have you learned about your purpose in life while working with these veterans? I know that's a deep question.

SPEAKER_03 11:44

No, it's I mean, it's it's a good question. I uh my purpose in life, I I think it's just uh what I explained earlier was that that service part of it, going back to it, you know, going back to being a service where like I I laugh because like whenever I was in college and in those early days, I was in the service industry. Like I was in the restaurant business even. You learn a lot. You learn a lot about people in there. So I kind of went from that service industry to the service of the military to now the service of the nonprofit space. Yeah. And I think it's I think it's good. I think it gives you uh a motivation, and I think when you see when you get the feedback that we do get, like you're saying right now, like that's that makes it all worthwhile. You know, it's not working anymore.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

Right. We need a change, and it looks like Andrew Ward is making a change.

SPEAKER_03 12:28

I have a good team, I have a good board, I have a great, I have a great group.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

What would we do without our teams?

SPEAKER_03 12:33

No, agreed.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Why do you find that meaningful work, especially uh with the military and our veterans, um is so connected to healing? And when I say healing, I don't mean only physical healing. Sure. Mental healing, emotional healing, after what some of these people have experienced.

SPEAKER_03 12:51

So you're segueing into our heal program, is what you do. I know that's a good one. That was nice, that was well done. So the I mentioned the three legs of the tripod. So it's I have three words, it's really easy. So work, heal, and give. And so uh I'll I'll skip over to give because we wanted to make sure that you know we do bring in contributions and donations

Work Programs For Civilian Transition

SPEAKER_03 13:10

from our corporate partners, from foundations, from philanthropies. And so we operate on that, obviously, but on the same time we want to make sure that we were giving back in the community through time or through money. And so we'll give a contribution to Catholic charities uh homeless shelter for veterans, or we'll give our time to Parish Proud as a team at their events. So the give program is where we're consistently giving back as a group. Um, and then the heel program was was generated during that same time. I was in healthcare administration with Bond. He came to me and he's like, hey, there's a really groundbreaking injection called a stelic ganglion block, which I'm sure you're familiar with. Yes. And it's a nerve pain block that's been around for a hundred years. And what they were finding is it's kind of like the off-label osempic kind of thing where it's meant for nerve pain, but they're finding out that it's also reducing post-traumatic stress. It's also reducing hyperanxiety, right? Because it blocks that signal to the amygdala where your fight or flight is unfortunately stuck in a heightened rate uh state. And so I said, Well, I'm I'm in on that. And so it was one of those things where now we don't just uh refer, we've been doing this for five years. We don't just refer them for the injection, whether it's through Tommy or whether it's through another doctor we have in New Orleans. We pay for it. So we pay for the procedure and we make sure that they don't have anything out of pocket, and that's that's and that's paid for by the by the contributions that we receive from our partners. Um, but it's groundbreaking. It's, I mean, I've I've seen and the testimonials and all the things that come with it, and it's just been pretty amazing stuff. So that's the heel program.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 14:46

Um so we we've been doing that for five years, very successfully. We have an 82% success rate on that. And what that means is kind of the the not to get too boring or in the weeds of it, but what happens is when you go in and you want to get this shot because you're having really, you know, high anxiety and post-traumatic stress, we're gonna give you what's called a PCL questionnaire. And it's a you know, 10 questions and it's gonna be on a scale of one to five. How do you feel about this? The higher the score, the higher your your post-traumatic stress, yeah, you need. And so right after the injection, we do the same thing, and then at one month and three months and six months, and we track, and what we're finding is just dramatic drops in that score, right? And sustainable. So we we knew that that was good, we knew it was working, but one thing we kept coming back to, and some very smart people around the country, they they they advised us, they said, well, the shot is the primer, the paint is the counseling. And we couldn't, the counseling was the hard part because we'd say, Well, you should probably see some therapist or some counselor to kind of help keep it going. But you know, people are they're just like, Well, I'll just get the shot and I'm good. So, what we decided to do was we launched this past year the Heel Center, and that's where we have telehealth, behavioral health counseling. We pay for up to 12 sessions, and we have a trusted group of trauma-informed counselors that are there, and so we take away the barriers. No cost, you can do it on your phone, you can do it at your leisure. Right. And since we started doing that, we got a hundred percent success rate. So it went from 82 to 100 percent. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's amazing. That's that's that's huge.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

So, with this injection, how many times do they take the injection? Once.

SPEAKER_03 16:27

We have had a few come back after a year or two and say, the old feelings are starting to kind of rise back. Can I get another one? Yes, of course. Okay. But one one is all you need. Because it breaks the cycle, right? I mean, if you know the science behind it, right, you understand that it's a bell curve in your fight or flight. But if you're in DMT or you're police or you're a combat veteran, or anybody that's maintained a high level of stress and they're always, we call it on, then they're stuck. And so what this does, it blocks the signal, it brings them down, and then they can, as in their words, they can breathe. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

And just I hate to say relax, but no, they can relax.

SPEAKER_03 17:03

The shoulders drop. There, I I talk to their their wives, and and yeah, they're just like he wasn't sleeping and he was always up and he was grinding his teeth and all the things. Constant. And so now we we get them to a place where they can actually relax for the first time in a long time.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

And do you feel like your work helping these other others heal? Do you think this has healed you in any way?

SPEAKER_03 17:26

I think it's good. No, I think it's good. I think we're doing you know, amazing work, and so yeah, I'm very proud of it. So I don't know if it's healed me personally, but it's it's been you're not giving yourself enough credit.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 17:36

I just I just I just like doing the work. I like I like getting the feedback. I think, yeah, yeah, yeah. This is like I mentioned earlier, it's not really work if you love what you're doing, right? I'm sure you feel the same way with your patients.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

I say it all the time. What do you think? I mean, we hear we throw around the word or the acronym PTSD. Everybody throws that around.

SPEAKER_04 17:54

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

What in your experience have you found do people misunderstand about that diagnosis?

SPEAKER_03 18:00

That the D. The D on it. So disorder. So they're actually changing it right now and they're trying to get more. It's supposedly, it's not supposedly, it's PTSI. So now that change is an injury versus disorder. Because it's not a disorder, it's a moral injury. It's a it's an injury that that can be helped. So post-traumatic stress or PTSI is the term that we used. I think the big misconception was that it was, you know, labeled with a disorder from the beginning.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

A negative label.

SPEAKER_03 18:28

And sometimes we have to say PTSD, otherwise they don't know what we're talking about because it's still so new.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 18:33

But yeah, there's there's a big movement nationally with people like myself that are doing this in other parts of the country that that are changing that changing narrative.

SPEAKER_01 18:42

That's good to know. And why do so many so many veterans do you think struggle to just take that first step and ask for help? You know, if you get the injection and you get the counseling, that's wonderful. But that first step seems to always be the hardest.

SPEAKER_03 18:55

I yeah, that's a good question. I don't know. I don't know if you can provide a universal blanket answer on that. But but I I think a lot of times what happens is if you are uh trained and indoctrinated in what the military is, one of the things we are kind of taught to do is uh like I use a term we use called drink water and drive on. Drink water, drive on. Rub some dirt on it. If something hurts, just do some things and get going. Keep going, right? And if you raise your hand and you're saying, well, I'm not really feeling the best mentally, I'm not

Stellate Ganglion Block And Counseling

SPEAKER_03 19:30

saying that I'm not, you know, the military still um accepts that. They don't they don't look at it, but just I think it's just kind of showing a sign of weakness, which is unfortunate, which is not.

SPEAKER_04 19:40

Sure.

SPEAKER_03 19:40

You know, good mental health and good behavioral health is is absolutely necessary. It's key, yeah. And so I think that we're maybe starting to shift that paradigm a little bit out of it's okay to kind of and then that's one of the reasons why we wanted to make like with the Heel Center and the telehealth, you don't have to change your schedule, you don't have to, you know, it's very private and confidential.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Good, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:01

You know, and so then if you can do that, then then I think it's more acceptable.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

With your phone in your hand, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:07

Thankfully we live in a time where you can do that. Right. You know, so we'll we'll take advantage of it.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

And beyond physical, you know, um injuries, it's hard for anyone to carry invisible wounds. So it seems like this program, you know, could be made for any, you know, physical injuries as well. Do they help with, you know, either amputees or other people in different um areas of injury?

SPEAKER_03 20:31

We haven't seen that. I don't know. That's a good question. I I'm sure that there are. Um not not personally. One of the things we've been um um we've had the benefit of is there's a big group out of Chicago called the Stella Center. And so they do that stellar ganglion block procedure at all of their locations, and they have a national network of doctors, either a pain management physician or an anesthesiologist. And that's like one of the big things that we definitely are hardcore on, can't just come out there and put a needle in somebody's neck. Ultrasound guidance only, pain management physician with a background doing stellic ganglion blocks, or an anesthesiologist that has a history and has the experience to be able to administer the procedure. And so I think that um I think them coming in and Stella as a partner, you know, we've been fortunate that we've been able to help veterans in Salt Lake City and Minneapolis and California and other parts of the country because they heard that AVA was giving out grants for the procedure and they qualified so and they had a doctor where they were in Salt Lake, and so we we made sure that they got what they were needed. So we're definitely not like uh what do we call it, like location agnostic or whatever. Like it's it's it's it's we're not just confined here. It's a KD and a Veteran Alliance, but we we treat veterans wherever they need it.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

And we have Dr. Bond here.

SPEAKER_03 21:48

Yeah, and Bond's great.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

Amazing, and um his PA, Miss Ashley Ramsey. Shout out to her. And you know, you're talking about your program, but what about the community that's surrounded? These veterans. How important is it for them to support our veterans? I believe everyone would love to do so, but we really just don't know how.

SPEAKER_03 22:09

I think we have events throughout the year. I think, and that's a good question, because in the beginning, all of our programming was behind the scenes, right? So it's like your practice. Like everything is within these four walls a lot of times. You're not out on Johnson Street doing procedures or whatever. So what happened is we knew early on that we needed to open up a little bit and do more in the public sphere. And so we started doing these monthly networking socials. And they're free, they're not, they're not just for veterans, they're for anyone that wants to come. Non-veterans, we do it at the room at Corner Bar right there off of Johnson Street in the little event room right there.

SPEAKER_04 22:43

That's great, yes.

SPEAKER_03 22:44

And and we typically like 60 to 70 people come every month. We have a great sponsor, and so all the beer and wine is free. Or if you don't drink, of course, we have non-alcoholic. But it's a very casual, easy way for them, like I mentioned, to connect. And then on top of that, we have events like coming up in three weeks. We have the Memorial Day at Monkus event. We've done that in Moncas Park. We do uh events in uh in the fall and in the spring for Veterans Day and Memorial Day. Um, we just had our annual buy you bourbon bash, which is just a fun event, you know, it's a night out.

SPEAKER_01 23:14

Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_03 23:15

Uh that was that was good. That's our fifth year doing it. So I don't know if you know, but bourbon is like a thing. Bourbon, I do not know. A couple a couple of years ago I realized that they're like bourbon hunters and they're like it's like collectors. It's like when we were kids and we were going after baseball cards, they go after like different types of bourbons. Yes, because they're some that are hard to find and they're it's a whole thing. It's a whole like it's a big underground thing.

SPEAKER_04 23:39

I'm learning.

SPEAKER_03 23:40

And so, well, and so I recognized that. So we started doing these events where we would auction off and find these things, and we would have great partners like Tim Metcalf that would dinos and prejunce cater. And so, you know, a couple of hundred people come and we make it a big fundraiser and we have live music, and it was just it was a it was a great fun event. And so we try to do a few of those. I have one for you for next year. Next year, okay. I'll be there. I'll be there.

SPEAKER_01 24:05

We we briefly mentioned spouses. Um how do spouses receive any type of support? Is there some type of program or when they don't know what to do or they don't know how to help?

SPEAKER_03 24:17

Oh, I think they're just part of the family unit. I mean, this is not a discriminatory anything that they want just because they didn't serve in the military doesn't mean they're not part of the solution. So yeah, I mean, we always invite the the spouses to come with them on anything. We actually get more outreach for our heel program from the spouses than we do from the actual veteran.

SPEAKER_04 24:33

Yeah. We do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:34

It's like, hey, Danny, he doesn't want to call, but would you mind just reaching out? And when I do, and they know it's somebody that served and somebody that is a veteran themselves and can kind of relate, then it it's a little bit easier for them to say yes to it. Right. So yeah, we we definitely have that. Uh with our boot program too, we definitely include military spouses when we're trying to get them to move here because we want them to be able to find a job and be with their husband or their wife and and really uh acclimate to to their new to their new state when you get here. I know I'm skipping over, but I don't want to know a lot of times because we have to these are two very vast and different uh organizations. Yeah. And so a lot of times people say, How does all this work? Is one like a program the other? And they're they're they're completely different.

SPEAKER_01 25:19

And I can relate to um spouses calling in for certain services because it's usually the wives calling to make appointments here for the husbands. He's complaining about his back again. I'm making the appointment for him.

SPEAKER_03 25:33

I'm guilty of that too. Okay. Shout out to my wife Angie. Yeah, Angie's the one that handles that, thankfully.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Why do you find that meaningful work is so connected to community and what you do for the veterans here in Lafayette?

SPEAKER_03 25:47

Well, that's that's such a simple question.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

That's a I know, I know it's not.

SPEAKER_03 25:51

No, I it's a good question. It really is. Uh I don't know if I have a direct answer for that. I think that's like a it's not a one-size-fits-all. I think that um, again, uh I don't want to just keep rehashing the same answer, but I think I I would I would just always uh uh engage with people that want to give back and people that want to do better for their community. And I think the older we get, the you can see the difference between the ones that are really not just care about the community, but are taking action and are stepping up andor filling roles in public office. Um one of the behind-the-scenes things that AVA does, and we've done it for the past six years, is that we write legislation. And so I come every year with at least one or two different ideas to make the state better for veterans to come live in and and and work and play and all the things.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

That's wonderful.

SPEAKER_03 26:42

Thank you. Well, and so I've been very fortunate that between uh former Senator Jean-Paul Cousin, uh State Rep Beau Boyer, um uh Brock Myers, Senator Brock Myers, and then this year uh state rep Troy Abear, we are always writing new things and so and put getting them through the House and getting them on the on the ballot. And so uh and and we've had some pass and we've had a few not, but every year we're just trying to do different things to make the community better for for veterans. So I I always I really like that part of it because that's a really good thing. If we can keep doing that for the next 10-15 years, you're building a legacy, right? You're making change, serious change, and serious change, and you're you're creating um a better place overall for them to want to live in Louisiana. You know, we're always fighting that uh big brother to the left that we all know.

SPEAKER_04 27:31

Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 27:33

And and but but Texas gets it right in a lot of ways, and they do. And I mean, you look at how they treat their veteran uh uh community and and how like they have the Texas Veterans Commission and how they generate funds through their lottery and like all their different things. And so that's that's that's we're working on right now. Our bill with uh myself and Troy Abear is we're gonna carve out a very small piece of lottery proceeds, and that's gonna go into a veteran service grant fund administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs. That's wonderful, and that's gonna be issued out in grants to organizations across the state that are doing good work on the ground for veterans that maybe a lot of people don't know about, and maybe they're just needing a little bit of a financial boost to be able to build capacity. Right. So that's what the bill is gonna do.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

I can't say um thank you enough. Thanks. Which brings me to my next question.

SPEAKER_03 28:20

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 28:20

How can ordinary people like myself support a veteran or support our veterans' uh programs here beyond just saying thank you for your service? You know, if I see uh someone I know that they've served, I'll always say that. I've always wanted to know do you appreciate those comments? Yeah. Or does it is there something else we should be doing or saying?

SPEAKER_03 28:43

No, I I think you know, if if you're if you're a business owner, uh you know we're always accepting contributions.

SPEAKER_04 28:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 28:51

We call them alliance members, you know, if you want to become an alliance member, if you're a company, if you're watching this and you own a business in town, if you're a two-person little uh accounting firm, or if you're, you know, we work with thankfully like big ones like Acadian Ambulance and Cox Communications and Schilling Distributing and all these really great companies, and uh

Events Spouses And Veteran Legislation

SPEAKER_03 29:10

veteran-owned by the way, is is Herb. And so um, yeah, I I think you just you can support us in our programming, and it doesn't have to just be financial. If we have an event coming up, do some outreach and say, hey, can I volunteer? Can I come out? Okay, can I just lend a hand with what you guys are doing? We're always accepting of that.

SPEAKER_01 29:28

We could serve some bourbon.

SPEAKER_03 29:29

Uh yeah. I'm gonna have to check with my uh insurance policy and license on that, but we can we can look at it.

SPEAKER_01 29:36

Well, good. Good to know. Get involved, right? And you've gone from soldier to advocate to community leader. How has this leadership role changed you personally? Has it?

SPEAKER_03 29:47

Yeah, oh it has a lot. Yeah. So there's there was a program that I was a part of a few years ago. Uh it was through the George Bush Presidential Center. I want to get that right. So George W. Bush in Dallas has his library and his presidential center. And so uh I was uh in a class in 2021 that was on the Stanto Veteran Leadership Scholar, you would call it. And it was a five-month program underwritten by Boeing, and this is a big amazing thing. And what they did was they took veteran leaders, we'll call them, from across the country, from New York to California, and all in between. And we all were together for five months on this very intensive flying to Dallas every month for four or five days, and meeting these great people like General Mattis and Bob McDonald, former VA secretary, and and just and W was there a bunch. And so uh what was great about it was that it took me out of this pond that I lived in, and I realized that there was A, a lot of great people doing the same kind of work across the country. B, it increased my network a hundredfold because now I have connections and people and advocates and friends that we can work together on bigger initiatives. And you can help more people, and we can help more people, and so and it it elevated me to something where this was like a first class, it's the best leadership course I've ever taken. And and and so for me it it allowed me to kind of get a higher understanding of to how to be a better leader here in Acadiana.

SPEAKER_01 31:11

And your passion, you're very passionate about it, I can tell. And you have to be, I I assume. Does it ever get hard for you emotionally? Is there anything you ever take home or something you can't shake, or is it a military background?

SPEAKER_03 31:26

That's a bad answer, just shaking my head like no, no, no.

SPEAKER_01 31:29

Hey, it's an honest answer.

SPEAKER_03 31:30

No, it is. I I I I don't think that there's anything negative. There's nothing It's good. Well, I so this is gonna be kind of maybe an unpopular answer, but I'll give it anyway. So one of the things that I find, if you look at like statistics, in the nonprofit sector, there's so many socially based enterprises, these 501c3s, and they're started up with their heart. And they're started up by great founders that have a real passion for what they're doing, but they don't necessarily have a background in business. And they don't have a background in like generating economic activity for that thing and and creating that where it's gonna be sustainable not just for a year, but for a decade. And so that would be kind of the advice I would always give is like treat it's even though it's a non-profit, we do not operate like a like a nonprofit. We operate like a for-profit, like a very business. It it is a business.

SPEAKER_01 32:24

You have to have that business sense.

SPEAKER_03 32:26

And and and without that mentality, it's just not gonna, it's not gonna work, you know, and you have to consistently be creative and you have to consistently step outside yourself and be thinking like, how can we continuously do things and pivot? And um, you know, I mentioned the mission launch entrepreneur program we started this year, and that was just born because we had veterans that we were meeting that were just coming to us going, ah man, I got this idea for this thing, and I I don't know where to go. Do I go to the SBA? Do I go to the you know SBDC? Yeah, what do I do? And we were like, well, and one of my board members is an entrepreneur as well, and he's been in multiple industries like myself. And we're like, let's just build a six-week program and bring in cohorts in the spring and fall, and we'll help them not only kind of take their business from zero to one, but if they're looking for capital, whether it's VC or whether it's private equity or whatever we can do for them, that's what we're gonna try to do. So I think, and but that didn't exist. So I think that's another thing is that if you have an idea of what your organization is and you're just stubborn and you say this is what it's gonna be, that's not gonna, that's not a good mentality. You always have to keep. I learned that from Red Lorell, actually. Red Lorel taught me that, right? Did you work at Reds? No, but I did I you did.

SPEAKER_01 33:35

Oh, through college, I did. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:36

I he was-isms.

SPEAKER_01 33:38

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 33:39

I mean, half the town worked at Reds. Well, I was a baby in the nursery up at Reds. If I was good, they would get a Judy Sen cheeseburger. But one of the things that Red told me was uh, because I had had a magazine publishing company called Active Acadiana for a while, and we interviewed him, and I said, I remember that answer. I said, How did you stay successful over all the years? And he said, because I was never stubborn. He said, I always was like, if this is where we gotta go, this is where we gotta go. When when racquetball was not what it was, then we transitioned it. And then we transitioned, and we always just kind of thought what was the next thing, and we were never stuck in our ways.

SPEAKER_01 34:15

So I always remember that.

SPEAKER_03 34:20

He was smart.

SPEAKER_01 34:21

Yes, yes. I learned so much from him. So we spoke about legacy earlier. What would you like your legacy to be with the AVA?

SPEAKER_03 34:29

Oh, I think we just look back and and say that we did some good. I don't know. I I think it's pretty simple, you know. I don't I don't know. I just I don't know. I think everybody when you look back and when you at the end of your life and you have your eulogy or you have your your um whatever you call it, your epitaph, I think that you don't want it to be one paragraph. You want it to be a page, right? You want to say that you were here and you you made a lot of you made a lot of impact. Right. And and so I think we're we're doing pretty good so far.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

I think you'll have more than a page. We'll we'll see. And if a veteran is listening right now and silently struggling, whether it's you know mentally or not knowing who to speak to about starting a business or taking the next step, what would you want them to hear today?

SPEAKER_03 35:13

I mean, I I so I think the easy answer is just to reach out to us, you know, and Acadiana Veteran Alliance. We don't even have to use websites or stuff anymore. We live in the age of Google and Chat GPT.

SPEAKER_04 35:23

Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 35:24

So, yeah, just Acadiana Veteran Alliance and just see what we're all about and and the social media is there and the websites, of course, there. And we always have our events page and we always have things that that are going. Yeah, I mean, we we really do um, I think a good job of consistently pushing out, especially through like LinkedIn and Facebook, uh, all the things that we're doing and all the things that we're getting into. So it's pretty easy to find us and just message and just be involved. But we've been very blessed too, because that has happened with not only veterans that want to like volunteer and be a part of it, but just just organizations and and and community leaders and and things where they're just like, hey, we're gonna do this thing, and we want you guys to be the the the recipient.

SPEAKER_01 36:03

That's wonderful.

SPEAKER_03 36:04

I'm

The Boot Recruits Veterans To Louisiana

SPEAKER_03 36:05

very, very blessed.

SPEAKER_01 36:06

Yes, and um I wanted to ask you a little bit more about the boot. How do you separate the AVA from the boot? How do you how do you keep all of this straight? And can you explain to people?

SPEAKER_03 36:16

I I can. The boot is try, I'll try to keep it as concise because that's a that's a whole other show. Right. So the boot was um uh how do I so Governor Landry, I knew Governor Landry, he put me on his transition team whenever he became governor. I was on the military affairs team. Uh, and his first statement was how do we stop the flight of talent from leaving Louisiana? We have to figure that out.

SPEAKER_04 36:39

Right.

SPEAKER_03 36:40

And I remembered the conversations we had earlier about how that transition is can be difficult and how that step into civilian life can be tricky. And I I had this idea of so I like college football a lot, big college football fan. And so those college football teams, they don't just wait for these recruits to come to them. They go get them. They have they have an entire team that is like on the recruiting trail. And I said, Well, what if we took that same concept? This is how I pitched it to him. I said, What if we take that same concept and we build a team and we go to military bases and we talk to those men and women that are about to get out and say, what are you gonna do next? And if they say, I'm gonna go back home to Illinois and work in my dad's shop. Right. We're like, okay, well, hold on. Have you ever been to Louisiana? Have you ever been to Lafayette, North Shore, Lake Charles, all these things?

SPEAKER_01 37:27

They won't ever go home.

SPEAKER_03 37:28

And what if we give you the food, the culture, the fun, right? Then we give you the career paying you $75.80 to start. Or if you want to go to college, we can we can facilitate that as well. So we're gonna kind of take away all the things for you, down to the real estate agents, even. It's so granular with our team that like we help you into your house and we introduce you to real estate agents.

SPEAKER_01 37:48

That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 37:49

So the the point and so well, I give a lot of kudos to the state of Louisiana and to the governor's office because he said yes. And so state of Louisiana funds it every year. Way different than AVA, because I mentioned we love contributions. Right, right. Thankfully, with the boot, the state of Louisiana funds it so our team can just do their job without worrying about fundraising. That's wonderful. And so what we do is we bring them in. And and what I love is it's an economic driver. So I mentioned kind of there's an economic value to each veteran. What people don't realize is that if you did 20 years in the military, you get a pension. And that pension is worth a lot of money. If you have a disability benefit, that's money. So that's both federal dollars that didn't exist. So the more of those we bring in, if they want to go to school and use GI Bill, that's more. So you have a positive economic dollar amount attributed to you and your family, and so if we can get you to come live in Louisiana, you're just rising the tide.

SPEAKER_01 38:43

And it multiplies.

SPEAKER_03 38:44

Exactly. So uh we started in mid-2024, so almost two years ago. To date, we have placed almost 350 and positive economic impact of almost 25 million dollars. Because on the average of what they're bringing in, we'd had a third-party economic study. But yeah, so if you're you're thinking about it, now you're getting, you know, 18 to 20 million dollars per year. And the first year was just getting people to know what we were doing, and now we're starting to hum, and now we're starting to build out our team even more. And so the goal is to just saturate the country and bring them all to Louisiana.

SPEAKER_01 39:21

And you're really making change.

SPEAKER_03 39:23

Yeah, you're helping them, you're helping the state. It's kind of uh it's that cliche of win-win-win, but it really is kind of it's it's it's a it's true. Yeah, yeah. Because once you start looking at the finding. There really isn't a downside, of course, because on top of that, everybody wants a veteran or ex-military because they have Department of War, Department of Defense, they have that training, and like all that training and dollars that were sunk into them while they were serving in the military. Well, we just get the benefit of that. They're gonna bring it to our to our workforce.

SPEAKER_01 39:53

And like you said, win-win.

SPEAKER_03 39:56

And so so that one, that one I'm very proud of. I'm just the founder of it. I I hired a CEO and we hired an entire leadership team and a recruiting team and a success team. And so they're spending every day. And I just I kind of just check in and make sure the train's on the tracks. I just make sure that that it's still going the right way. Right. But it's it's just been a wonderful thing to see. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:16

And what about uh any advice you've received? What was the best advice you think you've ever received from?

SPEAKER_03 40:23

In what capacity do you mean?

SPEAKER_01 40:24

Um just from a veteran, maybe in your service or giving back to others. Um has any veteran ever given you advice that stuck with you? Aaron Ross Powell, Jr.

SPEAKER_03 40:33

Oh, that's a good question. Uh not off the top of my head. I mean, I'm sure it's a combination of all the things over the years.

SPEAKER_01 40:41

Many times.

SPEAKER_03 40:42

Yeah, yeah. No, I mean I had some some really good guys that I served with back when the military days, and and some company commanders and some guys that I I spent some time with, and some lieutenants, and and you know, they they they definitely imparted a lot of good uh good values. Yeah. I don't think that there was like, sit down here, Mr. Ward, and we're gonna talk about it. No, but it was just I I was osmosis and just kind of just learning by example. Sure. And so I think that that was that was good.

SPEAKER_01 41:09

And is there

Legacy Lessons And Final Sendoff

SPEAKER_01 41:10

anything funny about the military or is some funny experience or a story you can share with us podcast-friendly?

SPEAKER_03 41:17

Military funny is a whole different bottom. I don't think I can say this without bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep. Well, we do have someone that's no, no, it's it there's a there's a there's a weird kind of I I'll just say there's like this dark humor that's all just kind of woven throughout the military. And and and it one of it is really just giving guys a lot of you know what, right? We just we just give them crap or whatever. And but that's just good natured, and you know, and like it's just built in like the Marines are supposed to not like the army, right? And we're not like supposed to like Marines, and like but like you once we all get together, it's all one big team, but of course that friendly rivalry is just baked in.

SPEAKER_01 41:58

That's healthy.

SPEAKER_03 41:59

So yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't I don't think that there's there's more than that.

SPEAKER_01 42:02

You know, and my last question of the day is how do you maintain your posture while pursuing your purpose in life? Not the physical, but not the physical, not the physical.

SPEAKER_03 42:11

How is my posture given to the phone? Do I need to sit? Do I need to sit up tall? Uh I don't I don't know. That's a good question. I I think uh my posture is I love the fact that thankfully I I'm in a really good position. And like since we've been working with uh Mayor President Boole and working with her team as the Veterans Affairs Commission, that um allows us to even do even more because we have the city and the parishes backing on creating new opportunities or advantages for veterans around here. So just being a part of kind of a change agent there is is I I like that part of it, you know. I I I think I don't know if that's the right answer, but I think it's no right answer.

SPEAKER_01 42:52

It's your answer.

SPEAKER_03 42:53

That I think that's the posture that I'm gonna use that term in that that way. I think that's that's where I want to uh stay, just keep I love Lafayette, I love this parish. I mean, I grew up here and went to college here. Yeah, and so uh that's not to love. No, raise our kids here, and so uh yeah, this is this is where we give back.

SPEAKER_01 43:10

Well, that's a great place to end. So thank you for being here again, and especially, you know, thank you for your service.

SPEAKER_03 43:17

Thank you. With pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 43:18

And until next time, sit up straight, stay happy, stay healthy, and stay adjusted.

SPEAKER_02 43:23

Thanks for listening to the Posture and Purpose Podcast with Dr. Michelle Car Frank. Make sure to subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Until next time.