NexGen Patriots
The NexGen Patriots exists to inspire, inform, and empower every generation of Americans by connecting faith, values, and community with the issues that shape everyday life. Through meaningful conversations and real stories, the podcast provides a platform where local voices meet national discussions—bridging the gap between small-town perspectives and broader cultural and civic topics. We highlight the strength and resilience of communities while promoting informed citizenship rooted in integrity, responsibility, and hope for the future.
-Empowering every generation-
NexGen Patriots
"A View Shaped by Service"
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A lifetime of serving others offers a perspective that can only be earned through experience.
"Empowering Every Gen"
How does serving in the military shape your view of America?
SPEAKER_00Like a i i if if if I would look back on it, like I said, it my view before the military I would I would say that it was it was a us versus them kind of aspect. You know what I mean? L when I say that is West Virginia versus Virginia or or rural v versus cities and and like I said, once I got in the military though, you you you deal with people from all over the country. So once you realize everybody is the same and everybody has the same goal or everybody's doing the same thing to go toward that goal, you realize that. And I think that's that's the way the way I took it anyway.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. What what kind of appreciation did really open your eyes though, of viewing America as what it is?
SPEAKER_00You gotta love our country for the what it is. Like I said, you you go overseas and see that the way it's Korea for one instance. You go up to Korea and see the way it's run there, and then you come back home. You you don't really have a reason to complain. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Or with that one that you had you had, you know, complaining with. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Is there a moment from your military service that you'll never forget?
SPEAKER_00The uh the rice patties and and wading through that water and and and uh knowing it's raw sewage. If you're putting uh and you're putting goncetino wire up, which is bar rolls of razor wire, landmines on both sides of the the uh the rice patties, and then uh just that's that's one thing I always think of when you eat rice.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's definitely uh yeah.
SPEAKER_00That the business was that also it's it was in the Guinness Book of World Records for the uh the world's most dangerous golf course.
SPEAKER_01Really?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because the it's a one-hole golf course and it's out in the middle of a linefield, so you don't retrieve your balls.
SPEAKER_01That would make sense, yeah. What what specifically kind of explain the rice patties themselves what it was for those that don't don't know what it was?
SPEAKER_00Imagine a a flat field with berms on all four sides, okay, and the low part is always water. There's always water in it. And they would use uh they would back sewage trucks up and dump the sewage for for fertil fertilizer in those rice patties. Wow. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Wow. And you guys would just march right through it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, you you would that's where our uh some of our defenses were, like the the Constantina wire. So when you'd have to replace it, you'd have to get out there and and into that water and replace the Constantina wire. Now, how high would this water be? Like, well, we had a a guy that was helping us do it, and it was an MP, and uh we had a bet, and I I can't remember how much money he got into it, but he jumped into this rice patty all the way over his head. Oh my god. Yeah, so we paid him for that. But yeah, I only had one set of boots and one set of fatigues I always use for that.