VA Podcast: Veterans' Experiences & Service

VA, Our time serving, and the present day! Two characters to be in this podcast. Both are American veterans, one of whom did a tour in Afghanistan and served for four years. The intent of this podcast transcript is to characterize the shared experience and struggles many veterans face while they...

VA, Our time serving, and the present day! Two characters to be in this podcast. Both are American veterans, one of whom did a tour in Afghanistan and served for four years. The intent of this podcast transcript is to characterize the shared experience and struggles many veterans face while they served and after separating, inspired by Tim O’Brien’s Novel ‘The Things They Carried.’ Alex: Welcome back to ‘VA, Our time serving, and the present day!’ a show where David and I talk about those three things and whatever else we have time for! David: But mostly just those three things Alex: David did four years in the Air Force and I did my four years with the Army. David: Unfortunately, I made the dumb decision to do Security Forces and got a tour in Afghanistan. Well the dumb decision was to serve in the first place! Alex: Well at least we got to serve our country! David:Yea while I was deployed, you were sitting in an office chair handling your ‘top security’ cyber job. And they have the nerve to call my branch the Chair Force. The nerve. Alex: Ok, Ok, well how about we talk about something else? David: Yea whatever. Alex: Well lets start with the topics within the title of our podcasts. How do we feel about the VA? David: Same as when we had concerns during our service, at least for me. It's like talking to insurance companies! Delay Deny Defend. ‘You don’t need the X-Ray, just walk it off,’ ‘You don’t have anything abnormal in the X-Ray,’ ‘You don’t need anything after these steroid shots,’ ‘You don’t need care from us since it isn’t service relatable.’ same thing all over again. Alex: Yea exactly by the time you finally get the MRi everything is messed up and you need out of service surgery. David: It's ridiculous. I feel bad for those working in the VA. Overwork, Underfunded, Underappreciated, and Overhated! Alex: It's easier to hate the faces you see than those who work at the top and deserve it. David: One hundred percent. I won't lie though sometimes those clerks deserve it because of the attitude they bring. Like, okay good enough welcome back drill instructor! Alex: We should just make a list of which bureaucrat clerks are the most uptight and annoying. David: DMV, VA, HOA, and every hospital clerk ever. In that order. Alex: I think our HOA is more annoying. David: Those HOA officials are more uptight than our drill sargess or my e-5. Genuinely it isn't even a match. That lady is prime (barry) bonds to my e-5’s (Marwin) Gonzalez in terms of attitude. Alex: Okay but Marwin was a good ballplayer with Houston… David: Hahah you’re right, never forget his clutch against the Dodgers, on the road too! Alex: Okay but what was your worst experience while serving? I think I already know what you’re gonna say. David: You already know! But for the audience it has to be during basic, when this guy, lets call him John, LOVED PT. He was that weird-o who lived and breathed for the mile, the push ups were the red carpet to his acting career, and the pullups were gas to his vehicles, his lifeline! Alex: He gives off running first to the school lunch line vibes. David: Exactly but except he was the more annoying kid who pushed others on his way to lunch.He told sarge to do PT and everyone else would do it instead of doing it! I still remember the first instance of it, Drill Sergeant shouted through the heavens, ‘everyone do PT except John!.’ We all looked at each other, like dumbfounded students after the teachers asked them a question on the test they cheated on. All while John sat on his Ivory tower. We jogged the mile, we jogged our soles, and we jogged our newfound hatred for John. Come to think of it, I’m fairly certain he did this on purpose. Alex: Sounds like it! David: That wasn’t our last experience with John though, same thing over and over again. You bet we blanket partied him on the last week of basic. Left him with something us and him would remember. Alex: Was your drill instructor a pain in the butt? I honestly forgot. David: No honestly he just did his job and moved on, thankfully! Alex: Dude, mine was the worst, he would always think of himself as an intellectual, I think he was a narcissist which made this the perfect occupation right? Always giving a spiel, like a preacher, he pontificated his strange trademarked philosophy. David: Jeez, imagine waking up before the roosters and having to hear someone more irritating than em’. But at some point I think it will turn funny for me. Alex: Honestly it got to that point for me. You become deaf, so who cares for what you can't hear, right? I feel like that's something helpful I learned while serving, don’t care, don’t bother, and just keep on moving. When everyone’s yelling at you, everyones lecturing you, everyones wronging you, you just tend to give them the shoulder and not give a damn. David: Unfortunately that's the truth for us veterans. And people wonder why we act the way we do. Don't provoke the beast if you can’t handle the claws.! Alex: Dude there’s no way you just said that. (laughs while saying.) But you're not wrong, hey have you seen that veteran blog post? David: Which one? Alex: So you know on LinkedIn or Indeed applications give you the option to say if you're veteran, disabled, or seen combat right? David: Yea yea yea. Alex: Alright so he checked all the boxes for a few listings, no callbacks, zip, nada, for the other listings, he never mentioned his veteran status or the fact that he did a tour and apparently has 3 interviews lined up. Can you believe that? You always see corporations say ‘we value our veterans’ through billboards or their freight transportation, offering 5% discounts but God forbid they hire one of us! Too much baggage. Talk is cheap and these people don’t care. David: Are we even surprised? The only thing those people care about is their annual bean counting conference. Alex: Well that’s the honest truth. But I think that's enough for today, thanks to you all for listening and understanding two veterans in this country. David: One clearly more frustrated than the other.