GallantFew: Helping Veterans Find Hope and Purpose

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There are some people that make their
work just another thing they have to do,

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and there are those that make their
work something that they want to do.

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Welcome to Working on Purpose with your
host Elise Cortes. In our program,

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we provide guidance and inspiration from those
people who have found deeper meaning and

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personal connection to their work life.
It's beyond nine to five. It's working

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on Purpose. Now Here is your
host, Elise Cortes. Welcome back to

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the Working on Purpose show Things Between
and Again this week, I'm your host

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atdis Cortes. Join you live from
Dallas, which is home base for me.

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If you've been tuning in for a
while, you know this program is

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all about helping people create more meaningful
and purposeful lives and equipping leaders inside organizations

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to cultivate meaning and purpose that elicits
passion, inspired contribution, innovation, and

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persevering performance. I talk with my
guests to draw on their expertise and share

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my own experience consulting, speaking,
and developing across the globe. Before we

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get into the program, let me
give a shout out to our sponsor,

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rent with right to Buy dot com. This real estate service offers a new

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be entirely ready. It's a great
option if your credit is not in the

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best of shape, or if you
are in transition such as divorce, downsizing,

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or relocating and unsure about your new
area, or checking out a new

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opportunity to see if it aligns with
your own purpose. How's that? Each

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week in these conversations, I hope
you walk away with something you can immediately

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use in your life or work,
and if I can do anything to help

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you along your journey, go to
my website at Eliscortes dot com and use

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the contact me feature to message me. Let's open a conversation and explore what's

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going on for you and see how
I might be able to help. Whether

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you want to learn more about how
to develop a purpose inspired leadership and meaning

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infuse culture in your organization, you
want to see about joining a cash fire

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online inspiration accountability, or master my
community to nurture your own passion and purpose,

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or you'd likely to speak for your
company or conference. I mean you

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rate, I'm glad we're connected,
and thanks for listening onto This week's program

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with us today is Carl Munger He
is the founder and executive director of Gallant

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Few, Incorporated, a nonprofit helping
military veterans transition from active duty to civilian

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lives of hope and purpose. He
is a retired US Army major who served

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in infantry and ranger assignments. He
is an author, award winning video producer,

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and certified Buris Functional Emotional Fitness practitioner. He was recently elected to the

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town of Trophy Club Town Council.
We'll be talking about the experience and challenges

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military servicemen and women have transitioning to
civilian life. Carl's owned experience making the

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transition and the organization he founded to
help veterans lead lives of hope and purpose.

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He joined today from Trophy Club and
Texas, which is just outside of

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Fort Worth. Carl, Welcome to
working on Purpose Lice. It's an honor

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to be here. Thank you.
It really is amazing, and I want

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to give a shout out to our
common friend, Handa Samaran, who suggested

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I reach out to you and have
you on the show. You are a

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perfect contribution because the show, Carl
is really designed to help really move forward

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the conversation about meaning and purpose in
the workplace and our veterans our critical element

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in that, so you are an
important contribution. So thank you for being

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with us. You know, when
a veteran does not have a successful transition,

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the whole community suffers. So thank
you for letting us talk about some

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of the challenges and some of the
things that we're doing. Yeah, you're

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welcome, and let's start if we
can just briefly with your mission. We'll

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talk more about what your organization does
a little bit later in the program.

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First in the segment, I want
to talk about really you know what veterans

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go through, but I love what
you're up to here as a mission.

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You say, the mission of Gallant
Few, as a revolutionary veteran support network

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is to facilitate a peaceful, successful
transition from military service to civilian life,

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filled with hope and purpose. Such
a great vision to open our conversation with

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Karl. And so let's first help
our listeners understand why you exist as an

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organization. So we want to talk
about what military people face when they're going

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from military to civilians. So help
us understand first, how many military servicemen

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and women do you think make the
transition monthly to civilian life? Can you

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is there a way to quantify that? Yeah, I would guess it's around

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twenty thousand. I think the military
says they're about turn and fifty thousand per

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year, so you could say twenty
thousand per month or transitioning. Now,

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that does not necessarily include National Guards
and reservists, because do they transition right

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when they come back from a combat
deployment. Their transitions, they check in

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at their unit and then they go
home and they do their day job for

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the next month before they come back
for another drill, So they may not

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interact with anyone else from that unit. So that is it's a totally It

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adds layers of complexity to the transition
discussion that a lot of times gets glossed

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over. Just this morning, I
had I got a message from an officer

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who is serving in a state National
Guard unit and they have over the last

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thirty days, had three suicides,
and the last one happened just yesterday,

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and so he's reaching out and saying, hey, what can we do,

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give me some ideas, and that
whole when people think transition, it's not

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just somebody that served in the Marine
Corps for four years or ten years or

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twenty years and now they're moving into
the civilian life. It's the guy that

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manages the grocery store, that goes
to Afghanistan for twelve months as part of

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a reserve and National Guard unit,
and that comes back and is in the

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grocery store next Monday. Well,
speaking of that, Kral, I mean,

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I don't have experienced military experience,
but in preparing for this conversation,

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I just dug a little bit here
and part of what I discovered is that

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part of the reason the military service
people have a hard time coming back is

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they just they can't relate again to
the civilian culture and the civilians can't relate

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to them. Can you say more
about that? Well, that's a part

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of it, but the bigger issue
is and your show's all about purpose.

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So when you serve in the military, you know your purpose. If you

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have any question at all about your
purpose, your squad leader is going to

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jam it right down your throat,
so you know it's to support and defend

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the Constitution of the United States and
lay down your life for your brother,

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your country if need be when you
come back to the civilian world. A

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lot of veterans, so employment in
the military that was purpose. So now

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I'm going to work at brand X
doing whatever. That's now my purpose only

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that's not purpose. So when you
try to equate civilian employment, unless you

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are in a very dedicated service industry, maybe law enforcement officer, maybe you're

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a counselor that works with abused kids, you know, there definitely is purpose

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in that kind of an employment or
career. But when you go into let's

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say I'm going to while I go
to school, I'm going to sell mobile

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phones or something that I'm going to
be the best mobile phone salesperson I can

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be, that's not purpose. So
there is a contradiction there. They can't

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align that, and that creates other
issues because now they start to flounder because

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they don't understand what is their purpose
and it's certainly not this. And unless

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they are able to transition into something
that provides purpose, now what happens is

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they start to have relationship issues.
They may have employment issues, they'll have

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financial issues, they may self medicate, may drink a lot, which creates

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more financial and more relationship issues,
and the whole thing can just It's like

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going down a slide, and at
the end of that slide is a terrible

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horrible crash, and sometimes they can't
see it coming because they don't realize that

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the second that they identify what their
purpose is, they can stop that slide.

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That is so incredibly powerful. Carl, Oh my gosh, you just

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opened a whole entire world for me
in that narration and for our listeners,

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especially for me. You're right,
I do. Everything that I'm up to

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is about cultivating meaning and purpose for
individuals and insight organizations. And now I

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recognize how hard it must be,
not just how hard, how impossible it

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must be to step downe from a
place where you have you live every day

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an incredible purpose, and now you
step in back in the Sylvanian world and

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it must feel so empty. This
is this is an incredible opening for me,

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Karl. I really, I really
get now more what the issue is.

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You know. One of the things
that through my entire transition journey,

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and when I look back in retrospect, I could not have designed the career

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that I have, I could not
have designed where I am today. I

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don't want this to sound weird,
but I believe that there's an unseen hand

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that's guided all of that. And
my grandfather on my father's side, some

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of the stuff. Still it's difficult
to talk about, even though I talk

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about it a lot. But my
grandfather on my father's side was an infantryman

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that fought in World War two,
Korea and Vietnam. And when my father

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was about sixteen, my grandfather was
an alcoholic and and my dad got a

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cross wisne through. My dad out
of the house, and my dad went

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on to become a soldier. He
ultimately retired from the military as a sergeant

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major, which is the highest enlisted
rank that you can meet. But when

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I was four, he walked out
of my family and I had a two

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year old sister. My mom was
pregnant, and that was early sixties nineteen

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sixties. In the late sixties,
I became one of the first kids in

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a brand new program in which Tuck
Kansas called Big Brothers, and I got

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connected to an attorney named Dave Adams
who drove a white convertible Corvette, and

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he came and picked me up once
a week and we went and did things

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and had an interaction that showed me, with his encouragement that I didn't have

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to limit myself, that I could
become whatever I wanted to be. So

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the mentoring aspect as a kid as
a beneficiary of that was priceless. So

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I didn't realize this, but about
I'm guessing it was five years after I

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had been connected with and had this
mentor. My grandfather drank himself to death

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nineteen seventy seven, then shelter in
Denver. My father told me years later

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when he and I reconnected, that
all of my grandfather's possessions fentis shoe box,

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totally isolated by himself. I believe, in the things that I have

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learned in the last nearly twenty years
of helping veterans, both professionally and just

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on my spare time, I believe
that my grandfather had postmat e stress,

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probably had traumatic brain injury. The
VA probably jerked him around. He self

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medicated with alcohol, and that destroyed
the relationship with my father. And what

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example do you have? You have
the example of your father, right.

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So my father then uh with the
example that he had before he moved on

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to other things, and and our
life was extremely difficult when I was little.

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But if someone had been able to
interrupt that process, if my grandfather,

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if someone had set him down and
said, here's where you're going here's

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what the anger is doing, here's
what the alcohol is doing. And here's

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a different way. Here are some
things that can happen that can stop this

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process. Then I have no idea
what my life, what my sister's lives,

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you know what it would have been
like. It certainly would have been

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different, that's for sure. But
when I look back at that slide that

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my grandfather went down from destroyed relationships
to financial problems to alcoholism, you know,

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there was anger and hurt and isolation
in there, and ultimately maybe they

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had classified as a suicido as a
suicid, so he drank himself to death.

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There's so many veterans that follow that
same path and it needs to be

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interrupted. And getting purpose in there
somewhere is a huge part of interrupting that

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slide. This is exactly what I
wanted to surface in this conversation. Carl.

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Let me say again a couple of
things. Let me recognize the path

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and journey you've been on. I
really respect and admire that the way that

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you navigated that, and back to
your point of you didn't want it to

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sound weird, but the invisible hand
of purpose, definitely. I think that

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we all discover our purpose in some
way in different ways or different forms or

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degrees. And yes, I think
you are now living more of your purpose

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that you're intended for, So kudos
for that. And then secondly, I

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did want to talk about the two
things you just surfaced there in that story

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about your grandfather. We've all,
I think heard about the incidents of PTSD

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or post traumatic stress disorder among servicemen
and women, and what you're describing with

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your grandfather certainly seems to me to
be smack of that. Do you know

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what the numbers are there? Or
there there is there? Well, first,

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I would challenge you to drop the
d off of that, because if

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God forbid, you were assaulted and
every time someone walked next to you in

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a confined space you recoiled from that, would that be a disorder? No?

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Certainly not completely well done, Yes, thank you. Post Traumatic stress

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is an injury, just like straining
a muscle is an injury, which the

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good side of that means you can
correct it. You can repair it right,

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you can heal it, which is
contradictory to what a lot of the

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things that the VA does today.
They give you mechanisms to cope and part

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of that's medication. Part of it
is techniques to help you cope with the

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symptoms. We don't want to cope
with the symptoms. We want to We

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want to interrupt that process and we
want to change it going forward. The

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VA says, and I looked this
up last night just to make sure that

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I had the right statistics on it, Vietnam veterans have a fifteen percent diagnosed

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rate postmatic stress. So fifteen percent
of the and I came to tell you

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a million plus Vietnam veterans out there
have been diagnosed with postmatic stress. The

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post nine to eleven veterans, so
these are the ones that have been wore

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for the last eighteen years. Between
eleven to twenty percent in a given year,

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So there are some that may exhibit
postmatic stress symptoms one year and the

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next not, So that's when they
say in a given year, but eleven

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to twenty percent Vietnam veterans fifteen So
I think it's probably pretty safe to say

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about fifteen percent of all veterans have
some postmatic stress symptoms. Now, given

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that I left the military in nineteen
ninety three, and I made a decision

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to get out because in October of
nineteen ninety two, we had a helicopter

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crash that killed twelve of my friends. I was very close with one of

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them, officer named ken Stallas.
He was the battalion commander, and I

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had been his human reas source director. In the army, they call it

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an s one or an adjutant.
I have been his adjutant for a little

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over twelve months, so some working
very close with him on a daily basis,

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and his death devastated me. And
when I saw the impact of his

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loss on his son and daughter and
on his wife, that started me relooking

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my priorities. His replacement boss came
in and he and I were not always

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on the same sheet of music.
So I decided I'm going to get out

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of the Army. So I am
now the assistant Operations officer of the first

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Ranger Battalion, which is one of
the most elite units in the United States

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military and top secret Special Compartment and
Information Clearance. Probably if I had had

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stayed in, I probably would have
made general. A matter of fact,

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of the twenty other captains that were
there when I was there, more than

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half of them became general. Some
of them are still on active duty.

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Today, and I removed I sell
from that process because had my feelings a

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little hurt, but even more devastating
the loss of my battalion commander and the

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other eleven. So I returned to
Witchtock, Kansas, which is where I

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grew up mostly graduated from high school
or high school and college. And I've

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been gone now for ten years.
I go back into that environment and one

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of the first major job interviews I
had was with a huge, privately held

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oil and gas company that's headquartered there, and they're human resource director looked in

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my resume, looked at me,
and she said, wow, army officer,

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you know you guys are really good
at following orders and doing what you're

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told. Here at this company,
we need people that have initiative, think

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outside the box, and don't need
constant supervision. Could not have been more

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insulted, right, And so I
left thinking, well, holy crap,

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what have I done now? And
how am I gonna My wife At that

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time I jokingly call her my starter
wife for on great terms. We've got

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two daughters that are wonderful pH and
she had not been to college yet.

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She attended some college, but she
didn't have a degree. So income potential's

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limit. Got two young daughters going
to need healthcare, so we're scrambling.

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So immediately there is this while I
walked out of this job where I had

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the utmost respect admiration of both with
the people that I work for and of

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the people that I work for and
with, and now I get insulted like

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this on a job interview. So
hold that thought, hold on, hold

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on. I thought that I want
to really develop this story from you,

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and it's so important that we presence
your own your own transition. Well,

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we've got to grab a quick break, so hold on, hold on thought.

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Okay, I'm your host, Alice
Cortees. We were on the air

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with Carl Munger, who is the
founder and executive director of Gallant fut Incorporated,

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a nonprofit helping military veterans transition from
activity to civilian lives of hope and

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purpose. He joined it today from
Trophy Club, which is just outside of

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Fort Worth here in Texas. We've
been talking a bit about some of the

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issues and challenges veterans face. After
Rake, we're going to hear more about

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00:18:00.759 --> 00:18:04.240
his own transition and talk about what
his organization is up to. Stay with

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00:18:04.319 --> 00:18:17.759
us. We'll be right back.
Elise Cortes is a speaker and engagement and

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00:18:17.839 --> 00:18:22.880
development catalyst. She designs and delivers
professional development, leadership and engagement workshops and

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00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:27.759
can bring her expertise to your organization. She will help ignite meaningful development within

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00:18:27.799 --> 00:18:33.880
your workforce that will increase employee engagement, performance and retention. To learn more

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00:18:33.079 --> 00:18:37.599
or to invite Elise to speak to
your organization, please visit her at www

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00:18:37.720 --> 00:18:42.279
dot Elise Coortes dot com. She
would welcome the opportunity to help get your

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00:18:42.359 --> 00:18:55.279
employees working on purpose. This is
working on purpose with Elise Cortes. To

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00:18:55.400 --> 00:19:00.759
reach our program today, send an
email to a lease Alic at a least

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00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:07.119
Coortes dot com. Now back to
working on purpose. Thanks for staying with

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us, and then we'll come back
to working on purpose. If you're just

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doing this. My guest is Carl
Munger. He's the founder and executive director

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of Gallant Few, Incorporated, a
nonprofit helping military veterans transition from active duty

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to civilian lives of hope and purpose. He is a retired US Army major

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who served in infantry and ranger assignments. He is an author, award winning

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video producer, and certified buris functional
emotional fitness practitioner. I'm your host,

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Alis Cortes. So Carl definitely wanted
to get all of that story, and

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I so wanted to be able to
position that for our listeners so they really

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understand that just the depth and breadth
of your experience. So okay, so

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you come back, you're trying to
transition back in the world, continue where

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you're left off. Please sure.
So a rejection like I just described,

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when that happens, your self esteem, your self confidence, your self image,

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your self worth, they all take
hits. And now I bump into

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another Army Ranger veteran who says,
well, gosh, you were a ranger.

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I was a ranger, so why
did you get out? So now

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I have to talk about the crash
that killed my friends, and I have

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to talk about the boss that I
didn't get along with and the decision that

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I made to get out it all. If you can see how it brings

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up a lot of pain, but
it makes you want to retract so that

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you don't put yourself in a situation
to have that conversation with someone again.

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So now you're thinking, man,
I don't I really need to be around

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other rangers because they're like me,
they think like me, We've had similar

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experiences. But gosh, I don't
want to have that conversation, so I'm

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going to avoid that pain. And
not only that, but now your self

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esteem is going down. So it
just it can. It has the potential

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to become a snowball. And when
we were talking earlier about that downhill slide,

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that's the little snowball that starts that
downhill slide. Because what happens next,

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Well, now I go home and
I'm thinking about all of these conversations

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and the rejection. I'm going to
take a shot of whiskey and that makes

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me feel a little better, So
I'm going to have another one. And

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you can see where that goes,
right, So now your spouse is saying

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why are you drinking so much?
And you're like, I don't want to

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talk about it, So you start
to become very closed off. That isolation

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is, in my opinion, the
greatest threat to a veteran successful transition.

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And really it's just this morning on
the news they had there's a new lawsuit

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against match dot com because they leveraged
the loneliness of people to send a fake

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message that says Hey, Joe is
interested in you, and then you can

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only read his message if you pay
thirty dollars a month to subscribe to our

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platform. And it was an ad. So people get very hungry to have

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those kinds of connections, but at
the same time, the isolation prevents them

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from having those real relationships. One
of the ways that we find that helps

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crack veterans out of that is by
creating situations where they have to come out

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and get involved in something. And
sometimes it's just challenge to them. It's

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like, in your perfect world,
what would you do well, I would

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be a dog trainer. I would
train service dogs to help veterans. Okay,

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So on Saturday morning, I'm going
to meet you over at the local

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Humane Society and we're going to sign
you up to be a volunteer. I'll

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see you there at eight thirty in
the morning. Right, military, I

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can fall back into the officer mode. I can give somebody in order to

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come and they'll probably come. And
then once you have cracked through that a

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little bit and they see, wow, this is nice. I like this.

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Now maybe you have recreated some purpose
in them because now they can help

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these animals. And so now they
go, man, I got to get

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a job so I can help these
animals more So, now it's not getting

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a job for a purpose, it's
getting a job to help fuel the purpose

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it does. It does, and
so a couple things if we can.

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So you're starting to surface for me
something that I heard from a colleague of

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mine when I was telling him that
I was going to have you on my

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program. He also is a veteran, and he said for him, he

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said, it was the hardest thing
he'd ever done to transition from the military

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in the civilian space. And he
said, for him, the transition happens

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when you no longer feel like a
soldier stuck in a civilian world, and

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you start to feel like a civilian
with a military background. And so I

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feel like in some ways you're starting
to surface that with what you just said

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about being able to look for ways
to find meaningful, purposeful work now on

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the civilian side. Yes, there's
a friend of mine named Mike Schlitz who

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was blown up in Iraq and lost
both of his hands. He was burned

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over ninety five percent of his body, his nose, his ears, his

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lips, eyelids. He looks like
joke with him sometimes he looks like mister

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potato Head that all the pieces fell
off. And he talks about transition,

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and he says, you never stop
transitioning. It doesn't matter if you're a

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military or you're civilian. You're always
transitioning. You transition from grade school to

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middle school, from midle school to
high school, from highchool to college,

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or a job, you transition into
a marriage. Your life is always transitioning.

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And where where you run into a
problem is when you allow that transition

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to stop. And a lot of
veterans run into the civilian life is hard.

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So I'm going to leverage my disability
rating from the VA. If I

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get one hundred percent, I don't
have work because they're going to pay me,

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and then I can stay home beyond
my computer. Their transition effectively stops,

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and that stops. It may not
be a physical death, but it's

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a spiritual death because they don't have
to go find purpose, They don't have

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to do anything else until they become
so jaded that by the time they realize

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that those things are out there that
they're lacking, then their life is we

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have I'm paying around a little bit
on this. I apologize. One of

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the tools that we use when a
veteran first engages with us is we ask

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them to go to asmuthcheck dot com
and I'm sorry, asthmathcheck dot org,

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asthmacheck dot com is somebody else asmuthcheck
dot org and take our survey that assesses

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their level of fitness in five areas
emotional fitness, social fitness, spiritual fitness,

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professional fitness, and physical fitness.
And then from that we're able to

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identify kind of where they are on
this continuum and we can start to help

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and encourage them and work them towards
things that can help them increase their level

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of fitness. One of the questions
that we ask in spiritual fitness is,

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and it's not a question, it's
a statement, I believe life is worth

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living. One's not at all?
Ten is a whole bunch. Where do

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00:25:45.599 --> 00:25:51.640
you follow on that regard? If
it's not a ten, then I'm going

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to do a little simple math.
I can do ranger math if it's in

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ten percents, that's easy. So
somebody says eight out of ten life is

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worth living, and I hit them
back with so you're telling me twenty percent

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00:26:02.319 --> 00:26:07.720
chance you'll kill yourself? And they
go I hadn't really thought of it that

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way. So tell me why twenty
percent what's going on in your life?

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And now they'll open up and they'll
start talking about things, well, you

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00:26:14.799 --> 00:26:15.839
know, the VA screwed me around, or I don't have the job that

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00:26:15.880 --> 00:26:18.960
I wished I had, or I
got divorced last year and I can't see

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my kids. Okay, So now
we take that process into a what are

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the questions that you ask yourself about
that? Because so many of us allow

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our internal thought process, and oftentimes
it happened subconsciously. See, you don't

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00:26:34.440 --> 00:26:41.759
even really realize that it's happening,
but you let your subconscious questions go to

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00:26:41.880 --> 00:26:47.799
why questions? Why can't I see
my kids because you're a terrible person?

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Right? Why can't I have a
better job because you spend all this time

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in the military, you didn't get
the education and experience that they value.

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All these why questions that kind of
only answered with because gives you a reason

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00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:07.480
and an excuse for the behavior to
continue. It makes it okay for you

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00:27:07.599 --> 00:27:11.319
to not achieve the things that you
really would like to achieve. When we

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talk to veterans, we don't talk
about achieving goals because in the military.

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The army doesn't attack a goal.
The army attacks an objective. An objective

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requires a plan, it requires resources, it requires a timeline. So tell

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00:27:25.200 --> 00:27:29.559
me what is the most important thing
in your life and the area of love

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that you absolutely must accomplish. And
most people can come up with something.

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It might be internally directed, it
might be externally directed towards a partner,

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it might be towards a kid.
Whatever. Okay, so we have a

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process that that's the functional emotional fitness
practitioner that you talked about earlier. I'm

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00:27:47.200 --> 00:27:53.000
certified to nully coach veterans through this
process, but I can train other veterans

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to become coaches themselves or practitioners,
is how the institute prefers to call it.

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But when we identify that absolute must, then we want to know what

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00:28:00.839 --> 00:28:04.599
questions are you asking about that.
If I absolutely must be a better husband

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00:28:04.920 --> 00:28:10.440
to my wife, and my internal
question is why do I yell at her?

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00:28:11.599 --> 00:28:15.720
Then your because answer might be,
well, because you have postomac stress

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00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:21.799
or a traumatic brain injury or whatever. If we can interrupt that process and

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00:28:21.960 --> 00:28:26.480
combined with a vision of what that
perfect relationship with your spouse looks like and

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00:28:26.640 --> 00:28:30.680
change that to what do I need
to do to be a better husband to

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00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:37.440
my wife? That requires actual actionable
things. Right, You can't answer what

385
00:28:37.480 --> 00:28:41.440
do I need to do question with
because so now you have to actually try

386
00:28:41.480 --> 00:28:45.079
something. And when you start trying
things, some of them work, some

387
00:28:45.119 --> 00:28:48.920
of them don't. But you learn
from the things that don't work and try

388
00:28:48.960 --> 00:28:52.200
and figure out what can I use
from this that will help me be successful

389
00:28:52.240 --> 00:28:57.079
next time. When I did this, and go ahead, now, go

390
00:28:57.119 --> 00:29:00.119
ahead, finish your thought, and
then I'll ask you another question, go

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00:29:00.160 --> 00:29:03.039
for it. When I did this
in my own personal life, my wife

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00:29:03.039 --> 00:29:07.920
has an extensive travel schedule, and
our relationship was becoming a little strained because

393
00:29:07.920 --> 00:29:11.400
she would come home and because she
knew she was leaving in three days again

394
00:29:11.440 --> 00:29:14.920
to go overseas, she would just
open her suitcase and live out of her

395
00:29:14.920 --> 00:29:18.599
suitcase in the bedroom like she was
in a hotel room. And now I'm

396
00:29:18.640 --> 00:29:22.839
tripping over stuff, right, Or
she's not washing her dishes because she's focused

397
00:29:22.839 --> 00:29:26.519
on other things around the house.
And now I've been managing the house for

398
00:29:26.599 --> 00:29:30.240
myself for a months. It's like
revers deployment rights, like the ultimate irony

399
00:29:30.279 --> 00:29:37.880
coming back on me. And there
was some resentment that was starting to build

400
00:29:37.920 --> 00:29:41.160
there. And when I stepped back
and I said, what is the one

401
00:29:41.160 --> 00:29:45.799
thing I absolutely must do in the
area of love, and it was become

402
00:29:45.799 --> 00:29:48.559
a better husband for life. So
what do I need to do? Well?

403
00:29:48.960 --> 00:29:52.599
I need to not get on her
case about these things because I want

404
00:29:52.640 --> 00:29:57.440
to maximize our time together. So
when I started going through that process,

405
00:29:57.480 --> 00:30:04.039
it helped me realize that I was
unintentionally starting to engage your behaviors that could

406
00:30:04.079 --> 00:30:07.440
damage our relationship. And once I
started being intentional about the things I wanted

407
00:30:07.480 --> 00:30:12.160
to do, Holy cal our relationship
got three times better. And it's better

408
00:30:12.200 --> 00:30:15.880
today than she's been on this travel
schedule now for the last three years.

409
00:30:17.240 --> 00:30:19.920
And it's better today than it was
three years ago, way better. And

410
00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:26.279
those kinds of what can be very
simple techniques can help anyone, but especially

411
00:30:26.680 --> 00:30:30.640
a veteran that falls into the why
can't I have meaning and purpose? Again?

412
00:30:30.680 --> 00:30:33.599
Why can't I be part of something
that truly has value? All of

413
00:30:33.599 --> 00:30:37.839
those because answers are going to keep
them right where they are and not allow

414
00:30:37.920 --> 00:30:41.880
them to move towards where they really
need to be. That's so incredibly powerful,

415
00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:44.400
Carl. And with that, let's
grab our last break and then I'll

416
00:30:44.400 --> 00:30:45.720
get to get a questions. I
was going to ask you another brand.

417
00:30:45.880 --> 00:30:49.039
No I know, I tell you
at evaporate time evaporates on this program.

418
00:30:49.160 --> 00:30:52.319
Karl, look out. I'm your
host, Alise Cortez. We've r on

419
00:30:52.359 --> 00:30:56.599
the air with Carl Monger, who
is the founder and executive director of Gallant

420
00:30:56.599 --> 00:31:00.480
Few, Incorporated, a nonprofit helping
military veterans transition from activeuty to civilian lives

421
00:31:00.480 --> 00:31:03.880
of hope and purpose. He judged
today from Trophy Club, which is right

422
00:31:03.920 --> 00:31:07.799
outside of Fort Worth here in Texas. After the break, we're going to

423
00:31:07.799 --> 00:31:10.880
talk about how it is he actually
founded this organization and a few of the

424
00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:14.559
other programs that they conduct to help
veterans stay with us. We'll be right

425
00:31:14.599 --> 00:31:27.240
back. Elise Cortes is a speaker
and engagement and development catalyst. She designs

426
00:31:27.240 --> 00:31:33.680
and delivers professional development, leadership and
engagement workshops and can bring her expertise to

427
00:31:33.759 --> 00:31:37.759
your organization. She will help ignite
meaningful development within your workforce that will increase

428
00:31:37.839 --> 00:31:42.559
employee engagement, performance and retention.
To learn more or to invite Elise to

429
00:31:42.599 --> 00:31:48.279
speak to your organization, please visit
her at www dot Elisecortes dot com.

430
00:31:48.359 --> 00:32:00.200
She would welcome the opportunity to help
get your employees working on purpose. This

431
00:32:00.519 --> 00:32:05.440
is working on Purpose with Elise Cortes. To reach our program today, send

432
00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:12.160
an email to a lease Alise at
a Leasecortes dot com. Now back to

433
00:32:12.359 --> 00:32:16.359
working on purpose. Thanks for staying
with us, and welcome back to working

434
00:32:16.400 --> 00:32:20.200
on purpose. Thank you're just tuning
in. My guest is Carl Monger,

435
00:32:20.279 --> 00:32:23.759
the founder and executive director of Gallant
Few, Incorporated, a nonprofit helping military

436
00:32:23.799 --> 00:32:29.039
veterans transition from active duty to civilian
lives of hope and purpose. He is

437
00:32:29.079 --> 00:32:32.240
a retired US Army major who served
in infantry and ranger assignments. He is

438
00:32:32.279 --> 00:32:37.200
an author, award winning video producer, and certified Burger's Functional Emotional Fitness practitioner.

439
00:32:37.480 --> 00:32:40.839
I'm your host, Alis Cortes,
So yes, CROs who are sending

440
00:32:40.839 --> 00:32:44.240
before the break? This just goes
so fast, and you have so much

441
00:32:44.279 --> 00:32:46.240
great information to share and I so
appreciate you being here and sharing it.

442
00:32:47.160 --> 00:32:50.880
I want to share more about how
you do your work, and you're helping

443
00:32:50.920 --> 00:32:53.079
us get present to just how it
is. You start to enroll veterans to

444
00:32:53.160 --> 00:32:57.200
work with you. But before we
get to anything else I got to know

445
00:32:57.240 --> 00:33:02.920
how it was that you actually started
gallant few so eight years after I left

446
00:33:02.960 --> 00:33:09.319
active duty, the terrorist attacks and
nine to eleven happened. And in October

447
00:33:09.720 --> 00:33:15.000
of two thousand and one, Mile
Boss, the guy that the intermediate boss,

448
00:33:15.079 --> 00:33:19.079
not the one that I really didn't
along with, but my boss below

449
00:33:19.160 --> 00:33:22.400
him, was now the commander of
all rangers, and he led that he

450
00:33:22.519 --> 00:33:28.240
was the first guy to parachute in
to Afghanistan to deliver our response to the

451
00:33:28.279 --> 00:33:34.519
terroist attacks. And the Ranger Regiment
has had rangers deployed in combat ever since,

452
00:33:34.519 --> 00:33:37.119
and they are to this day.
They did missions last night. And

453
00:33:37.480 --> 00:33:42.359
when I saw that Joe Botel,
who retired two months ago as a four

454
00:33:42.400 --> 00:33:45.519
star general, when I saw that
he had stepped into the pages of history.

455
00:33:46.200 --> 00:33:51.279
I was still in the Army Reserve
system, although I was not an

456
00:33:51.319 --> 00:33:54.000
active participant, had back surgery and
some other things, and my daughters were

457
00:33:54.039 --> 00:34:00.240
older civilian job time just I wasn't
in a position to be back in,

458
00:34:01.599 --> 00:34:06.119
but I had access to the email
system because I was an inactive reservist.

459
00:34:06.160 --> 00:34:08.800
So I said Joe a message that
basically said, Joe, I'm proud of

460
00:34:08.840 --> 00:34:15.239
you. I'm jealous. Please pass
my regards and the thanks of a grateful

461
00:34:15.320 --> 00:34:19.880
nation to all those that are with
you within. About I want to say

462
00:34:19.880 --> 00:34:23.239
is it's twenty four hours. He
responded, sent me an email from Afghanistan,

463
00:34:23.320 --> 00:34:29.079
thanked me for my message, and
he ended up later on inviting me

464
00:34:29.159 --> 00:34:32.760
to come back to Fort Benning in
July of two thousand and three when he

465
00:34:32.840 --> 00:34:37.480
changed to command. Ranger Rendezvous every
two years when the regiment changes command is

466
00:34:37.559 --> 00:34:43.320
an amazing event where rangers of all
eras come back to Fort Benning and they

467
00:34:43.360 --> 00:34:49.039
watch this tradition of the changing of
the commanders. And I went, but

468
00:34:49.159 --> 00:34:52.280
I didn't want to go because these
guys had now gone into the pages of

469
00:34:52.360 --> 00:34:57.400
history. And I'm the guy that
left because my feelings got hurt and struggled

470
00:34:57.400 --> 00:35:00.000
through my own job transition. And
there's more that that we do not have

471
00:35:00.039 --> 00:35:04.400
time to get in today. But
I will tell you that one Army veteran

472
00:35:04.960 --> 00:35:07.159
that was out there, he reached
out to me and he helped me through

473
00:35:07.159 --> 00:35:12.800
my transition because he took a chance
gave me a job in an industry with

474
00:35:12.920 --> 00:35:16.239
a skill set that I had zero
experience in. And when I resisted that,

475
00:35:16.400 --> 00:35:21.719
he said, you know, you
demonstrated the military that you have discipline,

476
00:35:21.719 --> 00:35:24.679
integrity, and the ability to learn. And if you decide you want

477
00:35:24.679 --> 00:35:28.679
to be successful at this, you
will and I will make sure that happens.

478
00:35:29.199 --> 00:35:32.480
So I went into the construction equipment
industry and most of my well,

479
00:35:32.840 --> 00:35:37.079
now I can't say most of my
post military time because now almost most of

480
00:35:37.119 --> 00:35:39.400
it is doing what I'm doing now, but a lot of my post military

481
00:35:39.400 --> 00:35:45.039
time will spend the construction world.
So I go back to Forbang and I

482
00:35:45.119 --> 00:35:49.119
walk up to the back. There's
big bleacher, grand stance. There's probably

483
00:35:49.159 --> 00:35:52.559
a thousand people there. The unit
has assembled on the field and I'm just

484
00:35:52.599 --> 00:35:55.320
looking for a place in the back
where no one will notice that I'm there.

485
00:35:55.920 --> 00:36:00.719
And a young ranger with a clipboard
says, sir, what is your

486
00:36:00.800 --> 00:36:04.119
name? I told him my name, and he said, follow me because

487
00:36:04.159 --> 00:36:08.800
I was on the list. He
took me up to the front row where

488
00:36:09.199 --> 00:36:13.800
they had reserved a seat for me
next to all the local dignitaries, the

489
00:36:13.800 --> 00:36:19.599
mayor, and it was an incredible
honor that I really felt like I didn't

490
00:36:19.639 --> 00:36:22.679
deserve. And then afterwards Joe came
right up to me, gave me a

491
00:36:22.719 --> 00:36:25.840
big hug and thanked me for coming, and as we talked, he encouraged

492
00:36:25.880 --> 00:36:30.079
me to talk to the other rangers
and find out their experiences. And as

493
00:36:30.119 --> 00:36:37.119
I did that, it became apparent
to me that the things that they were

494
00:36:37.159 --> 00:36:43.800
dealing with were moving them down the
same path that my grandfather had gone down.

495
00:36:44.599 --> 00:36:47.400
And I apologize, I'm a little
emotional about this. It's beautiful.

496
00:36:49.039 --> 00:36:54.400
No need to apologize. It's beautiful. The men and women that do the

497
00:36:54.840 --> 00:37:00.840
hardest work, the heaviest lifting in
protecting our country, they internalize all of

498
00:37:00.880 --> 00:37:05.880
their issues. They don't ask for
help. Matter of fact, if they

499
00:37:05.880 --> 00:37:07.679
ask for help, they have a
perception they're going to be perceived as weak

500
00:37:08.440 --> 00:37:12.280
and they might not be allowed to
stay in the unit. If a ranger

501
00:37:12.320 --> 00:37:15.159
complains of having a back injury,
his supervisor is going to question whether or

502
00:37:15.199 --> 00:37:19.199
not he can carry that one hundred
and twenty pound ruckstack for twenty miles or

503
00:37:19.280 --> 00:37:22.159
jump out of an airplane in the
middle of the night. So they don't

504
00:37:22.159 --> 00:37:25.840
talk about it, and that means
they can't go to the medical clinic and

505
00:37:25.840 --> 00:37:30.199
get pain meds, which means they
drink, which means they put up with

506
00:37:30.280 --> 00:37:34.400
those injuries. And then when they
get out of the military. There is

507
00:37:34.559 --> 00:37:37.599
zero documentation in their medical records.
And they go to the VA and they

508
00:37:37.599 --> 00:37:40.000
say, Doc, my back is
jacked up six ways from Sunday. And

509
00:37:40.039 --> 00:37:43.360
the doc looks through the file and
says, well, wow, you must

510
00:37:43.360 --> 00:37:45.920
have done that last weekend because there's
nothing in your medical record. So denied.

511
00:37:47.199 --> 00:37:52.159
So as I came back because of
my own experience now going through the

512
00:37:52.239 --> 00:37:57.639
VA process, I knew these things. I knew that their tendency was going

513
00:37:57.679 --> 00:38:00.320
to be to isolate. I knew
that they would not want to talk if

514
00:38:00.360 --> 00:38:04.440
they left the military because of the
death, because they felt like they were

515
00:38:04.440 --> 00:38:08.039
a failure, because they were injured
or they got a duy. They would

516
00:38:08.039 --> 00:38:12.880
not seek out their brothers and sisters. And there's women now. When I

517
00:38:12.920 --> 00:38:15.679
went to the last ranger rendezvous just
two months ago at Fort Benning, Georgia,

518
00:38:16.199 --> 00:38:21.599
the regiment personnel officer is a female
captain. First time in history this

519
00:38:21.639 --> 00:38:24.599
has ever happened. And there are
men and women now that are doing this

520
00:38:24.679 --> 00:38:30.159
stuff. And when they go back
to their communities, they it's I don't

521
00:38:30.199 --> 00:38:36.119
even I can't adequately articulate the challenges
that are in front of them, because

522
00:38:37.119 --> 00:38:39.280
not only are they trying to rediscover
purpose. But now they're trying to deal

523
00:38:39.320 --> 00:38:43.480
with the injuries that they have,
some of which are emotional injuries. Because

524
00:38:43.880 --> 00:38:45.639
you don't talk to a shrink when
you're in the military either, because somebody

525
00:38:45.639 --> 00:38:50.360
will think you're not going to be
effective when you're on a mission. So

526
00:38:51.559 --> 00:38:57.199
there's this this very hard veneer that
is around them. And the way that

527
00:38:57.239 --> 00:39:00.159
we break through that now is when
I talk to I'm very effective with Army

528
00:39:00.199 --> 00:39:05.960
rangers because I am one an infantryman
and airborne trooper, because I can say,

529
00:39:06.079 --> 00:39:10.119
you know what, I don't want
to hear anything about you. I'm

530
00:39:10.119 --> 00:39:14.840
going to take thirty seconds. I'm
on a list off six things, and

531
00:39:14.920 --> 00:39:17.079
you tell me how many of them
apply to you. Number One, you

532
00:39:17.119 --> 00:39:20.559
don't feel like you can tell your
story to anyone. Number two, you're

533
00:39:20.599 --> 00:39:23.000
embarrassed because of how you left the
military. You probably have some survivor's guilt

534
00:39:23.000 --> 00:39:27.679
to regret there. Number three,
you're drinking way more than you want to

535
00:39:29.639 --> 00:39:31.679
admit to anyone. You're having trouble
sleeping at night. You can't get a

536
00:39:31.760 --> 00:39:35.519
job that makes you feel like you're
worth a crap, and you don't know

537
00:39:35.599 --> 00:39:39.960
what your purpose is. And I
had a Ranger staff sergeant who was a

538
00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:45.719
squad leader who had I think eight
combat deployments, and someone had referred him

539
00:39:45.719 --> 00:39:47.519
to me. And when I got
on the phone with him, I'm like,

540
00:39:47.599 --> 00:39:51.079
so you're Sergeant Smith, right,
And he's like, yes, so

541
00:39:51.159 --> 00:39:53.119
you were in the Rangers. Yes, I heard you had a bunch of

542
00:39:53.159 --> 00:39:57.760
deployments. Yes, it was just
you know, he was not going to

543
00:39:57.800 --> 00:40:00.159
open up. And I said,
okay, so let me run dow on

544
00:40:00.199 --> 00:40:04.159
this. And and so I listed
those six things and I said, does

545
00:40:04.199 --> 00:40:07.440
any of those sound familiar to you? And he goes, holy crap,

546
00:40:07.519 --> 00:40:12.400
every single one of those. He
says, you see this a lot.

547
00:40:12.480 --> 00:40:15.559
And I said, every veteran that
I talked to has at least two,

548
00:40:15.679 --> 00:40:21.639
if not all, of these things. And he says, you mean I'm

549
00:40:21.679 --> 00:40:30.360
not weird? Yeah, And I
said hope. And and this staff sergeant,

550
00:40:30.360 --> 00:40:32.360
who's harder than nails, could take
on any challenge in the world,

551
00:40:32.400 --> 00:40:38.559
broke down in tears. That starts
the healing process then, because now he's

552
00:40:38.800 --> 00:40:42.079
now he thinks military mind. Okay, so now I know the deal.

553
00:40:42.480 --> 00:40:45.960
What do I need to do?
Now we can start going down a path.

554
00:40:45.079 --> 00:40:49.360
Path that says, you know,
let's let's evaluate where you are on

555
00:40:49.400 --> 00:40:52.719
this continuum with our Asthmuth check survey. Let's look for areas in there that

556
00:40:53.000 --> 00:40:55.400
one of the questions we ask,
it's a little bit tricky, but it

557
00:40:55.440 --> 00:40:59.639
says, the only place I go
for front or bars. Is that not

558
00:40:59.719 --> 00:41:01.199
a lot like you? Or is
that a lot like you? So if

559
00:41:01.199 --> 00:41:05.760
you tell me the only place you
go in our bars, then let's talk

560
00:41:05.800 --> 00:41:10.000
about other potential resources in your community. Maybe it's a chamber of commerce,

561
00:41:10.039 --> 00:41:15.480
it's a rotary club, it's a
whatever. There are places you can meet

562
00:41:15.480 --> 00:41:20.199
people that are good, people that
are it's not revolving around a bar scene.

563
00:41:20.599 --> 00:41:22.400
So that's huge. That's a huge
piece of it. And that's why

564
00:41:22.440 --> 00:41:27.719
your rock climbing sessions come in.
Yes, yes, because when we have

565
00:41:29.320 --> 00:41:34.519
we now have four communities around the
country that are doing indoor rock climbing programs.

566
00:41:34.559 --> 00:41:37.159
Great Fine, Texas, which is
right next to Dallas for Worth Airport,

567
00:41:37.480 --> 00:41:39.679
Wilmington, North Carolina, Raleigh,
North Carolina, and Columbus, Georgia.

568
00:41:40.440 --> 00:41:44.480
And we allow veterans to bring family
members to it. The one here

569
00:41:45.360 --> 00:41:47.920
is funded by a grant. This
we just applied for the sixth year of

570
00:41:47.920 --> 00:41:53.039
the grant through the metroport Rotary Club. They have granted us over three thousand

571
00:41:53.039 --> 00:41:57.719
dollars a year to pay for a
membership at this rock climbing gym. And

572
00:41:57.800 --> 00:42:00.960
when a veteran comes, they get
their heart, their shoes, their chalk

573
00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:07.599
bag for free. And I had
one young veteran named Nate whose severe postmax

574
00:42:07.599 --> 00:42:12.159
stress, very low self esteem,
self confidence. He couldn't even call and

575
00:42:12.159 --> 00:42:14.960
ask if he could come. His
wife called and asked if he could come,

576
00:42:15.599 --> 00:42:16.920
and so I was watching for him. I knew about the time he'd

577
00:42:16.920 --> 00:42:21.639
come because I knew when he looked
at the noise and the activity in the

578
00:42:21.639 --> 00:42:23.880
gym, he would probably get spooped
and leave. So I look over at

579
00:42:23.880 --> 00:42:28.119
the door. I see this guy
come in. It's kind of scraggly beard.

580
00:42:28.239 --> 00:42:32.119
He's wearing an old Unit T shirt
with the shoulders ripped off, and

581
00:42:32.719 --> 00:42:37.559
he's got on cut off camouflage fatigue
pants. And he looked at the gym,

582
00:42:37.599 --> 00:42:39.440
turn around, started to go back
out, and I yelled out,

583
00:42:39.440 --> 00:42:42.199
Hey, are you Nate, And
he turned around, looked at me and

584
00:42:42.199 --> 00:42:44.639
said, yes I am. And
I said, Step one, go over

585
00:42:44.679 --> 00:42:46.079
here, do the safety waiver.
Step two, get your gear ish you

586
00:42:46.159 --> 00:42:49.840
to you. Step three, go
over here, they'll give you your safety

587
00:42:49.840 --> 00:42:52.679
briefing. Step four, come find
me. So I put him right into

588
00:42:52.719 --> 00:42:55.239
military mood and so he went through
all those things and he came and found

589
00:42:55.239 --> 00:42:59.199
me, and I said, okay, good, you're up. So I

590
00:42:59.199 --> 00:43:01.039
put him on a fre eazy wall. Took him a long time. He

591
00:43:01.039 --> 00:43:05.880
struggled climbing the wall, got to
the top. Finally there's a group of

592
00:43:05.960 --> 00:43:09.760
veterans down below. They're at cheering
Nate on. That is important because once

593
00:43:09.800 --> 00:43:14.599
the last time somebody cheered for you. You know, if you run a

594
00:43:14.599 --> 00:43:17.440
ten k, maybe once a year
there's people cheering when you come through the

595
00:43:17.519 --> 00:43:22.280
tunnel at the end. Once the
last time somebody really really knew you and

596
00:43:22.400 --> 00:43:25.039
cheered you on. So that happens
in the military at time. So now

597
00:43:25.039 --> 00:43:29.639
they're doing this, So I lower
him down. When he's done, he

598
00:43:29.679 --> 00:43:32.280
sinks to his knees, covers his
face with his hands, and he's in

599
00:43:32.320 --> 00:43:36.800
tears for about thirty seconds, and
he looks up and he apologizes and he

600
00:43:36.840 --> 00:43:39.360
says, you know, that's the
first time in the last three years that

601
00:43:39.440 --> 00:43:45.280
my mind was clear, because I
could only think about climbing that wall and

602
00:43:45.880 --> 00:43:49.440
I said, that's great. I
unclipped, I handed my end to him.

603
00:43:49.480 --> 00:43:57.039
I took his end and I said, now you blame me. And

604
00:43:57.880 --> 00:44:00.559
Nate said, you want me to
believe you? And I said, yeah,

605
00:44:00.599 --> 00:44:01.320
you went through the training, right
And he said yes. And I

606
00:44:01.360 --> 00:44:05.239
said you pass and he said yes. And I said, then I trust

607
00:44:05.280 --> 00:44:08.400
you. Let's go. And a
year and a half later he told me

608
00:44:08.519 --> 00:44:13.840
that was a defining moment in his
life because no one had trusted with him

609
00:44:13.960 --> 00:44:17.199
with anything valuable since you left the
military. And here I was because I

610
00:44:17.239 --> 00:44:21.159
was a veteran. I'm like,
I trust you, let's go. It

611
00:44:21.440 --> 00:44:23.800
enabled him ultimately, and there are
some other things. We're not the only

612
00:44:24.559 --> 00:44:29.400
one stop shop to fix this stuff. But now he's enrolled back in school,

613
00:44:29.400 --> 00:44:32.639
he's working on his degree. He
has a future that is significantly brighter

614
00:44:32.639 --> 00:44:37.599
than it was before we started coming
rock climbing. We leveraged that program and

615
00:44:37.800 --> 00:44:43.079
a couple of times a year we
take veterans on weekend therapy sessions where we

616
00:44:43.360 --> 00:44:46.840
bring in the burisfunctional emotional fitness stuff. We talk about it in between the

617
00:44:46.920 --> 00:44:51.679
rock climbing stuff. And this last
weekend I took a group. I think

618
00:44:51.679 --> 00:44:54.000
we had eight, we went to
Pilot Mountain, North Carolina and did some

619
00:44:54.159 --> 00:45:00.159
extremely difficult and tactical rock climbing and
we had a great session with him.

620
00:45:00.280 --> 00:45:04.760
Oh my gosh, Carl, this
is so so so important work. I'm

621
00:45:04.840 --> 00:45:07.599
dripping and hanging on every word that
you're saying. And we just we have

622
00:45:07.639 --> 00:45:09.599
left. Yeah, we got a
couple of things. I got it.

623
00:45:10.199 --> 00:45:14.199
Yeah. Yeah, We've got just
a couple of minutes here that are left.

624
00:45:14.239 --> 00:45:16.199
So what in about two minutes?
What did you want to say?

625
00:45:16.719 --> 00:45:21.639
Yeah? So first coming up the
end of October October twenty fifth, twenty

626
00:45:21.639 --> 00:45:24.599
six, twenty seven, we have
VET Expo that's at Sediment Creek Ranch in

627
00:45:24.639 --> 00:45:28.719
Fort Worth, Texas. You can
go to v E t xpo dot com

628
00:45:28.760 --> 00:45:32.400
to learn more. Simon Senek is
coming in Friday night to speak to our

629
00:45:32.440 --> 00:45:37.719
barbecue banquet. Simon is world renowned
and the work that he does on hope

630
00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:43.559
and purpose, and he is coming
for free because he believes in what we

631
00:45:43.599 --> 00:45:45.440
do and he wants to help us
grow our mission. That's amazing. Saturday,

632
00:45:45.480 --> 00:45:50.159
well, we have some we have
five veterans that are business owners and

633
00:45:50.400 --> 00:45:53.400
successful and other areas that are going
to come talk about their own Transitions,

634
00:45:53.960 --> 00:45:58.159
and then Sunday morning we have a
kickball tournament some family activities that will be

635
00:45:58.199 --> 00:46:01.039
real fun. So vt xpo dot
com if you want to learn more about

636
00:46:01.039 --> 00:46:06.760
my journey and what we do.
Common Sense Transition is a book that I

637
00:46:06.840 --> 00:46:09.360
wrote almost two years ago. It's
available on Amazon both in kendall and in

638
00:46:09.440 --> 00:46:14.559
print version, but it lays out
my story in detail, as well as

639
00:46:14.599 --> 00:46:16.599
some of the veterans that I work
with. The last thing that I want

640
00:46:16.599 --> 00:46:22.119
to mention, unless you have any
other questions, is I talked earlier about

641
00:46:22.159 --> 00:46:27.960
my dad leaving when I was four. Now anything is possible because my stepdad,

642
00:46:28.000 --> 00:46:31.480
who adopted me. My birth name
was Vodder, my adopted name Smonger.

643
00:46:32.679 --> 00:46:37.920
Seven years ago my stepdad passed away
the adopted who's now legally my real

644
00:46:37.039 --> 00:46:46.039
dad. Earlier this year, my
biological father and my mother reconnected, and

645
00:46:46.199 --> 00:46:53.079
in August they got remarried. After
being a part I think they were together

646
00:46:53.199 --> 00:46:58.360
for I want to say eight years, and then they were divorced for fifty

647
00:46:58.440 --> 00:47:02.880
three years. They're back together.
Anything is possible, Forgiveness as possible,

648
00:47:02.920 --> 00:47:07.800
growth is possible. Overcoming the crap
that happens in your life is possible.

649
00:47:07.280 --> 00:47:12.840
And the biggest lesson that we have
through our functional emotional fitness coaching is what

650
00:47:13.039 --> 00:47:16.760
happened to you yesterday, last year, when you were a kid. That

651
00:47:16.840 --> 00:47:22.519
doesn't matter that what you make in
form in terms of a decision in the

652
00:47:22.519 --> 00:47:25.280
next second, the next minute,
the next hour is totally under your control.

653
00:47:25.639 --> 00:47:30.280
You'll have to let anything that's ever
happened to you dictate that decision.

654
00:47:30.760 --> 00:47:35.000
And too often we allow the excuses
and reasons for what brought us to where

655
00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:38.360
we are today to dictate the next
thing that happens. I completely applaud that,

656
00:47:38.400 --> 00:47:40.519
and it does align with my work
in log with therapy as well,

657
00:47:40.559 --> 00:47:45.639
and that is how the attitudinal stance
we take in any one situation is under

658
00:47:45.639 --> 00:47:50.039
our control and is our freedom and
our responsibility. Completely applaud that. Carl,

659
00:47:50.119 --> 00:47:52.199
Thank you so much for being a
guest on working on a Purpose.

660
00:47:52.280 --> 00:47:55.119
You are a tremendous contribution. Thank
you. Any veterans out there go to

661
00:47:55.280 --> 00:48:00.480
asmuthcheck dot org and you'll get in
our system. So if you want to

662
00:48:00.559 --> 00:48:02.239
learn more about Callmonger and the work
he and his team are doing at Gallant

663
00:48:02.239 --> 00:48:07.840
Few, go to the website.
It's gallant few dot org. Last week

664
00:48:07.880 --> 00:48:09.639
If you missed the live shore,
you can always catch a be recorded podcast.

665
00:48:09.679 --> 00:48:13.000
We were on the air with Rachel
Stewart, who is the author of

666
00:48:13.119 --> 00:48:15.840
Unqualified Success, bridging the gap between
where you are now and where you want

667
00:48:15.880 --> 00:48:20.199
to be to achieve massive success.
We talked about her book and she gave

668
00:48:20.239 --> 00:48:22.519
some key takeaways you can immediately put
to use. See you next week for

669
00:48:22.559 --> 00:48:27.360
another nurturing and inspiring conversation. Remember
works at least one third in our life,

670
00:48:27.360 --> 00:48:36.119
so let's work on purpose. We
hope you've enjoyed this week's program.

671
00:48:36.480 --> 00:48:40.239
Be sure to tune in to Working
on Purpose, featuring your host Alis Cortes,

672
00:48:40.519 --> 00:48:45.199
each week on the Voice America Empowerment
Channel. This week, find your

673
00:48:45.280 --> 00:49:07.360
life's purpose at work.