Navigating Benefits and Community Service
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Good morning Las Vegas. I'm Gene Campbell. I'm your guest hosts sitting in for de Washington on this week's
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show. And Marvin Gaye started off the music there. So Chris, I'm gonna be asking you about music a little bit. Today's guests on the Ask him a little bit about music. So I just want him to get into the rhythm as we get into our program. So anyway, I'm just going to give a quick shout out. Before I introduce our guests, I want to shout out to all the folks in Las Vegas and everybody around the world that's listening to Veterans Affairs plus, as well as shout out to Dave Washington, your normal hosts. And personal thought about this show has been an advocate for veterans as well as a lot of community issues. He's away on hiatus for a month or so taking care of his health and getting his energy back so he can come in here and fire up Western studio and that right, Wes? So we want to shout out to Dave and be praying for him as he gets well, and he gets back to the mic. Second thing I like to do is shout out to some friends from Las Vegas, one of the guests for my second show. Coming up next week will be Lehmann green, former retired military person, good friend whose father passed at 99 and 10 months, nine years and 10 months. And he'll be discussing his father a little bit talking about his service to the country as one of the longest living in World War Two veterans. He'll be discussing a little bit about that with us next week. So I look forward to hosting him. And another gentleman as we talk a little bit about the impact Murcia has had on them, as well as advice for people who are still in or people who are getting out transitioning out into the world. Oh, with that, I am going to also say condolences go out again as we this week, I'll be flying to St. Louis, Missouri, for a good friend of mine, Mr. Spike Jones, who has passed away due to pancreatic cancer. And for many of you that follow firefighters health and wellness, you know that lung and heart disease is prevalent among firefighters because of the smokes. As well as the
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extra force it's put on their bodies when they wake up from being asleep at night in the fire station. And automatically they are at 100 100 miles an hour go into a call, it could be a fire, it could be an accident, could be an explosion or a EMS call their hearts or go from breast into high speed constantly. And when you look at that over 25 to 30 years, it really affects their heart and lungs, as well as being around a lot of things that you don't know what they are smoke, and chemicals that sometimes do get into your clothes.
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And in does cause
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cancer. And so with that I'll be traveling to a good friend, Ben Norton speical with third year. So for the firefighters listening, I want to share in the condolences as we have for the Jones family. So we're gonna go and move on to our guest.
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His name is Chris Thompson. I've been on Chris. I looked at it that Chris, this is my 39th anniversary coming in April and I've been knowing you 39 years. So I want you to come on in and jump on and Chris, we're just having a conversation if you want to ask me a question until you can do that too. But Veterans Affairs plus as we focus on veterans issues, talking from veteran to a veteran as well as to the community let them know about maybe your exposure in the community. How long have you been hearing so far? So would you introduce yourself sir and give us a little bit of your background?
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Yes, sir. Thank you for having me.
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My name is
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I'm Christopher Thompson.
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I've been in the community since 1989, October of 1989. And what brought me here was the the Air Force. That's where you and I met in the early 80s.
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You know, we're both security policemen
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and worked out in the missile field for for a little bit.
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But, yeah, well, I've been out here since 1989, I joined the Air Force in 1982. And, you know, spent a long time down in Texas,
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you know, doing the training, both basic training, and then the police training, airbase ground defense, where we had at Camp Bullis. That was an adventure.
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But my experience was a lot different than a lot of folks when they go in, in that. I was probably in in Texas for a extended period, because we didn't we never had enough folks to start a class. So it was always like a large gap, like about a month and a half in between classes. But in any case,
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you know, from from Texas, we went to Grand Forks, and then that's kind of like, where we, where we connected in that assignment.
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Yeah, that's pretty much I mean, that's, that's the beginning. That's the beginning. Well, great, Chris, because you talked about one place that I tell you what, when I got the orders to go there, Chris, I didn't know where it was, you know, growing up on the East Coast. I know you from right outside Philly there in New Jersey. And I'm from outside Plainville, which is out in New York, right outside of New York City and North. He told me I was going to Grand Forks, I said, God, what did I do?
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I had to look on the map. And I thought about it. And I said, Man, it's cold there. And so that's one of the reasons it led me here was because I was anxious to get away from that cold, how that call affects you.
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Yeah, that call that call was something else. That's, that's a, that's a cold that that cannot be explained, it sticks with you for life. Especially
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when you're, you know, an airman who has no choice but to go out and have to work in that.
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You know, we don't, we don't have the luxury of shutting down, like, you know, the citizens of the country. And in that particular area, in that, if something is going on in that in the missile field, we have to go out there and, and do what we do. And so there's some some conditions during winter months, called White outs and the state during during those white outs, the state makes it illegal for normal citizens to be on the road.
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That doesn't apply to, to military activities, would have to go on 24/7 365 days a year, in order so this country is safe.
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And so we have to go out and that stuff.
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Man, I can tell you we had we had some serious experiences out there. But yet cold, Jane, it stays with you for life, you never forget that cold. Yeah, and you know, for the veterans that are listening to you one of the things especially for some of veterans, like Chris and I have joined in the early 80s or so, we're not we weren't aware of some of the benefits that we might be privy to, if we had frostbite or really affected by that. So it's a key point for people who've been affected by things like that cold, to look into the military records and see if you have false frostbite. And if you had other things that happened from that, because there are things that are diagnosed, where you can get benefits and or care from them. And so we'll talk a little bit about that a little later. Because Chris and I both have been affected by different aspects of working in the military. And we want to make sure that all the other veterans out there, especially some of the veterans, it's been out for a while. Does it appears to me and then Chris, I'll just ask you this question because it's Veterans Affairs plus, did you get a really a briefing like you think you should have when you got out about you know, the benefits that you had available and making sure that you had a full
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copy of your records as well as you get a full medical evaluation when you left? Did you have that knowledge or was that something you learned well, after you got out of the service?
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So So Jane, I'll say I learned that stuff well after this
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service, you know, there was a few folks and I got out in 1995, I did was actually in 12 and a half years active duty. And then I did another six in the reserves. But this is what happens.
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You get out in the Air Force was more of a quality control type of
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entity, whereby, when we, when we chose to get out or separate, they made sure that,
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you know, they did a full body physical of you full body physical, and they pretty much just check boxes, and then you know, you they put your your records in a sealed, sealed package. And you took that to our customer service location, at which point, you know, you were let go.
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But no, no, no, no recommendations or anything telling you about,
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you know, you potentially could have these diseases because of your exposure to radiation. Like you said, chemicals,
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you know, different things you're hearing, you know, certainly being a security forces member, we were always at the range doing different things. And in my, in my career, we went through multiple levels of, of hearing protection. You know, the philosophy changed throughout my career and 12 years, we went from things you inserted in your ear, to having to have all over the ear, etc, etc. But my point being,
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no one really explained these things that, you know, somewhere down the road,
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you know, you're gonna have hearing loss, you know, and then and then Who do you Who do you go to for that? You know, it's just, it's kind of like, hit or miss like, no, nobody really gave us any, any, any information. It's all learned, certainly, from these kind of shows, where,
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you know, we're exposing these people to benefits that they don't even know that they deserve or even, you know, or have the access to.
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Yeah, that's so true. That is so true. You know, it was I think that, that I've learned it, and I don't know if you've had the same exposure, or is that the way you came about it? But I just heard other people talking about this. And they asked me, Are you aware of this? I'm like, where, what? And they said, Well, do you get injured when you're in the service?
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And, you know, has it caused you some adverse impacts have you got any care from and I'm just talking about people sitting around, maybe playing a card game waiting for your turn to come up, or, you know, at a social event where you might, you know, connect with some other veterans, maybe that you didn't know. And that's how I came about hearing about these benefits and the possibility of health care for people who, who can't afford it or don't know about the benefits tied to their indices, or illnesses. And all of a sudden, I feel like, wow, this is something that's affected me for 25 years. And I'm just now learning about it. Now. How'd you was it through conversation? Or How'd you learn about it was a radio show career. So how'd you learn about the possibility of that?
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It was, you know, through that social context that she talked about, you know, out here, we're very blessed to
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because of, you know, I'll say Senator Reid's leadership to get to get the services that we have with regards to, you know, veterans health opportunities, I mean, we have a hospital, we have multiple clinics,
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etc. But in order to get in touch, you know, in touch with these resources, it was kind of like, like you said, if you're at a barbecue or a friend's house, this, you know, plan plans phase or whatever. And, you know, folks are talking about their, their ratings, and, you know, some of the other services that they're eligible for, and you're like, sitting there at all, like, like, What are you talking about? Like, and, you know, and, and then, you know, and then, so you'll learn about it that way. And then I personally went for years of not applying because I felt like I was getting in the way of people who actually needed it. You know, I was blessed
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to secure a job in the in the civilian community with the City of Las Vegas, upon my separation. And, you know, with this, Las Vegas City marshals and
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had a very
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Good career with them. And in that, you know, I was still eligible for these, these these conditions that were
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that I experienced while I was in the military, you know, from 82 to 2000 2001, rather, and I just I just saw, you know, every time I went in there to go apply, I just, I would see the,
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you know, the, the the veterans that, that were on the front lines that, you know, had had missing limbs and burns and things like that.
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Psychological issues, etc. And I just felt like I was bogging down the system. I had.
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So I didn't, I didn't immediately apply. And also, along that path, I got some bad information, you know, bad information in that. They were they were saying that these benefits were financially driven, meaning that or income driven, right? Yes. And so. So, you know, you go away, you and you keep going away, or when I finally apply, they deny 90% of it. So it's just a thing that, that they do, they're going to deny you just the bottom line is in order to get a successful claim which you deserve, which you deserve, because you serve in the military, that is that that's already pre predetermined. That money is sitting aside, that's not anything that Congress or or, you know, that Congress has to argue about.
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You know, they they expect for hazards to to occur, you know, while you're serving in the military there hazardous jobs. So that's what it's about. It's not about
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you know,
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what, it's war? That's, that's what, that's what the military is about, yes, you know, sustaining and, and if we don't have that, then then this country is not say, but back to back to, to the to the benefit aspect of it is, is it's not financially based, or it's not, it's not income driven. It's based on what what you're exposed to, or what issue you have that happened, that you can associate to your military service. Yeah, let me tell you, you know, being a security forces member, you know, I, I tell these folks, this, what I like what happened, I seen or what happened, I've been exposed to, you know, definitely be, you know, being a first responder in the military. You see everything. And,
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but But you know, at the end of the day, you know, on those benefits, Jane, just you just got to keep going? Yes, yes. And there are so many things that touch on it. And I'd tell you what, we're we're we're a third of our way through the show. And there's so many things I wanted to touch, touch with you and talk to you about. But for our veterans listening, I want to make sure if you're in Nevada, Nevada Department of Veteran Services, and it lists different benefits and services not only by the state, but there are other links that he can tell you about that relate to different things. There's anything from legal assistance, housing assistance, health and wellness headstones and markers. If someone is buried in one of the cemeteries, financial as well as employment, education in hiring,
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support on burial and memorial services for those people who have been exposed, or have some benefits and services. There are a lot of veteran service organizations, there's a list of them, there's a whole host of them there. And you can call one of those organizations, and they can give you a little coaching on it.
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I've dealt with a few of them. And they have different varying degrees of ability to be able to get a hold of them, whether it's a live person, whether you have to leave a message or it's through email. But it's always good to find somebody that knows about the system. The other thing that we want to make sure veterans aware about is va.gov va.gov. And if you look@va.gov you can sign up for account. And you can just start looking for things just as simple as getting a military ID. If you served, you can fill it out there and they can send you some sort of a military or health card ID and it tells you the criteria there. But if you reach out to one of the local organizations here, Veterans of Foreign Wars is one organization and there's so many others you can reach out to them and they can give you some advice on your situation. Just give you some information. So you can start getting in touch with the rights and benefits that you have
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and start to work towards those things. Before we move on with some other issues related to the veterans, I just want to reach back to, to when you were talking about you in Grand Forks, because coming from the, from the east coasts, and go on to Grand Forks, forks, it was a different place. Chris, it was a different place for me. And I was used to, you know, working and seeing a lot of people who are used to being around a big city and getting dressed and going out. And I went to a place where we had huge sugar beet fields. And we had, you know, cold winter days that you already spoke about. If you got a little bit further up and North Dakota, you could see the northern lights, the Aurora Borealis. I'm surprised I can say that this late in the afternoon West.
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But you played a lot of music, you did a little summer music up, they want you to share what I guess the I don't know, if you want to share your nickname, I won't. I won't call you out on the radio, but maybe you share a little bit what you did and how you how you got through some of those cold winters.
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I got to do that. So. So before I went in the military, when I was in college, I started DJing and hooked up with these fellows from up north North Jersey, Newark.
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And we had a we had a group called topside production. And we all had little nicknames. And mine was DJ high seat. All right, DJ high. See, that's what I remember.
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And so, when I got the Grand Forks, you know, like said, it was it was very different.
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As far as the, you know, the the groups go.
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It was a small African American presence in the whole city, or actually in the whole state. I think that in the early 80s, we looked at it because it was I mean, literally like it was all us, like you see, you see African Americans and
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you we basically all know each other, just upon site, because we were just the minority extremely. I think that at the time there was about 2%
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representation in the whole state. And and that 2% was attributed to those who were stationed at the base, or at the bases because there's two bases in North Dakota, not not my not Air Force Base in Grand Forks base, which is on the east. monad is on the west. But as far as our social gatherings, we all got together.
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We had a crew, my crew was comprised of a guy from New York City guy from Baltimore. And we enjoy a lot, a lot of nice times up there in the NCO Club, which, you know, back in the day, up until the 90s, the NCO clubs were where we used to get it get it on. That's right. We used to get it on. Yeah. And but with that crew there we we took that, that that stuff up to Winnipeg, North Winnipeg, Canada, right. And to go up to the brands get a place called the breeze. The brand. Yeah, we still have,
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you know, the crew go up there, we have festival licenses to DJ up there. And we were a big thing. I mean, like, we were rockstars when we used to go up there, you know, they rolled out the red carpet for us. And I mean, we even I remember one time we got out of an alert, you know, sat I was in a strategic air command. And that that command at the time did not play. They were very, you know, discipline oriented, very structured, very policy and procedure oriented. And they, when they had there alerts to where we get tested, you know, on our jobs to see if we can fulfill our missions or, you know, our our war missions.
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They'd lock us down, you know, we'd be stuck on the base. And I remember one time because we had an event up in Canada. You know, we convinced the commanders to let my team go because like I used to escort
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the bombs out into the field. That's right. Convoy, convoy team and doing alerts, we weren't going to do that kind of stuff. So we weren't we weren't really part of the valuation thing. And so that's how I got out of it.
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That was a lot of fun back then, was two things I'm going to touch on is our time is moving fast. We have about
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Another three and a half minutes, what I would say to that you and I share is you talked a little bit about the low minority representation. And although
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you know, you're not necessarily locked into only dating and or marrying your own
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nationality, you certainly sometimes we look for people that have common interests in common things. And that's one of the things that we did, whether it was playing cards listening to music, and for me was playing basketball. But I just say to another thing that we have in common is We both met our current wife's in North Dakota. And so we made we made sure that we weren't going to have her be by ourselves some of those cold winters, and we met some beautiful women, who we created some beautiful lives with. So we did have a great experience in the military there. But Chris, you travel a lot. And then you know, as we are, as we get ready to close, I just want to touch on just name three or four places that you traveled about, and then maybe reflect on how your training experience in the military has been beneficial to you, not only in the civilian world, but just out here in the community.
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Yeah, I was fortunate, like, well, I'll stick to the military stuff, like, you know, versus the social. But while I was in in the Air Force, I got to travel to the Azores, and which is in Portugal, bunch islands in the middle of the Atlantic, about 900 miles off the coast of Portugal. In any case, I was part of some competition teams, and we were able to go to different countries like Spain, and over in Germany and compete against other, you know, military teams.
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But all in all, that that Air Force experience really solidified my,
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my opportunity to to work for Sue lots of A's, whereby,
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you know, I had an awesome career, 25 years,
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you know, made Lieutenant with them, and also got the graduate from the FBI Academy, class 276276. So, you know, Chris, when you look back over 39 years that I've known you, man, you've had a great, a great life, you've been able to go into the military has some great exposure, some great people met, you met your future wife, traveled the world, served on some specialty teams, took some of that training and specialty knowledge, a lot of them we haven't touched on today, that's allowed you to land a successful career in law enforcement, as well as get an education to the procedures, and exposure, FBI Academy. So my hat's off to you. And our community should be thanking you for all your service, not only your military, but your community service. And as we get ready to close out, is there anything you want to say to anybody in the community or our youth about maybe looking into either either career, what do you think, would be beneficial to some of the veterans listening as we close out today's program?
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You know, I'll speak to the veterans because like, I don't really know a whole lot about, you know, what's going on with with regards to to enlistment or or their recruiting efforts. But I'd like to encourage all veterans to make contact with people and get your get your,
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your claims gone. Because, you know, that's, that's that money is yours. And there's a whole lot of benefits associated with it. So I just like I like to encourage everybody to go and don't don't take no for an answer. You know, if you get turned down during a claim, just keep going. And tried. You have to have that wherewithal. Well, Chris, you know, it's been fun talking to you, too, for the last 30 minutes or so veteran service organizations here again, Nevada VSOs. The Dav is another one that I didn't mention, as well as the VFW which is I've already mentioned in there so many more disabled foreign veterans. And there's so many other organizations that can help you, as well as some veterans. You know, there's a lot of things I'm learning from other veterans that have given me clues into it. So with that, I want to really thank Wes for taking me on my maiden voyage today. Covering up for Dave as he gets well, and I look forward to speaking to you next week, as we touch on some other things that are valuable for our veterans, and Las Vegas in general. Thanks a lot, and have a good Saturday.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
