Veteran's Affairs Plus W/ David L. Washington

Announcer 0:00
This is a KUNV Studios original program.

Wesley Knight 0:04
You're listening to special programming sponsored by Making Moves Life Coaching Services. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jazz and Moore, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education. Pick it

Music 0:28
back and pick it south. Come on, talk to me, so you can't see what's going on. Yeah, what's going on? Tell me what's going on.

Dave Washington 0:49
Great day, Las Vegas! Great day, Las Vegas. This is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 jazz and more. I'm Dave Washington, your host, and got a few words, you know, announcements to make, and then we're going to bring a one gentleman who's been on the show many, many times, and that's Tony Marshall. In fact, it's Commander Tony Marshall, so we'll properly introduce him in just a second here. Once again, Veterans Affairs plus on 91.5 jazz and more. I can tell you that we had a successful couple weeks ago voter education project in honor of Dr. Ruby Duncan. It was presented by Virginia Brooks Brewster, Steve Stowers, my wife Marsha, Jerry Smith, Nedra Cooper, and Justin Hobson. And again, it was for the purpose of just educating people on their rights as voters. We are not trying to tell you who to vote for, but it occurred at the Sarian Apartments at 1327 H Street, and it will occur again in October, October 24th. So I'm going to keep announcing that each show where people will have time, and we we don't take a lot of folks' time on a Saturday morning. We go from 10 a.m. to 11:30, and we're prompt. We also make sure we have some refreshments there, but for sure, in the meantime, make sure you check your voter registration because a lot of times people think that they're registered, even though according to Nedra, Nevada has a law that say they they can't just purge voters like some states. They can just purge you out of the system, so we don't have to be so concerned about that. But just as an extra precaution, make sure you check and ensure that you are registered to vote. So we're going to continue to harp on that because there's things that need to be done in the midterms coming up in November. So the other thing, of course, we have a number of golf tournaments that'll be going on next month. One is the Armstrong Family Foundation, and there's another one that I fail to get the name, but I will make sure that I get that for you for our next show. But without further ado, I'd like to introduce again Tony Marshall, he's been one who would come on this show often, Veterans Affairs Plus, and talk about and give people direction on how to get their veterans' benefits. And he's doing just a number of things, to include most most recently he has become the commander at American Legion Post Eight. So, how you doing, Tony?

Tony Marshall 3:20
Pretty good, there, Dave. Thank you for having me on.

Dave Washington 3:23
Oh, for sure.

Tony Marshall 3:24
And and just just to let folks know, I just resigned from the VSO position with the VFW, but we do we do we still have a number of VSOs in the area, especially in Henderson at Post 3848 in Henderson, and we have one new guy coming in, Carl Fogg. I think a lot of people know him, and he'll be he'll be taking over at the hospital.

Dave Washington 3:50
Okay.

Tony Marshall 3:50
So yeah, so so still go ahead and get those get those claims processed and and ready to go. But I'm always available for advice and and and anything you might need in that area.

Dave Washington 4:03
All right, that's great to know. Great to know. In fact, I'll contact you in the next few days and get names of those guys that I can make some personal contact with. But we certainly appreciate you did a lot for us, Tony, and we're pleased that you're now commander of an American Legion post, so tell us a little bit about what you're doing. What's the plans over there? We got a few few minutes to do this.

Tony Marshall 4:29
Well, I tell you, I'm excited. I'm excited. I got together with some of my veteran VFW buddies, and we went over to Post State and said we try to help them out. They've been kind of down lately, and we got in there, and I think we've got it going on in the right direction. We really got got a job to do, but let me just tell you a couple of things that's coming up this month. Of course, you know is the POWMI. Remembrance ceremony on the 18th. We'll have that going at 2o'clock at the post. Okay. We also we also are doing a monthly. We're starting a monthly family day, which involves which involves gaming, the actual online gaming for the kids, and a karaoke session at the same time, and that's going to go on the first Sunday of every month, starting at 2o'clock. So, you know, we look we're looking for some young young folks to bring your kids on out and enjoy a day of fun with us here at the post. And of course, we've got Labor Day coming up, so we'll be doing a little session over there for Labor Day as well.

Dave Washington 5:45
Okay, but like

Tony Marshall 5:46
I said, we're looking to take the post into a totally new direction, and just just opening the doors and saying welcome to all the young veterans and trying to get them involved in the veteran programs that we have available.

Dave Washington 5:59
Excellent, excellent. Well, one thing I know about your record of getting things done, man, you don't talk about as the old single Tony B about it. So please, man, and certainly we'll keep you in prayer to to move things forward, as I know you will do, because you just got that kind of energy about you, and I think it's excellent to do what you're doing in terms of adding a family element to what you're doing.

Tony Marshall 6:24
Okay, and I just I just heard you mention something about golf tournament. I'm proud to say that I just completed the PGA Hope class over at Las Vegas Sunrise at Las Vegas, and I am I am now ready to go.

Dave Washington 6:43
All right, so you ready to roll out there on that golf course? Excellent. Cool, cool. But yeah, once again, I just love the fact that you've added a family element to what you're going to be doing over at Post State. I think that's extremely important, man, to get them youngsters involved in things that's excellent, and the family in of itself.

Tony Marshall 7:04
Okay, and and and here's here's here's a word out. If if anyone has a junior baseball team, the youth baseball team, we're trying to find a team that we can sponsor. So if anyone that anyone has a baseball team that they might want to have a sponsor,

Dave Washington 7:21
give us the address so we can encourage people to stop by, Tony.

Tony Marshall 7:25
That's American Legion Post Eight 733 Veterans Memorial Drive, and that's basically downtown Las Vegas between Las Vegas Boulevard Main Street on Bonanza.

Dave Washington 7:38
Yep, and right down the street from the fire station, fire station one, our central fire station, our number one fire station. I I've been by the post a few times in the past, but and now that you're there, I want to make sure I make a few stops by. I think it's important to to share and do the things that you're doing for those who, like myself, did not go to Vietnam, were never never involved in an actual conflict, but certainly I did serve in the United States Army. So we appreciate what you're doing, Tony. So continue that work, and anytime you got something that needs to be announced, let me and Wes know here, and we will get it on the air for you because we think it's important to be a part of community.

Tony Marshall 8:19
I certainly appreciate the opportunity to come on and speak out, and just just know that we will be upgrading our hours down there. We we've got some a couple of new bartenders coming in, so we're we're trying to stretch it out so we're open almost every day.

Dave Washington 8:36
Well, that's that's a good point. So, what are your current hours? I think that's important to share with our listening audience,

Tony Marshall 8:41
well, right right now we're basically open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 from 10 o'clock, and Mondays we open at one, and close on Tuesdays. But like I said, again, that'll be changing real soon, sometime this month, where we'll be open at 10 o'clock every day. So just just keep keep that in mind as you come out.

Dave Washington 9:02
And what time, what what what hour do you close, generally?

Tony Marshall 9:06
Oh, we close we close when we close. Oh,

Dave Washington 9:09
okay. You got a crowd, you keep working it up. All right. Well, Tony, we we once again appreciate you not only for and and wish you success and congratulate you on becoming the commander of American Legion Post 10, but also for the work that you've done in the past, because you know I've shared your number and text information and email with a lot of folks that you've helped, and we appreciate you for your service, my man. So take care, Tony, and great success to you

Tony Marshall 9:38
again. And thank you, Dave, for having me on today.

Dave Washington 9:40
All right. Once again, Las Vegas. This is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and more. We just had the great Tony Marshall. He is now the commander of an American Legion Post 10 on Memorial Drive, right downtown Las Vegas. Post eight. Post eight. I'm sorry. Post eight. Slipper tongue. Slipper tongue. Slipper tongue. Post eight on. Memorial Drive, right downtown Las Vegas. Thanks, Tony.

Tony Marshall 10:03
All right, thanks again. Thanks again, Dave.

Dave Washington 10:05
All right, sure. Once again, Las Vegas. This is Veterans Affairs plus on 91.5 jazz and more. We have on the line coming in from the East Coast, a brother that I am proud to call colleague, also fellow instructor. Even though this is my first time back in the classroom this year, brother Muhammad, at the arm twisting of Gene and Bert, I told, "Man, I'm done, man. Let the old fella going going on out the pasture, man. But this brother, for those of you don't know Las Vegas and around the world, as they listen to the show, Brother Muhammad is a fire service colleague of mine, and he's also a fellow instructor at the Carl Holmes Executive Development Institute, and we're currently housed at Dillard University. Well, one one of the reasons why I ask Brother Muhammad if he'd come in and spend a little time with us, because there's so many disasters that are occurring. And I know he had a show once upon a time. I don't know if he's back on the air yet, but he talked about and gave people information. And I asked him if he would come and and talk about disaster preparedness on this show, because I think it's when God gives you a platform, you use your platform for the good of all. So, brother Muhammad, how's everything going in your life, sir?

Yusuf Muhammad 11:28
I'm good, and I'm grateful, Chief Washington. Even better now to hear your wonderful voice, sir. And greetings and salutations to your listening audience.

Dave Washington 11:37
Yeah, man, you got that voice. I'm I'm watching Wes over there smile, but he's adjusting me because you got that all that bass and stuff. You know, I be trying to get a little bit of Wes laughing over there. All right, brother Muhammad. So, how's everything going?

Yusuf Muhammad 11:51
Yeah, I'm good, beloved. You know, as you stated before, I was a part of a program called Disaster Awareness for Community Preparedness. I co-host the program for about 15 years with Brother Rudolph Muhammad, and I know we've been off the year off the air for a couple of years, but we're still planning to return because of the critical hour that we're living in regard regarding disaster preparedness and

Dave Washington 12:24
yes sir I'm

Yusuf Muhammad 12:25
just great to be on your program and I thank God for you brother and the wonderful work you've done the wonderful work you're doing and by God's grace and mercy the wonderful work you will do in the future sir

Dave Washington 12:38
I appreciate how are you I'm well, man. I'm still down. I'm struggling to get my weight back. But as far as overall health, Martian, I was down in July. We'll go back in October for my fourth and final evaluation of 2026, and then probably back again four times in 27. It's all contingent upon what my oncologist say. If she releases me, then I'll go down twice a year, and then get down to once a year. So I feel very blessed, and man, thank you for your prayers, you and your family and other colleagues, man. People think that I'm so strong. I say my strength comes from people. I don't, you know. And it's funny, brother Muhammad. We'll get to to the disaster preparedness, but I but I'm laughing only because I've learned of many others to include when we were down for our 35th anniversary in our session, summer session for the Carl Holmes Executive Development Institute this summer. There was a couple of guys came up to me and they they had struggled through cancer, and they were so proud of me for. I said, "Man, I've been such a public figure most of my adult life, I need help with others. I need that's just how I am, and you know, and and we're all so different. We're all so different, but I appreciate you and those who have been in my corner. It gives me strength. So again, let's talk about some of the things that that that one can do in terms of preparing themselves, because we just don't know where things may happen. As this thing that happened the other day where that, where I guess it was an iceberg went off into and just caused a what is it called a tsunami? I forget the name of the tsunami. Tsunami, yes, yeah,

Yusuf Muhammad 14:14
in Nepal, right?

Dave Washington 14:15
Yeah, Marsha keeps wiping. I say, why do you keep watching it? I don't want to watch it. It traumatizes me. But anyway, please.

Yusuf Muhammad 14:23
No, no. I mean, it's really the time we're living in, and and to the degree that whether or not we watch catastrophic incidents or just watch the weather, watch the Weather Channel.

Dave Washington 14:38
Right.

Yusuf Muhammad 14:38
You know, if you just look at the last two weeks out there by you. There was flash flooding at the Grand Canyon.

Dave Washington 14:46
That's right. And Marsha mentioned it, and she said, "There's some people got washed away. I'm like, "What at the Grand Canyon?

Yusuf Muhammad 14:52
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And even though it's in it last in Alaska, they've already experienced you. You know, snow up there than they've ever experienced it this time of of the year, and so that's unusual. You're talking about 1000s without power in Gary, Indiana. I don't know if you got that intel because mainstream media didn't really cover it a lot, but you're talking about anywhere from 10 days to two weeks.

Dave Washington 15:23
Yes, being

Yusuf Muhammad 15:24
without power.

Dave Washington 15:26
Yes,

Yusuf Muhammad 15:26
right. And then if we go back not too far, but the water crisis in Flint, Michigan,

Dave Washington 15:33
right,

Yusuf Muhammad 15:34
in Jackson, Mississippi, very

Dave Washington 15:36
true, in Newark,

Yusuf Muhammad 15:37
New Jersey. You talk about America in terms of the urban infrastructures, maybe not in Vegas where you are, but most of these cities are older cities,

Dave Washington 15:50
right?

Yusuf Muhammad 15:51
So you have you know the the urban urban infrastructure being compromised all over America with you know piping bursting, and I mean, this is the reason why we should really be concerned about developing preparedness in terms of disaster. We used to say you have to be aware before you can prepare. Thus,

Dave Washington 16:16
right, the

Yusuf Muhammad 16:17
name of our program: disaster awareness for community preparedness. We ask that you ask yourself, where will you be when disaster strikes? You could be at home. Your loved ones could be in another location. Be at work.

Dave Washington 16:38
The

Yusuf Muhammad 16:38
elders could be at a library, the or social community center. The youth could be at a mall. So, have we planned for that? You know that you have that book about the P's, and you know this being a veterans program. You know those 6p's. Proper prior planning prevents poor performance.

Dave Washington 17:04
That's true. When

Yusuf Muhammad 17:05
it comes to disaster preparedness, we need to think about those 6p's as best we can.

Dave Washington 17:10
Right. As best

Yusuf Muhammad 17:11
we can. All we can do is as best we can, and if everybody does a little, nobody has to do a lot. Very

Dave Washington 17:18
true. And I can tell you that Marsha never listened to to your the show that you spoke about, but she has man she she keeps so much water and couple of other items, even though we don't have what is it called a go bag or whatever they call this thing. And I know I should know the proper terminology as a as a fire service retired fire

Yusuf Muhammad 17:41
service professional. Now they call it a go back. You know where you know the essential items that you need in case of emergency, because when emergency happens on a disaster level, you don't know whether you're going to get the call to shelter in place, or to evacuate. So a go bag is like a bag that you keep your essential items in in mind. That if you have to survive for 72 hours,

Dave Washington 18:15
right,

Yusuf Muhammad 18:16
three days, that in this bag you would have the essentials for survival, whether you're sheltering in place. But if you have to evacuate, you might have more in your home

Dave Washington 18:29
to

Yusuf Muhammad 18:30
prepare with essential items. But if you have to evacuate, then I'm humbly suggesting that you consider everyone in your family having a gold bag,

Dave Washington 18:42
okay,

Yusuf Muhammad 18:43
right? Because there may be some essentials that you need that maybe your wife don't need, but she she's going to have some essentials that are going to be specific to her survival as your children, as your grandchildren, and whether you're a baby or whether you're an elder, if you're going to pack a go bag, make sure that each one is able to carry it.

Dave Washington 19:10
Good point, excellent point. You know, we had the CERC program that Tim Samansky, our former PIO for Las Vegas Fire and Rescue, and I know they did a class, and and and they would talk about the essentials as you have mentioned that you would go. In fact, they had some that they actually gave out to the students who participated in the program. You know, in in my lame thought back in the day, I just didn't think about hey man, I have access to those. I should probably have a couple of at my own home, but but in that they appear to, if my recollection is correct, they were about the size of a normal backpack, if you will.

Yusuf Muhammad 19:50
That's correct.

Dave Washington 19:51
Okay, all right.

Yusuf Muhammad 19:52
That's correct. It's it's interesting you should say that, Chief, because I was on Capitol Hill back in. Let's just say 15 years ago. I can say it was October 28th because that was the day that my first granddaughter was born. But I was amongst other firefighter personnel, heads of their organizations. First, some of the organizations were nonprofits. Some of organizations were not for profit, and some of the organizations were for profit.

Dave Washington 20:27
Right.

Yusuf Muhammad 20:28
And there was a man by the name of Serino. At the time, he was the assistant director at FEMA, and it was about 30 of us in the room. And he asked all of us to raise our hand. Who in here has their own personal survival kits at home, in the car, at work, at school, and you know I was only one of maybe six people who raised their hands.

Dave Washington 20:56
Wow! And these were

Yusuf Muhammad 20:58
leaders of you know fire service organizations throughout the country. At that time, there was a massive flood in Kentucky, and so you know, before he gave us the assessment, his assessment of what happened in Kentucky at that time with that flood, he just asked us the simple question: How many of you have go bags and survival kits. So it's just something for your listening audience to think about. No matter what your station in life, we say disaster doesn't discriminate.

Dave Washington 21:31
Very true.

Yusuf Muhammad 21:32
It doesn't care your ethnicity, your way of devotion, your school of thought.

Dave Washington 21:38
Right.

Yusuf Muhammad 21:40
Disaster doesn't take holidays off. It doesn't take lunch breaks. You know, I mean, it was it was extraordinary what we saw in Nepal. But my God, it was it looked like a sunny day.

Dave Washington 21:52
Right, right. And all of a sudden,

Yusuf Muhammad 21:54
before that tsunami hit and that water came up over that building, and the rest is history. The last report I got earlier today were over 1000 dead and 1000s still missing.

Dave Washington 22:06
Wow! Let me ask you: So, is there a website that you may recall that one can go to to at least do some further, you know, delving into disaster preparation? Because I think it's important for us to share that if if there, I'm assuming that something does exist.

Yusuf Muhammad 22:27
Oh yeah, plenty exist. I'll just start with FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Association, and I believe it's you know forward slash get ready.gov. You know FEMA forward slash ready get ready.gov and they have a whole plethora of information. There are others too,

Dave Washington 22:50
right?

Yusuf Muhammad 22:50
But you can start with that. You can also, with this technology today, get what do you call apps on your phone, you can get apps on your phone, even locally. That, like you said, the cert teams locally, but you can get apps that can tie you into you know news networks, and certainly they have their or the weather channel. That certainly they have their finger on the pulse of things relative to you know, disaster preparedness, what the weather is going to be like in your area, your local fire department, and and emergency management agencies in your city, in your municipality, that would be a good start. And then I'm sure they'll recommend other resources and references that you could go to if that be your desire.

Dave Washington 23:46
Right. No, I think that's that's good information to share because you just don't know when, like you say, it was a sunny day and Paul and and suddenly, bam. So that preparation and those things that you've shared are important for our listening audience to include me and my family, to take heed to, and it's interesting and very important that each one have their own. Wes just gave me a five sign, so we still got five minutes, which is great. So that we all have our own personal bag. That's important.

Yusuf Muhammad 24:22
Yes, sir.

Dave Washington 24:23
Yeah. So we'll we'll make sure we continue to share that information with others. And once again, this is Veterans Affairs plus on 91.5 jazz and more. I have a fire service colleague, retired lieutenant. What was it? White Plains, I believe. That's Correct, sir. Yeah, department, fire department. That's on just giving us some expert information in regards to preparing for any disaster. I mean, we've got to take heed with all the things that are going on in the climate, the environment. That anything can occur anytime, anywhere. And as you mentioned, nice and sunny day. All of a sudden, tsunami tsunami hit. So we've got to be and to include right here near home for those of us here in the state of Nevada, in the city of Las Vegas, right down the highway at the Grand Canyon. There's some people they had a flash flood, and we know how flash floods when they flash floods can just put down so much water and and and be gone in 10 minutes. That is just and the environment seems to be studies shifting where some people think that oh there's no global warming oh something's going on and people we got to take heed so we really appreciate yeah not to mention sure go ahead

Yusuf Muhammad 25:36
yes sir the incidents I think it was a hawk fire out there by you somewhere. I don't know if it was Utah. I know it was out there in the West Coast. They called it the Hawk Fire, but it's nothing. You know that's what they called it in that area. But wildfires, you know, on the West Coast. You know that. You know we saw that that that wonderful video that L.A. County put together on the fires that they had out there a year or two ago,

Dave Washington 26:04
right? But

Yusuf Muhammad 26:05
back to some of the essentials, if I may, just you know, you want to consider not only your medication, water, of course, but you know your cooking methods are going to change if you have to. You know, you're not going to have that beautiful commercial stove that you have in that that wonderful kitchen. You you you need to consider what what are recipes gonna be. Right, right. If I have to move out, survival of the fittest. You always think, as you know, in our profession, safety and shelter. You got to think your topography is-is it mostly warm weather? Is it mostly cold weather? And it might be warm to the day and cold at night.

Dave Washington 26:49
Right. You

Yusuf Muhammad 26:50
got to think sanitation, the elderly, your family, your friends. When you talk about collaboration, you really going to know who your family. Everybody becomes family

Dave Washington 27:02
when

Yusuf Muhammad 27:02
disaster strikes because everybody has a natural propensity to survive.

Dave Washington 27:08
Exactly.

Yusuf Muhammad 27:08
So, if anybody in your quarters is visually impaired, hearing impaired, mobility impaired, whether you're a single working parent or non-English speaking parent, all of these things are going to be highlighted during disaster. You know, again, you know how many women are going to be with you when when things happen. They have their particular needs. We talked about my mother-in-law with intellectual disabilities or dementia.

Dave Washington 27:40
Right.

Yusuf Muhammad 27:40
All of these things we should consider before it happens, because I mean, for those of you who may know the story of Noah, N O A H in the scripture, we used to ask the question on our program: When did Noah, the prophet Noah, build the ark. The answer is before the flood came. So we need to start building our ark before the flood came. And speaking of Noah, N O A A, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, I believe that's another resource that you can go to to help you prepare.

Dave Washington 28:25
All right. Well, again, this retired colleague of mine, also international president of the International Association of Black Professional Firefighters, Joseph Yusup. We prefer to call him. That's the the real deal, Muhammad. Thank you, brother. We appreciate you because I think that our listening audience can learn a lot from all the information that you just shared with us. So once again, this is Veterans Affairs Plus on 91.5 Jazz and more. Signing off until next week. We thank Wes and we thank you, brother Muhammad, for for sharing with our with our listening audience.

Yusuf Muhammad 29:00
Thank you, Chief. I salute you, your listening audience, and Brother Wes. Have a wonderful day on purpose, family. God bless.

Dave Washington 29:07
Take care. Thanks. All the smoke in the air, feel the hate when they stare. All the pain that we bear.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai