Veteran's Affairs Plus W/ David L. Washington

Kevin Krall 0:00
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Unknown Speaker 0:42
You can see what's going on what's going on? What's going on?

Unknown Speaker 0:57
Good morning, Las Vegas Veterans Affairs plus on 91.5, jazz and more. I'm Dave Washington, your host and glad and pleased to be here again on another Saturday morning. This is the month for mothers and I certainly want to acknowledge my wife, Marsha, my daughter's April, Angel Amber is great mother's and, and I got to yes in the house. I'd be remiss if I didn't also say Happy Mother's Day to miss Deb. Deborah, Captain Green's wife and I still call him Captain even though he's been retired. I don't know how long but we're gonna get into some discussion with him shortly. I think it's important once again to talk about mothers in particular briefly. And I want to say that, and I said it last week, and I'll say it again, fade duck and Daniel should be in a dictionary when they describe mother's her daughter Mia was a special needs child. And this young lady lived she was 50 years old. And I guarantee you in my heart of hearts cap. I know was because of that mother's love that she put on that child because I didn't expect for this baby to last 10 years. And she lasted 50 years. That's wonderful. Yes, absolutely. Again, I want to mention that. Damon Brooks is having a function. It's called veterans in residence. The function will be held in town square on May 24. He mentioned he was briefly on the show last week. And I tried to get him back on again before the month is out. My grandson again Karen is having a basketball championship and we're wishing him well. With that I'm going to get our guest in. This is retired captain Lehmann Greene. How're you doing?

Unknown Speaker 2:47
I'm doing good, Dave. Thanks for having me.

Unknown Speaker 2:48
Oh, for sure. Hey, man, tell us what branch of the service and how long did you serve?

Unknown Speaker 2:54
Well, I a lot of folks don't know. But I did four years in the Air Force. And 19 years in the Army. You

Unknown Speaker 3:02
went from the Air Force to the army? Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 3:04
there's a lot a lot of jokes about that. Well, I

Unknown Speaker 3:06
didn't mean because, you know, I recall being at a National Fire Protection Association meeting was a metro ticket anyway, this guy said, man, he was an air it was an Air Force General. He said, we're the only ones who sent our officers into war. You know, because the other the other officers were not officers necessarily, but other men and women did back prepared the planes, loading the bombs, and then we fly out into the war zone. So you went from the Air Force. So what did you do? Well, in the, in the,

Unknown Speaker 3:41
in the army, in the Air Force, I was a security specialist, nuclear weapons and that kind of thing, an aircraft. And then when you go from the Air Force to the army, the army doesn't care. You had to start over, you had to go to basic training. Then I went to Infantry School. And that was an enlisted infantryman with airborne and all the stuff you do when you're young. And then I had made staff sergeant and we were training with the seals in Coronado, California. And my colonel, my officer comes up and goes, how much college do you have? Sir, I have three years do you want to be an officer? So they sent me back to college for one year at home in Chicago, and made me a lieutenant. Then I retired. I actually retired I made major but a lot of folks don't know that. But since the moniker Captain stuck since I was the recruiting commander out here as a captain, I'll take it. So

Unknown Speaker 4:34
actually, retired Major money and that's the that's what matters most. Excellent, excellent. So while in the army, and you did how many years in army?

Unknown Speaker 4:47
I did. I did. 19. And then why we chose total federal service was 23 years. 23

Unknown Speaker 4:50
years. Okay. Cool. So what did you do when you discharge? What was your What was that for? First thing on your mind to do, what

Unknown Speaker 5:01
I wanted to do was nothing. It didn't work that way. I got, I got hired by a company out here used to I don't know if it exists anymore called caravan. Well, you remember here and I was the general manager of a caravan. Yes, right. That's right, Mr. Luna, and then I went on to, you know, work with him on other ventures. And now, what I'm doing now is, you

Unknown Speaker 5:27
know, you have quite a story. And that's one of the things that I always feel important when I ask. And again, this is a veterans affairs show. And I like to get veterans aren't here to talk about some of their experiences. And then you have a well rounded experience. You get out of the military, and become a general manager of

Unknown Speaker 5:45
paratransit as a company.

Unknown Speaker 5:49
But you also did a lot of logistics work, as I recall,

Unknown Speaker 5:52
what happened, I was very fortunate to be accepted to the Army's Logistics Management College in Fort Lee Virginia. And that's a year long school with nothing but logistical training. And you actually get a master's degree in logistics out of it. Wow. Which is, it was a tough course, make no mistake, but what folks don't understand. And and I'll put this in the right perspective, you notice that you'll hear news brief that will say we have 10,000 troops in an area. A quarter of those troops are what we used to call the killers. The other troops are the logistical troops, you got to feed them, you got to supply and you got to get on bullets, you got to begin beans, you got to give them fuel, so forth and so on. So it logistics and then you take those same principles and apply them out here in the civilian world. It'll it'll work for you, right?

Unknown Speaker 6:46
You know, I tell people all the time, people who have not been in military fire service, I said, Amazon is logistics. That's all logistics. That's all it is. It's logistics vehicles, they move and stuff from place to place. And they've got it so mechanized. And they just steady raking it in.

Unknown Speaker 7:08
That's right. That's right. So the logisticians dream is Amazon.

Unknown Speaker 7:14
So during that time, when you were the general manager of that particular company caravan, what was some of the challenges that you may have had?

Unknown Speaker 7:24
One of the challenges and I think this applies to any business is a keeping people trained, keeping them licensed? In safety training, right? If you get, you know, once you get you get passed a little, everything's gonna be okay. The customers are going to be there for that particular business, the customers will there. So it's all about keeping people current, you know, what their licensing and their safety training and any insurances and that that was one of the hardest things to do. All

Unknown Speaker 7:55
right. Interesting. You had to resume because I know that if you don't keep people train, because one of the first things that particularly in the fire service, if somebody is trying to sue, they want to look at your training, right? Absolutely. These people know what they're doing or not. That's a very, very variable that you mentioned. You're from Chicago, born

Unknown Speaker 8:16
and raised, born and raised on the west side of Chicago. Got lucky enough to go to a high school on the north side of Chicago, which was a today's version of a college prep called Lane Technical High School. So all of my brothers, we all grew up on the west side. And it was an interesting we had a we had good fun. It was a good life. Now, how

Unknown Speaker 8:36
many brothers have two younger brothers, sisters?

Unknown Speaker 8:39
Oh, I had I have a sister that passed away. Okay. And it's an older brother. That does live here.

Unknown Speaker 8:46
Okay, cool. So tell us about, again, I'm trying to to have you to share what you've already been doing. What you what you're doing now, with regards to what you learn in the military. Well, how has it helped you? Well,

Unknown Speaker 9:08
the key thing I think, to answer your question is the fact that the military did set me up and prepare me for what I'm doing right now I'm, I work for a large equipment rental company called United rentals, Skip, I can say that Chu, who recently purchased a term rentals. I heard about that. And I am the federal programs manager for the company for the entire corporation, which means that I'm in charge of all of the federal contracts and contracts because we do a lot of work with the federal government. Right, right.

Unknown Speaker 9:37
So part of

Unknown Speaker 9:39
logistical training at the logistics college was contracting.

Unknown Speaker 9:43
I'm laughing because you talked about a blessing and I know you know, you bless me to fall into this. A hurt I mean, United rentals and doing what you do. All this logistics work and then you are handling the federal Aside federal state, which is got to be huge dollars for their company, it's, it's,

Unknown Speaker 10:04
I would say 50 $60 million a year. And we have a state and local side that handles only state and local governments. And so it's it's pretty nice.

Unknown Speaker 10:14
So you're doing the federal I do federal, federal. Excellent. So how long have you been waiting?

Unknown Speaker 10:19
I've been with him about 10 years. How long? 10 years,

Unknown Speaker 10:21
man how time flies,

Unknown Speaker 10:23
time flies. That's right.

Unknown Speaker 10:24
What was that gentleman that used to come by? But by the seas? Was he was he in it? Was he in your company? No Caucasian gentleman?

Unknown Speaker 10:31
Oh, Tony. Now he's a he's a heavy duty wheel Vehicle Mechanic. Oh, heavy duty mechanic for keyword.

Unknown Speaker 10:38
Oh, okay. All right. So what is the plan? In terms of continued career within this this type of logistical type business? Well,

Unknown Speaker 10:50
we're doing pretty good. So I'm calling to stay put, I think the company pays well, in that that always helps. Oh, for sure. What we're doing what I'm trying to do right now we hire more veterans than most companies in America.

Unknown Speaker 11:07
Are you veterans out there listening? I hope that you are, okay,

Unknown Speaker 11:13
we have a website if you go to United rentals.com and go to the careers page, and we have 2500 locations in America. So there's a job for somebody. There's a position you might like it could be an inside sales rep. It could be in marketing, it could be any any number of things, and that changes daily. So they're their opportunities. They have all veterans, we love veterans. Well,

Unknown Speaker 11:37
this is great, you guys, because I know, you know, when I have somebody on the show, such as Captain green, it's, it's a godsend. So closing remarks and any advice you would give to those who are listening, particularly veterans out there.

Unknown Speaker 11:52
The one thing I've seen since I retired, is there are a lot of veterans who have benefits with because of military service that they don't take advantage of right. I'll give you an example. I know somebody who did 186 days on active duty, that's it and qualify for healthcare to VA, I had a knee replaced, right. So all you had to do was get that DD Form 214, which is your discharge paper. And you can do that online. Or if you go up to the VA hospital. And by the way, the VA hospital here compared to some other VA hospitals is very good. So go get your benefits. And that's that if I can give you an eight Oh, get

Unknown Speaker 12:31
your benefits. And I know Jean has said he'll say to me, man, you're looking right across the table, because he's been trying to get me to apply for some stuff that I I need to go here to do. And in fact, I only got another month because they give you a window of opportunity to do once you file which gets

Unknown Speaker 12:46
your benefits, you earn those yields. And a lot of people there's been been a big healthcare thing. Some healthcare is better than no, that's right, very difficult in the VA hospital and get your benefits through.

Unknown Speaker 13:00
Well, Captain green, I appreciate it. And as you know, I had your wife on last month, and she did a great job with you. And thank you so much. I appreciate it and look forward to having you back on again. Because I think that when you talk about the various jobs that you have within your company, the veterans need to hear about it. So thank you. Thank you, Dave. Good morning. Once again, this is Veterans Affairs plus on 91.5, jazz and more. I'm Dave Washington, your host. I'm excited to introduce my next guest. Brother Jim, he's an avid golfer, and I don't want to butcher his last name. So I'm gonna let him say his own last name. Go for Jim.

Unknown Speaker 13:45
Jim, it's Jim McCarthy. Because

Unknown Speaker 13:48
I do my you do.

Unknown Speaker 13:51
Good. Good. Thank you for having me. For sure.

Unknown Speaker 13:53
Jim. As we talked as we are on the golf course, you mentioned that you have family members who are pilots as you are who and how did they get trained?

Unknown Speaker 14:06
Well see I've come from a couple of pilots. I have an uncle and I, as in I have a nephew that are pilots. They are on the airline side and I am on the corporate side. Okay.

Unknown Speaker 14:16
So where did they get their training from and then yourself.

Unknown Speaker 14:21
See, they are specifically talking about my cousin he flew an F 16 in the Air Force. And my use flew in the Air Force as well. My uncle flew for Pan M airlines a long long time ago that tells you my age. Oh yeah, I did. Or to the I did it the I started out just building some time and flew air ambulance for a while then flew freight and then got involved with the airlines. But I retired from them and then went to the corporate sector and had been there for about 36 years.

Unknown Speaker 14:54
But wait a minute. So how did you learn to pilot a plane You see us out there on the tiller, tell us about that journey.

Unknown Speaker 15:08
So again, oh, coming from pilots in my family, they military route and of course military trained pilots. i And i Looking back, I probably should have done that because it would have cost a lot less. So I did it the hard. I went out and just started building my time I rented an airplane and instructor and we went out and did numerous hours and days. And it took almost to my first private by since I think it was about almost a year or so. And I built up a bet by 70 hours, because in those small little piston aircraft, they don't go very far they don't go fare fast, right. So you start building time that way, and then you, you get your private license, and then you build up to a commercial license. When you have a commercial, then you can charge for your services. And then you have to move on to instrument multi engine and then ATP. And ATP is typically somebody who has about 1500 hours. So it takes a little in the beginning to the where I went. Like I said it's not not the path you choose. Now that's for sure.

Unknown Speaker 16:18
So as as a child, was that an interest of yours? Or did you just all of a sudden decide? And I asked this question because I got a grandson. He was he's 16 Now, and now he seems to be moving toward basketball. But he was so in even had one of these little deals where you could fly the plane land the plane, I mean, they got so many different toys or tools or whatever you want to call it. It was fascinating to see how he was able to lay in his big plane.

Unknown Speaker 16:48
Yeah, you know, David, if anybody that is interested in aviation in today's world, it's endless. What you can do, it really is they the airlines are aware of the shortage of pilots, the military training as many pilots as they used to. So you can fast track yourself, you know, very, very quickly. And you there, many of the airlines have programs where you get in early and they build your time for you and they build your ratings and they build your license. And so it's if you're interested in aviation, it's exciting to be a part of it right now. And the technology that how the aircraft flies, and it's so different than it was in years past. And that's just like everything, right? But it's, it's exciting to be if you're interested in you want to be a pilot today.

Unknown Speaker 17:38
So who do you pilot for? Or do you own your own company? How does it work has your life working in that industry.

Unknown Speaker 17:49
So I took the the corporate sector, so I've worked for many corporations throughout my career. So in this situation, I'm a very unique situation. So I own a company that we manage aircraft for company, and I can't go specifically who I fly for, but we fly major Fortune 20 company and some private citizens that are, are very well to do. And it allows me to slide the family and the corporation side of things. So it's in very, very unique, very fortunate to fly for these people. And I've been flying for them for quite some time. Wow.

Unknown Speaker 18:31
So as a pilot in owning a company or a part of a company, whatever the case may be, you sit and you guys actually have planes or the planes of these different companies that you may work for how to give us an update or an understanding of that if you would

Unknown Speaker 18:54
show the aircrafts are actually owned by the corporation, the indoor the private, so that in order for them to do certain types of leases that the FAA approves, the pilots need to be separate from the aircraft, which means that the owner doesn't have control of the aircraft. So the company then which would be my company has control aircraft. So it's a separation to do and that's how the IRS views it. That's how the FAA views it. So that's how the structure of what I do so we have many aircraft in the fleet, and people that are in there, so they own the aircraft, we just provide the infrastructure of the pilots and mechanics and how to operate it.

Unknown Speaker 19:42
Okay, so you you're responsible, but they pay I assume for the maintenance of the aircraft.

Unknown Speaker 19:50
That's correct. Yeah. So it's a you know, kind of a one stop shop, they provide all those services for them and they just cut a check to us and we move on from there. So So it's a very good system. But it's a pretty unique system that I do. Some corporations just have a corporate aircraft within their corporation, or if are fortunate enough to own your own aircraft, they call that self manage. And you can do that as well. Just a little bit more, the structure is different, right?

Unknown Speaker 20:19
So as far as payroll is concerned, you run your own payroll of the pilots who fly these companies airplanes for your company. Correct? That's correct. Okay. All right. Golf, let's get to some golf. My friend, how long have you been golfing?

Unknown Speaker 20:38
You know, I, I started early on my life. I was, when I was a kid, we used to, I'm gonna say it, we used to hop over the fence over the country club. And, you know, hit some balls, and then run away when somebody used to catch us. But we used to do it and, and I, you know that I played baseball as well. So everything was baseball. And then when I went off, I think it was in those mid 20s or something, somebody started playing again. So I played, and I stopped again, and then restarted about my late 20s into 30s. And ever since then, it's just been a fast lane. And playing golf. I love the game of the competition. I love the camaraderie. I love the people that I play with. As you know, you're part of a group that I play on Monday. And everybody is just fantastic to be around to learn their stories to be around them. I mean, the amount of people and the amount of experiences that everybody has is, it's fascinating to me.

Unknown Speaker 21:40
Absolutely. You know, in our discussion, when I learned that she was a pilot, I'm like, I need to get this guy on the show. Because I think that some of the things that you've already shared will be I think inspiring to include my own grandson to further that. That drive for for becoming a pilot. And as far as golf is concerned, you know, I didn't start I've been retired now. 17 years, I started golfing, right as as I retired, in fact, I tell people, yeah, they asked me do you golf? Yeah, golf, playing in a few of those scrambles, once or twice. So now a unique often that's not a call. And what and another thing I learned from one of my deceased friends, he's a Research Assistant Fire Chief for LA County Fire Department, he said you will learn to play this game, you will hate it otherwise, and you will quit, you're gonna get tired of getting beat, you will get tired of giving people your money. So you'll spend some time and I just need to spend a bit more time lately in golfing and my wife I don't even like to mention to when I did when I'm not putting well because she put a three hole putting green in the backyard for me. So what's the name of the group? And how does one who may want to get involved in a gym? How would they do that?

Unknown Speaker 23:00
Well, it's a it's a lv on the T obviously standard for Las Vegas. And if interested in doing that, they can certainly email me or contact you, David, my email, tell you off off the air or however you want to do it. But we're we're, we have about 65 to 70 members. And we play every month fairly early and we play all over the valley. It's exciting. It really is. I think we have a lot of guys who are very competitive. Yes. And that's good. I like that. I like that, that we're all competitive. We play for a little money here and there, which makes it even more exciting. Right. So it's, it's a fun group. And I think that the you know, the ethics of golf makes the big difference where you know, someone is calling a rule on you or you're off in the in the Tuli somewhere and you have to determine if the ball moved, right, and you're the only one who sees that. Right. I think that's pretty nice that you know, you have to be trusted in the honesty of the game. I

Unknown Speaker 24:07
agree. 100% I always tell people, you know, if you got to cheat, to play golf, you shouldn't be out on the course. Because I can tell you that it's a it's a game that we trust, you got to have some integrity about yourself as you go about the game. And I noticed that there's only maybe a couple of women that are involved. And I know, I know it's a choice if you want to play you can join.

Unknown Speaker 24:38
Oh, absolutely. You know, we have a couple of women that play mat effect one of the women that plays it as a president of another club and she's always with us or tries to be out there as much as she can't she plays more than mainly in the summertime because she travels a lot and season a ladies group. But absolutely, absolutely. You know, we accommodate, you know, different teas. So, when you walk on the first tee and I group, you actually have a chance of winning. And that's a good feeling that you're not, you know, you're not out there just beating around and giving away your money, you actually have a chance to win. So it's a fair system.

Unknown Speaker 25:12
I agree. 100% In fact, that's what I enjoy so much about, particularly, when I when I joined I think we just had the the one flight and then you decided to come up with the A and a B flight and it makes it gives an opportunity for us who aren't so good at the game, you know, not a single digit handicapper, but it gives us an opportunity to get something back from time to time. And that keeps you coming back for sure. And I think it's a fair way to do things. For sure.

Unknown Speaker 25:42
Absolutely, absolutely. You know, obviously, you know that we're involved in a match play event that you know, goes out for a couple of months. And then that tell you that the higher handicappers are beating most of the single digit handicappers. So it's good to see that those guys are holed up and it's Let's see, oh,

Unknown Speaker 25:59
yeah, you know, those strokes really helped me because I remember when I played Smith, retired a police officer from from Henderson. And he said, and I think you told me somebody said, if you play back here, you won't give him as many strokes. I'm like, You know what, I think I've got to play back there. Because it made so much sense that if you give up too much, you more than likely, you got to play really, really well. So I say, you know, it's part part of his strategy to some extent, you know, as you go out and play and another thing that with my, my game, sometimes I gamble too much. And I will and I'm not talking about the money gambling, I'm talking about going out to shots that I have not practice. And one thing I know, and you've you've told me several times, amen. Did you hit any balls, and I know that it's important to get your body loose, but I generally stretch before I come out on the course. Jim, it's very good to have you on the show. Any parting words for for golf as well as any interest you might stir up in young folks as far as becoming a pilot.

Unknown Speaker 27:16
But like I said before, I think it's an exciting time. If you're young, and you're even interested in flying in, there's so many avenues. And please, if anybody calls in and you want to give them my name and number, I'd be happy to talk to them. It's really, really a fabulous career that I've had. And, and moving forward. It's there's so much going on in aviation. And so as far as golf, yeah, you know, I just love the game. I love the people. And it's, it's just, you need to experience is the only thing that I can still do with my sons as a sport. And you know, for the five hours that we spend together, it's, it's, it's very meaningful to me. Absolutely.

Unknown Speaker 28:02
You know, and I tell people all the time that I play with some guys like, and I know he's a veteran, I want to get him on the show. Gosh, I know that my mind has gone blank. But he's, I think he's 8384. He don't hit it real long. But he's very, very accurate. And I recall one time I was went to WSGA conference up in, not conference, but a tournament up in Denver. And I had just turned 55 or 56. No, it had to be 56 because I had just retired. Oh, senior flight. And I want to why everybody laughing because I told him I had sign up for senior play fight. They say those old dudes gonna beat you down and they did. Not very far, maybe one 175 185 straight down a fairway, I'm all over the place. And I didn't do very well, let's say man, go as a guest, or go into a flight along with that fits your handicap. Don't think because it's 55 and older, that those guys can't play golf because they just they beat me down. They beat me real bad. Jim, I appreciate one the advice and the information that you've shared as far as piloting, and also certainly the work that you and your team do with the golf events that we do. I appreciate it from the standpoint that I don't have to go out and try to figure out where am I going to play on Monday. You guys set us up well, and, and someone I was telling someone the other day, one thing I enjoy about you and your team. If there's any controversy, y'all don't let it fester. Amen. Let's have a meeting. Let's get this cleared up. And I think that's the honest and a gentleman way of doing things. So Jim, thank you so much. And we'll get you back on the show sometime in the near future because I think you bring value to our show. Oh, thank you Jim.

Unknown Speaker 30:01
Thank you David. Appreciate it. Have a good day

Unknown Speaker 30:04
are you too?

Outro Song 30:38
Tilde hey you

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