 Welcome to the Voice of the Veteran on the ThinkTech Live Streaming Network series, broadcasting from our downtown studio at Pioneer Plaza at the core of downtown Honolulu. I'm your host, Helen Dora-Heiden. Joining me in the studio today is Ron Wisterfeld, Outreach Coordinator, Wounded Warrior Project and a Marine Veteran, and Anthony Chase from HOH 808. He is a Navy Veteran. Very excited to have you gentlemen. Thank you for being on my show. Thank you so much, Helen. Yeah. Thank you. Appreciate it. So today we're going to talk a lot about the Wounded Warrior Project and how they help our veterans in our community. Remember that our talk shows are streamed live on the internet from 12 o'clock noon to 5 o'clock p.m. every Wednesday and earlier shows are streamed all night long. All our shows are streamed on livestream.com. If you want the links to our live streams or previous broadcasts, which are available on youtube.com or if you want to subscribe to our programs or get on our mailing list and get our program advisories, go to thinktechhawaii.com. If you want to pose a question or a comment during one of our shows, please tweet us at thinktechhi. Ron, again, thank you for being my guest and thank you for your service above all. Tell me a little bit about yourself, about the Wounded Warrior Project and how you got involved. So 2015, I medically retired out of the Army. During that time, I did not know what I was going to do. It was a big surprise to me. I just re-enlisted in depth and we were in the middle of buying a house here in Hawaii. So kind of a scary time and everything. And then during that transition process, there's not a lot that one is being a veteran when you're going through. There's a lot of information that's told so you don't retain a lot of it. And then also, once you get out, I call it like the prison gate concept where you have all these amenities at your fingertips when you're in that you can easily have access to. But once you get out, it's kind of like the movie Shawshank Redemption at the end. The prison gate shut, none of those resources are there for you, but nobody's waiting to guide you to what's next in your life. And there, too. Those TAP briefings are great, but they inundate you with so much information. You're kind of lost. I feel I absolutely understand where you're coming from. So during that time, and you'd mentioned two weeks ago in our episode at that brief description, the jewel of the vet centers. So I actually started using my post-911 and didn't know about this work study program and got introduced to the work study program and started doing some outreach through the vet centers, working with Raleigh Alberado and all that. And during that, Wounded Warrior Project was kind of new to the island at the time. And I got to know some of the older coordinators that were out here, Fita Dahona Ellis, who's our warriors to work. And when a job opportunity came up in Wounded Warrior Project here for the state of Hawaii, Fita kind of pulled me over there, helped me out. I never interviewed before in my life or anything straight from high school to military. So it was like interview, the whole interview thing wasn't really happening. So she drilled me on interviews, trained me up and everything, helped me write the resume because the resume that you get when you get out, I like the joke. Looks like it was written in crown. You know, how many resumes do we write when we're active duty? None. None. Right? And a lot of times the resume is the entry I found out, even at the job fairs, now if you don't have a really solid resume, you're not getting past a jar, right? And so a lot of veterans write military ease in their resume and that's not what these employers are looking for. So I'm glad that you had assistance through Wounded Warrior to help you. That's awesome. Because the resume I came out with, I thought it looked good, but I stand corrected. But it's because we don't know how to transition the verbiage from military over to civilians. So I was an infantry guy in the army. All I knew was kick down doors, go camping, can shoot guns. That really don't translate over into the civilian, but when I met up with Fita where I wore yours to work, she was like, well, you were an NCO. Leadership. Leadership. Management. Supervisor. Time management. So all those, but that was verbiage. I didn't understand how to transition, which is a big, it can be a big offset for veterans who are getting out. Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm glad you had the assistance. My dad was a tanker in the army. That did not translate well. You know, can drive tank. Good luck finding a job with that dad, right? And a lot of veterans coming out do not know how to translate. Actually, Google started a new app that military members can download, and it will translate the verbiage, their military stuff over into employable, marketable skills. I think that was a great thing. I just saw that recently advertised, so I was pretty excited about that. But still, it's better to get one-on-one help, especially with somebody that's carrying like your gal was with you. That's amazing. So let me ask you. So Wounded Warrior Project, who is eligible to use your services? So eligible for services are veterans who served on or after September 1, 2011. And the one misconception is a lot of veterans will sit there and think, well, they have to have a physical wound to seek services from us. And that's not the case. We get deployed, we go down range. We're not the same person as we were before we went as when we come back. So if we see deployment on there after the date, and there's no VA disability rating, we'll give benefit of the doubt to the warrior because we know that even though they might not have a disability rating for PTSD or something like that, that we know it's on the fact of preventing that. So maybe it hasn't gotten to the worst, but we'll give the benefit of the doubt to prevent it from getting worse and then also if they need any assistance. Yeah, and some of them are in transition, right? So some of them have filed claims, and sometimes it takes a while for the claim process to work and getting their disability through the VA. So they're in limbo, and they don't know what to do. And so I think that's a great stopgap measure. You can work with the wounded, what is that, warrior assistant, warrior transition program? Yeah, WTB. Yeah, so I work with WTB. I go up there, I give briefs and stuff to veterans who are going through there. If they're going through WTB, then the only thing they have to show is either orders, sending them to WTB will work because a lot of times they don't have their ERB yet or anything. So either orders at WTB, DD 214, sometimes too they have, they might have their VA disability rating depending on how far into the system, so we'll just take that. But none of the information is shared. It's just for us to know on our end, so we know if we have to, for an event, if I have to make sure it's ADA accessible or if I have to get a, or like a scuba diving event, do I have to get an instructor who can do an adaptive scuba? Oh, sure. And I wanted to touch briefly on that. You know, a lot of veterans, when they, when you ask the general public what a disabled vet looks like, I get a lot of this old man, wheelchair, missing limb. And that's why I kind of do what I do because I really want to break the misconception. I'm 100 percenter. You never know it by looking at me, right? And there's a lot of us vets that have unseen disabilities, whether they be psychiatric, whether they be whatever, that's unseen. It just, people need to be more conscious and aware that there's a lot of veterans out there that do not have visible scars or wounds from their service. And just to be mindful of that. So tell me a little bit about some of your key programs that you got going on in the Wooded Warrior Project. Some of our programs that we offer out here are Warriors to Work. So Feet to the Honel, she'll help with resume writing, job interview preparations. She'll do as many preps as you need. I think she did like 20 or 30 on me. But she'll help prep you. And then if you get the employment, or when you get employment, she can help with making sure that you're successful in that transition. So if you need boots for construction job you got, or maybe some, maybe some clothes to get you to your first check so that way you're successful in your transition to that new job. That's amazing because I have met veterans that served 20 plus years and they've worn the uniform and to get them to go buy a suit, they have no idea. Their uniform's been their suit, right? So it's a lot of fun to help them transition over. And there's a couple organizations, especially for female veterans out there that talk about getting them dressed for success. A lot of the colleges have loan closets or closed closets to help people get to that next level for their first interview, whatever. So it's good to know that Wounded Warriors has that for their potential candidates and helps them be successful. And then Ralph Parris, you know him. So he's our benefit guy. He's over in E-wing of Tripler and he helps with filing for disability claims, or if you have a claim already, but you want to get an increase, you can help with that, or if you don't agree with your VA disability rating, he can help with the appeal. I want to touch on Raphael for a minute. I personally have experience with him because he helped my fiance personally. And I kind of have had service work under my belt, so I kind of went and interviewed all the people in that whole E-wing to see how they did it. And Raphael is one of the only service officers that spends a lot of quality time with his veterans and their families, and he will go page by page looking through the medical records. I have yet to meet any other service officer out there that does that, and that's why I entrusted him with my John and my John Adams. And he got a really good return and I cannot speak highly enough of Raphael. I send everybody I know to him because I trust what he does, and I was super excited that you guys picked him up as your service officer. A lot of people go, can I be a winter warrior to use him? And I'm like, no, he's a veteran service officer open to anybody, so you don't have to be part of anything. He's there for us, so that's a great find you guys got in him. Thank you. What else you got going on? So my side of the house, I'm alumni, so I'll do a bunch of the events and everything that go on here around the island. So this Saturday, we have a Pillbox cleanup. We do do some community service events, along with fun events too. So we have, what's Pillbox cleanup? What's that? Pillbox is up at Camp Polyuma, up at Mocha Kilo. And that's something that Mr. Chase does, right? Anthony does kind of clean up like the 808-H-O-H-O-H-808. I butchered his name last week. That's quite all right. Man, so that's kind of what you do, right? It's kind of cleanups and sustainability and all that. So that kind of ties hand in hand with what you guys do. So I met Tony a few years back at the Vet Center. Me and him were working together over there at the West Oahu Vet Center. He always challenged me to push myself and everything. And we just had a great relationship. And he does part cleanups and everything. And it's something that, as Wounded Warrior Project out here, we'll help him with some part cleanups and everything to just help the community out. I think it's great. Veterans being active in the community, bonding with other veterans. Because a lot of times, what we find is veterans that isolate after they get out, they miss that camaraderie shift. And having these different organizations, you will find your place. I really believe that. And just getting back into a group of people that believe in helping one another. And that's what we're all about. And so tell me what else is going on at Wounded Warriors. Tomorrow evening, we have a dinner for our Project Odyssey, which is another program that we offer. And it's through our CSRP team. So they're coming out to explain about the Project Odyssey to some of the warriors at a dinner tomorrow night. CSRP. What's that? Combat Stress Recovery Program. Thanks. A lot of acronyms, right? Yes. Sometimes you forget that. So what they do is like our Project Odyssey. So they'll take, we suggest going out as a single, singles first. And they'll take the veteran out. And they'll kind of get to learn about their trigger points and everything for PTSD. And they also get to make connections. They do fun activities through the week and all that. And all these programs are paid for by Wounded Warrior Project. There's no cost out to the veterans. So for our Project Odyssey's travel, lodging, food, it's all covered. That is great to know. We've got to take a quick short break just to hold that thought. And we'll come back and talk a little bit more after the break. But we're going to take a break. I'm Helen Dora-Heiden. And this is Voice of the Veteran on ThinkTech Livestreaming Network series. We're talking here with Ron. And with Anthony. And we from 8-H-O, I'm going to get this right, you guys. H-O-H-808. We'll be back in a minute, so stay tuned for more of the story. This is ThinkTech Hawaii, raising public awareness. Hey, Stan the Energyman here on ThinkTech Hawaii. And they won't let me do political commentary. So I'm stuck doing energy stuff. But I really like energy stuff. So I'm going to keep on doing it. So join me every Friday on Stan the Energyman at lunchtime, at noon, on my lunch hour. We're going to talk about everything energy, especially if it begins with the word hydrogen. We're going to definitely be talking about it. We'll talk about how we can make Hawaii cleaner, how we can make the world a better place, just basically save the planet. Even Miss America can't even talk about stuff like that anymore. We got it nailed down here. So we'll see you on Friday at noon with Stan the Energyman. We're back. We're live. I'm Helen Dora-Heiden. And this is Voice of the Veteran on ThinkTech live streaming network series. We're talking with Ron and with Anthony. And we are learning all about how Wounded Warriors Projects helps the veterans in the community. And when we took break a second ago, I just wanted to correct one thing. Ron is not a Marine vet. That was my fault. I'm so sorry. You're an Army vet. Hua, not Ura. So I want to make sure everybody knew that. It's not that it matters, but it does matter. I'm an Army vet. But thank you again. And tell me a little bit more about what you do in community outreach and as far as the impact it has on the community. What have you seen that Wounded Warriors has done to really just kind of community whole in support of them? Yes. As an outreach coordinator, I'm the connection piece of the organization. So it's about connecting the Warriors to family support members and vice versa family support members to the Warriors. And connecting Warriors also to our programs that we offer or even connecting them to the right resources. So if it's something Wounded Warrior Project doesn't offer, we're not about making the veteran fail. It's all about getting the veteran to the right resource. So connecting them to the right resource and also connecting them to the community. So when the veteran gets out, a lot of times we'll get out. We don't know what we're going to do. We have a certain, like we hold ourselves to a certain standard. We have a certain way of looking at things. But sometimes that's not understood by the regular civilian community. So we feel like we get pushed away. You start going in on yourself and then you're not seeking help. And then next thing you know is you're just sitting on the couch, surfing Netflix, drinking beer, and not doing anything. And Wounded Warrior Project, we try to stop that. We try to connect them to resources, to one another, to community, and really just spark an interest. What's your next interest? These events aren't just about going out and having a dinner or just going scuba diving and having fun, but it's about connecting them to other family support members, to other family support members who are possibly dealing with the same thing that the veteran's going through. And then introducing the veteran to other veterans and then maybe sparking an interest, maybe taking them out scuba diving. They find out that, hey, I really love scuba diving. I want to learn how to be a scuba diver. We send some of them to the guitar for vets at Rawley and Travis Run. I'll send veterans out that way. And then they find a new passion in music and everything, and it kind of gets them away from drinking, being more productive with their free time. I have a program that DAV, one of our past national commanders, started doing therapy on his own with skiing down a mountain in Colorado. Now it is a huge endeavor. They had blind veterans skiing. They had all these different types of people coming out that never dreamed in a million years they could ever do this. And that's what it's about, right? It's about learning that you have a next chapter in your life, just because you're disabled or you're not disabled forever in your, it's overcoming the physical challenges, but to open up their idea of life does go on and that you are valuable and you can be productive, just like you were when you were active dating. And it's just showing them a different path, a different chapter. I really believe that in my heart. So all right, so tell me how to register for the Wounded Warrior program. So all you have to do is go to WoundedWarriorproject.org. You'll see everyone on the right hand side, there's a button, says register, and then you'll just register. Veteran will register as alumni. None of that information is shared that they give us. It's just so we know when we accept them to an event, is there any accommodations that we have to make for that event, not shared with the VA or anything? It's not gonna, I know the big stigma is if I give this information out, it's gonna keep me from getting a job or anything. It all stays in house. And then after that, about two to three days, they'll receive an email saying if they've been accepted or not, if they need more information. After that, they'll receive every Tuesday comes out at 4 p.m. here is the post that'll have all the events that are going on around the island, around the state. So they'll register for there. After that, they have a family support member. It doesn't have to be a wife or anything. It's whoever they deem is a family support member to them. They can register to them also. And then they're also eligible for our services. That's great. As a family support member. And then they can also sign up for events. Because I know a lot of times, I was guilty of this when I first signed to Wounded Warrior Project. It was my wife who was actually signing me up for the events. I was getting emails and I'm like, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I've been to a couple events for disabled vets. And one was in Alabama, where if you had, there was for blind veterans. So if you were able to see it, they would blind you so that you could experience what these veterans went through. Amazing, amazing event. I hit more trees that weekend, I swear. But I learned to use my other senses. I got a real appreciation of what our blind veterans go through. So give us your resource center phone number. And then I want to chat with Mr. Anthony over here the last few minutes we've got. Go ahead and give us our resource information, the phone number. The resource center phone number is going to be 904-405-1213. I want to thank you again for all the wonderful information about the Wounded Warrior Project. And I extend invitation to any of your staff, any of your veterans that have been through the program that want to be on this show, please reach out. And I'm always, this is the voice of the veteran. This is our voice to explain what we've done in the community, how we've connected people, how the experience has been for us and how we want to help others. So Mr. Anthony, you sat there so patient and quiet. Thank you ma'am. Can you tell us a little bit about your organization? Yes ma'am. It's a HOH 808, short for Huey O'ohua. It's an organization I started after I retired. I went back to school, I went to University of Hawaii. Got my bachelor's and master's in social work. And it gave me the confidence to start my own organization because just like Ron here and it sounds like you yourself, when we got out of the military, we weren't done with serving our community, serving those around us. So I saw something that needed to be done and that old adage when you point a finger, you got three pointing it right back at you. So I was always like, oh, who's gonna clean the short line of Pearl Harbor? Who's gonna clean it up? And finally I said, yeah, it's gonna be me. And so I started my own organization. We're about coming up on four years old. We are a 501 C3. I myself and retired Navy CB. I was a senior chief petty officer. Did three tours in Iraq. And one tour in Bosnia back in the mid 90s. And so one of the things I want to do is one of the programs that we're doing and cleaning up because when I went back to school, learning the Hawaiian history and talking to the native Hawaiian people, my teachers, my kumus, you know what? I really became like changed overnight. And I wanted to learn all I could about native Hawaiian history. And the land at one time here, the Aina is so sacred as still is to this day, but it has been traumatized by misuse, pollution. And so a lot of trauma. And so there was one day I was meeting with my chair of my board of directors and a state representative from the DLNR department of land and natural resources. And the monthly siren went off for the test. And I froze because of suffering from, at that time, PTSD of the sirens, the scud missile attacks during the invasion of war. And I don't go through my grounding and I check it. And Auti Jeffers, he's from the DLNR, said Tony, that's your connection with the Aina, the trauma. And the land has been traumatized, you've been traumatized, veterans have been traumatized. There's the connection. And I was like, everything opened up. So one of the things I like to do and working with veterans and others, and I'm a social worker, so I work with all of them that have been traumatized. But being close to the veteran, trauma, healing trauma. The land, healing, veteran, veteran, healing the land. So that has become very important to us, working with veterans and Ron has been just so incredible. I'm helping myself. I absolutely appreciate what you're doing. Well, thank you. So because time is short, I'd like to invite you in two weeks to be on the next show, so that we can explore more. And please feel free to invite any veterans that you want to bring on the show with you, or any other organization. And we'll just keep this party going. Let's keep it going. Keep it going. Okay, thank you for your service. Thank you so much. Thank you for yours. My pleasure. Okay, we are out of time, and we'll have to wrap it up. I'm Helen Dora Haydn, and this is Voice of the Veteran on ThinkTech Livestreaming Network Series. We've been talking with Ron Westerfell. I had it, Westerfell. Ha ha. And he's the outreach coordinator for Wounded Warrior Project. I've been practicing all week and how they help veterans in their community. And to Anthony Chase with H-O-H-808. I got it, finally. Thank you both again for being my guest and for your service, absolutely from the bottom of my heart and your continued service to our veterans in this community. Thank you. Thank you. We are, so we just want to just say thank you and reach out to you guys. And to the community, please, make sure that you get their information and reach out to both of them. So we are going to just thank our broadcasting engineer, our floor manager, and J. Fiedel, our executive producer, who puts this all together. And thanks to you, our listeners for listening. ThinkTech will be back tomorrow for the next show in our ThinkTech Live Streaming Network series. So please tune in and tell your friends to tune in then. If you want to get on our email and social media program advisories, click the link on thinktechhawaii.com. If you'd like to be a guest, underwriter, or volunteer, or if you want to join us in our downtown studio at Pioneer Plaza, contact J at thinktechhawaii.com. If you want the links to our live streams or our previous broadcasts on ustream.tv or youtube.com, just go to thinktechhawaii.com. Go there and tell and to our Facebook page and tell them that you like us. We'd love for you to like us. And of course, I'll see you in two weeks with Anthony Chase here. And on next episode of Voice of the Veteran on ThinkTech Hawaii, I'm Helen Dora Haydn. Aloha everyone.