SPEAKER_03 1:48

Welcome to the Hilltop Globe Podcast, where Skip and DJ and What interview guests and discuss topics such as business, current events, and pop culture. The motivational podcast for the hip hop millennials.

SPEAKER_04 2:12

Good morning, good morning. Of course, this is the Hilltop Glove Podcast. I'm your host, Skip, and I'm with my own boy here, brother from Mother, essentially. Mike, what's going on, Mike? What's up? What's up? Doing good, man. Awesome. Awesome. Well, this morning, um, we're actually going to be speaking with a um really awesome um guest this morning by the name of Robert Umleup. Is that correct, Robert? It's it's Lahoop, but nobody knows how to say that. So Robert is a writer. He's a vet, and he is a founder of a nonprofit called Bullets and Band-Aids. But I'm gonna kind of let Mike kind of take over this episode, get us started and warmed up, because I think Mike knows quite a lot about a Mr. Robert. So Mike, I'll go ahead and let you take the wheel.

SPEAKER_06 3:05

Yeah, so yeah, we we go back a few years back to back to used to work at the same video production company several years back, and so I've kind of seen bullets and band-aids develop over the years. But one of the reasons we want to talk about this on the show is that that military service is a tradition that kind of crosses a lot of different communities in this country. And, you know, I I can safely say that all of us kind of have a friends or family that have served in the military. You know, everybody's got uh an uncle or a cousin that that you know they they've they've seen some shit and you know not to ask them about that or or whatever. But it's kind of like one of these topics that is kind of in all of our lives, but it doesn't, it doesn't necessarily come up so much because we don't always like to talk about it. So today we're gonna cover many different topics, but one thing I want to draw attention to in particular is looking at veterans as regular people that are doing their best in extreme situations. And how much of this shared human experience gets wrapped into these veteran stories and you know, all of their stories, not just the Hollywood versions, because a lot of these stories deal uh with many different aspects uh of their service. So our guest today is Robert, and he helps veterans tell their stories through uh collaborative art with civilians. And uh, we're gonna talk more in depth about that. Um, but I just wanted to start with kind of your military service, Robert. I know personally myself, being a millennial, I have a very vivid memory of sitting in class one day and one of the one of the staff, it was it was kind of the guy that rode the golf cart around and made sure you weren't playing hooky, but he he walks in real quick and he cuts on the TV. And you know, we're we see a replay of one of the planes hitting the tower. And and that was a very vivid, striking moment for me in my young life. And you were already a Marine at that point. So tell us a little bit about how you you know came to military service. I know you've got like a little bit of family history of military service. Tell us what got you to to join the Marine Corps to begin with.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Well, I think if if I'm being entirely honest, I think uh uh a lot of it had to do with my childhood and how I was more or less left to my own devices for a long enough time to where I was getting in trouble left and right, or not even getting in trouble, almost getting in trouble left and right, and it wasn't putting me in a good spot. And uh I'd always you know realized that we were all in this together. I'd always realized that I wanted to give back, which is something you and I share, Mike. I I actually wanted to go ahead and say thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of this because it's uh Oh yeah, it's great to have you on. Man, it's a big deal to me on a few different levels. Sincerely. Yeah, I mean that's real. That's entirely real. I'm sorry that I just dove right into it instead of saying thank you both for letting me be a part of this. So yeah, Mike, when I was, you know, when I was a kid, I used to get into a bunch of trouble and I went to USC. It actually graduated two years early, went to USC and promptly got kicked out of University 101. I remember that class. And so yeah, like once I realized I wasn't really going anywhere except to, you know, just further go down this uh this dark path, I figured the the best option for me in order to give back not only to those people that that I knew and loved, but to those people I would eventually meet, and even those people that were worth fighting for that I never would meet, that I would join the military, especially given that they allow or they force, I guess, structure. And structure was definitely what I needed. And at the time, I I thought, you know, I was going to do the hardest thing that I could. So the hardest branch, at least generally understood as being the hardest branch, was the Marine Corps. And, you know, the hardest portion of that was the infantry. So it just seemed to line up, Marine Corps infantry. And then like also let's keep in mind that you know I was inspired by hyperbolic characters. Because I was left alone, like some of my most of my father figure advice, the maxims that I got, you know, how to live, came from comic books and television and movies, to where like everybody, all of my heroes were fictional, and they were both like good and great. So there was this one, uh there's this one comic called Preacher. Yeah. Well, yeah, FX did a debated off it. Yeah, yeah. But uh, it was by this guy named Garth Ennis, who, you know, I'm uh he's an incredible, prolific uh writer. But uh one of the things that really stuck with me was his father, who was also a Marine, he had served in Vietnam, like a very very extreme circumstance. His father is is brought out in front of him and is about to get shot, and his father says to him, You have to be one of the good guys, son, because there's way too many of the bad. And so, you know, given that my makeshift father had just told me that I have to be one of the good guys, right? Yeah, yeah. So there was there were several different reasons that lined up. I had also had a lot of aggression that I needed to get out. It just there was a lot of different reasons why I'd joined. And to be entirely honest, like I have an uncle that was did uh like air conditioning repair in the military, but my namesake, Robert Chambers, because my name is Robert Chambers Lahoop, and my grandfather Robert Chambers was uh a World War II veteran. And actually, like I know a lot of people like to attribute the term hero to all veterans to all you know all of these different people. But he actually got you know the Quadig Air by from Charles de Gaulle, and like like this guy saved the French village, like the entire village.

SPEAKER_06 9:11

He did a thing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 9:14

He has a story, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

So like yeah, oh absolutely. He was actually in the first iteration of uh of Bullets and Band-Aids. Yeah, so I mean, like he was he wasn't around, like by then he had died, but uh but he was as an inspiration, it was it was the perfect thing to have him in.

unknown 9:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

For me, it was a it was a celebration, it meant a lot to my mother and to my little sister. And but yeah, my my family members hadn't really come up at the time that I had joined. It was just, you know, I needed to give back, I needed structure, I I had a hyperbolic idea of how it was to live in general, and uh and so that's why and and then 9-11 happens. Oh, yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_06 9:59

And and all of a sudden you're you're in a war.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

Well, if I'm if I'm being honest, I was aching for that opportunity. I know it sounds crazy, but if, you know, if you're not necessarily.

SPEAKER_06 10:15

I mean, yeah, I mean, you're you're what, 19 years old at this point?

SPEAKER_01 10:19

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I was nine 19 and wanted to be, you know, like like every 19-year-old. You know, I wanted to be able to prove myself. I needed to know that I could survive these fires, you know, if and when they happened, because that's what all of my heroes did. You know? Right. That's uh, you know, quintessentially the uh Joseph Campbell hero's journey sort of thing. Like you have to have a challenge in front of you to rise to in order to know yourself, I suppose. So this is going to sound very strange. I'm not too concerned with it sounding strange because I we're always honest on this podcast. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, like well, I wrote about this, like I read a graphic novel memoir a few years ago.

SPEAKER_06 11:04

It's wonderful. I I've I've had the opportunity to read it, not very many people have, but it is it's wonderful. Some great stories in there. So that's that's one of the reasons that I can call you out on all these little things, is because I know the details.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's uh that's true. And that actually, like if you'll pardon the pun kind of makes me an open book in regard to this style of thing. Totally does, yes. But I just remember thinking, like I was asleep and somebody had popped into my room and they said, wake up, we're at war. And I remember thinking, like, oh, thank God. Like it was just like, oh, or sweet, now we can like all of this different effort. Right, you know, like I guess another thing that should be impressed upon without going into too much detail, was that I was very, very depressed when I uh before I had joined. I didn't have purpose, you know, it was just the way like one one other thing that I think I guess I'm gonna have to start mentioning in the future is that uh worst case scenario, I would die from it. You know, and that wasn't a big deal.

SPEAKER_06 12:18

Right, right. But I think that's it's that's common for a lot of people that are are you know joining up um you know because of a of a troubled past that you're going through some of that stuff, and and that's just that's that's part of it. So that's I think that's important to talk about. Because we we talk about mental health issues all the time on this podcast, because it's real, that's what we deal with. Yeah, and bless me for that, sincerely.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

That that is a big deal.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

But yeah, so when I was offered the opportunity to go to war, I actually we were there were a bunch of volunteers on September 13th, so two days after 9-11, and I was one of the first people to volunteer. Like, I as soon as I realized that this was happening, I was like, ooh me, ooh me, please, please send me. Yeah. So a lot of people had different reactions. Everybody knows more or less where they were when they found out, but it's I guess, well, not even I guess, it's strange to be excited. There was a there was a the aspect of us going to war at the time, and I know I'm going to catch flack for this, but at the time, being a 19-year-old, the deaths of all of these people had not sunk in. The impact of of what this had on American culture was not as important to me as it was that I was going to get to go kill bad guys with a capital B. You know what I mean? Like I just I was just in my own little world, just like every 19-year-old is, you know. Right. Yeah. In retrospect, of course, and objectively speaking, the the the horrors of war are, you know, ubiquitous, nuanced in ways that nobody would expect. Certainly no ways that I had expected. But yeah, that's how I had initially felt when I when I first heard about the second tower. Or when I heard about the twin towers being struck.

SPEAKER_06 14:16

Right, right. Yeah. So, you know, that kind of that kind of leads me into one of the the stories that you've actually spoke of at a TEDx, uh, a TED Talk was an incident that happened outside the embassy in in Kabul. I was wondering if you could relate that story for us real quick on the on the segment.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Sure, sure. So so I'll go ahead and preface this by saying, because I didn't mention this during the TED talk, but the moment that I talk about in that TED talk happened, you know, after I watched a kid get killed with a rock, and you know, given the circumstances that we had, you know, that we had found ourselves in, we did a what is now understood as a natural reaction. But while we were watching this kid, we all burst into laughter. I know that sounds like entirely messed up, but it's one of those things where if your world is it's like we all had a nervous breakdown at the same time and just burst into laughter.

SPEAKER_06 15:12

This is actually really common that that comes up because it's just one of the ways that your brain can react to deal with that. So yeah, that's that's that yeah, that's very common.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

And then, like, you know, a couple of weeks after that, there was this one guy that I made friends with that was in Afghan that was helping us work at the at the front gate of the embassy. And you know, over time, you know, he didn't speak English, I didn't speak Dari, but even then, like over time, we had become friends. I certainly wouldn't say it was fast friends by any means. It took about a month and a half before I was, you know, comfortable saying anything to him, really. But uh, you know, close to the end, you know, we would start having conversations with one another, and because I didn't speak Dari and he didn't speak English, after about five minutes, we would just burst into laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation.

SPEAKER_06 16:07

You know, yeah, still two humans that recognize each other and are trying to you know communicate through that that void of not even sharing a common language.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Yeah, man. It was it was entirely wonderful. It's literally like it was the metaphor, it was the metaphor of relationships that I was fighting for. You know, it was like this is this style of communication from one human to another human, that is entirely wonderful. By the by the nature of the word wonderful. And you know, eventually I would I would give him money and he would go out and get pistachios and bring us back a whole bunch, and like each pistachio, like every tenth pistachio tasted like the monkey cages in the zoo smell. But it was like a messed up kind of Christmas, like you were like those those little uh milestones were were super nice. And then at one point, like I go out on post and and I ask, you know, where this guy is, and someone, you know, he was force-fed oil, he's not coming back. So this guy was you know tortured to death, and that kind of messed with me for obvious reasons, you know. Right, right. And then after that, I was this uh so the TED talk was about me walking around, like just patrolling the uh the inner wall of the embassy. And uh, we were told that there might be Al-Qaeda guarding the building across the street. So here I was walking around, just brainstorming different ways that I might kill this person, that I might be able to kill this person, whoever it was that was across the street, you know, like it didn't matter. Like, you know, you get creative when you have all that time. And uh and here I was just like steeped in it. And at the time it had been snowing, so you know, everything was, you know, the ground was caked with this powdered snow, the the the branches of the trees were were covered and melted and then refrozen ice, and it was just the the moon was out, and yet it was still snowing some. And here I was brainstorming how I might kill this guy that's just across the street, and then he uh starts playing a homemade flute, and it caught me. Like that moment, I I wouldn't say broke me, but it was the sort of thing where it's like my mind was pulled apart like Taffy.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

Yep, yep. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 18:48

I'm sorry?

SPEAKER_06 18:49

Those moments happen.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I guess it was one of those things where it was it was beyond a nervous breakdown, I suppose, because I didn't just b burst into laughter. It just kind of like it just r rent my brain apart, I guess.

SPEAKER_06 19:07

Right, right. To have this this human connection with this person who's who's making an art about their existence while you're plotting how to kill them. Right. Yeah, entirely.

SPEAKER_04 19:21

That's that's that's deep.

SPEAKER_06 19:22

And that and it's that kind of extreme situation that that kind of like highlights these uh types of conversations that happen with veteran art. And I know you've got uh you've got a phrase that you use a lot, we talk about a lot, where you know, art is sensory metaphor and art as uh as a as a as a prayer, as a as a connection to greatness and the rest of the universe and how everybody uses that differently. And so when you're making art, it it becomes kind of like doing this, but also saying, hey, everyone, look at this and see how I see the world and you know, how I relate to it. And uh, and I think that's just one of the great things about this project uh that you're working on is that it does bring those together. Yeah, oh yeah. Anytime. So so then you know, after your service, you you come back uh to civilian life, and what did you did you not expect? What was what was the unexpected hurdles that you started seeing once you got back?

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Well, I guess one of the things being like before I actually joined the civilian world, uh, once we got back from Afghanistan, they gave us these uh these classes to help us uh transition. And by classes, I mean one class. It was like a 45-minute class. This is what to expect when you get out. And and I remember at one point them saying, uh, so those of you who are married, raise your hand. And they would raise their hands, and uh then he said, uh, yeah, they cheated. Like it was just like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was like, you know, nobody while you were over there, the world didn't stop turning, life continued, movies came out, events happened, people had birthdays and Christmases and all the rest of that. And so just know that you're not special. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, I I gotta say, like uh a lot of that was true. I would say half of those guys' wives cheated on them, and and you know, we weren't in fact special. Like, granted, everybody had yellow ribbons on their cars, but I think uh that's an easy thing to do. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That way you can like you can have a permanently checked-off box. Yep. Yeah, don't tell me I don't support the troops. I bought a s uh sticker, you know what I mean? Yeah. I bought a car magnet. So I guess like the idea that people because I wanted to talk to people about this sort of stuff. And for good reason, the idea that people don't talk about the stuff that has happened to them when they've gone to war, that is actually a very recent social construct. Like that's a that's a social contract. If you think about it, like they're like in, you know, in in other in in tribes, like when the world was made predominantly of tribes, which has been a lot longer than you know, the industrial revolution, for example.

SPEAKER_06 22:24

Right, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

Yeah, you would wake up in the morning, you'd eat your breakfast, you'd grab your stuff, you'd go off to war, and then you would come back. Like eat dinner. You know what I mean? Now, there were because of the existential aspects of this sort of thing, there were different ways that you might be able to alleviate some of that stress. I know there were some Native Americans, for example, that had mazes where as you were walking toward the center of the maze, you would think about all of those things that made you, you know, the person that you were, and then once you got to the center of it, you would put all of those things down and pick up you know what it was to be a warrior. And then once you got back, you would walk into that uh maze holding all those things that made you a warrior, you would put those down, and then you would pick up that stuff which made you a person, and by the time you walked out of that maze, you would kind of transition some.

unknown 23:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 23:29

But the point being this very useful tool.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

Yeah, man, and but this style of of trauma or suffering, just like every other style of trauma or suffering, were supported by the tribe, you know. I mean, that's just like, you know, everyone, that's everyone suffered together, you know, everyone raised kids together. You know, there was just this understanding that through dialogue, through communication, not only would you be able to better yourself, but better the community, and and vice versa. And it's a collectivist mindset. Yeah, well, totally. Totally. But that's like that's how, you know, that's how Vikings worked. You know what I mean? Like that's how that's how people in feudal Japan operated. You know, they would go back, they would discuss the things that had happened. There would be hell, man, there'd be legends made. Right.

SPEAKER_06 24:23

Yeah. That's how you made epics. Yeah. That's where all those things come from.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

So, yeah, I mean, if you think about it, our entire civilization is built on stories. That's how we know which plants to eat and which plants are poisonous. You know, how to make knives, how to make vaccines, how, you know, like which coffee shop sells the best latte. These are these are all tied into stories.

SPEAKER_06 24:48

Right. One person sharing what they have seen and experienced with another person and passing it on, you know.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

Yeah, that's actually huge fun.

SPEAKER_06 24:59

It's what makes culture. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

And so it was, it threw me off when people looked at me like I was crazy when I was telling them about some of the stuff that was happening. I remember at one point, like I like when I got back from Kandahar, which is the first tour, because we took the Kandahar Airport in 2001. I forgot to mention, yeah, we're the first ones into Afghanistan.

SPEAKER_00 25:22

So literally.

SPEAKER_01 25:24

Yeah, literally, yeah. Um, well, I mean, uh in regard to American infantry. Right, right.

SPEAKER_06 25:30

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:31

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So we were the first ones into Afghanistan. We took the Kandahar Airport, and then we took the embassy roughly eight months after that. But yeah, so I got I got home after Kandahar, and I was hanging out with my father, and I was like, yo, man, like the CIA are are torturing people. And he said, I don't know about that, son. I've been watching CNN and I didn't hear anything about it. Ooh. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Hence my dynamic childhood. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I mean, like, it's it's one of those things where everybody thinks that they have their own idea. Oh, well, you, you know, what did you expect to happen? You know? Right. Of course this is going to happen. You know, it's it's or like, oh, this guy's talking about it. He's probably full of shit. Which is insane.

SPEAKER_06 26:24

Because that's another idea that comes up in the military a lot, is if if you talk about it, then you weren't there. And it makes people, you know, just kind of assume that they're the proper role for them is to never speak about any of this stuff.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

Yeah, which is which to me is just kind of a like a path of least resistance. Like society was like, nah, we don't have to worry about it anymore. I I brought up the Industrial Revolution earlier because if you think about it, like there was no need for us to know who was quote unquote with someone else because it was a tribal thing. But once you have things like uh you know, like crops, you actually need to know specifically who your people are. And then after that, you have these massive industries that are being built where people begin living in basically apartments. So each person has their own little cell, entirely separate from everyone else's cell. And then beyond that, you have these individual homes, and so the whole dynamic has changed from us all being in this together one way or another and finding a common community to where nobody cared about any of these things except to live life to the fullest one way or another, to all right, all of a sudden we have to produce, produce, produce. And so that style of thing has actually like made it so that we are separated enough to where the dialogue doesn't happen. So the idea that nobody would want to hear the story, or if you did tell the story that you weren't there, it just blew my mind.

SPEAKER_06 28:01

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that is definitely something something to fight against that mentality. One of the things that really helped you in your journey was being able to tell your story and put it down in the form of graphic novel. And then also you started noticing that this was something that could be useful to other people and connecting artists and writers with veterans, and that eventually became the first Bullets and Band Aids. And that was when was that? 2012. 2012. Um tell us a little bit about the the journey of Bullets and Band-Aids from that first show to when you you you actually are a nonprofit now that stands on its own. Tell us a little bit about that that process and how you you evolved that organization.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

Well, okay, well, so so we I was part of the Piensa Art Company, and what we had done was create a bunch of different art shows that were raising money for charities. We figured if we were going to have uh people show up with the collective that we should use that to help as often as we can. And so that's why we started. I as a matter of fact, I think the first Bulletin Band-Aids was about a year after, uh maybe it was two years after I'd written the TED Talk, and I had seen like the amount of impact it had on me. And I wanted to reinforce social cohesion. So we got local veterans to tell a story, and then we had local artists do something based off of that. And if the veterans just wanted to be interviewed, then I would have written their story. So yeah, we did that, and we raised money for uh a charity that basically helped veterans find counselors. Nice. And then after that, you know, like life continued. We switched up to other nonprofit focuses and stuff like that. And then in 2016, I was I was working as a fellow for another nonprofit that was pretty much a catch-all for veterans, one way or another. So if you if you didn't have a home, or if you had had an other than honorable discharge, or wanted it to be an honorable discharge, or if you needed help with VA stuff, they claimed to be able to help. And we did, we helped uh a few people, but I just the discussions that were happening, the perspectives, the point of views, it seemed to be more a business than it was to bring everyone together, but we still raised money for them. And I just remember like like looking around and and and having these even at the start of the first Bullets and Band-Aids in 2012, I had people approach me saying, like, this is incredible, this has like uh affected me deeply. The the the impact that it had on both veteran and civilian alike was was pretty profound. I had artists and uh veterans and writers who were like, How did I not know about this project? Let me be in the next one. And I was like, Yeah, yeah, if there's ever a next one, fine. By the time we did the by the time we did the second show, I had I had one veteran in particular say, I would not have been able to tell my wife this story were it not for bullets and band-aid.

SPEAKER_02 31:22

Hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 31:25

Yeah, man. Yeah. It is. Well, and that's one of the things that art can do for you, is is kind of like gives you a little bit more as particularly when you're when you're teaming up with somebody else, you know, and and doing it kind of interview style, you have to get you have to get your your words out and then and then you know get that expression across to them. Yeah. Well, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 31:48

And then another thing thing, it's easier to tell people that you're not close to, or especially if they've like been through something similar, uh, this story or their you know, your story, rather than like speaking directly to you know a friend or family member. It allows for that that very slight disconnect allows for agency, allows for the ownership of the circumstance in in ways that people might not always feel comfortable using. So that's uh that's a great way for people to be able to express you know the gamut of emotion that you can go through. And and one of the that's one of the reasons why we don't shy away from all manner of story is because you know any of us could be affected by any of these different circumstances.

SPEAKER_00 32:39

You know, uh like I always so we need veterans.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

There's like any any civilization, any group, like veterans are essential. Plain and simple. If you can't fight off like potential aggressive occurrences, then you're not going to reach like Maslow's third level of hierarchy of needs. You know what I'm saying? You're not gonna reach community.

SPEAKER_06 33:05

As long as there's somebody out there with a big stick, you need somebody on your side with a big stick.

SPEAKER_01 33:09

Yes, absolutely. And so I had realized that that was a thing that was important, you know. But then beyond that, but we have that base so that we can on top of that have a civilization.

unknown 33:21

Right.

SPEAKER_01 33:22

And we have that civilization so that on top of that we can actualize. And the and the I'm sorry?

SPEAKER_06 33:29

Yes, yeah, I'm following.

SPEAKER_01 33:31

Yeah, so the actualization, which is so often found in artwork, is provided on a fundamental level by veterans. And this is something I had understood a you know a long time ago. So when I was overseas, like what I was thinking was I'm I am participating in helping other people actualize themselves in the future. Yeah. So yeah, I I think shoot. I lost, I lost train of thought. Well, you were. Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, go ahead. But yeah, so so watching these being able to give agency to people in order to participate in these things. They don't need to know the definitions behind, like, they don't need to know who who Maslow was. You know, they don't need to know about the idea that they are, you know, veterans are fundamentally helping people actualize in the future. They just know inherently in their bones that they are helping. And that is that is tremendous. That is visceral. Every single person that's been a part of this has been helping one way or another. We had one guy at one point that said, Yes, I shot that guy, and when I'm in a bad way, I will go to my foot locker, I will pull out the uh the rag that he was wearing, and just somewhere inside me I'll smile.

SPEAKER_00 34:49

Right? Like that's that's hard.

SPEAKER_06 34:51

That's part of the human experience, too. That's that's you know, that is that is where he was at that time put him in that place, and that's something that that that you know all of us have to be able to relate to on some level.

SPEAKER_01 35:04

Yeah, absolutely. And and and if we don't relate to, we have access to that as a perspective. And the thing being, that's one of the great portions of adding artwork to it, is that that sensory metaphor, in in this instant, it's it's visual metaphor. People can can apply themselves to that story without fully engaging in every aspect of the context. So they, in order to know themselves, you know, looking at a piece of artwork, like all of the rest of us, while we're looking at artwork, you know, we are given a different perspective than what we would typically have. And therein lies dialogue, therein lies perspective, you know. Right.

SPEAKER_06 35:48

And you're asking yourself internally, like, why would this thing be this way? I would have done this different, and that that whole process that kind of puts you and the artist having a conversation even if they were dead a long time ago.

SPEAKER_01 36:02

Absolutely. Literally transcends time and space.

SPEAKER_04 36:07

Because essentially it's just a picture and like you said, because it's because it's permanent. Because once the um work is created, it's already there, so it's kind of just a representation of that moment in time for that artist or that creator. Yes, sir. So that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 36:21

Yeah, it's yeah, that the that's one of the that's actually one of the reasons why we print out a book when we do this touring art exhibit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 36:29

So so let's let's talk a little bit about that. What bullets and band-aid is today. So you you've got a show coming up.

SPEAKER_01 36:37

Uh yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_06 36:40

You're still looking for veterans and artists and writers to be a part of this. Is that right?

SPEAKER_01 36:46

Yeah, totally. All right, so let me just go ahead and give a quick rundown as to how it is that we operate. Um, what we do is we get local, we we select several different cities, and then we get local veterans from those cities to tell a story. And then we have local civilian writers write that story, and then we have local civilian artists do something based off of that writing. And in that dialogue that happens, in the attempt to understand someone else's story, what you have is cohesion. Like the attempt to understand where someone else is coming from, that is social cohesion.

SPEAKER_06 37:31

So And you know, traditionally, these these groups of of veterans and the artist communities, they're you know, pretty opposite ends of the spectrum politically. If you would you would make that assumption, but uh you know, a project like this kind of brings those ideas together because they're they're actually talking about an individual human experience, and we can all kind of empathize and relate to individuals' experiences a lot uh quicker, I would think.

SPEAKER_01 38:01

Well, I think I think an appreciation of of artwork is beyond boundaries.

SPEAKER_02 38:08

It's true, yes.

SPEAKER_01 38:09

Yeah. So so I think it's r regardless of uh a political stance, regardless of a religious stance, like the the metaphor that is uh inherent in artwork is something that can be relatable to anyone. Which is one of the great things that I like about this is that we are not religiously or politically affiliated, that we are singularly focused on the poignance of the story, which means if your religion has influenced you in a certain way, then we can put that in because we're not trying to uh to denigrate anyone. We're certainly not trying to shy away from the impact that religion has on people. But in regard to those things that are that are more balkanizing, those things that split us up as people that's inherently against what it is that we're going for. So if it's if it's some, you know, they say don't bring up politics or religion at a dinner table. Right. So if it's like a part of the story where it won't cause some sort of issue with somebody else that's sitting at that table, awesome. If it's one of those things where you're like, you are wrong for this, then no, that's not uh that's not gonna work out. Having said that, though, so we put all of these, we put the story next to the artwork in this book that we make, right? And then we have the artist and writer statements on the back of in the back of that book. And uh once we have had all of this done, we have a uh a touring art exhibit that spans the cities that are involved in order to reinforce this dynamic social cohesion, both on a micro and macro scale, like on a on a small level and on a much larger one, to show that like we are all in this together and that understanding that we're all in this together comes with both support and responsibility. That's what we're that's what we're going for. And yes, we are absolutely looking for veterans, writers, and artists. So if you want to go on to bulletsandbandaids.org, that's uh bullets and b-a-n-d-a-id-s.org, there's a uh there's a submissions page, actually, several different ones. One for veterans, one for writers, and one for artists, each one saying like what it is that is to be expected. Also, in regard to the veterans and the storytellers, what they don't have to actually be veterans themselves. We had we had somebody that donated a piece that their brother had written before he uh committed suicide. We have another one coming up that's you know being written by a man's sister because he got uh the Medal of Honor from jumping on a hand grenade in Vietnam. We have another one, hopefully, coming up that's where it's going to be the story of a man getting out and trying to get over the traumas that have happened to him that had happened to him. And then we also have separate from that, his mother and what it was that she was going through watching his transition. So, like uh, you know, it's a vet it's like her story is not about her, it's veteran-centric.

SPEAKER_06 41:27

Right, right. Across the gamut of of experiences, they're not just war stories, quote unquote. They're they're the experiences of veterans and their families.

SPEAKER_01 41:38

Entirely. That's perfectly put. That's why we've covered, you know, that's why we cover LGBTQ issues, sexual assault. You know, like we had somebody that was working at Guantanamo Bay at one point, and and she had told a story about like a massive storm that had hit and how everybody had reacted to that. There's uh there's one coming up by this woman who also runs a nonprofit, and she she's an African-American woman that joined the Marine Corps, and she went to Djibouti. So the dynamic of like her being an African-American woman in the Marine Corps, which is already hard enough, and then she goes to a place like Djibouti, where she is a Marine, where she has power through that, and yet is still, you know, like denigrated by other people in Djibouti because she's a woman. Yeah, yeah. It's just like, you know, can't win for losing sort of thing. And and she's she is she is brave enough to where she has turned this into a positive, she's created her own nonprofit, and and she has the the fortitude of character to address this style of thing. But that's what we're going for, is like we're we are trying to underscore the human experience and and and trying to reinforce that veteran, civilian alike, it's all just a hat that we wear. We are all subjective to the human experience. That's something that we all share.

SPEAKER_06 43:11

There's strength in and being able to go to these places and and explore uh some of these ideas that we are not necessarily comfortable with.

SPEAKER_01 43:20

Yeah, like why would you like if you're if your job, if you are trained to find the issue and address it, whether that be you know somebody that set up a machine gun bunker somewhere, or or like you need to make sure that you know your support and so you're getting everybody the the gear that they need. Right. Or or something like that. Like find the problem, address it. And then we have so many people that that are suffering and forcing other people to suffer through substance uh abuse, domestic violence, suicidal ideation, all of these other things that are after effects of so much of the stuff that's been going on with us, that it's like those are significant issues. We can address those issues by by communicating one way or another. So it seems that once people realize that uh you know it's still their responsibility to be a part of society, to communicate, to tell their stories in order to you know help others, if not themselves.

SPEAKER_06 44:28

Right, right. And we as the community, we have to be open and uh accepting of that.

SPEAKER_01 44:33

Absolutely. I think that's and and so so if we have people that are you know, like I I do think that like predominantly from my experience, most veterans aren't necessarily artists, you know, even though they are appreciative of it, it seems like we just need to provide agency.

SPEAKER_00 44:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:58

I I think uh uh one the like civilians are scared to approach veterans in order to hear their story. And I think you know, you don't have to ask if they've killed anybody, you know what I mean? Right. But if a veteran is is is talking about something, that's just a human talking about a circumstance. Right. The idea that you would that you would ignore them or try to talk them down from it so that they don't express themselves or something like that is just uh disgusting. But also you have veterans that that you know feel as though they're not supposed to talk about their stuff. That it is it is an invasion of their privacy. When like I mean, if you just jump to it and say, Did you kill anybody? Yeah, that's probably not the greatest thing to do. But then like you don't you wouldn't say. That to your average civilian, either. You know what I mean? Yeah. So, like, uh, if you just hear the stories, that's something else entirely. And I think it's important to acknowledge that just to nail home exactly the ridiculousness of there being a line between veteran and civilian experience. Okay. Like, I had a friend of mine at one point who was a Navy SEAL, went to Iraq, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone. I asked him what the worst place he ever he had ever been before was. And he said, New Orleans, Katrina.

SPEAKER_00 46:23

You know?

SPEAKER_01 46:24

And it's like there was a lot of people in New Orleans that were not veterans. You know what I mean? Right. Yeah. It's this like I have another friend of mine who was in the Hellman province, and I'm talking about like hooking and jabbing Hellman province. Right? And uh the worst thing that ever happened to him was uh when he was an EMT back home. So these these these circumstances, these extreme circumstances can be relatable regardless of whether or not you're a veteran.

SPEAKER_06 46:59

Yeah. We all got traumas. There's there's a there's all kinds of stuff that goes on.

SPEAKER_01 47:04

Yeah. Like I had and they're all relative. Everyone's suffering is uh and trauma is entirely relative. Their joy is entirely relative because we we also cover like funny stories too, so long as it's poignant. But yeah, I think the idea that there is some sort of separation between veterans and civilians is new. Sebastian Younger, who wrote a book called Tribe, talks about like when you say thank you for your service, like you don't say that to firemen, to EMT people. You know what I mean? You don't say that to common groups of people that are also, you know, like serving, but are also serving. And that's like by saying thank you for your service, sometimes that's just a check in the box so that they don't have to talk further about anything, so that they don't have to show any other style of respect that they would, you know, that they would typically do with humans.

SPEAKER_04 48:01

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 48:02

Yeah. And and what you say, like when you say thank you for your service, you're literally putting that person into a stigmatized box. Which means like what choice do they have but either A, act like a wounded veteran, or B, do their very best to line up with what it is that they understand a veteran should be, which is either, you know, don't tell your story, you know, like crying makes you less of a makes you weaker, you know, you know, things like that when like these are like it's the path of least resistance for a society, but uh but in its immediacy, like all right, fine, I don't want to deal with your trauma, you know, whatever. I've got my own stuff. It's like, no, because if you hear mine, I can hear yours, and we can improve from there. Right. You know what I mean? But then we have things like, you know, if you if you cry, then you're weaker, and that's that's crazy. If you like, if the only thing that makes you weak in regard to crying is if you don't do it because someone else told you not to.

SPEAKER_00 49:09

Facts.

SPEAKER_01 49:10

You know what I mean? Absolutely. Like that's just yeah, I mean, that's the sort of thing that'll lead to domestic violence, to drug abuse, to suicidal ideation.

SPEAKER_06 49:19

Right. Trying to hold those things in, trying to repress the way we feel about stuff and say that we don't. Convince ourselves that we don't feel anything about it.

SPEAKER_01 49:29

Yeah, and if you and if you are forced to be in this box, if you are not given the agency and the opportunity to live your life, just live your life, the way that you want to be perceived, then like that's that's enough to drive people to do some extreme things. And and that's the style of of thing, that's the sort of unquantifiable change that we want to create. Is to is to tamp down on these extreme thoughts and ideas because it's apparently socially appropriate to put people in boxes. We're trying to we're trying to tear down the stigmas that that go along with identifiers so that we can see the human behind them.

SPEAKER_06 50:21

If that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 50:23

Yes, well put, yeah. That's very clear. Well, I think I think I think all three of us are in a good spot in in that regard. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_04 50:33

Well, we try, we try. Yeah, working, working.

SPEAKER_01 50:37

Well, I mean, like, if you think of it in in any of this, like the the nobility is in the attempt, let alone any sort of measurable success. Yeah. So, like, you know, brush your shoulders off.

SPEAKER_06 50:50

Yeah, well, we snowball it a little bit, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 50:54

Yeah. Well, one of the things I want to get back to, and I think you did an amazing job on it, because um, even when we're going through it, everything we just wanted to talk about today, you're you're hitting on all those things, which is awesome. But going back a little bit, it seems like, at least to me, when it comes down to thank you for your service. And I know since, especially since we're on topic of mental health, one of the things I like to bring up is microaggressions. And it seems like sometimes when I guess we as civilians say those types of things, it may come across as a microaggression. Just because we aren't it, because we're having this assumption of what that particular person is feeling because of them being a vet. Is there any truth to that? Or at least the way I'm perceiving it?

SPEAKER_01 51:40

Yeah, I I think I believe so. I think that I'm I am in fact, I have been guilty of microaggressions until they're pointed out to me. So I don't I don't want to I don't want to put anybody in a box if they've accidentally used them before, which I think is kind of you know reinforces that we need to pay attention to them. But I I I think and I say that because a lot of people say thank you for your service from with good intention. You know, it's they are not trying to be offensive, right? They're not trying to, you know, make sure that they have put somebody else in their place or something, so much as like it's just taught to go through those motions. And there are of course, of course, other people who just assume that if you're if you're a veteran, that you're a bad person one way or another because you know you went you went overseas to kill somebody or or like you're brainwashed or something like that. And you know, so there's those people too, but I don't like I think they would be given the ability to use that as a microaggression. But I don't think that necessarily is the intent overall. Yeah, so I think that the I mean it's all like it's it's all subjective, which I think is kind of the point behind Bullets and Band-Aids is to allow that subjectivity to come across. If somebody is doing something where they have good intention, you know, they say the road to hell is uh paved with good intentions, right?

SPEAKER_06 53:13

I've heard that, yes.

SPEAKER_01 53:16

Yeah, so I can't like I think I think the style of like the ability to know that these can be perceived as microaggressions is is would be alleviated, or excuse me, would be uh pointed out through dialogue.

SPEAKER_06 53:34

Mm-hmm. So have those conversations, and then you don't have to worry about getting misinterpreted.

SPEAKER_01 53:41

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, like there's uh there was one woman like when I got back from Kandahar, there was like there was this one woman that I had a crush on for like five, six years, something like that. And I finally, like, you know, having just gotten back from Afghanistan, I had the wherewithal to approach her and start talking to her. And then at one point, she was like, Oh, so you just got back from overseas, and I was like, Yeah. She was like, uh, so did you go to Iraq? And I said, No, Afghanistan. And she said, Oh, well, that's okay. See, the thing being, like, she wasn't intending for that to be, you know, like entirely offensive, you know, which it was. Like, that's not what she was going for.

SPEAKER_06 54:24

And so, wherever you are told to go, you don't get a sign-up sheet. That's just how it is.

SPEAKER_01 54:33

Yeah, like I actually when when I found out that they were invading Iraq, when when everyone found out that we were invading Iraq when we were in Kabul, every single one of us was like, ah, I want to be in Iraq so bad. It was just because like a Kabul was a slow, like like it was crazy and and uh it was both boring and crazy. Except for little spikes of incredibly traumatic moments, or beautiful ones that sort of just reinforced, you know, the juxtaposition of the other. But yeah, you can't like dialogue needs to happen and and you know, like understand that people might be coming from a different perspective, but that doesn't lessen their want to grow, to know their place in the world. Yeah, it just seems like so. I'm I'm personally not as sensitive to those aggressions as as I used to be, as you know that it's true, but it's because I realize that you know we are we all have a different perspective, you know, like uh we all have a different story one way or another. And so, man, the amount of times I've put my foot in my mouth, you know, just just thinking that I was, I don't know, like being, I don't know, wise or or wise or helpful in some way, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it has to us all. Yeah. Like I wrote uh Yeah, yeah. There are there are certain circumstances that I just I I think that we just need to objectively take a step back and realize that if there is dialogue happening, then the idea of it instigating something rather than it being an attempt for other people to know themselves, I think robs us of the ability to grow and evolve, not simply as a person, but as a uh society.

SPEAKER_02 56:41

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 56:42

What this whole thing for sure.

SPEAKER_06 56:46

I mean, you're you're a wordsmith. You do a thing with words, it just happens.

SPEAKER_01 56:53

Well, well, I mean, like, I'm grateful for that. Again, though, I think this is a perfect time to reiterate. We are looking for writers. Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_06 57:03

So, like uh if you are a voting writer out there. Oh, because this one is getting published, correct? Is uh added to the Library of Congress, and uh could be a nice little nice little uh box to check if you're a up-and-coming writer.

SPEAKER_01 57:18

Yeah, it's one of the things, uh, one of the horrible Cash 22s about uh being a writer is like in order to get published, you have to get published. So this is uh this is a way of beginning that stage, which is you know a pretty big deal as far as writing is concerned. I'm sorry, like Kevin, did I address that question appropriately?

SPEAKER_04 57:38

Yeah, I think like I said, to be honest with you, Robert, you're doing actually a really good job addressing everything. Because all the topics we've been talking about, man, you've been on point. And that's what I've been um sitting back just um laughing about. I'm like, oh man, he's hitting everything. Like we don't even that's what kind of just dropped in and stuff in this to kind of reiterate, especially that part about just the supporting your vets thing. And I was like, yeah, he was just hitting everything. So yeah, it's not a problem. I know one of the main things is we definitely want to hit on the topic in regards to like nonprofits and like how to start one. Because one of the things we like to do with the podcast is, and Michael tell you this, we always like to give people jewels. So our thing is about motivating people. So people, especially like people in like the millennial age range that are still sitting down trying to figure out what is it that I want to do? I have an idea, but I don't know where to start at. How do I get started? What's gonna, you know, to encourage them or to give them the information and at least to, you know, start working on something. And I know your story is incredible, especially with the fact that how you created bullets and band-aid. So just from a technical standpoint, could you just explain like just the process from getting a nonprofit off tomorrow?

SPEAKER_01 58:51

Sure. Firstly, thank you very much for the for the kind words, man. Again, I think we're in good company. So the uh in regard to how to start a nonprofit, I think there's a lot that you need to keep in mind. One being that, you know, the sustainability of that nonprofit as opposed to just putting together, you know, people that do good works. Now, I do know that if you want to have a sustainable nonprofit, you're probably going to want to be able to put forth grants and stuff like that. And so if you're going to want to do that, you're going to need to do all of the appropriate paperwork. So, but but to do that, all right, so there are so many different aspects to running a nonprofit. There's literally volumes and volumes worth of things to potentially read. And we're also talking about an industry, I suppose you could call it, that's that is constantly evolving and adapting. But there is a resource. It's a together, again, that's together sc.com, I believe it is. Give me one second. No, together sc.org. And there are they they have a list of resources that is massive. Like from governance to strategic direction, leadership, communication, financial management, fundraising, and all the rest of it. Like they just they just run through all of these different things. I think it's including locking in the appropriate people for your board. I'm actually quite lucky. The people on my board are both genuine, good people and also capable, as well as being motivated. I'm lucky for that. But it's important to have in an organization the appropriate organizational skills and direction in order to execute that. So before, you know, before putting pen to paper in regard to actually becoming a nonprofit, you might want to think about things like the competition, the quote-unquote competition, because nobody's going to want you to get into their lane. Another being like, is it actually addressing a need or is it simply calling attention to it?

SPEAKER_04 1:00:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:58

So how is it that people are going to feel like it could potentially benefit in ways that uh haven't been done before? So even if you are in someone's lane, if you're approaching it from an entirely different direction, then you know, there's a place. But like, like, for example, we're consistently being confused with veteran-centric art therapies where they're just like we get veterans to, you know, do it to paint something.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:24

Yeah, yeah, teach veterans to paint. Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:26

Yeah. Like that's it. And the thing being, like, no, no, we're not, we are not that. We do, we do sometimes have classes. Like, I'm I'm about to start teaching creative writing at the VA. I've got somebody else that's teaching uh kids creative writing there. We got another guy that that's uh trying to set up a photography therapy thing for for veterans in Greenville and Spartanburg. Yeah, so so but our chief goal is the dialogue and communication of these people from different places than you would otherwise have those conversations.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:58

Pulling it together into that art show and uh touring it.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:02

Yeah, basically like differentiating ourselves from other places that people would assume would be doing the same thing. Got it. So like like make yourself, I guess, like make yourself stand out for whatever reason. Make sure that you're entirely educated or as educated as you possibly can be in regard to like how it is to run a nonprofit. Realize that you're not going to have money immediately donated to you, probably. That's going to take uh uh a lot of time, a lot of effort, and more than just one person's time and effort. Yeah, like it there's even points, heck man. The last uh the the the first two bullets and band-aids shows that I put on, I probably personally lost about a thousand dollars. And that's not sustainable. Right, right. As a nonprofit. Like you need to be able to function one way or another, and that's another thing that you're gonna have to keep in mind. So um, yeah, there's there's a lot of different uh aspects of this style of thing that I think can be covered in togethersc.org. But also there's there's stuff all over the internet that uh that can tell you how to do this stuff. Now, granted, some of the information is contradictory, but most of it is just uh, you know, line for line. This is how it is that you should probably approach these things.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:27

Well, I think the more you the more research you do, the more you start to kind of see where people are like offering their opinion on one side or the other, and and you can make an informed decision once it gets going. But uh yeah, I think I think one important thing about nonprofits is that yeah, there's there has to be an income stream gets developed over time.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:50

Um another thing being that like if you're starting off as a nonprofit, you have basically walked into the uh the equivalent, the socioeconomic equivalent of the Wild West. You know what I mean? Because like you have to you have to figure out you know who it is that's appropriate to partner up with and how to how to partner up with them, or or you know, whether or not you can offer, for example, grant writers commission, which you can't. That's it it's unethical. But who saw that coming? You know what I mean? Same thing with fundraisers. You're not supposed to offer them commission, you're supposed to pay them outright. I had no idea about that.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:30

You know? That's a lot of people don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:32

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so like the the ethical aspects about this, the legal aspects about this are something to definitely take take into consideration, one way or another. Yeah. I think, oh, and and one more thing, and this is going to at first sound disheartening, but I think it's very real, and again, speaks to you know our our human nature and our human frailty, etc., is that you're gonna have a lot of people that are enthusiastic, but also have things that they have to get done. So, especially during and after COVID, patience, understanding, realizing that, especially if you're the one starting the nonprofit, to expect anyone else to be anywhere near as invested as you are in that nonprofit is setting yourself up for a profound failure. That's going to yeah, that will that will basically cause these these fruits that you're working toward to fall off the tree before they can even ripen. You know? So if you just yeah, I I think like being patient with people, not not placing your own standards onto them, you know, in order to find some sort of like granted, it's important to find people that are that are invested in what it is that you're doing. Right, right. But but but the idea that you know all of a sudden everyone's going to stop what they're doing and help out is not something it's not feasible. It's certainly not sustainable.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:01

You know, it takes a while to build that up.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:04

Yeah, it's a marathon, it's not a sprint. If you start a marathon off with a sprint, you're not going to make it as far as somebody that just started jogging and didn't stop.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:13

You know what I mean? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:17

So in regards to like nonprofits, I think like those things are a good idea, and uh finding the resources, the invalid the volume's worth of information that you can find on Together SC is also huge.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:30

Wonderful. So we wanted to give you a little bit of time to kind of plug what you're working on now, which is bullets and band-aids, I'm assuming.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:39

That's a safe assumption. Yeah. Um Yeah, okay, so I guess one more time. Oh shoot. We didn't even talk about all the other artists and veterans we have from across the world.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:50

Artists and veterans from around the world.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:52

Yeah. Okay. So so I guess like one of our one of our chief watermarks when we first started was to eventually 10 or 15 years down the line have two people from opposite ends of the same conflict be in one show. That's what we wanted to do. And of course, because we're a touring art exhibition, we don't, or a touring art exhibit, we don't, we didn't have the funding to just like, you know, fly to a yeah, yeah, any of these places to set up shows. So once COVID hit and we became an online show, all of a sudden I was like, okay, this is entirely opens up our capacity to reach these watermarks that we would wouldn't have for another 10 or 15. So now we have a couple of people from Argentina, one person from Zimbabwe, another from Liberia, two people from the UK, another from the Netherlands, Syria, Palestine, Israel, and more en route. And so because we are not just trying to do one show and put it down, because we are an ongoing nonprofit that's going to be doing this in local towns and local cities and local states, excuse me, local towns, cities, states, and beyond, it doesn't matter if you're in Iceland or New Zealand or wherever, but especially right now, especially in the United States, obviously. But if you want to submit your work or portions of your story to us, we can always go back and reference that and use you in the future, if not just for this upcoming exhibit. So right now we've locked in Columbia, Charlotte, and Asheville. We're reaching out to Greenville and Charleston for this next show that's going to be happening in November. We also have another show that's going to be happening in Sarasota, probably this coming May. And uh so, yeah, if you are an artist, uh a writer, you have a story that that is veteran-centric, please feel free to submit work, and and we will we will definitely do our very best to address that in the immediate future. You can do that at bulletsandbandaids.org. That's bullets and a n d Bandades B-A-N-D-A-I-D-S.org. You can find you know all of the or most of the information that you would want to be looking for, including what to expect as a veteran, a writer, and an artist through our submissions page. And also, of course, we wouldn't be able to do this if we didn't have donations. So if you wanted to sponsor one of our events or or just sponsor us in general, there's there's places that you can do that on the donations page. We are we're on Amazon Smile. If you want to do a fundraiser for us on Instagram or on Facebook, if it's your birthday, for example, and you just want to raise money for a local charity, we're on uh Facebook and Instagram. If you want to do recurring donations, like five bucks a piece, like five bucks a month or something like that. That's massive. That's huge. That's gonna help us out tremendously in the long run.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:02

A lot of people don't realize how big that is for a nonprofit because then you know you can count on there being that that amount. And once you get several hundred of those going, that's like a really big deal.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:13

Uh yeah, absolutely. And uh and we definitely need it because we're we're literally we're trying to benefit everyone full stuff. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:23

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_06 1:10:24

Like it is it is a massive community involvement.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:27

Yeah. Yeah. And we couldn't do it without funding. So yeah, again, like uh you can go onto the website and donate. You can sponsor us if you want to. I do know that like those artists and and uh writers and uh like anybody that we can help through uh social media, you know, like we'll we'll be pushing your work as well, just to, you know, as a reciprocity. We were trying to celebrate all of the people that are willing to help us because we're trying to help everyone anyway, and I think that's worth celebrating. So, you know, local businesses. We also have limited edition t-shirts. So we have these limited, yeah, yeah. We have these limited edition t-shirts where like you can only get them for one month at a time. And this most this most recent one that we have was done by you know this cat named Mike Conway, who's just yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:14

So you can't get my limited edition t-shirt anymore on the website. It's it's down now.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:18

But but for a while there was. Yeah, yeah. It's down from now, and it's gorgeous. There's so much detail in it. Mike, you put your ankles in it, man.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:27

It was my t-shirt robot. Yeah, man. I did a little something. I did a little something. Yeah, too. But there's but there's more of those coming. There's more live now, and there will be more in the future, and and we might do some encores. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:39

Yeah. Yours is definitely online to be an encore setup. It's it's entirely wonderful. Seriously. Appreciate that. So yeah, yeah, brother. Well, I appreciate it. Um so yeah, like I guess donate on the website if you can. Even those recurring donations for five bucks a piece. You can do your own fundraising on Facebook or Amazon Smile or Instagram. And you know, we want you to tell three people, three people that are friends of yours that you know that might be interested to go to the website and check us out. So, yeah, bulletsandbandaids.org. That's what we're going for. Awesome. Thank you so much for the opportunity for this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:22

Oh man, we appreciate having you on. We appreciate these conversations. Uh, we appreciate anybody that's trying to bring the community together and encourage more dialogue between people. You know, I think I think this is one of those things that's that's really important right now. Get everybody talking and working towards better goals.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:39

Exactly, exactly. Constructive.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:42

Being constructive. Hell yeah. Well, this is yeah, this is this has been absolutely great. Thank you so much for letting me be a part of this.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:52

For sure, for sure. Well, I appreciate it. I think that wraps us up for this weekend.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:00

Go ahead, yeah, go ahead and close us out, mate.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:02

Because you haven't closed us out yet. Appreciate it, Hilltop Glove. Appreciate all of our listeners out there. Tune in, subscribe, tell your friends.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:11

That's it for today's episode of the Hilltop Glove Podcast. Make sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and other platforms. Also follow us on Instagram and Facebook at Hilltop Glove.