The Bridge Home: Navigating Life After Service

0:01 Hello, and thank you for tuning in to A Sharp Outlook on K4HD Radio and Talk4TV. I am Angela Sharp, your host. Our armchair discussions with industry experts will give you the steps, tools, and information to be successful in business and to prepare you to be your best self. Hello, I'm Angela Sharp, and welcome to our show today. It's a very, very special show, and I think all of you will really enjoy it and gather a lot of information about some things that I'm going to try to get you to do. But what we're talking about today is the Bridge Home, navigating life after service. We have Veterans Day coming up this week. And I would just like us to really think about that day and think about our veterans and find out maybe there's just a little more that we as thankful and grateful citizens can do for our veterans. The uniform comes off, but the experience stays. Every year, thousands of service members transition from the battlefield to civilian life. Facing challenges that range from bureaucratic mazes, the physical recovery to the quiet internal battle of finding a new sense of purpose. And in this episode,

1:33 we're going to sit down with Eric McDuffie, a veteran who is just talking about these challenges. He's actively solving them. Eric shares his personal journey. from military life to his current mission of providing boots on the ground assistance to his fellow vets. We discussed the hidden gaps in veteran support, the power of peer to peer mentorship and how communities can, and don't take this the wrong way, but can stop just saying thank you for your service and start asking, how can I actually help? Join us and listen in for an honest, raw, and essential conversation about what it truly means to leave no one behind. I'd like to have Eric join me.

2:30 Good morning, Angela. Thank you for inviting me, and I'm excited about the show. Yes, thank you for... accepting my invitation because to me this is a very personal topic because my family were military men and I even have cousins women that have been in the military and provided service and so it is very personal to me but welcome and thank you for joining us here at A Sharp Outlook. I'd like to share some of your background and then we'll just kind of continue our conversation. Tell us about you, Eric.

3:16 Well, my name is Eric McDuffie. I'm born and raised in East Orange, New Jersey. And from high school, I went to basic training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and then did my AIT in El Paso at Fort And my permanent duty at Fort Bliss as well. After transitioning out of the military, I went to college at Paul Quinn College in Dallas, Texas, played baseball there for a couple of years and have been in the business world ever since then with tours in the IRS, Texas Instruments, Tyler Technologies, and now founder and CEO of Tier Consulting. Wonderful. You've really transitioned to a lot of different, you're almost like me, reimagining yourself.

4:03 Yes, ma'am. It's been a journey. Yeah. So when you kind of reflect on the day you officially took off the uniform, what was the biggest challenge there? that people don't talk about enough? What do we really need to know? Everybody's got an idea and has an opinion. But without talking to someone who's been there, done that, do we really know? No, we don't. So tell us, what was it like when you took that uniform? What happened? When I took the uniform off, there was a lot of unknowns, as you just alluded to, right? And so Not knowing what resources were readily available for us and being able to make that transition. Understanding that the MOS that I had in the military wasn't a clear transition into the civil world. So there was a lot of what are you going to do, Eric? What are your next steps? I had an idea of what I wanted to do, but I didn't know exactly how to visibly obtain those things. And so I think that when I took the uniform off, there was a lot of questioning what path would I take moving forward, right?

5:12 And I. Was very, very, very blessed to be able to have some individuals that were supportive around me and actually a friend who encouraged me that helped my journey to make that transition to Dallas, Texas. So I had no clue what I was going to do, right? Here I am with an MOS that really wasn't transferable to the civilian world, didn't really want to go to college. I had to be I had to be coerced to go to college because I didn't feel like school was for me, right? So coming out of the military and actually at that time, I had a child on the way as well. So there was a lot of unknowns that I was really trying to figure out. And I wish that I would have known about the resources that were available once I took that uniform off.

5:59 And seeing that this was good to hear because those are assumptions that people at least I do and the people that I talk to, we just assume that there's like this whole transition plan that they, that, you know, the government walks you through and, you know, assist you in housing and assist you in, in, you know, extending education or whatever. So, you know, to come out and then you just got to find your own way. That is, that is very, very challenging. situation to be in. Well, you know, I want to also get into the fact that you're doing more than just being a veteran. You are doing something about that transitioning for veterans coming back into civilian life. You have a company, what is it, Tiered Consulting, LLC. Tell us about that.

7:03 Yeah, so tiered consulting was birthed out of necessity, right? Working in a public sector space for the past 15 or so years, we know that government technology is very antiquated and the government technology is really struggling to keep up with modern technology. And so we want to be able to be that bridge to the government entities to be able to bring modern solutions to our citizens, right? Because we fail to realize that a lot of the applications that We have access to, you know, I know most of you have probably been out on the government site and you see that the site is lagging in in some new things. Right. Whether it be a chat box that's embedded into the Web site or whether it's or whether it's having a Web, excuse me, an A.I. knowledge, knowledge base.

7:52 Right. We know that the government is really. 10 years behind technology, and we want to do something about that. And we are making sure that we have solutions that are going to be viable for our citizenry to be able to take advantage of the modern advancements in technology. And through project management, website development, content creation, we're talking about marketing, all of that under one umbrella. So tier consulting is attempting to break moderate solutions under a full broad stroke of solutions that are modern day. You have taken on a huge undertaking and can you describe the special moment when that light bulb came on and said, we have all this gap here. I got to stop saying you do this, you do this. Now I need to take it on and say, I need to be the one to help my fellow veterans. How did that light bulb come on? What happened?

9:02 So this conversation started maybe about five or six years ago through a friend of mine. And she said, she said, hey, Eric, you need to start your own consulting firm. You know, you're a bright guy. You can do it. And I'm like, OK. So I sat on my hands for quite some time and really didn't take the initiative to do it. However, you know, last year I lost an opportunity at my previous employer and then Angela was like, Eric, you have to do something about this, right? And so I took it upon myself to be able to take this concept and put it into real life so that way we could be able to take the skills that I've learned as a business analyst and as a project manager. Let's bring these things and integrate technology into this thing so that way we could be able to make a dent in our aging technologies that we have in our government spaces.

9:51 So it was more of a, okay, if we don't do it, nobody else will, right? Seeing that there was a need there and that there are other consulting firms. And I think that we bring the experience necessary. My partner in crime, Mr. Russell Ware with Cloud 33 and 3, former Google executive and everything else like that. So we just put our heads together and we said, let's do it. And so we put everything on paper and now we're flying We're flying this plane as high as we can, Angela, and looking forward to really making a difference. Oh, yeah. And believe me, a difference is needed. Besides my family being from, you know, have been a part of military and I've seen them come home and with different issues and problems. And I guess they give it the name PTSD, but yeah, it was just a lot to go in and then come home and try to, and we're talking about, you know, in the late 1800s and the early 1900s, you know, and then coming back and finding there were no benefits and just so many different things that caused a lot of trauma and things.

11:04 It's very personal to me. And so because of that, I used to go every Friday night in a city called Tacoma and and I would be feeding the homeless. And there were a lot of veterans that showed up to get a meal. They didn't have places to stay. They were having all kinds of issues and it didn't seem to be a plan to help those men who have done so much for us. But it's just wonderful that we have a veteran that finds it very important to take up on this mantle to help his fellow veterans that are coming home and facing the same issues that he has faced, not having a clear plan for transitioning from one life to another. When you're in the military, you're there for long periods of time and you have special missions and special orders and you have, even they have specific plans that they're supposed to carry out during each situation that they're in. They have their execution orders, they have their plans, they have all of that. But when they come home, it's like, fend for yourself? That doesn't seem quite right. But we see right today that

12:40 there is a need, a need for specifically possibly retraining, finding a new industry to work in, finding a new career, finding a new way of being able to meet the needs of their family, meet their emotional needs, What are they going to do when every day they got up? They knew what the plan was. They knew what the mission was. They knew what they needed to do. They knew what the orders were. They knew how to execute it. They went and executed it. They came back. They got new orders. They got new plans. They had to follow new steps. And to come home and everything has changed since the last time that they just were in civilian life.

13:31 And all of this new technology is not like they're sitting there playing on the computer or doing things, you know, and watching as our technology is improving and technology is changing. Our cars are changing. Our phones are changing. And they don't have time to stay up with those kinds of things if they are called out to duty and they have other things that they just have to do. And so it's... it's really important that a plan be there for them to be able to easily start a new life.

14:13 And the first thing is having someone to talk with them, having someone to interact with them, having someone, like he said, he had a friend that talked to him and said, you know, this is something that you can do and you should do with the skills that you have. These other people coming home, they need someone to talk to, someone to share that information with. Yes. And so it's really important that that occurs. So what is a common misconception that we as civilians have about what veterans need? Well, a common misconception that civilians may have is that, you know, one, there's a tremendous gap between having a mentality of mostly everything is taken care of for veterans during our military service. You don't have to worry about housing.

15:12 You don't have to worry about food. You don't have to worry about clothes because, you know, you're in a uniform for most of the time. And so I think what really is lost in translation is, I tell people all the time too, Angela, we have to be very cognizant that when you take something away from someone, you have to have an alternative to replace that, right? So I think having, and you're talking about individuals that spent maybe 10, 15, 20 years, 30 years in service, having a specific regimen day-to-day basis, right? And to step outside of that can be challenging at times. And I think that A lot of civilians fail to realize that there is actually a tremendous transition that's happening for someone who's in the military. Anything from getting up at four o'clock in the morning to do PT. And now you're in a civilian world. You don't have to get up that early.

16:05 Right. So there's a mental transition that takes some time for a lot of veterans in order to be able to fully understand and embrace that. And I think that's what the civilian community fails to realize at times is that, you know, you go from a rigid scale. It takes a lot of discipline and a lot of a lot of resolve to be able to have that sense of liberty again from transitioning from military service. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's almost like when, you know, you have your children grow up and then they turn 18 or 20. We say, OK, it's time for you to stretch out and, you know, begin your life. And they don't know how to begin because during those times, they never really thought about what it was that they wanted to do outside of where they were. And like you said, you're in a very disciplined environment. And you have your orders, you have rules. you know, their plans and directions and leaders and everything. So you're not having to get up and make decisions during the day except just to follow the orders that were already decided. And you have your one job and you do that job.

17:21 But when you come home, like you said, 10, 15 years or more, Look at how fast the technology has changed. Even the cars have changed. You know, so much has changed, and they're just supposed to just walk in there and everything is okay. That's not pretty standard for anyone. And so, as I was kind of sharing with, you know... was the fact that they need someone to talk with because we do believe that all that transitioning is outlined by the government. And I guess that's, I'm finding out that that's not what's really going on. So how can, how could we as citizens be more supportive of, of veterans when they come home.

18:18 Well, to be fair, Angela, they do provide some, to be fair, they do provide a framework for us to follow as we transition out of the military. There are programs in place, but however, you know, a person like me that didn't know what he wanted to do exactly didn't really take advantage of those things. And so I think that, and one of the main things that we want to be able to do here, and I'll mention a resource that I think does a very good job here, and it's the Veterans Business Outreach Center. I believe that they're in every state, but we recently went to, I recently attended a workshop in Myrtle Beach and the plethora of resources that were available was amazing to me, right?

19:00 And I think that those are some of the things that we need to make sure that veterans are aware of as they're transitioning out. And here's another key as well. I think that the preparation to transition actually should happen a year, six months to a year before you transition out, because there's so much information out here that you really have to do a thorough job vetting exactly what is it that you want to do and how will you obtain a resource in order to accomplish that, right? So there are frameworks in place, but if you're a person that doesn't have a clue what you want to do, then I would strongly encourage your preparation to begin six months to a year before transitioning out. We want to make sure that people are aware of these services that are out here. Like I said, the Veterans Business Outreach Center is a great resource, actually, that I'm leveraging now.

19:53 But I didn't find out about the Veterans Business Outreach Center until maybe about three years ago, right? And so it's like, if I would have been extremely beneficial for me to take advantage of those resources. And I know that the Veterans Administration has a small business in, in and economically challenged, I believe is the title of the, of the organization. But definitely I would say that from a civilian perspective, we need to be able to make sure that we're aware and we're working on a solution, right? Right now, my partner and I, we're working on a directory for veteran owned businesses. And I think having exposure to that, you know, across the state, across the country, across the world, Um, and, and having that directory kind of like, uh, I'm old school a little bit. So I still remember the, the, um, the yellow pages and all that other stuff. So the yellow pages of veterans businesses is what we're talking about developing here in the near future. And I think having access to resources like that is imperative to help people formulate what direction they're going to go once they transition out of the military.

20:58 Right. And one of the things I'd like to say to our listeners, those that are leaders in corporations or nonprofits or foundations or whatever your business is, I remember years because I've been a chief financial officer and a director of finance and a VP of finance. And during times where we needed to get staff, we were able to get staff. hire people to come in to be trained to do specific jobs. And the state government was actually paying those funds for their salaries so that they could actually get trained to do jobs. Do you ever...

21:49 hear of any companies that are reaching out and saying, hey, we can retrain groups of people in specific areas so that they're able to, like I said, find a new career, find a new purpose, new direction, because I know they used to do it. Now, I've been doing tech for a while now, so I'm not in the finance area. but I'm sure some of those services are still there because I see them, you know, providing money for skills, you know, skills training in the States. So, but do you have any companies that are contacting, you know, tiered consulting LLC to provide retraining for some of the veterans that you, you couldn't find a better person to bring on for employment?

22:47 Agreed. And to answer your question, Angela, no, but that's something that we can definitely look to working towards, right? But you made a great point in that most people that have military experience, they have excellent skills that would transition to our profession, project management, right? They're disciplined, great leaders. They know how to lead people. They know how to acquiesce to circumstances that may not be ideal. And so I would personally look for a person who was in the military because I know that these are the skills that they're going to bring to my organization, right? So that's definitely something, and those programs do exist, but we have not had any direct contact with any individuals who would want to provide that type of training. But I would love to be able to march down that alley to see if that's something that we can do because I know that there's some great leaders within the military and that they would be good at the project management profession because of the level of detail that it takes in order to run projects. Angela, as you and I know, the amount of organization it requires to run a project, as you and I know, that's definitely something that I would be open to exploring. And I'm going to start my homework as soon as this chat is over, so that way we can get a company and train some project managers so that way we can make a difference in this space. Because as I tell everyone, Angela, I

24:17 don't care what industry you're in, everybody needs a project manager, right? And so whether it's construction, whether it's software, whether it's building restaurants, you're going to need a project manager. And so I would love to be able to be at the forefront of bringing that, those type of skills training to the military community, because I know for a fact that they have some of the key disciplines that are necessary in order to become great project managers. Oh, yes. And not only that, I know right now industries are needing people that would be able to manage warehouse management and warehouse training and things like that and helping companies be able to transition into automating that system because some of the systems they have have not been working or don't work with the new technology that's out there.

25:08 They need people to come in and help that and i know with all of the items and things that are in the military there's someone who's managing the inventory and things you can't ask for someone they know specifically how you know um that needs to be done and so let's make this easier those that are listening i'm calling out all companies that that are needing those kinds of skills we need to contact you know, tiered consulting LLC and try to set up some type of collaboration so that we can bring these veterans in. It's a benefit to you, but it's going to be a huge life change for them. So if you want to thank them for their service, thank them by providing an opportunity to so that they can continue to provide service, but in a different way. Not free, okay? Compensated service.

26:13 Well-compensated services. That is really, really important. Because, you know, many service members probably struggle with a loss of identity once they no longer have a rank or a mission. You know, how do you help the veterans redefine You know, themselves once they've left service, because it is a matter of reimagining themselves, redefining their lives. Yeah, that's that's tough. That's tough, Angela. And, you know, for me personally, I can only speak from my own experience.

26:53 I just recently returned from New Jersey from a trip from for an awards or excuse me, a scholarship. recognition in my mother's name. And I'm sitting there, it's Newark airport. They're doing a whole lot of renovations. And all I can, all I could think about was FPP, right? Um, foundation, uh, foundation pillars and purpose, right? Um, ultimately you find your purpose in, in, I believe Elohim. Um, and as I thought through this experience and this journey that I've gone through, um, Yeshua said it best about foundations. It's two types of foundations that you set up on. And this is all purposeful in finding your purpose, right? Because again, your identity is not the uniform that you put on day to day.

27:40 Your identity is who you are as a person, right? And understanding your alignment with Elohim is important to understand those things. And so we see that we have two foundations, one built on sand, one built on a solid rock. When the storms come, because they're we need to be able to have that foundation solid. And the only thing that I truly believe is solid enough for us to be able to find our identity is in our identity in Elohim. Secondarily, we have to build those pillars. We have to build three pillars in life. And I live my life professionally and personally based on these three pillars. I'm going to always be honest. I'm going to always be transparent. And I'm always going to be vulnerable, right?

28:21 And so as we build those pillars... out in life, we begin to see things formulate in a way that helps us to be able to understand that our identity will never change as long as it's built on something that's solid. A lot of people build their identity on person, place, or thing, right? And it's important for us to understand it has to go beyond that because those things can be taken away. At some point, we are going to transition. And we're going to go back to the dirt from where we can then building those pillars of honesty, transparency and vulnerability. And it's difficult to get to that for people, some people to get that vulnerability part because you have to open yourself up to people you may not know.

29:06 And that's one of the things that I think was very unique about the military community. Even when I attended the workshop in Myrtle Beach, it's a very well-knit community and it truly embodies what a community looks like. because you see people advocating for other people, rallying for other people, encouraging other people to be the best person they can, right? And so then we ultimately, once we build that foundation, once we build those pillars, those three pillars of honesty, transparency, and vulnerability, then we'll be able to find our our purpose. Right. And so even now, I think that as a as a as a vet, you know, as a person who believes in Elohim, it's my mission to ensure that I treat everybody the same way.

29:48 Right. I don't care what your color looks like. And that's what we saw in the military. We saw we saw barriers being broken down because we had to be able to work as a unit. And that oneness and that that that that brotherhood sisterhood that's established in the community, in a community, in a veteran community is paramount to ensure that that transfers over to another community. Right. Like I said earlier, Angela, I'm a firm believer that you take something away with something away from somebody. You have to give them an alternative. Right. And so I think that's another piece in the transition part that I think is really, really needed is being plugged into a community. So you have you're taking away this person's identity. You're taking away this person's community. And I think that that needs to be another part in order for us to be able to fully transition into civilian life is having that sense of community again, because I believe I believe firmly, Angela, that everybody has three B's that that they have. have ingrained in them. Everybody wants to believe in something, everybody wants to belong to something, and everybody wants to become something, right? And so when you take those three things away from the military world, it has to be a smooth transition to the civilian world as well. And so I think that's important to be able to establish that identity. One, it has to be from a higher calling, because I believe that everybody and everything was created for a purpose, Angela. And so when you begin to look at life from a vantage point, then you'll be able to really not lose your identity when you transition from military life to civilian.

31:18 Yes, and that's just wonderful to hear those bullet points that, yes, we do. We need to be, first off, start off with transparency and honesty and things like that, and then find out that the military, they already have established specific goals and behaviors because they had to depend on one another. They didn't have time to be petty like we are out here as civilians. And so being able to transfer that into communities, in fact, is bringing something so positive to the communities. It could probably help change some of our communities so that we are more helpful as a people to one another. So, I mean, this is a win-win situation to bring these ideas and this attitude into communities and into the workplace because there's so much, you know, internal fighting even in the workplace. This would actually bring the workplace to a point where everybody gets along. Everyone respects each other. Everyone respects each other's opinions. Everyone tries to find a way of working together and collaborating. Who would not want that in their organization? Who would not want that in their community? It would just absolutely just lift everyone up to the point that there would be

32:51 more success and maybe less chaos. And that, I mean, that's just beautiful. And as you said before, we all came to earth with a specific purpose to complete ourselves. And finding that purpose is really important. And that's where you have to look inside yourself, like you said, and find that truth and find that thing that really, really just pulls and tugs at you so that you can fulfill your God-given gift, use those talents, and yes, become all that you were sent here to become when you came to earth. and bringing people together. And that is just so wonderful. How do communities handle veterans that are coming back home? Do you see positivity or are people being ignored, in your opinion?

33:55 I'm seeing a lot of positivity, Angela. And it's one of the things that I think is very very, very endearing to me is that, you know, you get your discounts and you hear people say, thank you for your service and all of these different things. And I see the community being very supportive of veterans and making sure that they are expressing their appreciation for the sacrifices that they've made. Right. And I tell people all the time, you know, we live, we all have sacrificed something at some point in my, in our lives. Right. And whether we realize that or not, The fact that the communities are acknowledging that, the restaurants are acknowledging that, people are acknowledging that, I think is very powerful and assuring at times for those who have sacrificed their lives or parts of their lives to serve, right? I tell people all the time, we were called to be servants at the end of the day. And I think that at least where I live at, you know, I see the communities being very supportive of veterans and being very expressing their appreciation for what they've done um and i think that's part of part of the um the road map to transition is to ensure that yes you you have your immediate family that's going to be supportive of you and everything else like that but um you also need that community because we weren't we and this is something that has been ingrained in us during basic training we weren't here um we weren't created to live life alone right we we were created to in order for

35:25 us to be in communities, in order for us to support one another. That's something that was very spirited within the military. And I think that that's still that same spirit needs to carry over into the communities. So at least where I live, I see the community being very supportive. I can't speak on any other places, but here in Rock Hill, South Carolina, where I currently live, they are actually very supportive of the veteran corpus. Right, right. And that's right. And that is what I'm trying to share is the fact that we need to go in and yes, it's wonderful to, to thank and show our gratitude to those service members. And I know that they appreciate hearing those words, but I would like us to maybe take that conversation one step further and, and ask that, What is it that I can do?

36:20 Or is there something I can do to provide some help for you? You know, they may say, well, do you know the job? Hey, there's a connection there. There's more to your thank you than just a thank you. How about saying also, is there anything that I can do to help you at this time? Understanding that there are, there's a, there's a, What I want to say, a huge gap between leaving military and then coming back to civilian life and not being able to stay up on what's been going on for the past 10 years and just feeling that you've been left behind or inadequate or whatever the emotions that might come. Just people in the neighborhood, people at the churches in the neighborhood, people at the restaurants, you know, that's a veteran. Go and say, hey, hey, man, hey, hey, what can I do? What can I offer? Do you need any assistance? Can I call someone for you? Extend just a little bit more. And you'll be able to help a life get back on its feet and be able to walk a little further in the path of their purpose if you just extend yourself a little bit.

37:44 And that's what community does. It extends to others that are out there. Agreed, Angela. 100% agreed. We were built. And it's funny because I was having a conversation with a friend the other day and we were discussing the Five Love Languages book, right? And one of those love languages, one of those love languages is acts of service, right? And I found that very interesting that this whole theme, this whole desire for servitude and being a servant is something that a person envisions as a way of them expressing their love. And we can't miss that. You know, and so as we We walk through the different five love languages. I read, you know, how you perceive yourself. And I tell people all the time, Angela, that sometimes people perception is everything.

38:43 First and foremost, secondarily, people may see things in you that you don't see in yourself. Right. And so I think that that that step further that you're talking about is is very, very, very important because we need to understand that we're all here to serve each other. We're here to serve the most high, first and foremost, and then serve serving other people. You will never know how that will make their day. Right. That can change a horrible day to that person just really enlightened me. And I'm the happiest person in the world. Right. So I agree with you wholeheartedly. Take any extra step. Give somebody a hug or saying, hey, how can I help you out in this situation is ideal. And you'll never know how life changing that can be. Yes, absolutely. I was just sitting here just thinking, you know.

39:27 if you could reach a veteran right now who's struggling in silence, what is the one thing you want them to know about your value and their future? What do you want to say to them? Their value in their future. Hey, look, um, I'm going to make up a name. Hey, Joe, um, I want you to understand that you're a person who's capable of achieving everything, anything through the power of faith. Right. Despite your circumstances, I want you to understand. And if you get rooted and grounded in understanding that you have value because. Our creator did not create us people. And there's another book that I want to also mention that as I answer this question, Angela, there's a book by Ken Ham.

40:17 called One Blood, One Race, right? You know, and so it was fascinating, a fascinating read for me in that it showed me that everybody that's walking on this, on this earth is valuable in the creator site. And then secondarily, it helped me to understand that I can't look at things from only my vantage point. I have to look at things from that, that empathy. You know, there's a thing going around, Angela, you know this very well, being emotionally intelligent and all of that other stuff. We're learning all this stuff in our, in our continuous improvement programs and things of that nature. And so I just want to let them know that, hey, you have value. I don't care what life has thrown at you. You can turn this thing around if you begin to walk by faith and not by sight, right? And then secondarily, how can I help you with whatever you're struggling with? What resources can you Um, can I, uh, lend or afford to you and how can I serve you, sir or ma'am? Um, because again, I think, I believe that that's the key to everything. And there's a lot of veterans out here who are struggling. There's a lot of veterans who are homeless.

41:21 I believe that our government could do more for them. Um, there's a lot of, uh, veterans that have are struggling with mental health issues and I've seen a VA programs. They're, they're doing a much better job than they have in the past. So I think they're slowly but surely addressing those things. But I still think that there's more that can be done. But no, Angela, they have to know that they're valuable. Elohim did not make any mistakes. Yeah, we may have had challenges. We all have had challenges that made us fall flat on our face at times. But, you know, as long as we have another day, we have another opportunity. And that's what I would encourage them with. Oh, absolutely. As you mentioned, the creator... What did he say when he created the earth and the heavens and everything?

42:05 He said it was good. Not just good. Very good. So there's nothing he did not make that's not very good. Everything he created. And if you are here on earth, you were created for purpose and you were created marvelously. And you are unique. You don't even have to try to be like somebody else. You need to be like you because there's only one you with one purpose, and that's what you can achieve. You are valuable. If he's going to give his all for you and create all of the beauty of the earth for you, do you not think he's appreciating who you are as a human being?

42:53 as one of his creations? Of course he is. And he has something special for you. You've seen things that others have not seen. You've had emotions that others have not ever felt. You know how to reach the depth of a soul. Maybe just working with other vets or working with those that are coming out from incarceration or working with those in hospitals that are feeling like They're on their last breath and giving up. You know how to say. You never give up. You never stop fighting. You never stop trying. You've got the voice. You've got the words. You've got the experience. Those are the things that he wants from you. And you're able to do that.

43:38 You are extremely valuable. You've even proven how valuable you are. You are willing to lay your life down for another person. There's nothing more valuable than that. And so we value you. We want you to know we care about you. Eric, I want you to share your contact information so that different ones can get a hold of you that want to help participate with the program, invest in the program, people that want to get help from the program. Share your information, would you please? Yes, thank you, Andrew, for the opportunity. Yes, the website you can go out to is tieredconsulting.com. And we can be reached at area code. Give me one second. I don't know the business number off the top of my head. Well, I know it, but it's been a while since I accessed it. So give me one second. Let me pull that up. And you can reach us.

44:40 921-0101. And if you want to, you can type it in the chat there and it'll show up. Sure. Let's do that. It's really important that we have, you know, businesses like this out there that are giving veterans opportunities to now, you know, transition. from being in the military. And I was just thinking three or four years when you said 10, 20, it's like, whoa, that is a huge transition. I mean, there's nothing that we have going on right now that was available 20 years ago. You know, I mean, everything has changed drastically. And so even down to the telephone. So it's really important for them to be able to have an opportunity to transition. And we need helping hands. that are willing to make that happen.

45:41 Yeah, that's a huge, huge difference. When you spend 20, 10, 20 years in a certain environment, to have to transition to a new one can be very challenging. And I'm glad to have had the opportunity to speak with some people that have come from, have served for that long, and just hearing their stories and how they're transitioning into Business is that was that was life altering for me to hear some of the stories I heard in Murder Beach and motivating for me as well. So they have the again, I mentioned the Veterans Business Outreach Center. For those of you who are interested in starting your own business, it could be a tremendous resource to first look at, amongst other things. The SBA has some programs for veterans.

46:29 And there's, of course, some other entities. And they can contact you online. I would be glad to share and follow up with you that way. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I really appreciate you being here today and being so open with us today. And I know, I know just myself, um, I have a better understanding of the issues and how that I can truly help and demonstrate that gratitude of service. And so I really appreciate you being here today, Eric, and we're going to work even closer together to see if we can make some differences and some changes. But we are honoring our vets and we're thanking them for their service, but we're going to demonstrate it with action also. And so I just want to say for those that listen today, please contact Eric on his website and his phone number. And this is A Sharp Outlook. And thanks for listening. And go find a way you can assist a vet and provide resources and opportunities for retraining. Join us again next week.

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