Are You Gonna Feed the Veteran Stereotype?

Chris Albert 00:00:00 (link to this point)

You know, one of the things I'm always saying is that if this country is gonna get better, if this country is gonna go on the right path, we have to step up as a community. Veterans are the sleeping giant in this country, and it is time for us to step up. That's why I wanna talk to you about The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina. Now you might have thought about The Citadel in the past as this corps of cadets, this military institution, but they have programs for veterans that don't involve you joining the corps of cadets, don't involve you wearing a uniform every day, and don't involve you living a military lifestyle. If you wanna do that, great.

But if that's not what you're up for right now after your military career, then you don't have to do that, and you can access some of the best programs in the world. The Citadel has some hot degrees in intelligence, tactical strength and conditioning, engineering, and project management. And there's five student type options for veterans. There's graduate college, there's evening undergraduate, there's active duty students, non cadet day program, returning cadet veterans, and online programs. The academic offerings include undergraduate, graduate, college transfer, graduate certificates, and online degrees.

Veterans have access to every single academic degree the college offers, and they have the most flexibility when it comes to their schedule. They can major in anything offered to the cadets and would take those classes during the day with the cadets. But then there's other programs offered in the evening or online and graduate programs to choose from too to make things so flexible for you. The US World and News report has named the Citadel the number one college for veterans in the South. And for veterans who choose to take classes on campus, they get to be a civilian student in a military environment.

They don't have to wear uniforms, like I said before. They don't have to join the military culture of the corps of cadets. The atmosphere is a really good transition environment from military to civilian life. There's an organic mentorship that comes from taking classes with the cadets. The cadets wanna talk to you guys.

They wanna hear your stories. They wanna know what it was actually like to be in the military. A lot of the a lot of these men and women are gonna go on to serve as officers in the military, and they're gonna exact change. And they need to hear from you guys. They you also get access to The Citadel's alumni network.

Like I said, this is one of the most illustrious institutions in the world. And when you join the Citadel and you graduate, you're part of their alumni network. That includes so many leaders. It includes so many business leaders, so many leaders from the military, and so many leaders from the government. The college's core values of honor, duty, and respect align with veteran culture.

They align with who you are, and it's something that you're not gonna get anywhere else in this country. There is tons of special assistance for veterans at The Citadel. And whether you're a veteran or active duty military personnel, you can take advantage of these programs. You also get access to the veteran student success center, the career center, the academic success center, the student veteran association, and all campus clubs. If you wanna play rugby, you could do that.

If you wanna you wanna lift weights, you could do that. You get access to everything that the students get. There's fellowship opportunities. There's tons and tons of financial assistance. So if you're interested in getting a degree from The Citadel and building your life, head over to citadel.edu/veterans.

This is Chris Albert, and I'm here to remind you of one thing. Someday, you're going to die. And that's not some morbid statement or scary idea. It's solid fact. Your time here on this earth is limited.

And we need to be reminded of this as much as possible for one simple reason, to live your best life while you can. This is the Warrior Soul podcast.

What's going on, ladies and gentlemen? Welcome to the Warrior Soul podcast. My name is Chris Albert, and this is where we deliver tools, tactics, strategies, and ideas to help The US military veteran community and anybody else willing to listen to live their absolute best lives. Happy Saint Patrick's Day to all of you. This is Saint Patrick's Day as I'm recording this, and I was thinking about it this morning.

Saint Patrick's Day used to be one of those days where I would literally wait for weeks, countdown the days because I knew I was gonna hit the bars. I knew I was going to drink a lot, and I knew I was gonna do a lot of celebrating. And today, things are very different for me. I I don't drink. I put that down about ten years ago.

And I, you know, don't go to bars, and I don't celebrate. I I do consider Saint Patrick's Day a holy day because I'm Catholic. But beyond that, I've put the rest of the stereotypical Saint Patrick's Day down. And, you know, what I wanna talk to you about today are are stereotypes. You know, there's been stereotypes about the veteran community for a while now.

Alright? Stereotypes that we are angry, that we can't function in the family unit, that we can't function in civilian society, in our jobs. There's stereotypes about us being drunks, that we're alcoholics. There are stereotypes about us being, you know, right wing white supremacists and and all kinds of different things. Right?

And I don't know about you, but those stereotypes all bother me. Those stereotypes all bother me. But stereotypes exist for a reason. And that's because some people have experienced things like that amongst people within our group. And some of us have actually, for better or worse, tried to propagate those stereotypes.

And what do I mean by that? Well, you go on the internet right now, you look at some of the memes from the veteran community, you look at some of the the the accounts, maybe you know a few veterans who've exhibited exhibited stereotypes like this. For me personally, one of the things that got me on the path, the path toward living a better life path toward not drinking the path toward building myself up, making myself strong, making myself good at business, you know, making myself as smart as possible came from me knowing that I did not want to propagate that stereotype. You know, the stereotype of a drunk, angry veteran who who, you know, was gonna have a chip on his shoulder at all times. And I realized a long time ago that, you know, if you act like an asshole, right, you're not gonna attract people.

Right? Doesn't matter what you've done in your past. Doesn't matter, you know, how many medals you got. It doesn't matter, you know, where you served. Doesn't matter none of that matters if you're gonna treat people like shit.

Right? And I think that for all of us, we have to ask ourselves the question. And the question is, are we going to create our own being? Are we going to go out there and, you know, build up this community, or are we gonna keep propagating that stereotype? Right?

And, you know, a lot of people will probably come back at me, and they'll say, well, you know, this is a different world. It's a different America. You know, the the the place we live isn't fair to veterans right now. And you know what? I get that.

You know, I look at the news sometimes, and I'm like, what is going on out there in the world? What is going on with our youth? What is going on with Congress? What is going on with The United States Of America? But I'm gonna take you back to a basic principle of this podcast, and that is this.

If you wanna change things, if you want America to be America, then guess what? You gotta put yourself in position to do so. And how do you do that? Well, you I'll tell you how you don't do that. You don't do that by drinking all the time.

You don't do that by being an asshole to everybody. You don't do that by propagating the typical angry veteran stereotype. What you do is you put yourself in position to change things. You work hard. Right?

You better yourself. You educate yourself as much as possible. I'm not talking about school. I'm talking about grabbing some books and reading. Alright?

Teaching yourself about your craft, your profession, teaching yourself about life, about philosophy, teaching yourself about the things that are gonna get you ahead in life, like money and investing, getting out there and being active in your community. Right? Actually taking an active role, taking an active role in our community, maybe joining some veteran service organizations. Right? And, of course, I hear that all the time.

Well, I don't wanna join a VSO, blah blah blah. It's all politics. Well, guess what? It's how the world works right now. Right?

It's how the world works right now. Right? You change things by being active in in the community in general and in our community.

You teach thing you change things by teaching your children the proper way. And no, not just spending an hour with them when you get home and you're tired and everything like that, drinking a beer on the couch. You teach things to them by being active in their lives, teaching them lessons, being active in their interests. Alright? You you need to take a more active role in life in general.

And you change things by getting out there and becoming leaders. Leaders at your job, leaders in your community, getting out there and starting businesses. Right? Looking after your own financial well-being, saving money, investing. Right?

That's how you're gonna get yourself in a position to change things. Cause if we don't do that, guess what? We're just a bunch of dudes sitting on couches with Instagram accounts. Right? We're just a bunch of loud mouths, just like everybody else out there.

And I don't know about you, but I don't wanna be like everybody else. I don't wanna be the same old group bitching and moaning about what's wrong with the world. I want to be the group that is actually going out there and changing the world. So it's up to you guys. If you want to live up to the stereotype, then then go out there and live up to the stereotype.

But if you actually wanna get out there and you wanna change this world, you wanna change it for the better, for your children and your children's children, for our society, for everything we fought for, for everything that people who did a shit ton more than us fought for, then get out there and do something about it. Invest in yourself. Make yourself stronger. Make yourself smarter. Take a bigger role in your community.

Stack your money. Vote, and be involved. Be involved in life and be involved in this world because this is all we get. That's all I got for today, guys. This is Chris Albert with the Warrior Soul podcast.

Get out there and live your best lives while you can.