Let's Talk UNLV

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You're listening to locally produced programming created in KU NV studios on public radio K, u and v 91.5.

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The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jazz and more the University of Nevada Las Vegas or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

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Welcome to another episode of Let's Talk UNLV

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K u and v 91.5. You are here with Tanya and Alicia day we have a very special surprise guest and that is really a surprise because she didn't know she was a guest until like five minutes ago, literally.

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We're so excited to have her in the studio. So we

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have a wonderful, wonderful human who is actually visiting Vegas and hanging out with me and her name is Althea Williams. And she runs a program called she backs it. So Althea, you are a prior service military woman veteran, which is like the unicorn of a unicorn. Yeah. Would you like to share your origin story with us?

Unknown Speaker 1:05
Oh, I would love to love to first of all, I would just like to say thank you so much for having me here as your guests. I'm very honored. Yay. We're

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happy to have you. And it was perfect timing. It was so meant to be.

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Yes. God knows what he's doing when he brings us together.

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So when did you join the military?

Unknown Speaker 1:27
Oh, my goodness. I joined I was turning 39. Yes, I was having a midlife crisis. Yeah. So God had a plan. But I, to me, anyone that's from the outside looking in, they're like, did you have a midlife crisis? 39. I have five children married and people are like, are you crazy? Who

Unknown Speaker 1:51
who does that? Amazing.

Unknown Speaker 1:54
Yes, yes. So I joined. I it was during the recession. During that time, you know, there was a lot of people were out of work. And I always wanted to join when I was in high school. And so that period came I relocated from California to Texas. And then I had to make a decision. I was laid off. And I was like, Okay, what do I do? So I was in a cafe one day, and I was this random stranger start talking to me. He was a veteran. He said, Have you considered joining the military? I said, That's funny, because I always wanted to join the military. And when I was in college, I shadowed the ROTC. But somehow someone said, keeps staying stay in college, because you want to get that degree before you even consider the military. So I went that route, and then ended up running a chamber of commerce because I'm like, opportunities start happening. And I'm like, Well, let me just keep going before I joined the military. And so when the recession happened, and that gentleman said, Have you thought about the military? I said, Hmm, let me go check out the recruiting office. Because one thing that stood out to me was, I always hear that older people say, when they're reaching their last years, or their last moments is that they never think about the things, the opportunities that they were able to take, but it was the opportunities that they never take, take him that they always want to do. So in my head was I always wanted to join the military, no regrets. And so I said, there you go. I said, I don't want to live in regrets. I'm going to do it. So I went to the recruiters office, and he said, we'll pay your student loans off ourselves. Right.

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Which arm do I get? So I signed up. But before I did that, on a serious note, before I did that, I said, Okay, well, hold on. I, you know, I'm a person of faith. And I said, Okay, I want to be where God wants me to be. So I said, let me go to church. I'm gonna say, Lord, give me a confirmation of what you want me to do. If you don't want me to join the military, I'm sure when I get to church, you're gonna I'm gonna get a confirmation because this pastor I trust, you know, so I went there didn't talk to pastors, not a military town, went to church Monday, I was supposed to sign got into church, and the pastor, he had a Navy SEAL veteran of Chaplain that was there. Wow. And this whole stage was military theme. Wow, that teleprompter? Was the army coming to pick up? Wow. And so I said, I need another. This is too real. This is what you asked for. Right? Right. So I said, Okay, I hear you. I'm gonna do this. So I went ahead and did it. And then that's when life got real.

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Now tell them what you did. Who brands what brands as

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well. You know, what's the best brands out there? Oh, tell ya Now you know,

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I got rival in the studio because we're about to go wait a minute.

Unknown Speaker 5:07
Okay, well, you know, because my sister has you know they're neck and neck these two branches are neck and neck yeah so you know this is branch that go neck and neck with the Marines you know it's the army

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we all family, we family we fight battles we just we family it's all

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love the unity that I'm experiencing right now although I'm not thank you all for your service you know part of the fam that part of the family but I definitely feel the love in this studio. Listen, it was the eyes. She said. Well, let me just say we're together there Nick. I love Oh, wow. And and then what's how feeding that we're getting ready to actually celebrate Veterans Day. You know this? What Friday's Veterans Day? Right? Oh,

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and then did you know that there's women Veterans Day? No, I didn't know

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that. Please share. So

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June 12. Every year is women's veterans day

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come through. Yep.

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And why don't we hear about that as often? This is my first time ever hearing about that? Well, not

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every Yeah, not every state celebrate women's veterans day. But there's like Texas, they incorporated women's veterans day in 2017. So there's quite a few states that acknowledge it, but it's still not out there like that. So I always like to put that out there for those that for the states that are not recognizing yet for veterans to really talk to the representative about seeing if they can acknowledge women's veterans day. It's not because we just want our own day. We're really women veterans, we are really a you were unique. Because here's the thing, men veterans, they go to war and we're used to the males in this society going off. But how many times do your mom go to war? You know, your the kids are used to mom being the nurturer. They're a caretaker caretaker. And they're always there when dad is gone. But what if you're a caretaker and the nurturer of you is off to war. You know, dad is like he may or may not give you all the vegetables and the proteins and things you need. Okay, go ahead. And pizza, eat the fruit snacks and the candy for dinner, you know. So it's a difference different in the kids. I always say the family served to because when especially with women, when women we go off to war, we have challenges. Not only that, but our children have a unique challenge when we leave versus when the dads leave.

Unknown Speaker 7:38
Wow. And I know someone listening to that probably never thought of it from that perspective. That's so insightful, because I personally, you know, I do believe that when one served with a the whole family serves, by putting it from their perspective, from a mother's perspective, it may, it does make sense, you know, she has a lot of light on some things that we normally wouldn't consider. But

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another thing to consider that women make the fastest segment of the homeless population are veterans. Women Veterans make up the fastest segment of the homeless population among our veterans. Why is that? Oh, well, most of the time, we're, you know, a lot of times, we're single parents, you know, and when you're in the military, if you don't have like, if the Father's not, if you're not together with the Father, you have to have a family care plan. And if you don't have that intact, you cannot stay in the military. So now you have, a lot of times women may be in domestic violence situations, or if they get out of the military pretty fast, they may not get certain benefits right away, and it takes time. So now they don't have that financial stability, and you

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lose all of your basic supports. You think about it, you lose childcare, you lose your job. So everything, the whole thing falls, everything collapses underneath you. And the difference about so living on the military base in particular, you have a support system that's sort of embedded, you know, you you have people in your neighborhood that are familiar with your kids, you know, certain level of safety. So yeah, you lose your pack, you lose your connections. And in some cases, when it's time to apply for disability, it's harder to get disability as a woman, especially around even something like PTSD. Yes. Wow. Yeah. And also women veterans are more likely to complete suicide than civilians. access to firearms. Yeah. You know, so. So there are a lot of ways in which women veterans are very different. And also because of their female status. They're not always immediately recognized as veterans. Yes. I've actually had friends tell me that they parked in a veteran's spot and have somebody come and challenge their right to park in

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the Audacity. And a lot of times we don't even recognize a lot of women do not identify with being veterans. And then also a lot of them don't even recognize being homeless because they they will couch surf. Oh, so some times you think you're not homeless, but if you don't have a home and you're living on somebody's couch, you are homeless, right. And so a lot of times they won't even go into shelters because they have children and out of fear that their children will be taking away from them. So a lot of them will stay in the car,

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and they don't get so you don't get counted in the numbers. And then you throw on the MST, the military sexual trauma piece, which exacerbates mental health concerns. So you sometimes leave with a mental health concern that more than likely increases the likelihood you're going to be homeless? Yeah, yeah. A lot of reasons why they're just a different population altogether. Yes. In terms of support needs. Absolutely.

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Round of applause for June, the 12. Is what we do 12 Every year, every year, June 12,

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what are some things that we can typically do as women? So for me, I'm a civilian, but in honor to celebrate, you know, family, friends and loved ones, what are some things that we can do, you know, to support around that time, around

Unknown Speaker 10:55
that time, what I would say, if like, for civilians is really if you're part of like your community, like for me, I would my local community, I shared the same story with my, with the mayor of Frisco. And so what they did is they did a proclamation for women's veterans day. So they acknowledged it every year. So if you are part of your community, let them know, Hey, did you know? And so if they know, but every state have a different date? So if Nevada, recognize it, make sure you let if you're part of that veteran community, Hey, did you guys know that? So here, you could probably let them know, you know, maybe put an event together to recognize the women veterans that are here on campus?

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I love it. And we have nice highs on Veterans Department I'm telling you probably know more than I do. But oh, yes. Involvement

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runs to the Veterans Center. He is phenomenal in terms of taking care of our vets making sure that they have connection to their benefits, making sure that they have peer to peer counseling. So we do have a veteran program here. But I like to think of so I think of veterans on campuses as an invisible population. And I think of women veterans is like a double, invisible population, you know, so on a Veterans Day, Bob, and I can both go out. And even if I'm wearing the shirt, they'd be begging them.

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To go out, they said they think he's the one to serve. Not

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that sometimes. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

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And we're laughing, but it's, to some degree to you know, that you don't get the honor nor the respect of recognition, just based on gender. Yeah, you know,

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and the antiquated ideas about how we serve and when we serve, so women are now able to partake in the combat arms, I think 90% of the positions that were there are now open to women. So women can now serve in combat positions, whereas they couldn't before. So this antiquated idea that we're not moving forward, and thinking of women, as you know, only able to do certain things and hold certain roles is also a big part of it.

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And one thing that I heard recently is that they're considering drafting women. Okay, that's a question. That's something that's been out,

Unknown Speaker 13:07
around feel about. That's going to be an interesting conversation. That is a very interesting, very interesting conversation. You know, my argument has always been that may be that that you should have the right? Well, this is not about draft, this is about different jobs. You have the right to compete for it as anyone else does. If you qualify, you qualify. If you don't, you don't you know, you have but but it should not, you should not be, you should not be prohibited from like, like a firefighter, or anything else. Like, oh, no, we just don't take women know if she can hold her own. Because there are gonna be men that don't qualify for certain fields. So let's not pretend it's only a gender thing. You know, so they're like, Oh, well, women wash out of these positions. So do guys. You know, so guys, so

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now, how do you feel about this female draft? I don't know. That's, I'm a little more traditional. So I probably can't have a conversation. But yeah, that's

Unknown Speaker 14:03
different. Yeah, I think women maybe I think they should just have a choice because they are the ones that you know, Archer is.

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The nurturer. Is that just the nurturers but we are the mothers, the mothers, I

Unknown Speaker 14:14
think, I think it really depends on the individual situation and the family dynamics, because there's certain family systems and once the fathers are the primary caregiver, sure, that's true. We do live in a different society don't yeah, there are certain systems in which, you know, the fathers and the mothers are the breadwinners, and the fathers. So I think those are individual decisions made on the ground level. I think that's above my paygrade. Yeah.

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Now get into it wants to check come in. Once you really, really feel my feedback, exactly. Let me see how those zeros look but just get what you

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know, it's so funny on the on the drafting side of the house, you know, less than 1% of our population serve less than 1%. Yeah, so so so so there's not a lot of equity and numbers and that's the other piece That's problematic is that, you know, in terms of the perception of the military and the need to serve, it's really easy to identify the military and things we want to cut and take away. If this is not your experience or anyone in your family's experience. Sure. So I, you know, this is an unpopular argument on my part. But I feel like service should be a requirement of everyone not necessarily military service. But service in some capacity to help the world to be a better place should be something that we build into our society as something that we do. I

Unknown Speaker 15:32
agree, and there's a lot of countries that do that to some capacity. United States of America, we lead in a lot of areas. So maybe there's something we can start implementing, because we should all be, like you say, contributing to the betterment or the improvement of our economy of our world. Absolutely.

Unknown Speaker 15:48
You know, and service doesn't necessarily just have to look like putting on a uniform is actually, you know, there are a lot of ways to serve. There are a lot of ways to give back. There are a lot of ways to contribute. You know, so I want to just be clear that, you know, if military services in the way that you serve, there are other opportunities to serve. And honestly, I think that certain that that those frontline professions are service, as well. So

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I say Dr. Tanya for President.

Unknown Speaker 16:19
Oh, no, no, no, no. I'm holding down the ticket. Listen, I couldn't work for Michelle. Maybe.

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She said she didn't want to go back. Yeah. That part.

Unknown Speaker 16:39
I'll be talking about going back. You leaving? You said at the end of the week, are you on Veterans Day? We want her to stay here in Vegas.

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Nice, but I'm heading out to Houston for Veterans Day Parade. Yeah, so I was gonna I

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was gonna say, How common is it? For those some people just join the studio? They just come on mid of the, you know, interview? How common is it for someone to join any branch of service at the age of 3940? excetera? Because I've always said now, Miss me, you know, correct me if I'm wrong. I always thought it was the age cap. But so to hear that you did that. And 39? How common is that? Oh, it

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wasn't? Well, actually, at the time. It was common, okay, because it was during the recession. So you had I joined what lawyers, you know, people in high professions. I want to join, like I said, if I hadn't, I went prayed about it and got the confirmation, and I probably wouldn't have been in, but I knew this was something that God was leading me to do. But I didn't know and we didn't talk about it yet. Why? I had to get out of the military. Hey, let's

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talk about that. Because we have a few moments of time. And I want to make sure we get to that. Okay. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 17:51
Oh, I'm not just one to answer your question. It depends on the branch. branches have different age restrictions. I think you can't be older than 29 in the Marine Corps. So different branches. And I think at one point, the army was up to like 40 to

Unknown Speaker 18:04
42. So I joined when it was up to 42. And I was joining 39. So but as soon as I went through bootcamp, that's when it went back down to the regular age, you know, but it was because it was war time. Yes. So so they make

Unknown Speaker 18:19
a different exceptions, depending on where we're at now. Okay, exactly. We didn't get to that part as a story. Yeah. So

Unknown Speaker 18:24
you know, just the short version was that I, you know, went ahead and went to Afghanistan, lost some battle buddies, did a, a tour, a three year tour in Germany, got in a head on collision and ended up getting a traumatic brain injury. I could not remember people, I, I still have some struggles today. But during the time that I was medically discharged from the military, I was like, Man, I joined the military, I had my MBA, I'm not the same person. I need to find a community of people that I can relate to, because I realized that my friends that were my civilian friends didn't understand. And I felt that share my story with my friends that I knew back then to who the new person had to introduce them to the new person. I felt judged. And I felt, you know, I don't know. So I just felt like I needed to be with people that can relate to me. So that's why I started she vets it because I ended up getting that traumatic brain injury. Wow.

Unknown Speaker 19:25
And for those who've listened, we've never heard about she vets it tell us what that entails. What is it all about?

Unknown Speaker 19:30
Well, I started she vets it first as a meetup group where we just come together, go, you know, maybe go to the movies, go lunch. And then one day this a media consultant for this actor in Hollywood. Matter of fact, he was running for governor last year or the year before last in California, contacted me and invited me out to the Kennedy Center in DC, and to bring my group and I was like, Okay, I'll see what he's talking about. And so we went out So I'm like, Okay, this was the day that I received my DD 214. So I'm like, God, are you trying to tell me something? And then I had PVS a lot of different people from different groups or things that were related to the military start reaching out. And I'm like, I think God is trying to tell me something. And before long, I have three years ago jumped on clubhouse. That's how I met Dr. Crab heard about need to join. Yes. And so Dr. Crab I, we've, she's been on this journey with me. She's, you know, doing her thing. But we've met that's how we were able to meet. And it was that it helped me, she vets It has helped me but I've had people that contact me and say, Oh, my gosh, Alfia. I love the different speakers, you come you bring on because it's a podcast series. So I bring in different veteran veterans that come on and share their wonderful stories, because I want veterans to know that there's life outside the military, because that first year of them getting out is the most vulnerable time for veterans, because a lot of times that's the period where they're more likely to commit suicide. So if they hear the story of Dr. Crab, who's a wonderful, wonderful person who's doing amazing things, she's been able to transition from the military, and now she has life, a career outside the military that will inspire them to keep going.

Unknown Speaker 21:22
Oh, I love that. I love that. That's amazing. So you all met on clubhouse? We did. And now she's in Vegas. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 21:28
And she does things like Boots to Business boots to Claire's. Her clubhouse, and her podcast is really featured on connecting them with resources within the community, and not connecting them with each other at the same time. So

Unknown Speaker 21:43
awesome. And I learned so so much, not only from the people like so it was like, I was helping myself but also helping everyone that was connected. And you know, we all learned so much from it. And I've grown so much from the three years ago when I jumped on clubhouse and I was like, Oh my My like I was sharing with Dr. Crab, like my capacity to do the things that I'm doing now has expanded a little more. But I'm just just amazed of where it's is taken off to right now. It's

Unknown Speaker 22:19
been three years, were you the one who convinced me to get on Tik Tok.

Unknown Speaker 22:22
I did.

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videos, I love it.

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I was like, she's like I said, you would be great to talk. And when I see her, you would you see

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the dancers and I'm like, I'm Oh my god, like I just had a long day, but I'm not here dance, and then just motivate. You

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see how that is like, connection. Like I'm like, you know, we are pouring into each other. And we see things in each other. And we're like, you go, Oh, you'll be awesome in that in different things. But even I want to share how I knew she vets was something is when the real TV, the real talk contacted me to have a veteran's do have a 32nd clip on what it means to be a veteran. So they reached out to me and then the city reached out to me to do to vet some women to do a talk. It was just constantly getting pulled to connect, bring women from my communities. And I said, Okay, I think God is doing something he just keeps showing up. It's just keeps growing and growing. And I'm just grateful and honored to be in this space. And

Unknown Speaker 23:28
that connection. You know, the thing that people don't often know about the military is that connection is so important, because you go through however many years being part of a pack. You know, we have built in community we have built in relationships we have built in connections, and then when you come out of the military, suddenly your pack dissipates and disappears. And the thing about the military was sharing with someone else is that when you show up, depending on Annie, especially if you've been in a long time you feel like an alien in a foreign land. And everyone around you feels kind of weird. Because you haven't realized that you're the one that's

Unknown Speaker 24:05
that part. Yeah. And you know how I was able to, to figure that out, because I knew I have a friend who was in the military when I was in high school. And she was dealing with mental health issues. But I wasn't yet in the military. And I really, I couldn't relate. I didn't know what to say to her. So I felt very, very weird. I didn't know what to do. And so when I joined and I start having my own struggles that I said, I get it, she vets it she gets it Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 24:38
She gets it come through sometimes it takes us with those life experiences that was so powerful. She bets that she gets a heap now I get it the aha moment. That

Unknown Speaker 24:46
was because I've seen it from both ends. I knew what it was like to be scared of someone who is struggling and not knowing what to say what to do and like oh my gosh, she was like oh and And I didn't want people to feel that way with me coming back from the military. So I said, You know what, I'm not even going through that. Let me find my people. Let us find my tribe.

Unknown Speaker 25:10
So we have a few more minutes, we have about five or so minutes. Is there something that you'd like to share? Is there a way that you'd like to connect the audiences to you and what you do? And how do they find you? Yes,

Unknown Speaker 25:21
well, first of all, I just want to thank those that have been listening so far. Well, they can find me on all social media platforms, you can find me on Instagram under she vets it I also have a page on Instagram called she vets IT resource page. And that's where I bring different organizations that have programs all throughout the United States, if they have an event for veterans in Utah or Mississippi, I posted on that page. So veterans can is kind of like a rally point for veterans to be able to see what's going on around them. And so that's what I do final words for the listeners, what

Unknown Speaker 25:57
do you want them to take away? After hearing this episode? If you will give them some final words? What would they be?

Unknown Speaker 26:01
Wow, that's a good one. I would say, Brother, your veteran or not, never do live by yourself. Always find your tribe. I don't care if it's underwater basket weaving, if you know, you know that. People find your people. Because one thing about us when we try to do life by ourselves, you know, we think we're the only ones but when you find your community, you find out you're not by yourself. There's other people that are experiencing the same feelings as you and and then you end up finding people that will help you be accountable to to push you to say, Hey, Dr. Tanya, you will do great on tick tock and rock star. So now I need to get your

Unknown Speaker 26:45
autograph. I know. That's right. That's right. Yes. So I'm so grateful that I had an opportunity to meet you. And we thank you for just taking time to sit down and have a conversation with us today. Oh, appreciate you so much. Happy Veterans Day to all those who are listening and in the days to come. Oh, and happy Marine Corps birthday. Whoo.

Unknown Speaker 27:04
That's why I'm so honored to be here. Thank you so much for having me.

Unknown Speaker 27:07
And that's a wrap.

Dr. Renee Watson 27:12
For more or less talk UNLV. Be sure to follow us on social media where you can get the latest updates on the show plus great behind the scenes content. We're on Facebook and let's talk about all the podcast Twitter and let's talk UNLV and Instagram and let's talk UNLV

Transcribed by https://otter.ai