Let's Talk UNLV

Unknown Speaker 0:00
This is a k u and v studios original program. 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.

Unknown Speaker 0:20
Hello, and welcome to another episode here at K u n v 91.5. Less talk UNLV. Thank you guys for joining us. And today we have a special guest we have Angela Baker. And Angela is with veteran forces. We're listening. So we're going to talk about that during this episode. And she's military ex military also. So Angelo, the way that we start the show is we'd like to ask guests to give us your origin story. How did you end up here at UNLV?

Unknown Speaker 0:52
Wow. So it's an interesting story. By the way, please call me Angie because we do have to Angeles in our office. So Angie is fine right here? Well, I ended up at UNLV. In September, with veterans voices were listening. But I've been in Vegas since 2019. Just before the pandemic, I moved here from the Bay Area. After retiring from the US Navy after 22 years. I saw that, hey, it's a little bit cheaper to live in the Vegas area. And I really liked beautiful sunny weather. And Henderson Green Valley was very appealing to me. So I made that leap. I moved here just like you know, plenty other people have done before. And in September, this our last year about pure coincidence, I was having a conversation with someone in the Rotary Club and selling them how it love to be a part of a program that served veterans and wildlife. I was introduced to Miss Barbara Taebaek and veterans voices were listening here at UNLV. And all I can say is two days later. You know I had the job. And here I am now.

Unknown Speaker 2:05
I can tell it's something that you're happy with because of the smile. guys in the audience can see that here. So you say he was in the Navy for 20 years. Well, you enlisted an officer in the Navy. I

Unknown Speaker 2:14
was enlisted for 22 years now retired. Chief Petty Officer Oh, Cpl. What was your rate? You know, men are most people might hear why and why

Unknown Speaker 2:23
and see? Yes. How

Unknown Speaker 2:25
did you know about that?

Unknown Speaker 2:25
Well, I lived in San Diego and San Diego's YMCA. Okay, cool. Great. So let's dive into a few of these questions. Speaking about veteran voices, can you tell us in the context of the university? What tell us what veterans voice witnesses were listening is tell us what that program is. First of

Unknown Speaker 2:47
all, veterans voices were listening. It's an oral history project. And it's in collaboration with UNLV own military, veterans and service center, as well as the women's Research Institute of Nevada. And so what we do, there are what I should say the mission of veteran's voices were listening is to really listen, record and preserve the memories and experiences of veterans living right here in Southern Nevada. So that's what we do, you know, as a short,

Unknown Speaker 3:15
so So after speaking with these vets, you get their oral histories and maybe pictures. Do you compress those into a book? Or how do you go about that?

Unknown Speaker 3:23
We do. I know the listeners can't see this. But I did bring an example of one of my books here. But the main goal is really to hear those voices and to hear those stories of Southern Nevada veterans. And many people ask, you know, why Southern Nevada veterans? Not why not? California or the whole entire United States? Well, you're probably going to ask me this question. So I'm gonna go in and tell you. In 2022 Barbara teabag who found it veterans voices were listening. She identified that the Library of Congress in their Veterans History Project, Southern Nevada veterans were underrepresented when it came to light sharing a history. Although we have over 160,000 veterans right here in Southern Nevada, so Barbara, excuse me, Barbara teabag wanting to find a way to correct that issue. And so therefore, she started this project. Okay.

Unknown Speaker 4:21
Excellent. Excellent. Now, I didn't ask you, I'm not gonna step take a step back. I didn't ask you about your journey in the military. So tell us you know, how did you start? How did you decide number one to go into the military? Number two, select the Navy, where to go to boot camp? How did you decide to become a Yeoman? Tell us your process because you don't just become a chief overnight.

Unknown Speaker 4:42
That is true. Well, imagine growing up in East Tennessee, I grew up in a very small town cow Alcoa, a LCL, a Tennessee, it's right outside of Knoxville. So it's at the foothills of the Smokies. Well, I went away to college to HBCU call it Tennessee State University. City which is in Nashville. And during my second year of college, my roommate who was also from my neighborhood, she runs in a room and she goes, guess what? I met a recruiter, I'm gonna join the Navy. Come on, let's do it together. And I'm like, this is Desert Storm. I don't think I want to do that. But what sold me was educational benefits, the chance to travel, the chance to see the world, you know, in a different perspective and get away from, you know, this, the problems that we have as students when you're trying to pay for college. Yeah. So there you go, I joined the Navy. And I actually started out as an airman working with FAA teens, over the years to pick up rank I study. And, you know, I got the rank of y n, which is Yeoman. And over the years, I continue to excel as a Yeoman to the point where I ended up being a speechwriter for admirals in general. So over those years, I did a lot of editing, a lot of writing, and a lot of keeping people out of trouble. So okay,

Unknown Speaker 6:04
so so for those students that aren't acquainted with or familiar with the military, and tell us just a bit about the duties of a Yeoman, because I'm sure you did more than just right, right.

Unknown Speaker 6:16
So the duties of in Yama and just think of it as making sure that awards are written and provided that are given out to service members, you got awards, you got legal documents, you have counseling, you have grooming sailors, mentoring them to make sure they're staying on track professionally. And then the other side would be a young man working for a captain or senior officer where they would be more of an executive assistant. They would make travel arrangements will help prepare speeches. And we also that that person who protects what we used to call the gatekeeper, yes, to protect the admirals and generals, the senior, military and senior lists, they like the Master Chief, so we carry their schedules and make sure that everything was good on a daily basis. Excellent.

Unknown Speaker 7:10
Let's get back to veterans voices here. How does veterans voices, we're listening, ensure inclusive inclusivity and representation across the branches and areas of the US military, and cultivate in capturing these oral histories. How do you do that?

Unknown Speaker 7:28
That's a great question. Well, this has really become organic when it comes to finding veterans who tell their story. So a lot of times, one, first of all, let me say that we are in a city that is known for that one of the largest air force bases, right, so automatically, we're gonna get Air Force veterans that want to tell their story. But to make sure we include all services, that's where the military and veteran service center comes into play. They help us connect with the community, whether it's veterans dependents and organizations that support veterans, we don't say no release to anyone as long as they are a resident of Southern Nevada. So it helps us easily include all branches and services. And one thing I will tell you that I never thought we would find so many Navy, I mean, we still need more Navy, we need more postcard stories. But other than that, I feel like we're doing a pretty good job and making sure that we include everyone.

Unknown Speaker 8:30
Are you noticing that you're in? You're capturing the stories or histories of more male or female? Or how's that balancing out?

Unknown Speaker 8:38
That is a great question, too, because, um, I think since I came on in September, we probably had more males. However, with me, out of the three of us, I'm the only veteran. And once we got connected to the women's veteran women veterans of Nevada, that just opened up a door for females to really tell their story. So it was, you know, word of mouth. You know, I did this project, you shouldn't do it. And next thing I know, we're starting to grow more females. I don't know the numbers offhand. But we're starting to really grown on the the women telling their story as well. Excellent, excellent.

Unknown Speaker 9:13
It's always important to build those connections with other groups, other people, other entities so that you can have a bigger network. And you know, when you cast that net, you get more of what you're actually looking for. So those are excellent opportunities. Can you walk us through the process of collecting, transcribing, and editing these audio oral histories of the Southern Nevada veterans and their families as well?

Unknown Speaker 9:38
Absolutely. Well, first, we identify the veteran, right? We identify that veteran, whichever way it may come, it may come through an email or a phone call, or even someone saying, Hey, I know I have a buddy that wants to do this. So we talked to that veteran, it's called a pre screening so to speak, and what we get from that About 15 minute phone conversation to kind of get an idea of what they did in the military. You know, where did they come from? What servers that they serve in? What was their specialty, you know, what was the number of years that they serve. From there, we set up their first interview, and the first interview will take about two hours. And we literally set a recorder down, and we talk to the veteran and they just share their story. It can be from childhood, to why just like you asked me, What made me join the Navy, you know, why did you choose that branch, and so on and so forth. After the first interview, after that recording, we take that recording and we send it to a human. I love saying this human transcriptionist, we do not use AI. And that's something I really love about this project. We use a real person to transcribe the oral recordings. By the way, we do not do video, we just do oral so that transcriptionist transcribes that oral recording sends it back to us at veteran's voices. And we share that with a narrator. And between us and the narrator, we get to do light light edits. Of course, we don't want to take away the story, right. So when I say like edits, it could be like taken out to arms, and oh, you know, that background noise or that chatter. And we also make sure that we fact check. You know, we love veterans, we love people. But we also want to make sure the story is true, right? But I will tell you, the oral recording stays raw. So whatever is said in that or recording, that stays unless there's slanderous information, classified information, or someone's gonna be put in danger. That's when we take something out of the oral recording. But other than that, or a recording it transcribed by a human, and then both our team and the veteran gets to do edits. By the way, it takes about two, maybe three sessions of two hours each to complete. The final product. Oh, wow.

Unknown Speaker 12:04
Has there been any stories that actually stuck with you? That Yvette has told and it just goes with you no matter where you go? Any of those?

Unknown Speaker 12:14
Oh, my goodness, yes. There are plenty of stories. One thing I can say is that when you serve in one branch, right, I started in in NAV, right? And I look at a person who may have served or hear from a person who served in the Air Force. And I'm thinking at first, I'm thinking, man, we were so different are two different branches. No way, when you hear those stories, you realize that all these different branches, even though they're different, there are so many similarities. And it may not be just what they did in the military, but it could be a similarity between, oh, I went to the same university, who would have known, you know, and then their stories of, you know, the way some veterans describe something, and I want to put you in that place at that time. And that's amazing to me, like you can arrange things all day. But when you hear, and you see the emotion on that veteran telling that story, it just puts you in a whole different place. And there are a couple of stories that stick with me. I'm sure.

Unknown Speaker 13:25
In what ways does veteran voices when listening, preserved the diversity of veterans and their experiences, service and sacrifices within or history or archives.

Unknown Speaker 13:39
Okay, so right now, we are working with a number of sources, the main source UNLV, especially collections, so we're, you know, we're working with them right now and to, to preserve the oral history and special, like documents that will house it, especially collections. And we're also going to be working with museums and hopefully exhibits across the nation. So a great example would be the World War Two, museum, that we have to, you know, make sure that we get a good relationship where we can share everything and keep it there. And then when you think about all these exhibits across the nation, right, so imagine, if you can go into the military women's Museum, for instance, for example, and hear your great, great art tell her story of serving in the military. So those are the kinds of things and the different organizations we hope to work with in the future. So these stories can be held for future generations. Okay.

Unknown Speaker 14:32
Well, and I know you say you got you all do or history there. Has there been any consideration given to maybe certain stories being recorded to be shown in these, you know, museums or libraries or schools or wherever, you know, college campuses, to get the stories out any consideration at all? That's

Unknown Speaker 14:52
something we have talked about, you know, of course, you know, we're still in our infancy. We're only two years old, but that is something that we Have the skies and we hope that one day we'll get there. You know, so it sounds amazing. I like that idea. But putting those stories in schools, one amazing way to teach history, right? Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 15:11
well, it reminded me of, at the beginning of was it mid January, I think February, I think, Mayor to begin in February, I went to this NFL Town Hall. And they showed a video of these football players telling their stories, and they was very, very impactful. And some of those stuck with me. So things like that even hearing, like the old or histories, I'm sure something like that can be very impactful to really see the person's face to see, you know, even the age category of the person telling the stories from I don't know, the 40s, the 50s, the 60s, what the Navy was like, when it was actually the Navy in the 80s. You know, so the military has changed over the years. Yes,

Unknown Speaker 15:55
yes. And can I add something? You know, we're having a reception here. And you and I will be on April 24 at the town Alumni Hall. And we will have a little glimpse of some of those narrators on video. Oh, excellent. So that's a great way to introduce this project. And it's a great way to meet some of the NAMM writers who have completed the books and the ones who are actually going through the process. So, you know, I don't know why. We haven't gotten to that point. But yeah, that's something I think people could benefit from. It's a free reception. And it is I'm telling you come out and just meet because they are regulars.

Unknown Speaker 16:30
Yeah, absolutely. That sounds like a great idea. We will definitely talk about that more. You know, even here on campus, I've ran into military personnel here on campus, just like Captain Pierre sadden. He will be here next Tuesday as a guest Oh, wow, along with another captain from his office, speaking about military affairs on that show, but it's important that we you know, we do get to talk to these these people or, you know, recognize the vets that we do have on campus. So, and I definitely want to say what I've noticed, I've met Sir, yeah, thank you for your service. Because, you know, it's such a sacrifice, not just for the person, but for the family as well. You know, when they go through it also, you know, when when a military personnel is sent to, I don't know, Okinawa, Japan, that families back home, you know, unless their families go with them, but that family usually is here in the United States, corresponding, you know, over the phone through email, or whatever, Gchat something, but the family goes through it as well. So definitely want to acknowledge the families in all of this. Could you discuss the significance of scanning photograph and other materials in conjunction with oral histories, and how these elements contribute to the final or history product?

Unknown Speaker 17:43
Oh, I love this part. I may not be a great fan of actually scanning.

Unknown Speaker 17:52
But imagine a story now I can tell some tall sea stories, right? But imagine putting pictures with that exactly right. Putting a picture with what it looked like for world war two veteran. Wherever they were putting in a picture with a veteran who was stationed in they say Okinawa, Japan. The backdrop Right, exactly. Seeing that with your eyes and hearing the story. It's almost like a little quick motion picture. That's the way I describe it. And then the other piece of it is you ever been into a veterans home? Don't think I have I love me wall or binder with all their certificates and evaluations and special correspondence. Yeah, absolutely. Imagine putting that with a story that just adds a new level of what this project is, by seeing and hearing. And just really appreciating what that veterinarian went through.

Unknown Speaker 18:50
Absolutely. You know, that's like providing the all the stories that these veterans tell if they have they got pictures to back this up, that's providing the receipts, you know, they have the receipts for it. So if they tell you this story, they got proof. So and

Unknown Speaker 19:02
imagine the first paycheck, they get examined a copy of that,

Unknown Speaker 19:07
yes, exactly. Remind me of this drycleaners that I walked into, and this man had a picture of $1 bill in a picture frame was like, Why do you have $1 in your frame, it was like less the very first dollar that I actually made. So you know, these things mean something and remember failure that these vets hold in their household or wherever it's kept, it actually means something, you know, it brings back memories for them. So I can definitely definitely respect that. What are the key steps involved in creating and publishing a book of transcripts and images based on the collected oral histories? Now

Unknown Speaker 19:38
we have a process with that, too. So we already talked about how we do the oral recording, and we get it transcribed, right? We do the edits of the transcript, everything that is transcribed. So imagine you're putting your own book together. All right, you have the oral history already on paper, and you start going through and you start adding Anything, oh, you know, this didn't sound right. Or maybe I was too wordy with this question as the interviewer. So we may edit that a little bit, then we take those pictures, and that memorabilia that we were talking about just before and place it in the right section in the book. You know, if I, if I say Fifi, my dog was with me when I went to the recruiting station, and that part of the story, I might have that picture right there. Okay. And then we will also add like an appendix, if we need to add more photos that weren't identify within, you know, the rest of the story, maybe you want to put some extra photos in there. Maybe we want to put a copy of that LDS, you know, that paycheck, or maybe you were, or this veteran was in an article that was very special to them. They have put that in there. And then after that, you'll have kind of like an index. But right now we're calling it key terms or key things in terms. Yeah, it's similar to our index. And why is that important? Because we want researchers in the future to be able to look at those key key things in terms and be like, Oh, here's another one that talked about being an African American Navy chief, or here's another veteran who's talking about, you know, serving in Vietnam, you know, and their family was left behind. Well, of course, they're left behind. But you want to pick up? What is the thing here? Right, so we have a section for that. And I love that we have so many acronyms, you know, this, right? There's so many acronyms in the military.

Unknown Speaker 21:44
You just use one earlier that, you know, for the audience that will listen, you said las, that's a leaving earning statements. And that's another term for your paycheck or your pay stub. So thank you. So, acronym, just like I discovered when I started here at UNLV, there's an acronym for everything, everything. And I was given a guide, you know, with partial acronyms in that partial list, like maybe 250 acronyms in that person, I'm partial, to see the rest. But yes, this is everything. But yeah, there's definitely acronyms in the military.

Unknown Speaker 22:18
So that's why we come up with the key things in terms at the end of the book. And of course, we take all that information. And we also design a cover, just like this, you know, in our, in our office between, really more so my coworker, Dr. Angela Moore, she's better with this than I am. But we design a cover based on what we have available from the veteran. And then we send all that everything to the person or to the print shop that's going to print it for us, and why those books come back. And we have a finished product. Okay. And

Unknown Speaker 22:54
let me ask you, so do you guys give these vets these books? Or is there a particular place that they can go purchase them? Or is there a place that just the common person could go purchase these books? How does that happen?

Unknown Speaker 23:05
As founding printed, permits, US will be able to give the narrator a couple of copies, right. And then we'll keep like a copy or two for ourselves in our office. So we'll be able to travel and say, you know, but one thing we also have available, and we'll also discuss this with future narrators is maybe we'll put this on a thumb drive, or how's the PDF somewhere where they have access? So in the future, if they want to get more copies and pay for it themselves? Or maybe someone will gift them that book based on the PDF and have it printed? That's fine as well.

Unknown Speaker 23:42
Okay, about how many books so far have been produced from this. So

Unknown Speaker 23:46
far, we have printed about 25 books. But we've done over 50 interviews so far. So we still have a lot of interviews in process. Okay. That's pretty good. And like two years, right? Absolutely. With three people.

Unknown Speaker 24:02
So let me ask you this, how does veteran voices were listening, ensure the accessibility for the final oral history product to the public? And I think that's what I just asked how the public get a hold of this, is there a way for the public to actually access these?

Unknown Speaker 24:16
Well, they can contact this that's one way or if they know the veteran, they can also get access to it. But until we get these items uploaded into special collections, they will have to go directly through us or through the veteran at this point. So if

Unknown Speaker 24:31
someone did want to come want to get a book, how would they contact you? How would they do that? You have a contact your office? Well, we

Unknown Speaker 24:38
do have a phone number, and that number is 702-895-4297. And we also have an email address that goes directly to veterans voices and that's v v w el@unlv.edu, Kofi vwl. At unlv.edu.

Unknown Speaker 25:01
Okay, so for the students that are listening now if they want to say, oh, you know, this sounds great, I definitely would like to check this out. What would they find you on campus if they wanted to do that we're

Unknown Speaker 25:11
inside the Online Education building inside of the women's Research Institute of Nevada. So that's actually 4292 South Maryland Parkway.

Unknown Speaker 25:22
Oh, okay. And what are the hours there? Do

Unknown Speaker 25:24
you the hours? Yeah, there are usually there's someone usually there from about 9am to 5pm. Okay, typical NASA secure buildings. So we definitely would have to know if someone's coming. But we do have, you know, like, the

Unknown Speaker 25:39
Sounds great. Sounds great. In your opinion, what impact is veteran voices, we're listening how on fostering understanding and appreciation for the realities and sacrifices of military service members, among future generations.

Unknown Speaker 25:56
I actually said this a little bit earlier. And this is my opinion, when you hear the story, especially from me and other interviewers, you get to see the veterans ello story. So you get to see their motion, right? That's raw, right? You get to see their motion, and hear their story straight from the Veterans mouth, who actually experienced it, that's powerful to me, is not coming from an analyst or from an expert, it's coming from the Veterans words. And I would also add that, you know, veterans carry a lot of weight on their shoulders. If you put on a uniform and you go anywhere in this world, you are a representative of the entire United States of America, it doesn't matter if you're good or bad, right? sharing the stories. They really highlight how things got done and how they get done in the military. It's like a little glimpse of what happens, no one understands what it's like to sleep in a rack on a ship water shippers, rocket Yes. You know, you know, so being able to explain, explain what was happening during an era, you know, they see how things have changed in from World War Two, then all the way to Global War on Terrorism, how things looked. But I believe also, and this is, as this has actually been told to us plenty of times, that is very healing. And it's very therapeutic to share a story. And a lot of times veterans families don't even know what they're gonna say.

Unknown Speaker 27:15
Yeah, absolutely. And so sometimes, you know, I'm just sitting here thinking about how these stories go, especially if they have a family member there with them. And that family members hearing that story for the very first time. So let me ask you this. And if you could give me something like maybe in 30 seconds or less, can you give us your most memorable moment for you and your most proudest moment being in the Navy?

Unknown Speaker 27:39
Me? Yes. Absolutely. Okay. I was stationed in the Kingdom of Bahrain, right, I was working for Admiral and the admiral got invited to the king's palace. And he tells me, Chief, you're going with me? I'll say, No, I'm not. It's like, I got things to do with other chiefs. He's like, No, you're going. And so I ended up putting on my dress uniform to go to the king's palace. And my friends later, we're like, what were you thinking? You got to go to the king's palace. No other job in this world will allow you to have dinner with a king. Wow. And the whole royal family. Wow, that's amazing to me. And I treasure that memory. Absolutely.

Unknown Speaker 28:16
And that's something that will stick with you for the rest of your life. So in closing, what would you say about veterans was when listening? What would you like the audience to know, in closing? What would you like in

Unknown Speaker 28:28
closing? This project is a way again, to hear the veterans voices, through their words through their memory. And memories can go just as quick as they come right. And to hear their story and put it on paper and to share those pictures and those memorabilia is as there's no other there's no other project I can think of that is just nothing compares to this. And where I just want to say that if you know of World War Two veteran that wants to share their story. They're far and few bit swinging, and we will put them at the head of the line. Okay.

Unknown Speaker 29:03
And there was a program you said, that's good. That's coming off of in Tam, could you tell us about that?

Unknown Speaker 29:07
Okay. It's called the veterans voices. Were listening reception veterans. It's April 24. From 430 to 6:30pm. At that Sam Alumni Center, so it's free. You can tell us you want to come and will you bring in? Okay,

Unknown Speaker 29:23
excellent. Excellent. And that's gonna do it for us on K, u and v. thank my guests, Angela Baker, so very much for being here and sharing all of this information with us. And that's going to be a wrap for us here on K u and v 91.5. Let's talk UNLV.

Dr. Renee Watson 29:43
For more, let's talk to 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 podcasts, Twitter, let's talk UNLV and Instagram and let's talk UNLV

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