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Speaker 1: Steve Bells up from the Climate County Veteran Services Returns.

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Speaker 1: Have we got some good once again? Once again? I

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Speaker 1: always love having you in here. Man. I was telling you,

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Speaker 1: I'm really making a very hard, concerted effort to embrace

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Speaker 1: the holidays, embrace the holiday spirit, enjoy it, live in

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Speaker 1: the moment. And so far, so good. It's been a

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Speaker 1: challenge of me for the last several longer than I

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Speaker 1: care to remember.

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Speaker 2: But I think there's a there's a there's a transitional

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Speaker 2: shift that happens as we hit fifties sixties where you

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Speaker 2: realize it's not about the crazy wrapping that we have

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Speaker 2: to do. It's more about the friendships and rightlessness of

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Speaker 2: a community.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And I'm trying to focus on that somewhere along

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Speaker 1: the way. I think it's the it's it's the content

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Speaker 1: that I work with day in and day out. That

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Speaker 1: bait turned me into this jaded, cynical grinch of a

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Speaker 1: human being. And I don't mean to be that way.

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Speaker 1: And I miss I miss feeling like a child around

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Speaker 1: Christmas time. So this year I'm giving it a good

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Speaker 1: go and good for you. Yeah. Been cooking a lot lately,

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Speaker 1: and my wife put tree up I did the lights.

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Speaker 1: I didn't complain about that for the first time in

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Speaker 1: a long time. So I'm wow, but I'm excited about you.

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Speaker 1: You got some highlights from the Clamont County Veteran Service.

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Speaker 1: There's another reason to put a big smile on my face,

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Speaker 1: because you know, I love helping you out, and I

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Speaker 1: love helping the American veterans that you help quite a

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Speaker 1: few veterans this year, Steve oh Brian. The numbers are great.

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Speaker 2: The numbers are wonderful. And it's even if it's just one, right,

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Speaker 2: I know, if it's just one, it's kind of the

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Speaker 2: sea urchin kid throws it back as the guy says,

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Speaker 2: you see all these he goes made a difference to

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Speaker 2: that one, Right, it's that whole whole story. It's it's

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Speaker 2: not about the volume. It's about one by one picking

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Speaker 2: somebody up and setting them back on sturdy ground.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. One of the benefits of being the host of

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Speaker 1: the morning show, like if I'll have a you know,

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Speaker 1: a charity on and they'll get back and say, oh

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Speaker 1: my god, it's a consequence of beyond your show. We

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Speaker 1: got a contribution from this or some business reached out

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Speaker 1: to us. We established a relationship with them, talk about

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Speaker 1: making my day just one, even just one. It was

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Speaker 1: worth the time and to spread the information about the

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Speaker 1: good that's going on or out in the world. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: very rewarded.

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Speaker 2: I'll tell you what if if I wouldn't rush your microphone,

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Speaker 2: I would come in here with a list of unique

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Speaker 2: things that we have shored veterans and or veterans spouses

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Speaker 2: up for a better life. Just it's it's.

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Speaker 1: It's a great it's a giving job. It really is.

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Speaker 1: And I've asked you before. It's an easy job to

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Speaker 1: get up and go to every day for you.

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Speaker 2: It is. Actually it's harder for me to go home

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Speaker 2: and my wife has to put confines all that. I

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Speaker 2: expect you home by this time, right, because I know

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Speaker 2: you won't quit.

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Speaker 1: Dinner will be cold. I'm not going to keep it

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Speaker 1: heated for you. So I buddy, you got a curfew, man,

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Speaker 1: you better make it. But you helped over twenty five

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Speaker 1: hundred veterans in their families with service related claims and

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Speaker 1: other issues this year. That's a great accomplishment. It is

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Speaker 1: three hundred and sixty five days in the year. You

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Speaker 1: got twenty five hundred to show for right, Right, so

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Speaker 1: we're gonna bring.

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Speaker 2: When you consider twenty five hundred, that's roughly twenty percent

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Speaker 2: of the veterans in Claremont County. Holy cow, we run

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Speaker 2: and a half thousand letter on Claremont County.

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Speaker 1: I think that was better than the voter turnout in

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Speaker 1: the seventh district for that election. Hold on a second,

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Speaker 1: we'll bring, We'll bring Steve Belzo back. We got more

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Speaker 1: details to talk about Claremont County Veteran Services Steve Belzo. First,

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Speaker 1: a word for talk station see here fifty five cars

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Speaker 1: de talk station Brian Thomas with Clema County Veteran of

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Speaker 1: Services Steve Belzo. Lots and lots and lots to be

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Speaker 1: thankful for, as I'm learning off air, not just beyond

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Speaker 1: the clamor or just that's Claremont County Veteran Services, but

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Speaker 1: everything's going on. Steve's life truly one of God's miracles.

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Speaker 1: I'm not going to go into the details, but wow,

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Speaker 1: what you have lived through over the past short period

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Speaker 1: of time is amazing. And you know what a God's

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Speaker 1: miracle without questions?

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Speaker 2: So question, yeah, that's intervention, right, it was it was favor.

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Speaker 1: You got to look for little miracles they're all around you.

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Speaker 1: I know you just got to identify them, be observe

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Speaker 1: itt and be thankful exactly. All right. So you've added

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Speaker 1: some new services over time, my County Veteran services this year,

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Speaker 1: so let's talk about that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I want to mention to miss Bozo

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Speaker 2: twenty two and three would be a great Christmas present

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Speaker 2: for mister Bozol. I just just listening to your commercial.

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Speaker 2: I just thought, wow, that's pretty.

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Speaker 1: You got something in mine you want.

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Speaker 2: It's within the doors, darling head inside so the well.

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Speaker 1: I got my forty five to seventy elever action rifle

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Speaker 1: last year. You have a Henry. Yeah no, not a Henry.

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Speaker 2: You didn't get Henry.

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Speaker 1: Okay, I didn't get that.

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Speaker 2: We'll go down a rabbit trail here.

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Speaker 1: Let's let's okay. I got the Marlin. But it's the

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Speaker 1: new Marlin, not the old version that had some problems.

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Speaker 1: It's the brand new, redesigned Marlin. Things my god, so awesome.

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Speaker 2: You shot it.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I went Actually I went through a whole

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Speaker 1: box at the range that you.

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Speaker 2: Went to the whole box.

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Speaker 1: I have a pad on the back of that. Did

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Speaker 1: you thank you? I love that Thing's a donkey it is.

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Speaker 1: I love handing it to people who are less experienced

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Speaker 1: with shooting rifles. But I'll squeeze off a few rounds here.

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Speaker 1: Try this. Oh okay, yeah, this this is when you

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Speaker 1: figure out you have not mounted your gun properly. And

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Speaker 1: I laughed my butt off like I handed it back.

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Speaker 1: I know I got more rounds in there is there's

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Speaker 1: five more inside. Enjoy that though, all right, moving back

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Speaker 1: to the Veterans Services anyways.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so twenty five hundred veterans there, we talk about

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Speaker 2: the three three legged stool in how we underpinn veterans

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Speaker 2: in the counties with transportation, emergency financial assistance, and filing

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Speaker 2: for benefits and claims for the VA. And the majority

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Speaker 2: of the twenty five hundred you're seeing right there is

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Speaker 2: predominantly just the filing for benefits and claims, as well

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Speaker 2: as potentially some just overlap with emergency financial assistance.

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Speaker 1: I'm glad you brought that one up. I would like

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Speaker 1: to bring that aspect of what you're doing for veterans

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Speaker 1: on emergency financial service.

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Speaker 2: It's yeah, when you get to underpinning, you get to

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Speaker 2: hear some of these stories are just you got to

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Speaker 2: be kidding me.

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Speaker 1: This fallout right, right.

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Speaker 2: But you still get to reach down, grab someone's hand

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Speaker 2: and pull them up. It's not a handout, it's not welfare.

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Speaker 2: It's a benefit for serving your country that we're able

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Speaker 2: to put you back on solid ground as a veteran

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Speaker 2: if you meet the parameter. So it's a great program,

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Speaker 2: it really is.

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Speaker 1: Well, you've got more appointments ready for them, more readily

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Speaker 1: available appointments. The quality is obviously always superior, claimate aunty

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Speaker 1: veteran services. But you've decreased the wait time by twenty

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Speaker 1: five percent. I understand.

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Speaker 2: I'm going to tell you, Brian, We've done so much

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Speaker 2: attack on We were about a six months lag time for appointments,

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Speaker 2: especially when we came out with the Packed Act, oh

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Speaker 2: Shreact Act, And so I took their calendars, looked at them,

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Speaker 2: massaged them and not only was I able to increase

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Speaker 2: I say I we's a team able to increase the

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Speaker 2: throughput by additional appointments, but we're also able to create

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Speaker 2: a day of administrative time that they can look at

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Speaker 2: the claims that they're filing to make sure their quality

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Speaker 2: complete claims. That's great, right, So it improves the quality,

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Speaker 2: it enhances the return rate for the approvals when they

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Speaker 2: go to be adjudicated. So it's really been a great

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Speaker 2: year twenty twenty five and so increasing throughput twenty five percent,

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Speaker 2: more appointment times available to help these veterans move their

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Speaker 2: claims forward. Well.

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Speaker 1: And it's one thing. You sign up and you qualify

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Speaker 1: and you're eligible for your VA benefits, you got to

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Speaker 1: get to the appointment. A lot of veterans struggle with that.

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Speaker 1: You've helped out that too.

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Speaker 2: That is how many veterans miss It's called a CMP exam.

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Speaker 2: Miss it, and the VA is cranky. When you miss

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Speaker 2: a CMP exam, they are cranky. So the fact that

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Speaker 2: great Uncle Joe, or it might just be your cousin

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Speaker 2: Jimmy that's of good health but does not want to

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Speaker 2: drive to downtown Cincinnati. Secondly, the parking at the VA

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Speaker 2: is extremely extremely tight. I did hear, Dad, And when

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Speaker 2: you have someone that's willing to take a veteran down

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Speaker 2: and take them back home, that you're not stuck in

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Speaker 2: a parking lott somewhere, it is a great benefit. We've

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Speaker 2: moved over a thousand veterans to and from their VA

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Speaker 2: appointments through October.

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Speaker 1: This year and again three hundred and sixty five days

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Speaker 1: in the counter year. You can see the volume they're doing.

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Speaker 1: That is awesome. So you hire, you have a new

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Speaker 1: vehicle and that's number five, and you also hired some

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Speaker 1: additional drivers.

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Speaker 2: We did the task was so heavy. Over one hundred

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Speaker 2: and thirty a month for the past three to four

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Speaker 2: months we were transporting to and from. Now we do

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Speaker 2: door to door. It's not a local pickup area. We

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Speaker 2: frag a vehicle, We send a vehicle. Get all my

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Speaker 2: military talk. We send a vehicle to your door, pick

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Speaker 2: you up, take you to your VA appointment, and then

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Speaker 2: take you back home.

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Speaker 1: It's like an uber, except it's the Cincinnati or the

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Speaker 1: Klemert County Veteran Services handling this without having what you

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Speaker 1: don't need an app for that.

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Speaker 2: Do you just make it just simple phone call and

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Speaker 2: then five one three seventh three, two seventh, three sixty

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Speaker 2: three the transportation line where you will be greeted, uh

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Speaker 2: to push one for the transportation. All of my drivers

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Speaker 2: are veterans. That's great, every single one of them.

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Speaker 1: And they are your employees. So you sure quality in

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Speaker 1: terms of absolutely the ability of them to drive and

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Speaker 1: their competence and all of that.

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Speaker 2: We own the vehicles, they're marked. You know, it's us

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Speaker 2: pulling up in your drive. It's not a lift or

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Speaker 2: uber that's going to drop you off somewhere you don't belong.

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Speaker 2: They're going to get you to and from your appointment

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Speaker 2: and back home.

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Speaker 1: And although we are running painfully out of time, if

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Speaker 1: do you have some new software that helps increase the

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Speaker 1: efficiency and the quality of filing benefit claims on behalf

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Speaker 1: of veterans as well, an improvement that was needed. I'm

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Speaker 1: glad you've addressed that very much.

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Speaker 2: So it's been a good transition. It's been long and

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Speaker 2: migrating all the information over that you do obviously in

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Speaker 2: a lift and shift for an IT program. But it's up,

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Speaker 2: it's running, and it greatly enhances what we do.

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Speaker 1: Claremont County Veterans as a site for the Clarmont County

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Speaker 1: Veteran Services, all the services right there, they're there to

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Speaker 1: help you. You're not taking advantage, you're utilizing what has

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Speaker 1: been created for you my veteran friends in Claremont County.

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Speaker 1: Steve Belzo, you are such a wonderful representative for the

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Speaker 1: Veteran Service Commission. I thank you for the work that

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Speaker 1: you do throughout the year. I appreciate the joy that

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Speaker 1: you get from that work, and I wish you another

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Speaker 1: extraordinarily successful year next year. I know you're gonna work

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Speaker 1: as hard as you can to make it so well.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, But you know we don't do it without

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Speaker 2: the team behind us. I know everyone there, I really do,

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Speaker 2: so shout out to the whole team out there.

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Speaker 1: Amen to that, brother, and a merry Christmas and happy holidays,

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Speaker 1: you and yours and all of the Claremont County Veteran

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Speaker 1: Services again