Speaker 1: Welcome to the Good Stuff. I'm Jacob Schick and I'm
Speaker 1: joined by my co host and wife, Ashley Shick.
Speaker 2: Jake is a third generation combat Marine and I'm a
Speaker 2: gold Star granddaughter, and we work together to serve military veterans,
Speaker 2: first responders, frontline healthcare workers, and their families with mental
Speaker 2: and emotional wellness through traditional and non traditional therapy.
Speaker 3: At One Tribe Foundation.
Speaker 1: We believe everyone has a story to tell, not only
Speaker 1: about the peaks, but also the valleys they've been through
Speaker 1: to get them to where they are today.
Speaker 2: Each week, we invite a guest to tell us their story,
Speaker 2: to share with us the lessons they've learned that shape
Speaker 2: who they are and what they're doing to pay it
Speaker 2: forward and give back.
Speaker 1: Our mission with this show is to dig deep into
Speaker 1: our guest's journey so that we can celebrate the hope
Speaker 1: and inspiration their story has to offer.
Speaker 3: We're thrilled you're joining us again.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Good Stuff.
Speaker 2: You know, we both have such a deep appreciation of
Speaker 2: our nation's veterans, and not only did Jacob serve, but
Speaker 2: a lot of men and women in both of our
Speaker 2: families served and sacrificed for.
Speaker 1: Our freedoms, freedoms that we all take for granted, myself
Speaker 1: completely included every single day. Yes, our guest today is
Speaker 1: the Al Lpparte. He served in the United States Army
Speaker 1: for fourteen years during a time in our nation when
Speaker 1: it wasn't very popular to serve. In fact, it was
Speaker 1: quite the opposite. While in the Army, he served in Vietnam.
Speaker 1: Today he is a huge part of the Veterans of
Speaker 1: Foreign Wars and he's here to tell us his story
Speaker 1: of joining the army, serving in combat, and how he
Speaker 1: continues to serve today and fight for the greater good.
Speaker 2: I'm so excited to share Al Laparte with the world.
Speaker 2: We absolutely love him and he is one of the
Speaker 2: most energetic seventy six year olds we know.
Speaker 1: I forget he's seventy six often I'll Lippart, Welcome to
Speaker 1: the good stuff.
Speaker 4: Thank you. I'm honored to be here.
Speaker 1: We're very humbled and privileged to have you and to
Speaker 1: be open to doing this. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 2: And we were originally connected through your work with the
Speaker 2: Veterans of Foreign Wars. And what is your current standing
Speaker 2: in the BFW.
Speaker 4: Actually in August of this year, I was elected as
Speaker 4: the Junior Vice Commander in Chief, and what follows is
Speaker 4: at next year's convention, I anticipate being elected as the
Speaker 4: Senior Vice Commander in Chief. That would be the number
Speaker 4: two man. And the following year, which would be in
Speaker 4: August of twenty four, I would serve as the Commander
Speaker 4: in Chief. That's a one year term. I would go
Speaker 4: out of office in August of twenty twenty five. So
Speaker 4: that's the role that I'm in right now and anticipating
Speaker 4: the next several years.
Speaker 2: And it's been really fascinating for Jake and I to
Speaker 2: get more involved with the VFW and find out how
Speaker 2: much really goes into the leadership and the planning and
Speaker 2: the execution of all that you want to accomplish for
Speaker 2: veterans worldwide and every age and every conflict that we've
Speaker 2: been involved in. It's been really fascinating because I know
Speaker 2: Jake and I both have personal stories with the VFW.
Speaker 1: The VFW was very important to my grandmother and my grandfather,
Speaker 1: my grandfather being the first generation United States Marine and
Speaker 1: our family serving World War Two and a Regima, and
Speaker 1: my grandmother ultimately becoming the president of the Auxiliary in
Speaker 1: the State of Louisiana after my Pat Paul's passing. As
Speaker 1: you all know, that's my bested interest or at least
Speaker 1: the tip of the spear of my best at interest
Speaker 1: to help the VFW in any way I can, which
Speaker 1: you know a lot more in detail about that, but
Speaker 1: it's definitely close to my heart and soul because it's
Speaker 1: ingrained in my DNA by default.
Speaker 3: And mine too.
Speaker 2: My great grandfather, Ward Albro the second was a Bronze
Speaker 2: Star recipient World War Two, served in the army, and.
Speaker 3: He also in San Angelo, West Texas.
Speaker 2: He was involved with the VFW, and so it's something
Speaker 2: that we've known about our entire lives and really to
Speaker 2: be able through you a'l dig in and find out
Speaker 2: more about this organization and what it's done over decades
Speaker 2: now over a century has been really exciting.
Speaker 1: You're continuing the lead. You epitomize what it means to
Speaker 1: be an effective leader.
Speaker 4: I think so for all three of us being part
Speaker 4: of those that were the favorite of the nation to
Speaker 4: defend it, and then following our time in uniform, we
Speaker 4: continue to use that service to give back. You know,
Speaker 4: when we talk about VFW. Unfortunately, we as military types
Speaker 4: tend to talk in acronyms, and people will ask what
Speaker 4: the heck is the VFW, and we know that's the
Speaker 4: Veterans of Foreign Wars. And there's one thing to be veterans,
Speaker 4: because everyone that uniform takes the oath and serves is
Speaker 4: a veteran. But we're different. We're are veterans of Foreign Wars,
Speaker 4: meaning that not only did we raise our hand, we
Speaker 4: all took the same oath, but when it came time
Speaker 4: to deploy, when we were told we were going to war,
Speaker 4: we went. So when I find someone that's in the
Speaker 4: Veterans of Foreign Wars, I have absolutely no doubt of
Speaker 4: their courage because they accepted the challenge, they went to war.
Speaker 2: And we'll get into a little later how important THEFW
Speaker 2: has been to your story.
Speaker 3: But your story started when you were quite young.
Speaker 4: I was born in nineteen forty six, and as a
Speaker 4: high school student, I will tell you that during those
Speaker 4: four years I was not what one would consider a
Speaker 4: stellar student. I had other things that I enjoyed doing
Speaker 4: versus studying. I guess it's to say that I did
Speaker 4: not let my education interfere with my fun, because I
Speaker 4: continued to have fun at the expense of my grades.
Speaker 4: I found leadership in high school when I played football
Speaker 4: up through my junior year. And one of the things
Speaker 4: that my coach did, and he was a championship coach,
Speaker 4: I told him I wanted to go to college and
Speaker 4: what were my chances of getting a football scholarship, and
Speaker 4: he said, I'll just be very frank with you, they're
Speaker 4: probably zip. I was a starter my junior year, but
Speaker 4: I was just another football player. But when the coach
Speaker 4: told me, al, you probably should go find a job,
Speaker 4: it was very hurtful. Now I also found that I
Speaker 4: wasn't really college material. That was really not on my radar.
Speaker 3: Were you the first one in your family to serve No.
Speaker 4: I had three uncles that were in World War Two,
Speaker 4: one in the Navy and two in the Army. Uncle
Speaker 4: Joe was in the Navy. I think he was in
Speaker 4: the Pacific during World War II too. Uncle Bob was
Speaker 4: in the Army, was in France and Germany. I had
Speaker 4: Uncle Eddie. Both Bob and Joe served their time and
Speaker 4: then got out. Uncle Eddie was a career soldier, landed
Speaker 4: D Day. He landed in Anzio and then from Ansio
Speaker 4: he went up went to the Battle of the bulge
Speaker 4: that was involved in Mark Gardner, so he was an
Speaker 4: infantry guy. He had a field commission. He got out
Speaker 4: of the military as a colonel. I was very young.
Speaker 4: I probably was six or seven years old the last
Speaker 4: time I saw him in uniform. He also was a
Speaker 4: Korean War veteran. I'll tell you he was the epitome
Speaker 4: to me of strength, of conviction, of courage. A three
Speaker 4: or four Silver Star recipient. I think he had the
Speaker 4: Distinguished Service Cross. He was what we would refer to
Speaker 4: as a badass. So when the war came about, I
Speaker 4: decided that fortunately we had my family knew people that
Speaker 4: were in the Selective Service offices, and the word got
Speaker 4: back to my parents that my number was coming up.
Speaker 4: I didn't want to be drafted. I wanted to enlist
Speaker 4: so that I could get when I wanted. And that
Speaker 4: was the first time in life that I realized be
Speaker 4: careful what you asked for, because it might come true.
Speaker 4: Because of what I asked for, I absolutely hated when
Speaker 4: I got into the service. I thought, I'm going to
Speaker 4: I'm going to go into the service, so I want
Speaker 4: to learn skill that I can transition into business when
Speaker 4: I get out. Because I had no intention of making
Speaker 4: a career of the military. I was assigned as a
Speaker 4: clerk typist, and so I sat at the desk and
Speaker 4: I did with clink click because they drove me crazy.
Speaker 4: I don't want to do this. While I was in
Speaker 4: basic training, I really enjoyed that. Again, I'm a football player,
Speaker 4: I'd like contact. So as I was going across the bars,
Speaker 4: as you swing to go to chow, and if you fall,
Speaker 4: you go back and get in the back of the
Speaker 4: line and start all over again. And after about the
Speaker 4: third time of that, I went, I got to get
Speaker 4: this master. It was building up strength. It certainly was
Speaker 4: building up character. Because my hands were blistered, they were bleeding.
Speaker 4: I was still punching through my drill. Sergeants had been
Speaker 4: watching this and they came up and they said, loopart,
Speaker 4: your determination, your commitment to see this through to excel.
Speaker 4: We think you're a leader. You may not know this,
Speaker 4: but people in your platoon are watching you and they're
Speaker 4: following your lead, and so we think it would be
Speaker 4: good for you to go to Officer Candidate school. And
Speaker 4: so in June of sixty six, I went to Fort Benning, Georgia,
Speaker 4: to the home of the Infantry. The Infantry School. The
Speaker 4: Infantry school motto was follow me, and I felt right
Speaker 4: at home going through tactics, learning all those things that
Speaker 4: it needed to learn to be a leader of warriors,
Speaker 4: and I took right to that. Was very proud to
Speaker 4: do that. There were a lot of good things that
Speaker 4: came out of that. I learned much about myself. We
Speaker 4: also had to have a social aspect, because, as Jake knows,
Speaker 4: when your commission the President declares you to be a gentleman,
Speaker 4: you're an officer and a gentleman. That's what that commission represents.
Speaker 4: So we had to learn some social skills rather than
Speaker 4: just beat each other up. We did have to learn
Speaker 4: those social skills, so we had a social a quarter,
Speaker 4: and of course we were restricted to base, so we
Speaker 4: had to have a date, so you couldn't go downtown
Speaker 4: and get a rented date if you catch my draft.
Speaker 4: Fortunately one of the nursing schools in Columbus, those students
Speaker 4: would come and serve as our dates, so it was
Speaker 4: blind dates. The very first one, I was sitting next
Speaker 4: to a fellow candidate. This girl starts walking down the steps.
Speaker 4: I looked at her, and I looked to the guy,
Speaker 4: and I said that's my future wife. He went your
Speaker 4: kid now, I'm telling you she's it. That turned out
Speaker 4: to be my date. That date happened to turn out
Speaker 4: to be my wife, Carol. She was my date at
Speaker 4: the three other socials. That was from about August, right
Speaker 4: as we graduated in December, in the car at a light,
Speaker 4: I proposed marriage to Carol and she accepted well. I
Speaker 4: graduated from OCS on the sixteenth of December of nineteen
Speaker 4: sixty six. We were married February the twenty fourth of
Speaker 4: nineteen sixty seven. We remain married today, so we're pretty
Speaker 4: sure it's going to work. So left Ohio to go
Speaker 4: to Vietnam in June of nineteen sixty seven. Young Infantry
Speaker 4: Officer Green as Green could be. I'm in Vietnam now,
Speaker 4: and there's a couple of movies that I've seen that
Speaker 4: are very good examples of at least my experiences in combat.
Speaker 4: I think there's probably three movies that mean the most
Speaker 4: to me. The first movie that comes to mind is
Speaker 4: Saving Private Ryan. It's those scenes in Normandy where they're
Speaker 4: coming off of the LSTs and getting into the water
Speaker 4: to take the beach. Everything in combat moves in slow motion.
Speaker 4: All hell is breaking loose, but when you're in there,
Speaker 4: time is just moves slowly. The second one that I
Speaker 4: related to was the movie Platoon. When the movie starts,
Speaker 4: you see this soldier in very clean pressed fatigues. His
Speaker 4: boots are shined, and he's, hey, I'm here. I'm not
Speaker 4: mad at anybody. I know. I'm here. It's all okay.
Speaker 4: I have a mission. And then we're going to do
Speaker 4: the mission. But I'm not angry. So we're out. We're
Speaker 4: clearing a road. Now. I'm a platoon leader. So we're
Speaker 4: clearing this road of mines. This is up in i
Speaker 4: Coourt in the northernmost part Vietnam of South Vietnam. We're
Speaker 4: clearing this road and this shot rings out, and so
Speaker 4: I'm looking around where'd the shot come from? Because I
Speaker 4: want to return fire. This guy laying on the ground,
Speaker 4: it's pulling my passlots. He keeps yelling at me to
Speaker 4: get down, Get down, get down. What he said to
Speaker 4: me was when somebody's firing, when you hear shot, you're
Speaker 4: supposed to get on the ground first. Then you can
Speaker 4: look around, but get down. Because you're a target. You
Speaker 4: make the rest of us a target. Lesson learned got
Speaker 4: up after we had eliminated the sniper, and I realized
Speaker 4: at that point that somebody's now shooting it. They've started
Speaker 4: to fight with me. So now I'm angry. When I
Speaker 4: got there at the beginning, I'm this nice, pleasant individual.
Speaker 4: I'm just here. But at that point, now I realized
Speaker 4: somebody's trying to kill us, and that's not acceptable, and
Speaker 4: so I became hardened very quickly because we're going through.
Speaker 4: We were air assaulted up to further north in Icres,
Speaker 4: which is that area that's the northernmost part of the
Speaker 4: combat zone, and there's a way that you deploy. Early
Speaker 4: movies showed helicopters landing and you're getting off. That's not
Speaker 4: how you do it. You're going to get off that
Speaker 4: helicopter when you air assault. You can get off on
Speaker 4: the way down, or you can get off on the
Speaker 4: way up. But either way you're going to get off.
Speaker 4: The key is get off when it gets as close
Speaker 4: to the ground as it's going to get, which is
Speaker 4: about six feet. We were about twenty five clicks southwest
Speaker 4: of d Nag. Now I'm in a warzone. We're not
Speaker 4: looking for guerrillas anymore. We're looking for regular North Vietnamese Army,
Speaker 4: and so it came to November nineteen sixty seven. At
Speaker 4: this particular time, intelligence came in that intercepted a radio
Speaker 4: signal that was very unusual because only units of regimental
Speaker 4: size or division size had radios. So there was a
Speaker 4: large element near us. And so we were being deployed
Speaker 4: and a search and destroyer mission for the enemy. So
Speaker 4: I was part of a delta company. I was a
Speaker 4: second platin leader. We got online, we started to move
Speaker 4: up this small hill. It had a hedgerow up at
Speaker 4: the top, and so as we were movie first PLATOWO
Speaker 4: was on the left and I think the fourth platoon
Speaker 4: was in the middle and I was the second platoon.
Speaker 4: I had the right flank. As we were moving up,
Speaker 4: there was a shot and it was to my left.
Speaker 4: The company commander said, all right, everybody start shifting left
Speaker 4: and continue to sweep. So we did. Then more shots
Speaker 4: rang out, and more urgently he said, okay, move left.
Speaker 4: So we did well. When we got about fifteen yards
Speaker 4: from the hedgerow, the hedgerow opened fire. I didn't realize
Speaker 4: at the time, but on the initial volley ten of
Speaker 4: my men went down. They were wounded. Four of them
Speaker 4: were killed immediately, one was killed later. The one that
Speaker 4: was killed later was standing next to me. But as
Speaker 4: Jake does, when you get into an ambush, there's only
Speaker 4: one way out of an ambush, and that's to not
Speaker 4: stay there. You have to fight your way through it.
Speaker 4: And that's what we did. We just charged. We broke
Speaker 4: the ambush that battle that started on Thanksgiving Day, And
Speaker 4: I've got a picture that I've posted a couple of
Speaker 4: times that shows the time before. I'm sitting with my
Speaker 4: squad leaders and my platoon sergeant, my radio operator, and
Speaker 4: my medic and we're going over my plan for the
Speaker 4: way we're going to conduct this suite. We are a unit,
Speaker 4: and yes I'm the platoon leader, but they've got more
Speaker 4: time than I do in this so I'm going to
Speaker 4: run my plan by them and for them to pick
Speaker 4: at it, and if there's something wrong, let me know.
Speaker 4: My mission was not to win a war. I was
Speaker 4: responsible for the lives of these men, so that was
Speaker 4: my goal was to protect them as much as I
Speaker 4: possibly could. I did not know their names. If I
Speaker 4: did know their names, it was only their first name.
Speaker 4: I knew probably only a handful by name because I
Speaker 4: did not want to know them because I knew what
Speaker 4: I was going to have to do, going to have
Speaker 4: to send them in harm's way. I did not want
Speaker 4: that to be an obstruction to either one of us.
Speaker 4: That battle started November the twenty third, nineteen sixty seven.
Speaker 4: It it ended November the twenty seventh, nineteen sixty seven. For
Speaker 4: four days we engaged the second MBA Division of the
Speaker 4: third Regiment of the North Vietnamese Art. It truly was
Speaker 4: a shit show because it is so chaotic in battle,
Speaker 4: with the gunfire, with explosions, with all that is going on,
Speaker 4: It truly is chaos. And you rely on your training.
Speaker 4: This is not a time where a true thought process
Speaker 4: takes place. You simply react to the training that you
Speaker 4: had and you hope that you were trained to be
Speaker 4: the best that you could be, and we were. As
Speaker 4: we took the heel, there was a bunker on top,
Speaker 4: and we were approaching that bunker, and as we did,
Speaker 4: shots came out. I'd seen the bunker, We were all
Speaker 4: aware that the bunker was there, and I had just
Speaker 4: said to this individual, whose name was Rodney Lowman, I
Speaker 4: told him to move. At that moment, he went to
Speaker 4: the ground. They were shot in the head. We returned fire.
Speaker 4: We got support because there was an NBA soldier in
Speaker 4: there who would not give up, and so we were
Speaker 4: able to outflank him, get around him and throw a
Speaker 4: hangernad in and kill him. Fast forward. Now there were
Speaker 4: a number of other battles. The Tet Offensive of nineteen
Speaker 4: sixty eight took place in January, beginning in January, and
Speaker 4: again it was Hellasia's fighting. It was it was war.
Speaker 4: There was nothing gorilla about it. It was large units
Speaker 4: fighting large units. I will tell you that we never
Speaker 4: lost a battle. Some of the battles were very costly.
Speaker 4: My recollection is I began Thanksgiving with twenty four men.
Speaker 4: On the twenty seventh of November, I had six men.
Speaker 4: Now I was wounded superficially, but I didn't have to
Speaker 4: be evacuated. The last movie that reminded me of Vietnam
Speaker 4: was We were Soldiers Once in Young the Battle of
Speaker 4: the Idragon Valley, which happened to be several years earlier,
Speaker 4: in sixty five, because what I saw on that screen
Speaker 4: was what I went through on Thanksgiving Day of nineteen
Speaker 4: sixty seven. When people ask me about my experience of Vietnam,
Speaker 4: it's hard for me to explain, because if you weren't there,
Speaker 4: you don't understand it. I can describe it, but it's
Speaker 4: not the same. There's a couple things missing. If we
Speaker 4: were soldiers once in young could have recreated the smells
Speaker 4: of death, the smells of blood, the smells of flesh
Speaker 4: that are burning, that would have been real. That's what
Speaker 4: people don't get. They also don't get the adrenaline. There
Speaker 4: is no greater feeling than being alive at the end
Speaker 4: of a firefight. When you talk about collisions and you
Speaker 4: talk about combat, there is only one winner, and that's
Speaker 4: the person that's alive. That has stuck with me forever,
Speaker 4: and it will stick with me. I didn't realize that
Speaker 4: I had PTSD when I got back from Vietnam the
Speaker 4: second time, which was seventy one. I was stationed in Washington,
Speaker 4: d C. I had a reserve commission and I got
Speaker 4: the word that I was going to be released from
Speaker 4: active duty or there was a reduction in force. So
Speaker 4: ended the reserves for three years, and after the third year,
Speaker 4: I went up to the colonel. I was a company commander.
Speaker 4: I told the colonel I needed to see him, and
Speaker 4: he said, this is on I drew a weekend. He said,
Speaker 4: what do you need and I said, well, sir, I'm
Speaker 4: here to tell you that I quit. He quit, Captain,
Speaker 4: you can't quit and I said, oh, Sir, I can't.
Speaker 4: He said, you've got an obligation. I said, no, sir,
Speaker 4: I've been here three years. I have fulfilled my obligation.
Speaker 4: And he said, clipart, that's fourteen years. Why would you
Speaker 4: throw fourteen years away? And I was in suiting clothes
Speaker 4: and I said, sir, you see this purple heart. I
Speaker 4: always wore my purple heart. And I said, I wear
Speaker 4: this for me. It reminds me how short life is.
Speaker 4: Life changes in the blink of an eye. And I said, sir,
Speaker 4: I have to tell you every month when I come
Speaker 4: here and drill, we do the same thing. I've been
Speaker 4: doing the same thing for three years. I am not
Speaker 4: benefiting the unit, and Sir, the unit's not benefiting me.
Speaker 4: So I think it's best if we just part as
Speaker 4: friends right now. He said, Okay, wasn't the best financial
Speaker 4: decision I ever made, but mentally it was a good decision.
Speaker 4: So I'm home after the two tours and I leave
Speaker 4: the reserves, and I'm floundering looking for myself, and I
Speaker 4: learned that I work well with others, I just don't
Speaker 4: work well for others. I need to be independent. I
Speaker 4: have principles, I have ethics, and I make demands of myself.
Speaker 4: So I became an entrepreneur. And one of the things
Speaker 4: I did was I opened a frame shop and I
Speaker 4: opened it at Fort McPherson, and I found myself back
Speaker 4: with troops again because that's what I had been looking
Speaker 4: for in the eighties. I joined Rotary, and Rotary is
Speaker 4: the world's finest as far as I'm concerned, and I
Speaker 4: still am a Rotarian, the finest service organization. It's an
Speaker 4: international organization. People who are members of Rotary have high
Speaker 4: ethical standards. I was looking for camaraderie and what I
Speaker 4: joined Rotor was all men, so I had that camaraderie.
Speaker 4: It was a placement for the military. Still didn't have
Speaker 4: the discipline, but that's okay. I was self disciplined. But
Speaker 4: it got me to Fort Mack and it got me
Speaker 4: back to troops again. Not only troops, but it got
Speaker 4: me back to leadership because I interfaced with the commanding
Speaker 4: general from Forces Command four stars. There were like twenty
Speaker 4: six stars at Fort McPherson. I got to know them all,
Speaker 4: and as they rotated and got to meet new ones.
Speaker 4: I opened a store in two thousand and then two
Speaker 4: thousand and one came, Yeah, I want to enlist. So
Speaker 4: I'm talking to the garrison commander. He said, so did
Speaker 4: you enlist? And I said no, I already tried. And
Speaker 4: he laughed and I said, where are you laughing? He said,
Speaker 4: you tried. I said, yeah, I did. I could still shoot.
Speaker 4: I wanted to get back in. I wanted to contribute
Speaker 4: to the war. And the way I got into VFW
Speaker 4: was they hooked me in by telling me they were
Speaker 4: going to form a new post and they were looking
Speaker 4: for members. And I was a framer and my friend
Speaker 4: member Bilia, So why don't you bring some of your
Speaker 4: and maybe you get some business. And again I'm a businessman,
Speaker 4: so I said, okay. Well I got to this meeting
Speaker 4: and Holy Toledo, it was like I've known these people
Speaker 4: all my life. We're speaking the same language, we have
Speaker 4: the same mentality, we have the same feelings. So I thought,
Speaker 4: you know what, I think I want to be part
Speaker 4: of this. In two thousand and two, I became a
Speaker 4: member of the Veterans of foreign wars, without a doubt,
Speaker 4: my medics saved my life, and Vietnam, the veterans of
Speaker 4: foreign wars saved my life. Here, it did not realize
Speaker 4: that I had post traumatic stress. But I became a workaholic.
Speaker 4: I didn't do drugs, I did not do alcohol. I
Speaker 4: worked all the time. I mean from sunrise to sunset
Speaker 4: and beyond, I would work. I didn't realize that was
Speaker 4: my coping mechanism. Well, when you get a little old,
Speaker 4: you get time on your hands. When you get time
Speaker 4: on your hands, you start with zig ziggler. A motivator
Speaker 4: is fond of calling just thinking thinking. He calls to
Speaker 4: do a check up from the neck up. And when
Speaker 4: I did that, I realized I have issues. The VA
Speaker 4: tells me that I had anger issues, and so I
Speaker 4: went to therapy and part of the therapy was immersion
Speaker 4: therapy where I had to relive the moment. Hardest thing
Speaker 4: I've ever done, I think in my life, was to
Speaker 4: take me back to November the twenty third, nineteen sixty seven,
Speaker 4: and when I was when we were taping it and
Speaker 4: he had me, my psychologist had me in the moment.
Speaker 4: He suddenly said, what did you just say? And I said,
Speaker 4: I have no clue. I'm just doing what you asked
Speaker 4: me to do. And he said, no, what did you
Speaker 4: just say. I said, I don't know. He said, let's
Speaker 4: play the tape back. So he played the tape back,
Speaker 4: and what I said was I started Thanksgiving Day with
Speaker 4: twenty four men. At the end of the battle, I
Speaker 4: had six men left. I had one man killed. Rodney
Speaker 4: is who I remember in the records. Later I saw
Speaker 4: the names of the other men that were killed that day.
Speaker 4: He said, you think you had that man killed? And
Speaker 4: I said no, I don't. He said, why'd you say it?
Speaker 4: I said, it's just the way I said it. I
Speaker 4: just said I had one man kunt and he said, no,
Speaker 4: you think that's your fault.
Speaker 1: Oh.
Speaker 4: He was standing next to me. I just told him
Speaker 4: to move. He said, do you think that the NBA
Speaker 4: soldier looked down range and saw you and the other
Speaker 4: guy and said, oh, I think I'll shoot this guy
Speaker 4: because he looks like he's a winner, and this guy
Speaker 4: I'm going to leavehim alone. He said, of course not.
Speaker 4: He said, did you ever shoot anybody? Said? Yeah, said
Speaker 4: you think about it. I said, now, of course not.
Speaker 4: You All we do is react he said the same
Speaker 4: for the NBA soldier. This was not your fault and
Speaker 4: Rodney was just a casualty of the war. After some
Speaker 4: more sessions with that, I realized for over forty years
Speaker 4: I carried Rodney Lieutman with me when Carol and I
Speaker 4: would go to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, d C.
Speaker 4: I would go to Rodney's panel, Banel thirty three West
Speaker 4: and I would find his name and I would talk
Speaker 4: to Rodney. Later in the therapy. I asked a psychologist.
Speaker 4: I said, I said, Okay, if i go to the
Speaker 4: wall and tell Rodney I'm not carrying him anymore, he
Speaker 4: can rest at peace. And he said it would be
Speaker 4: good if you could do that. And I've done that.
Speaker 4: I still go to the wall every opportunity that I get,
Speaker 4: because the names of all five men that were in
Speaker 4: my unit that were killed are all on that same panel,
Speaker 4: So I go visit each one of them when i'm there.
Speaker 4: But I do it out of respect, out of honor,
Speaker 4: because that's what I do with the veterans of foreign wars.
Speaker 4: The veterans of foreign wars is my therapy. It's the
Speaker 4: way I give back for those that have given the
Speaker 4: ultimate sacrifice, but everyone that has done the uniform and
Speaker 4: been to battle. VFW was formed over one hundred years
Speaker 4: ago for two purposes. One was to care for the veteran,
Speaker 4: their surviving spouse and orphaned children. And the second thing
Speaker 4: is to advocate on their behalf in the halls of Congress.
Speaker 4: We still take care of the veterans. That is our
Speaker 4: primary function. By taking care of the veteran includes camaraderie,
Speaker 4: It includes that fellowship, that bond that we all share.
Speaker 4: Doesn't matter where you were, who you were, what branch
Speaker 4: you were, if you've experienced combat, we are one and
Speaker 4: the same, and we understand each other, know that we
Speaker 4: can depend upon each other and that advocating Congress. When
Speaker 4: we were formed in eighteen ninety nine, we were formed
Speaker 4: by veterans of the Spanish American War. And why because
Speaker 4: Congress did not keep their promises to those veterans, and
Speaker 4: they haven't been doing it ever since. The only way
Speaker 4: they do it is when we make demands, not requests.
Speaker 4: The first GI Bill, the Montgomery Bill, that was passed
Speaker 4: because of the veterans' foreign wars. There are other vs. Yes,
Speaker 4: there are. We're combat veterans, we're warriors. As I like
Speaker 4: to say, as an infantry, I know how to break things,
Speaker 4: and if you want something broken, you can call me.
Speaker 4: I'll help you break it. Our relationship with Congress needs
Speaker 4: to be one of respect, that needs to be one
Speaker 4: of mutual benefit. But they have a responsibility to care
Speaker 4: for us, because it's just like workmen's comp in the
Speaker 4: civilian world. If you get heard on the job, you
Speaker 4: got workmen's cop In the military, if your service connected
Speaker 4: with your injury, the government has an obligation to take
Speaker 4: care of as long as you live, not for a week,
Speaker 4: or not for a month, or not for a couple
Speaker 4: of years. Our injuries belonged to them and they must
Speaker 4: provide that care. And so that's what we do, and
Speaker 4: we do a very good job of it.
Speaker 2: If it weren't for your era, for the Korean War veterans,
Speaker 2: for the World War II veterans, the way specifically the
Speaker 2: Vietnam veterans got treated when you all came home, it
Speaker 2: was tragic. It was one of the darkest days in
Speaker 2: American history. If it weren't for your generation, we truly
Speaker 2: believe and feel that the guys coming back from Operation
Speaker 2: Iraqi Freedom and Operation enduring freedom, and O and D
Speaker 2: would not have gotten the reception and the treatment that
Speaker 2: they've gotten. Fact, it is one hundred percent and your
Speaker 2: generation's dedication to making sure that the American people understand
Speaker 2: the price of freedom and really stepping up to support
Speaker 2: Jake's era and those to come.
Speaker 3: It's such a beautiful thing.
Speaker 1: Oh, how has seeking therapy for your PTS impacted you
Speaker 1: and your family life?
Speaker 4: Monumental in a word. I didn't realize that I had
Speaker 4: an issue. And when I went in for an agent
Speaker 4: Orange intake to get on the registry, the young lady
Speaker 4: that was taking the information asked me if I suffered
Speaker 4: from PTSD and I said, in typical for no, I'm fine,
Speaker 4: And she said, but I asked you some questions and
Speaker 4: I said, of course. She said, I'm going to ask
Speaker 4: you like four questions. She started and then she stopped.
Speaker 4: She said, you know, sir, I'm not able to prescribe
Speaker 4: medication for you. So what are you talking about? She said, Oh,
Speaker 4: you have issues? I said really, She said yeah, So
Speaker 4: come to find out those issues were anger issues, which
Speaker 4: I never knew I had. Carol could tell you that
Speaker 4: I had them, and that's the biggest thing that's come
Speaker 4: out of this. If my shirt wasn't tucked in exactly right,
Speaker 4: I could fly off the hand. I'd be unbearable for
Speaker 4: three days. And it just to realize where my anger
Speaker 4: was coming from, and that anger was from survivor's guilt.
Speaker 4: I didn't know I had it. I didn't realize that
Speaker 4: I carried Rodney's death with me. But the way I
Speaker 4: said it indicated that I felt it. And when when
Speaker 4: that was said and when that was cleared, when I
Speaker 4: was able to understand it, I got it, and it
Speaker 4: was it was the monkey was off of my back.
Speaker 4: I've continued with therapy. I'll talk to my prapist maybe
Speaker 4: every six months. As you and I know, there is
Speaker 4: a monster in here, and I want to make sure
Speaker 4: that the monster remains contained and I don't see I
Speaker 4: don't see anything happening to let the monster out. But
Speaker 4: just in knowing that I've got somebody to talk to,
Speaker 4: somebody who understands where I'm coming from is I don't
Speaker 4: consider it therapy. It's just talking to somebody else who understands.
Speaker 4: And so that's why I do that. And I appreciate
Speaker 4: the VA allowing me to continue that relationship.
Speaker 1: Absolutely brother, there's nothing wrong with oil in the chain
Speaker 1: every now and again, just making sure everything is operational,
Speaker 1: even if it's for preventative maintenance.
Speaker 4: So exactly exactly, I appreciate.
Speaker 1: You finding strength in your vulnerability and refusing to be
Speaker 1: a host to your pride.
Speaker 2: Brother, What does it mean to you, Ol and Carol?
Speaker 2: Because you are a unit, you are a team. What
Speaker 2: does it mean to you to have donned the off
Speaker 2: of our nation.
Speaker 4: I don't think there's a greater honor that could be
Speaker 4: given than to serve in uniform. We're the United States
Speaker 4: of America. Be proud to be an American. Americans have
Speaker 4: overcome every single obstacle. That's that pride, it's that uniform.
Speaker 4: It's loyalty, it's duty, it's respect, it's selfless service, it's honor,
Speaker 4: it's integrity, and it's personal courage. Life is no game.
Speaker 4: There's no timeouts, there's no substitutions. You got to play
Speaker 4: every play. Sometimes you got to play hurt, but it
Speaker 4: must be done.
Speaker 1: I'm curious to know because you go into the military
Speaker 1: one person. When you come out of the military, you're
Speaker 1: a different person, absolutely, and I would be curious to
Speaker 1: know what did you learn about yourself while you were
Speaker 1: serving your nation, not only income, but in garrison here
Speaker 1: at home.
Speaker 4: Carol and I we've been married for fifty six years,
Speaker 4: but I am not the same man Carol married. Nora.
Speaker 4: Is Carol the same girl that I married. We both
Speaker 4: have changed, and we both have changed because of war,
Speaker 4: because of the experience that we both had in the military.
Speaker 4: I served in uniform, she served at home. I admire,
Speaker 4: I respect, and I appreciate so much Carol's service because
Speaker 4: while I was fighting, she was raising my children and
Speaker 4: keeping that love alive. Perhaps the most key character attribute
Speaker 4: that I've found in myself is my demand for integrity.
Speaker 4: Integrity is the foundation of everything else that we do.
Speaker 4: When I shake your hand, that's an agreement that can't
Speaker 4: be broken by me, and if the other party breaks it,
Speaker 4: shame on him. Because we're done. There are no do overs.
Speaker 4: There are second chances, but probably not with me. I
Speaker 4: like to say, there's no quit in me when I'm
Speaker 4: done serving, and it'll be when I take my last breath,
Speaker 4: then you could close the box. But until then, long
Speaker 4: as I can take a breath, I have something to contribute,
Speaker 4: no doubt.
Speaker 2: I don't think we know many other seventy six year
Speaker 2: old's kicking button taking names like you, I'll la.
Speaker 3: Part, thank you so much.
Speaker 2: Thinking back over the course of your life, is there
Speaker 2: a particular person or organization that's made a huge impact on.
Speaker 4: You, I would have to say it was my parents,
Speaker 4: mom and dad, my family. My name is Lippart and
Speaker 4: I say that with pride. My heritage is German and French.
Speaker 4: My father's parents came from Germany, my mother from France.
Speaker 4: And I've been blessed and I have an obligation to
Speaker 4: you use that to bless other people with it, which
Speaker 4: Carol and I try to do every day in every
Speaker 4: aspect of our life. We try to be a blessing
Speaker 4: to others because again I know that by being a
Speaker 4: blessing to others, we are also blessed. So I'm very
Speaker 4: proud to be.
Speaker 3: A Leipart outstanding.
Speaker 1: I know that's something that Ashoul and I both relate to,
Speaker 1: is the pride and who we are because of who
Speaker 1: we are and our last names and what that represents.
Speaker 1: Like I tell the boys in sports, you know that
Speaker 1: number on the back of your jerseys, and that's important,
Speaker 1: but it pells in comparison to the name above it.
Speaker 4: That's right, that's right.
Speaker 1: What do you do to recharge or to unwind?
Speaker 4: Do it again?
Speaker 2: I was waiting to hear what he would say to that, because.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't as a combat soldier even today, if
Speaker 4: you said out you don't have anything going for an hour,
Speaker 4: what are you gonna do, I'm gonna close my eyes. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I'll take a break. When I was going through therapy,
Speaker 4: like I said, VFW veterans are foreign wars in my
Speaker 4: service to others, that's my therapy. And I referred to
Speaker 4: it to my therapist as I have not only a responsibility,
Speaker 4: but I have an obligation to pay back because I'm
Speaker 4: still here and others aren't. And he said, you got
Speaker 4: to let that go. That's going to drive you crazy.
Speaker 4: What are you talking about. There's no way that you're
Speaker 4: ever going to repay that. I said, of that crazy,
Speaker 4: I'm not stupid. I get it, but that doesn't stop
Speaker 4: me from trying. And that's all I want to do
Speaker 4: is try. I want to be able to look in
Speaker 4: the mirror. I used to do this on a daily
Speaker 4: basis back in my younger days, when I'd wake up
Speaker 4: in the morning and I'd go to the mirror after
Speaker 4: I said, Lord, thank you for your blessings. I'm here
Speaker 4: again today. May everything I do bring glory an honor
Speaker 4: to your name. And then I would look in the
Speaker 4: mirror and I'd say, all, be the best that you
Speaker 4: can be today. And at night before I went to bed,
Speaker 4: I would ask al, were you the best that you
Speaker 4: could be today? And if I wasn't, I had to
Speaker 4: tell myself you're a little short here. You need to
Speaker 4: step that up. It kept me grounded.
Speaker 3: Last question, what feeds your soul?
Speaker 4: My my love of Jesus, my love of God. He's
Speaker 4: in my daily life. He's in everything that I do.
Speaker 4: We are very faithful church goers. When we can't go
Speaker 4: to church. Now with modern technology, we don't have to
Speaker 4: be in a physical building. Sometimes an when we first
Speaker 4: started doing it was a little funny, okay, because it's
Speaker 4: not in the church. But I tell Carol, this is okay.
Speaker 4: Sometimes God's got to come to our house. We can't
Speaker 4: go to his house, so it just comes to our house,
Speaker 4: so it's okay.
Speaker 2: All Laparte, thank you so much, so many incredible stories.
Speaker 2: You're such a great storyteller and all of your words
Speaker 2: of wisdom, and thank you for opening up and being
Speaker 2: vulnerable with us today, telling us your story and what
Speaker 2: you've been through and how you've come out on the
Speaker 2: other side. That is truly the good stuff. You and
Speaker 2: Carol such a power couple and doing such amazing things.
Speaker 2: We're again grateful for your friendship, thankful that you would
Speaker 2: come and open up with us here on the good
Speaker 2: stuff Again.
Speaker 4: I am truly humbled in honor to call you friend,
Speaker 4: to call you comrades, and to see what you're doing
Speaker 4: and to be able to be a supporter of it
Speaker 4: because you're doing great things.
Speaker 1: I think that we've really, we've really turned a page
Speaker 1: with the warrior ethos. When I can sit on a
Speaker 1: public platform and tell you I love you, and you
Speaker 1: can tell me you love me back, and it's without
Speaker 1: fear of ridicler judgment. I feel like we've grown leaps
Speaker 1: and bounds as gladiators modern day and past and present.
Speaker 1: And to say that I'm honored and privilege and humbled
Speaker 1: to call you and Carol family. And I'll speak for
Speaker 1: Ashley and myself when I say this would be a
Speaker 1: drastic understatement. It's an absolute honor.
Speaker 2: Brother, truly, Al Laparte, thank you so much for joining
Speaker 2: us on the good stuff.
Speaker 4: Oh, you're very welcome. I wish honored to be here.
Speaker 4: Thank you very much.
Speaker 3: Such a gem. Are Al Laparte and Carol, they're just
Speaker 3: such a great couple.
Speaker 2: And it's just so fun to sit down with him
Speaker 2: and hear him tell his stories.
Speaker 3: He's such a great storyteller.
Speaker 2: But to be able to really sit down and hear
Speaker 2: the stories from the perspective of a Vietnam veteran.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, I mean relationship goals deftly, Absolutely, those two
Speaker 1: and both living, breathing national treasures.
Speaker 2: But they've been through it. You know, it hasn't been easy.
Speaker 2: In fact, as Al mentioned, it's been quite the opposite.
Speaker 1: And Carol won't hesitate to tell you that either.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: The fact that he so much later in life, was
Speaker 2: able to go and get help for his PTSD, to recognize, hey,
Speaker 2: you know what, Yeah, maybe I am too quick to anger.
Speaker 2: Maybe there is something a little off with me to
Speaker 2: be able to establish Hey, I've been carrying Rodney all
Speaker 2: these years, and.
Speaker 1: It shows me that that's why the old saying you
Speaker 1: can't teach an old dog new tricks does not ring true.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 1: He took it upon himself because he wanted to have
Speaker 1: a better quality of life and a better family atmosphere.
Speaker 1: And he's done it because he's not only has he
Speaker 1: done the work, he continues to do the work to
Speaker 1: hold forward. And I just think that that is such
Speaker 1: a beautiful thing, especially for someone who epitomizes the word warrior.
Speaker 1: It's a monumental effort that has generational impacts.
Speaker 2: Most definitely, and he's just such an inspiration to us
Speaker 2: and again one of the most energetic seventy six year
Speaker 2: olds we know, and he is just truly paying it forward.
Speaker 2: And it says if he is still in uniform with
Speaker 2: his battle armor on and he is out there fighting
Speaker 2: every day to improve the lives of others, and just
Speaker 2: goes to show you age is just a number. It's
Speaker 2: all about what's in between the ears and how much
Speaker 2: energy you're willing to put forward.
Speaker 1: As Al has taught to us and has said before,
Speaker 1: perfection is the goal. Excellence will be.
Speaker 2: Tolerated absolutely, never stop, never give up.
Speaker 1: Bow the part.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for listening.
Speaker 2: If this episode touched you today, please share it and
Speaker 2: be part of making someone else's day better.
Speaker 1: Put on your bad ass capes and go be great
Speaker 1: today and remember you can't do epic stuff without epic people.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to the good Stuff. The good
Speaker 1: stuf off his executive produced by Ashley Shick, Jacob Shick,
Speaker 1: Leah Pictures and q Code Media. Hosted by Ashley Shick
Speaker 1: and Jacob Shick. Music by Will haywood Smith, post production
Speaker 1: Supervisor Will Tindi. Music editing by Will haywood Smith, Edited
Speaker 1: by Mike Robinson,