USA Cares Podcast

This week, Matt & Alexis have a heart-wrenching discussion with Jessica Buchanan. On October 25, 2011, while on a routine field mission in Somalia, working as the Education Advisor for her non-governmental organization, Jessica was abducted at gunpoint and held for ransom by a group of Somali pirates for 93 days. Forced to live outdoors in deplorable conditions, starved, and terrorized by more...

This week, Matt & Alexis video in Jon Houlberg all the way from Traverse City Michigan. Jon is a retired Coast Guard Petty Officer, Rescue Swimmer, Adventurer, and business owner with a unique and thoughtful perspective of just about everything. In this episode, Jon shares a bunch of cool stories from his time serving in the Coast Guard, what his life has been like since he has retired, and al...

On this week's episode, Alexis & Matt introduce the new executive director of the Kentucky USA Cares Fundraising Chapter, Stephen Brown. Stephen is no stranger to the military or to fundraising. He spent 4 years in the Marine Corps and has a family history of working with non-profits to raise money. Stephen has spent the last few months working hard to get things moving quickly and is set...

This week, the USA Cares crew brings on another fantastic guest, Mark Reilly. Mark is a Sergeant Major in US Army, and the acting senior enlisted bandleader at the historic U.S. Army Old Guard Fife and Drum unit out of Washington D.C. Mark is also the CEO and President at The Washington Tattoo. The mission of The Washington Tattoo is to uphold the tradition of military tattoo by producing world-cl...

In this episode, Special Guest Michael "Rod" Rodriguez joins the conversation with Matt & Alexis.  Rod joined the U.S. Army in 1992 and attended the Special Forces Assessment and Selection course to become a Green Beret in 1997. In 2013, he was medically retired due to numerous combat injuries. His last assignment as a Green Beret came as a Sniper Instructor assigned to the JFK Speci...

Matt & Alexis are back in the studio this week with returning guest, Marla Kiser. Marla first recorded with USA Cares on episode 45 and shared a very personal story of her experiences dealing with post-military mental health. Both Marla's, and USA Cares' inboxes were flooded with feedback from many veterans who have experienced similar stress, cognitive dissonance, and PTSD after the...

Matt and Alexis have a conversation today with retired veteran, Lt. Col. Krist Thodoropoulos. Kirst served over 20 years in the Army filling many roles. His life took a unique career twist as he was departing his military when him and his wife Amity, found an opportunity to purchase a Louisville candy company. In this episode, Krist shares: His military background and history (He has a great Bill...

This week's topic is a very sensitive one (trigger warning). The Author of "No Tougher Duty, No Greater Honor", Christian Bussler grew up as an Air Force brat in the 1970's and 1980's. He joined the Marine Corps Reserves right out of high school and was assigned to MP Co "C" in Dayton, Ohio as an 0311 Rifleman. He was crossed trained as a 9051 Graves Registration...

Matt is in the studio with co-host Stefanie Jones, who is stepping in for Alexa, and guest, Nic Bush. Nic is currently serving his 17th year with the U.S. Military and is currently stationed in Louisville, Kentucky. While this show has typically discussed service members transitioning into civilian roles, Nic offers a different perspective and shares his experience with navigating inter-service ca...

This week, Alexis & Matt are joined by Shelby Hebing. Shelby is a military spouse to an active-duty soldier and holds the position of a career development advisor and military transition advocate at her family's duty station in Virginia. In this episode, Shelby discusses her 12 years of experience as a military family member & mother, and how she helps transitioning veterans prepare f...

Alexis, Matt, and Trace are in the studio today to chat with Dan Horgan. Dan is the Director of Special Projects at Black Rifle Coffee, a Veteran-owned company that has been making waves for not only their great coffee but also the media they produce, and the support they provide to veterans. Dan shares with the team what is happening at Black Rifle Coffee, and his own story of his struggles in tr...

Matt welcomes Alexis back to the studio this week and the two have a discussion with Army veteran, Monique Gavin, who was also a participant in our Senior Leaders Program. She was in the military for 20 years, and multiple overseas deployments before deciding to retire. Her husband is still in the military, and she is the mother of three children at 18, 14, and 7 months old. Monique will be sharin...

On this episode of the USA Cares Podcast, Matt is joined by special and returning co-host, Stefani Jones to welcome Dr. Greg Bishop to the USA Cares team. Dr. Bishop is a Navy veteran with an Academic background. He now works at USA Cares to help assist veterans with the various new career transition programs and opportunities that the Organization is working on. Dr. Bishop and the hosts discuss a...

USA Cares President Trace Chesser is back in the studio today to join Matt. The two discuss the year of 2021 and the great things that have came out of this year for USA Cares. The organization has grown to numerous new states, have started numerous new partnerships and events, and they have helped over 500 veterans and their families with various life changing needs. They also discuss some of the...

This week, Matt & Alexis are joined by the President & CEO of Abound Credit Union, Ray Springsteen. Abound Credit Union is a Kentucky based credit union that was created by a group of Veterans out of Ft. Knox, KY in 1950. Today, they have grown to become Kentucky’s largest credit union with 18 locations and over 100,000 members. In the past few years, Abound CU has partnered with USA Cares...

Did you know that more Veterans have lost their lives from suicide since 2001 than being killed in combat? That number adds up to over 140,000+ active duty or veteran service members and military members also are at a 50% higher risk than anyone else to take their own lives. This week, Alexis and Matt are joined by Army Commissioned Officer Veteran, Nick Black. After returning from his last deploy...

Show Notes Matt & Alexis refelct on a year of USA Care's podcast. They recall the guest, the stories told, the inspiration from and connection to our country's veterans. Here's to another year in the making!.Thanks for listening, Everyone!.Show Links www.usacares.org FB - @usacaresorg Twitter - @USACares IG - @usacares YouTube - USA Cares YouTube . Guest LinksAndrew J. McCawley...

This week, Matt and Alexis are joined in the studio by Tyra Anderson. Tyra is a loan officer at Stockton Mortgage in Louisville and a board member of The Woody Williams Foundation. The Woody Williams Foundation's mission is to support Gold Star Families (Military families that have lost a family member in combat) through scholarships, outreach, and the implementation of community memorial mon...

Kevin Miracle is a US Army veteran, and Executive Director of the USA Cares Ft. Campbell Chapter. Kevin will be sharing his compelling story of military career and transition into civilian life. He currently works as a Loan Partner with Veterans Lending Group (NMLS 3029/1727374) educating veterans and active duty service members about their VA home loan benefits, and providing them with tools and...

Leslie is an LPN and community lead with VETS employee resource group (ERG) at Norton Healthcare. She's also a Blue Star mom (A familly member of a deployed service member) with a son who recently recently left on his 3rd deployment. We'll be discussing the emotions that go along with deployments, her involvement with the VETS ERG at Norton, sending care packages to service members, and...

This week, Alexis and Matt welcome US Army Veteran, Marla Kiser to the studio. After meeting with Matt at a recent USA Cares event, Marla shared with Matt her personal story of the injuries she sustatined while serving, that many veterans can relate to. Through her bravery, Marla has deciced to put it all out there and discuss being medically retired from the army, self-discovery during & afte...

Alexis & Matt welcome Andy Dytrych to the studio this week. Andy is a US Army veteran and Director of New Product Development Operations for Atria Senior Living. He is also the USA Cares chairman of the board. In this episode, Andy will be sharing his story - career in the military and transition into civilian life, how he became involved with USA Cares and why it's important to support v...

Alexis & Matt welcome Stephen Davis to the studio this week. Davis is a veteran with 32 years of service in the Kentucky National Guard, and a deployment to Afghanistan. He retired in 2013, after an extensive military career. With the recent hostile takeover in Afghanistan, Stephan has been working with The Human First Coalition in assisting American citizens and allies reach safety in the aft...

This week, Alexis and Matt are joined by Bruce Matthews, VP of Business Development for Clean the World. After discovering that the discarded soap bottles at hotels were thrown away, founder Shawn Seipler started Clean the World with a mission of collecting and recycling discarded soap and plastic amenity bottles, and giving the soap to those in need. -Since the organization started in 2009, Clean...

Show Notes This week, Matt in Alexis welcome Certified Financial Planner, Army Veteran, and owner of Plentiful Wealth, LLC., Jeb Jarrell to the studio. Jeb has taken advantage of many less discussed veteran opportunities throughout his life, and shares with the crew some information on some of the resources that Veterans might now know about such as: Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E) (Fo...