American Warrior Radio

Electronic Combat crew member Alex Underwood has several achievements during his Air Force career, including being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. We talk with Alex as part of our educational partnership with the Distinguished Flying Cross Society. The mission of the Distinguished Flying Cross Society is to honor, preserve and teach the legacy of heroism or extraordinary achievement in aerial flight for which the DFC is awarded.

Alex’s father was a bugler who served in France during WWI and his high school history teacher was a naval aviator that served in the Pacific during WWII. He honed his love of flying by joining the Civil Air Patrol. The next obvious choice was to join the Air Force right out of high school.

His path from a maintenance crew chief on a B-66 to an electronic combat crewman was somewhat of a fluke. Alex was posted in France during one of the coldest winters on record. The aircraft engines had to be run on a regular basis but the pilots didn’t want to come out in the cold. Alex took it upon himself to how to run engines on the B-66. When his crew chief learned this fact he was soon assigned to the 42nd Electronic combat squadron.

Alex was pretty excited when he was told to pack his bags for temporary duty in a “tropical location”. After a series of secret flights west he finally learned that the assignment was to fly in the Vietnam War. He says he doesn’t remember all the missions he flew but certainly his first mission, a mission where he was called “up front” to fix equipment on the fly, and the first attack mission on Haiphong Harbor. (The is the mission for which he was awarded the DFC.)

He would become the only African-American enlisted man to complete 100 missions over Vietnam.  He also took his oath of enlistment in flight during a 1966 mission over Vietnam – the only person to ever do so.

Havok Journal owner Charles Faint joins us for another update from my favorite website for all things military and first responders.  Charles served 27 years in the Army, including seven combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan attached to various special operations units.

We being with the article “Give Your Flowers to the Living”. The crux of the article discusses the importance of honoring people and sharing how much you care while they are still living rather than just at their funeral.  “It is said that time is the coin of the realm, you can’t earn any more of it, and you never know just how much of it you have left, so spend the coin wisely, with love and joy. Spend it not on flowers for the dead, but rather spend it on the ones you love, that are living.”

Next we move on to an article by Scott Faith titled “Hamas, the Invisible Gorilla and What the Media-Political Complex is Doing to America.”  The “Invisible Gorilla” is a metaphor for what the media-political complex’s sleight of hand to keep people from focusing on what is really important.  We discuss how quickly misinformation spreads and the negative ramifications of this hyper-environment.

Charles makes an annual trip to Israel as part of the Peace and Dialogue Leadership Initiative, so this situation is deeply personal for him. They had just visited some of the areas that were attacked last May.

“Know Your Role, Seven Rules for Supporting Special Operations” by Michael Kane has a lot of lessons that also apply to our civilians lives. Charles shares his personal experiences with support personnel who wanted to be operators rather than fulfilling their support roles. He emphasizes the importance of mentoring EVERYONE on your team and allowing subordinates to fail.

We wrap up with an article by Ayman Kafel named “The Life of Duality”. Ayman writes about the challenges faced by first responders balancing their “wolf” side and human side. Ayman has also published an excellent book named “The Resolute Path” through the Second Mission Foundation.

I highly recommend regularly visiting The Havok Journal whether you are a Veteran, First Responder or civilian.

USAA recently conducted a poll of Veterans, active duty personnel and the general population. The survey centered on the topic of Veterans Day.  The results were surprising.  John Bird, USAA’s Senior Vice President of Military Affairs joins us to share more.

Some of the results were disturbing; 28% of the civilian respondents didn’t know or were unsure why we recognize Veteran’s Day.  Others shed light on generational disparities between Veteran populations. Seventy percent of younger Veterans said they felt uncomfortable hearing “Thank You for Your Service” whereas only 24% of Veterans sixty five and older felt similar. John says that early on his career he also felt uncomfortable until he realized that people were just expressing their appreciation that he volunteered to serve.

The survey has inspired a new USAA initiative; the “Go Beyond Thank You” campaign which encourages people to do more than just thank Veterans for their service. John shares examples such as having a deeper conversation with a Veteran, volunteering & contributing to non-profits that support Veterans and helping Veterans make the transition to the civilian workforce.

We also discuss the USAA “Face the Fight Foundation” which seeks to address the scourge of Veteran suicide. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among post 9/11 Veterans. Their aspirational goal is to cut the suicide rate in half by 2030. Their website is a great resource for both Veterans and civilians to engage in addressing this important issue. USAA is also donating new exercise equipment centers in American Legion Posts to address the important connection between physical & mental health.

John is a 1977 graduate of the Naval Academy. He “double volunteered” to serve in the submarine fleet, retiring at the rank of Vice Admiral.

USAA was founded in 1922 by Veterans to serve other Veterans. They offer a variety of services including insurance products and financial services. They employ 37,000 persons across the country and last year donated $47.5 million to military family resilience programs.

TAKEAWAY: “The best thing I ever did, short of my wife and kids, was joining the Navy.”

Brandon Caserta always dreamed of being a Navy SEAL. He was well on his way when a series of tragic events led to him taking his own life. As a legacy to his memory, his parents fought for new rules that will help other military members who are struggling. 

By all accounts, Brandon was a happy go lucky young man and always ready to help others.  Patrick is a Navy Veteran and he and Teri were not excited about Brandon’s decision to join the Navy. However, they helped by getting him everything he needed to succeed.

While in BUDs training Brandon accused some of the training staff of engaging in illegal behavior. Later, he was injured but was not able to get proper medical attention. While he was initially told he had bad shin splints, an x-ray would show that his leg was broken in three places. When his father told him that he could get rolled back to the next class, Brandon refused to go back because of what he had witnessed.

He transferred to the East Coast and selected to be an air crew rescue swimmer. However, a series of toxic leaders led him into a darker place. Brandon took his own life on June 25, 2018.

Inspired by correspondence Brandon left behind, Teri & Patrick began an arduous campaign to help other military members who might find themselves in a similar situation. They talked to all 535 members of the House and Senate over the course of two years. The Brandon Act allows members of the military to confidentially seek out medical help for any reason, at any time, in any location – without going through their chain of command. It was signed into law on December 27, 2021. It would take another two years before the branches incorporated the new rules into their systems.

His parents have also established the Brandon Caserta Foundation to address the epidemic of suicide in the Armed Forces.

Joe “Peppy” Sciarra was 16 years old when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. He was drafted into the Army the day after he graduated high school. He had planned on enlisting anyway.

Sciarra was assigned to an 81 mm mortar squad of the 25th infantry division under General MacArthur. After 9 months training in New Caledonia and a stop for supplies on Guadalcanal, he and 68,000 men landed at Luzon in the Philippines.

He would spend the next five and half months involved in terrible jungle fighting, capturing 47 different ridges from 100,000 Japanese. “My mortar tube was 45 pounds and my pack was 50 pounds, plus my weapon.   That made for some difficult climbing.” Despite the fact that he had many comrades killed to the left and right of him, Sciarra says his only injury was nearly knocking out his front teeth when the hit the ground a little too hard during shelling.

After being ordered to venture ahead of the company in order to draw enemy fire, Sciarra vented his anger at the Lieutenant after the patrol. “I didn’t care if he court martialed me, I had to tell him off”.  Sciarra and that Lt. would become close friends.

Following the Japanese surrender he was assigned as part of the mainland occupation forces. He says it was surprising how courteously the Japanese people treated him.

Sciarra suffered from the effects of malaria for a long time after returning home and faced numerous challenges securing his Veteran benefits because many of the records had been destroyed. He finally had to personally travel to Hawaii in order to secure proof of his service.

TAKEAWAY: “I want these messages about what our guys went through to be known all across the country. Even though it has been 80 years I still think about all the men in my platoon who didn’t make it.”