On this Fourth of July day (and long weekend) when we celebrate America's independence and all those who have fought for our freedom in the Armed Forces, Happy Hour found it appropriate to bring back for an encore a February conversation with a true American badass — forgive our language, but that's the best way to describe her — Staff Sgt. Kim Hubers, the 2023 Disabled American Veteran of the Year. 

The last time the Iraq War veteran was in New Orleans, she spent six weeks helping clean up the wreckage of Hurricane Katrina as a member of the South Dakota Army National Guard. People who had lost everything in their lives literally fell into her arms.

Twenty years later, the lifelong Vikings fan was wrapped in Justin Jefferson's arms as part of a Super Bowl trip rewarded to her through the USAA (United Services Automobile Association). Hubers brought 18-year-old daughter Aubrey to experience not only the suite life in the Superdome for the big game itself, but the Saturday Fanfest, where they met and shared a few minutes with the Vikings' All-Pro receiver.

Hubers tells vivid memories of her Katrina experience and explains the emotions of returning to a place that was so devastated and is now  "electric" with people, music, art, culture, and the buzz of the Super Bowl. 

She also describes the physical and mental pain she has suffered to this day from her year in the Iraq War and six weeks in Katrina, and how she channels it into serving other disabled veterans. It is an hour full of heartache and heart warmth.