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This is part 2 of my interview with CSM Huynh. CSM Huynh’s father fought for the South Vietnamese Army during the Viet Nam War. After the war, he was captured and imprisoned in a communist re-education camp. He was finally released after enduring years of abuse and torture. CSM Huynh’s father eventually escaped from Viet Nam, and he took CSM Huynh and several other refugees with him. CSM Huynh shares his incredible story of survival, endurance and pure grit as he made his way to the USA, grew up in a rural Iowa community, and eventually enlisted in the Army. In this episode, CSM Huynh shares about his philosophy of leadership and some of the habits, rituals and routines that have sustained him through the years. Photo courtesy CPT Jermaine Branch, 25th CAB PAO

As we continue a series called Holistic Health and Fitness: Habits, Rituals and Routines for Self-Care, I had the privilege of interviewing CSM Huynh, the Command Sergeant Major for the 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the legendary 25th Infantry Division. Photo courtesy CPT Jermaine Branch, 25th CAB PAO CSM Huynh’s father fought for the South Vietnamese Army during the Viet Nam War. After the war, he was captured and imprisoned in a communist re-education camp. He was finally released after enduring years of abuse and torture. CSM Huynh’s father eventually escaped from Viet Nam, and he took CSM Huynh and several other refugees with him. CSM Huynh shares his incredible story of survival, endurance and pure grit as he made his way to the USA, grew up in a rural Iowa community, and eventually enlisted in the Army.

Today we continue a series called Holistic Health and Fitness: Habits, Rituals and Routines for Self-Care. I’m joined by a panel of experts from human performance and behavioral health. In this episode, CPT Tracy Beegen and CPT Elizabeth Hunt share what holistic health and fitness looks like from a mental perspective.   Photo by Lesly Juarez on Unsplash

Today we begin a series called Holistic Health and Fitness: Habits, Rituals and Routines for Self-Care. I’m joined by a panel of experts from human performance and behavioral health to discuss what holistic wellness looks like from different perspectives. In this episode, Neil Santiago shares from his profession as a human performance program specialist. Photo by Jude Beck on Unsplash

Photo by Josh Appel on Unsplash We don’t often associate money management with spiritual fitness, but money often reflects where our priorities are. The more intentional we are about our money, the more intentional we  usually are about the trajectory of our lives. Before he married his bride and became an Army Chaplain, Glen Thompson was a parachute rigger. In those early years he didn’t give much thought to the value of financial preparedness. He learned some painful lessons along the way, but now that he’s married with four children, he and his wife learned the value of intentional financial preparation. Glen now uses Financial Peace University to train his Soldiers on Dave Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps toward financial peace. In this conversation, Glen explains the 7 Baby Steps, and even talks about how to use them to teach our children how to become good stewards of money.

the $30 bike God used to help humble Matt as he rode home from his AA meeting Guinness World Record breaker, Matt Bostic, continues sharing about his downward spiral, hitting bottom, and how Alcoholics Anonymous and the 12 Step Program helped him begin moving past his own self destructive pride and fear. Today, Matt is learning to live in a place of freedom and new life as God redeems his story and helps him give the story away.

Matt Bostic is one of my best friends. He broke Matt’s Dad was always one of his biggest fans and loved him through the worst the Guinness World Record for the most 3-point shots made in 24 hours…twice! First in 2005 and then a second time in 2007. Then in 2017, he broke the record for the most free throws made in 24 hours. But one thing he could never break was his dependence on alcohol. Despite living what appeared to be a successful life, Matt was spiraling out of control while hiding it from everyone…including himself. In this episode Matt shares about his descent to the bottom, explains how he used alcohol to cope with underlying issues he had never dealt with, and how, finally, the 12 Steps helped him begin moving past his own pride into a place of healing and freedom.      

This part 2 of a 2 part series on suicide. In the last episode (#4), Glen Bloomstrom and I talk about leading theories on why suicide happens. In this episode, Glen shares how the safeTALK method works to help intervene in a potential suicidal crisis: Tell, Ask, Listen, Keep safe. Photo by Rosie Kerr on Unsplash  

Suicide can be an uncomfortable topic to discuss, but we’ve all been impacted by it at some point. Glen Bloomstrom is my guest for today’s show. Glen served as an Army Chaplain for 30 years, several of them in the 82nd, 75th Ranger Regiment, Special Forces and JSOC. Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash After retiring, Glen started working for LivingWorks, a suicide intervention training company that has worked with the Department of Defense for over 20 years. Recently he wrote an article entitled, “Natural helpers: Needed reinforcements to head off looming suicides of despair.” In his article he describes what natural helpers are, and outlines the power that natural help networks have to mitigate suicide. In this first of two parts, Glen discusses leading suicide theories based on the work of Thomas Joiner and Edwin Shneidman.

  Legendary Nightstalker pilot CW5 Kenneth Poindexter (Retired) didn’t always love coffee, but that changed several years ago when he bought Mugsy’s Coffee Shop—Clarksville’s most beloved coffee shop. Now he buys and roasts his own beans and sells the best coffee in Tennessee. I interviewed Kenny back in 2015 about his love affair with the beloved coffee bean. In that interview he shared  what it was like growing up in Los Angeles without a father, learning to become a father himself, and his journey into a life of faith. We hope you enjoy the show!

My guest for today's show is my good friend, retired CW5 Kenneth Poindexter. Kenny was the first African American pilot to successfully assess for the elite 160th SOAR Nightstalkers in 1997. He flew some of our nation's most harrowing and dangerous missions and retired in 2016 after 36 total years of military service--first as a Marine, and then as a Blackhawk pilot. I wanted to hear from Kenny what it was like coming up as a black man in the Marines and then in Special Operations. As racial tensions seem to increase across American society, I asked for Kenny's thoughts on how to build and maintain racial unity in the Army. His insights on leadership and unity in the Army are priceless. A few years ago, Kenny bought a coffee shop in Clarksville, TN called Mugsy's (https://mugsysfreshroast.com/), where he buys and roasts his own beans and sells the best coffee in Tennessee. In retirement, his adrenaline now comes from roasting coffee.

Medal of Honor recipient Staff Sgt. Salvador Lara Sometimes, God calls us to charge the nest. What's the nest he's calling you to charge today?