Pops and Son Conversations
Join US Air Force Veteran, Presidential Achievement Award Recipient, author, philanthropist, and social media influencer, Rob Malloy, and his son, author and model, Javan Anderson, as they navigate the generation gap with humor and heart.
On this podcast, Rob and Javan tackle a wide range of topics – from life lessons and fatherhood to current events and pop culture – offering a unique blend of old-school wisdom and new-school perspectives. Expect lively debates, unexpected insights, and plenty of laughs along the way.
Tune in to Pops and Son Conversations and discover:
- Candid conversations: Rob and Javan share their honest thoughts and experiences, providing a refreshing take on intergenerational relationships.
- Diverse perspectives: Hear how Rob's traditional values intersect with Javan's modern outlook, creating dynamic and engaging discussions.
- Humor and heart: Enjoy a show that's both entertaining and thought-provoking, leaving you with a smile and something to ponder.
Subscribe now and join the conversation!
Pops and Son Conversations
Who Serves, Who Sacrifices, And What We Owe
Ever thank a living veteran on Memorial Day? We start by drawing a bright line between honoring the fallen and celebrating those still with us, then dive into what service really looks like beyond the holiday hashtags. From PTSD that ripples through families to the slow grind of the VA system, we keep it frank, respectful, and practical—because respect without access isn’t enough.
We swap stories across generations: a draft-era Navy dad, an Air Force combat medic who learned to stabilize trauma and then pivoted into labor and delivery at 19, and a son who considered service but ran into family fear and a culture that doesn’t explain the path clearly. If you’re curious about the military as a career, we break down how ROTC can boost rank and pay, why the Air Force approach to job selection before boot camp matters, and the real difference between enlisted and officer tracks. We also talk about the shift in recruitment and media—fewer ads, more noise—and what that means for young people who only see extremes in their feeds.
Most importantly, we focus on outcomes. The GI Bill, community college within the branches, and hands-on training can translate into high-value civilian roles. Preferred hiring, federal jobs, and contracting can build a second career that honors what you’ve done and who you’ve become. We flag predatory “helpers,” point toward trusted resources, and emphasize peer-to-peer guidance without gatekeeping. If you’re a veteran, a family member, or someone considering service, this conversation meets you where you are—with clarity, realism, and gratitude. Subscribe, share with someone who needs straight talk, and leave a review telling us the one change you’d make to better support veterans today.
Keeping Veterans Fit, Inc.
Keepingveteransfit.org
Please follow Pops and Son Conversations on the website, popsandsonconversations.com, and social media @popsandsonconversations
Pops and song conversations raw and uncut. All right, welcome to another episode of Pops and Song Conversation, Raw and Uncut version. Raw and uncut, man. Alright, of course, is your favorite soil Fox Rob Malloy? You already know who I am. Check three times, baby. It ain't nothing changed. Yo, uh, you represent, we represent Happy Veterans Day to all my fellow veterans and family members. You gotta show love to the family members because they're the ones that support, you know, while uh Oboe is going through PTSD, man. You know, you gotta have somebody looking after them. Nah, it's real. Real talk. Real. Real talk. I think everybody that has experienced being in the military for any amount of time really has uh uh PTSD, man. And I think PTSD can even carry over to the family member, right? Because they've never seen their family member in this state of mind. Right. Right? So it can be that serious. But uh but we're just gonna jump into this thing, man, and we'll go all over the place because it's raw and uncut. Raw and uncut. Right? So we can do what we want to do, how we want to do it, and when. And now's the time. Yes, sir. All right, so look, uh, again, you know, Veterans Day is uh really important, right? Um for numerous reasons. But before we even get into that, I want to talk about the difference between Veterans Day, which is today, November the 11th, and Memorial Day.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, what is it? Right? And a lot of times, do you know the difference? Uh Memorial Day is for remembering past lives, right? People that passed away. Yeah, exactly. Okay, right.
SPEAKER_00:So when you think about it, you're membering or remembering and uh memorializing those that fought for this country. So obviously they're not still here. Right. Right? So uh I remember talking to a fellow veteran earlier today, and you know, we were just discussing uh how a lot of civilians mix up Veterans Day and Memorial Day. Like, please, please don't tell anybody who is alive thank you for your service on Memorial Day. That's complete disrespect. Oh, man.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it happens every year. Thank you for your service on Memorial Day. On Memorial Day, man.
SPEAKER_00:And they're telling somebody that's alive.
SPEAKER_01:Damn.
SPEAKER_00:So that's tough. Don't do that. So just remember Memorial Day, remembering those lives that fought uh for this country, your freedom, our freedom. And so we'll just kind of leave it at that. Veterans Day are the folks that they they still around, man. Still around, man. So veteran covers uh retirees. Okay. It also covers, you know, uh, those that actually served that did not do a full career in the military. So that's where they consider veterans. So either you're veteran or a retiree. Right. And as far as I know, man, I'm only utilizing veterans for the military services. Like you can be a veteran in the fire department. I I'm not really talking about y'all. Oh, okay. So law enforcement, we're not now. No, y'all got your own day. Or at least you should. I was about to say, do they have a day? Probably. Probably. Who knows what goes down on those days, man? Boys and blue, man. Black and blue.
SPEAKER_02:Leave it for black leaving folks, black and blue. Black and blue is crazy, bro. That's crazy. But it's true. Hey, hey, hey, it's real.
SPEAKER_00:Hey, but it's true. Several things can be true at the same time. That's right, that's right, that's right. So back to our normally scheduled situation, man. So, yeah, so big difference between those days. But getting back to Veterans Day, man, I think it's really important to celebrate it because, man, all our veterans, and y'all know I'm United States Air Force veteran. Uh, my pop, shout out to my pop, uh, retired chief Robert L. Malloy, uh, United States Navy. Shout out. Uh, my sister, man, your auntie Sherry. Yeah. Marines. Marines, right? Right, right. So, you know, we we we fully represented all throughout the family. And uh, you know, we we need that type of acknowledgement, man, because it's tough for the veterans out here. You know, um, here in Atlanta, uh, there's over 30,000 uh homeless veterans. 30,000 homeless veterans uh in in Atlanta and uh in surrounding areas. And so, you know, the the benefits, the VA hospital care and all that stuff.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's one of the things. When I hear about veterans, I always hear about how, I don't know, maybe they're like they struggle to get the there's some, there's always like some type of discrepancy with them and receiving their benefits or something. Like, what's up with that? Uh it it it's just a whole They just make you pull teeth to get you. It's it's tough, man.
SPEAKER_00:Look, look, teeth, legs, discriminating, all that. You know what I mean? Ears. But uh it's just tough because there's so much paperwork involved. And then you have to go back and get your records. Your records may be in in this uh state if it's after a certain time period, or they may be over here. Okay. Then further back, some stuff is is in the paper, some stuff is on on a disc. It's just it shouldn't be like that, man.
SPEAKER_01:It shouldn't be like that. It's uh it's a it's a tough process.
SPEAKER_00:It's a tough system, man. The whole VA system is is really tough. Now, obviously, there's no system that's perfect, but that is one of the toughest because you're dealing with people that serve this country and put their life on the line. Exactly. Right? So I know that there's other uh official, you know, there's other uh official um bodies of of uh veterans and whatnot and services, but nothing like the military, man. Nothing like it, man. Nothing like it. Nothing like it. So I won't even get into that because then my PTSD may kick in. So we're not here for that, right? Right. So we want to get through this show. We want to get through it. But uh, so so it's important, man, that we just have some type of acknowledgement. And so what happens typically on Veterans Day, certain organizations and restaurants participate in giving some free meals or coupons, whatever the case is. I think that there should be more of that. Like uh I've always pushed for more military discounts on a regular basis, right? So I remember going to certain stores and I'm like, do you have a military discounts? Oh yeah, you know, every Thursday, or on uh uh, you know, Veterans Day or something like that. I'm like, man, what if the veterans decided not to go in to work? Right. But certain days, so you know, I mean, it's kind of one of those things we just have to deal with and continue to, you know, fight for more benefits.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And uh and create, you know, and create our own. I was about to say, I just feel like for America, you know, like the most patriotic country, the most like you would expect that it would be different, you know, for for the veterans and their benefits.
SPEAKER_00:Right. Yeah, it's it's crazy work, man. And you know, uh it's again, it's one of those things that it's sad, but at the same time, we're thankful for our lives, we're thankful for those that they take advantage of the benefits, whether it's education, uh, whether it's disability benefits, whether it's certain things to where it provides something substantial to each household. And um, you know, there's some other things that that we get as well that uh uh maybe I'll do like a tutorial or something about benefits for veterans depending on your percentages.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know. Like I'm I'm a little bit in the dark, so I'm sure there's plenty of people out there that's just kind of like what is what is it? What are you missing out on? What maybe they got somebody that like how how accessible is the knowledge to veterans? Like, do they do a lot of veterans know like immediately, like, all right, I need to go and get my benefits, or like is that kind of like Yeah, I don't think that the average veteran knows uh what route they're gonna do. Like what access they have, or like what's available to them.
SPEAKER_00:A lot of times, man, it's like peer-to-peer is how you get most of the information.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Right? And and hopefully somebody will put you up on game and not uh gatekeep. Right. Like that's gatekeeped too, man. Yeah, I've seen it. Right. But uh, you know, so when it comes to those benefits, you know, you can always go to uh, you know, the website, check those out. Um, also recommend YouTube. There's some really great sources out there that lets you know how to get started with your benefits, what you need. And uh, you know, uh and I'll make sure that I drop some information on some of the organizations that actually help people get their benefits and stuff like that that I would recommend.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Right? Because there, you know, there's folks out there predatory, you know, predatory on on, you know, that's it.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right. Right, right, right, right, right. Yeah, they don't look for They're gonna look for some ways to get to it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. Right. But uh, so let's jump into this. Um, veterans, Veterans Day is important. Of course, everybody has a reason why they became a veteran or went into the military. So I want to jump into that real quick. Uh I'll shout out Pops. Now, Pops is 81. He'll be 82 in January. So that's back in the day, right? That was back when they was drafting folks, man. Yeah, I had no choice. Like, you ain't had no choice, man. Hey, he looked you got the letter. Hey, you remember public enemy? I got a letter from the government. You heard that before, Bubble? What is that? What is that? Public enemy, man. I don't put them up on that. Public enemy, man. I've heard of public enemy, but I don't know. Public enemy have had, you know, they're the ones who fight the power. They always talked about Chuck D, man. They always talked about, you know, the government and and how, you know, how they how they did folks, man. Yeah. You know, and still doing folks. Yeah, we need it.
SPEAKER_02:We need it in hip hop, too.
SPEAKER_00:We need that back in hip-hop, man. I think they're paying folks a hush.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, for sure. For sure, man. Don't talk about that. People getting a check not to talk about it. They're getting a check not to talk about it, certain things, but they getting another check to push certain things as well.
SPEAKER_00:The narrative is crazy. Yeah. But hey, that's a whole nother.
SPEAKER_01:I'm about to say that's yeah, that's a different episode. But if you feel like because I used to always think growing up, like I'm I'm old enough, but like I'm also young enough to see the shift too. Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah. Like I was around, you know, growing up in the 90s, the Tupac, the biggest, like, and the conscious rap and stuff. What was on the radio? That's right. But then I saw the shift to the narrative and what the content in the rapture. Yeah, just blow out. Disrespect of each other. Of your own people. Right. I like your point. When did that become a little bit more? We wasn't really on there. Spin a block and what are y'all talking about?
SPEAKER_00:What is this? What is this thing about taking somebody baby mama and humiliating them? Is that part of it too, man? I don't understand. Isn't that like heavy?
SPEAKER_01:That's like a trope. That's a heavy hip-hop trope. And some boochus lip clock. Like that is crazy work. I don't understand it. That is crazy, man. That wasn't, was that like a thing, though? Like it couldn't have been. Back in the 90s or like 90s hip hop, that wasn't something you brag on. No, no, what? Nah, they weren't talking about that.
SPEAKER_00:It wasn't, man. And plus, even then, and we we kind of go on channel, but they love this too, right? But even with that, though, when you think about, you know, rap and hip-hop and stuff, it's stuff that you want to repeat. Like you remember certain verses and hooks and stuff like that. That's not something that you, you know, you walking in the house, mom's cooking dinner.
SPEAKER_01:No. And you talking brazy. Yeah, yeah. See? Yeah, you could you the some the lines, the hip-hop lines, you used to be able to rap in the crib. Right.
SPEAKER_00:And they wouldn't even know what you're talking about, right?
SPEAKER_02:Because you kind of just saying the right. You're not even really rapping them.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you can't do that today.
SPEAKER_02:Man, you can live in that. The back of the head meet took off, man.
SPEAKER_00:Like, what did you just say? So, so let's get back on topic. Back on topic. So, so dad got drafted.
SPEAKER_01:Right, no choice. Right, right.
SPEAKER_00:Um, and then he ain't confirming, but he ain't denied either, right? Because he wound up doing like over 25 years service. So obviously it worked, right? Right. And so it obviously it was different back then. Uh, I went in, man, let's see. I went in the year you was born.
SPEAKER_01:94.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I went in in 94. So when I went in, man, uh less than a year at high school, and I was just trying to figure out what to do. I didn't want to go to college. Um, I didn't want to like work a regular job. Because back then, man, it was like six dollars an hour, five fifteen. Yeah. Oh my God. Yeah, it was like five, it was like five dollars an hour, man. That is terrible, man. That's still pretty low. That is terrible. That's 20, 30, 30 years. Yeah. That's ugly. So uh so I went in just for stability, and then I was like, if I'm gonna go into a certain branch, I'm gonna go into the Air Force because I wanted to do medical. Plus, I just felt like Air Force is the elite branch in terms of, you know, the opportunities that you have, you know, and so um I went in as a as a medic, combat medic, and man, I had a great career. So I enjoyed it.
SPEAKER_01:Can you talk a little bit about it? What is like combat medic description? What is like what do you do?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. So uh, of course, you know, you never know exactly what you're going to do, right, until you're in it. So after we went into training, I went to about 18 months of training. And uh when I got into my actual duty station, you know, they trained us to basically be independent medics in the field, like wartime. So we patching folks up, stitching folks up, putting IVs in them. Just like in the movies. Just like in the movies, man. And so that's that's that's the skill set that we learned, but we were also able to work in like a hospital setting. Oh, that's cool. In in any type of environment. Matter of fact, my first job in the military, man, I worked um in the maternal ward. Really? Now at 19 years old, I was in the maternal ward. So that consists of the postpartum after the ladies had a kid. Right. The nursery, and then um postpartum nursery, and then labor and delivery. Wow. Labor and delivery, man, over there massaging funduses. Is that like is that common for? Yeah, I mean, you know, Uncle Sam's gonna put you like for me, that was being frontline. Like, no experience or anything like that. But once you train, you're not gonna keep training and simulating. They're putting you in the field. So, yeah, man.
SPEAKER_01:You still remember like your first day in the field?
SPEAKER_00:I don't remember my first day, but I do remember just being shocked with being 19 years old and these grown women and their husbands. I remember their husbands looking at me like, what you think you're finna do? Huh? You you think you're about to change my wife's pad right now? Right. No, bruh. That's how that's how that was looking, right? But listen, that's how I started out. But then when, you know, uh she's going through what she's going through, experiencing, you know, going to the lake. Now you're looking for anybody. Yeah, bro.
SPEAKER_02:Hey, hey, bruh, come on, come on in, man.
SPEAKER_00:She's going through. You can't do nothing. You look crazy. And then mind you, these were active duty guys. So, you know, they could be 6'5, Swoller. Yeah. No, bruh, I got to take care of your wife now, right?
SPEAKER_02:Stay over there.
SPEAKER_00:Stay over there, be. And then thinking about, hey, think about it. They getting lightheaded and nauseous and stuff like that. So now I got to hold you. Now I got Hey, hey, just sit down, sit on down, relax. Drink drink this water.
SPEAKER_01:Right, right. Right?
SPEAKER_00:And relax. So uh it was a really cool experience, man. I enjoyed. So they trained us to be in the hospital setting or uh during wartime. So, you know, well, I mean, we had M16 training, you know. Okay. Uh yeah, so we was able to do it all. You know, combat. So the the combat medic doesn't mean that it's just, you know, wartime, but like we had to have a special set of skills as well. Right. So, you know, the gas mask training, you know, um, just all kind of stuff. And it was cool. It was a really good career, man. So I was thankful. Um, I used the GI Bill, I used every single benefit possible. Of course. You know, because that was one of the reasons why I went into it because I didn't want to go to college, but I knew at some point, if I wanted to go to college, at least it'd be paid for. So that's what, you know, the Air Force allowed me to do. That's right. Um, and so, you know, even thinking about that, and you where you're at, like, how do you feel? Like, what is your impression on the military right now?
SPEAKER_01:I always wanted to go.
SPEAKER_00:Tell me that.
SPEAKER_01:Possibly.
SPEAKER_00:I would have taken you on out of uh South Alabama, man.
SPEAKER_01:Listen, listen, from a young, and it's so crazy. I don't know if this is I don't know how it is, but I wanted to be in the Air Force. I would tell my mom, my mom, all the time, I wanted to be in the Air Force.
unknown:What?
SPEAKER_01:I wanted to be, she would, she, she was against the military. She didn't want me to go. Okay, she discouraged this, so that's why I didn't.
SPEAKER_00:That's the only reason I didn't do it, but I ain't never, I I I didn't get the memo.
SPEAKER_01:I always wanted to go in the memory. And I don't I don't know. I mean, I don't like I see the thing is I don't know how it works. Like, I feel I'm 30 years old. Like, is that I think you got to 36. Hey, man. I still do it. I still do it. Hey, hey, hey, we're talking about these days Sally Bitney, bro. Sally Bitney. I'm being so serious that and I don't know why I why I was so young, man, but I just remember. I remember like yesterday. I asked my mom, like, yo, can I, you know, I want to I want to do the mint. She was, she was no. She was just like afraid of like, you know, she wanted me to go and then we go to war. Yeah, yeah, that's what she was. She just didn't want to do it, so she discouraged me. So after a while.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. All that.
SPEAKER_00:Get you on my mother. So anyway, that's interesting that you say that, um, because I think a lot of people um around your age bracket don't really know what to expect. Right. Because if you go off of social media, then hell no. Yeah. Right? Because it's like they're gonna put you on front line as soon as you enlist. Right? As soon as you get out of the boot camp, front line. Right? Nothing in between. Like, what you gonna do, right? You're not even trained properly. Just out there. Just out there, man. Trying to figure it out, man. But I think that uh around your age bracket, people don't really know what to expect with the military. And since my pops went in, back when he went in till now, I mean, obviously, there's been a lot of changes, right? It's changed drastically. Right. But at the same time, when it comes to those benefits, though, we're still talking about, you know, GI Bill, you know, still exists, uh, you know, certain training and stuff like that. And obviously, you have a skill. And then there's colleges within each branch, people forget about. Right? There's community college within each branch, and then there's universities. All right. So even people that, um, and this is what I would have done different if I knew that I was gonna go directly to um the military, I would have gone into ROTC. You remember ROTC? We used to pick at the folks in ROTC in those universe and marching, right? With them shiny shoes, right? Like we used to pick at them, but you get credit for that going into the military. Oh, that's true. So instead of going in like just no rank or no nothing, you actually get some stripes. Okay. You get that. Just like if you go to college and you went to college and graduate, have your degree, you can go in as an officer. Oh, okay. So a lot of people don't know that enlisted means that you uh, you know, you're going in straight from, you know, civilian life, but going in as an officer, you have a college degree. So that's the difference between enlisted and an officer. So obviously, you know, with the officer, you know, the money, but you still, you know, you still got to go up through the ranks and stuff like that. So if I would have done it a little bit different, I probably would have done ROTC, but I was too busy with sports and and working and other stuff like that. So if parents, if your kids are interested in the military, have in their instill in high school, let them go through ROTC because that'll get them prepared uh to actually have a better understanding. So it won't be such a shock when when they go through basic training and then they go and uh actually get their uh the schooling.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you're right, though. We definitely they got picked on for sure. Yeah, definitely, man. They got picked on.
SPEAKER_00:But at the same time, man, when you think about it, man, what is one of the most opportune times to learn discipline, consistency, uh, and actually camaraderie as well? Right? Because you really got to know uh know your personnel, right? And build that type of trust. So I think that, you know, um it's it's definitely a lifestyle.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, for sure. That's what I always admire about it too. Like anytime, you know, military, it's just like a different swag, man, a different prestige that you that you gain, I feel like, that you get going through that process. It's almost like um, you know, like the same like like the brotherhood thing. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's just, you know, it's just a different vibe. It is. It's it's that's what I always, I always, you know, admired about it though.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean, so so we'll go ahead and play this game because I know that people when we start talking about the military, different military uh armed forces, uh, they like to talk about uniforms.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So, so what uniform for you stood out the most when you saw uh somebody in the army uniform, navy uniform, marine uniform, air force uniform, and then of course you got the Coast Guard.
SPEAKER_01:Don't disrespect the Coast Guard. Well, they got like what, the um, it's like a white cap or something, the blue. What's the Coast Guard? Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's them.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know. I I feel like I always thought Army the most. Okay. That was swaggy too. So so the green. Yeah, the green. Yeah, that was that was swaggy. Okay. I thought that was that was cool.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I I would say um what stood out the most for me would be the Marines. Marines. Marines, they were the ones that have the black coat, the blue dress pants, right? Um, and and uh those would be the ones with the sword. Oh, they're always the ones with the sword, right? Right, yeah, yeah. So uh so I so I I'll say this, I'll give you guys an exclusive. I originally, I originally signed up for the Marines. I did. So what happens is, and and I don't know if they still do it, but you know, the recruiters come to the school. Yeah, yeah, they didn't. Right. So they came to the school, and I was just like, the guys, the Marine guys. Matter of fact, you know, they was the one that was pretty much swole, and then I again the uniform, right? So I was like, yo, I want to, I want to do it. So I think at the time I would say I was 17, 16, 17. So the parents had to sign for me to move on. So yeah, so the Marine recruiter he came, and uh my parents, you know, my dad was like, okay, what you want to do? I said, yeah. So he signed, and um, what wind up happening is they they was doing too much. They were pulling up everywhere I was at. Yo. Basketball court, they would come to my classroom, they would come by the house and said, nah, nah, nah, man. Y'all, y'all, y'all tripping. And I don't even know what I'm gonna do yet. Right? So it was crazy, man. So I just I said, uh, hell no to the military altogether. Oh, man. And so after I graduated, then I was like, you know what? Let me take another look. Rethink it. And so then uh, for some reason, man, this recruit spot, I was looking back in Jacksonville, and it was crazy because in this plaza, they was boom, boom, boom, boom. Like they was next door to each other.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So you could accidentally walk into the wrong place if you were paying attention. And be like, hey, I want to sign up. And you don't even know what you're signing up for, right? Next thing you know, you in the Marine Corps, dog. You you was looking to be in the army, right? That's crazy. And so um, I went and I talked to the to the Air Force recruiter, and he was like, Well, what do you want to do? What do you what do you want your career to look like? Right. And I said, I want to do something medical. I want to be a doctor, I want to be in the in the nursing field, or whatever the case is. He said, Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Can I pause you real quick? Now that was an aspiration that you just always had being in the medical field. Where did that come from?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, I think that came from um just having a passion to want to help people from a health perspective.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Right? So yeah, I just wanted to uh, you know, I didn't know for sure. But so that's kind of why I went into the medical field to see what those options were. Okay. Because the options could have been, you know, in the lab, or it it could have been, you know, in the nursing area, it could have been a medic. Um, so the medic was the one that actually contained everything. So I could be on the ambulance as a medic, or I could be on the field, I could be in the hospital. So that was the one that gave me the most uh, you know, uh diversity uh as far as when it came to options. So it was like, yeah, I so I had to wait like uh maybe like five months. Five months. You know, I had to wait five months. Well, see, that was the thing. And in the other branches, if you wanted to do something, man, they get you in right away. Like two weeks, they shipping you won't. Yeah. But they're not gonna tell you what your job is. So you don't find out until after your boot camp. Roll of the dice. What kind of career is that? So I felt like, and I don't even know if it's like that still, but the Air Force was the one, you pick what field you wanted to go to. Yeah, that's a lot better. Right? And so they're not shipping you out until that becomes available.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Right? Because it was very strategic when it came to how many people in this field, how many go into boot camp, how many go into the tech school, and all that.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:So that's how that came about, man, and uh, and I enjoyed it. I actually worked an additional eight years once I got out the uh the uh uh Air Force in the medical field. Oh, okay. Yeah, so you know, total about you know 14 years of medical before I retired out of that field. Yeah, yeah, that's fine. So, you know, um with that being said, what what do you think would happen, like like say for instance, uh your baby sisters, right? All your baby sisters. What do you how do you think they feel about military? How they look at mil in today's military. Um even those in that age bracket as well.
SPEAKER_01:Right, just around that age. Uh yeah, I don't know. I don't know if they really are considering the military like that because it's so, what do you mean, just like as a as a life path or just as a life path?
unknown:No.
SPEAKER_01:It ain't happening, bro. It's just so like the landscape is so different. Yeah. Even from 10, 20 years ago. Like there's so many other things that people want to be like. Right. Yeah, they probably want to be a streamer or a YouTuber or something like that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I was gonna say influence the tigers.
SPEAKER_01:Right, yeah, like influence a social, like there's the landscape is just completely different. So I think there's a lot more that's coming before the military to consider. Right. I think they probably look at it as like a last option or like a f something to fall back on, or something like that.
SPEAKER_02:That makes sense.
SPEAKER_01:As opposed to like, this is what I actually want to do. Yeah. I think maybe my generation at least, or maybe the ones a little bit younger than me, I think a lot of them look at it.
SPEAKER_00:Well, so where do you think the influence comes from, though? Like, even if you look at from a media or social media, um, I don't I don't think that the military itself is heavily pushed as far as what does that lifestyle look like? Because even when he when he talks about influence and streamers, sometimes you'll see some uh a military person with a bunch of followers and uh a YouTube page and the whole situation.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you know, I remember coming up and seeing like a lot of Navy commercials, right? I don't really, I don't even know if the and I don't know if that was like a big thing. Like they For that time. Right, for that time, like they just needed people to join. Yeah, heavily right. So that that was the push. Like, I don't know if they are they pushing it like that now? I don't see it.
SPEAKER_00:Nah, I don't see it uh I don't think it's the same. Yeah, I don't see it at all. And and one thing that I I I would question is does the recruiters also come to college? Do they try to recruit them as officers to come in, you know, once they graduate?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I've never heard of that. Yeah, I don't think so.
SPEAKER_00:So I always wondered that, but I do feel like there's not a heavy uh media push. Um even with social media and things like that, just the life and lifestyle. It's not in my algorithm.
SPEAKER_01:No, it's not you know what I mean. I mean like you'll see, like I see some, like like you said, there are some influencers and they're doing their thing, like they in the army, you know, they right, but it's not that content. Like it's they may be doing TikTok dances. Right, yeah, they're not recruiting you. It's not saying some joint, they just got their uniform on and they're doing a dance or whatever.
SPEAKER_00:Almost like a distraction for me. Hey, we can warrant it, right? Right. Like, I'm probably not really trying to think about not coming home to my family and stuff like that for the next, you know, 18 months. Exactly. 24 months or something like that, man. But, you know, uh shout out to all of our active duty, um, and even those that are reserve. Like, you know, the reserve lifestyle is an option for people too, because um, you know, it's it's it's uh I think like maybe two weekends.
SPEAKER_01:You know, that's a that's that's another thing. The two weekends is cool, but I think about, you know, because I used to drive trucks. So you know, I'd be I'd be on the road for two or three weeks. But military, you gone for months at a time. That's a completely different lifestyle to, like you said, being away from your family and stuff. That's a that's a big sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00:It is a big sacrifice. Um, but also if if you if you're going to college, you might go away from college, right? True. So but however, obviously the risks are a little bit different.
SPEAKER_02:You go to Germany, not not uh Georgia State, right? It's a little bit different. Different genes. A lot of miles. It's a lot of miles, right? Right.
SPEAKER_00:And requirements, right? Right. You can't just be like, it's a good weekend to go home. No. Right. Not Germany, man.
SPEAKER_01:FaceTime is your best friend.
SPEAKER_00:FaceTime, man. Video chat all day long, man. But uh, so yeah, I do think that it the recruitment is a little bit different, yeah. Not as heavy. But I mean, obviously, people are still going in. You know, people are still going in every day, graduating from basic and boot camp and stuff like that. You know, I see that a lot on my timeline. The graduations, right? So um, especially uh people like around my age, they're either their grandson, I don't know if they could be that old.
SPEAKER_01:No, probably not that old, but you know, their uh their daughter or their son graduating from boot camp or Do you think it's more of like how do you say, like legacy? Like they probably, they, they're probably, oh, I wanna say their influence or knowledge of the military comes from a family member or a father or a mother, right? There's probably not as a lot of people that's just saying, oh, I want to do it without having somebody in the family or somebody.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, um I think that has changed. I think the lineage of uh of those that are going in, you know, because of that is a lot different. I think a lot of generations are skipping it, uh, only because, again, there's there's so many more options. Right, right. You know, you so with with us being in the information and the tech age, those are some heavy options. Like you can you can go into the military or you can go get a tech job that's gonna pay you 180. You know what I mean? Right away. Right, right. You know what I mean? And so um uh but but it's still good to see because some people need some people's kids and some people need that type of discipline. Right. Um, a lot of times because they may not have uh that positive influence in their community. So they need to see something that is different from what they're accustomed to if they don't have that uncle, that grandfather, that father that was in the military and said, hey, you know, it'd be good for you. Right. And they give you the perspective of not shipping you off, but more of the benefits of education, traveling the world, it's all about it, meeting new people.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, how the information is translated and passed. That's what it's about. Because you got one, you got a red pill and a blue pill. You got somebody to they telling you all the negatives and all, and I feel like that's kind of what I went through. Like, I didn't get the mom was giving the guard in. I mean, she didn't she didn't like she just basically was like, yo, like I don't want you to do this, war. You could I don't I don't want to lose my baby. Like all that stuff, like like the like guilt. Like, you know what I mean? Like you make me feel guilty, but this is right that this is actually something I consider and I want to do, and I'm coming and telling that. And mom, if you seen a lot, she don't see a bunch of the city. Somebody don't send it to a bro. I ain't trying to, you know, because hey man, life works how it works, but you know, that's my lived experience. That's how I, you know, process, and you only really get to understand in hindsight when you look at back on stuff. And it's like you start to think about like, damn, man, what if I had actually gone to the middle and stuff like that?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean, you know, timing, you know, uh God's timing is different than ours. And so uh things was put in place to where, you know, um it might not have been that time, right? So we we we good with it. We here right now.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Right? Right, so so so uh, you know, kind of finishing this uh conversation up, again, happy Veterans Day to all the veterans and the family members. Because uh the month of November is military and family month. A lot of people didn't know that as well. Right? So we have to give shout outs, especially the the spouses of the military veterans.
SPEAKER_01:They go through it, huh? Oh my God. They go through it.
SPEAKER_00:Listen, I know that um with with in within my family, even you know, mom, when when dad was in the military, man, four kids at the house, man. Two boys, two girls. So, you know, moms was holding it up and down. Right? She was holding it up and down, and I just I remember those times where dad would uh he would come back home, and we don't know how long he would be there. And I think that they were very strategic in not telling us so that we didn't anticipate that, you know, he's leaving in two weeks, or he's only here for four months. Now, the Navy is one of those things to where they're out to sea for a long time. You know, ain't no uh I'm going home, so they give you a personal jet to fly off the ship to get home.
SPEAKER_02:Imagine how many personal planes that would have to I'm heading home.
SPEAKER_00:Like, cause because right, think about it. So sometimes they submarines, too. So you know a submarine ain't lifting and letting folk dip out, man. So it would have to be those large aircraft carriers, man. And so they're not letting regular folks regular Popeyes just leave. Black Popeyes, dog. Ain't no way. This should have been a black Popeye, right? Why is it never a black Popeye? That's crazy word.
SPEAKER_02:Hey man, you know how it is. The disrespect? You know how it is.
SPEAKER_00:The disrespect continues, man. But uh, but anyway, so we uh we didn't really know or really understand, you know, that that whole Navy lifestyle. We we knew the military lifestyle, meaning, you know, we kind of bounced city to city, state to state, wherever uh, you know, dad is stationed. Um I actually was it a lot? Like, well, see, I was gonna say, for me, I I came around during the end of his career. Oh, okay. Like uh the last three, four years before he retired. Okay. Now, now everybody else, they they bounced. Okay. Right? They bounced, uh, right. Me, I was a little bit more on the stable side, right? So they figured it out. That's not the way I came around.
SPEAKER_01:Time changes give you a completely different experience. It did. Outlook. Right, right.
SPEAKER_00:I never saw that. You know, I never saw the move up and moving and stuff like that, like uh like my siblings. They talk about all the time. They talk about how, you know, kind of bouncing and having to move and pick up friends and school and stuff like that. That's tough. So I didn't have that instability. I didn't have a child with instability, though. That's it, man. I I remember my guys, man, growing up. Uh but anyway, um, so I would just say finally, man, I think that uh it's very different. Um, I don't even know what the military will look like in the next 20 years. Like you mentioned, you know, those, you know, under you having so many other options of not going into the military because, again, it's not a whole lot of advertisement. And then with the the uh the different presidential campaigning going on, like that is another factor.
SPEAKER_01:That's a factor, too. Yeah, it's another factor.
SPEAKER_00:Like maybe depending on who's in office, folk will go. It's crazy how the you know, the influence of making a decision on on your career, how people base it on, you know, kind of what's going on in the world. Oh, yeah. Um but but at the end of the day, I mean, we we haven't had you know any wars. I mean, we we've had some things go on. Yeah, we haven't declared it, too. Not not a major war. So when you think about it, um it has for the most part been peacetime. Oh, yeah. You know, so somebody could have had a span of 10 years by now. Oh, yeah. Who went in? You know what I mean? Somebody could have had a uh uh uh a new career at that point. You know, I think what happens a lot, and we'll finish it with this, and we'll have to revisit this again, when people uh get into the military and they experience going to different countries and things like that, a lot of them get out of the military and stay in that country. Right? Yeah. I uh I never went to um, you know, the the Germanys and Thailands and the Philippines and China's like that because when I was in Alaska, that was considered overseas. Alaska was considered overseas because of course it's not attached to what we call the lower 48, lower 48 states. Right. And then then, of course, you know, Puerto Rico and um, you know, Hawaii and Alaska, they wasn't considered um that. So uh, you know, people really do get out because you have a skill at that point, right? You have a skill. So uh whatever you did, whether it was engineering, whether it was a supply, whether it was a medic, whether it was law enforcement, you take that skill, you can add to it and grab some additional education, and then you can do it wherever you're at.
SPEAKER_01:I'm about to say that um you you have that skill, and then you also got like, I'm sure there's some prestige that comes with saying you got this skill from you know the military trainer, like you're not just an engineer, you're military training.
SPEAKER_00:Right, right, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So you probably get a little lag up too.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah, yeah. You definitely get, you know, preferred hiring. Uh you definitely get um and if you want, and what a lot of people also may do is they may go and start either contracting with the government or get a government job out of the military. And you get to keep, you get to keep your rent, like your rank transfers. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, so those are really some good options, especially if somebody's looking to, you know, retire in that same field or um they want that type of flexibility. So that's pretty dope.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Hey, man. Yeah. It's not all bad, man. It ain't all bad. But I think that, like you said, it's just times are changing. Like it was, we were so dependent. Well, just in previous years, it was just such a strong push and the uh the strength was there, but over time it's just dwindled, man. So man, we'll see the next 20 will be.
SPEAKER_00:We will. Hey, hey, as a matter of fact, um we appreciate you guys, you know, checking out this episode, Pops the Sun Conversations, uh, raw and uncut. And um shout out again to all the veterans, the retirees, happy veterans day, happy veteran and family month as well, military family month. You know, we know that uh it could be a lot, um, but at the same time, man, you have to appreciate what you've been able to accomplish as a unit. And, you know, we encourage you guys to just uh you know do what you need to do to stay together. And obviously, if you need some help, you know, find the right uh agencies to do that. The veterans already know you got the veterans crisis line. Um, and uh if you guys ever need some help, you know, you can always Google and get that information as well. Well, that's it, man. That's it. We did it, man. All right, so look, we'll see you guys uh next episode. And of course, follow us on all social media platforms. You can always go to our website, uh, which is Pops and Son Conversations with the Ness.com. Uh the YouTube is Pops and Sun Conversations, well as IG and uh Facebook. Now the TikTok is a little different. Everywhere. Pops and Sun, right? Pops and Sun Combo Combo, short. Pops and Son Combo? Pops and Sun Combo. Yeah, it's kind of cool though. It was too long, that's why we couldn't do it, right? Yeah, that's weird. Yeah, that is weird.
SPEAKER_01:Might need to TikTok, but you know, that's that's the Chinese folks. I thought that characters did.
SPEAKER_00:I thought they got bought out.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, they did, they did. But I think they still, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Ain't no way they're gonna give it all the way away. All right, so we'll see you guys later. It's your favorite still Fox Robin Lloyd. Hey, Mr. Check three times, baby. All right, we'll see you guys. We out. Fuck y'all niggas. Fuck y'all y'all niggas. Except my niggas.
