Rick Green [00:00:07] Welcome to the intersection of faith and culture is the WallBuilders Show. Taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective. Rick Green here with David Barton and Tim Barton, and it's Memorial Day. Our special guest today, our good friend, General Bob Dees. General Dees, great to have you. By the way, I want to make sure we send people to healthyveterans.org. A great way to honor those who paid the ultimate price for our country is to serve those who have come back and need a little extra help and need us to serve them and General Deas is the best at it. HealthyVeterans.org is the place you can go to learn more, and we'll probably talk more and more about that. But General, thank you so much for spending some time with us today. 

General Bob Dees [00:00:43] Well, great to hear from you. 

David Barton [00:00:45] I want to do a little more to introduce General Dees because General Dee is known general for a good while and Healthy veterans is correct, but healthy military is also what he's been part of and going back to his time in the War College I mean he was writing papers on spiritual warfare in the war college back in the day Driving that that spiritual element back in in the military which we have from George Washington Ford And so he's being a faithful a faithful true warrior in that sense and then what he's been able to do with guys that were coming home from war and PTSD, et cetera. And he's being able to apply spiritual applications and solutions to that and has seen unbelievably good results. So he comes at this really not just from a military position, which is highly qualified, obviously two-star general as highly qualified. But he also comes at it from the traditional historical standpoint of bringing faith and history and tradition and respect for military and everyone else into this thing. So he's. He's really a fun guy to talk with for this perspective. And fun is not the right word when we're talking Memorial Day, but from that perspective, really a qualified guy to be able to speak to all the things going military and where we are coming in on Memorial Day. 

General Bob Dees [00:01:57] Great to be with all of you folks. I honor your work as well. 

Rick Green [00:02:01] Well, generally we've always enjoyed having you over the years and there's been so many different initiatives. Like we've used your resilience curriculum with our Patriot Academy students. I mean, you've just been involved in so many of these things. And, and probably the reason I mentioned Healthy Veterans and what you've been doing in Virginia, um, I guess actually let's start there. What, what would catch us up on, on the, the housing, the, the program you've got to, it's really a one year program, but you guys are willing to serve them even longer than that if necessary. But tell us what you guys are doing with the place there in Virginia. 

General Bob Dees [00:02:31] Well, thank you, Rick. Yeah, we're now a nine-month program. We've sort of re-engineered it and been able to save a bit of time. You know, nine months is a big ask to many people. It's the equivalent of a deployment, maybe an academic year, but in reality, it's a very short time if it changes the whole azimuths of your future. And that's really what we do. We say we're a proc pot in a microwave society, Rick, and what I mean by that is that we take a very intentional, delivered approach and for some of the people with serious post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, a moral injury, advance her childhood dilemmas that result in difficulties later in life. All of these adverse childhood experiences, all these things we deal with. And so we deal an at-risk veterans group. We have a guy, at the last Wednesday, we had a guy that crashed down the road and stopped in a cloud of dust and ran into our headquarters. And he was just... you know, totally out of it. And, one of our, veterans, one of our mentors grabbed him by the arm. He says, you're safe now. And then he put him in a big bear hug of about five minutes. And the guy was able to wind down. He had been driving his car over a hundred miles an hour on the highway, just beyond our property, trying to find a tree to wrap his car around, and he happened to see ours, our sign and he pulled in. And, so now the two weeks ago, we enrolled him in our program. And frankly, he's doing very well. And he stayed on track. He's not been depressed or anything. He's now with a group of veterans. And so we say our key ingredients, Rick, are community to defeat isolation, one of the primary causes of suicide, dignified work to provide purpose and self-esteem, faith-based trauma-recovering life skills programs that really help them have tools to deal with the trauma and things that they face and also up to resolve some of that and help them move forward. Key is emotional regulation. How can they navigate emotional ups and downs in a sensible way? And then finally, we do career preparation that includes an internship. And all of that is on this beautiful 339-acre platform in Virginia. It has 1.5 mile of Big Isle River frontage. And the Japanese would call it forest bathing. It's basically, we know the power of creation and wandering through the wilderness, so to speak. We have a brand new pony of like 10 days old. That's a lot of fun. And, you know, to see these veterans that are so tormented in many ways by the demons, they haven't been able to escape from yet, to see them engage with a horse, see them engaged with a pony, dogs, all that it's really powerful. So we have a lot of therapeutic means. Some is licensed professional counseling, coaching, case management, but others is like I say, forest bathing or the equine therapy. We have 10 certified equine therapists, 24 horses now. Lot of other animals. Six of our cows escaped overnight, so now we have a cattle drive going on trying to get them back. So it's a great place and we're seeing homeless people, you know, get jobs. We're seeing incarcerated people learn how to react to the normal community. We are seeing people that were burned out after losing three or four jobs in a year, come back and they are very talented but they just needed a time to do a reset. Our intellect property, Rick, is how do we rewire the brain, reshake the heart, restore the soul? And we just recently became a official provider for tunnel to towers, because their observation to us is that they put a lot of people in houses, but they've learned some tough lessons about the people in the houses, and they recognize you gotta do an inner reset. If you're really going to be successful in the roof over somebody's head, then solve all their problems. 

Rick Green [00:06:25] Yeah, well, you guys get incredible results and just a great way to start off our Memorial Day program and a great way for folks to be a part of it and help. So healthyveterans.org, healthyvets.org and Dave and Tim set us up a little bit on Memorial Day, just a little bit of the history there and what kind of the difference between this and Veterans Day. We always mention this every year just so that we kind of have the context of what we're actually talking about today. 

David Barton [00:06:51] Actually, Veterans Day is very different from Memorial Day, and I find a lot of people who don't recognize that and they wanna celebrate Memorial Day. You don't celebrate Memorial day because on Memorial Day you're remembering those who gave their lives for the country. On Veterans Day, you remember all those who served and you appreciate that and you celebrate what they've done. And Veterans Day really is kind of a post-World War I holiday. It had been, you really had Memorial Day that goes back to just after the Civil War when General Logan. Gave an address over at Arlington Cemetery, which had been Confederate property before the war was now Union properties they've taken it and put a cemetery there and they went out and they decorated the graves of those who had fallen the Civil War both the Confederate and and Union and so that's kind of where where Memorial Day get started but the Veterans Day really was celebrating the end of World War one and so Armistice Day, on the 11th day of the 11 month, at the 11 hour World War I came to an end. Then that became Armistice, but that's grown into Veterans Day. So there are two very different holidays. One is a celebration. One is really a memorial, honoring those who have sacrificed much. And what we do is also honor those who have been willing to sacrifice so much because... Some did not give their life, did not give their last full measure of devotion with their life. But they were willing to. And that says a whole lot as well. So it's a great time to honor those who have been in the military, not necessarily to celebrate, but especially to remember the cost we paid. I was just looking just a few minutes ago, was working on some World War II stuff. And looking back to really the 89,500 at the Battle of the Bulge, the bloodiest battle we had in World War II and what a turning point battle that was, but there were 19,000 killed there. And that's what Memorial Day is, is to remember those who made that sacrifice, although we honor every single one of those guys who fought in that battle and all the other battles we've had. So that's kind of the short version of the difference between the two. 

Rick Green [00:08:57] Well, I thought this went out for all three, you guys, you know, the last few years, of course, there was a real loss of, of patriotism and faith in the institutions and even a desire to serve. And, and man, I remember even sitting on the back porch, General D's talking about, what do I tell these kids that are, that are coming to me and saying, should I serve in an administration that is, um, you know, doing all this crazy stuff. And, uh, and you reminded me then general that, Hey, if we don't, if If we tell our own, you know, the kids and grandkids and And the students in our programs not to go in, that it's going to be a self-fulfilling prophecy and the people that don't share our values are going to, you know, be the entire military. And so you encouraged me then to make sure that I'm telling these kids, man, we need good people in the military. So knowing that and that history of the last few years, Memorial Day today is different than it would have been if we didn't have the change over the last few months. It seems that there has been a massive shift in a desire to serve. A desire to honor those who made the sacrifice before by now increasing our devotion as Lincoln said to the cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. Do you guys sense that as well and how important is that to point out today on Memorial Day? 

General Bob Dees [00:10:08] Well, we do sense it. A couple of comments. First, it is a sober time, and you know, it says in the good book, I think, Romans 12:12, honor those honor to whom honor is due. And so those that have given their lives, you know it says, no greater love had the man than he gives his life for another. Those are the people we honor, the people that have worn the nation's cloth and have gone in harm's way, and they have suffered death. Or as David said, been willing to suffer death on our behalf. So we honor them today. We bring honor on Memorial Day. I would also highlight a couple of other things. Orrin Hatch, when I think of Memorial Day, I think Arlington Cemetery and those rows and rows. And he wrote a beautiful song called White Crosses on Green Blades of Grass. And I play that every Memorial Day for my own benefit and then for others. I know reminds me of looking down across Arlington Cemetery and then you you look into the the mall of Washington DC and George Washington Memorial watch the monument or Abraham Lincoln still sitting on his perch or the capital and you look at all that from the customer terrace which is just above Arlington Cemetary and you recognize it were not for all those white gravestones at arlington that all of that other represents our nation's institutions would not have been possible, would not have survived. And so that's why we fight. And then to extend that a little bit more, I wrote David in Resilient Nations in Gibbons to find the decline of the Roman Empire. It records two Roman slave boys about 200 AD that are now looking over what used to be the Roman Coliseum. All the obelisks were down there's swine grazing where the Roman senators used to meet and it's totally destroyed and so my question always when i'm up there at Arlington overlooking the national mall. What is the fate of our nation will our national mall be like that? A hundred two hundred years from now and prayerfully the answer is no and and that's why all of us we honor the fallen on memorial day. That's why we leave the living the active duty military and we honor veterans and we want them to be important parts of society. All of that is part of God's equation for America. He founded us with the right values, now we've got to keep the right values and perpetuate those. And so the reason we honor Memorial Day, one of those reasons is that we perpetuate, we honor, and And that's a great benefit to our nation. David, you mentioned the Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of the Somme, the British lost about 100,000. And there was a big national debate about can we ever regain our vital optimism? And certainly they did. And yet Battle of Britain and things after that. But the point was when you, when you have such losses, it ought to be searing and it ought to affect us so that as a nation, we question, how can we go on? And the reason we can go on is we remember the valor, we honor that. If we forget all of that, then we sort of forget what our purpose is as a nation as well. 

David Barton [00:13:42] You know, I would add to that, General, and just on the story that you told earlier that honoring those who have given their life doesn't necessarily end when the battle's over. As you pointed out with that guy who was looking for a tree to wrap himself around. Here's a guy who's not in battle right now, but he's still in an internal battle. And that internal battle is going on. And we don't want more casualties coming from that. And so even being able to remember those who have served, who are. And you've brought the stats out. I remember back in Trump's first term, you were one of the ones who helped really go after finding some really scientific measurements of the impact of faith on the rehabilitation of those who have suffered mentally and emotionally and physically as well. And so we honor those who've given their life on Memorial Day, but we're not looking to have any more do that. And just even your intervention this week has saved one of those lives. And so that's another aspect that goes with it is the continuing care that we need emotionally, spiritually, physically for those guys and what you're doing. That's remarkable stuff. And the guys you really are, dealing with it. It's not just, I don't want to say this in the wrong way, but it really is guys with significant deep seated problems, which is why you're being willing to put nine months into their life to get them new habits, new thinking, new patterns, new everything that it takes. And that's, that's remarkable too, because that helps, helps, I guess, a better way to say it, it helps us enjoy Veterans Day more than Memorial Day. If that, if that makes sense. We don't want more of the sacrifices. We want more the guys we can celebrate and thank you for doing that. 

General Bob Dees [00:15:24] I was walking the Vietnam wall not long ago with a lady that referred to herself as a Vietnam widow and we walked along and she got to the T's and she starts rubbing her hand along on Thompson John Thompson John Thompson where is he and then she looked at me and she said he's not here and I looked at her curiously I didn't know what was going on and she says oh John Thompson didn't die in Vietnam but he came home with an expiration date and immediately I knew what she was saying he killed himself post Vietnam. And I saw that vietnam wall now in a new light that wall what we stay with the fifty three plus thousand names on it is only the tip of the iceberg that's the part of the iceberg above the waterline you know what's below the waterline is much bigger a wider etc and is think of all the people post vietnam that have taken their own lives but also post viet nam there's a whole iceberg of broken families of ravaged mines of and so part of our job as an organization is to dive into that iceberg and do rescue operations, find these people, which is hard to do. That's why we need referrals. Find these people and then bring them up to help hope and healing, fresh air. And it's great to see. And that's true of every conflict that America has experienced. There's that iceberg under the water that maybe the great American public is not fully aware of. You talk to a Vietnam veteran and say, when were you last in Vietnam? He'll say, last night. So that sort of tells the story. 

Rick Green [00:16:58] Such an important point for us not to miss is as we're going to break, folks want to encourage you healthyveterans.org. Don't miss what General D's just said. Referrals, incredibly important. You, you know, people in your life that they could absolutely, use this program and a great opportunity for you to connect them. So healthyvets.org to learn more. We'll be right back. You're listening to the WallBuilders Show.

Rick Green [00:18:25] Welcome back to The WallBuilders Show. It's Rick Green, David Barton, Tim Barton and General Bob Dees, our special guest today. HealthyVeterans.org is the website to learn more about what they're doing there in Virginia, folks from all over the country come in there for their incredible program. 

David Barton [00:18:39] And let me add to that, Rick, that with Healthy Veterans, you know, from a biblical standpoint, we tried to apply biblical, historical, constitutional perspectives. And one of the great biblical perspectives is that of giving. We know the Bible teaches about tithing, that God wants us to take a tenth of what we do and pour that back into His kingdom. And He tells us specifically in the scriptures, that's for us to learn to put Him first. That when something comes to the door, we take 10% of it, we put that aside. He always blesses, makes that extend further. But there was what were called tithes and offerings. And the offerings were the things that you gave beyond that 10%. There were things that you invested in the kingdom. And one of the good places for those offerings is with what General is doing right now. Because you're saving lives, you're breaking generational habits that'll affect second and third generation, these kids and grandkids of these guys. And so this is good ground to sow into. And I say that because when we look for ground to so into, we're looking for something that has a track record and that has fruit that you can measure. You know, Jesus said, you judge a tree by its fruits. And this is an organization that has had the time and the record and you can judge the fruits and these are good fruits and they, they not only restore individuals, but that changes the direction of, of spouses and kids and children and grandkids, et cetera. This is good ground to sow into us. I encourage folks, in addition to what you do with tithing, this is a good place to put some gifts and contributions and offering. This is a great ground to sew into. 

Tim Barton [00:20:14] Well, guys, let me jump in to one of the things that we have not gotten to. And obviously, it's important that we take time to appreciate those that have laid down their life for the nation. We don't do enough of that, as many stories as we tell from wall builders about some of the incredible heroes of our nation. There are countless names of heroes we could point to of people that literally laid down their life for the cause of freedom, for the for the Nation, for family, for community. And they definitely are names that should be remembered, honored and appreciated. But in the midst of all this going on, General Deese, I know that there's a lot happening right now nationally speaking on a international scale, because we now have a president that is taking a very, at least from the outside, I'm going to say this and you please correct me if I'm seeing it wrong, but a very different approach even to our military or the nation's and daughters. Where I can imagine previous presidents, if we would have seen stuff in Ukraine and Russia like has happened under Trump, where we might have had a previous president say, hey, let's get some troops ready. Let's get them some force on the ground. We have a president now that seems to have a different perspective when it comes to the value of the nation's sons and daughters, even to the extent of changing some of the dynamic of the way we even defend our nation, our own home soil. With some kind of like golden dome that's going on and I know you will know way more about this than than we do But what are your thoughts now with president trump his leadership? At the international kind of broad picture with him having a different idea of where we do and don't want to send troops And even what he's doing to protect us here on on the home front 

General Bob Dees [00:21:56] yeah it's interesting i think it's an intersection of just practical wisdom related to national security but also biblical wisdom i recall the proverb that says the wicked flee when no one is pursuing but the righteous can be bold as a lion of not the donald trump or any the rest of us are righteous but we are we are on high moral ground higher than ever before as a nation i say with our leadership. And so we're, when we're on high moral ground, we can be bold and we can be confident and we operate with peace or strength, not peace through weakness or appeasement. And so that's the major sea change I've seen, and that plays out in many ways. Now, you know, the president Trump seeks to make America secure again, make America safe again. We've seen that in many ways I would add to also make America healthy again. And I'm working on a. Concept paper for, Robert F. Kennedy jr. On,  make America's veterans healthy. Again,. 

Rick Green [00:23:01] Oh, wow. 

General Bob Dees [00:23:02] It's the principles about how we're doing that. But, but back on golden dome, uh that's critical. You know, Ronald Reagan, basically attempted this, and it was a great idea, but I don't think at the time the technology was up to the mandate. Now great play the technology and i've seen that as I work the iron dome and other technological in the innovations with the Israelis now the technology matches the concept and so I think this golden dome concept will work basically in my mind. You know i don't have the the actual blueprints yet to this I don't know what the exact concept is but in my mine if i were doing it I would create an Israeli like. Iron dome over major metropolitan areas in our country, the ones that have the highest threat, the highest density, and the most to lose and also the specific strategic assets in our countries. But then on top of all of that, a covering umbrella that's in the space domain with space sensors, space weapons, and we have that capability as well. I was amazed when I was watching the progression of US Patriots and the integration of Patriots with Iron Dome and air weapon systems and all those things in Israel. In the Gulf War, the Patriot missile was a proximity fused. So you would fly the Patriots in the proximity of an incoming missile and it would explode and hopefully the incoming missile would fly through the shrapnel and would be partially destroyed or deterred or whatever. Now with Patriot 3. It's incredible because we literally hit a bullet with a bullet. We, something going, you know, thousands of miles an hour hits another bullet going thousands of miles an hour head on, and that's the precision of the technology we now have. So that type of precision is what we hold us will hold us in good stead as we develop this national umbrella base based, it's already our other urban area protection. 

Rick Green [00:25:15] Absolutely amazing that that even works. I can't even imagine all the technology that goes into that to do that. Hey guys, in our last minute or so here, I ain't one of the three of you jump in on this one. But what would you encourage parents to say to their kids today? Just to start to teach them that recognition and that honoring, uh, of those who to whom honor is due here in this particular situation. 

General Bob Dees [00:25:40] I think of the sacrifices people have made that allow our kids to play soccer, football, go to movies and all those things. And I think there needs to be a true reverence for those that have given that ultimate sacrifice on behalf of future generations. That's all I'd say. It's hard to overstate the importance of that. 

Rick Green [00:26:04] Amen. And it can be instilled from an early age folks. That's so important to do that. General Bob Deese, God bless you, man. Thank you for coming on once again. And, and thanks for all you're doing with healthy veterans. And I didn't know you were doing that work with, with secretary Kennedy, that's very encouraging. I mean, obviously that's a big area where we need to make America healthy again by making our, our veterans healthy again, we sure appreciate you being here with us today. 

General Bob Dees [00:26:25] Oh, it's a privilege. Appreciate what you guys do.

Rick Green [00:26:28] Folks, we sure appreciate you listening today. Don't let this day go by without honoring those who have made it possible for us to even have this program, for you to do what you're doing today. We have the greatest nation in the history of the world and it doesn't happen by accident and freedom truly isn't free. Appreciate you listening to The WallBuilder Show.