partner to support the department of operations department of defense operations abroad. for me personally, it s an excellent document because it gives those diplomats and soldiers on the ground in the midst of the problem the legal cover that they can come in and we can work with them and hear their problems and find solutions to support them. finally, this is the holiday season. you know, as someone who i m sure spent time and important days away from your family, and we sort of think about people who are overseas and they re away from their families, what do you want to remind people? i d like to remind them that for me spirit of america is embl embl emblematic of civilian service. while many civilians serve in different ways, we can t really impact foreign policy or more importantly troops and the diplomats out there enacting it. i would like them to consider
mine detectors, dog food dog food, they needed dog food. yes. you have to keep the dogs happy. so within a month, we were able to work with forces on the ground to know exactly what equipment they need, and i was able to set up the food and medicine to get them operational. so there is very important expertise that you and others bring to spirit of america to carry out these projects, but there is also, as i understand it, a bit of a legal hurdle to doing this kind of work, because you re doing it very much in tandem with the u.s. military. that s not normal non-profit stuff. how does spirit of america navigate that? in 2018, we signed an mou, memorandum of understanding, within the department of defense that specifically outlines how we can work with dod. that year we were named as a
need it. you are a former army infantry officer. yes. you spent ten years in the army, multiple tours in iraq. you have a silver star, is that right, or two? silver star. you have a silver star and two bronze stars. right. there are many people in your basically similar to your shoes, they re former military and they re taking their skills to spirit of america. why did you decide this was something you wanted to do? yeah, so a little bit of background. after i got out of the military i worked in the outdoor industry around environmental health issues. i spent a lot of time mountaineering, living a hippie lifestyle. about four or five years ago, i looked around and saw problems in syria, afghanistan and israel. i went back to grad school and found out about spirit of america by a friend of mine. what drew me to spirit of
refugees are preparing for winter, bringing canine dog units into iraq. those are some things that a non-profit called spirit of america is undertaking. they are empowering veterans to take on areas of hot spots around the world. josh is head of spirit of america around the world. josh, welcome. thanks for having me. tell me what spirit of america does, because this isn t your normal non-profit. spirit of america provides targeted assistance to support the local partners of u.s. soldiers and diplomats. what that means is we kind of fill the gaps where u.s.
veterans taking their unique skills learned in combat to serve their country. the nonprofit spirit of america will show us how. and ahead, a family that makes christmas putting together stays together, right? how 2019 tested the royal family bonds. boom. enjoy your prime rib! anyone ever call you, meat santa ? no, that s. weird. happy holidays. enjoy. next customer? enjoy. 1 in 5 people you meet wear yeah. that many! but right now, is not the time to talk about it. so when you re ready, search my denture care . poligrip and polident. fixed. fresh. and just between us.