Every Veteran Voices episode delves into the inspiring stories of individuals who have served their country and are now making a difference beyond the uniform, but few stories are as powerful and uplifting as that of John Wayne Walding. John Wayne lost his leg to a sniper during battle in the mountains of Afghanistan, only to continue fighting, become the first amputee to become a Green Beret Sniper, and later found his own logistics company dedicated to overcoming and delivering on the impossible.

In today’s episode, sponsored by Pegasus Logistics Group, host Mary Kate Soliva, along with special co-host Tevon Taylor with Pegasus, welcomes John Wayne Walding, CEO and Founder of Gallantry Global Logistics to the show.

Listen in as John Wayne Walding shares his inspiring journey, taking us from a small Texas town to the frontlines of Afghanistan, where he faced overwhelming odds as a Green Beret, and also as Mary Kate, John Wayne, and Tevon share their experiences, insights, and their mission to give back to the communities that they hold dear. Join us as we explore stories of service, sacrifice, and resilience, and discover how vital it is to continue to make a positive impact in the world.

Intro/Outro (00:00:02):

Welcome to Veteran Voices. A podcast is dedicated to giving a voice to those that have served in the United States Armed Forces on this series, jointly presented by Supply Chain now and Vets to Industry. We sit down with a wide variety of veterans and veteran advocates to gain their insights, perspective, and stories from serving. We talk with many individuals about their challenging transition from active duty to the private sector, and we discuss some of the most vital issues facing veterans today. Join us for this episode of Veteran Voices.

Mary Kate Soliva (00:00:42):

Hello everyone. Thank you again for joining us on Veteran Voices. And for those of you who are new to Veteran Voices, welcome to the show. I’m your host, Mary Kate Soliva, and we are gearing up for an incredible episode today. Super excited. But just before we start, we’re gonna do a quick programming note. This episode is sponsored by Pegasus Logistics. Shout out to them, and thank you so much, uh, for your sponsorship of, of Veteran Voices, where we interview those who are serving beyond the uniform, and we are also part of the supply chain. Now, family where you can, wherever you get your podcasts from. Supply Chain now is an incredible, uh, podcast who also is in partnership with the Guam Human Rights Initiative, a nonprofit that’s near and dear to my heart, where they’re focusing on human rights issues and through research. So now, without further ado, I want to welcome two of our special guests today before I continue rambling on and on, and on and on. Uh, so we had just had a great shout before this episode, but welcome to the show, uh, John jw, John Wayne, John Waling, nonetheless, and Tevin Taylor, thank you for joining us. It sounds like I invited like five people to the show, right? <laugh>,

John Wayne Walding (00:01:59):

I’ve got new personalities, so yeah, you, you hit it right? Could be on the show. Mary Kay

Mary Kate Soliva (00:02:04):

<laugh>. Well, thank you both. I’m getting a little, like, tongue twisted. ’cause you know, like I was mentioning earlier, my grandmother takes note about how I always seem to fly in like a bat outta hell. So, you know, hair’s frizzy for those who are just tuning in. I’m like sprinting in, uh, to the show, getting stuck in d dc rush hour traffic to make this incredible episode <laugh>. Uh, so I’m just grateful for, for you all for joining me today. Um, and I just wanted to, you know, to kick off for starters, uh, jw I’m gonna start with you about pumping up with some motivation. Feel free to sing a lyric if you want. I heard you rapping a little bit earlier. Um, if you want just, uh, love some motivation for our listeners today.

John Wayne Walding (00:02:48):

Yeah. So the motivation that I always give everyone is, uh, I tell the story about my first, uh, one of my first experience in special forces at at third group. And, and, you know, know when, when you get in there. And, uh, it is just a total different world than what the conventional army is. And, and I’ll never will forget our sergeant, major Eubanks, you know, he, he was like, if, if they had a Green Beret action figure right, sitting in Walmart that you could play with, it’d beat him, right? He’s just this big barrel chested black guy with a raspy voice, high and tight haircut, you know, and you could just tell that, that he just was an awesome guy and, uh, you know, he, you know, he’s been through it all, right? And, and, uh, listening to him tell stories at the end of it, he just said, men, when you’re in the foxhole and time gets hard and gets rough and you don’t know what to do, all you gotta do is dig your heels in. You lean forward and fight hard. And that’s what I’ve just continued with for the rest of my life, is just, that’s such a visual, right, of, of no matter what it’s, whether it’s physical, emotional, spiritual, what have you, when, when you do get in those, uh, you know, those dark times or uncertain times or just tough times, you just tighten up that chin strap. You dig those heels in, you just lean forward and fight hard and, and you’re always gonna come out better.

Mary Kate Soliva (00:04:03):

No, I, I absolutely love that. And I, I think that we, we had mentioned before our first time talking about, and we’ll get to it later in the show with regards to the transition, but I’m, I’m a couple years out transitioning on active duty, and I still feel like I’m, I’m leaning forward sometimes, you know, face first <laugh> into the, into the next thing. But, um, no, I, I love that little bit of motivation there to pump us up. And I would be remiss if I didn’t ask you, Kevin, I’m welcoming if you wanna call Cadence here, but, uh, if you wanna follow up with your favorite motivational quote,

Tevon Taylor (00:04:34):

I, I can’t follow John Wayne. Um, <laugh>, you know, all I can say is the caribou in the background, I don’t think was smiling when it, uh, saw its last breath <laugh>.

John Wayne Walding (00:04:44):

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Tevon Taylor (00:04:47):

In all seriousness, my motivation, one of the coolest things is to be on a, a podcast and to join you guys today with John Wayne Waling because his sacrifice and what he is done for our country, honestly, and not to make this a commercial, but it inspires me, right, to see what he does with veterans, uh, to be part of what he’s doing at Gallantry. That’s my motivation. So I won’t get cliche and read out of a book or give you any other quotes, but, uh, I’m just excited to be here today and to, to associate with good people like you and John Wayne Welding.

Mary Kate Soliva (00:05:20):

Thank you. I mean, much more motivation than we need than that. But honestly, I second that huge honor. Uh, you know, and Scott, our fearless leader of the supply chain now of programming, when he told me about this particular interview, I was super pumped up. ’cause John Wayne, you really do epitomize what it means to be that American hero. I’m sure they’re gonna be, have a, a superhero figure lined up after you at some point, <laugh>, uh, and, and just, you know, shameless plug there that whoever Toy Makers unit to get with John Wayne here, make his likeness. Um, but just super grateful to have you here. So thank you.

John Wayne Walding (00:05:56):

Thank you Te Kevin, that’s too nice. And I’m surprised you didn’t bring up the John Wayne quote. Life’s tough. It’s even tougher when you’re stupid. <laugh>

Tevon Taylor (00:06:04):

<laugh>. That’s my quote too. So I’m Aggie,

Mary Kate Soliva (00:06:09):

That’s what we gotta have. Like, we need a placard behind you, te so you, we don’t forget that we you’re, when you’re on a Zoom calls or video calls. But, you know, we had that connection talking about John Wayne, the actor. That’s where my name Mary Kate came from. Mary Kate Danaher from The Quiet Man, uh, John Wayne’s movie, the Quiet Man. So it just worked out. I love it. Got John Wayne and Mary Kate here in the house. I’m just not a redhead, you know, like little tone down on the temper. So, John, for starters, tell us about growing up in, in Beck, Texas. ’cause I have never been there ne nor have I think I’ve met anybody. You’re the first one, so I’m sure you’re, you’re the town celebrity as well.

John Wayne Walding (00:06:49):

Yeah. Well, you, you know, the, you, you’re probably right. The only person that I guess would be famous, they’re not from Rosebeck, but they’re 12 miles down the road in a town, Maia, and that was Anna Nicole Smith. Right? So that’s about as much talent as we get from where I’m from. And, and, uh, the, the town is just jokingly say, well, it is true though. You know, whenever I was there, you know, we had, uh, uh, about 3,500 people in our town, but we had a 10 million football field, right? So it’s just a, uh, a small town that loves, you know, uh, America, they loves God, family, country, and, and you know, it just has those old school work ethics. And, and, and, um, you know, it was always a place that I say that I’m proud to be from, but I’m never going back to, right?

John Wayne Walding (00:07:29):

Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. It’s, it’s, uh, yes, I’m glad that, that I got to have the experience of what it’s like there. But it really was a, a, a place that, that you learn what work ethic is you that you learn, you know, just, you know, any country values that you have in Texas and, and, um, and, you know, think about a bunch of oil people, you know, a bunch of rednecks and, you know, hauling hay in the summers and hunting in the winter. And, and, uh, yeah, it, it was a, it was a good life that that really positioned me, you know, to be in the, uh, in the army, to be quite honest with you, I’ll never forget whenever I was in basic training, I, uh, I always, you know, Ron White eloquently said, you know, he had the right to remain silent, but not the ability, right? I, I’m the same way that, uh, I never will forget the, the drill star and asking, Hey, has anybody done this harder? You know? And I, I raised my hand, I’m like, man, you done two a days and grows back, you know, not, how about hauling hay when it’s eight, a hundred degrees outside and you got 800 square bes? You gotta get in the, you know, in the barn by the end of the day. Like, that’s hard work. This all we gotta do is run around for a little bit <laugh>. But, but yeah.

Mary Kate Soliva (00:08:35):

I have to ask about what, what you were mentioning about joining the, the Army. So a clearly sound, very American town, I think when, when folks from the out outside the US like think of Americans as you kind of think of the cowboy. And so it sounds like that sort of, you know, up upbringing and traditional American values. But I have to ask, why Army? Was there somebody, when you were a kid, did you, do you, have you come from a line of, of veterans, or why army not, you know, air Force, for example, <laugh> Marines? Well,

John Wayne Walding (00:09:08):

I wanna work for a living, that’s why I didn’t join the Air Force, you know, <laugh>, uh, so did the, I I’ll give you a longer answer. Right? So my first of all, you know, I wish I had a better answer to why my name’s John Wayne, other than I was born on the 4th of July. So my dad said, and I quote, you had a cool birthday, you needed a cool name, right? So I was like, well, I’m glad you thought about it a-hole, right? I’m not stuck with it. But, uh, but yeah, so that, that, you know, he did was a huge John Wayne fan. And, and for sure that was, uh, you know, the, uh, wisdom behind the, the, the, the namesake. But yeah, uh, that’s, that’s, that’s how I got the name. And, and for the Army, I always say I’m a hundred percent Texan, right?

John Wayne Walding (00:09:48):

My mom was Mexican, my dad’s a roughneck, right? So I grew up oil and tacos, right? That, that’s, that’s kind of what, what I, how I grew up. But, uh, we didn’t have a big military background. Uh, again, going back to oil, you know, my, my dad was a roughneck, my granddaddy, you know, I don’t think he graduated high school and, you know, started rough necked when he was 14 years old and worked his way all the way up to being the boss of the whole rig, right? And, and, uh, that’s, that’s, you know, where my lineage comes from and, and how did I get to the army? It’s just an act of God, you know, I, uh, never will forget, you know, this gives you a glimpse into, to my mindset to when I commit, I commit, and I go all in, and it’s a drag race to the end, right?

John Wayne Walding (00:10:28):

Let’s just, you know, barrel down. And, and so my birthday’s July 4th, right? Uh, on July 5th, I, I just realized, you know, that, man, I really need to have a, a better purpose, you know, a job with the meaning, you know, like I said, grows back, doesn’t have a lot of, you know, um, aspiration, right? That it is just that small town. And, and so whenever I had that birthday, I was like, you know, I, I really need to do something else, something bigger than meant more. And, and just so happened to have a buddy of mine that, uh, he was in the Army and told me about what he was doing. And, you know, it is funny when, when I first heard, I’m like, man, you gotta get up and do PT at six 30. That’s early, right? And, uh, and you know, I ended up becoming a Green Beret, so I guess I kinda liked it, but, uh, but yeah, again,

Mary Kate Soliva (00:11:11):

What year, what year, what year did you join?

John Wayne Walding (00:11:14):

Uh, well, I was in basic training, uh, September of 2001. So if you remember what happened September 11th, 2001. So that goes back to my mindset, right? So July 5th, I realized, okay, I need a real job. By August 16th, I was in basic training, <laugh>. So within 45 days, I’d already found a recruiter, got signed up, did through meps, got a, a date. And here I am serving my country, and, and, uh, the rest is history.

Mary Kate Soliva (00:11:40):

Oh, gosh. Well, I mean, again, just that was such a unique time for our nation too. And, and for you to be at basic training as a young soldier, uh, but it’s still taking with you, instilling all those, those American values when you first stepped foot at basic training. I just have to ask about, did you know at that time that you wanted to go into special forces? Like, did you know that you wanted to go and, and be in special operations at all at that time, or you just like, I don’t really care where, where they send me, where they take me at this point?

John Wayne Walding (00:12:11):

Yeah. At the time, you know, the recruiter got me, right? He said, Hey, you wanna shoot missiles? I was like, heck yeah, who don’t? Right? And, uh, so I joined the Army to, to shoot missiles, not become the Green Beret. You know, I really was fairly ignorant when it comes to really what the Army had to offer, right? I honestly didn’t even know what Green Berets did at the time or anything of that sort. But, you know, I obviously was in basic when the towers fell and, and, uh, that that was, uh, you know, talk about a catalyst, right? From, from one mindset to the next, you know, that was earth shattering. You, you know, I think a lot of people forget that, that before 2001, you know, really the pool to join the Army was like, Hey, come get some college money, right? Serve your country for a little bit.

John Wayne Walding (00:12:53):

We’ll get paid for some college and all that, you know, GI Bill this and all that stuff. And, and, and yeah, for sure, you know, serve Your country is, is a, you know, significant in the majority, you know, part of the conversation. But definitely, you know, there, there is more to that and that that’s, you know, really what I was thinking at the time. But again, the tower fell and, and, uh, you know, I thought it was a joke at first, right? Because I’m in basic, and all I know is the drill sergeants are telling me we’re gonna war, right? <laugh>. Yeah. And, and we pull back in, start doing Guard and everything, and about two o’clock in the morning we’re watching the tv. And, you know, at first I was like, man, this is like some Hollywood stuff here, right? Because I thought they had the tv, it was recording to make you think you’re gonna war.

John Wayne Walding (00:13:34):

Yes. But finally, about two o’clock, I realized, okay, this is real. And, and, um, obviously from there, whenever I, I realized, you know, I, I didn’t ever know just how good I was until I joined the Army. Going back to the mindset of, in a small town, it’s a very practical mindset, right? You know, it’s not a, Hey, you can do anything that you want if you set your mind to, it’s a, Hey, you need to get yourself a job, right? Like, get your head outta the clouds, go, you know, go to work. And, and that’s kind of always been the mindset that I’ve had, is just, Hey, I’m just gonna, you know, go to work and figure it out rather than what, you know, what is this awesomeness up here that I can, you know, uh, you know, strive for and hopefully one day achieve?

John Wayne Walding (00:14:17):

And, and until I was in the Army and I had somebody, you know, uh, believe in me and say, Hey, I think you can do this. Or, you know, whenever you’re in a group and I’m toward the front of that pack, I’m like, wow, I didn’t know. It was just awesome, right? And, and, uh, I saw my first Green Beret and I saw what they were doing down range, and, and you know, that’s whenever I had that, uh, mindset of like, Hey, you know what? If he can do it, I bet you I can figure that out too. And, and went to selection, uh, in 2005. And, and fortunately, um, fortunately was selected then got to, you know, uh, the coveted Green Beret about a year and a half, two years later.

Mary Kate Soliva (00:14:51):

That’s, that’s amazing. Honestly, incredible with the, the pathway that you didn’t come in saying I wanted to be in the Special Forces. It was, it was something that you saw that, and, and I tell that to my young soldiers, you know, again, love having another fellow army veteran on the show. Uh, but, you know, I tell my soldiers about that, about just ex exploring their options. And I love when they, they come in and they’re all doe-eyed, and it’s like rainbows and sunshine. They’re super ua, super motivated, but you don’t realize, like that impact that you have on those young soldiers, like when you are doing your job, like you may the monotony, but may not think it’s as cool, but there’s those behind you looking up to you and, and what a badass, you know, <laugh> in its simplest terms, right? So I see you looking at it. Uh, did you have an idea really of, well, how do you envision Special Forces? I have to ask you, you see John Wayne is this like, uh, sup superhero, right? Well,

Tevon Taylor (00:15:42):

You know, every, everything a civilian thinks a Special Forces is what we see on tv, right? Tv they’re always the heroes. They’re, they’re always the ones that dodge bullets. Somehow they have more ammunition than anybody else. That’s bad. I lost lights, um, <laugh>. So somebody didn’t pay the electric bill here, but, you know, special forces, I mean, they’re, when I met John Wayne, it’s exactly what I expected. The movies, the difference is, you know, you don’t know the nitty gritty of, you know, seeing your buddies get shot. I mean, John Wayne losing a leg. I mean, some of the things you hear about the negative part of war and fighting for your country is people are gonna lose their lives. People are gonna lose limbs. People are gonna have a huge impact to their families and, and their, their futures. But you know, how you take that and translate it into our freedom and what we have today is, is amazing. And special forces do, to me, they’re like, not to translate it into logistics and freight forwarding, but they, they’re kind of, they slide in between the larger elements of, of our, our forces to make sure that we get things done. And, and, and America continues to be the free country we are. So, like I said, it’s always in the movies, we always see the good part of it, but there’s, there’s the difficult part too, and the sacrifice. And that’s, again, that’s why I appreciate what I know about John Wayne and what he’s doing today.

John Wayne Walding (00:16:59):

Well, that’s one thing that I always try to do, right? Tevin, I’m glad you brought that up, is ’cause, you know, whenever, you know, if I ever give a speech to a crowd and TE’s heard me say it, it is, I always say, never believe my resume, right? Because, because it’s awesome, right? John Wayne, born fourth, July, green Berets, you know, silver Star, bronze, all this stuff, right? It, I’m still just this human, and I’m just that little, you know, country boy kid from Rosebeck, Texas said that, uh, we, we experience things that, that people never, you know, even fathom. And, and there is a downside to that, and I, I make absolutely sure that when I do talk about my, my service, you know, I give both the good and the bad because, you know, they’re, in my mind, they’re just as significant, you know, equally sig uh, significant and Kevin’s point learn about, you know, the, the grief that we’ve had had to deal with, you know, like I say, be a lot is, is, you know, the, the Army teaches me how to deal death, but not how to deal with it.

John Wayne Walding (00:17:55):

Yes. Right? And, and, and you know, what a powerful statement that is when you really take a step back and really unpack what that means, right? Especially, you know, not to, you know, like how I am a 42 year old man, but at the time as a Green Beret, a 27 year old young man, right? And, and, uh, having to deal with, with such significant life problems over and over and over again, right? It’s not just once, you know, the death that I’ve had to deal with, most people don’t see in three lifetimes, right? And, and so anyway, I just wanna make sure that people understand, you know, you know, it is not just to vin’s point about the, the, the movies, right? Which by the way, Tevin, that’s all true. Everything <laugh> <laugh>, you know, John Jay Rambo is just like we are. Yeah. You know, but, you know, don’t believe in all the, all the, we can do the fun stuff, jumping outta airplanes, blowing in doors, you know, night vision this and all that good stuff. But, uh, we do go home to our families and, and have to deal with, you know, the, uh, the consequences of war.

Mary Kate Soliva (00:18:55):

No, that was such a great point. I know you mentioned about how you’re, how you’re just human, but I, I would dare to say that you’re a bit superhuman in the sense that you are still e extremely humble. You know, like you have this era of humility about you in addition to all the things that you have achieved and accomplished, and, you know, and, and those who are fortunate enough to come back home, uh, they still struggle to face the world, you know? And, and I think you’ve, you’ve taken it head on, like you said earlier, with your bit of motivation there, that you’re still leaning forward and, and knowing that how, how meaningful, how powerful your story is. And I know we’re about to, to touch in on that, but I, I just wanted to say that, you know, you say just human, but I, I think, you know, Kevin and I both look at you like you’re a little bit super more superhuman than the average human.

Mary Kate Soliva (00:19:42):

And I think that, you know, as you said that, that God-given, uh, path of yours has been, uh, is been a true blessing, and I’m sure it has touched so many. And I hope that those listening on the call tune in for, uh, you know, this entire episode and, and re-listened to it. Because I, I know John Wayne, that you’re gonna share a lot of incredible things, uh, this show. And I wanted to, if, if you could talk to us about, uh, that, that spring day in 2008, you’ve taken us now about, uh, donning the Green, the coveted Green Beret, which is so well known even by the, the civilian populace. But now we’re a few years in to your time donning that Green Beret, you share a bit more about that.

John Wayne Walding (00:20:22):

Yeah. You know, and I always start with what is a Green Beret, right? Just telling people mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, 90 seconds of, you know, really our core function is unconventional warfare, right? And, and what does that mean to a civilian? Well, ultimately it means is we teach them to die for their country, then Americans do it, right? Uh, um, that might not be a politically correct way of saying it, you know, but, but that’s really, you know, what’s that old, uh, ad age old adage of, of saying, you know, teach man to fish, he feeds forever. Give him a fish he feeds for a day. Right? Well, instead of sending a hundred Americans into a village right, to go fight a bad guy, why don’t we send 15 Green Berets to train a thousand? Right? That, that’s ultimately, you know, when John F. Kennedy, uh, awarded us the, the dawning of the Green Beret in the sixties, you know, it was our job to go to Vietnam and help the Vietnamese fight the Vietcong.

John Wayne Walding (00:21:14):

And, and we’ve done that ever since. Right? And so that day, April 6th, 2008, you know, we were fighting with the Afg Afghani Commandos, right? It was, they were the, uh, Afghan National Army Special Forces and, and, uh, had some absolute studs. And, and that’s, you know, we trained with them. We lived near ’em, and we fought with them. And, and, uh, that’s, that’s what we were, you know, we, uh, we were doing a great job with it. And, and, uh, this, this particular day was a kill capture mission with, you know, with our partner force up at 10,000 feet above sea level, the near stand province, uh, in, in Shock Valley. And if you don’t know where that is, if you Google where, uh, a lot of people, uh, probably remember one of the first thing Trump did when he got in office was drop the Moab.

John Wayne Walding (00:21:54):

Everybody remembers the Moab that was dropped, right? But that was in the nearest stand province. And, um, that’s exactly where we were. And so, you know, nobody had ever been there, not, not even in the eighties. So the Russians that haven’t been there, we hadn’t been there in G Watts since we’d been there. And so there’s no, uh, intel, you know, pretty much in or around that area other than we got from, you know, some, uh, single sources, uh, on the ground or, or, you know, any predator defeat on top. And, and so we, we, we thought we were gonna get one guy that had about 15 to 20, you know, personal security attachment along with him. And, and, uh, unfortunately we ended up getting a hornets nest with about 200 to 250, you know, and, and, uh, I was the, uh, the salt team, one liter of, of that day, right?

John Wayne Walding (00:22:38):

So you had a special forces team again, there, there was 10 of us there, and we all had our commandos that we, that we were in charge of and fought with. And, and I was, it was my job to be the first guy and the first team into this village and lock in a house, right? And, and then the next team would come past me, and we were just leapfrog, you know, to the, uh, to the objective, right? To the x and, and, you know, I was 40 meters from myself to the first, you know, building into this village, and we got opened off on. And I always say, well, you know, with the avalanche of gunfire, right? Like that within, you know, the first 10 minutes, which I’m sure we’ve been talking for 15 already, you know, but, uh, you know, we had our lead interpreter, CK got shot in the throat, died on impact.

John Wayne Walding (00:23:22):

You know, Dylan Bear, he was a, our r t o guy in charge of columns up to hire, uh, pretty important guy, right? He got shot in the hip. Initial assessment on him was 20 minutes to live, you know, then we had Luis Morales, who, our 18 Fox, right? Our Intel officer, you know, he got shot not once, but twice in the lake, you know? And now here we are, you know, for every one guy injured, you’re supposed to have two guys to help. So now we got six guys outta the fight, and there’s only 10 of us on the mountain, so do that math, right? And, and to make a long story short, 15 Americans went up against 250 Taliban fighters, and after six and a half hours, there were 70 danger close air strikes that were on that battle. 10 silver stars were awarded, which two of those were upgraded to the Medal of Honor, which, uh, and, and then we had eight Purple Hearts.

John Wayne Walding (00:24:08):

So imagine, you know, a bad day where 10 were on the mountain that day, but eight of us got shot, right? So, uh, if you ever get a bad day at the office, it ain’t that bad, right? And, and, uh, but to always end it with the best statistic of all, which is zero, right? Zero Americans killed. And, and just imagine, you know, the magnitude of that statement to where, you know, just 10 to 15 guys can go up against 250 and, and six and a half hours later we win, right? And, and it’s just a, a true testament to the war fighters that we have out there fighting for our freedoms.

Mary Kate Soliva (00:24:43):

Just like, like, wow. Right? Seven, I’m sure this isn’t the first time, but first time I’m hearing, I feel like I need a moment. Um, honestly, thank you so much for sharing, uh, John Wayne, and, and again, for, like you said that the running through the statistic there, you know, but there is more than just numbers and what a, a profound thing about no Americans killed, but the, the fact that everything was up against you. But I can see why now that you wanted to start out for, by saying the value of the Green Beret, because, you know, wasn’t, like you said, just just having so few against so many, but you all are the elite. You’re the, the best of the best, and, and there’s a reason why, uh, that you all get sent, uh, to areas such as that. And Tevin, what, what’s going through your mind as well? I know you’ve prob you’ve heard this, uh, before, but, you know, just you share your thoughts with our, our listeners as well, if you could.

Tevon Taylor (00:25:39):

There’s nothing like the, the story of what John went through and the other soldiers that day that’s more humbling and, and, you know, puts you in a place of realizing what, what a great place it is we live and, and what sacrifice has happened to get us here. Right? I played softball at a company event last night. My boss is in the dugout, and I hear him telling the story of John Wayne welding in the dugout to other employees that didn’t know the story, right? I worked for a large multinational, a hundred billion dollar company before going to Pegasus. And I’ve told people at that company the story of John Wayne Waling, because we take, we, we do take for granted at times, um, many times where we are and, and what benefits we have in America. And when you hear that story, you have to put yourself back a little bit and go, you know, July 4th Veteran’s Day, you know, you, you think of these holidays and a lot of people think of cookouts and fireworks, and we gotta sit back for a moment.

Tevon Taylor (00:26:39):

And, you know, John Wayne says it well, were the folks that fought in Vietnam came home, and it was a different story. You know, our heroes that come home now. It, it’s definitely, you know, we support them and embrace them. But, you know, I’ve got goosebumps right now thinking about this story, and I’ve heard it multiple times, but it, it, it always has an impact because no matter what you, it just, your, your heart hurts because you know what they went through. And it’s just, you know, I’m humbled and appreciative of, of what John Wayne Welding’s done and, and all the others like him, right? So there’s, there’s many John Wayne Welding’s out there. It’s an amazing story. Uh, it, it’s obviously got a great ending. ’cause we’re on the, you know, there’s some that don’t have that ending that, that John Wayne Waling has, but the fact he’s turned what he’s done into inspiring others and helping others, where you hear the story all around you, and, and I wanna, I wanna talk about it, but, you know, going into what he’s done at Gallantry Logistics and pushing for helping veterans and taking care of those that are taking care of us is, and that’s, that’s the moral of the story, right?

John Wayne Walding (00:27:44):

Yes. Yeah. And, and, and that’s, you know, I’m glad you brought that up, right? Because you know, Mary Kate, by no means is this disrespectful to what I’ve done, right? But no one ever asked me about April 7th, 2008, right? Everybody wants to know about the Battle of Shock Valley on April 6th, 2008, where all the, you know, accolades awards. And, and again, don’t get me wrong, it is awesome. But no one ever asked me about the day that I woke up in a hospital, you know, looking at ceiling tiles, terrified. That’s

Mary Kate Soliva (00:28:14):

What I wanted to ask you, is that the thought was crossed my mind about even what you said earlier about coming home, because how do you go from that, which Tim and I are sitting here and thinking like, this is what we see the green bras in the movies to this happening in real life for you. And like you said, come from a small country town like in Texas, small town Texas, and, and to something like that where you experience, and then to come home and put on a switcher or whatever it is to process all that, like you said, that the army doesn’t teach us that, and j f k special warfare thing, and you know, in Swic, they’re not teaching us about that. So yeah, tell me, tell me a little bit about that, if, if you don’t mind.

John Wayne Walding (00:28:58):

Yeah, yeah. So, you know, um, and that’s, that’s, like I said before, you know, every, uh, I, I care more about this story than the one other one, because that’s, that’s what we’re, you know, I always say use a, a term. So what? Right? Yeah. Oh, I did this. So what, what are you doing now? Right? Or, oh, I’ve got hurt. So what, what are you gonna do about it? This world, this country specifically, right? We, and we’ve gotten so divisive and, and everybody gets their feelings hurt so much and, and stick their lip out, and they wanna be a victim, right? And blame somebody, either I wasn’t born here, or I didn’t do this, or they make more than me. You know, this, you know, you can either be a victim or a, you choose, right? And, and, and, uh, that, that’s just my mindset, right?

John Wayne Walding (00:29:44):

That, that where I could, yeah, I could have blamed the army for taking my leg. I could have gotten mad at God, which, you know, by the way, I, I did all those things that, that we normally do, and, you know, uh, but I got over it because I realized that, you know, it’s, it’s up to me on, on what I’m gonna do with it. And, and you asked the question, you know, the first thing I did was cry, right? You wake up, you look down and, and you realize the, the inevitability of that word, right? Can’t, I can’t walk for the rest of my life. And, and, and having to deal with that as a 27 year old man, you know, that 24 hours earlier could jump outta airplanes, climb mountains, run a five minute mile, like all this awesome stuff, you know? Now, again, that word can’t, I, I’ve got to deal with, and, and I’ll try to be as quick as I can with it.

John Wayne Walding (00:30:30):

But, you know, the first thing that helped me overcome and, you know, was my faith in God, right? Because I, I realized, uh, you know, still being alive, it just galvanized my faith with him that, that I, it wasn’t because I got it out of there, you know, I, I gave it to him on the battlefield, says, Hey, God, I, you know, I, this is all I got, and it ain’t enough. And, and if you, if I make it out here, it’s because of you. And, and, uh, and fortunately, I did make it out of there. And so, you know, that that faith really, you know, it took the y mes away. ’cause ’cause we all had the Y mes, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, why, why is this happening to me? Right? I’m a good guy. I don’t do this or that, or whatever, you know, why is this happening to me?

John Wayne Walding (00:31:09):

And, and, and knowing that, that first and foremost arrogance to think that this is my path that I’m on, right? It, it’s not, it’s his path. And it’s just my job to do the best that I can on where God has placed me. And, and so I changed that question. I still ask question. It’s, it’s, it’s perfectly okay to question God, you know? But the question is, instead of why me, it’s, it’s, what are you teaching me? Right? What’s the lesson here? Yep. You know, what is this that, that I need to learn? And, and praying that, you know, frankly, that we all need is, what we need is patience <laugh>, right? Americans, I want my money and I want it now. Right? And, and I wanna know now. And, and rather than just having, you know, the, the, the patience to endure what you’re going through, and then learn what that lesson is.

John Wayne Walding (00:31:53):

And, and for me, the lesson ultimately is that you grow, always grow when you struggle, right? Just absolute fact. A yes. And, uh, you know, it’s a struggle to be one-legged, right? It’s a struggle every day to have to put my leg on, deal with nerve pain, to, you know, I start in my day in a wheelchair every day. That’s a struggle. And, and, and the lessons that I’ve learned from this struggle are just absolutely just phenomenal. You know, the first one you even mentioned it, it warms my heart that you said it, it’s humility. Right? You know, um, uh, uh, Tim Ner put it best. He says, you know, Tim, uh, that that humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s just thinking of yourself less. Right? And it’s such a powerful statement. And, and, uh, you know, again, there, there’s a lot of ego when it comes to a lot of accomplishment, right?

John Wayne Walding (00:32:45):

I did this, I did that, I did this. And, you know, you start to trick yourself into thinking, man, I, I got this right. And yes. And, and to not have this, like literally not have a leg and, and to get, you know, force fed that humble pie, you know, it made me realize, holy cow, you know, uh, we can always argue about who’s stronger, but we’re always stronger together, right? And, and that’s what taught me that, that humility and, and I’ll always have that posture going forth, that, that whenever it’s me and Tevin talking or, you know, whatever the deal, if we’re working a deal, you know, it’s not about who’s leading. It’s about how are we doing this together? And, and, uh, you know, that struggle taught me humility. Uh, the next thing it brought me was how about gratitude? Yes. Right here, you know, was grateful to wake up today.

John Wayne Walding (00:33:32):

I know I was, right? You, you talked about having traffic in dc right? What about being grateful that you have a car to be in traffic to begin with, right? Right. Or, or gratitude to have the dollar amount to pay for the gas, to drive the car. Just all those absolutely. Things that people just really don’t have. And, and, uh, again, because I struggle with being an amputee every day, I’m grateful for every single step, right? Because it could be worse. You know, I, instead of being a, I, I’m, I’m a right bologna amputee, I could be an above knee amputee. I could be a double amputee, right? I could have no arms, no legs, like Travis Mills, you know, like, you know, we, we, um, this, this, this country has gotten so in this, you know, culdesac of stupidity, of just chasing happy, right?

John Wayne Walding (00:34:14):

Because, you know, we are all about being happy, right? And just be happy and just all this will, you know, happiness is tied to happenings, right? Something good happens. You’re happy, right? Some bad happens. You’re sad, right? If you’re always just chasing happy, you’re just gonna continually help, you know, let yourself down. And, and, and joy is really what you want. And that comes from gratitude. You know? And, and, um, the, the last thing that really this struggle has taught me and is why I’m bringing it up now, it’s vulnerability. Mm-hmm. Right? Tell me an alpha man that wants to talk about being vulnerable, right? That’s always uncomfortable conversation. They don’t wanna talk about it. And I, I’ll dive right into it, you know, uh, I got no problem with it. Why? Because I’ve talked a genuine and, and significant value of how great it is to ask for help, right?

John Wayne Walding (00:35:03):

Because I’m in a wheelchair. I’ve got to ask for help, even if something as trivial as my daughter, bring me a cup of water, right? Or, or my wife, Hey, you know, I really need your help. And, and, and year after year of, of learning just how much better you are when you do, you know, humble yourself to be vulnerable enough to, to ask yourself, I’m Mary Kay, you know very well, you know, that we lose 22 a day to suicide. And, and, and yes, you know, we know that number’s a lot bigger than that. But that’s just the, uh, you know, the, the, the stereotype that we’ve gotten gotten and, and how many do you think we could save if we just had them that get, just learn the vulnerability to say, I need your help.

Mary Kate Soliva (00:35:46):

Absolutely.

John Wayne Walding (00:35:47):

And, and so that’s why I’m so open and honest about, you know, just the value of, of dealing with that. You know? And so you asked about the transition, and I’m being very long-winded, Mary Kate. So by all means,

Mary Kate Soliva (00:35:58):

I was like, you know, you just mentioned that even almost struck a, it just struck a chord with me too. ’cause literally on my way stuck in DC traffic, I was on the phone with military OneSource trying to find out resources about counseling for, you know, for, so one of my soldiers that’s, that asked for help earlier today. And so it was just mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, just knowing what’s out there. But having that, that courage to ask for help. But one of the things too that’s been sticking out with me as you’ve been talking is, is that sense of purpose that I can hear in, in your voice that you, you, you have or empowered by this. But I’m not ignorant to to think that every combat veteran or ev any ve every veteran at all believes in, in God. But I think that there’s a lot of, of power to be said in that.

Mary Kate Soliva (00:36:42):

And forgiveness is another one that really stuck out to me. ’cause you said you, there was a point, like you said, the first thing you do is cry, but there’s a point where you’re angry. And I think just that, that forgiveness piece is, is really tough for a lot of us. And once we get down to like, forgiving ourselves, I know you mentioned that no American was killed, but in some cases there are Americans killed, and, and there’s that survivor’s guilt. But that forgiveness piece is so important. And my, my favorite hymn is, is, here I Am Lord. And you know, it’s like, I’ve heard you calling in the night. I’ll go if you lead me. And I, you know, and I, I just love that hymn so much. And you know, I, I sing it in my head when I’m rock marching, you know, when I’m scared to death, jumping outta airplanes, <laugh>, you know, thing. That song, I never feel closer to God than when I’m about to jump out of an airplane. Um, but I, I, I just wanted to highlight that. ’cause I, I think it is powerful. There’s power in, in faith, there’s power in believing, and, you know, for, for those us who believe in God, there’s that. But, you know, even if they just believe in a higher power in general to help get them through that point, and forgiveness is, is one of those,

John Wayne Walding (00:37:49):

Well, well, you know, there’s power and purpose

Mary Kate Soliva (00:37:51):

Yes.

John Wayne Walding (00:37:53):

Agreed. And we all have a purpose, right? And to your point, whether it’s God-given or, you know, uh, I jokingly say, I’m not trying to tell you what to believe in Buddha or baby Jesus, right? But, uh, there’s definitely a purpose for you being here. And, and, and you know, I, I’ll, I’ll circle everything to your initial question, which, how did I transition? Well, that’s how you start. And

Mary Kate Soliva (00:38:12):

You know, yeah.

John Wayne Walding (00:38:13):

Service members gotta know that, that, uh, you’re only as, you know, good to others as you are to yourself, right? And, and it starts with just having that brutal honesty with yourself. And, and, and really, every single day get 1% better, right? Just start working at it and start working at it. And the better you get, the better you’re gonna be able to help people. And, you know, and, and that’s what, uh, has, has led me to where I am today, right? With, with, uh, the partnership with Pegasus and, and with Gala Tree, you know, um, that, that 1% better. You know, when I got out of the army, you know, I didn’t have a job. You know, at one point, you know, I was the lead instructor for Chris Kyle’s company, you know, uh, which I thought was awesome that the Navy Seal needed a Green Beret to teach for, right?

John Wayne Walding (00:38:55):

You know? Yes. That, but the, um, before then, I didn’t have a job. And, uh, I, I got up every day and you know what I did? I left. Mm-hmm. You know, and it was actually a contention point with my wife and I, because I didn’t have a job. You know, I live in Dallas, it costs a lot of money to drive on the tollways and gas and, you know, we don’t have a lot of money. And she’s like, Hey, you need to stick your butt here and save money. And I said, babe, for my entire adult life, I’ve gotten up and gone to work. I don’t know where I’m going right now. I don’t know what’s gonna happen. I don’t know what’s gonna, I’m gonna be able to tell you when I come home, but I promise you it’s worth it. Right? And, and, uh, fortunately, you know, again, meeting this guy that met this guy that met this guy that knew Chris Kyle, and, and, you know, got me a job there, and, and ultimately, you know, uh, what was a great time there, but, but he unfortunately passed.

John Wayne Walding (00:39:45):

And, and uh, after that, you know, I, I got in introduced to the, the owner of, of Pegasus, Ken Beam. And, and, uh, his, his love for veterans and, and helping others is, you know, absolutely unparalleled and second to none. And he’s one of the guys that, you know, a lot of people wanna, you know, at one point they just wanna say the love vets put the shoulder on or take a picture and everything. And that’s true. You know, but they don’t, they don’t wanna put their money where their mouth is. And, uh, Ken absolutely do, did that. And, you know, we talked about, ’cause he asked me what my purpose was, you know, and I never had anybody ask me that before, right? Before it was like, job j o b, that’s when, you know, gotta gotta go to work, rather. Yeah. Not what do you want to do in life?

John Wayne Walding (00:40:26):

It’s like, Hey, what’s your purpose? And, and ultimately that’s what gallantry is. It is my purpose. You know, the mission of our, the purpose of gallantry is to provide the next mission, right? I know firsthand what it’s like to have great Americans like Tevin, like Ken, and all the people there to just give me that hand up and root, genuinely wanna help me, you know, because of my service to this country, I wanna forever give that back, right? And not only do I want to give that back, I want to give it back on a significant level, right? Instead of just taking a guy out fishing, buy him a fishing pole, you know, what does he do right? He puts it in the corner and looks at it and says, dang, I wish I can go fishing. You know, I, I wanna not only give him a job where he can afford his own fishing pole, but bring him into a community that he’s missing from his service, right? Just, Hey, come on. I know that you had that there. Let’s build this here. And so the culture and and community that, that pays this has, is absolutely second to none. And I just wanna bring people in, give them that culture, give ’em that, that sense of purpose, and to know that we’re gonna hire as many veterans as possible. And, and, uh, yeah. That, that’s, that’s what gets me pumped up every single day. That’s my why.

Mary Kate Soliva (00:41:33):

I love, I love that. I mean, yes. And I think that’s just a great, great plug there for our listeners to, to really dig deep to find your why. Like, take that time. You mentioned patients earlier. Um, and, and I think there’s a level of, once we’ve experienced, and I keep saying the badassery that we felt when we were in the special operations community, you know, you’re still part of that community even once you hang up the uniform. But there’s something in us that we want to continue serving in another capacity, and we sort of flounder. We may continue driving in circles until we find that purpose, but, like once we find it, like, you know, nothing holds us back, right? And, and I continue to see, uh, veterans doing incredible things. Um, you know, you mentioned about Pegasus and I, you know, te if you could come on and just share a little bit more about your work and your mission, and I’m gonna then circle back with John Wayne about his lived to give and what he’s working on. But te please share

Tevon Taylor (00:42:29):

A Absolutely. I’d love to. You know, Ken Beam, you know, he mentioned that, uh, John Wayne mentioned Ken Beam, who started the company back in 1994. He, you take a, an amazing leader like Ken that cares about people, wants to make a difference in people’s lives, and also be very client-centric. So this little company started in 1994, and in 29 years has grown to, you know, over half a billion dollars. I went from a white glove service where you’re trying to do end deliveries and, and do a lot of the, the niche things that some of, uh, the high value type of, uh, customers need to. Now we’re a, a, a full end-to-end logistics company. I was actually brought on to look at contract logistics and warehousing. And we’ve got 23 sites. I’m in one of them today, 3 million square feet. And it’s, it’s amazing that me, because everyone that I know in the industries, like Pegasus, we haven’t heard of Pegasus.

Tevon Taylor (00:43:26):

You, you, you came from this large company to Pegasus. Why? And honestly, it, it comes to the core values. And I love our core values because you, you see a lot of mission statements and you see a lot of core values, and you’re like, does the company really live that? Is that really kind of what they’re doing? But, you know, our core values, the first one is we wanna be fanatical and passionate about customer satisfaction. And we really are. It’s like, whatever we can do to make that customer happy, let’s figure it out. And every everyone’s all hands on deck make it happen. And the other thing is, there’s no zero sum games. Everybody wins when you do business with Pegasus. And if everybody’s not winning, we gotta figure out how everybody wins, means the customer wins, we win, suppliers win. Um, we look at tomorrow, today.

Tevon Taylor (00:44:13):

So we’re always trying to, to figure out how we can do things differently, how we innovate, how we create things. Um, and the last two things, it’s, it’s not for everyone. It’s only for the best. So, you know, Pegasus is a very unique environment. We work very hard, we play hard. Um, it’s an, an environment that I’ve never seen. It’s a lot of entrepreneurs in the company. Uh, we empower the people to, to make change and to, to deliver that customer satisfaction. And last, and most importantly, the difference is fun. We, we have fun at Pegasus. And, uh, you know, it’s just, it’s great being here. You know, I I, I tell people 27 years into my career, I started in 1996. Uh, I’m just shocked. It took me this long to find the company that fits what I look at culturally and what I want to do.

Tevon Taylor (00:45:01):

And I think this company’s amazing. And all of a sudden I find out about gallantry, where, you know, gallantry, uh, Pegasus really helps power gallantry business. Um, John Wayne drives a, you know, diversity owned company. We help him on the transportation logistics side. And I met him, I go, gosh, I don’t think it can get any better in this. Because <laugh>, it matches up to exactly what our core values are. And John Wayne and his personality and everything he’s doing, it’s like, this is this just, this is awesome. So yeah, a little bit of a pitch there. Not trying to do that, but, uh, that, that’s Pegasus in a nutshell. So it’s, you know, amazing company, good times.

Mary Kate Soliva (00:45:41):

I love that. ’cause it really is a match made in heaven. And I know our listeners weren’t as fortunate as me to, to get to talk to you all in depth as I did prior to the re this reporting. Uh, but to you two are hilarious, you know, and just start off with that. Like, um, and so I love what you just said too about having fun, but there, there’s a level of, of purpose there and, and synergy and values. Um, and, and like I said, I, I hear it in your voice, Kevin. I hear it in your voice, John Wayne. Uh, you know, I don’t, I don’t always get people, um, that, that I interact with that can say that they genuinely love what they do and, and what a blessing that is that you both get to say that and, uh, and get to do it together. So, uh, you know, Joan, we, if I could just, you know, if you could just circle back about your advice. I know you’d mentioned it to me on our, our first call, um, just advice for those who, who are transitioning. And then if you could, you know, go, go right into what you’re doing now with live to Give. ’cause I, I think that’s something that even those in transition just gonna feel super inspired by what you’re working on now.

John Wayne Walding (00:46:45):

Yeah. The, the biggest advice that I’d give to those that are transitions, just don’t give up, right? Like, you know, uh, what’s embrace the suck, right? That’s something that we, we learned, oh

Mary Kate Soliva (00:46:55):

Gosh, that hasn’t changed since, you know,

John Wayne Walding (00:46:58):

<laugh>, the suck in the Army is the suck in the civilian world, right? And, and, and just realize, you know, really not a couple things, right? One, have a realistic expectation, right? When, when you’re, you’re getting out at, at the pinnacle of your, you know, your professional career in the military, but, uh, don’t expect to translate exactly that into the civilian world, right? You gotta come back down a little bit to build up. Uh, yep. Yeah. I own a company and I’m the c e o and got, you know, people hired and it’s awesome. We’re doing, you know, millions in revenue and all that stuff. But guess what I did when I first got here? I sat in a cubicle next to a 20 year old kid learning how to route freight, right? Like <laugh> I humbled myself to realize I know where I want to be, right?

John Wayne Walding (00:47:40):

I got out here, but I’m gonna come down here for a little bit. And, and, uh, you know, again, humble myself to learn the business. At least know enough to know that by the time I, I’m really taking the reins on this thing that I can, right? So, right. So just have that realistic, you know, don’t give up is the first thing, you know, have a realistic expectation. And again, ask for help. There’s, there are so many people, not only that can help but genuinely want to help. You know, that’s one of the things that I’ve learned in since being, you know, I got shot 2008 and, and from that data today, you know, uh, uh, when I first, you know, went, went on a, a wounded veteran event, and, and, uh, these people wanted to give you this or take you here, whatever, it really is awkward, right?

John Wayne Walding (00:48:23):

You don’t want it. You don’t, oh, I don’t need this, I don’t need that. Well, I started realizing that it’s not about me, right? It’s about us. Right? They can’t serve, they can’t go down there and pull that trigger. But I can. But what they can do, since I went and did that, they can help me afterwards, right? And it really is a two-way street. So this is something that, that not only, you know, can they do it, but they want to do it. So, you know, get over yourself a little bit and allow that person to help you. And, and you, I’m telling you, you’re always gonna be better for it, right? Because it’s just a win-win situation to TE’s point, right? That, that their culture, if you, if you notice what their core values are, they sound a lot like special operations, right?

John Wayne Walding (00:49:04):

It’s only for the best, right? Yep. Looking for tomorrow. So we’re all about technology, you know, we’re, we are fanatically and passionate about what we do, right? And I promise I didn’t become a Green Beret. ’cause I like it. I did it ’cause I love it, <laugh>. If I only liked it, I quit. ’cause it’s that hard. You, you know? And, and guess what? It’s fun being a Green Beret, right? And so there there’s a lot of, uh, of synergies that, that we have. And, and why is, ’cause I’ve, I’ve asked for help and I went into there and they, they’ve helped me, you know, uh, get me to where I can. And, and because of that, we’re gonna hire a bunch of people. And, and, uh, so that’s one thing. You know, the quick three things that I, I tell people, you know, that are transitioning is just don’t, don’t give up. You know? Uh, have a realistic expectation, right? Just be that, you know, that thing and, and then never, you know, get over yourself and, and don’t be afraid to ask for help. Yeah.

Mary Kate Soliva (00:49:51):

I love that. And, and what I was actually picturing at the, the tail end of what you just said was, um, thinking about those, those ruck marches. I remember when I was at, at selection, you know, for Psyop, I saw a team of, of Ssf guys going at S F A S going by. And, you know, here we are, like taking a knee with our small packs, <laugh>. And, and I, I swear this guy had to have been carrying 90 pounds on his back, and I just couldn’t believe like he was hunched over. But he, he was carrying it. And, and he wasn’t much taller than I was, but he was carrying that weight. And I, I just think about that, about how they ingrain it in us to carry our own load. And, and that sticks with us even when we’re transitioning out that we gotta carry our own weight.

Mary Kate Soliva (00:50:33):

Like, this is our problem, not somebody else’s. This is my family to take care of. I’m the breadwinner. I gotta figure this out. I gotta find answers myself. Um, but there’s that also that aspect of the team. And, you know, and, and I stick of that, that time where I was, I could feel my, my body <laugh> starting to shut down from the wear tear on this one ruck march. And I had a soldier walk by and he pulled out a piece of poundcake outta his cargo pocket. I don’t, probably from an m r e, he didn’t even have any wrapping on it. He just hands it over to me with this dirty hand. I just took that <laugh> little piece of poundcake and put in my mouth and I was like, brother, you just saved my life. I feel like, you know, it is just such a small example of just how, you know, he saw <laugh> dire need is a just a, just a funny story there of and, and just helping me. But in all seriousness, I think that, of that analogy of just getting ingrained in us to carry our own load, but in this, in this case, it, it’s okay. Like you said, it is okay to cry. It’s okay to know that you, you’ve reached what you can do at that time. It doesn’t mean that you can’t get stronger and better and, and have the answers laid down the road, but it’s time to ask for help and it’s okay to do so.

John Wayne Walding (00:51:45):

Yeah. And if something bad happens that, again, don’t quit, right? Yeah. Everybody, everybody’s had a bad haircut before, doesn’t mean you stop getting haircuts. <laugh>. Right?

Mary Kate Soliva (00:51:54):

<laugh>, that’s a great analogy too. Yeah. I can visualize that one.

John Wayne Walding (00:51:58):

Yeah. So if you, you know, uh, go out there and you do ask for help or, you know, this opportunity you thought was great, didn’t turn out to be great, well just keep trying, you know, it, it’ll get there. That, you know, the, that just that relentlessness of, of never quitting, never give up like we learned in the military. Just transfer it to the civilian side and, and you’re gonna be bare for it. Like, you know, so going back to, you know, so you asked me about live to give, you know, that’s, uh, something that I founded a few years ago with a few other people that, you know, the whole purpose of that is, you know, to, uh, we give, you know, we wanna be like the Newman’s own for veterans, you know, when you go into whatever grocery it is, you see the Newman Zone, well, they give, you know, their proceeds to charities, right?

John Wayne Walding (00:52:37):

And, and that’s what we wanna do. You know, every bottle of of water that you buy, we give half back to veteran and first responder charities, right? That’s just love that your hand, you know, three inches to the right. Take it off Smart water, put it on live to give and change lives, you know? And, and that’s, we got a great team doing that. You know? Um, I’m definitely focused on the day-to-day in, in, uh, gallantry. And that’s where I, you know, do the majority of my time. But I’m, I’m the unfortunate face of the franchise for, for

Mary Kate Soliva (00:53:04):

<crosstalk>. Oh yeah. Come on.

John Wayne Walding (00:53:06):

Tell

Mary Kate Soliva (00:53:06):

Us John Wayne, where, where’s live to get, where, where can, um, listeners find, find what you’re, the work that you’re doing? Is it all over?

John Wayne Walding (00:53:13):

Yeah, we’re a regional company right now. We, we are in, uh, uh, H e B 245 HEBs, a lot of stuff in the dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. And, and, uh, we’re trying to get into a fees. Uh, so if you know anybody at a fees <laugh>, let let us know. I’ll tell you, it’s easier to fight the Taliban to get an A fees. Right. I, it was one of those things I, I never, I didn’t know it was so hard to get into there. You be a slam dunk, right? You mean you get back to veterans. Sure. Come get on post. And, and, uh, but, uh, it’s, it’s been a, a, a tough ride there than, uh, we thought, but

Mary Kate Soliva (00:53:44):

Oh my goodness. Yeah. No, it’s, I love that. And, um, and, uh, for Gallantry Global Logistics, so, um, you know, mentioning, uh, some of the, the work Kevin that you’re doing with, with John Wayne, was there something, anything y’all got stewing right now that you wanted to, to highlight?

Tevon Taylor (00:54:02):

You know, we we’re, we’re working on a lot of, uh, you know, obviously large government contractor type of, uh, scenarios. But, you know, look, if if, if there’s an opportunity for anyone that’s got freight moving and there’s a consequence of failure and they need a company to support them and give them kind of the white glove service, if you will look, that, that’s, that’s what we’re targeting. Not every customer’s right. Fit. So, you know, I would say there’s usually a little velocity and volume to the, the shipments as well. But the cool thing here is John, Wayne and I, we can jump in and, and support our customers and, you know, those that, uh, need some support, they can, they can reach me. It’s very easy. tTaylor@pegasuslogistics.com. And I don’t usually give my phone number out when my, the lights go off in this building. But I will say this, everyone has my old phone number for my previous experience. And it’s, it’s baffling when people reach out to me on LinkedIn and say, Hey, I’ve called you 10 times, you’re not reaching back out to me. I’m like, my phone number changed. So I would say this, go to my LinkedIn, uh, my new phone number’s out there, but, uh, would love to engage with any clients.

Mary Kate Soliva (00:55:10):

Thank you so much. And, and, uh, we’ll be sure to, you know, to, to put that on our, our site as well and, and our post of, of how folks can reach out to you. And, and John Wayne, I did wanna to loop back about what you said about supporting first responders. ’cause you, you know, we, we’ve been talking this whole time about veterans and the, and the transition, and could you just highlight real quick about what made you include first responders as well, and what you’re doing as far as giving back? Yeah,

John Wayne Walding (00:55:35):

I, I mean, that’s a very easy answer, right? Yeah. Because they’re the ones that protect us here, right? We go and protect those, uh, uh, uh, uh, off the soil. And if, if we don’t have police and fire, we’re, well, we’re one, one incident away from anarchy, you know, and, and, and they go and they, you know, hold that frontline here just as much as we do over there. And, and so, uh, it was just a, a, a very natural and easy, you know, conversation to have when we, uh, you know, started this about, hey, okay, you know, where’s our left and right limit? Right? Who are we gonna help? You know, it’s hard getting Air Force in. We’re like, ah, I guess we’ll let ’em in, you know, I’m kids. But, uh, it was, it was real easy, you know, uh, conversation to say, Hey, we need to have the first responder is, you know, personally, you know, my wife’s whole side of her family are all first responders. And, and, uh, yeah. And, and it’s just so, you know, something that, that, uh, we all gotta make sure we remember.

Mary Kate Soliva (00:56:26):

No, I love that. And, and you, it’s, you, you hit the nail on the head talking about they’re, they’re the ones fighting here at home, on the home front. So, you know, protecting both and, and making sure that those resources are available to them require funding, right? For it to support veterans and first responders, whether it’s their transition or beyond, or even those still dawn in the uniform. So, uh, you know, thank you so much, John, Wayne and Tevin. I, I know I could continue talking to you all day. And <laugh>, we may have to invite you, welcome you all back anytime to, uh, join us on Veteran Voices, where we continue to interview veterans serving beyond the uniform. And you are certainly doing that times, uh, 10 tenfold. So, John Wayne, how can, how can our listeners get ahold of you? How can they support your efforts? Where should they go? That’s

John Wayne Walding (00:57:14):

A good question. Uh, definitely, you know, gallantry logistics.com is the website for our, uh, our logistics company. Uh, obviously I, I’ve got, I don’t do social media. Uh, I’m, I’m one of those guys. I kind of run from all that. And, uh, uh, but I do have a LinkedIn, so you can look me up on LinkedIn. I don’t know if it’s private or not, but, uh, you know, I’m not on there often, but definitely reach out to me there and, and, uh, and yeah, that, that’s how you get in touch with us.

Mary Kate Soliva (00:57:39):

Fantastic. And, um, yeah, and Tim, a anything, I know you said you’re about sharing the old number. Did you have anything else about as far as how folks can you, are you on LinkedIn? I, I mean, as far, I know I we’re connected on LinkedIn, but are you welcoming everybody sitting? Yeah, I’m,

Tevon Taylor (00:57:54):

I’m, I’m a, I’m a LinkedIn, uh, yeah, I, I won’t say the word, but yeah, I absolutely use LinkedIn quite a bit. I, I’m in sales, you, LinkedIn is the best tool to be connected in the network, so I I absolutely use it. Yeah, he’s awesome. Yeah, it’s, it’s a great tool for me. I’m on Facebook and Twitter, but I don’t use it. It’s just, uh, I’m the guy that just looks at it and goes, gosh, these people are kind of silly. But,

Mary Kate Soliva (00:58:16):

Uh, I’m so glad that you dressed up for us today too. Thank you so much for, uh, <laugh>.

Tevon Taylor (00:58:21):

I got a haircut. I almost shaved, I took a shower. It was just for John Wayne. Yeah. I I feel like it took me three months to grow this beard. Look at him. He’s drizzly looking.

John Wayne Walding (00:58:32):

I trim mine. Yeah. Yeah.

Tevon Taylor (00:58:34):

<laugh>. That’s great. Mary Kate, you’ve been awesome. I’m not used to being so quiet on these, but I don’t need to talk. I got John Wayne Walden, he’s got the greatest story on the planet. So this is the first time I’ve done a podcast and I literally had to bite my, my tongue. ’cause I have nothing to say compared to what he’s gonna tell you.

Mary Kate Soliva (00:58:50):

No, I don’t know about that, but I, you know, honestly, both, both of you have been such a joy. And, uh, that’s why I feel like we almost need like a comedy run because it’s just like fire rapid fire here. Like how quick you guys are <laugh> back at each other. But I mean, that’s, that’s what, that’s the love and the brotherhood underneath all of it, right? It’s like, yeah, there’s the, the business piece, the for-profit piece that keeps the lights on, but there’s, there’s this piece that’s, you know, willing to drop whatever you got going on to, uh, to help one another out. And so that’s, that’s why I love doing this. That’s why I love connecting and bridging that gap with our listeners, with folks like yourselves, John Wayne, American Hero here. Thank you so much again for your service and sacrifice and, and to your wife, your daughter, your family, for, you know, standing by you through the thick and thin, you know, just wanted to shout out to them as well because, you know, I, I think that just the family piece is so important and, um, absolutely right. And, and sending out that, that, God bless to everybody, you know, everybody tune in. Thank you so much for tuning into Veteran Voices. Tune into wherever you get your podcast from and, and please join us again to hear more stories from other veterans continuing to serve beyond the uniform. Uh, and, and with that, I thank you all, uh, do good and be the change that’s seen as John Wayne said, you know, go out there, find your purpose, and, and don’t quit. Don’t give up. Uh, we’ll see you all next time.