The WAY to WOW Shows
Veterans & Civilians Connect
March 11, 2025
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[0:00] who are you and where are you going what do you [Music] want hello and welcome to business lessons from the military I'm your host Kevin bemel has been the case for about a week now I'm doing a show with uh with not a full voice so uh and and have once again forgotten to close my

[0:36] email so if you saw the promotions for today's episode I was supposed to have a guest um at the last minute he wasn't able to make it um and so I'm I'm doing kind of a pinch hit episode here um for for a few minutes and uh what I want to talk about is the Navy League of the United States so um for those of you who have never heard of this organization uh it it is a really a place where uh military people and civilians work

[1:14] together uh for the the the good of our our country um in and in particular the sea what are known as the sea Services um and and um I view it both through that um and through um another lens that's appropriate to to this show so uh I'm I'm going to show you their website first uh just so you can get a uh a sense of of the Navy League and let's enlarge this there you

[1:52] go so excuse me this this is the like I said the website for the Navy League of the United States and there is a National Organization if you scroll all the way down the bottom you'll see it's in Arlington Virginia which of course is just outside Washington DC and it essentially operates on both a national and local level um because there are um what are called local councils of the Beverly Hills Navy League and then those then there's you

[2:27] know regions and such you know as r any organization um I happen to be president of the Beverly Hills Council um and um I'm uh working with uh my team on on rebuilding what is uh a council that's been around at least for 60 years so you can see here some of the different issues it it it the Navy League deals with I want to take a look at this though um our mission educate Advocate support now I I think it's funny because you know the the Navy League is a CA service-based organization I would have

[3:03] thought they would have made it support educate advocate in other words s a c um but I but I guess not um but in any event there is three parts to the Navy leagues uh mission one is to educate people about U the sea Services which are the United States Marine Corps the United States Navy the United States Coast Guard and the United States Merchant Marine and to advocate for uh um uh legislation that benefits the C services so uh just this morning I

[3:38] received an email alerting me about uh a bill that's proposed in Congress to make sure that uh service members get paid even if uh the government shuts down um I can tell you uh as as someone who was impacted by that situation uh going back now about 10 years ago I was the chaplain for uh um subron 11 based in um Point LMA which is kind of San Diego area and um I was coming up on the end

[4:14] of of my activation as a reservist uh you know working with subron 11 uh submarine Squadron 11 subon 11 and they wanted to extend me and then um there was a government shutdown and there was no money and so they even had to send me home just a few days early so you know I'm I'm sympathetic to to the issue uh and then there's support support for U um our service members um my fellow uh service members veterans in in the sea

[4:51] Services pardon me um if you were to become a member of uh the Navy League you would see that um there are um opportunities first of all to get educated for example through C power magazine which is included in your membership um there are ways to to give to to do support so those are educate and uh support and then there's ways to advocate for the mission which is to support a a strong Navy um and a

[5:29] and a well a a strong defense primarily through the Navy uh Marine Corps and and Coast Guard um The Merchant Marine in United States is a rather um you know small um part of of of of our um infrastructure these days of course it was much bigger um back in the days of uh World War II and such and you can see some of the organizations that uh support the Navy League um some of the usual suspects Airbus us space and

[6:06] defense which presumably is associated with Airbus the um the European uh aircraft manufacturer there's baa systems which is a big contractor to the military Boeing um you know there's all you know I mean there's obviously these These are in you know alphabetical order here's Curtis Wright um ey Ernest what was formerly known as Ernest and these are all again the big big companies that are uh involved um in supporting the sea services and then there are official Partners um united through Reading

[6:42] virtual Flight Academy vets jobs Etc um these are all organizations that uh support uh uh veterans um in some cases in particular um uh Navy I know U we had when I was deployed um on on on the USS Ronald Reagan we had a united through Reading Program um that was uh taking place on the ship uh Navy Services family line obviously that is um that's explaining what that's all about um so and you see lots of of

[7:17] images of of uh of Navy and Marine Corps life um so and you can click here learn about the Navy League so here's here's the mission and um it gives you a little bit of the history so the Navy League of United States was founded in 1902 with the support of President Theodore Roosevelt and it's a nonprofit civilian education educational and advocacy organization uh supporting America's sea services so um so I'm gonna I'm gonna go off the website now stop sharing there we go and give

[7:53] you just a little bit of a history of of the US uh of the Navy League of the United States so um it it was it was founded as I said on October 9th 1902 so over 100 years ago 122 years ago U president Theodore Roosevelt was in office at the time he was um he was famous for saying speak softly and carry a big stick that was kind of his certainly his foreign Pol his for foreign policy uh philosophy um among the other people involved in the founding of the Navy League of United

[8:29] States is uh or were uh Charles uh kramp he was a well-known ship builder in Philadelphia and he advocated for a strong Navy um William H ston um who was a foral former US Navy officer and a lawyer um and he was one of the early leaders of the organization uh John W Griggs who was a former US attorney general and an advocate for Naval expansion and Frank Murphy who was a businessman and former governor of New Jersey who was also uh involved in

[9:04] Military and and specifically Naval Affairs so these were all very high-profile individuals um and uh the idea again was to uh promote Naval expansion um America really since its founding was a seagoing nation much of our prosperity was connected to Seaborn trade and and so uh you know it it a Navy League is a natural extension of

[9:40] the support for American Prosperity so uh in the early 20th century um the Navy League actively promoted Naval expansion and modernization um for those of you who recall this uh Theodore Roosevelt promoted something called U the Great White Fleet it was a um a fleet of ships that uh circumnavigated the globe on on kind of a uh public relations tour for the United States um it

[10:16] uh it it took place uh from 1907 to 1909 and the Navy League was uh important in bringing about the construction of and and public enthusiasm for um the Great White Fleet and its world tours so the Navy league organized events and Publications gave speeches about the importance of Naval strength and National Security and Global Prestige um and and of course um many members many members of the Navy League were

[10:52] influential businessmen and ship Builders who lobbied for ship construction now you you could argue that they were benefiting from that um you know ever has it been thus um and um the outcome was that the Great White Fleet was composed of 16 battleships and and various support vessels painted in a a a a very striking white color scheme and like I said they they uh toured you know around the world um they were steel hold

[11:28] battles ships which was um I don't want to say it was new for the time but but um the way they were built was uh really at the peak of Naval Innovation the coal uh um uh turbines that powered them were the most efficient of their day the the ships were really uh you know something to you know to behold um uh in in their time of course by today's standards they be completely outdated so uh and and I I

[12:04] talked about um the the mission of of the United States Navy League um they they do host uh events including the annual seair space Exposition which is the largest Maritime Exposition in the United States um I know my at one point my dad talked about potentially us going to see it and unfortunately we we never had the opportunity to do that um but uh my dad I know loved going to exhibitions of I know we went and saw I believe it was a B7 and um you know he loved to go see

[12:40] airx air expositions and and uh and and see you know ships and such so um his his time in the Navy was uh one of the most influential in his life and uh um you know I was happy that my dad was uh proud to see me join the Navy um as at the rip old age of of 46 um but it was it was a bonding experience for us so why am I talking about the Navy League on a show called business lessons

[13:16] from the military well um as part of my plan for rebuilding the Beverly Hills Navy League one of the things I'm I point out to as I talk to prospective members and people people to be involved is there is a lot of benefit from a business perspective to being involved in an organization with people who share the values of that organization and so I look at the Navy League as such an organization it's a nonprofit uh we donate our time to uh

[13:51] help service members help our fellow citizens and uh people who were involved in it share uh at least some similar values and so for creating a relationships business relationships um it's important to have some similar values and interests and so an organization like the US Navy League uh provides that that benefit and so you know as you if if if you are uh a

[14:27] veteran former military and you're building a professional career uh I I I would encourage you to look at organizations like uh the Navy League where um it's not just um veterans who are involved so I happen to be a member of um the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars uh both of those are veteran focused organizations and the people who are involved with them are people who served in the military and it's it's all

[15:03] it's it's good to be connected to you know our fellow service members if if if you're a veteran like me uh but I think it's also it's as important to be an or in an organization where uh we work alongside our fellow citizens who have not been in the military um and and and build those sort of somewhat cultural but hopefully similar values-based relationships and the Navy League is an organization uh that that does that um I

[15:41] I don't know if there are similar organizations for the Army and the Air Force um but uh I I I know that's the case for uh for for the Navy League by the way so is the uh Naval Institute um which uh uh I'm I'm involved with I I um they have a magazine called proceedings that I've written uh articles for um and uh one of them was published some time ago um and it was talking about just this issue the the connection that needs to be developed and strengthened between

[16:19] uh people serving in the military and Veterans and our fellow citizens who who don't who have not served um this is we don't live in a time like World War II when when such a huge percentage of Americans uh spent time in uniform um and even if it wasn't in uniform they were closely they were so involved with the war effort maybe working in a war plant building the material of Victory uh you know now a small a very tiny percentage of Americans less than one% of Americans at any given time are

[16:55] are serving in the military and um I think perhaps 5% maybe 7% of Americans have served in the military at some time so it's a very low percentage compared to uh postor War II when when those numbers would have been something like probably 20 to 25% had served in in in the military at some time uh during World War II so by um by reaching out to our fellow citizens giving them the opportunity to get to to

[17:31] know us as veterans ask us questions learn about what it's really like to be in the military so we can we can build those bridges to use a cliche and we can also uh build our Effectiveness being in business whether it's our own business or working for another company but having those those close connections will be of of tremendous value and so that's that's the business lesson uh from for from the military that um I I have for you today uh a short a short

[18:06] short show today um as I pinch hit um and hopefully um I'll be able to reschedule um my my guest um for uh you know for for another day so I'm thank you very much for for joining me on this kind of short show here um tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time is my show bu uh people making money and my guests are Michael psky uh Andrew Mason and Gavin Banky they are the uh Founders and operators

[18:41] of underground Studios right here in Los Angeles um their their studios are in downtown Los Angeles as a matter of fact and these are three tremendously um uh um what's the word I'm looking for um they're they're they're um enthusiastic and committed young entrepreneurs and and I think you will learn a lot um from from listening to them so looking forward to to talking to Mike Andrew and Gavin uh tomorrow um

[19:17] I've gotten to know them over the last year and and impressive is the word I I I was I was searching for so I hope you'll join me tomorrow at 10: a.m. Pacific time for people making money and then on Thursday at 5:00 pm Pacific time is my every other week show jigger's place we're going to sit back and have a a cocktail uh and uh let me tell you what the cocktail is called I should have had this ready um but uh I I forgot to do so hold on one second here and yes ah the

[19:52] Civic Revival and uh I this is a cocktail I co-designed with chat GPT U it's always a fun thing to do and my topic is um how we can um Revitalize uh social institutions um our trust in in in such institutions is at an all-time low and I I don't think that's a good thing we we we need to be able to trust our institutions but how how do how do how do they regain trust having lost it so

[20:28] that's going to be our topic over a cocktail tomorrow I'm sorry not tomorrow Thursday at 5:00 pm Pacific time and then next week at uh on Monday at 10:00 a. is my show trust and Estates weekly and then uh seven days from today we'll be back for the next edition of business lessons from the military so thank you so much for joining me today wish you a wonderful rest of the day and signing off as I always do Marie darling