My dad told me, you know, never see your skin color as a hindrance or an obstacle.

And that's why the name calling all the other Mickey Mouse doesn't mean anything to me.

You know, I don't hear names. I've been shot our special guest today, Lieutenant Colonel Alan West. He's awesome. You're going to love him. We'll get him in just one second. First, let's talk about the teeter inversion table. Listen, I get back pain and neck pain sometimes. And with a teeter inversion table, you use gravity and your own body weight to decompress your spine and relieve pressure on your discs and surrounding nerves. Decompressing on a teeter inversion table for a few minutes today, it's a great addition to anyone's daily routine to maintain a healthy spine and active lifestyle without the pain. My personal trainer actually uses a teeter inversion table all the time for himself. If you got back pain, even if you've been lucky enough to avoid back pain, actually, you need a teeter to invert every day and keep your back in joints feeling really good.

I feel totally better once I use the teeter inversion table. It decompressed it. That's fine. It's great for the shoulders, too. I've done my homework. This is the best inversion table on the market, which is why over 3 million people have put their trust in Teeter. they've been the best known name in Inversion Table since 1981,

and they right now are offering a terrific deal

just for my listeners for a limited time.

You can get the brand new 2019 Teter fitz spine inversion table model with a bonus accessory and free pair of gravity boots. So you can invert it home or take the boots with you to the gym. Teeter inversion tables have thousands of reviews on Amazon. They're rated at 4.6 stars. And with this deal, you'll get 150 bucks off when you go to teeter.com slash ben. Again, you get free shipping, free return, 60-day money back guarantee, so no risk to try it out. And you can only get that new 2019 Teter fits by an inversion table plus that free pair of gravity boots by going to Teter.com slash Ben. That's T-E-E-T-R.com slash Ben. Lieutenant Colonel West, thanks so much for showing up i really appreciate it and i need probably need one of those uh inversion things you know for all those jumpers out of airplanes i've done so let's start by let me asking about your your military career a little bit so for folks who don't know anything about you you grew up in georgia in a democratic family then you served for 21 years in the military. So can you kind of give your background, your life story in a nutshell? Well, you know, I grew up in the same neighborhood that gave us Dr. Marlitha King Jr. It's called the old Fourth Ward neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia, and my elementary school was right across the street from Ebenezer Baptist Church. And to grow up in a family where, first of all, unlike many young black kids today,

I had a great mother and father in the home. My dad was a corporal in World War II. My mother

worked with a Marine Corps headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. They would probably tell me my hair is

too long right now, but God rest their souls. And I will never forget, at the age of 15,

my dad challenged me to be the first officer

in our family, because my older brother was a Lance Corporal and Marine Corps doing Vietnam. He was

wounded there, but he got out okay. So my trek started in high school junior ROTC. I went to

ROTC at the University of Tennessee, got commissioned 31 1982. And I'd still try to live up to

that commission and that oath to support and defend the Constitution. And the great thing is

that, you know, my nephew now is a major in the Army, following my footsteps as a paratrooper and

artillery officer, continuing that service, sacrifice, and commitment that we've done in our family.

Well, what do you think are the military set of values that differentiate so many folks in the military from sort of the mainstream American population, the vast majority of whom not only have never served, I mean, I never served, you know, and thank God for folks like you who did, but who don't even know people who have served? What do you think differentiates that value system? It's two things. It's service above self and a no-quid attitude.

You know, I always tell people, they, folks ask, who's your greatest military, you know, hero and everything? I'll talk about Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. And if you study the Battle of Gettysburg, and here was a guy, was just a simple professor of rhetoric at Bowdoin College in Maine. But because he was an educated man, he got a commission. He was put in charge of a regiment, the 20th Maine regiment. And on that second day of Gettysburg, when the ammunition is running out, casualties are mounting, the 20th Alabama is still charged in the hill. And they fixed bayonets, the first bayonet charge in the Union Army. And they saved not just the day at Gettysburg,

but they probably saved this Union because if Lee and the Army in Northern Virginia had been successful in Gettysburg, they would have marched on. So here's Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, just a simple man, a professor of redder, ends up being awarded the Medal of Honor, it becomes a governor, two-time governor of the state of Maine.

That's what America produces.

And I think that if we can get back, ends up being awarded the Medal of Honor, becomes a governor, two-time governor of the state of Maine.

...