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- [00:00]
Yancy Baer
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:02]
Brigadier General Tom Landroemeyer
Guaranteed Human.
- [00:09]
Newt Gingrich
On this episode of Nurture World, I am delighted to introduce a nonprofit organization supporting our veterans and making a real difference in their lives. Homes for Our Troops is a publicly funded nonprofit organization that builds and donates specially adapted custom homes nationwide for severely injured post 911 veterans to enable them to rebuild their lives. Most of these veterans have sustained injuries, including multiple limb amputations, partial or full paralysis, blindness, severe burns, and or severe traumatic brain injury. These homes restore some of the freedom and independence our veterans sacrificed while defending our country and enable them to focus on their family recovery and rebuilding their lives. Since its inception in 2004, nearly 90 cents out of every dollar spent has gone directly to program Services for veterans. Homes for Our Troops builds these homes where the veteran chooses to live and continues its relationship with the veteran after home delivery to assist them with rebuilding their lives. So I'm really pleased to welcome my two guests, President and CEO of Homes for Our Troops, Brigadier General U.S. army retired Tom Landroemeyer, and veteran Yahtzee Bear. Tom and Yancy, welcome and thank you for joining me on Newts World. And let me say thank you both for your service to our great country.
- [02:02]
Brigadier General Tom Landroemeyer
Sir, thanks for having us. It was absolutely an honor to serve.
- [02:06]
Yancy Baer
Yes, sir. Thank you for what you do, and thank you for getting this message out, sir.
- [02:11]
Newt Gingrich
Well, Tom, let me start with you. Tell us a little bit more about the mission of Homes for Our Troops and how you became equated with Yancy.
- [02:21]
Brigadier General Tom Landroemeyer
Yes, sir. First Officer, I'd say with your intro there, if I could afford you, I would hire you because you've got all of our information down just perfectly, and we appreciate that. But one of the things you mentioned is the most unique thing about us at Homes for Our Troops is that we stay in contact with our veterans after we give them the keys. We need feedback on more than 40 special adaptations that are designed into every one of these homes to help restore that freedom of independence to the veteran. And we have to get that feedback from the veterans and the families that are in our homes because we're constantly tweaking our house plans. But the most important reason we stay in contact with them is the rebuilding lives aspect. We do build these homes we built in 46 states. Tomorrow we're giving away our 429th home. We're rapidly approaching 500. But the most important thing to us is what goes on after these veterans get into their homes. They have challenges living in a regular home environment. It's just not safe and is not Fully accessible really ratchets up the stress across the family unit frustrations rise. And I think all of your listeners and certainly all of our patriots across the country would agree that these veterans have served and fought enough downrange for us. They shouldn't have to continue to fight through frustrations living in their home. Their home ought to be a place of respite, and that's where our homes come in. All these veterans can apply to us. They're all post 911 veterans whose injuries or sicknesses actually are traced back to their duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, theaters of war, during the wars. And they come to us and we have a short application form that we'll have them fill out. We'll do a background check. Only a couple times have we ever come up with something in the background that our donors and supporters wouldn't agree with. So we do that just to make sure. And if they have something in there, then we just tell them that they're not qualified for the program and move on. We'll bring them into the family. We'll ask them where they want to live. Because our veterans get to choose. We're trying to build this as their forever home. And in order to do that, we need to make sure where they want to live, where they want their forever home, and what they want to do with their lives afterwards. Because the more we can work into that in the location of their home, the longer we think they'll stay in it. We want them to stay in it, raise their kids, have their kids come back, have grandkids come back, and it be the family home. That's what we're after. And for the most part, that's what happens. But these guys and gals, I think you would agree with me that even though we are a charity, our mission isn't charity. It really is the duty of our country to take care of these veterans and their families. Every single one of these post 911 veterans volunteered to serve because we haven't had a draft since 1973. So they're all volunteers. When it was their time, they deployed with their units, they went down range in the blink of an eye, their lives and their families lives changed forever. Our organization is just the one that can help great Americans support these veterans and take care of them and help repay a very small portion of a debt that will never be completely repaid.
- [05:35]
Newt Gingrich
Tom, given your army background, what led you to decide that this is where you were going to invest your energy and your capabilities?
- [05:45]
Brigadier General Tom Landroemeyer
I spent 33 years in the army after graduating From West Point in 76. I retired in 2009 and decided instead of going into the corporate world, that I wanted to go in the non profit sector and just continue to serve somehow. I really wanted to get in with something that worked with military kids was what I was really after. I landed initially as the COO with the Armed Services YMCA that was supporting junior enlisted troops with programs and services, and that was wonderful. In about five years into that, I had a buddy that approached me that I'd served with previously who was the last president of Homes for Our Troops. And he said that he was leaving and he said, why don't you check it out and if you want to compete for the position, let me know. And I went to the website and got to the point where I was looking at all the videos that we have on the website from all the veterans that we support. And you could see on that video as they're coming into the program and they talk a little bit about their story and then they talk about the challenges they have in their current living environment and they talk about what they're looking forward to in a home. It was unbelievable. I was just writing down the words that they were using. My wife saw me watching all these videos and I said, hey, why don't you sit down and watch one of these? And she said, oh, no, no, no, no. I said, no, just one. Just watch one. So she pulled up a chair and I just hit replay on the one I just watched. And since I'd seen that, I kind of sat back and was watching her. And she started out in the normal, arms crossed, uncrossed, lean forward, head on her hands. And when it got done, she looked over at me and said, play another one. I said, exactly. That's exactly it. And she said, if you don't compete for this position, you're a fool. So less than 24 hours later, I was finding out how to throw my hat in the ring. And about three months later, and a couple of inquisitions from some of the board members, I had a position started in January 17th and haven't looked back.
- [07:43]
Newt Gingrich
That's a great story. Now, Yancy, as I understand it, you grew up in a small town in Oklahoma and you were kind of looking for growth and opportunity. What was it about the military that attracted you as the right path?
- [08:01]
Yancy Baer
Yes, sir. It was honestly just getting out of the small town, going to school. I joined the army infantry for a four year stint to pay for college. That's what it was about for me at that time, to get me out of this small town where a lot of my friends were starting to get into trouble, starting to get into things they shouldn't be getting into. And I didn't want to be there and see that and continue to be on that path. And I just had this drive to further my education, and that was the only way it was going to happen for me was to join the Army. And I did my first four years, and I really enjoyed what I was doing. The structure, the discipline, the freedom, even. That's a lot of people don't understand that about the military is the freedom you achieve also. And I've ended up doing it for quite a few years and loved every day of it and wouldn't take a single day back.
- [08:55]
Newt Gingrich
You deployed, I think, four different times into combat zones. That's a pretty intense experience.
- [09:03]
Yancy Baer
Yes, sir. And actually on one of those, I actually went straight from Iraq over to Afghanistan. So four times, both theaters of operation.
- [09:13]
Newt Gingrich
Now, by your fourth deployment, you were serving with the 10th Special Forces Group, which means you were consistently applying for very tough assignments, very tough training, and you had learned an amazing amount to get to that point.
- [09:30]
Yancy Baer
Yes, sir.
- [09:31]
Newt Gingrich
So all of a sudden, in November 2009, in the middle of serving your country, your life changed during a life landing in Iraq, as presumably a helicopter landing. Talk us through that for a minute.
- [09:46]
Yancy Baer
Yes, sir. Just had a rough landing one night and had an injury to my leg walking Medevac, meaning after that operation, went self medevac to Longstream to see what the injury consisted of. That ended up being three reconstructive surgeries later. And during the third reconstructive surgery, they had used a cadaver bone, and they believe they introduced a very aggressive cancer to my leg, my body. Telecentetic osteosarcoma, which led to finally an amputation of my leg. But honestly, at that point, after multiple reconstructive surgeries on an ankle, on a lower limb, it was fused. Your lifestyle is just not what it was before, especially with the activity level that I was used to. And for me, it was a blessing to hear that they were finally gonna just get rid of it. You know, I joke a lot and say, hey, I can't stub a toe now and I can't twist an ankle anymore, so I've got it good. It's a paper cut for below the knee amputation. There's guys out there with so much worse.
- [11:21]
Newt Gingrich
How much of an adjustment does that take? How much rehab to operate, having lost a leg?
- [11:27]
Yancy Baer
Yes, sir. Again, a below the knee amputation. Is a, I hate to put it like, it's like this very mild thing, but you're losing an ankle. So your ability to relearn, to walk and to run and to do all the activities you did before is probably as far as losing a limb. One of the easiest and quickest rehab procedures, when you start talking about arm amputations are above the knee amputations on your legs, it's a much different struggle for me. I know my physical therapist at Brooke Army Medical center, at the center for the Intrepid, I know he was just tired of me. Every day I'd come in and hey, when can I leave? You know, my unit had gone back overseas for another rotation. And that's where you really start to struggle with where you are in life. And you start to have those thoughts that creep into your head because you feel like you're letting down your men and your women that you lead. And so every day, when can I.
- [12:28]
Brigadier General Tom Landroemeyer
Get out of here?
- [12:29]
Yancy Baer
What do I need to do to get out of here? So 10 months almost to the day, I was checking out, I was running, I was scuba diving, skydiving and I actually did my first airborne operation with the army again and did my first jump back up in Colorado Springs with 10th group and stayed on active duty for a few years after that and went back overseas and many more airborne operations and physical, pt, physical training, everything stayed the same pretty much.
- [13:01]
Newt Gingrich
You must be amazingly strong.
- [13:05]
Yancy Baer
I'm amazingly hard headed, sir.
- [13:07]
Newt Gingrich
I'll take that. My dad became a paratrooper in his mid-40s. He just wanted to do it to prove he could do it. He said to me afterwards he found himself in this airplane with a parachute and he looked around and thought, this plane is going to land. What am I doing?
- [13:24]
Yancy Baer
Well, you know, I always say, sir, the most accidents with planes is takeoff and landing. So I mitigate that by 50%.
- [13:32]
Newt Gingrich
So there you go, that's the way to do it.
- [13:34]
Yancy Baer
I still dive. I'm a dive master. Not for the military, but for civilian. I'm a dive master and yeah, I try to stay as active as I can. I'm getting a little older, but I still try to do it.
- [13:45]
Newt Gingrich
Yeah, you're a skydiver, a scuba diver, a motorcycle rider. You've really managed to maintain a very active life.
- [13:52]
Yancy Baer
Yes sir, I try to.
- [13:54]
Newt Gingrich
But with all that, you found that when you were back home in your non adapted home, that there were things that actually made life much harder. Can you describe that?
- [14:05]
Yancy Baer
Yes, sir. While I was in the application process with homes for Our Troops. That is one thing I applaud. To Homes for Our Troops. I started out with Homes for Our Troops once. I did a lot of research by trying to get my buddies that I knew, because from being at the center for the Intrepid, I knew a lot of guys, and there's a lot of pride in the community. Guys just don't want to reach out, don't want to take a hand me down or whatever you want to call it, Right? And so that's how I kind of got into the organization, was pushing a lot of these men and women to reach out to Homes for our Troops. But back to my story. When I was finally in the process myself, I had a bad slip on the stairs on my.
- [14:49]
Brigadier General Tom Landroemeyer
Whoa.
- [14:49]
Yancy Baer
People say your good leg or your bad leg. When they're talking about my bad leg, they're talking about my prosthetic side. But I always have to tell them that's actually my good leg. So I've had knee replacement on my good leg, but I had a bad slip and fall and twisted my ankle pretty bad and twisted my knee a little bit and bruised my back, and it was a nasty fall. It really drove home why Homes for Our Troops designs their homes the way they do and the importance of the mission that they have to get warriors into safer, better homes for longevity. This is your retirement home. This is the home that, hey, yeah, I can skydive, I can run, jump, jump, whatever I want to do right now. But what does life look like in 30 years? And these homes are designed and built to one, last 30 years and two, sustain my life. When I am 30 years older, this.
- [15:46]
Newt Gingrich
Moves into what will be the home for you or for another veteran?
- [15:51]
Yancy Baer
Yes, sir. I started out with my choice and something that kind of hit on what Tom was saying earlier. I originally was asking to build a home in Montana. That's where I thought I was going to retire. I loved the community. I love the area, but it wasn't the type of community for longevity. Again, I'm getting a house to retire and to live the rest of my life in. Where is that? What does that look like? And there's a community in Texas that is an amazing community of warriors. Tom can probably say how many homes we now have in the area in Spring Branch, Texas. I'm wanting to say it's getting to be up in the double digits, if not already. And, you know, there's a brotherhood there in that community. And I quickly realized that that's what life is after work, retirement, whatever you want to call it right is to have that brotherhood. And, you know, I don't have to live in the city, but I'm also close enough to get back to brook army medical center, to get to the center for the intrepid. So all the places where I have done all my medical care, so it just really made sen and homes for our troops did not blink an eye when I came back after the fact and said, hey, guys, I don't think I want to live in Montana long term. I want to live in Texas, and this is the area I'd like to move to in Texas. And just another fact about homes for our troops for just how amazing that organization is.
- [17:15]
Newt Gingrich
What are the major adaptations that made your home different than it would have been if you just gone out commercially and bought a home?
- [17:24]
Yancy Baer
Oh, my gosh, Newt, how long do we have here? Doors automatically open and close. So if you're in a wheelchair, you push a button on the wall, actually a sensor on the wall, and the doors will open and close. And you can choose what doors you want that on. And you can have multiple doors or you can have no doors. That's your choice. Cabinet shelving that you reach up on the cabinet shelving and you pull it down to you. So again, everything in this home is accessible for a wheelchair, A warrior in a wheelchair. All the counters are hollow, meaning you can roll under them, including your stove, your kitchen sink. So I can be in a wheelchair and reach up to the very top cabinet above the countertop and pull my shelf down to me and pick anything I need. Going back to something that Tom said earlier. Ever evolving. This is a fluid design on these homes. Water at the stove sounds simple, right? But something that people don't think about. But when you're in a wheelchair, transferring to get a water at the kitchen sink, moving over to the stove. Now I'm willing, right? And I've got a pot of water, and I'm trying to get it to the stove. What they did is they put a arm that's tied into your water supply that now you reach up, you put your pot down, you turn the arm over it, turn the knob. Water right there at the stove. That's actually a modification that came out not too long ago, if I'm not mistaken. Tom. I'd say within the last four years, if I'm correct, on that. Shower, the bathroom alone. Goodness gracious. It's like sometimes I think getting up and taking a shower, and it's kind of a weird thing to say, but going into my bathroom every morning is probably to this day, what I still wake up and be like, this is a dream. Who's going to pinch me? And this is all going to go away. It is just beautiful. Multiple shower heads. So you can take a shower sitting on a bench or you can take a shower in the center. You can stand if you want, sit if you want. Again, room to maneuver into the bathroom if you're in a wheelchair. Ability to roll under the counter to get to the sink. All ranch style homes. So no steps anywhere in the home. So from transition from driveway to garage and anywhere in the house is all one level, one floor with no transitions at all. So complete smooth. Obviously there's a little bit at the door where you have to keep the critters and the breeze out, but all just smooth transition rolling around inside that house.
- [19:51]
Newt Gingrich
What did it feel the day you finally got the keys to your new home? How did you feel?
- [19:58]
Yancy Baer
Speechless. Just. This is not a homes for our troops and the warrior process. Homes for our troops starts years before, whatever that process takes. And they are reaching out to the community. So this is the community's ability to get involved with the Warrior that's moving into their neighborhood and they participate in the groundbreaking, they participate in the landscaping. They get to come to the initial ceremony that you go to, of course, the awarding of the home to the Warrior. So during this process, a year before you ever even step foot into your house, you've already met your neighbors. So the day of your key turning ceremony, your actual awarding ceremony, it is not just Tom and a couple other people from Hvat, maybe you know, a couple people from the media. It is the police department, the fire department, your neighbors. In Texas we have hebs, we have other big companies that are known in Texas and you know, that's part of their like community give back process. You have school kids that will be able to come out and get part of their community hours that they are working on. So with all that said, it's this huge community group hug and welcoming. Before you even step foot in your home, you already feel like you're part of it, you know, and I've never had that and seen that. It was a very emotional day and I don't know that it would affect anybody else differently. It's not just emotional for the Warrior, it's emotional for the community, for everybody. But the volunteers that have come out to help out, it's just a very emotional day. And like I said, sir, I to this day sometimes still pinch myself and is it real? I've only been in My house. I'm coming on my second year, this June 6th. I'll never forget the day because it's the anniversary of D Day. June 6th, and June 6th of this year will be my second year.
- [22:27]
Newt Gingrich
Let me ask you, Tom, you decided to go to work for this operation. What is there about homes for our troops that attracted you? And what is it that you wish every American understood about homes for our troops?
- [22:43]
Brigadier General Tom Landroemeyer
That's a great question, sir. It's a huge family that just continues to grow. As Yancy mentioned at the key ceremony day, we'll do all the pomp and circumstance, and we'll run up a US Flag on the flagpole to signify and transfer to a military veteran. We'll cut a ribbon, give them a ceremonial key, let them go into the home, and then everybody that attends gets to go in the home and take a look at all the adaptations and everything and see what they're supporting. But when everybody's leaving, we got a few staff there and we're all cleaning everything up. When everything's done, it's always myself or one of our other age 5 staff that end up going to the veterans saying, well, we're done, pal. Here's your keys. We'll be in touch. And then we walk away. As Yancey said, most of them are absolutely speechless. It's extremely emotional. They've been given a home. None of them would have ever asked for it. Matter of fact, every single one of these veterans will tell you they don't deserve it. As Yancey was trying to describe the incident that led to his current physical state, most of them would say, hey, I just had a bad day at work. Some of our Marine young men that were in Fallujah and different places like that would say, I just kicked in the wrong door. They're not looking backward. They don't have regrets. I always ask them, if you had it to do all over again, knowing everything you know now, would you still do everything you did? And they always answer yes. And that's the type you can tell, the type you know, sir. You know, the type that we have in the military. You know, the ones that raise their hand and volunteered to serve, and they're just like Yancy. He's just one of the many thousands upon thousands that we have out there. It's not about them. It's about those to the left and right of them and supporting them and wanting to try and get everybody back. And that's why he talks about, before I signed up. I want to make sure everybody I knew Signed up, and then I'll go last. It's kind of like when you go out and you're a military unit and you go to chow and you go to eat, or the last one that goes through the line is the commander. All the troops eat and the commander goes last. And that's just the way these guys are. They want to take care of everybody else. They'll never ask for anything. They don't think they deserve it, but our country owes it to them. And it's just knowing that we're going to be able to achieve those kinds of things and be able to rehab and recover in a safe and accessible environment that keeps us going. We love it here. I've got about 70 teammates here in Taunton, Massachusetts, that run this place and do all the work across the country, and they're all in it for the right reason. They all have a heart for this mission.
- [25:26]
Newt Gingrich
One of the things I'm fascinated by is it goes beyond the house into the process of helping them live in the home. And you provide, for example, a financial planner for three years to help them learn how to plan financially, how to budget for the household, et cetera, provide homeownership education. This is really a lot more than just building a house. You're trying to help the veteran literally reacquire a complete life.
- [25:55]
Brigadier General Tom Landroemeyer
Yes, sir. Our tagline is building homes, rebuilding lives again. Building homes is that thing, that physical thing that we're doing out there that people can really see and walk up and touch. But rebuilding lives is the most important aspect of what we do. It's what the homes enable. These veterans to do is what drives us every single day, and that's why we stay in touch with them. The part of our organization that continues to grow every couple of years because we bring more veterans in is a group that we call Veteran Support. And they're the ones that are constantly emailing, texting, calling these veterans, checking on them, seeing how things are going. We know what's going on in their lives. We know what they're participating in. Yancy was doing all he could at first to tell you that, well, I'm going to go help another nonprofit. But I don't really want to say who they are, because I'm with Homes For. We love it when they go out there and do that. We could care less that they're out there working for another nonprofit and helping warriors. Good on them. We're proud because that's part of rebuilding their lives. When they came back, they couldn't even take care of Themselves and living in the homes that they went into, they needed assistance. And they're all fiercely independent, just like the rest of us are. And they don't want anything special. They just want to have what all of us would term a normal life. If they're a spouse, they want to be a normal spouse that helps out. If they're a parent, they want to be a normal parent that does all the things with their kids that we did as our kids grew up. If they're in a community, they want to be a valued, contributing member of the community. And that's what these homes enable them to do. It really provides, again, that safe and very accessible space that they can rehab and recover in. Because a lot of these guys and gals, as you see them day to day, they look like they're moving around pretty well. But what you don't see is when they get home, and if they're in prosthetics, they're popping these things off because they gotta get that residual limb some time to recover. And sometimes all it will take is a simple pimple or an ingrown hair, and it'll take these studly guys and guys down to a knee quickly, and it'll take them a few days or maybe even weeks to get all that fixed up to where they can get back in their prosthetic and move around again. But these homes allow them the ability to get in a chair. He can do a360 anywhere he wants inside his home in a wheelchair. Just terrific.
- [28:19]
Newt Gingrich
Generally, what are the communities like when they hear that that's what you're doing when you come into the community and you say, we're going to build a home for veterans, what kind of reaction do you generally get from the community?
- [28:31]
Brigadier General Tom Landroemeyer
Sir, I have traveled this country, all across it, all the way to Alaska, across the states. Like I say, we built in 46. I have yet to run into a community that wasn't supportive of military veterans. We may have some differences in our country that tend to show us half on one side and half on another, different issues. But on supporting our veterans, that's where I see everybody kind of lined up and saluting the flag. Everybody wants to come out and support this veteran. I always tell them the most important thing you can do as a community is wrap your arms around this veteran because they chose to live right here with you. They could have lived anywhere they wanted to. We would have built that home somewhere else, but they chose to live right there. So community, come out and help them, because they're not Going to be able to completely rebuild their lives by themselves. It's going to take the community and they will get involved. Only about 20% of our veterans have the ability, the time and stuff to go out and volunteer in their local communities before they move into one of our homes. After moving in, that goes up to 81%.
- [29:32]
Newt Gingrich
Wow, that's amazing. Yancy, I know you have your own project now. That's very exciting. Share with us what you're working on.
- [29:40]
Yancy Baer
Yes, sir. I have been very fortunate to join the ranks of an organization, nonprofit organization, called Wounded Warrior Outdoors. And what we do is we take wounded service men and women, just like the title says. We get them back out into the outdoors, hunting, fishing. We do trips in British Columbia, we do trips in Alaska, all the way out onto the Aleutian Islands. And then we do trips down in Florida on the east coast, west coast, we have trips all over. And just like we talked about here, never met a community that wasn't just arms outreached and bringing us in. One of the big things about the organization is a lot of these men and women, sometimes after their injury will just stay at home, kind of recluse on a video game, stuff like that. And that's our mission, is to get these men and women back out into the sunlight, get them back outdoors and get them around other fellow warriors. Some of these guys may go back home where there are no other warriors around. After being in that type of community and going back to just reintegrating into what we call civilian life, some people have a hard time adapting to that. And so we try to get them back out there with their fellow servicemen and women and back outdoors. Fresh air and sunlight does amazing for the soul.
- [31:03]
Newt Gingrich
That's great. And I really appreciate what you're doing and what you're sharing with us. Tom and Nancy, I want to thank both of you for joining me. This is, I think, a very patriotic, very emotionally compelling story. Our listeners can learn more about the work Homes for our Troops is doing by visiting your website@hfotusa.org and they can learn how to get involved in helping rebuild veterans lives. I'm so grateful to both of you for sharing with us for being here. I'm grateful to you for your service to America. This has really been a very powerful conversation.
- [31:47]
Brigadier General Tom Landroemeyer
Sir, thank you so much for having us and helping spread awareness of our mission. It really helps a lot. We appreciate it.
- [31:53]
Yancy Baer
Yes, sir. Thank you very much. Just like Tom said, we appreciate it. We appreciate you helping get the word out there. Thank you.
- [32:04]
Newt Gingrich
Thank you to my guests, Brigadier General Tom Landor Meyer and Yancy Baer. New 12 is produced by Gingrich 360 and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is Garnzi Sloan. Our researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the show was created by Steve Pendley. Special thanks to the team at Gingrich360. If you've been enjoying Newts World, I hope you'll get up a podcast and both rate us with five stars and give us a review so others can learn what it's all about. Join me on substack@gingrich360.net I'm Newt Gingrich. This is Newt's World.
- [32:56]
Yancy Baer
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [32:59]
Brigadier General Tom Landroemeyer
Guaranteed Human.