Next Steps Show Jan 3, 2024

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Mira a la izquierda, mira a la derecha, ¿qué ves? ¿Dónde estás?

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In a world that seems to change daily, what will you do next?

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Welcome to the Next Steps show with

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Peter Vazquez, a starting point for discussion y un poco de dirección.

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Music.

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¡Saludos, WhatsApp! Hey, you remember that commercial, WhatsApp?

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Ladies and gentlemen, soy Joe, your host, the conservative Nuyorican,

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Peter Vasquez, coming to you from the WYSL studios.

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Yep, another beautiful day. Man, I'll tell you, you know, I can't get over the

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fact that politics, you know, politics, why?

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Why does politics always have to get in the way of things? You know,

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it kills me, ladies and gentlemen, because,

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I mean, here in the Monroe County legislature, We're talking about an opportunity

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for the Hispanic community to take a seat that we can be as Hispanics,

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the first Hispanic, right?

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And also because the ones running are also women.

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So women Hispanic as the president.

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I mean, come on. Why are we getting caught up in the politics of it?

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Ladies and gentlemen, it's simple.

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You work out the details, right? right?

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You talk about what's in the best interest of our community.

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I think housing sounds pretty freaking amazing for our community to me,

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but you know, that's what we should focus.

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But no, we talk about first Hispanic and then here it is, overshadowed by politics.

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Kills me. Ladies and gentlemen, 346-3000, 585-346-3000.

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I want to know what you think about that, right? Right. So, hey,

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you know what? Enough of that political stuff. It kills me. You know, we've got.

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People loading up their cars with gas and intentionally going after, and we don't have a clue.

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And then the information that we get isn't even accurate because you got one

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news source saying, oh yeah, they saw a suicide note.

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Another one saying, no, they didn't find anything.

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And we live in crazy times. So you know what?

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Today we're going to take the time and we're going to talk about a rags to riches stories.

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No, I don't mean like, hey, we went to the store and bought a $10 lottery ticket

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and won the million dollars.

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Nor am I talking about someone who happened to, you know, be the son or daughter

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of somebody who did work hard and they had a silver spoon.

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That's not what I'm talking about either. That's not the rags to riches stories.

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I'm talking about the rags to riches stories from an individual that did something

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like, you know, like find balance in faith, politics, and entrepreneurship, right? right?

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Like put God first, like living in line with things like Philippians 4.13.

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I can do all things through Christ who strengthened me.

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So today, right here in the Next Step Show, I am honored to introduce a truly

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inspiring individual born in Puerto Rico, raised in challenging neighborhoods in Chicago,

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yep, Chicago and New York.

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I think it was Dunkerque, which those of if you know the old Dunkerque,

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it's kind of like a New York style Chicago, right?

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I'm sure there's beauty there too, guys. I'm talking about the crime like we

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have here in Rochester, right?

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Our guest defied the odds with the support of a strong family.

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Crazy how that's been such a common theme with all my guests.

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He built a successful career in food manufacturing without without a college

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degree, and served in the New York National Guard, earning recognition for her service during 9-11,

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a testament to resilience and dedication.

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Ladies and gentlemen, as we talk about God, country, and family,

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join me in welcoming my guest today, Osvaldo Vasquez, also known as Ozzy Vasquez.

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And ladies and gentlemen, I don't think we're cousins, are we?

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No, we're not related. Not that, yeah, although the Vasquez family with a Z is extremely large.

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It's a very common name, yep. So, bienvenido at Next Step Show, sir.

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And, of course, thank you for your service. Oh, thank you. You're welcome.

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A funny thing is that when I was at your wife's swearing-in ceremony a couple

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weeks ago, I introduced myself to two or three people.

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And immediately, oh, are you related?

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Yeah. No, no, I'm not related. It's a common thing.

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Last name so that was funny we are up

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there with the rodriguez's and the cruises and and

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and other common last names in the hispanic although

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i will say though that the the z the vaz versus the vas is a little bit more

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unique from what i understand but anywho so hey you you know as i said you you

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have you have lived your life and finding balance and faith politics and entrepreneurship

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Entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship being,

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you know, ownership of yourself.

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Otherwise, we couldn't survive some of the adversities that we both grew up

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in. Because, I mean, I kind of grew up in some of those same neighborhoods.

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Not Dunkirk here in Chicago, but here in Rochester. Right. So how'd you do it?

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Tell us who you are and who you were before you found all this balance. Okay.

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I was born in Jujuy, Puerto Rico.

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And when I was like, I think. Say the name of the town again. I was wondering. Okay.

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Where is that in the island? In the mountainous region and sort of in the middle,

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like two hours from Ponce.

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So do you have to like come down the mountain in horses?

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Just kidding. Well, I moved to Chicago with the family when I was about three months old.

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So I really didn't remember, five months old.

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And we lived in Chicago in the south side for about three years.

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I'm not exactly sure about the neighborhood, but I know if you watch the show

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Good Times from the 70s and they lived in South Chicago, it was in that area.

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Interesting. A lot of gangs, a lot of shootings back in the 70s. It's still now too.

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It's even worse now. We rival them. So it was pretty bad. So my mom,

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as a little girl, lived in Dunkirk, New York, because my grandfather lived there.

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Worked at a power plant there. And they moved away back to Puerto Rico.

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And then I was born there.

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But as a little girl, my mom lived in Dunkirk, New York.

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And while we were living in Chicago, we're like, man, this is pretty rough.

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Shootings and gangs. My siblings got beat up on the way to school.

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So we decided, well, let's move to Dunkirk.

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Dunkirk was a nice little city there. So the whole family packed up.

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We moved over there when I was about three and then I was raised there.

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I had great parents, great family. Dunkirk was a little rough.

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It was just like any other city with, you know, drugs, crime, things like that.

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But, you know, with parents that are focused on making sure you go to school,

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making sure you stay out of trouble.

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I was raised, you know, in a loving family and graduated high school and joined

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the military and started my food career.

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And the rest is history. The rest is history. I moved to Rochester about 10 years ago.

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OK. And continued my food manufacturing career there, here in Rochester.

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And it keeps going. So what do you think about Rochester in comparison to both Chicago and Dunkirk?

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Or Dunkirk, because you said you were smaller in Chicago. Yeah,

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well, Dunkirk is a very small city.

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Rochester, I always liked Rochester.

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There's crime in every city, but for a small city, Dunkirk had an issue of crime.

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In Rochester, there's a murder every 3.5 days.

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If you don't mind me asking, and obviously not exactly where,

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but generally, where do you live in the city?

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When I first moved to Rochester, I lived in the Greece area, in Dewey Avenue.

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And then I moved to the Park Avenue area on Harvard Street.

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And I met my girlfriend, and we moved to Fairport. and we've been there ever since.

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Fairport's great. You got the electricity. I love Fairport.

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Electricity is great. It's Spenceport. Yeah. So you get that whole,

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I mean, what's your bill? Like a hundred bucks for the whole year?

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I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm just wondering. I remember that being something

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like that for my brother who lived in Spenceport with that Spenceport Electric in the town.

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So you joined the military. I'm assuming you just one day got tired of what you were seeing.

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I mean, I joined the military, joined the army when I was 17.

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I was a knucklehead. I was a teen parent, grew up here, you know,

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in all the neighborhoods that we talk about now.

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And very much like you, I had a really good home. My father didn't have a college

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degree from Puerto Rico, from the mountains.

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But he would always do things in his broken English, like leave me a little

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dime and said, here goes a dime if you go to school today.

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Needless to say, I took his dime and didn't go to school all the time.

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But, you know, he still loved me, though. So, and that had been the common theme

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with everybody that I've had to show, whether it was a mom and dad or just mom,

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but that family component, oh my gosh, it's so.

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Support. It's huge. And so, so when I see things like, like the manifesto from

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BLM, for example, that says right on their front, on its front page,

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that says their intent is to

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destroy the, the, the Western family unit or something along those lines.

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And we see that happening. the number of fatherless homes. Ladies and gentlemen, 346-3000.

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Give us a call. So National Guard, the military. I'll tell you.

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That I didn't want to join the military. Oh, no? I have two older brothers,

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and my oldest brother joined the Army Reserve as our artillery soldier down in Fort Silt.

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And he served for about three, four years. Wow. And then my middle brother joined the Marines.

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He went to Parris Island, and he was in infantry.

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And I got a partial scholarship to Alfred State College as a senior.

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And I had a CAD CAM program set up, and I was all set up for that.

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And they wanted me to—my two brothers were arguing with me.

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Oh, you're not going to college, you're going to the military.

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And we were arguing for a while, and finally I gave in and joined the National

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Guard and drove a tank for eight years.

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And the funny thing is my two brothers only did two three years and i i didn't

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want to go and i end up doing eight years ah that's funny i you know i have

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to say that i enjoy well there's not a day that goes by that i don't miss wearing

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the uniform i've almost gone back in a few times,

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but you know what though i was a single dad when i got out

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and then my wife and i so i figured you know i did my time in uniform i'm going

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to focus on working here domestically and as you can tell there's plenty domestic

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to protect against so you were at the World Trade Center yes I didn't know you

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were in the military I was talking with your son about the Marines Solomon Vasquez my son yes yes.

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So 9-11, I joined back in 1997, went to Fort Knox and graduated armor school there.

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And basically went all over the country. My last duty station was Fort Irwin, California.

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And what we did there after 9-11 was getting armor units ready to go back to

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Iraq for the second Iraq war.

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And Fort Irwin is like tank country. Fort Irwin is a desert,

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Mojave Desert, where it's almost like the sands of Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Very much so. So my oldest son, Pierre, was born in Victorville Hospital,

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and we spent quite a bit of time in Barstow right outside of Fort Irwin.

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And I can't remember the Marine Corps base that was closer to Camp Pentleton

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yet. You know, it always amazed me the amount of cars that were lined up at

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the entrance of all the people that got the DWIs on post and couldn't drive anymore on post.

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Anyways, ladies and gentlemen, you are listening to a guy who made it happen.

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A guy who decided that it just wasn't going to be a victimhood for him.

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And he's decided he's going to make a difference. You're listening to your conservative

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Nuyorican, Peter Vasquez, on the WYSL stations.

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No te atraves, no te atraves, cambiale ese dayo, right? We'll be right back.

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Music.

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In the Rochester and Finger Lakes region, one name stands above all others for

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real estate appraisal and advice.

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We'll be right back.

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Youth for Christ Rochester needs to grow. Our kids are telling us they don't

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feel safe in their neighborhoods or rec centers, and they're asking us to be open more.

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And thanks to your support, we will. We're adding a weeknight and Saturday mornings

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to our basketball program.

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We're adding a second Arts Academy Friday night, and we're adding a second P31

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girls class on Saturdays. But we need your help.

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$25 per month funds a kid for a year.

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Give your best gift to YFCRochester.org slash donate.

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Advertising on the WISL stations is both affordable and effective,

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but it's so much more than that.

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When your business or professional practice has a presence on the voice of liberty,

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you connect with a patriotic, awake, and aware audience that cares about society,

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our families, our schools, our values, and our future.

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And our listeners appreciate you and respond.

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We can end the madness together. For truth and freedom, the WISL stations, the voice of liberty.

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Call 346-3000 to advertise today.

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Peter Vasquez and Next Step Show on the WYSL stations.

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Welcome back to the Next Step Show, Peter Vasquez, y aquí tenemos al señor Ozzy Vasquez.

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Yeah, and we're pretty sure we're not related, by the way. There just happens to be a lot of Vasquez.

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Interesting. Hey, Keith, thanks for calling the Next Step Show, sir.

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Uh yes uh i really wasn't going

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to call but then i got to thinking as the two of you were going on especially

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with his military background so i'm going to be right up front here i'm thinking

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of a magazine article newspaper article i read back in the autumn that said

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in the near enough future future,

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70% new homeowners are going to be of Hispanic background.

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So I wanted to know from what I'm politely me, a non-Hispanic referring to you

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two gentlemen as responsible Hispanic Americans, certainly with his military background.

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I've never been in the military, but without I'm not about BSing anyone. I do think military.

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That makes sense. So I was wondering, with the up-and-coming demographics,

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because of the old maxim that demographics are destiny,

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what pray tell, and whether it has to do with foreign policy or anything else, but just with,

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let's say, Hispanic Americans moving more into the American mainstream,

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extreme, where do you see a country going and so far as.

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Just the influence of your culture. Whatever I say here, don't take offense.

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I am a direct speaker, but like when Mr.

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Vasquez at the beginning there plays the noticeably Latin music from my family,

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Germanic and Anglo origin,

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it has to be confirmed or admitted that your music is different than ours, to say it. Do you like it?

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It's different. I think I would use the phrase, sometimes I don't understand

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it, sometimes I like the rhythm and the beat, but certainly with my roots in the Mid-South,

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even though there are Hispanics there, people in the audience should know that

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Hispanics fought on both sides of the Civil War, the war between the states. Yep.

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White dominant culture is exactly that, always predominated.

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Other cultures, black, Hispanic, and anything else you can think of have always been there.

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So without me going long here and bringing this full circle,

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what do you two gentlemen make

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of our country's future with the noticeably growing Hispanic influence?

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Will we still be America so far as how Hispanics think the world should be run

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and what place our country will have in that?

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What do the two of you say in all of that?

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Ozzy? Well, when I was growing up, I really didn't think about that kind of stuff.

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And I just wanted to serve because I loved my country. I was interested in the

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military, and I didn't think about the Hispanic population growing at that time.

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I didn't really think about the future. I just wanted to serve.

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And so I served. And right now, I can't really control what's going on unless you vote.

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Yeah, unless you vote, right? And I'm glad you said that because,

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you know, Keith, are you still there, Keith, by chance?

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Yeah. And I'm glad you called because I know one time you thought I was picking

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on you and I wasn't Because it's questions like this that truly helps close

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this gap and truly deal with this racial issues that many politicians like to use to stay in control.

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Because the reality is, for the most part, I believe we're growing because,

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I mean, we just kind of do what we got to do.

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I guess we don't get caught up. I asked once, you know, I wonder,

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you know, during slavery, for example, you know, where were the Hispanics?

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Because you have your really dark Hispanics and you're really light-skinned,

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pale, almost as pale as Bob Savage, as I mentioned before, Keith.

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So no one knows. So that just goes to show, though, that, yes,

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we are, by all accounts, I believe, scheduled to be the largest minority group,

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as they put it, in the nation.

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I don't think that that's going to change the landscape of America,

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because if you surveyed, I believe.

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Puerto Ricans, Cubans, even, I mean, just many Hispanics, especially those that

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fought to come here legally, they'll tell you, this is my country and I serve this country.

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My father always told me, son, you know, be secure in flying your Puerto Rican flag.

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Absolutely. But never fly it above the American flag because we are Americans.

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My heritage, our heritage is Puerto Rican.

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And I'm not an American Puerto Rican. I'm just a freaking American.

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And I believe, Ozzy, you feel the same way, correct? Absolutely.

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You know, check this out, Keith. In the military, I met people that have never

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seen a Hispanic or a black person ever. And I even met a real cowboy.

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And I mean the big cowboy hat with the boots, with the spindles,

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with the whip, with everything.

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And you know what? We all became drinking buddies.

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And that's where I learned that, darn, as a Hispanic, I can drink a cowboy under

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the table. Well, back in my younger days.

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Keith, I really appreciate it. Oh, Keith, hey, actually, I got a question for you, if you don't mind.

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Go ahead. Because this is, I mean, what we're seeing over in the county legislature

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right now with all this nonsense, we have an opportunity here in Rochester to

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have a first female Hispanic as president of the legislature.

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Both of them running are, but they're so caught up in the politics of things

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and all that other nonsense behind things that it's overshadowed by politics.

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What do you think about what's going on there? What would you say to them?

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First, quickly, I never felt that I was being picked on, so discard that.

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I never felt that. And I want to give you a compliment. complement this is

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the type of show we need where people from diverse backgrounds can

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feel at ease and call in

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maybe with ticklish questions that people might

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say back to me oh keith you uh you really shouldn't be asking those in public

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and you want to talk in private but a lot of people get henchy about uh questions

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about race but this is a good program on this liberty station you mr vantez

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if you could open it up and so far really getting a response from different

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audiences and constituents.

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We need your type program to bring people together so they can talk where they

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before might feel at ease.

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In direct response to your question, I guess, I don't know.

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Let me ask you, is she a conservative? I'm very, very conservative.

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I want a conservative in there, so you tell me if she's, yeah, conservative.

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Well, you know what? That's a great question because one of them is not.

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One of them is very progressive.

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Okay, so they're both Democrats. Remember, we lost the ledge.

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I believe there is one Republican, if I remember correctly, that they did nominate

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for the president, a female, and then the other two are Democrats, right?

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So, but Democrats have control. So the Republican, I mean, they're at a gridlock

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now, probably doesn't have a big chance because I'm sure that they're dealing on the Democrat side.

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But one of the Democrats, Mercedes Vasquez, who happens to be my cousin.

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Again, the whole conservative stuff, I don't know. But I know this, Keith.

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I know that she believes exactly the way I believe in the sense that it's always

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community first, regardless of the R or the D.

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Well, I'll leave you with this final comment for me for now.

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The worst entity created in our country's history, even hands down, the Democrat party,

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a lot of dismal failure there brought on for all groups, horrible that our founding

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fathers did not even want a party system a George Washington even strenuously

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warned against having parties but,

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Democrats have been god-awful for our country, and at the very least,

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in closing, I wish every Dem would re-register as an independent.

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How does that sound? If you can't go full-blown conservative.

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Register independent, and start thinking about how drastically you of any group,

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the Dems, have drastically knifed you in the back and hurt all the American people,

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the Democrat party is is god awful absolutely keith thank you for calling and

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ladies and gentlemen the thing is this even malcolm x agrees with keith and

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i when he said that the that the white liberal is absolutely,

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trying to racist or whatever and so is a conservative right but he made it clear

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this is malcolm x very liberal said the liberal will lie to you the conservative

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well you know what They'll just be like, hey,

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you do you. We all just need to make money here.

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Okay, I'm definitely oversimplifying, but you get my point.

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Hey, we'll be right back in the next step show with Ozzy.

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We're going to know and learn what and how his experiences were at the World

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Trade Center and his career choice in the food industry.

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We'll be right back with your conservative New Yorker in the next step show.

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Peter Vasquez and next step show on the WYSL stations.

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Welcome back to the Next Step Show with Peter Vasquez.

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Y todavía aquí tenemos al señor Ozzy Vasquez. Ladies and gentlemen, 585-346-3000.

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Give us a call.

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I'd love to hear from you. So, you were at the World Trade Center.

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Yes. Tell us all about it. You've got some cool medals here that you got from

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Patek. You were showing me there's a piece of the building here.

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Right. But I'm going to start the whole story from scratch. Okay.

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When the planes hit the towers, I was getting ready to go to work.

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I worked at a juice factory in Dunkirk.

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And I saw on the news that I was getting ready for work, the chaos about the

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planes hitting and stuff. And I'm like, wow, that's crazy.

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You know, everything's crazy. But I went to work.

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And during work we would hear stuff,

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from the employees oh they just shut Fredonia State down Fredonia State College

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just shut down and sent all their students home this got shut down that got shut down so so.

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Towards the end of my shift, my sergeant called me and says, we got a call.

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Go pack your bags and we're going to meet in the armory tomorrow morning.

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Nice. Hey, hold that thought for a quick second because Hector just called in.

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Hector, welcome. Thank you for calling the Next Step Show.

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00:27:07,250 --> 00:27:12,730
Hey, how are you, Peter? I assume you talk a little bit of Spanish,

343
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although I think you've been on my show once or twice.

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00:27:16,010 --> 00:27:19,590
Yes, sir. I've had the privilege to have been on your show. Thank you for the

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opportunity yet again. and being able to be in your show.

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00:27:23,750 --> 00:27:27,930
So what's up, Baba? No, sorry. I just, you know, your previous caller,

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you know, he made a very astute question as to the direction of the nation itself.

348
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And the reality of it is, is that the course of the nation depending on its

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people right now, when I came to this country at age 16, I didn't come here to change the culture.

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On the contrary, I came here to assimilate to it because I understood at 16

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years of age that this great nation afforded me an opportunity that I couldn't have anywhere else.

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So because of that, I saw the opportunities that were offered to me by this nation.

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I enlisted in the United States Marine Corps.

354
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By the way, it is the Semper Fidelis.

355
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So, you know, I just wanted to serve this great nation of ours.

356
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I quickly realized that America isn't culture or ethnicity per se.

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It's a mixture of individuals from different backgrounds, different religions,

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cultures coming together, striving to be a better people, striving to be a better nation.

359
00:28:29,510 --> 00:28:34,870
You know, and this whole idea of voting for an individual because they're Puerto

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Rican or Asian or black, whatever your flavor is, it's insane to me. And I'll explain that.

361
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If truly me voting for a Puerto Rican because it will be better for me,

362
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better represent that, I would have never left Puerto Rico.

363
00:28:51,130 --> 00:28:53,990
Exactly. Because in Puerto Rico, 98% of the people are Puerto Rican.

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That's true. And I dare say my Mexican brothers, if they felt that that were

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a true statement, they would have never left Mexico. You know,

366
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your parents, your grandparents, your great grandparents, when they came here,

367
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they left their country, right?

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Where the majority of individuals were of their same nationality,

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dare I say even ethnicity, and left it to come to this nation to build a better life.

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So I've never understood that idea that because somebody happens to share my

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background or my culture or my religion, it would be better for me.

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If that were the case, I say it again, I would have stayed in Puerto Rico.

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But I came here because I knew and understood that this nation afforded me a better life.

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That it did. That it did. And the thing is, even today, we've got people leaving

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Puerto Rico to come here for a better life. And it's 2024. 2024.

376
00:29:45,575 --> 00:29:49,975
Crazy stuff. And here's the thing, right? America's got plenty of issues, and it's always that.

377
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Just like any other nation has that issue. The reality is it's not the issues,

378
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it's the opportunities that are in this nation that are greater than in any other country.

379
00:29:59,475 --> 00:30:04,075
And if that wasn't the case, why are we still having people marching from all

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the way in South America to come up here?

381
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Yep, yep, yep. Risking their lives, going on floats and all that other stuff.

382
00:30:10,315 --> 00:30:14,015
Hector, I appreciate the call, Papa. I truly, I truly do. Man,

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you know, he hit it on the nail. This is exactly the success story.

384
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People, you know, people leave where they are to come to this country.

385
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And the thing is this, I do believe when they come here, they love the change

386
00:30:28,875 --> 00:30:31,355
in their life that they too want to protect it.

387
00:30:31,455 --> 00:30:36,915
And that's how we don the uniform, right? That's why we end up doing and having

388
00:30:36,915 --> 00:30:39,255
stories like the one you were sharing.

389
00:30:39,975 --> 00:30:41,935
Sorry. Oh, okay. Sorry.

390
00:30:43,095 --> 00:30:48,115
All right. So going back to the story, basically in a nutshell,

391
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I watched the planes hit on TV and I went to work.

392
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Later that day, my platoon sergeant had called me from the National Guard and

393
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said, pack your bags and meet at the armory that night.

394
00:31:00,235 --> 00:31:06,575
And two days later, we boarded charter buses and two days later, we're at round zero.

395
00:31:07,295 --> 00:31:14,215
So I spent several months there. I seen a lot of horrible stuff. I seen good stuff.

396
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I seen the worst of humanity, the best of humanity.

397
00:31:18,235 --> 00:31:24,255
While I was there, I had like a little diary that I wrote. And I want to share

398
00:31:24,255 --> 00:31:25,835
some of that stuff with you right now.

399
00:31:26,415 --> 00:31:33,215
The first thing I wrote is called Tears of October because I wrote it in October. Okay.

400
00:31:34,206 --> 00:31:40,426
So Specialist Vasquez, 3rd Platoon, A Company, 127th Armor, Task Force Rainbow,

401
00:31:40,806 --> 00:31:43,526
42nd Infantry Division.

402
00:31:45,426 --> 00:31:50,046
Actually, the Air Force, the Air Guard and the National Guard,

403
00:31:50,146 --> 00:31:56,126
when they joined forces and became Task Force Rainbow, to go to the Trade Center.

404
00:31:57,266 --> 00:32:01,666
So it was 8 October 2001, 0945.

405
00:32:02,546 --> 00:32:05,866
Having been here at Ground Zero for close to four weeks now,

406
00:32:06,026 --> 00:32:10,186
I have gotten used to the 12-hour shifts and the work routine.

407
00:32:10,306 --> 00:32:13,166
I miss my family. I wish I was home.

408
00:32:13,506 --> 00:32:17,606
My platoon has been pulling security detail all this week.

409
00:32:18,146 --> 00:32:21,706
A welcome change from searching for survivors on the pile.

410
00:32:22,146 --> 00:32:27,766
This is a breezy yet sunny fall day. I haven't ate anything since breakfast

411
00:32:27,766 --> 00:32:31,386
back on the Navy hospital ship USS Comfort.

412
00:32:31,666 --> 00:32:35,706
Which was docked at the pier next to the command center.

413
00:32:36,466 --> 00:32:42,206
Finally, my platoon received notice that we are relieved from another unit so we could take a break.

414
00:32:42,526 --> 00:32:46,946
So my squad breaks up and goes into different directions.

415
00:32:48,326 --> 00:32:54,626
Well, I decide to stay back with my battle buddy and walk towards Battery Park,

416
00:32:54,866 --> 00:32:56,986
cutting through the debris of Ground Zero.

417
00:32:57,526 --> 00:33:02,266
We were both tired and hungry. With the sun barely shining through the dust

418
00:33:02,266 --> 00:33:07,066
and smoke, we seen two firemen struggling on the debris pile.

419
00:33:07,246 --> 00:33:10,766
And my battle buddy and I stopped for a minute to see what was going on.

420
00:33:11,066 --> 00:33:13,346
And after two minutes, we decided to help.

421
00:33:13,666 --> 00:33:18,286
I was shocked to see that they were struggling to pull a dead fireman out of the rubble.

422
00:33:19,946 --> 00:33:24,746
Though I was hungry and tired, I lent a hand, digging and helping them pull

423
00:33:24,746 --> 00:33:29,786
the fireman out. It would be another forty minutes till I finally see the ambulance

424
00:33:29,786 --> 00:33:31,306
whisk the young fireman away.

425
00:33:32,649 --> 00:33:35,909
That was one of those stories. Another story.

426
00:33:36,329 --> 00:33:40,109
These are diaries that you kept, right? While you were there.

427
00:33:40,229 --> 00:33:43,529
I mean, like, this is firsthand. This is what I saw. Yep, very nice.

428
00:33:44,349 --> 00:33:46,629
This one's called the Defensive Liberty Medal.

429
00:33:47,729 --> 00:33:52,689
Now, there's two ways to get the Defensive Liberty Medal.

430
00:33:52,889 --> 00:33:56,409
Everyone who served, who got deployed to the World Trade Center,

431
00:33:56,589 --> 00:34:05,549
gets the Defensive Liberty Medal. But there's an attachment called Gold WTC

432
00:34:05,549 --> 00:34:07,629
device, World Trade Center device.

433
00:34:07,829 --> 00:34:13,729
And you only get there if you are actually in the red zone, which is ground zero.

434
00:34:14,049 --> 00:34:20,249
So this is like a timeline. So the first arrival of my A company was at the

435
00:34:20,249 --> 00:34:24,169
Emergency Operations Command Center in Upper Manhattan.

436
00:34:24,169 --> 00:34:31,769
The USS Comfort Navy hospital ship arrives after several days of 12-hour shifts.

437
00:34:32,169 --> 00:34:35,469
Alpha companies move to Battery Park with several other units,

438
00:34:35,529 --> 00:34:38,249
making Battery Park into a small military base.

439
00:34:38,869 --> 00:34:42,469
Sleeping on a park bench for two days, I miss my family.

440
00:34:43,469 --> 00:34:50,069
Alpha Company from Dunkirk teams up with Delta Company to establish a 12-hour rotation.

441
00:34:50,809 --> 00:34:54,669
A&D companies are moved to Governor's Island along with other units.

442
00:34:54,729 --> 00:34:57,729
Military personnel are now numbering in the thousands.

443
00:34:59,629 --> 00:35:05,069
Weeks of riding the Staten Island Ferry from Governor's Island to Ground Zero become the norm.

444
00:35:05,509 --> 00:35:10,089
State police have become my new family as I have been assigned to them for weeks.

445
00:35:10,989 --> 00:35:14,589
I got used to the 12 hours on and 12 hours off.

446
00:35:15,309 --> 00:35:22,009
Several units along with Alpha Company are moved to Fort Hamilton Army Garrison Base in Brooklyn.

447
00:35:22,489 --> 00:35:25,989
I will stay at Fort Hamilton for the remainder of my deployment.

448
00:35:26,569 --> 00:35:30,089
Alpha Company switched from 12-hour days to 12-hour nights.

449
00:35:30,849 --> 00:35:35,329
Five weeks later, I am processed out at Camp Snet near West Point,

450
00:35:35,449 --> 00:35:37,569
and I arrived home from Ground Zero.

451
00:35:38,289 --> 00:35:42,549
So in total, it was about six months that I was there.

452
00:35:42,889 --> 00:35:47,289
And right where you weren't at the airport or you were there?

453
00:35:47,449 --> 00:35:50,629
No, right there. Wow. Ground Zero doing different things.

454
00:35:51,349 --> 00:35:57,109
Very interesting. Like I said, I saw a lot of bad stuff. I saw a lot of good stuff.

455
00:35:57,369 --> 00:36:03,269
I was just happy to be part of history. It's something I could tell my grandchildren.

456
00:36:04,649 --> 00:36:09,249
And I just have a lot of memories. Question for you. You know,

457
00:36:09,269 --> 00:36:12,429
just kind of in light of the race discussion a little bit.

458
00:36:12,509 --> 00:36:17,389
While you were there, did anyone, including yourself, flick around and say,

459
00:36:17,549 --> 00:36:21,369
wow, there's 10 black people and four white people and 700?

460
00:36:21,629 --> 00:36:27,489
I mean, was there ever a count of how many people based on race came to help? No.

461
00:36:27,749 --> 00:36:33,049
One of the first things that happens when you join the military is they teach

462
00:36:33,049 --> 00:36:35,969
you that racism doesn't work in the military.

463
00:36:36,229 --> 00:36:42,169
They say you all have to work as a team or, you know, it won't work at all.

464
00:36:42,249 --> 00:36:45,769
That's one of the first things they do is they make you colorblind.

465
00:36:47,116 --> 00:36:49,836
And they have to, because when you got bullets flying over you,

466
00:36:49,916 --> 00:36:52,956
listen, there ain't no color.

467
00:36:53,916 --> 00:36:57,516
There ain't no color. Anywho, wow, what an amazing story.

468
00:36:57,676 --> 00:37:02,616
Thank you for sharing that. I want to know when we get back, we got one more segment.

469
00:37:02,856 --> 00:37:04,576
I want to talk about the food industry.

470
00:37:04,836 --> 00:37:08,416
But I want to talk about the myth behind it, because they're always like,

471
00:37:08,516 --> 00:37:12,756
mira, mira, look at all those Latinos ahí trabajando at McDonald's,

472
00:37:12,756 --> 00:37:14,056
because that's all they can do.

473
00:37:14,276 --> 00:37:18,876
I mean, I grew up being told that. Psalms 1829

474
00:37:18,876 --> 00:37:27,356
For by you I can run against the truth And by my God I can leap over a wall

475
00:37:27,356 --> 00:37:35,756
585-346-3000 Regresamos en unos momentos aquí En la Voz de Libertad With your

476
00:37:35,756 --> 00:37:38,596
conservative New Yorker And our guest,

477
00:37:38,756 --> 00:37:41,016
Ozzy Vasquez We'll be right back.

478
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479
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480
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481
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482
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485
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486
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487
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488
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490
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491
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497
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499
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500
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501
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502
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503
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504
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Next Steps with Peter Vasquez on the WYSL stations.

505
00:39:33,657 --> 00:39:37,837
Welcome back to the Next Steps show with your conservative New Yorker.

506
00:39:38,137 --> 00:39:45,857
See, hey, Ozzy, you left the military phenomenal accounts for what you saw at Ground Zero.

507
00:39:47,037 --> 00:39:50,397
You know, I stayed at the hotel. There was a Marriott right across the street

508
00:39:50,397 --> 00:39:54,877
that was still standing. I stayed there like a few years before that. It's interesting.

509
00:39:55,177 --> 00:40:00,357
Wow. So to see it still standing. But you left the military and got into food service industry.

510
00:40:00,597 --> 00:40:04,577
Actually, I was in the military and working in the food industry at the same

511
00:40:04,577 --> 00:40:07,017
time. The National Guard. Ah, gotcha.

512
00:40:07,497 --> 00:40:10,377
But there seems to be this myth.

513
00:40:10,557 --> 00:40:13,917
And I say this because this is kind of things that I grew up hearing.

514
00:40:14,257 --> 00:40:17,417
You know, go work at McDonald's. That's where you belong. You know,

515
00:40:17,437 --> 00:40:21,457
go work. These are the jobs that politicians say that they create.

516
00:40:21,597 --> 00:40:28,217
No careers, no real advancement, but they keep pushing us into social work, food service.

517
00:40:28,697 --> 00:40:31,757
And I know I'm being broad here, but for the most part, we see that.

518
00:40:31,837 --> 00:40:33,357
But you have a different experience.

519
00:40:33,597 --> 00:40:38,597
Right. Well, I started in the food industry in Dunkirk because Dunkirk only

520
00:40:38,597 --> 00:40:43,437
had, they had a steel plant and they used to make locomotives there.

521
00:40:43,537 --> 00:40:46,997
It was the locomotive capital of the world at one time.

522
00:40:46,997 --> 00:40:50,157
But Dunkirk had a handful of food

523
00:40:50,157 --> 00:40:53,917
factories and that's all you had was beside McDonald's

524
00:40:53,917 --> 00:40:56,817
and Burger King food factories had ice cream

525
00:40:56,817 --> 00:41:03,177
juice Nestle Purino is their dog food just food factories everywhere bakeries

526
00:41:03,177 --> 00:41:08,937
uh condiments ketchup everything you could think of so I uh right after high

527
00:41:08,937 --> 00:41:15,857
school I started working an ice cream factory and the thing is I didn't have any experience.

528
00:41:15,917 --> 00:41:20,277
I was right off the street, no work experience, and.

529
00:41:21,667 --> 00:41:27,947
Just working there, your first job, you get the experience and over time going

530
00:41:27,947 --> 00:41:31,107
from, you know, here's the thing.

531
00:41:31,387 --> 00:41:35,127
You have to stick to one thing. You just can't go from like the food industry

532
00:41:35,127 --> 00:41:40,247
to the car industry to computers to you have to stay with one thing.

533
00:41:40,347 --> 00:41:43,227
That's the only way it's going to work. What a concept. Right.

534
00:41:43,487 --> 00:41:48,627
Right. So I stuck with the food industry and I've been in it about 20,

535
00:41:48,667 --> 00:41:55,267
25 years. And over the years, I have, so to speak, climbed up the corporate ladder.

536
00:41:55,567 --> 00:42:00,227
And I want to tell the listeners how you could do it, too.

537
00:42:01,267 --> 00:42:05,507
Rochester has a bunch of food factories in the Rochester area.

538
00:42:05,807 --> 00:42:11,027
And if you're just a worker there, don't just be a worker.

539
00:42:11,707 --> 00:42:16,707
Improve yourself. Get the knowledge and skills to improve yourself and make

540
00:42:16,707 --> 00:42:18,567
yourself an asset to the company.

541
00:42:18,567 --> 00:42:26,087
And they look for that, and when it's time to cut employees or lay off employees,

542
00:42:26,427 --> 00:42:30,427
they see, well, this guy has this, this, and that. Because you added value. Right.

543
00:42:30,867 --> 00:42:35,787
And the thing is, you're going to have to want that for yourself.

544
00:42:35,907 --> 00:42:38,647
You can't just have people do it for you.

545
00:42:39,387 --> 00:42:44,787
Some of it costs money, but through my experiences and all the food factories,

546
00:42:44,927 --> 00:42:50,047
most food factories pay for all of these certifications for you. Some of them are free.

547
00:42:50,507 --> 00:42:56,607
So I want to talk about some of the certifications that you could get if you're

548
00:42:56,607 --> 00:42:59,467
working in the food industry and how to climb the corporate ladder.

549
00:42:59,567 --> 00:43:01,587
The first one is called Six Sigma.

550
00:43:02,607 --> 00:43:08,627
The website for it is SixSigmaCouncil.org. There's five levels.

551
00:43:08,867 --> 00:43:14,887
The first one is free. Just getting the first free level is a big step in a

552
00:43:14,887 --> 00:43:20,067
lot of companies nowadays look for this Six Sigma certification.

553
00:43:21,447 --> 00:43:27,247
Another website is called ifsqn.com.

554
00:43:28,689 --> 00:43:34,209
Those cost money, but usually, like I said, the food factories will pay for these certifications.

555
00:43:36,169 --> 00:43:42,269
Another website is called 360training.com. Oh, I've used that one before.

556
00:43:42,389 --> 00:43:45,469
Yeah, it has a wealth of certifications.

557
00:43:46,429 --> 00:43:48,949
One of my favorites is AIB International.

558
00:43:50,529 --> 00:43:57,869
Whatever certification is under the sun, you could get an AIB International.

559
00:43:58,969 --> 00:44:05,829
A big one that will boost you ahead of your co-workers and your peers is the

560
00:44:05,829 --> 00:44:07,869
Bloodborne Pathogen Certificate.

561
00:44:07,949 --> 00:44:09,709
I looked it up yesterday.

562
00:44:10,469 --> 00:44:14,129
There are several types of websites where you can get one.

563
00:44:15,349 --> 00:44:20,969
The one I chose is only $9.95, and it doesn't expire.

564
00:44:21,229 --> 00:44:25,909
It's good for life. And you get this Bloodborne Pathogen Certificate.

565
00:44:25,909 --> 00:44:31,829
And like I said, when companies look to downsize, they look at what you have

566
00:44:31,829 --> 00:44:37,409
and they see that, okay, you have this, this, and that, they'll most likely

567
00:44:37,409 --> 00:44:40,709
retain you and get rid of the people that don't have that.

568
00:44:41,469 --> 00:44:46,809
So you're saying that anybody don't even need a college degree to get involved.

569
00:44:47,169 --> 00:44:51,569
But can you just tell me real quick, what is food factories?

570
00:44:51,709 --> 00:44:55,449
Because, I mean, I always thought like food grows on trees. I mean,

571
00:44:55,469 --> 00:45:00,229
obviously the steak has to be cut and all that stuff, but factory implies something

572
00:45:00,229 --> 00:45:02,889
being made. Food manufacturing, there is...

573
00:45:03,609 --> 00:45:06,929
There's all kinds, there's meat, there's condiments.

574
00:45:08,089 --> 00:45:13,769
So these are career jobs, not the minimum wage, McDonald's. No,

575
00:45:13,769 --> 00:45:20,369
people I've seen were in food factories for 20, 30 years and they retire there.

576
00:45:20,549 --> 00:45:22,949
Some of them make six figures.

577
00:45:23,809 --> 00:45:28,469
Some of them don't. The more you stay in there, here's the key.

578
00:45:28,469 --> 00:45:33,629
The more knowledge and certifications you get, the better chances you are of

579
00:45:33,629 --> 00:45:37,649
climbing the corp ladder and making that six-figure income.

580
00:45:38,589 --> 00:45:43,669
It's doable. I did it. I have to assume that the company pays for this with

581
00:45:43,669 --> 00:45:44,949
the intent of you staying there.

582
00:45:44,969 --> 00:45:48,549
But if for whatever reason the company was like, well, we don't want to treat

583
00:45:48,549 --> 00:45:53,089
our employees nice anymore, you can take that certification or all those certifications

584
00:45:53,089 --> 00:45:54,649
with you. Right, right. Right.

585
00:45:55,029 --> 00:46:00,029
Most of these certifications that I have were back from Dunkirk or back from other factors.

586
00:46:00,089 --> 00:46:03,889
They stay with you like luggage and they don't expire.

587
00:46:04,169 --> 00:46:08,449
So you could take that to the next job and say, look what I have.

588
00:46:08,589 --> 00:46:14,469
And instead of getting a position at the bottom, like when I started,

589
00:46:14,629 --> 00:46:18,289
they look at all that and they will put you in a higher position.

590
00:46:18,709 --> 00:46:21,849
Nice. Nice. Okay. So what are you now? What's your position now? Wow.

591
00:46:22,209 --> 00:46:26,329
If you can say, because I know some companies. I'm a food safety professional.

592
00:46:26,669 --> 00:46:31,809
I want to stay anonymous because I don't have permission from that company to put a plug.

593
00:46:32,309 --> 00:46:37,709
But a food safety professional, it sounds to me like it's something that you

594
00:46:37,709 --> 00:46:40,829
could put in the bank and retire with. Yes.

595
00:46:41,989 --> 00:46:46,109
Now, why didn't they put it in that perspective when they were telling me to

596
00:46:46,109 --> 00:46:51,989
go get jobs in food service industries? Well, like I said, it was part of circumstance

597
00:46:51,989 --> 00:46:56,289
because when I started, that's all you had was food factories in Dunkirk.

598
00:46:56,689 --> 00:47:01,249
Interesting. That Lean Six Sigma certification is huge.

599
00:47:01,329 --> 00:47:06,089
And if I remember correctly, you can get green, yellow, orange,

600
00:47:06,809 --> 00:47:08,809
black, and master black.

601
00:47:09,189 --> 00:47:13,209
But the first few are like not free, but inexpensive. The first one's free.

602
00:47:13,489 --> 00:47:17,169
The second one, I'm working on my second one, is about $75.

603
00:47:18,269 --> 00:47:23,549
Come on, that's a couple lunches. Right. I appreciate your time, sir.

604
00:47:23,789 --> 00:47:27,369
I'll have to have you on again so we can get even deeper. I want to hear more,

605
00:47:27,469 --> 00:47:32,189
and I'm sure our listeners do want to hear more, especially from your journal.

606
00:47:32,409 --> 00:47:37,229
Ladies and gentlemen, remember, it's not parties nor politics that enhance your quality of life.

607
00:47:37,329 --> 00:47:41,309
It is values and the faith in those values that do.

608
00:47:41,409 --> 00:47:46,949
Hey, you've been listening to The Next Step Show right here on the WYSL stations.

609
00:47:46,949 --> 00:47:51,129
Que tengan una semana bendicida Until tomorrow And nunca te olvides.

610
00:47:51,440 --> 00:48:17,270
Music.