Next Steps Show Jan 3, 2024

0:03 Mira a la izquierda, mira a la derecha, ¿qué ves? ¿Dónde estás? In a world that seems to change daily, what will you do next? Welcome to the Next Steps show with Peter Vazquez, a starting point for discussion y un poco de dirección. Music. ¡Saludos, WhatsApp! Hey, you remember that commercial, WhatsApp? Ladies and gentlemen, soy Joe, your host, the conservative Nuyorican, Peter Vasquez, coming to you from the WYSL studios. Yep, another beautiful day. Man, I'll tell you, you know, I can't get over the fact that politics, you know, politics, why?

0:47 Why does politics always have to get in the way of things? You know, it kills me, ladies and gentlemen, because, I mean, here in the Monroe County legislature, We're talking about an opportunity for the Hispanic community to take a seat that we can be as Hispanics, the first Hispanic, right? And also because the ones running are also women. So women Hispanic as the president. I mean, come on. Why are we getting caught up in the politics of it? Ladies and gentlemen, it's simple. You work out the details, right? right? You talk about what's in the best interest of our community. I think housing sounds pretty freaking amazing for our community to me, but you know, that's what we should focus.

1:33 But no, we talk about first Hispanic and then here it is, overshadowed by politics. Kills me. Ladies and gentlemen, 346-3000, 585-346-3000. I want to know what you think about that, right? Right. So, hey, you know what? Enough of that political stuff. It kills me. You know, we've got. People loading up their cars with gas and intentionally going after, and we don't have a clue. And then the information that we get isn't even accurate because you got one news source saying, oh yeah, they saw a suicide note. Another one saying, no, they didn't find anything. And we live in crazy times. So you know what?

2:14 Today we're going to take the time and we're going to talk about a rags to riches stories. No, I don't mean like, hey, we went to the store and bought a $10 lottery ticket and won the million dollars. Nor am I talking about someone who happened to, you know, be the son or daughter of somebody who did work hard and they had a silver spoon. That's not what I'm talking about either. That's not the rags to riches stories. I'm talking about the rags to riches stories from an individual that did something like, you know, like find balance in faith, politics, and entrepreneurship, right? right? Like put God first, like living in line with things like Philippians 4.13.

2:56 I can do all things through Christ who strengthened me. So today, right here in the Next Step Show, I am honored to introduce a truly inspiring individual born in Puerto Rico, raised in challenging neighborhoods in Chicago, yep, Chicago and New York. I think it was Dunkerque, which those of if you know the old Dunkerque, it's kind of like a New York style Chicago, right? I'm sure there's beauty there too, guys. I'm talking about the crime like we have here in Rochester, right? Our guest defied the odds with the support of a strong family. Crazy how that's been such a common theme with all my guests.

3:37 He built a successful career in food manufacturing without without a college degree, and served in the New York National Guard, earning recognition for her service during 9-11, a testament to resilience and dedication. Ladies and gentlemen, as we talk about God, country, and family, join me in welcoming my guest today, Osvaldo Vasquez, also known as Ozzy Vasquez. And ladies and gentlemen, I don't think we're cousins, are we? No, we're not related. Not that, yeah, although the Vasquez family with a Z is extremely large. It's a very common name, yep. So, bienvenido at Next Step Show, sir.

4:18 And, of course, thank you for your service. Oh, thank you. You're welcome. A funny thing is that when I was at your wife's swearing-in ceremony a couple weeks ago, I introduced myself to two or three people. And immediately, oh, are you related? Yeah. No, no, I'm not related. It's a common thing. Last name so that was funny we are up there with the rodriguez's and the cruises and and and other common last names in the hispanic although i will say though that the the z the vaz versus the vas is a little bit more unique from what i understand but anywho so hey you you know as i said you you have you have lived your life and finding balance and faith politics and entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship being, you know, ownership of yourself.

5:07 Otherwise, we couldn't survive some of the adversities that we both grew up in. Because, I mean, I kind of grew up in some of those same neighborhoods. Not Dunkirk here in Chicago, but here in Rochester. Right. So how'd you do it? Tell us who you are and who you were before you found all this balance. Okay. I was born in Jujuy, Puerto Rico. And when I was like, I think. Say the name of the town again. I was wondering. Okay. Where is that in the island? In the mountainous region and sort of in the middle, like two hours from Ponce. So do you have to like come down the mountain in horses? Just kidding. Well, I moved to Chicago with the family when I was about three months old.

5:51 So I really didn't remember, five months old. And we lived in Chicago in the south side for about three years. I'm not exactly sure about the neighborhood, but I know if you watch the show Good Times from the 70s and they lived in South Chicago, it was in that area. Interesting. A lot of gangs, a lot of shootings back in the 70s. It's still now too. It's even worse now. We rival them. So it was pretty bad. So my mom, as a little girl, lived in Dunkirk, New York, because my grandfather lived there.

6:32 Worked at a power plant there. And they moved away back to Puerto Rico. And then I was born there. But as a little girl, my mom lived in Dunkirk, New York. And while we were living in Chicago, we're like, man, this is pretty rough. Shootings and gangs. My siblings got beat up on the way to school. So we decided, well, let's move to Dunkirk. Dunkirk was a nice little city there. So the whole family packed up. We moved over there when I was about three and then I was raised there. I had great parents, great family. Dunkirk was a little rough.

7:13 It was just like any other city with, you know, drugs, crime, things like that. But, you know, with parents that are focused on making sure you go to school, making sure you stay out of trouble. I was raised, you know, in a loving family and graduated high school and joined the military and started my food career. And the rest is history. The rest is history. I moved to Rochester about 10 years ago. OK. And continued my food manufacturing career there, here in Rochester. And it keeps going. So what do you think about Rochester in comparison to both Chicago and Dunkirk?

7:58 Or Dunkirk, because you said you were smaller in Chicago. Yeah, well, Dunkirk is a very small city. Rochester, I always liked Rochester. There's crime in every city, but for a small city, Dunkirk had an issue of crime. In Rochester, there's a murder every 3.5 days. If you don't mind me asking, and obviously not exactly where, but generally, where do you live in the city? When I first moved to Rochester, I lived in the Greece area, in Dewey Avenue. And then I moved to the Park Avenue area on Harvard Street. And I met my girlfriend, and we moved to Fairport. and we've been there ever since.

8:40 Fairport's great. You got the electricity. I love Fairport. Electricity is great. It's Spenceport. Yeah. So you get that whole, I mean, what's your bill? Like a hundred bucks for the whole year? I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm just wondering. I remember that being something like that for my brother who lived in Spenceport with that Spenceport Electric in the town. So you joined the military. I'm assuming you just one day got tired of what you were seeing. I mean, I joined the military, joined the army when I was 17. I was a knucklehead. I was a teen parent, grew up here, you know, in all the neighborhoods that we talk about now. And very much like you, I had a really good home. My father didn't have a college degree from Puerto Rico, from the mountains.

9:20 But he would always do things in his broken English, like leave me a little dime and said, here goes a dime if you go to school today. Needless to say, I took his dime and didn't go to school all the time. But, you know, he still loved me, though. So, and that had been the common theme with everybody that I've had to show, whether it was a mom and dad or just mom, but that family component, oh my gosh, it's so. Support. It's huge. And so, so when I see things like, like the manifesto from BLM, for example, that says right on their front, on its front page, that says their intent is to destroy the, the, the Western family unit or something along those lines. And we see that happening. the number of fatherless homes. Ladies and gentlemen, 346-3000.

10:04 Give us a call. So National Guard, the military. I'll tell you. That I didn't want to join the military. Oh, no? I have two older brothers, and my oldest brother joined the Army Reserve as our artillery soldier down in Fort Silt. And he served for about three, four years. Wow. And then my middle brother joined the Marines. He went to Parris Island, and he was in infantry. And I got a partial scholarship to Alfred State College as a senior. And I had a CAD CAM program set up, and I was all set up for that.

10:45 And they wanted me to—my two brothers were arguing with me. Oh, you're not going to college, you're going to the military. And we were arguing for a while, and finally I gave in and joined the National Guard and drove a tank for eight years. And the funny thing is my two brothers only did two three years and i i didn't want to go and i end up doing eight years ah that's funny i you know i have to say that i enjoy well there's not a day that goes by that i don't miss wearing the uniform i've almost gone back in a few times, but you know what though i was a single dad when i got out and then my wife and i so i figured you know i did my time in uniform i'm going to focus on working here domestically and as you can tell there's plenty domestic to protect against so you were at the World Trade Center yes I didn't know you were in the military I was talking with your son about the Marines Solomon Vasquez my son yes yes.

11:45 So 9-11, I joined back in 1997, went to Fort Knox and graduated armor school there. And basically went all over the country. My last duty station was Fort Irwin, California. And what we did there after 9-11 was getting armor units ready to go back to Iraq for the second Iraq war. And Fort Irwin is like tank country. Fort Irwin is a desert, Mojave Desert, where it's almost like the sands of Iraq and Afghanistan.

12:26 Very much so. So my oldest son, Pierre, was born in Victorville Hospital, and we spent quite a bit of time in Barstow right outside of Fort Irwin. And I can't remember the Marine Corps base that was closer to Camp Pentleton yet. You know, it always amazed me the amount of cars that were lined up at the entrance of all the people that got the DWIs on post and couldn't drive anymore on post. Anyways, ladies and gentlemen, you are listening to a guy who made it happen. A guy who decided that it just wasn't going to be a victimhood for him. And he's decided he's going to make a difference. You're listening to your conservative Nuyorican, Peter Vasquez, on the WYSL stations. No te atraves, no te atraves, cambiale ese dayo, right? We'll be right back.

13:10 Music. In the Rochester and Finger Lakes region, one name stands above all others for real estate appraisal and advice. Ryan Murphy and Associates. This full-service real estate appraisal company can appraise and advise on purchase and sales decisions, We'll be right back.

14:05 Youth for Christ Rochester needs to grow. Our kids are telling us they don't feel safe in their neighborhoods or rec centers, and they're asking us to be open more. And thanks to your support, we will. We're adding a weeknight and Saturday mornings to our basketball program. We're adding a second Arts Academy Friday night, and we're adding a second P31 girls class on Saturdays. But we need your help. $25 per month funds a kid for a year. Give your best gift to YFCRochester.org slash donate. Advertising on the WISL stations is both affordable and effective, but it's so much more than that. When your business or professional practice has a presence on the voice of liberty, you connect with a patriotic, awake, and aware audience that cares about society, our families, our schools, our values, and our future.

14:51 And our listeners appreciate you and respond. We can end the madness together. For truth and freedom, the WISL stations, the voice of liberty. Call 346-3000 to advertise today. Peter Vasquez and Next Step Show on the WYSL stations. Welcome back to the Next Step Show, Peter Vasquez, y aquí tenemos al señor Ozzy Vasquez. Yeah, and we're pretty sure we're not related, by the way. There just happens to be a lot of Vasquez. Interesting. Hey, Keith, thanks for calling the Next Step Show, sir. Uh yes uh i really wasn't going to call but then i got to thinking as the two of you were going on especially with his military background so i'm going to be right up front here i'm thinking of a magazine article newspaper article i read back in the autumn that said in the near enough future future, 70% new homeowners are going to be of Hispanic background.

15:57 So I wanted to know from what I'm politely me, a non-Hispanic referring to you two gentlemen as responsible Hispanic Americans, certainly with his military background. I've never been in the military, but without I'm not about BSing anyone. I do think military. That makes sense. So I was wondering, with the up-and-coming demographics, because of the old maxim that demographics are destiny, what pray tell, and whether it has to do with foreign policy or anything else, but just with, let's say, Hispanic Americans moving more into the American mainstream, extreme, where do you see a country going and so far as.

16:47 Just the influence of your culture. Whatever I say here, don't take offense. I am a direct speaker, but like when Mr. Vasquez at the beginning there plays the noticeably Latin music from my family, Germanic and Anglo origin, it has to be confirmed or admitted that your music is different than ours, to say it. Do you like it? It's different. I think I would use the phrase, sometimes I don't understand it, sometimes I like the rhythm and the beat, but certainly with my roots in the Mid-South, even though there are Hispanics there, people in the audience should know that Hispanics fought on both sides of the Civil War, the war between the states. Yep.

18:07 White dominant culture is exactly that, always predominated. Other cultures, black, Hispanic, and anything else you can think of have always been there. So without me going long here and bringing this full circle, what do you two gentlemen make of our country's future with the noticeably growing Hispanic influence? Will we still be America so far as how Hispanics think the world should be run and what place our country will have in that? What do the two of you say in all of that? Ozzy? Well, when I was growing up, I really didn't think about that kind of stuff.

18:50 And I just wanted to serve because I loved my country. I was interested in the military, and I didn't think about the Hispanic population growing at that time. I didn't really think about the future. I just wanted to serve. And so I served. And right now, I can't really control what's going on unless you vote. Yeah, unless you vote, right? And I'm glad you said that because, you know, Keith, are you still there, Keith, by chance? Yeah. And I'm glad you called because I know one time you thought I was picking on you and I wasn't Because it's questions like this that truly helps close this gap and truly deal with this racial issues that many politicians like to use to stay in control.

19:41 Because the reality is, for the most part, I believe we're growing because, I mean, we just kind of do what we got to do. I guess we don't get caught up. I asked once, you know, I wonder, you know, during slavery, for example, you know, where were the Hispanics? Because you have your really dark Hispanics and you're really light-skinned, pale, almost as pale as Bob Savage, as I mentioned before, Keith. So no one knows. So that just goes to show, though, that, yes, we are, by all accounts, I believe, scheduled to be the largest minority group, as they put it, in the nation. I don't think that that's going to change the landscape of America, because if you surveyed, I believe.

20:27 Puerto Ricans, Cubans, even, I mean, just many Hispanics, especially those that fought to come here legally, they'll tell you, this is my country and I serve this country. My father always told me, son, you know, be secure in flying your Puerto Rican flag. Absolutely. But never fly it above the American flag because we are Americans. My heritage, our heritage is Puerto Rican. And I'm not an American Puerto Rican. I'm just a freaking American. And I believe, Ozzy, you feel the same way, correct? Absolutely. You know, check this out, Keith. In the military, I met people that have never seen a Hispanic or a black person ever. And I even met a real cowboy.

21:10 And I mean the big cowboy hat with the boots, with the spindles, with the whip, with everything. And you know what? We all became drinking buddies. And that's where I learned that, darn, as a Hispanic, I can drink a cowboy under the table. Well, back in my younger days. Keith, I really appreciate it. Oh, Keith, hey, actually, I got a question for you, if you don't mind. Go ahead. Because this is, I mean, what we're seeing over in the county legislature right now with all this nonsense, we have an opportunity here in Rochester to have a first female Hispanic as president of the legislature. Both of them running are, but they're so caught up in the politics of things and all that other nonsense behind things that it's overshadowed by politics.

21:57 What do you think about what's going on there? What would you say to them? First, quickly, I never felt that I was being picked on, so discard that. I never felt that. And I want to give you a compliment. complement this is the type of show we need where people from diverse backgrounds can feel at ease and call in maybe with ticklish questions that people might say back to me oh keith you uh you really shouldn't be asking those in public and you want to talk in private but a lot of people get henchy about uh questions about race but this is a good program on this liberty station you mr vantez if you could open it up and so far really getting a response from different audiences and constituents.

22:39 We need your type program to bring people together so they can talk where they before might feel at ease. In direct response to your question, I guess, I don't know. Let me ask you, is she a conservative? I'm very, very conservative. I want a conservative in there, so you tell me if she's, yeah, conservative. Well, you know what? That's a great question because one of them is not. One of them is very progressive. Okay, so they're both Democrats. Remember, we lost the ledge. I believe there is one Republican, if I remember correctly, that they did nominate for the president, a female, and then the other two are Democrats, right?

23:22 So, but Democrats have control. So the Republican, I mean, they're at a gridlock now, probably doesn't have a big chance because I'm sure that they're dealing on the Democrat side. But one of the Democrats, Mercedes Vasquez, who happens to be my cousin. Again, the whole conservative stuff, I don't know. But I know this, Keith. I know that she believes exactly the way I believe in the sense that it's always community first, regardless of the R or the D. Well, I'll leave you with this final comment for me for now. The worst entity created in our country's history, even hands down, the Democrat party, a lot of dismal failure there brought on for all groups, horrible that our founding fathers did not even want a party system a George Washington even strenuously warned against having parties but, Democrats have been god-awful for our country, and at the very least, in closing, I wish every Dem would re-register as an independent.

24:21 How does that sound? If you can't go full-blown conservative. Register independent, and start thinking about how drastically you of any group, the Dems, have drastically knifed you in the back and hurt all the American people, the Democrat party is is god awful absolutely keith thank you for calling and ladies and gentlemen the thing is this even malcolm x agrees with keith and i when he said that the that the white liberal is absolutely, trying to racist or whatever and so is a conservative right but he made it clear this is malcolm x very liberal said the liberal will lie to you the conservative well you know what They'll just be like, hey, you do you. We all just need to make money here.

25:13 Okay, I'm definitely oversimplifying, but you get my point. Hey, we'll be right back in the next step show with Ozzy. We're going to know and learn what and how his experiences were at the World Trade Center and his career choice in the food industry. We'll be right back with your conservative New Yorker in the next step show. Peter Vasquez and next step show on the WYSL stations. Welcome back to the Next Step Show with Peter Vasquez. Y todavía aquí tenemos al señor Ozzy Vasquez. Ladies and gentlemen, 585-346-3000. Give us a call.

25:53 I'd love to hear from you. So, you were at the World Trade Center. Yes. Tell us all about it. You've got some cool medals here that you got from Patek. You were showing me there's a piece of the building here. Right. But I'm going to start the whole story from scratch. Okay. When the planes hit the towers, I was getting ready to go to work. I worked at a juice factory in Dunkirk. And I saw on the news that I was getting ready for work, the chaos about the planes hitting and stuff. And I'm like, wow, that's crazy. You know, everything's crazy. But I went to work. And during work we would hear stuff, from the employees oh they just shut Fredonia State down Fredonia State College just shut down and sent all their students home this got shut down that got shut down so so.

26:51 Towards the end of my shift, my sergeant called me and says, we got a call. Go pack your bags and we're going to meet in the armory tomorrow morning. Nice. Hey, hold that thought for a quick second because Hector just called in. Hector, welcome. Thank you for calling the Next Step Show. Hey, how are you, Peter? I assume you talk a little bit of Spanish, although I think you've been on my show once or twice. Yes, sir. I've had the privilege to have been on your show. Thank you for the opportunity yet again. and being able to be in your show. So what's up, Baba? No, sorry. I just, you know, your previous caller, you know, he made a very astute question as to the direction of the nation itself.

27:33 And the reality of it is, is that the course of the nation depending on its people right now, when I came to this country at age 16, I didn't come here to change the culture. On the contrary, I came here to assimilate to it because I understood at 16 years of age that this great nation afforded me an opportunity that I couldn't have anywhere else. So because of that, I saw the opportunities that were offered to me by this nation. I enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. By the way, it is the Semper Fidelis. So, you know, I just wanted to serve this great nation of ours. I quickly realized that America isn't culture or ethnicity per se.

28:18 It's a mixture of individuals from different backgrounds, different religions, cultures coming together, striving to be a better people, striving to be a better nation. You know, and this whole idea of voting for an individual because they're Puerto Rican or Asian or black, whatever your flavor is, it's insane to me. And I'll explain that. If truly me voting for a Puerto Rican because it will be better for me, better represent that, I would have never left Puerto Rico. Exactly. Because in Puerto Rico, 98% of the people are Puerto Rican. That's true. And I dare say my Mexican brothers, if they felt that that were a true statement, they would have never left Mexico. You know, your parents, your grandparents, your great grandparents, when they came here, they left their country, right?

29:07 Where the majority of individuals were of their same nationality, dare I say even ethnicity, and left it to come to this nation to build a better life. So I've never understood that idea that because somebody happens to share my background or my culture or my religion, it would be better for me. If that were the case, I say it again, I would have stayed in Puerto Rico. But I came here because I knew and understood that this nation afforded me a better life. That it did. That it did. And the thing is, even today, we've got people leaving Puerto Rico to come here for a better life. And it's 2024. 2024. Crazy stuff. And here's the thing, right? America's got plenty of issues, and it's always that.

29:50 Just like any other nation has that issue. The reality is it's not the issues, it's the opportunities that are in this nation that are greater than in any other country. And if that wasn't the case, why are we still having people marching from all the way in South America to come up here? Yep, yep, yep. Risking their lives, going on floats and all that other stuff. Hector, I appreciate the call, Papa. I truly, I truly do. Man, you know, he hit it on the nail. This is exactly the success story. People, you know, people leave where they are to come to this country. And the thing is this, I do believe when they come here, they love the change in their life that they too want to protect it.

30:31 And that's how we don the uniform, right? That's why we end up doing and having stories like the one you were sharing. Sorry. Oh, okay. Sorry. All right. So going back to the story, basically in a nutshell, I watched the planes hit on TV and I went to work. Later that day, my platoon sergeant had called me from the National Guard and said, pack your bags and meet at the armory that night. And two days later, we boarded charter buses and two days later, we're at round zero. So I spent several months there. I seen a lot of horrible stuff. I seen good stuff.

31:14 I seen the worst of humanity, the best of humanity. While I was there, I had like a little diary that I wrote. And I want to share some of that stuff with you right now. The first thing I wrote is called Tears of October because I wrote it in October. Okay. So Specialist Vasquez, 3rd Platoon, A Company, 127th Armor, Task Force Rainbow, 42nd Infantry Division. Actually, the Air Force, the Air Guard and the National Guard, when they joined forces and became Task Force Rainbow, to go to the Trade Center.

31:57 So it was 8 October 2001, 0945. Having been here at Ground Zero for close to four weeks now, I have gotten used to the 12-hour shifts and the work routine. I miss my family. I wish I was home. My platoon has been pulling security detail all this week. A welcome change from searching for survivors on the pile. This is a breezy yet sunny fall day. I haven't ate anything since breakfast back on the Navy hospital ship USS Comfort. Which was docked at the pier next to the command center. Finally, my platoon received notice that we are relieved from another unit so we could take a break.

32:42 So my squad breaks up and goes into different directions. Well, I decide to stay back with my battle buddy and walk towards Battery Park, cutting through the debris of Ground Zero. We were both tired and hungry. With the sun barely shining through the dust and smoke, we seen two firemen struggling on the debris pile. And my battle buddy and I stopped for a minute to see what was going on. And after two minutes, we decided to help. I was shocked to see that they were struggling to pull a dead fireman out of the rubble. Though I was hungry and tired, I lent a hand, digging and helping them pull the fireman out. It would be another forty minutes till I finally see the ambulance whisk the young fireman away.

33:32 That was one of those stories. Another story. These are diaries that you kept, right? While you were there. I mean, like, this is firsthand. This is what I saw. Yep, very nice. This one's called the Defensive Liberty Medal. Now, there's two ways to get the Defensive Liberty Medal. Everyone who served, who got deployed to the World Trade Center, gets the Defensive Liberty Medal. But there's an attachment called Gold WTC device, World Trade Center device. And you only get there if you are actually in the red zone, which is ground zero.

34:14 So this is like a timeline. So the first arrival of my A company was at the Emergency Operations Command Center in Upper Manhattan. The USS Comfort Navy hospital ship arrives after several days of 12-hour shifts. Alpha companies move to Battery Park with several other units, making Battery Park into a small military base. Sleeping on a park bench for two days, I miss my family. Alpha Company from Dunkirk teams up with Delta Company to establish a 12-hour rotation. A&D companies are moved to Governor's Island along with other units.

34:54 Military personnel are now numbering in the thousands. Weeks of riding the Staten Island Ferry from Governor's Island to Ground Zero become the norm. State police have become my new family as I have been assigned to them for weeks. I got used to the 12 hours on and 12 hours off. Several units along with Alpha Company are moved to Fort Hamilton Army Garrison Base in Brooklyn. I will stay at Fort Hamilton for the remainder of my deployment. Alpha Company switched from 12-hour days to 12-hour nights. Five weeks later, I am processed out at Camp Snet near West Point, and I arrived home from Ground Zero.

35:38 So in total, it was about six months that I was there. And right where you weren't at the airport or you were there? No, right there. Wow. Ground Zero doing different things. Very interesting. Like I said, I saw a lot of bad stuff. I saw a lot of good stuff. I was just happy to be part of history. It's something I could tell my grandchildren. And I just have a lot of memories. Question for you. You know, just kind of in light of the race discussion a little bit. While you were there, did anyone, including yourself, flick around and say, wow, there's 10 black people and four white people and 700?

36:21 I mean, was there ever a count of how many people based on race came to help? No. One of the first things that happens when you join the military is they teach you that racism doesn't work in the military. They say you all have to work as a team or, you know, it won't work at all. That's one of the first things they do is they make you colorblind. And they have to, because when you got bullets flying over you, listen, there ain't no color. There ain't no color. Anywho, wow, what an amazing story. Thank you for sharing that. I want to know when we get back, we got one more segment.

37:02 I want to talk about the food industry. But I want to talk about the myth behind it, because they're always like, mira, mira, look at all those Latinos ahí trabajando at McDonald's, because that's all they can do. I mean, I grew up being told that. Psalms 1829 For by you I can run against the truth And by my God I can leap over a wall 585-346-3000 Regresamos en unos momentos aquí En la Voz de Libertad With your conservative New Yorker And our guest, Ozzy Vasquez We'll be right back.

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39:11 And our listeners appreciate you and respond. We can end the madness together. For truth and freedom, the WISL stations, the Voice of Liberty. Call 346-3000 to advertise today. Next Steps with Peter Vasquez on the WYSL stations. Welcome back to the Next Steps show with your conservative New Yorker. See, hey, Ozzy, you left the military phenomenal accounts for what you saw at Ground Zero. You know, I stayed at the hotel. There was a Marriott right across the street that was still standing. I stayed there like a few years before that. It's interesting.

39:55 Wow. So to see it still standing. But you left the military and got into food service industry. Actually, I was in the military and working in the food industry at the same time. The National Guard. Ah, gotcha. But there seems to be this myth. And I say this because this is kind of things that I grew up hearing. You know, go work at McDonald's. That's where you belong. You know, go work. These are the jobs that politicians say that they create. No careers, no real advancement, but they keep pushing us into social work, food service. And I know I'm being broad here, but for the most part, we see that. But you have a different experience. Right. Well, I started in the food industry in Dunkirk because Dunkirk only had, they had a steel plant and they used to make locomotives there.

40:43 It was the locomotive capital of the world at one time. But Dunkirk had a handful of food factories and that's all you had was beside McDonald's and Burger King food factories had ice cream juice Nestle Purino is their dog food just food factories everywhere bakeries uh condiments ketchup everything you could think of so I uh right after high school I started working an ice cream factory and the thing is I didn't have any experience. I was right off the street, no work experience, and. Just working there, your first job, you get the experience and over time going from, you know, here's the thing.

41:31 You have to stick to one thing. You just can't go from like the food industry to the car industry to computers to you have to stay with one thing. That's the only way it's going to work. What a concept. Right. Right. So I stuck with the food industry and I've been in it about 20, 25 years. And over the years, I have, so to speak, climbed up the corporate ladder. And I want to tell the listeners how you could do it, too. Rochester has a bunch of food factories in the Rochester area. And if you're just a worker there, don't just be a worker.

42:11 Improve yourself. Get the knowledge and skills to improve yourself and make yourself an asset to the company. And they look for that, and when it's time to cut employees or lay off employees, they see, well, this guy has this, this, and that. Because you added value. Right. And the thing is, you're going to have to want that for yourself. You can't just have people do it for you. Some of it costs money, but through my experiences and all the food factories, most food factories pay for all of these certifications for you. Some of them are free. So I want to talk about some of the certifications that you could get if you're working in the food industry and how to climb the corporate ladder.

42:59 The first one is called Six Sigma. The website for it is SixSigmaCouncil.org. There's five levels. The first one is free. Just getting the first free level is a big step in a lot of companies nowadays look for this Six Sigma certification. Another website is called ifsqn.com. Those cost money, but usually, like I said, the food factories will pay for these certifications. Another website is called 360training.com. Oh, I've used that one before.

43:42 Yeah, it has a wealth of certifications. One of my favorites is AIB International. Whatever certification is under the sun, you could get an AIB International. A big one that will boost you ahead of your co-workers and your peers is the Bloodborne Pathogen Certificate. I looked it up yesterday. There are several types of websites where you can get one. The one I chose is only $9.95, and it doesn't expire. It's good for life. And you get this Bloodborne Pathogen Certificate.

44:25 And like I said, when companies look to downsize, they look at what you have and they see that, okay, you have this, this, and that, they'll most likely retain you and get rid of the people that don't have that. So you're saying that anybody don't even need a college degree to get involved. But can you just tell me real quick, what is food factories? Because, I mean, I always thought like food grows on trees. I mean, obviously the steak has to be cut and all that stuff, but factory implies something being made. Food manufacturing, there is... There's all kinds, there's meat, there's condiments.

45:08 So these are career jobs, not the minimum wage, McDonald's. No, people I've seen were in food factories for 20, 30 years and they retire there. Some of them make six figures. Some of them don't. The more you stay in there, here's the key. The more knowledge and certifications you get, the better chances you are of climbing the corp ladder and making that six-figure income. It's doable. I did it. I have to assume that the company pays for this with the intent of you staying there. But if for whatever reason the company was like, well, we don't want to treat our employees nice anymore, you can take that certification or all those certifications with you. Right, right. Right.

45:55 Most of these certifications that I have were back from Dunkirk or back from other factors. They stay with you like luggage and they don't expire. So you could take that to the next job and say, look what I have. And instead of getting a position at the bottom, like when I started, they look at all that and they will put you in a higher position. Nice. Nice. Okay. So what are you now? What's your position now? Wow. If you can say, because I know some companies. I'm a food safety professional. I want to stay anonymous because I don't have permission from that company to put a plug. But a food safety professional, it sounds to me like it's something that you could put in the bank and retire with. Yes.

46:41 Now, why didn't they put it in that perspective when they were telling me to go get jobs in food service industries? Well, like I said, it was part of circumstance because when I started, that's all you had was food factories in Dunkirk. Interesting. That Lean Six Sigma certification is huge. And if I remember correctly, you can get green, yellow, orange, black, and master black. But the first few are like not free, but inexpensive. The first one's free. The second one, I'm working on my second one, is about $75. Come on, that's a couple lunches. Right. I appreciate your time, sir.

47:23 I'll have to have you on again so we can get even deeper. I want to hear more, and I'm sure our listeners do want to hear more, especially from your journal. Ladies and gentlemen, remember, it's not parties nor politics that enhance your quality of life. It is values and the faith in those values that do. Hey, you've been listening to The Next Step Show right here on the WYSL stations. Que tengan una semana bendicida Until tomorrow And nunca te olvides. Music.